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WHY ‘SPIDER-VERSE’ SUCCESS MAY BE A HEADACHE FOR SONY — AND CINEMAS
As June 2023 draws to a close, it is evident that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has dominated the summer box office, overshadowing other releases such as Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” Pixar’s “Elemental,” and Warner Bros.’ DCEU film “The Flash.” The sequel to the popular animated web-slinger film is set to release as “Beyond the Spider-Verse” in March 2024.
Despite a modest turnout for “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” it has not been able to sustain the audience interest and repeat success of “Across the Spider-Verse,” which reclaimed the No. 1 spot during the weekend of June 23. With the critical and commercial triumph of “Across the Spider-Verse,” surpassing the first film’s box office in just two weekends and amassing over $550 million globally, the next installment in the “Spider-Verse” franchise appears poised to capitalize on this momentum for an even more impressive theatrical run.
However, reports have surfaced regarding troubling working conditions during the production of “Across the Spider-Verse.” Several animators alleged unsustainable work environments, leading to the departure of approximately 100 team members prior to the film’s completion. The erratic management style of producer Phil Lord was primarily cited as a contributing factor.
Moreover, one animator claimed that the scheduled March 2024 release date for the sequel might need to be pushed back, an assertion neither confirmed nor denied by Sony Pictures. Long working hours and frequent changes to the visual style and animation sequences were cited as reasons for the grueling conditions, reminiscent of the constant crunch faced by video game developers, where delays are common for projects of similar scale to the “Spider-Verse” movies.
Following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, studios aimed to minimize calendar shifting caused by theater closures. However, the ongoing WGA strike has triggered substantial delays, potentially affecting Sony’s film slate. To maintain its annual box office performance, Sony will rely on “Beyond the Spider-Verse” staying on track for its early 2024 release, as it is expected to contribute significantly.
Should “Spider-Verse” miss its March 2024 window, it will highlight the challenges faced by cinemas, seeking films that can sustain interest beyond their opening weekends, particularly during quieter periods of the year.
“They were asking Christian Bale for months and months”: Christian Bale Refused to Return as Batman in DCU After His MCU Debut as Gorr The God Butcher
Christian Bale is an immensely talented and highly regarded actor in the entertainment industry. His dedication to his craft is widely recognized. Throughout his career, he has portrayed several iconic characters, but his portrayal of Batman is particularly noteworthy. Bale brought a new level of intensity and gravitas to the beloved superhero of Gotham City. Although he last played the role in 2012, fans and the production team have long desired his return. However, it appears that Bale has chosen to pursue other endeavors.
Gen Z ‘Barbie’ fans slammed for calling Ryan Gosling too ‘old’ to play Ken
He’s plastic, and according to Gen Z, he’s not so fantastic.
“[R]yan gosling is too old to be playing ken i’m sorry his wrinkles are taking me out of the experience,” one fan said
“I like Ryan Gosling but idk [I don’t know] why he looks a little too old and dry. Not sure if it’s because of the hair or tan but he needed some moisturizer,” .
Another fan had scathing commentary about “The Notebook” and the “Drive” star’s appearance. “Ryan Gosling is too ugly and too old to be playing ken, they should’ve casted henry cavill or chris evans bye,”.
Another fan tentatively wondered if voicing this opinion would get them canceled. “Heeeey so um will saying ‘ryan gosling looks too old to be playing ken’ get somebody cancelled???? asking for a friend,”
One fan on TikTok even called Gosling, “Grandpa Ken.”
Gosling is 42 while Robbie is 32.
The “Barbie” movie’s tone looks like it will lean towards comedy and absurdity, with the trailer highlighting how Barbie and Ken don’t know what sex is. In the trailer, when Gosling’s Ken suggests that he and Margot’s Barbie go home together because they are “girlfriend and boyfriend,” she looks confused, asking what they would do. Ken pauses and replies, “I’m actually not sure.”
The Greta Gerwig movie’s marketing is also leaning into the running gag that Barbie dolls have a wide range of occupations such as a president and a doctor, while Ken dolls are always “just Ken,” which has spawned countless
Fans reactions :
Plenty of staunch Gosling defenders took up arms against Gen Z’s notion that he’s too “old” and “wrinkled” to play Ken.
“i would still choose 96 year old haggard ryan gosling as ken over anyone else,” .
“Gen Z saying Ryan Gosling is too old to be Ken and calling him ugly ?? have y’all lost your minds,”.
“i genuinely don’t think ryan gosling is ugly at all and that’s why all this discourse is making me mad,”
“like he’s kinda old looking, but ugly he is NOT. you guys are LYING.”
Other fans dug into the Barbie doll lore to explain why Gosling is the right Ken.
“I don’t understand how people are saying Ryan Gosling looks too old in the Barbie movie like … this is a 50-year-old man,” one fan said, .
Another fan had an in-universe explanation: “…. i don’t get the ryan gosling is too old thing. one of the running jokes in dreamhouse was that barbie is an older woman but no one knew how old,”
referring to the animated web series, “Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse” and its Netflix continuation, “Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures.”
‘The Flash’ Director Won’t Recast Ezra Miller in a Potential Sequel: No One ‘Can Play That Character as Well as They Did’
Ezra Miller will continue being the Flash as long as director Andy Muschietti is involved in the Warner Bros. superhero franchise. During an interview on “The Discourse” podcast, Muschietti said he has no plans to recast Miller despite the actor’s history of legal troubles and alleged abuse.
“If happens, yes,” Muschietti said about having Miller back as the Flash. “I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did. The other depictions of the character are great, but with this particular vision of the character, they just excelled in doing it. And, as you said, the two Barrys “feels like a character that was made for them.”
“The Flash” producer Barbara Muschietti added, “In principal photography, Ezra was brilliant and the most committed and the most professional. Ezra gave everything for this role “ physically, creatively, emotionally. They were absolutely supreme.”
Miller was cited in Vermont with felony burglary last year. In 2020, the actor made headlines after a recording surfaced in which they appeared to be choking a woman outside of a bar in Iceland. No charges were filed. The actor was also arrested twice in Hawaii in 2022, once for disorderly conduct and harassment. In the Hawaii incidents, Miller pled no contest to a single count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid a $500 fine and $30 in court costs. The harassment charge was dismissed.
Variety exclusively reported last August that Miller was seeking treatment for “complex mental health issues” after going “through a time of intense crisis.”
“I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior,” Miller said in a statement at the time. “I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe, and productive stage in my life.”
Given that Muschietti’s “The Flash” was developed and filmed under the previous leadership at DC Studios, it’s unclear whether or not the Miller-starring tentpole will get a sequel or not (surely big box office grosses will help). James Gunn and Peter Safran are now in charge of DC Studios, but their first slate announcement did not include any word on a second go-around for Miller’s The Flash. Gunn has already hyped the film by calling it “one of the greatest superhero movies” ever made, while Safran has said that Miller’s future as the Flash depends on their continued recovery.
“Ezra is completely committed to their recovery,” Safran said in January. “And we are fully supportive of that journey that they’re on right now. When the time is right, when they feel like they’re ready to have the discussion, we’ll all figure out what the best path forward is. But right now, they are completely focused on their recovery. And in our conversations with them over the last couple of months, it feels like they’re making enormous progress.”
Warner Bros. unveiled “The Flash” in its entirety at CinemaCon in April. The tentpole earned strong first reactions from journalists in attendance. Andy Muschietti told the press at the event, “Ezra is well now. We’re all hoping that they get better…They’re taking the steps to recovery. They’re dealing with mental health issues, but they’re well. We talked to them not too long ago, and they’re very committed to getting better.”
“The Flash” production designer Paul Austerberry said earlier this month that most moviegoers would “forget” Miller’s history by the time the movie opened, thus it wouldn’t be a concern for the movie’s opening.
“The Flash” opens in theaters nationwide on June 16 from Warner Bros.
Death Note Season 2: Confirmed Release Date, Plot, Cast and everything to know!
Despite the abundance of suspenseful anime, none have ever come close to living up to the high standards set by Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Witnessing such a sombre depiction of anime was both shocking and remarkable. The enigmatic story of Light Yagami’s effort to establish a world free of criminals was unfortunately tainted by the blood of innocent people. Given that the anime hasn’t received a follow-up since 2007, what are the possibilities of Death Note: Season 2?
Sadly, neither Studio Madhouse nor Ohba have made an official announcement on Death Note: Season 2. The 37 episodes of the anime were adapted from all 12 volumes of the manga, concluding Light’s journey.
Death Note Season 2 Announcement
We have been looking forward to the sequel for so long. Many people think that a sequel to Death Note is currently in production. Sadly, there has still been no formal confirmation of the existence of an anime sequel.
The anime’s 108 chapters from the manga are collected in 12 tankbon volumes. The anime rendition has already largely exhausted the source material.
Released in February 2020, the stand-alone “Death Note: Special One Shot” was written by Ohba and drawn by Obata. The standalone was set 10 years after Kira’s events and offered a brand-new narrative to the series. It may make a fantastic place to begin a prequel anime.
Where to Watch Death Note Season 2
Since its release in 2007, the anime has been accessible on all significant streaming platforms including Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Netflix. There is a considerable likelihood that Death Note: Season 2 will be made available on all of the aforementioned platforms because of the high degree of audience demand. Expect to see it almost everywhere as a result.
The second season of Death Note is yet to premiere, despite the fact that the original anime aired more than 10 years ago. Regardless, the 2020 one-shot does appear to be a good lead for a sequel, thus based on our assumptions, the franchise will return soon.
Death Note Season 2 Plot
Light Yagami, the original protagonist of the anime, has since passed away. If the new one-shot gets adapted, Minoru Tanaka, the next possessor of the Death Note, will be presented.
Ryuk will be shown handing Minoru the Death Note in an effort to make him just as intriguing as Light. But rather than continuing Light’s legacy, he devises a plan to put the item up for sale.
Death Note Season 2 Cast
In any potential “Death Note” prequel or sequel (see below), Light (Mamoru Miyano/Brad Swaile) and L (Kappei Yamaguchi/Alessandro Juliani) would have to function without them as main characters, so it’s likely that only a small number of characters and their original voice actors would be requested back for such a series.
The most probable character to return is the immortal Ryuk, who was voiced by Shidô Nakamura in the anime’s original Japanese version and Brian Drummond in the English translation (per IMDb). The voices of Near, originally sung by Noriko Hidaka, and Mello, originally sung by Nozomu Sasaki in the original Japanese and David Robert Moore in the English dub, have both been retained.
A completely new cast of characters or a spotlight on one of the living cast members from the first season are both possibilities for an anime sequel. There is at least two manga that has previously done this: Death Note: Another Note – The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, which is told by Mello, and Death Note: The a-Kira Story, which notably involves Ryuk and Near.
Death Note Season 2 Release date
Death Note: Season 2 has not yet been given a release date, and its production has not been made public. A movie or anime adaptation of the 2020 one-shot Death Note: The a-Kira Story is also possible.
There is still hope because Ohba did publish a post-anime narrative in 2020, even if it is difficult to predict whether the Death Note universe will ever be brought back.
Will there be The Batman 2? Explained
Will there be Batman 2? We discuss whether there will be a sequel to Matt Reeves’ The Batman and whether it will include the Joker and Robin.
The Batman wowed audiences and critics when it was released in 2022, with Robert Pattinson donning the cape and cowl as Batman and Bruce Wayne, or, as he referred to himself throughout the film, “Vengeance.” The film took a much darker tone and didn’t force audiences to sit through another Batman origin story, catching our protagonist in the second year of his vigilantism.
The door was left wide open for a sequel by the film’s end, with only one of the three major villains dying and Gotham still flooded. Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t wait long to confirm that a second film was in development, but details about it are still sparse over a year on.
Is there going to be The Batman 2?
A sequel for The Batman was announced at CinemaCon in 2022, and it managed to survive James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC reboot.
James Gunn confirmed that the title, The Batman – Part II, will be released in cinemas on October 3, 2025.
2025 will be a big year for DC, as James Gunn-directed Superman: Legacy will hit cinemas earlier in the year, kicking off the first film for the first chapter of Gods and Monsters.
Will Robert Pattinson be in The Batman 2?
Robert Pattinson will be returning as Batman in The Batman – Part II. He is the only cast member to be confirmed to be in the film at the time of writing, but other likely returns are Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis as Catwoman, Jim Gordon, and Alfred, respectively.
Other cast members that might return are Barry Keoghan’s Joker, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot.
Will The Batman 2 be about Joker?
At the end of The Batman, the Riddler found himself in prison with a man laughing a familiar maniacal laugh. Of course, this was the Joker. This is definitely a tease for a future with the character, so it’s possible that Keoghan will play a more prominent role in the sequel.
But as there is very little known about the plot of the film at the time of writing, it’s hard to say for sure, and Reeves might decide to go in a different direction with a different villain and pick up the Joker tease in a future film or a spin-off show.
Who will be Robin in The Batman 2?
Not a lot of details have been released about the second Batman film in Reeves’ DC Elseworlds story, but since it’s confirmed that a Robin will be appearing in a mainline DC universe film titled The Brave and the Bold, it’s unlikely that a different Robin will be in The Batman – Part II as well.
There will already be two Batmen running around at the same time. It would be confusing if Robin were to double up too. Though there are multiple characters that take on the role of Robin, it’s possible that Reeves will pull a different version from the comics.
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