…Some details have emerged this week concerning the original deal for the X-Men movie rights, with the 1993 deal between Fox and Marvel costing the studio just $2.6 million, along with 2% of ticket sales on the first X-Men movie. That means Marvel pocketed around $6 million from the deal, which has seen Fox releasing ten movies (and counting) and grossing just shy of $6 billion in box office receipts around the world. Pretty sweet deal for Fox…
…Back in January, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Pierce Brosnan sparked speculation that the former 007 was being lined up for the role of Cable in 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool 2, with subsequent reports claiming that Brosnan was indeed in talks and an announcement was expected soon. Well, according to Brosnan himself, it was all BS: “We were sitting, waiting for a plane, the three of us, and the guy said, ‘Quick, let’s get a photograph,’ and I jump in the middle and Mr. Reynolds said, ‘Let’s do Three Wise Monkeys.’ We put it out there and it went viral. It’s not true. Nothing’s come my way yet. I don’t lie. They know where to find me, it’s just fabricated…”
…With a couple of months to go until the release of Wonder Woman, the first box office predictions for the Gal Gadot-headlined solo movie are in and suggest that the film is looking at a domestic opening weekend of $83 million. Should this prove accurate, it would mean that Wonder Woman opened lower than the three previous DCEU movies Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million), Suicide Squad ($133.6 million) and Man of Steel ($116.6 million), but of course as we time and time again, tracking is often wide of the mark. In other Wonder Woman news, we have a new extended TV spot [watch it here] and batch of images [see here], while director Patty Jenkins has been talking about the inclusion of Ares as a villain, and adding comedy to the film [read what she has to say here], as well as expressing her excitement over the Joss Whedon-helmed Batgirl movie [see here]…
…Next up after Wonder Woman is of course Justice League, and Ciaran Hinds has confirmed this week that he is portraying the main villain Steppenwolf: “I never read any of those comic books as a kid. So it’s all fairly new to me. Basically they’re going to construct something, digitally, and then they will use my eyes and mouth. [Steppenwolf] is old, tired, still trying to get out of his own enslavement to Darkseid, but he has to keep on this line to try and take over worlds…”
…Nicole Kidman is gearing up for her return to the DC universe as the Batman Forever star takes on the role of Atlanna, mother of Jason Momoa’s titular superhero, in Aquaman, and the actress has been speaking about why she signed on to the project: “The reason why I love [Aquaman] is James Wan is an Australian, and I’ve followed his career since he started. He’s a really good friend of mine, and he offered to let me play Queen Atlanna. As soon as he said I could wear mother-of-pearl and be a mermaid warrior, I said I’m done. Please. If there is one thing I have to do in my life, I have to be that. Because, you’ve got to have some fun…”
…It seems up in the air at the moment whether Joe Manganiello will get to take on the role of Deathstroke in The Batman, given that the project is reportedly undergoing a page one rewrite. If it does fall through, it will be the second time Manganiello has missed out on a DC role, with the actor revealing this week that he had to pass on playing Superman in Man of Steel as HBO would not give him the time off from True Blood: “I met with Zack Snyder. I had an hour and a half long meeting with Zack, which is what was causing all the trouble. … I went ahead and met with casting, and then they all brought me over to meet Zack. I met the producers, I met with Jon Jashni and Thomas Tull at Legendary, I met everybody – everybody involved – and then finally sat down with Zack for an hour and a half and had a big conversation about the character and where it was going, et cetera. Then they called the True Blood costume shop for my measurements to build my suit and that’s what caused – that’s when it stopped.” The role did of course then go to Henry Cavill, and Snyder has this week shared the very first image of Cavill from his audition, dressed in a replica of the Christopher Reeve Superman suit; take a look here…
…DC’s Legends of Tomorrow aired its season finale this past Tuesday, and you can read Jessie Robertson’s review of ‘Aruba’ here. Meanwhile in other CW news, we’ve got official synopses for Supergirl’s eighteenth episode ‘Ace Reporter’ [read here] and The Flash’s nineteenth episode ‘The Once and Future Flash’ [read here], along with a synopsis and batch of promo images for Arrow’s nineteenth episode ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ [see here]…
…You can read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of this week’s seventh episode of Powerless ‘Emergency Punch Up’ here…
…Gotham is set to return on April 24th, and this week has seen the release of a new promo entitled ‘The Transformation Begins’ [watch it here], while we also have a synopsis and batch of promotional images for the next episode ‘How The Riddler Got His Name’ [see here]…
…Warner Bros. has released a sneak peek featurette for the DC Universe Animated Original Movie release Batman and Harley Quinn, which you can watch here. The movie will follow “the reluctant team-up of Batman, Nightwing and Harley Quinn to try and stop a global catastrophe caused by Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue, AKA the Plant-Master.” Batman: The Animated Series’ Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester will reprise their roles as Batman and Nightwing respectively, while The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch is taking on the role of Harley Quinn. Also featuring in the cast are Paget Brewster as Poison Ivy, John DiMaggio as Swamp Thing, and Eric Bauza, Rob Paulsen, Mindy Sterling, Robin Atkin Downes and Trevor Devall….
…Some 20 years after his turn as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed that he’s keen to take n another supervillain role: “Absolutely! I think all of those movies, if they’re written well, they’re entertaining. If it’s Batman or Batman and Robin, or X-Men or Spider-Man — all of them. If they’re written well, they have a great life. People enjoy them, and you can see the grosses that they make worldwide. So, yes, of course I would…”
…And finally, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have signed on to write, produce and direct an adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s superhero comic Invincible. “Invincible’s surprising, edgy, shocking, and oftentimes blood-soaked story couldn’t be in more capable hands,” he continued. “With the team of Rogen, Goldberg and Universal, I’m very confident this will be another superhero movie, in a long line of superhero movies that continues to prove that it’s a viable, thrilling genre that will keep people coming to the cinema for years to come.”
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
