…Moving on to Fox now, and this week has brought us some new images from the studio’s next X-offering Logan, one of which sees Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine gearing up to take down some bad guys [see here], and the other revealing that Richard E. Grant is playing the character of ‘Rice’, who is presumably Dr. Xander Rice, one of the people responsible for creating Wolverine’s young female clone X-23 [see here]…
…Fox’s future plans for the X-Men franchise are a little up in the air at the moment, with the studio recently adding several new release dates for Marvel movies, despite the fact they’re yet to actually start moving forward with any. Well, it seems that is all about to change, as it has been reported this week that the next mutant superhero movie will begin production in Montreal in May, with pre-production set to begin in January. We don’t know for sure which movie it will be, but Josh Boone – who has spent the past year and a half developing a New Mutants adaptation – took to Twitter following the news to tease “New X-Men film set to start shooting May… Hmmmm, what movie could it be..?”
…Fox does have one project firmly on its slate (although its yet to receive a release date) in Deadpool 2, and Ryan Reynolds has been chatting about the sequel to the R-rated hit, which is now being directed by David Leitch (John Wick): “That’s the biggest mandate going into on the second film: to not make it bigger. We have to resist the temptation to make it bigger in scale and scope, which is normally what you do when you have a surprise hit movie. It has to be tonally and stylistically be as fresh and original. That’s a big challenge especially because they had ten years to gestate on the first movie and we don’t have that kind of time on the second movie. One of the things that David Leitch does that very few filmmakers can do these days is they can make a movie on an ultra tight minimal budget look like it was shot for 10-15 times what it cost.” As for when we might expect to hear more news, Reynolds replied: “We’re just in the development stage but we’re about to move into production.”
…Meanwhile, Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has also thrown her hat in the ring for a role in the sequel, while outgoing director Tim Miller spoke about his departure for the first time, dismissing the rumours that it was down to his plans for the movie and a disagreement over the casting of Cable: “I just want to say one thing to the geek audience out there, because it’s important to me what the geeks and nerds of the world think because they are my brothers and sisters,” said Miller. “I didn’t want to make some stylized movie that was 3 times the budget. If you read the internet — who cares, really? But for those of you who do, I wanted to make the same kind of movie that we made before because I think that’s the right movie to make for the character. So don’t believe what you read on the internet. I wanted to do the same thing [as the first movie]. Kyle Chandler was not going to be Cable. All this stuff that I read kind of kills me.” Miller also wished Fox well with the sequel, and you can read the rest of his comments here…
…FX has announced that Marvel’s upcoming X-Men-themed TV series Legion is set to premiere on the network on February 8th 2017; the show, which stars Dan Stevens as David Haller (who, in the comic books at least, is the son of Professor Charles Xavier), also received a new trailer to coincide with the news [watch it here], along with five promos, which you can watch here…
…It’s been a very quiet week in the DC Extended Universe this week, but we did get a couple of featurettes for the extended cut of Suicide Squad [watch them here], along with some concept art showing alternate costume and tattoo designs for Harley Quinn and The Joker [see here], as well as an Honest Trailer for the DC supervillain ensemble [watch it here]…
…It’s been announced this week that Zack Snyder will take a break from the DCEU to direct the war drama The Last Photograph. As part of the report, it’s been revealed that while Snyder is still attached to direct Justice League 2, the sequel has been pushed back from its originally planned June 14th 2019 release date in order to make room for Ben Affleck’s The Batman. As yet, there’s still no word whether The Batman will take the June 2019 slot, nor when we can expect to see Justice League 2 arriving in cinemas…
…With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story set to open around the globe this Friday, Zack Snyder has shared his own fan-made DC/Star Wars mash-up, recutting the trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with a tonne of Star Wars references. Be sure to watch Dark Side Knight v Superjedi: Dawn of the Alliance here…
…Following Supergirl’s midseason finale last week, The CW’s other three DC shows aired their final episodes before the winter break this week; be sure to read Jessie Robertson’s reviews of The Flash’s ‘The Present’, Arrow’s ‘What We Leave Behind’, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s ‘The Chicago Way’…
…We’ll be getting a new DC television show in early 2017, with NBC announcing that its workplace comedy Powerless will premiere on February 2nd as part of the network’s midseason schedule. Here’s the updated synopsis for the show: “In a world where humanity must cope with the collateral damage of Super Heroes and Super-Villains, Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens) begins her first day as Director of Research & Development for Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises that specializes in products that make defenseless bystanders feel a little safer. Full of confidence and big ideas, Emily quickly learns that her expectations far exceed those of her new boss (Alan Tudyk) and officemates, so it will be up to her to lead the team toward their full potential and the realization that you don’t need superpowers to be a hero…”
…And finally, with 2016 winding down, it won’t be long until the 2017 superhero season gets underway, and this coming year Warner Bros. will kick things off with the animated offering The LEGO Batman Movie, which opens on February 10th. This week brought us a new IMAX poster for the film featuring Batman, Robin and Batgirl [see here], as well as some official promotional images of LEGO’s tie-in clocks and minifigure watches [see here].
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.
