In the second episode of TEN's Weekly Round-Up, our top stories are: Jurassic World 2 has been officially announced with first details being whose on-board for the sequel! Also, a heck of a lot of comic-book movie news including Channing Tatum leaving Gambit, Chris Pine joining Wonder Woman and Night Nurse popping up in Doctor Strange?! Plus, this week's new releases Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Vacation starring Ed Helms! It's been a busy week!
After being in negotiations for some time, the news broke earlier today that Chris Pine has officially joined the upcoming Wonder Woman solo movie in the role of Steve Trevor. Trevor has been a big part of many Wonder Woman stories since the Amazonian character debuted back in 1941, however recently the character was given a new lease of life in DC's rebooted New 52 comic-book universe.
In the New 52, Trevor was given a much more integral role than he'd seen in some time and the movie interpretation of the character will likely be based on this incarnation. This casting is fantastic news for Chris Pine, who is coming off a string of box office disappointments that includes Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Horrible Bosses 2 and even Star Trek Into Darkness to some extent. A role in this high profile property should help Pine get his career back on track, while also acting as a safety net for him as the role of Steve Trevor will likely land him parts in multiple DC movies.
Wonder Woman is being directed by Patty Jenkins, who also directed the Oscar-winning film Monster starring Charlize Theron, and will be released in 2017.
A shocking rumour surfaced earlier today as a report published on TheWrap suggested that Channing Tatum was planning to leave the upcoming Gambit movie that he has been attached to for many months now. While it should be stressed that this is a rumour and has not been confirmed by any credible source at the time of writing, if this is true it could be a damning loss for the upcoming spin-off film.
Gambit was planning to start shooting this October and so Tatum's potential drop-out is coming very late in the game. Additionally, if this rumour is to be believed it's a rather surprising decision for the actor to make after he has publicly displayed much enthusiasm for playing the character since being confirmed for the role. At the time of writing, neither 20th Century Fox, nor Tatum's representatives have given comment.
Tatum's casting received a mixed reaction from fans, with this reporter being undecided as to whether or not he's a good fit for the role. TEN will update this story as it develops.
At this year's Television Critics Association, Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight revealed some arguably quite disappointing news about Rosario Dawson's character in the popular Netflix series. While it had been assumed by many fans that Dawson was playing the Marvel Cinematic Universe interpretation of comic-book character Night Nurse, this appears not to be the case.
Indeed, DeKnight revealed that while Dawson's character Claire Temple was originally intended to be Night Nurse, this decision was blocked by Marvel's feature film branch who DeKnight explains, "had plans for her down the road." This has led many to speculate that the character may appear in the upcoming Doctor Strange film starring Benedict Cumberbatch, as Strange and Night Nurse have crossed paths on numerous occasions in the comics.
Meanwhile, it is no secret that Marvel Studios have been in talks with Rachel McAdams in recent weeks as they wish for her to take the female lead in Strange's cinematic debut. Could it be that McAdams will be playing the Night Nurse role originally intended for Rosario Dawson?
Personally, I find this news a little disappointing. In my opinion, Rosario Dawson is a superior actor to McAdams, and I would have loved to see her crossover into the Marvel movies. Not only would this lead to her character getting more exposure, but also it would be a clear sign of Marvel trying to integrate their Netflix series' into the wider universe they have created. With this reveal, it seems like quite the opposite has happened and that Dawson has effectively been sidelined.
Still, it is important to remember that this is all rumour and speculation at the moment, and there's still a good chance that Night Nurse won't appear in the upcoming Doctor Strange film. Plus, there is some good news for Daredevil fans as Rosario Dawson has been confirmed to be returning for Daredevil: Season 2, which will première sometime next year. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange will hit theatres on November 4th 2016; the film will be directed by Sinister's Scott Derrickson and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton.
The long-awaited second season of The Entertainment Network's Box Office Report is finally here, and the season première can be watched right now! Embedded below is the latest episode which talks all about Ant-Man's second week at number one, Pixels being a box office flop, and Paper Towns and Terminator Genisys being big disappointments...
On Thursday, to the surprise of literally no one, Universal Studios announced that they were working on a sequel to this summer's mega-hit Jurassic World. The film as now made over $1.5 billion worldwide making it the third highest-grossing film of all time, recently surpassing 2012's The Avengers.
No plot details have been released as of yet, but both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have been confirmed as returning for the fifth instalment of the franchise. Colin Trevorrow, who directed Jurassic World has said on numerous occasions that he would not direct a sequel and so far he seems to be sticking to his word. However, Trevorrow will still be involved in the production of the new film, as he is currently penning the script with writing partner Derek Connolly.
The Jurassic World sequel has been slated for release on June 22nd 2018, meaning it could face opposition from similar monster flick Godzilla 2 which will be released two weeks before.
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What are your thoughts on Jurassic World and its upcoming sequel? Let us know in the comments section!
This week, The Entertainment Network debuts its latest web-show: The Weekly Round-Up. This show, which will be produced every Friday will be a quick catch-up on the biggest news stories of the week in the world of entertainment.
This week, Ant-Man's reviews and box office performance are discussed. Also on this week's episode you can find the latest news about Jurassic World's record breaking box office run, and find out just how bad Adam Sandler's Pixels really is.
The video is embedded below if you want to give it a try (we hope you do!), also below is a transcription of the episode.
Let us know any feedback you have on our new show in the comments section!
TRANSCRIPTION:
What’s up folks, it’s me David and this is The Entertainment Network’s weekly round-up, a place for you to catch-up on the week in entertainment.
Let’s kick things off this week with Ant-Man, the Marvel film that was in development hell for years finally saw a release this week, and according to review aggregate site Metacritic has had generally positive reviews. Thank. Goodness.
The film had been the subject of much concern ever since fan-favourite director Edgar Wright – the man behind such films as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – left Marvel Studios and the Ant-Man project after working on it for eleven years blaming “differences in their vision of the film.” This led to many assuming that corporate interference was going to ruin Ant-Man in the same way it ruined Spider-Man 3, the Amazing Spider-Man 2, and many other projects that don’t feature Spider-Man in the title role.
Fortunately, this appears not to be the case; while the film hasn’t pleased everyone and certainly has its critics, the majority of fans seem to agree that it’s a solid super-hero movie, myself included. In fact, last week on The Entertainment Network’s website I wrote a review of Ant-Man and assigned it a score of 8.2/10. I’ll put a link to my review in the video description if you have any interest in reading what I have to say, which quite frankly you may well not and I don’t blame you for a second.
Despite a reasonable amount of good press, Ant-Man’s box office performance was considered sub-par for a Marvel Studios film. Opening with a domestic weekend haul of $58 million, Ant-Man was Marvel’s lowest opening since The Incredible Hulk came out in 2008. But, that’s not to say that the film flopped; in fact, with international totals factored in it’s already made much of its budget back and will almost definitely turn a profit – the real question is just how much profit the film will make, and will that be enough to warrant the sequel that many fans are already crying out for?
In-keeping with the film finance theme, earlier this week Jurassic World became the third highest grossing film of all time taking the place that had previously been held by the first Avengers film. Jurassic World has now made over $1.5 billion, and is outdone only by the two James Cameron juggernauts Titanic and Avatar. It seems very unlikely that Jurassic World will come close to dethroning either of Cameron’s epics, but in this case third place is still a huge achievement. Jurassic World has had a generally positive reception from fans, however it has polarised some people with the film’s critics pointing to its dodgy CGI, unbelievably illogical plot developments, and sexist undertones. However, judging from these numbers it appears the majority of fans were pleased by Jurassic World and I’d be very surprised if we don’t see a sequel fast-tracked very soon.
This continues what has been a fantastic year for Universal. This is the film studio’s second billion-dollar film of the year after Furious 7 crossed the billion-dollar mark back in April.
Hitting cinemas in the United States this week, we have Paper Towns – the adaptation of John Green’s young adult novel. The last John Green adaptation, 2014’s the Fault in Our Stars was a big box office performer, and the folks at Fox 2000 will be watching closely to see if Green’s fans can create another success as they just signed a “first look” deal with the high-profile author.
Also out this week is boxing feature Southpaw; hot off the critical acclaim received by his last film Nightcrawler, Jake Gyllenhaal takes the lead role here as a successful boxer struck by misfortune who makes it his mission to redeem himself in the eyes of his loved ones. Having received mixed reviews so far it’s tough to say whether Southpaw will please anyone but Gyllenhaal’s most-dedicated fans.
Finally, the only other wide release of the week is Adam Sandler’s Pixels. I foolishly believed the film could be a return to form for the actor, given that it’s coming from the director of the first two Harry Potter films, it stars some good actors in the form of Peter Dinklage, Brian Cox and Jane Krakowski, and the trailer generated some serious buzz earlier this year. Sadly, it seems I was wrong; the reviews that have come in so far have been almost universally negative, landing the film with a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 19% at the time of writing.
That’s your round-up for this week, thank you so much for watching. I hope you’ll come back next week for another round-up and also be sure to like the video, subscribe to this channel and let me know your thoughts on this week’s top stories in the comments section below!
After years in development hell, Ant-Man finally hit cinema screens across the world last week. Not without its fair share of behind-the-scenes dramas, expectations were relatively low across the board for the film that is arguably Marvel Studios' biggest gamble to date. With that in mind, I think things turned out remarkably well; while Ant-Man is by no means perfect, it is a very enjoyable blockbuster flick and one that I'd love to see a sequel to before Avengers: Infinity War Part I hits in 2018.
Ant-Man follows the story of the (kind of) reformed criminal Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who is attempting to rebuild his life after being released from prison. This proves to be harder than first thought after he is dragged into an astonishing conflict by genius inventor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his estranged daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). Together they must stop the villainous Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from putting the dangerous Ant-Man technology into the hands of the evil organisation, Hydra!
The plot is by no means complex but it is very entertaining to watch play out. This is in part due to a fun script that was re-written by Rudd and his long-time writing partner Adam McKay, and is unsurprisingly full of funny moments as a result. Of course some of the jokes do fall a bit flat, but the majority of them land well - particularly the punchlines delivered by Michael Pena who puts in a charming and energetic performance.
In the run-up to the film's release, those involved in making Ant-Man had said that father-daughter relationships play a large role in the film, and I'm relieved to say they are handled relatively well. There are occasional moments of awkwardness, seemingly due to the fact that this film is only truly comfortable when focusing on comedy, and as a result doesn't let things get serious for very long. This isn't a terrible trait to have, but it does lead to some jarring transitions from drama back to comedy, and prevents the emotional stakes from getting too high.
On the upside, one of my biggest concerns about this film - the ageing-down of Scott Lang's daughter Cassie - who in the comics is a teenager and super-hero in her own right - was fortunately unfounded; the seven year-old Abby Ryder Fortson puts in a surprisingly strong performance. During a time when genuinely good child actors seem to be in short supply, it's always a nice surprise when a talented and charismatic young actor comes along.
That charisma also extends to the adult cast with Rudd, Lilly and Douglas all putting in memorable performances and the aforementioned Michael Pena very nearly stealing the show as Luis, the crook with a heart of gold. Corey Stoll puts in a solid performance as Darren Cross; while the character does seem a little two-dimensional, he is far more memorable than other recent Marvel villains Ronan the Accuser and Thor: the Dark World's Malekith.
Peyton Reed had some big shoes to fill after fan-favourite director Edgar Wright left the Ant-Man project in one of Marvel's biggest controversies to date. Fortunately, I feel Reed has succeeded in pulling Ant-Man back from the brink of disaster. While Reed lacks the distinctive style of Edgar Wright, he still constructs a memorable film in Ant Man, with the several Wright-esque moments paying tribute to the man who spent so many years developing this film.
Ultimately, I found Ant-Man to be a very enjoyable palate cleanser between the action-heavy Avengers: Age of Ultron and the upcoming all-star Captain America: Civil War. The smaller scale of the story helps make things more character driven, with the script finding time to establish both the main cast and supporting players, while leaving doors open for future movies in classic Marvel Studios style. Upon leaving the cinema after seeing Ant-Man, all I could think about was how I wanted to see these characters in action again - a sign that in spite of its flaws, Ant-Man has successfully established one of Marvel's stranger characters in their ever-growing cinematic universe.
After many years in development, Ant-Man finally hit cinema screens last week, and with it came not one but two after credits scenes. Both scenes are exciting glimpses into the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and definitely worth sticking around for...
The Mid-Credits Scene
The mid-credits scene was essentially spoiled by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige in the lead-up to the release of Ant-Man, and so as a result it may have lost some of the impact it could have had. That being said, it's still a very exciting first look at one of Marvel's most important characters finally getting her big screen debut: the Wasp. We saw a brief look at the original Wasp, Janet van Dyne about mid-way through the movie. But the Wasp costume revealed in this scene seems to be the one Marvel will be running with going forward.
The scene sees Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) explaining to daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), that the suit is a yet-to-be perfected prototype that was originally made with her mother in mind. When considered that Hope had been pleading to be let loose in the Ant-suit for almost the entire movie, it only makes sense that the Wasp mantle should be passed to her. The new and improved Wasp suit looked very faithful to the comic-book character, and upon seeing it Hope smiles and says, "It's about damn time." I share her sentiment exactly, and I'm sure many other Marvel fans do as well. It would have been awesome to see Hope in the Wasp suit in this film, and it's a great shame that we likely won't see the Wasp in action now for quite some time - Feige recently explained that the character doesn't appear in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War.
When we will see Lilly as the Wasp is hard to guess, but Evangeline Lilly has signed a multi-picture deal (as is standard for all stars of a Marvel movie), and so you can assume that we'll see her by the time Infinity War Part I rolls round at the very latest.
The Post-Credits Scene
The post-credits scene was actually taken directly from Captain America: Civil War, rather than being made specifically for Ant-Man. The scene sees Captain America and Falcon in an abandoned warehouse, where they have found Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier stuck in some kind of vice. They discuss what to do with him, at which point "the accords" are brought up but left suitably ambiguous. Finally, in the last seconds of the scene Falcon says: "I know a guy." The guy being referenced is presumably Paul Rudd's Ant-Man as we know the character has a role in Civil War, not to mention that Ant-Man and Falcon had a pretty awesome first encounter during the Ant-Man film.
From this scene we can assume that Ant-Man will probably be taking Cap's side during the Civil War conflict. Hank Pym shows disdain for Tony Stark multiple times during Ant-Man, and so may well advise Scott to side with Steve Rogers instead. Additionally, Cap and Falcon mention in the post-credits scene that they "can't go to Tony," suggesting that by this point in the film the team has already split in two.
For a while there it seemed like Warner Bros. weren't going to release their SDCC Suicide Squad trailer to the general public, especially when considered that at last year's convention they didn't give us a look at the Batman v Superman trailer they showed until many months later. This year however, the company seems to be using a different strategy and have officially released the trailer on their YouTube page.
I put this down to two reasons; the first is the almost universally positive response to the new Batman v Superman trailer may have spurred DC to strike while the iron's hot. Additionally, there were so many low-quality leaks of the Suicide Squad trailer flying around the Internet, that Warner Bros. probably thought if people are going to watch this trailer, it may as well be in HD.
The trailer - embedded below - is in my opinion not quite as exciting as the Batman v Superman trailer, but the film does look solid nonetheless. Featuring our first glimpse of Jared Leto's Joker, and the rest of the squad in action this trailer is sure to get people talking. Having already hit nine million views in less than 24 hours, the fan interest in this property seems undeniably strong, and has led to many claiming that Warner Bros have 'won' this year's convention.
Now I'm left hoping that the Deadpool trailer will also be released because I hear that was meant to be pretty darn impressive as well.
It's quite likely that you've already seen this trailer multiple times, but I wanted to post it here on The Entertainment Network anyway as I find myself genuinely impressed by it. When it comes to the Marvel vs DC debate I tend not to pick a side, preferring to enjoy the fruits of both publisher. That being said, I have to say I have enjoyed the Marvel movies of the past few years much more so than I have any of DC's offerings. Judging from this trailer though, that could very well change.
While I though Man of Steel was a solid if unremarkable movie, my faith in Zack Snyder is somewhat minimal due to his past disappointments (most notable among them for me being Watchmen). This trailer doesn't necessarily change that. After all, the reason Man of Steel became so divisive is because hype levels became unreasonably high after seeing the trailers. But, this trailer does make me optimistic that this could well be Snyder's best film to date.
Featuring our first glimpse of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, as well as looks at the new Batmobile and Jesse Eisenberg in action as Lex Luthor, this trailer has satisfied comic-book fans the world over - something reflected in the way it's passed 20 million YouTube hits in just two days. My only concern is that we may well have seen everything from the movie by the time it's actually released. Keep in mind, Batman v Superman is still over eight months away and yet already we've seen two trailers from the upcoming flick. By March, I worry we'll have seen perhaps too many trailers (although I'm sure some would argue there is no such thing).
Be sure to check out the trailer that everyone is talking about (embedded below for your viewing pleasure), and let us know your thoughts on the upcoming movie in the comments section below:
In exciting news for British fans of Jim Henson's iconic puppet characters, The Muppets' new TV show has found a home on UK screens; the show will première on Sky 1 this Autumn. The series, which was greenlit in May of this year, will follow the day-to-day ups and downs of the Muppet gang in a mockumentary style. The show marks the first time the Muppets have had an ongoing series on network television since 1998, when the short-lived Muppets Tonight was cancelled.
Their return to the small screen is likely a result of the most recent Muppet movie - 2014's Muppets Most Wanted - under-performing at the box office, bringing in around $85 million less than the previous film released in 2011. The show is being executive produced by Bill Prady, who has a history with the characters that dates back to 1987, and is also the co-creator of smash-hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Considering the show is in the hands of someone with both past experience and respect for the Muppet characters, I feel cautiously optimistic that this show may actually be a return to form for the iconic puppets. That being said, the world of TV is more brutal than ever meaning the Muppets won't just have critics to contend with, but also the challenge of keeping their ratings high.
Yesterday it was announced that the directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the minds behind such successful comedies as The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street, had been chosen to direct the upcoming Han Solo spin-off for Lucasfilm. The movie is to be written by Lawrence and Joe Kasdan, Lawrence being something of a Star Wars veteran having written The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and the upcoming seventh instalment. Meanwhile, Jon also has an extensive bibliography having written for the much-loved shows Freaks and Geeks and Dawson's Creek, as well as other things that don't end in "eek."
Lord and Miller had a suitably hilarious response to the news, issuing this statement:
“This is the first film we've worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with. We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us. This is a dream come true for us. And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you've loved since before you can remember having dreams at all.”
Personally, even in the very capable hands of Chris Lord and Phil Miller, I'm not sure that a standalone Han Solo film is a particularly good idea. Harrison Ford's interpretation of the character is so deeply entrenched in pop culture at this point, that it will be a difficult task finding an actor with just as much charisma as Ford had in his prime. Additionally, there is also the risk of the character of Han Solo becoming less popular and respected as a result of delving too deeply into his past, something Darth Vader suffered from after his early adventures were chronicled in the prequel trilogy.
That being said, if Lord and Miller can bring the wit and heart that they've brought to their previous projects, there's a good chance they might just pull this off.
Yesterday, marvel.com made the announcement that actor Elodie Yung had been cast as Elektra in the upcoming second season of Netflix original series Daredevil. Yung's previous work includes 2013's G.I Joe: Retaliation and David Fincher's American remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The character, who was briefly referenced in the first season of the show, has a huge role in the Daredevil mythos and is an iconic Marvel character in her own right. Her previous live-action appearance was in the 2005 film Elektra where she was portrayed by Jennifer Garner; the film was a critical and commercial failure, which isn't surprising considering it was a spin-off of the widely-panned 2003 Daredevil movie.
Yung joins Jon Bernthal who was recently cast as fan-favourite Marvel character The Punisher in season two of the much-acclaimed series. The question now is can the show handle the addition of these characters, especially as neither have had a successful live-action adaptation before (much to the disappointment of many Marvel fans). I'm optimistic that the people behind this excellent show can do justice to these characters; that being said I'm not familiar with Yung's previous work leaving me unqualified to speculate whether she's right for the high-profile role.
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Let us know your thoughts on this casting announcement in the comments section below!
