Movie News Roundup - 07.04.18

As another week goes by, another week of news follows and I know, this roundup is going up a little later than scheduled but I did say that this would happen. As promised, I will be covering any news that grabbed my attention over the course of the week following the previous Movie News Roundup right up to the time of writing. So let's get on with the news.  

Krasinski Would Be Up For Fantastic Four With Emily Blunt

                          

Ever since the release of Blade in 1998, the world has been graced by the presence of the Marvel logo in front of many films and fans of the comic book company have been able to see their favourite characters such as Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine adapted to both the big and small screen to great success. However, one group of characters that have not had the same experience of success on the big screen is the Fantastic Four but now, we may be getting closer to see that become a reality. There have been three attempts at bringing Marvel's first family to the big screen and none of them have had much success with critics or audiences. In fact, the most recent attempt to bring the Four to the big screen in the 2015 is largely believed to be the reason why Marvel cancelled the actual comic series. 

Right now, we really don't know what may happen with the Fantastic Four movie rights as 20th Century Fox are the current owners of the property, however with the Disney/Fox deal currently in the process of being approved it is uncertain whether or not Disney will gain the rights. The news of the merger has given fans of Marvel's first family a new ray of hope that they will soon see a great movie with the Fantastic Four, with the icing on top of the cake being that they will become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

                           

It has been recently been announced that the Fantastic Four will be returning to Marvel comics after their hiatus. This has led to a lot of people speculating that the Fantastic Four are already back at Marvel and that they will headline a film during Phase 4 which is why we haven't heard any confirmation of any Phase 4 films aside from the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. While that sounds very appealing and I would love that to be true, I really doubt that is what is going on at the moment. I don't think we will hear anything about the Fantastic Four entering the Marvel Universe until after the Disney/Fox merger has been approved. I think their return to the comics was all a matter of time and I think Marvel wanted to wait until the reboot film was long forgotten.

Despite all of what I just wrote, it does not mean that there cannot be any discussions about who could be our new Fantastic Four because we're going to get a new team at some point down the line whether it with Fox or Marvel. Two people who have been thrown into the ring are married couple, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. In an interview with Screenrant, Krasinski was asked if he would be open to playing Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic alongside his wife as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman and this is what he said "I would love that! I mean listen, I'm still getting into the whole superhero thing. I didn't read comics as a kid, not as many, I read some but not as much, but I'm a huge superhero fan so yeah, I'd love to do something like that. If they're are any left, a lot of these have been taken but the ones that are left, yeah, I would love to do something like that. And listen, I'd love to work with her again so any chance I got would be great." Now, I've read a lot of reports saying that he explicitly states that he wants to do Fantastic Four, when all he really says is that he would be open to doing it. I think the combination of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as Reed Richards and Sue Storm would be wonderful and a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe especially now that we've seen them work so well together in A Quiet Place. We don't know if the Marvel/Fox deal will go through but I think Marvel would have a winning team on their hands if they were to go with the couple. All they would need then would be a Human Torch and a Thing.

                 

Guillermo del Toro to Create Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Movie Label

                           

Earlier this week it was announced that Oscar winning director, Guillermo del Toro, would be heading up a new label for Fox Searchlight after their recent collaboration on The Shape of Water. Of course, the focus of this collaboration is to act as a home to new presumably low-budget Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror films. Guillermo will help shepherd this content in a deal that covers films written, directed and produced by the filmmaker. The first film to be a part of this untitled label will be 'Antlers', a story about an elementary school teacher who takes in a troubled student keeping a mysterious and deadly family secret. Directed by Scott Cooper, with a script from Nick Antosca and Henry Chaisson, the film will be produced by del Toro as a part of the deal.

In the press release announcing the deal, Guillermo said "In Fox Searchlight, I've found a real home for live action production - a partnership based on hard work, understanding of each other and, above all, faith...I am honoured to have the opportunity to continue the relationship". As you may have read in my recap of this year's Oscars, I am so happy for the success Guillermo del Toro is receiving for The Shape of Water. I think he is such a talented filmmaker and one that is very deserving of their success, so to now see that he is going to head up a new label for Fox Searchlight, I am thrilled for him. Especially considering he was originally approached by Universal to be in charge of their Monsters universe, so in my mind this is kind of Guillermo essentially doing the same thing but without being beholden to a shared universe. 

I also think this collaboration between Guillermo and Fox Searchlight speaks volumes to how well Guillermo enjoyed his experience working with the studio on The Shape of Water as I do not believe that this collaboration would have came to fruition otherwise. In my opinion, The Shape of Water is Guillermo del Toro's best film and the one that I have emotionally connected to the most. To see that this collaboration with Fox Searchlight was not a one time situation and that it is going to continue in the way that the press release suggests, I couldn't be happier as I think it brought the very best out of Guillermo and I can't wait to see what is next for the two.

                         

Star Wars: Simon Pegg Says Abrams Had Different Idea for Rey's Parents

                                

Now I find this story fascinating as I think it gives us as fans an insight to the creative direction over at Lucasfilm. So, Simon Pegg was on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast promoting Ready Player One and during the conversation the topic of Star Wars came up as he is really good friends with J.J. Abrams. Pegg revealed that he had some idea about J.J.'s ideas for Rey's parentage in the Star Wars sequels, saying that: "Well I know what J.J. kind of intended, or at least what was sort of being chucked around. I think that's kind of been undone slightly by [The Last Jedi]. I don't know (laughs)". Of course, Pegg states that he had only heard snippets of ideas that J.J. was considering about Rey's parentage and as J.J. did not intend to continue as a director in the sequel trilogy he was unable to translate his vision to the screen. However, I do find it a little hard to believe that Pegg only heard snippets of J.J.'s idea given how close the pair are, but for now that's all we have to go on. 

As we know, we got Star Wars: The Last Jedi last year and it was revealed that Rey was in fact a nobody, she's comes from no important lineage and her parents were drunk traders that abandoned Rey on Jakku when she was a little girl. From what says it sounds as though J.J. had very different plans for Rey moving forward in the trilogy which is to be expected as J.J. and Rian Johnson are two very different filmmakers. However, I do think this suggests that there is not an awful lot of communication between the filmmakers on each of the different films and that there is no plan in place over at Lucasfilm as The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are two very disparate films. Rian Johnson kind of leaped over certain plot threads that J.J. had set up in the preceding film. I didn't have much of a problem with this myself but a lot of fans did, especially with how Johnson handled Snoke and the revelation of Rey's true parentage. I think this suggests that, as we all expected when J.J. was announced to replace Colin Trevorrow on Episode 9, the concluding chapter of this trilogy would be very different from The Last Jedi.

                             

Pegg also states in the interview that "There was some talk about, you know, a kind of relevant lineage for her. But I honestly don't know, and I don't know if anybody knows. We shall see". So while Pegg suggests that he doesn't know what J.J. had planned for Rey's parentage, if there was talk about Rey having relevant lineage, then who was she intended to be related to? It's a good question and I'm sure the people who did not like how Rey's parentage was handled in The Last Jedi are now increasingly frustrated with Rian Johnson's decisions in the film. As I mentioned above, I was happy with the way that Rian handled the Rey reveal, I thought it made sense given what we knew about her character and it went against the tradition of everyone having to be related in Star Wars making Rey stand on her own two feet as an individual character. But you know, you can't please everyone and I can see the appeal of Rey being the daughter of Luke Skywalker or somehow being related to Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think the real question right now is whether or not J.J. will decide to retcon the Rey reveal in Episode 9 and continue with his original plans for the character. Only time will tell. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story to Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival

                            

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a film that has been at the forefront of a lot of discussion over  past year or so. With Phil Lord and Christopher Miller leaving the project over creative differences and the lack of any official marketing for the movie until February, the movie has been rife with critical debate and we haven't even seen the movie yet. The movie was already facing an uphill battle as a lot of people don't even want to see a Han Solo origin story, and the idea of trying to fill in the shoes of Harrison Ford is just an enormous task. On top of that, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a dividing film meaning that going into Solo, Lucasfilm and Disney are coming off of a film that turned away many fans. However, with Ron Howard taking over as the director of the film and reshooting perhaps the entire film, there is some hope that the movie will still be a fun and entertaining ride.

Admittedly, I would loved to have seen Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Han Solo movie, even if it was a failure as I am a fan of their work and it would have been something very unique in the Star Wars universe as I read that their take may have been very self-aware. However, as we are not getting their movie I am still excited to see what Ron Howard and Lucasfilm have in store for us, and we now know when we will hear whether Solo sticks the landing as it has been announced that the film will be premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, over a week before the film is released. Cannes is a world renowned film festival that is known to exhibition high quality content, and it marks the third time a Star Wars film has premiered at the festival following Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

                           

While this doesn't necessarily mean that the film will be a hit, I do think it shows that Disney has some confidence in the project as the festival is known for audiences walking out of films and booing projects, including projects that has gone on to critical acclaim. In the age of social media audiences are becoming increasingly more aware of the critical consensus of films, so by premiering Solo: A Star War Story at Cannes, Disney is putting the film in the spotlight of the critical eye. Depending on how the audience at Cannes reacts to the film, Solo could either highly benefit from the premiere or be severely hurt by it as audiences may decide not to see the film in cinemas. After the divided reaction of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm and Disney are in need of a film that can sweep away the negative reaction to Star Wars and Solo: A Star Wars Story may be it. Perhaps this premiere is a sign of Disney's confidence in the film? We'll soon find out. 

Small Talk

                           

Now it's time for the quick rundown for a few news stories that I thought you guys should know about from over the week. 

Doctor Strange Writer Confirms Plans For Nightmare as Sequel's Villain
John Boyega Says He's Talked With Marvel About MCU Role

Star Wars 9: John Boyega Hints Rey & Finn Won't Be Separated
'Star Trek 4': Multiple Screenplays Possibly in Development
James Gunn Wrote Infinity War For The Guardians
Black Panther Cracks Top 10 Highest-Grossing Films Worldwide
Steven Spielberg Open to Making Next Indiana Jones a Woman
James Bond Movie Rights Could Be Part of MGM Studio Sale
Matt Reeves' The Batman Isn't About the Death of Jason Todd
Mark Hamill on Recasting Leia For Star Wars 9: Carrie Fisher is 'Irreplaceable'
First Look At BBC's War of the Worlds As Filming Begins

                         

Hope you all enjoyed this edition of the Movie News Roundup. There were not necessarily any huge stories that came out this week but these were just the few that stood out to me. You can follow me on Twitter @DBanksy and I shall be back next week for another round of the Movie News Roundup.