Sony and Disney terminate Spider-Man deal: Easily the biggest news of the week, Sony and Disney have terminated their deal to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU. Sony still has the rights to the character but they had ironed out a deal before Captain America: Civil War for Spidey to appear in MCU movies and then have Kevin Feige help produce solo Spider-Man movies for Sony, which would be able to also use MCU characters and plots. The deal apparently fell apart because during re-negotiations, Disney wanted to share profits for the solo Spidey movies 50/50, which Sony would not agree to and Kevin Feige would also not be available to assist in the same capacity as he had been going forward. Sony will now be developing solo movies with Tom Holland solely by themselves along with their “Spider-Verse” movies like Venom and Morbius.
Obi-Wan series confirmed for Disney+: It was officially confirmed at the D23 convention this week that Ewan McGregor will return as Obi-Wan Kenobi for a streaming series on Disney+. McGregor himself came on stage to confirm and revealed that everything is all set to go and they’ll start shooting next year. It will be set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
The Muppets returning in new short-form series: Also on Disney+, The Muppets are returning with a series called Muppets Now that will be a short-form original comedy show. The show will debut sometime next year and, in typical Muppets fashion, will include a number of, currently undisclosed, celebrity special guests.
Sharon Carter and US Agent featuring in Winter Soldier and The Falcon: Also confirmed at D23 was the fact that Emily VanCamp will return as Sharon Carter for the upcoming Winter Soldier and The Falcon Disney+ series and Wyatt Russell has been cast and will appear as US Agent in the series. That series will debut in 2020.
Three new MCU Disney+ shows revealed: Disney also revealed three new MCU shows that will debut on Disney+, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and mother-effing Moon Knight. Much like at Comic-Con, there were only logos and no casting for any of the shows yet but the rumor/hope is that Keanu might be the one to become Marc Spector for Moon Knight.
Book of Enchantment series not moving forward for Disney+: Despite seemingly having everything you could possibly imagine, one series that won’t make it to Disney+ is Book of Enchantment. The series was going to focus on the classic Disney Villains and based on a series of books. The series was in development for over a year and the writer’s room had been working for 13 weeks to get scripts ready but Disney said the decision to cancel it was “largely creative, related to show’s tone and direction”.
New Marvel land at California Adventure is Avengers Campus: Disneyland’s California Adventure is getting a massive Marvel-themed land that is officially called Avengers Campus. The area’s story is that the Avengers have set up a training and recruitment center to try and find new recruits. The exact shopping and attraction line-up is not fully revealed yet but there will be some sort of Spider-Man ride and an Ant-Man themed micro-brewery. It’s not clear when the area will be open.
Noah Hawley developing horror series for FX: Fresh off Legion, Noah Hawley is developing a new horror series for FX called The Bridgewater Triangle. The series is based on the actual supernatural location of the same name, which is in Massachusetts. The series will follow a massive paranormal event that effects 17 small towns in the area and three siblings have to reunite and figure out if there’s any way to reverse it.
Storm Shadow cast for Snake Eyes movie: Snake Eyes has his rival in the upcoming GI Joe spin-off movie as Andrew Koji has been cast as Storm Shadow. Koji stars on the Cinemax martial arts series Warrior and was Sung Kang’s stunt double for Fast & Furious 6. Henry Golding of Crazy Rich Asians will be playing Snake Eyes and the movie is currently looking at an October 2020 release.
Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford leaving Legends of Tomorrow: The Legends are losing two of their members as Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford, who play Ray Palmer and Nora Dahrk respectively, are leaving the show sometime during the upcoming fifth season and Routh will also put the Superman cape back on for the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.
Breaking Bad movie may already be shot and finished: According to Bob Odenkirk, the Breaking Bad movie that will focus on Jesse, post-finale, is already and shot and finished. Bryan Cranston will also return as Walter White, although in what capacity is currently not known. The movie will debut on Netflix before eventually airing on AMC.
Uncharted loses another director: The long-suffering Uncharted movie over at Sony has hit another snag as another director has left the project. 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg has left the project after signing on in January. It’s not clear what prompted Trachtenberg to leave the project.
Robert Rodriguez directing new Netflix movie: Coming off Alita: Battle Angel, Robert Rodriguez is heading to Netflix for a superhero movie called “We Can Be Heroes”. The movie will star Priyanka Chopra, Christian Slater, Boyd Holbrook, Sung Kang, and Pedro Pascal and follow a group of kids whose parents are kidnapped by aliens. However, both the parents and kids are superheroes and the kids will have to learn how to use their inherited powers to save their parents. It kind of sounds like Sky High crossed with Spy Kids, although it wasn’t explicitly stated as being a family/kids movie.
Into the Dark renewed for a second season: Hulu and Blumhouse’s horror anthology series Into the Dark will return for another year of horror. The series started last October and featured a new horror movie themed around a holiday or time period of the month it was set in, like Christmas, Halloween, Mother’s Day and more. The quality has been hit or miss but it’s mostly been a solid run of horror for the last year. The second season will actually be 15 movies, so it will go slightly beyond the year/12 movies of the first season.
Mortal Kombat 11 reveals DLC fighters: Mortal Kombat 11 has revealed their first round of DLC characters and it includes old favorites like Sindel, Shang Tsung and Nightwolf but it also features Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, The Joker and The Terminator (seemingly from Terminator: Dark Fate). Shang Tsung and Nightwolf are available now and the rest of the characters will roll out through March of next year.
The Matrix 4 confirmed: A sequel to The Matrix was also confirmed this week with Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss returning as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski will be directing, writing and co-producing the movie and it could go into production as early as next year. There’s not really any plot info at the time but it could possibly feature a younger Morpheus and possibly be some kind of prequel in maybe an earlier version of The Matrix?
Succession renewed for Season 3: HBO’s critically acclaimed drama Succession has been renewed for a third season. The series just started its second season a few weeks ago after earning multiple Emmy nominations for its first season. The third season would air sometime in 2020.
Bond 25 has an official title: Bond 25 is now officially No Time to Die. Daniel Craig is returning as Bond and will face off against Rami Malek, a mysterious new villain with dangerous technology. Cary Fukanaga is directing the movie and it will be out in April of next year.
Stephen Amell starring in wrestling show Heels for Starz: Stephen Amell has lined up his post-Arrow gig and will star in a wrestling drama series for Starz called Heels. Amell will play Jack Spade, the co-owner and main performer for a small independent wrestling federation who is battling his brother for control of their father’s legacy. The series is looking at an 8 episode first season on Starz and Mike O’Malley (yes GUTS host Mike O’Malley) will be the showrunner.
Michael Rooker joins Fast & Furious 9: Apparently a last-minute addition, Michael Rooker will join the insanity of Fast & Furious as a character named Buddy in Fast & Furious 9. It’s not clear besides his name what the role will entail and there are really no plot details for the upcoming sequel at this point. Justin Lin is returning to the franchise and it’s scheduled for May 22 next year.
Youtube Premium shows will be free to watch in September: They announced their intentions earlier in the year but YouTube has officially announced that on September 24th, their Premium shows, like Cobra Kai, will be available for free with ads to everyone. All of the previous content locked behind the paywall will be available for free and new seasons of shows will be available immediately to anyone still subscribed to Premium, while non-paying members will have to wait for episodes to be released.
Stranger Things coming to Dead by Daylight: Expanding their roster of licensed characters, Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight is getting a Stranger Things expansion. The Demogorgon will be a new playable killer while Nancy and Steve will be new playable Survivors and there will also be a new “Underground Complex” map. The expansion will be available in September.
Kevin Smith bringing Masters of the Universe back on Netflix: Kevin Smith is bringing back the classic Masters of the Universe to Netflix with Masters of the Universe: Revelation. The new animated series will pick up where the classic 80s series left off and feature Castlevania animation studio Powerhouse Animation. It’s not clear what the tone of the new series will be though; with Powerhouse on board it seems like it might be leaning more toward a mature audience but the original series is so goofy that if it did go in a violent, mature direction, it would be pretty jarring.
Sudden Death getting a remake: The JCVD classic Sudden Death is getting remade for Netflix, leaning more toward being an action-comedy. The new movie is called Welcome to Sudden Death with Gary Owen and Michael Jai White(!) starring and Blumhouse’s Dallas Jackson directing. The original movie featured Van Damme as a fire inspector/ex-firefighter who takes his children to the Stanley Cup Finals but the hockey stadium is taken over by terrorists, led by Powers Boothe, who kidnap the Vice President, who is also in attendance at the game, and demand a certain amount of ransom every period or else they will blow up the building. It also featured Van Damme fighting the Pittsburgh Penguins’ mascot. The movie will arrive in June of next year.
