Ever since breaking away from its roots as a series of popcorn flicks about illegal street racing, Universal Pictures' Fast Saga has been stacking its roster with increasingly big-name actors. In a recent interview with MTV International while promoting the franchise's latest installment, F9, perennial wheelman Vin Diesel indicated that the marquee actor he dreams of adding to the Saga's credits for the next outing, Fast & Furious 10, is Academy Award winner Dame Judi Dench.
James Gunn may not be the first director to cross the fan-drawn battle-lines between Marvel and DC comic properties – Avengers and Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon recently crossed over to complete Zack Snyder's ambitious DC team-up Justice League – but he may turn out to be the most successful, as Whedon's additions to the aforementioned pic were criticized for contradicting Snyder's tone and vision.
JD Dillard, director of Sleight and true Korean War story Devotion, has expressed interest in doing a sequel to The Rocketeer, which is now moving forward.
Natasha Romanoff's shifting allegiances have never been more conspicuous than in Captain America: Civil War, when she initially fought alongside pro-regulation advocates in support of the Sokovia Accords right up until the moment she betrayed them and allowed Steve Rogers and James Barnes to avoid capture. Naturally, she went on the run herself shortly afterwards, generously given a headstart by Stark himself, and remained underground for nearly two years before reemerging in Scotland with platinum blonde hair, fighting aliens alongside pararescue airman Sam Wilson and a bearded, shieldless Rogers in Avengers: Infinity War.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) may be experiencing an opening weekend that falls short of initial expectations, but the film is being reviewed well and boasts scores north of the 80% range on Rotten Tomatoes, and the future of the pic's title character is already secure. Psychiatrist-turned-villain-turned-vigilante Harleen Quinzel is set to appear in next year's The Suicide Squad, James Gunn's standalone sequel to David Ayer's 2016 film Suicide Squad, which Birds of Prey itself spun out of.
Despite receiving general critical praise and boasting an 80% Fresh rating and an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has opened to significantly lower box office numbers than anticipated. Initially projected to score a $50-55 million opening weekend, the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe of comic book movies grossed just $13 million domestically on its first day (including Thursday previews), prompting estimates to be downwardly adjusted to $33 million.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) premiered this weekend to critical praise, being called "a fun, madcap, and insane ride" with "highly stylized" visuals and several excellent performances on its way to earning a 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Franklin Richards, the eldest son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman and the older brother of Valeria Richards, is one of the oldest teenagers in the Marvel universe. First appearing in Fantastic Four Annual #6 all the way back in November of 1968, he's since become so powerful that he's literally created not just one but multiple entire alternate realities, including the Counter-Earth pocket universe where he concealed the many heroes believed to have perished in the Onslaught event of 1996.
The Walt Disney Company took the streaming industry by storm last November when it launched its very own in-house Disney+ streaming service, a move that saw its stock price surge almost 19% over the course of a month to a high of $153.41 per share by Thanksgiving. The entertainment juggernaut amassed nearly 29 million subscribers in just three months – some likely partaking in the seven-day free trial program and many lured in by the service's startlingly low $6.99 subscription fee (an announcement that saw the company's stock soar more than 32% over a month last April).
