If you need a director to reboot James Bond and give the latest iteration of cinema's most famous spy a fresh coat of paint packed with exciting action sequences and dynamic set pieces, then history has shown that Martin Campbell is most definitely the man for the job.
Things have quietened down significantly on the Black Widow front, which may have more than a little to do with the reports making the rounds that Disney were planning to settle Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit out of court. A resolution may be nigh, but the optics haven't been great for the Mouse House.
G.I. Joe prequel spinoff Snake Eyes was only released theatrically in several major international markets including the United Kingdom yesterday, but Paramount's latest attempt to reboot the would-be franchise is already available on VOD, after the surprise call was made to send Robert Schwentke's blockbuster to on demand just 25 days after its domestic premiere.
Is it a coincidence that Bob Iger stepping down as CEO to be replaced by his namesake Mr. Chapek has coincided with both public and uncorroborated disagreements between Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Possibly, but two recent high profile incidents have led to talk that not everything is rosy at the highest levels of the all-conquering pop culture overlord's corporate structure.
We're only two episodes in, but Marvel's What If...? is already held in high regard by fans of the shared cinematic universe, with both of the installments to date generating a range of talking points thanks to some inventive and ingenious spins on events audiences have already seen unfold on the big screen.
Owen Wilson always seemed like an unlikely candidate to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but by the end of his very first scene in Loki the actor's Mobius M. Mobius had wormed his way into the hearts and minds of fans everywhere. Only a franchise as popular as the MCU could have social media users reacting in fury that we never got to see a mustachioed man in a starchy brown suit ride a jet ski before a season of time traveling multiversal television had ended, but that's how invested people are.
As arguably the single biggest and most popular movie star on the planet, it pays to be Dwayne Johnson, as evidenced by the fact the 49 year-old has topped the list of Hollywood's highest-paid talents on a regular basis. The former professional wrestler has carefully curated his personal brand to such an extent that he's a goldmine for box office dollars, professional partnerships and business ventures, and the cash keeps on rolling in.
The tabletop game may be more popular now than it's arguably ever been, but the big budget movie adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons is far from a sure thing at the box office. Blockbuster fantasy has proven to be very hit or miss with audiences, so directors Jonathan Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein will be aiming much more in the direction of The Lord of the Rings than Warcraft, with the latter losing a ton of money despite a status as the highest-grossing video game adaptation in history.
Today brought the second episode of Marvel's What If...?, and it was certainly a massive deviation from the norm. While the first installment was a relatively straightforward rehashing of Captain America: The First Avenger with Peggy Carter subbed in for Steve Rogers, the sophomore outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first foray into canonical animation tore up the rule book.
A lot of Alien and Predator fans were skeptical when Disney acquired Fox, because it was inevitable that both of the sci-fi icons would be rebooted knowing how much the Mouse House loves a franchise, leading to worries that the R-rated adventures of the extraterrestrials would be watered down for a wider audience.