Netflix’s glitzy new fantasy drama The Witcher has provoked contrasting responses. Rotten Tomatoes finds critics decidedly unconvinced at a not-quite-fresh 58% but audiences lapping it up with glee, as that score is currently over 90%, though the metric isn’t quite as regulated as the critic’s figure.
Cast your mind back to the halcyon days of 2008, a time of financial crises, presidential elections and budding young franchises taking their first steps into the world. Strange though it is to think now, this was a time when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a risky line of individual superhero films, rather than some kind of omnipotent box office deity.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has talked about how the studio approaches appealing to the public, without constraining their creative instincts.
The return of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has brought with it a great deal of publicity, as well as a great deal of patchwork investigative work. Original director Colin Trevorrow’s made the surprising revelation that he had no intention to bring the Emperor back, and that the decision was entirely that of J.J. Abrams. The incumbent Abrams then made an allusive dig at his predecessor, describing any possibility that Palpatine wouldn’t return as “very weird.”
There’ve been a few stories of late speculating on how Disney were going to introduce Deadpool to the MCU, from a cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to the idea that two different versions of Deadpool could exist concurrently. Those permutations succinctly illustrate the challenging task of bringing the character to Disney screens, more so than their comparable integration of Spider-Man. And while the studio’s buyout of Fox had initially put the brakes on Mr. Pool's third outing, according to Ryan Reynolds, those brakes have now been released.
Captain Marvel was a roaring success from both a critical and commercial perspective, certified fresh by review aggregators and romping away to another Marvel billion at the box office. I stress the word perspective, because there was a vocal if minor backlash against the film – one Brie Larson was blissfully unaware of. Given its key numbers were firmly in the black, one wouldn’t be surprised to hear a sequel is already in development (it is).
You’re probably aware that Captain Jean-Luc Picard is coming back to screens for Star Trek: Picard in a month’s time – and he’s bringing some old friends with him, too. But just in case you aren't, CBS have released a new teaser (see below) showcasing the return of Jeri Ryan as former Star Trek: Voyager crew member Seven of Nine, whose last appearance in the franchise came in Voyager’s final episode back in 2001.
