MarvelBlog News for June 18th, 2023
Some stories prove predictable, and that’s the case with the latest edition of MarvelBlog News.
Frankly, we saw this update coming a mile away.
Marvel Resets the Table
Photo: Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, the corporate owner of all things Marvel, has entered uncharted territory.
Disney will shatter its record for revenue during fiscal 2023. It’s currently pacing for $90.7 billion after earning $82.7 billion for fiscal 2022.
This fact may surprise you, as Disney has faced a plethora of negative headlines over the past 15 months or so.
Photo: Disney
The company’s margins have decreased slightly as Disney pays for its Fox acquisition and recovers from the pandemic’s financial setbacks.
Simultaneously, Disney has faced a ridiculous battle with Florida, a state where it’s figuratively the golden goose of tourism.
In Hollywood, the Writers Guild of America strike came at an unfortunate time, as Disney faced several setbacks with its release schedule.
Source: Marvel Studios
Also, Disney has experienced a stunning batch of headlines due to two of its most recent hires.
Tenoch Huerta, who portrayed Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, faced a stunning allegation this past week.
María Elena Ríos, a musician and activist, accused Huerta of being a “violator and sexual predator.”
Source: María José Alvarado Burgos/ Marvel
I should add that Heurta has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms. Even so, this must feel like déjà vu all over again at Marvel.
The studio was already facing a dilemma with Jonathan Majors, the star of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the upcoming Loki season two.
Photo: Marvel Comics
A former acquaintance of Majors accused him of acts of violence. While nobody has commented yet, rumors persist that Majors won’t return to the MCU.
Similarly, Marvel must investigate the Huerta situation and choose how to proceed.
Source: Marvel/ Funko
The studio obviously had big things planned for the character of Namor. Now, Marvel may need to recast this role as well.
Marvel’s Precarious Situation
Source: Marvel
What I’m about to discuss next pales in comparison with these criminal allegations against two noted actors.
Still, Marvel faces other challenges as well. For example, the Blade project has proved disastrous.
Photo: Marvel’s Midnight Suns Twitter
Before Disney ever got involved, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. created a trilogy of Blade films starring Wesley Snipes.
When Marvel planned an MCU addition of Blade, everything fell apart, which is odd because the studio nailed the casting.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Shutterstock
Two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali has already proven his Marvel skills in Netflix’s Luke Cage.
Ali would be an ideal Blade…if Marvel could just get someone to write a decent script. It’s been an ongoing issue for four years now.
Source: Marvel Studios
The latest disaster last year caused Kevin Feige and his team to tear up the old script and start from scratch with new talent behind the camera.
Frankly, Marvel needed to delay this project, but I suspect they feared Ali might walk if that happened.
Mahershala Ali. Photo: IMDb
So, everyone pushed forward on a rushed production until the writer’s strike gave the studio an out. And that’s the big story this week.
At the end of the month, the actors could join the writers on the picket line. A previously written script can theoretically still film.
Source: Marvel/ Marvel Studios
Nobody can produce anything without actors, though. We’re looking at an extended Hollywood shutdown if/when the actors strike.
Marvel has already faced difficulties with strike teams of writers disrupting the filming for projects like Daredevil: Born Again.
Source: Marvel Studios
More of that would create a high-stress summer. For this reason, Disney has done what it needed. It just updated its release schedule.
Let’s Talk about the Marvel Date Changes
Source: Marvel Studios/ Marvel
Last week, Disney announced a title change for its fourth Captain America story.
Captain America: Brave New World was supposed to debut in May 2024.
Disney has shown some surprising optimism here, as the Sam Wilson film is still aiming for a July 2024 release. I’m… skeptical.
Source: Marvel
Should the actors join the writers in striking, Disney will likely delay this film again. But it does have some wiggle room.
I say this because Brave New World takes the former release date for Thunderbolts, which has pulled back until December 2024.
Theoretically, Disney can slot Captain America 4 anywhere in that gap from July through December as needed.
Photo: Monogram International, Inc.
However, studios prefer to release titles in the summer, early November, or December. It’d take a lot for Disney to move away from that strategy.
Notably, Disney took a different approach with Deadpool 3. This film has moved up to May 2024 to replace Brave New World.
Source: Fox/ Marvel
I don’t want to speculate wildly here, but I can’t help but wonder whether Ryan Reynolds’ creativity and ad-libbing make this move possible.
Among the various movies filming right now, Deadpool 3 strikes me as the best positioned to overcome the lack of a writer onset.
Of course, that opening may look ridiculous in a year, but Reynolds’ wit helps a lot here.
Source: @VancityReynolds
With Blade, Disney used the writer’s strike as cover to delay the film until early 2025. Frankly, the project needed that gap. It’s still a mess.
With Blade in February 2025, Disney finally settled on May 2025 for Fantastic Four.
Source: Marvel Studios
Most analysts expect Marvel to announce the cast for this project at Comic-Con next month.
The project will need to start filming almost immediately after the strike ends to make that date. Marvel must have everything ready.
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Featured image: Marvel
