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Check Out Our Merch Store!https://multiverse-news-shop.fourthwall.com/en-usd Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Marvel Television and Marvel Animation laid out the next three years of Disney+ programming at New York Comic Con, with Brad Winderbaum running the panel. Daredevil: Born Again brought most of the Defenders onstage for season three footage, and VisionQuest closed things out with a surprise screening of its first episode ahead of its two episode premiere last night. Here’s all of the announcements from the panel: Zodiac is the newly announced live action spy thriller, revealed with its official title and logo. It hits Disney+ in 2028 and begins filming in London this spring. The Hollywood Reporter notes the logo appears to hint at a SHIELD connection, and that it is one of the five shows the trade previously reported were in development. Marvel Zombies returns as a trio of two-part specials, one per year. The Winter Soldier arrives during the Halloween season of 2027, The Fist of Khonshu follows in 2028, and The Last Guardian caps it in 2029. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season two has a date, January 13, 2027, and the first poster confirms Venom is along for the ride. X-Men ’97 brought season three footage, showing where this universe stands after Apocalypse’s defeat. Deadline has published a rundown of where Skydance stands after the Warner Bros merger, sorting the slate into the pictures that are ready, the ones in the works, and the ones on fire. On the DC Studios side, that puts a number of films in early production, including Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the Deathstroke and Bane film now titled Savage Hunters, a live action Teen Titans, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman. It is the clearest look yet at how much DC is trying to move at once under new ownership. Paramount Pictures is developing a live action film set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, based on CD Projekt Red’s action adventure RPG. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is attached to produce. Universal has released the first trailer for Exorcist: Martyrs, Mike Flanagan’s reboot of the franchise. Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jacobi Jupe star, and it reaches theaters March 12, 2027. The first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has arrived, and The Hollywood Reporter reports the response has been split, ranging from the best the franchise has looked in years to complaints that it lost its soul to CGI. Netflix releases the film in theaters and IMAX on February 12, 2027. At the box office, The Social Reckoning opened well below projections at just under $9 million worldwide, while horror film Other Mommy held the number one spot with a $45 million worldwide opening. Netflix is developing a feature adaptation of Hatchet, Gary Paulsen’s 1987 young adult survival novel. Derek Cianfrance, the filmmaker behind Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, will write and direct.

Avengers: Endgame has once again reclaimed the global box office crown from Avatar, narrowly passing it with $2.9255 billion worldwide after its return to theaters. Avatar sits second with $2.9237 billion. Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage is taking aim at the franchise’s current direction. During a recent Q&A at Fan Expo Dallas, Cage said he misses when Marvel movies focused more on story, character development, and weaving together different backstories. Cage said watching talented actors put on “ridiculous outfits” only to prepare for the inevitable big fight makes it difficult not to see the MCU as “a well-funded and glorified WWE.”  Despite the shake-up at Skydance amid the Warner Bros. and Paramount merger, insiders say that James Gunn and Peter Safran are reportedly expected to remain in charge of DC Studios. Meanwhile, production on The Batman Part II has been temporarily paused as director Matt Reeves stepped away to focus on a family matter. Warner Bros. and DC Studios said Reeves has their “full support” and that they look forward to continuing the film’s journey soon.  On Tuesday it was announced that David Ellison’s Paramount completed its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, officially combining two legendary film studios, an enormous conglomeration of TV networks, two large streaming services, and multiple news organizations into one player that the mogul hopes will let him compete with the likes of Disney and Netflix, to say nothing of Amazon, Apple and Google. The new mega company will be called Skydance, dropping both of the historical names that are well-known.  Focus Features and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster have given Curry Barker‘s upcoming horror-comedy Anything But Ghosts a release date of May 7, 2027.  Warner Bros. announced last week that Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest is set for theatrical release on June 1, 2029. Owen Harris directs the film that has a script from Beau Willimon, marking the first feature film for the franchise that adapts author George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series.  Bradley Cooper has signed on to star as field commander Duke in Paramount‘s G.I. Joe movie from Danny McBride. Paramount also confirmed that G.I. Joe has been “uncoupled” from the Transformers franchise. That crossover was teased at the end of 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Sources tell Deadline that Walton Goggins is set to join Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler in Universal’s Miami Vice ’85 in a villain role.  Warner Brother's Tom Cruise led Digger opened to a disastrous $20 million dollars worldwide box office this weekend, the lowest opening for Tom Cruise in nearly 20 years. Amazon MGM's Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity took the number one spot with a $62.5 million dollar worldwide opening. Both films received C+ Cinema Scores, indicating steep drop offs coming next weekend.  Sources tell Deadline that Paramount and Hasbro Entertainment have appointed Steven Spielberg to focus on all creative aspects of the next live-action Transformers film alongside Michael Bay, who is in early talks to return as director. Michael Bay directed 5 live action Transformers films from 2007 to 2017.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Avengers: Endgame took back the number one spot at the box office this weekend, with the Endgame: Encore re-release opening to $86 million worldwide. It lands as Joe and Anthony Russo keep a tight lid on Avengers: Doomsday, telling Empire Online that Bruce Banner is certainly involved in the story revolving around Doom while declining to confirm or deny whether the Hulk appears, and adding that there are characters and actors in the film who have not been announced. That is on top of the 31 Marvel characters already confirmed for the December release. Deadline also reports that Sony has a theatrical re-release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in the works featuring new and unseen footage, including a cut scene with Rosario Dawson, though no date has been set. Lucasfilm has enlisted Jon Watts to direct the first installment of a new Skywalker saga trilogy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Watts directed the first three Tom Holland Spider-Man films and has been in this galaxy before, co-creating the Disney+ series Skeleton Crew with Christopher Ford in 2024. Simon Kinberg was previously attached as a writer on the trilogy, which would feature Daisy Ridley’s Rey in a supporting role. Nothing has been dated yet, and Star Wars: Starfighter, the Shawn Levy film starring Ryan Gosling, is still the next theatrical entry on the calendar for May 28, 2027. DC Studios has released what it is calling the final trailer for Clayface, the last big marketing push for a film that arrives October 23. James Watkins directs the horror thriller from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, with Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, a Gotham actor left disfigured by a crime boss who takes an experimental treatment that restores his looks but costs him his grip on reality. It lands at a pivotal stretch for the DCU, coming after Supergirl finished its summer run at roughly $126 million worldwide against a reported production budget north of $170 million, and with Lanterns closing out its first season on HBO Max next Sunday.  Warner Bros has made release date changes to a pair of upcoming films. DC Studios animated film Dynamic Duo is moving from June 30, 2028 to September 22, 2028, and the Chris Columbus directed untitled Gremlins film is shifting from November 19, 2027 to October 6, 2028. Elsewhere at the box office, Resident Evil stayed strong in its second weekend and is about to cross $200 million. Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson, opened to $20.3 million worldwide, though its release was limited outside the United States. A24 has dropped a full trailer for You Can See Everything, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary from Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder, and confirmed an October 16 release date. Blumhouse, Atomic Monster and James Wan have enlisted Mike P. Nelson to direct a new Saw movie. Nelson previously directed 2021’s Wrong Turn and the 2025 remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. John Goodman, Ian Alexander and Laura Bailey have joined the season three cast of HBO’s The Last of Us. Alexander and Bailey have both voiced characters in the video games, though they are not reprising those roles in live action. Prey director Dan Trachtenberg is in talks to direct an original film inspired by Sleeping Beauty at Disney, according to Deadline. The untitled project is in early development and is said to take the story in an entirely new direction. Prime Video has renewed Reacher for a sixth season just 12 days after the season four finale, marking the first time the show has received two renewals in the same year. Season four drew 66 million viewers globally in its first 28 days, topping season three. Jennifer Lawrence will star in Zach Cregger’s next film titled The Flood. Nothing is known about the plot of the film, but Warner Bros. executives call it “bold and wholly original.” The Flood is set to release August 11, 2028.

According to sources for The Hollywood Reporter, the forthcoming third season of Daredevil: Born Again will be the show’s final season. The decision comes about two months after the show’s third season wrapped filming. The move also comes as Marvel has quietly parted ways with showrunner Dario Scardapane, whose contract was up and was not renewed. The parting of ways is eyebrow-raising as it means that Scardapane is exiting the show in the middle of post-production. It has not been reported as to who will oversee the final stages of the show. The same article confirmed that Marvel has three to five live-action shows in development, and sources say it just greenlit a spy thriller referred to as the codename Zodiac. The most notable Marvel comics reference of Zodiac is tied to a criminal organization headed by a villain named Scorpio that featured villains themed to the constellations. In the comics, it was known for going head-to-head against SHIELD. According to industry insider Jeff Sneider, Mason Thames has been cast as Dick Grayson and Logan Kim has been cast as Jason Todd in the upcoming DC Studios animated film Dynamic Duo. Chris Pine has been offered the role of Batman. The animated film is yet another Batman Elseworlds project even though it will live under the DCU banner. Thames’ name will be familiar as Hiccup in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, and Kim played the character of Podcast in both Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.  Empire magazine has published several first look images at Greta Gerwig's upcoming adaptation of The Magician's Nephew from The Chronicles of Narnia. In the article, it is confirmed that Meryl Streep will voice Aslan, as well as that the film is inspired by rock operas of the 70s and 80s. The film comes to cinemas February 12, 2027, and will be streaming on Netflix beginning April 2, 2027.  Paramount has reached a settlement with California and 11 other states, clearing a major legal hurdle for its roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. As part of the deal, Paramount has agreed to produce at least 30 movies a year, invest another $1.5 billion in U.S. film production, and create a $47.5 million fund for workers affected by the merger. The deal still needs final court approval, but it essentially clears the path for Paramount and Warner Bros. to become one massive Hollywood company.  After more than a decade of false starts, Paramount is finally closing in on making a sequel to its 2013 hit World War Z. Brad Pitt is set to return to star in the feature that also has Edward Berger, the filmmaker behind All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, on board to direct.  Zach Cregger's Resident Evil opened strong at the box office this weekend with a $108 million worldwide opening, $60 million of which was made domestically. This opening is not only a best for Cregger, but it is also a best for the Resident Evil franchise.  Netflix has released a trailer for David Fincher's The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, in which Brad Pitt reprises his Oscar-winning role as the stuntman first introduced in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The film is set to premiere in Imax theaters on November 25, before hitting the streamer December 23. Alan Ritchson is in talks to star in Sony’s adaptation of its PlayStation video game property, Helldivers. The move comes after Jason Momoa exited the project in early June and would be the first time the Reacher star headlines a theatrical studio feature.  Actor John Leguizamo has been cast as a villain in Joseph Kosinski's upcoming Miami Vice '85, a film reboot of the 1980s TV show. The cast already includes Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler in starring roles.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. The X-Men roster keeps filling out, with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Asa Germann is in final talks to play Angel in Marvel Studios’ upcoming X-Men film. Germann is coming off superhero series Gen V and horror hit Scream 7, so this would be his second trip into comic book territory in as many years. Marvel has not confirmed the casting or said anything about where Warren Worthington fits into the story.  The first trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero arrived last week with Takashi Yamazaki back to direct a sequel set two years after the events of his 2023 hit Godzilla Minus One. The footage points to a fragile postwar peace giving way to a new threat, though the studio has kept the specifics of that threat under wraps. The film opens in North American theaters on November 6.  The 78th Emmy Awards were handed out Monday night, and the story of the evening was Matthew Rhys, who took lead actor in a comedy for Widow's Bay and lead actor in a limited series for The Beast in Me, making him the first male performer to win two lead acting Emmys in the same year. His show had the bigger night by volume, with Widow's Bay winning best comedy series and finishing as the most awarded program of the year at 14 trophies across the three ceremonies. The Pitt took best drama series for a second straight year alongside a lead actor win for Noah Wyle, DTF St. Louis won best limited or anthology series, and Jean Smart made history of her own with a fifth consecutive lead actress win for Hacks. Kate O'Flynn, Stephen Root, Allison Janney, Rhea Seehorn, Tom Pelphrey and Sally Field also took acting trophies, while The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won best variety series and The Traitors won best reality competition. Warner Bros.’ Practical Magic 2 opened to $30 million domestically from 4,146 theaters, ending Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s six-weekend run at number one. Spider-Man took second with $8.4 million, bringing its domestic total to roughly $935.2 million and leaving it about $1.4 million short of The Force Awakens’ all-time domestic record. Peacock has released the full trailer and first-look photos for Crystal Lake, its Friday the 13th prequel series from A24 and creator Brad Caleb Kane. Linda Cardellini stars as Pam Voorhees, and all eight episodes arrive October 15. Paramount and Skydance Sports have released the trailer for Mr. Irrelevant, a biopic about late New York Giants running back John Tuggle. David Corenswet stars and the Jonathan Levine directed film premieres over Christmas. Netflix has ordered a new take on Lonesome Dove to series, from co-showrunners Zoe Kazan and Jeb Stuart. The pair are also co-showrunners on the streamer’s upcoming East of Eden, and the Larry McMurtry novel was previously adapted into an award-winning 1989 CBS miniseries starring Robert Duvall. John Mulaney is in talks to star in a Get Smart reimagining in early development at Warner Bros., per The Hollywood Reporter. Now You See Me, Now You Don’t screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith is writing. HBO’s Harry Potter series has added a trio of cast members for season 2 which is currently in production including Rafe Spall as Arthur Weasley, Molly Hewitt-Richards as Moaning Myrtle, and Jasper Ambrose as Colin Creevey. Paramount Pictures has entered talks with Paul Feig to direct a follow up to the 2003 film The Italian Job, which starred Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton and Jason Statham. The studio is still looking for a writer.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. According to Deadline, Prime Video has cancelled Spider-Noir after one season, ending Nicolas Cage’s run as the 1930s black-and-white Spider-Man while the streamer weighs a greenlight on a different series pulled from Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters. The timing is hard to miss, since the news landed the same weekend the show walked out of the Creative Arts Emmys with a handful of wins, including cinematography, visual effects and title design, with eleven total nominations. Prime Video has not said what the next Sony Marvel  series would be, and no reason for the cancellation has been given publicly. The summer box office officially closed on Labor Day at an all-time domestic record of $4.76 billion and it was the first summer where May, June, July and August each cleared a billion on their own. Spider-Man: Brand New Day took its sixth straight weekend at number one to lead the season, and after the holiday frame it stands at $923.2 million domestically and $2.4 billion worldwide. Behind it, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey landed at $1.63 Billion, Toy Story 5 at $1.14 billion, and Focus Features’ Obsession at $509 million, with Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2 and A24’s Backrooms filling out the rest of the top seven.  Lucasfilm has announced that the original Star Wars will get its first ever IMAX release as part of its 50th anniversary re-release on February 19, 2027, screening in newly restored form at select IMAX 70mm locations. Star Wars: Starfighter follows on May 28, the anniversary weekend itself, also in IMAX 70mm, marking the first time the franchise has been presented in the format. Netflix is developing Ravenloft, a live-action series set in the gothic horror corner of Dungeons & Dragons, from writer and executive producer John August, executive producer Alfonso Cuarón and Hasbro Entertainment. It replaces The Forgotten Realms, the D&D series Netflix put into production early last year and has since been cancelled. Sony and Nintendo’s live-action video game adaptation has a title, and it is simply The Legend of Zelda. The Wes Ball directed film keeps its April 30, 2027 release date. A surprise A24 documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim premiered at Telluride this weekend and hits theaters in October. You Can See Everything was made over three years after Elizabeth Holmes allowed Fielder and his crew to profile her and her family for 34 days in her home ahead of the fraud sentence she is still serving. Obsession star Inde Navarrette is attached to star in The Waffle House Index, a sci-fi thriller package just picked up by Apple Original Films. She will also executive produce, a first for her.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Avengers: Secret Wars doesn’t seem so far away these days, especially with the surprise announcement from Deadline that A Quiet Place and Hamnet star Noah Jupe is the first to land a new, secret role in the film. We’re on the precipice of Avengers: Doomsday this December and still don’t know much about the plot, but that doesn’t mean we’re not ready to speculate!  The MCU continues to pile on record-breaking stats, with the Avengers: Endgame Encore trailer garnering 77 million views within the first 24-hours of its release. This shatters any previously held record for a re-released film trailer; that number is more than four times any other amount.  Spider-Man: Brand New Day took the number one spot at the box office again this weekend and has passed Avengers: Endgame to become the second highest grossing domestic film of all time. At number two, Ketchup Entertainment’s theatrical rescue of Warner Bros Animation’s Coyote vs. Acme hit its forecast with a very solid $15.4 million opening. 20th Century Studios’ Ridley Scott dystopian future Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, and Josh Brolin movie, Dog Stars, had a low $8 million opening off a $70 million production cost. Casper Kelly's horror comedy Buddy took the number six spot at the domestic box office with $5.36 million, a solid start for a film that was released on less than 1,800 total screens. In an interview with The L.A. Times, Ridley Scott confirmed that there is a sequel to 2017's Alien: Covenant in active development. He said the film “will pick up with David (Fassbender) creating a ‘brave new world for himself."  Tim Curry who rose to fame in Hollywood for his iconic roles in It, Clue, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show has passed away at the age of 80.  Anne Hathaway has joined the cast of Days of Thunder 2 at Paramount alongside returning star Tom Cruise. Paramount has also announced that the film will be released June 2, 2028.  HBO Max released the first full trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The series will premiere over Christmas. Showrunner Tom King confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Nathan Fillion will reprise his role of Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the DCU for the upcoming animated Mister Miracle series. Netflix has released the first trailer for East of Eden, Zoe Kazan's adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel that stars Florence Pugh. The limited series is seven episodes long and will begin streaming on October 1.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Marvel left D23 with a full X-Men cast, a Doomsday sizzle reel, and a VisionQuest trailer, but not one new Disney+ series. In the August 20 edition of What I'm Hearing, Puck’s Julia Alexander wrote that multiple live-action Marvel series are quietly in development with announcements expected soon, which cuts directly against the last few weeks of reporting that had Marvel retreating from live-action TV entirely after VisionQuest lands October 14. Worth stressing that this is a single paywalled item with no titles, no dates, and no talent attached, and Variety, Deadline, and THR have all left it alone while the aggregators and fan sites ran wild with it, loudly, with everything from a Heroes for Hire spinoff to a Defenders reunion getting floated ahead of Marvel Television's New York Comic Con panel on October 8.  While Marvel's TV plans stay stuck in rumor, DC just made one official. The Jimmy Olsen project we've been tracking for the better part of a year finally has a title, and it's The People v. Gorilla Grodd, now an eight-episode straight-to-series order at HBO Max. Jimmy Tatro is officially Grodd after months of being merely attached in reports, but the bigger get is how much of the Daily Planet came along, with Skyler Gisondo, Beck Bennett, Mikaela Hoover, and Wendell Pierce all reprising from Superman for a “true” crime docuseries reinvestigating Grodd's murder conviction.  To close out our all-TV episode, here's the one DC show that actually made it to air, and it's doing numbers. Per Deadline, Lanterns pulled 9.3 million global viewers in its first three days across HBO and HBO Max, 6.6 million of them stateside, making it the biggest DC Studios premiere in HBO Max history and a top five series debut on the platform overall. That's a stronger opening than The Penguin and IT: Welcome to Derry, and the premiere has held the number one spot on HBO Max's daily top ten every day since Sunday, with Chris Mundy already sketching season two despite no official renewal yet.  Kit Harington will play Gilderoy Lockhart in season 2 of HBO's Harry Potter series. Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult, who was originally cast in the role but left over scheduling issues. Spider-Man: Brand New Day continued its dominant run at the global box office and currently stands at $2.2 billion worldwide. The Odyssey opened in a few more territories and sits at $1.44 billion in its sixth weekend, while newcomer Insidious: Out of the Further opened to $60.3 million worldwide. In an interview at the For the Love of Fantasy & Sci-Fi convention in London, Hayley Atwell told attendees that she was frustrated by Captain Carter’s storyline in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saying “If I’m really like brutally honest, I was so disappointed with how they positioned her and what happened to her in that scene. It’s so small, and she gets frisbeed to death. I tried on set to kind of go, ‘Can I just add? Can I just suggest?’ And they were like, ‘Sure, but no.'” FX has ordered Legends, a meta-thriller limited series spinoff of Sons of Anarchy that reunites the majority of the original cast, including Charlie Hunnam, only this time playing fictionalized versions of themselves. The logline has the cast reuniting at a fan convention after more than a decade, where the line between life and art blurs as the fractured brotherhood faces a real-world threat more dangerous than anything from the show. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal in an interview with EW revealed that he attempted to get cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a role but was told no. He said “I wanted to be in the ‘Avengers’ and they were like, ‘Shaq, we f****n’ love you and we’d love to put you in, but if your face pops up on screen people are going to go, ‘Hey, that’s Shaq!’ He said it truthfully, and I was like, alright… I guess my face is too bigtime.”

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. At D23 last week, Disney’s fan event showcasing much of their upcoming film and tv projects, we were at last treated to a full trailer for VisionQuest, which will debut October 14 on Disney+. The third and final installment of the trilogy that includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along, VisionQuest looks like it will send us on a trippy ride with The Vision, played by Paul Bettany. Those of us angsting for Avengers: Doomsday story crumbs were also treated with a special look presented for the December blockbuster. The shorter trailer, which was first shown at San Diego Comic Con, starts with dialogue from Sue Storm, indicating our MCU Fantastic Four team is connected to Robert Downey, Jr.’s Victor von Doom. One of the most anticipated announcements in MCU history took place at D23, when Marvel Studios exec Kevin Feige announced the cast of the upcoming X-Men film. The cast includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, and Maya Boyd as Storm. Adam Driver will be playing the villainous Mr. Sinister. The movie will be released on May 5, 2028 nearly 10 years after the Disney acquisition of Fox Studios and will kick off the three MCU movies coming out in 2028.  The other big nerd-dom announcement at D23 was the release of a first trailer for Ahsoka season 2, which will premiere on January 20, 2027, on Disney+. Lars Mikkelson’s Thrawn returns as the big bad for the Rebel Alliance, while in a galaxy truly far, far, away, Ahsoka and Sabine battle themselves and mystic threats while coming face to face with what it means to be a Jedi. This look at the show may clue us in as to why the debut date got pushed to next year. Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling were also at D23 where a clip from Star Wars: Starfighter was shown, but has not yet been released publicly. Peacock has released the first trailer for season 2 of The Office spin off The Paper. The full season drops on September 9.  At D23, Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed to Deadline that Johnny Depp is in early talks to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in an upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. Sources also emphasize that Depp will serve as a side character, not a central character in the upcoming film.  Spider-Man: Brand New Day has passed the $2 billion dollar mark after just 3 weeks in theaters, becoming the eighth film in history to hit the benchmark. The film is the second fastest to hit this mark only behind Avengers: Endgame.  At D23, Disney offered up the first look at the live action adaptation of Tangled, which stars Teagan Croft, Milo Manheim, and Kathryn Hahn. The studio also announced a release date of March 31, 2028.  Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles on shows such as Heroes and Nashville has died at the age of 36.  At D23, Pixar showed off some very early concept art for Incredibles 3 and Coco 2. Incredibles 3 will debut on June 16, 2028 and Coco 2 is currently set for a November 2029 release.  HBO has announced a season 2 renewal for It: Welcome to Derry, the It prequel series from Warner Bros. Television and executive producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti.  At D23, Disney showed some early images of the live action Lilo & Stitch 2, which currently has a release date of May 28, 2028.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Marvel Studios appears to have found the leader of its new mutant team, as Deadline reported last week that Heartstopper and Warfare star Kit Connor has landed the role of Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, in the future MCU X-Men film. Sources say Connor went through much the same process as Samara Weaving, who was attached as Emma Frost the week prior, meeting with Schreier and Marvel president Kevin Feige alongside a group of candidates who tested after the July 4th holiday before the studio settled on him. Neither Marvel nor Connor has confirmed the casting, and the film, written by Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear co-creator Joanna Calo, still has no release date. Cyclops has been played on screen before by James Marsden and Tye Sheridan, with Marsden set to reprise the role in December’s Avengers: Doomsday.  Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossed the one-billion-dollar mark overseas in just twelve days of release, making it the second-fastest film ever to reach that number abroad behind Avengers: Endgame. The Destin Daniel Cretton film now stands at $1.67 billion worldwide, split between $654.3 million domestically and $1.013 billion internationally, which makes it the twelfth highest-grossing movie of all time and only the sixteenth ever to clear a billion in foreign markets alone. Universal had a milestone of its own to celebrate, as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey passed $1.1 billion worldwide to become the highest-grossing film of his career ahead of The Dark Knight Rises, while also becoming the biggest IMAX release ever with $289 million, and it still has China to open on Friday.  James Gunn spent part of a Threads session last week putting down one of the most persistent rumors surrounding Matt Reeves’ Batman trilogy, telling a fan who asked whether The Batman Part III was being filmed simultaneously with Part II simply, “I can deny.” The theory had gained steam over years of delays, most recently when a redesigned Part II logo appeared to work a Roman numeral III into the artwork, and it offered fans a tidy explanation for why the sequel has taken so long to arrive. In reality, Part II only began principal photography in London in June, and Warner Bros. has already pushed the film from October 2027 to February 18, 2028.  Sony and Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda has cast Australian actor Uli Latukefu as Ganondorf under a multi-picture deal, with Severance’s Dichen Lachman playing Impa and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski reported as a queen character. The late Sam Neill also filmed an undisclosed role before his death on July 13, marking one of the final screen performances of his career. Gareth Edwards has exited Universal and Amblin’s untitled Jurassic World Rebirth sequel over creative differences, with the studios now searching for a replacement; David Koepp’s script is finished and Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey are all still expected back for a 2027 shoot. A24 released the full trailer for Primetime, the Lance Oppenheim drama that Robert Pattinson produces and stars in as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, in theaters September 25. Lionsgate has confirmed that Michael 2 is targeting a production start toward the end of this year or in early 2027, with the sequel to this year’s Michael Jackson biopic aiming for a 2028 release. Lionsgate is also developing a new Leprechaun film written by horror veterans Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, reviving a franchise that ran eight movies between 1993 and 2018. Nicholas Hoult has been cast in season 2 of HBO’s Harry Potter series as Gilderoy Lockhart, a major character in The Chamber of Secrets that was portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in the 2002 film adaptation.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Tom Holland’s fourth outing as Peter Parker/Spider-Man opened to a massively successful box office, shattering the domestic opening record previously held by Avengers: Endgame, and raking in nearly $1 billion globally in its first weekend alone - so while it beat Endgame’s North American opening take, it comes in just behind it globally. Not a bad start for Disney and Marvel Studios as the conversation around superhero movies ebbs and flows in the zeitgeist. Those numbers exclude the premium IMAX format, as Spidey couldn’t web up those screens due to The Odyssey still holding all IMAX screens. While Marvel is on their Spidey high, other headlines have circled the news this week - some good and some disappointing. On a positive note - Samara Weaving has reportedly been cast as Emma Frost. Horror fans will recognize Weaving from the Ready or Not films. Obsession breakout star Inde Navarette confirmed her meeting with Jake Schreier and she mentioned interest in playing Mystique. And for the bad news, Wonder Man will not get a season two after all - even though it was confirmed earlier this year - and both Kevin Feige and Maershala Ali expressed regret about the Blade film; with Feige admitting he feels like a failure for not getting it off the ground and Ali saying he’s done with the project.  Last week, DC Studios and HBO’s Booster Gold series writer David Jenkins said that the project is no longer moving forward. Shortly after he made this statement, IGN reported that the series will, in fact, be moving forward, but with a new creative team. The New York Times reported that Barbie 2 is currently stalled, with Warner Bros. struggling to come to terms with lead talent Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling. The studio has until December to reach a deal before the right revert back to Mattel. Stephen King's 1996 novel Desperation is getting a film adaptation from Final Destination: Bloodlines directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein. Sam Raimi will also produce the feature, his first time working with King.  Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for Jumanji: Open World, which opens in theaters on December 25. The film returns franchise stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan.  Amazon MGM Studios is developing a Warhammer 40k animated event series alongside the upcoming live-action version, sources close to the project confirmed to Deadline. Additionally, Henry Cavill, who is set to star, is also on board to be an executive producer. Dave Bautista is in talks to take on the lead role of Kratos in Prime Video's God of War series, replacing Ryan Hurst, who had to drop out of production after he sustained an on set stunt injury.  Mary Holland, Star of Ghosts and The Little House on the Prairie, has been cast in a lead role as Sandra in the upcoming DC Studios and HBO Max Superman spin off series that centers on Jimmy Olsen.  In a recent interview with Inverse, Jessica Henwick revealed that she declined an offer to reprise her role as Colleen Wing in Daredevil: Born Again season three because she wants to protect the character's perfect ending in Netflix's Iron Fist.

Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Marvel Studios capped San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday with one of its most crowded Hall H panels ever, delivering a night of reveals that stretched the studio’s slate all the way through 2028: Attendees were treated to an exclusive Avengers: Doomsday trailer that has not been released online and affirmed that Avengers: Secret Wars would be a singular film, not split into two parts as speculated. Kevin Feige also announced that Avengers: Endgame returns to theaters September 25 with new footage connecting it to Doomsday ahead of its December 18 release. Ryan Gosling took the stage as Marvel’s new Ghost Rider, set to star as Johnny Blaze in a 2028 film to be directed by Shawn Levy. Gosling told the crowd, “this is a character I’ve wanted to play for a very long time.” Ryan Coogler revealed a December 15, 2028 release date for Black Panther 3 and introduced David Jonsson as a grown-up T’Challa II, the son of T’Challa first glimpsed at the end of Wakanda Forever. Jonsson kept his remarks short, saying he wants to let the screen do the talking. While notably absent from the SDCC proceedings, on Friday DC Studios and HBO debuted the official full trailer for Lanterns, which premieres August 16 on HBO Max. The footage leans into Green Lantern lore for the first time, with Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan reciting the complete oath, Ulrich Thomsen appearing as an imprisoned Sinestro, Nathan Fillion cameoing as Guy Gardner, and the robotic Manhunters revealed as the season’s central threat. The studio’s trailer train kept rolling outside the convention as well, with the release of a full trailer for Clayface, starring Tom Rhys Harries, ahead of its October 23 theatrical debut. Between a cosmic HBO mystery and a horror-leaning theatrical swing, is DC’s growing range its biggest strength heading into the fall? Prime Video revealed the full trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three, confirming a November 11 return and that Simon Pegg will voice the Balrog, which speaks on screen for the first time. Prime Video also dropped the first trailer for Blade Runner 2099, a limited series set after the events of the first two films, starring Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer and streaming November 25. Insomniac Games debuted the official story trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine at its own Comic-Con panel, ahead of the game’s September 15 launch on PS5. Prime Video revealed that House of the Dragon’s Matthew Needham will voice The Joker in season two of Batman: Caped Crusader, which begins streaming July 31. At San Diego Comic Con, The Marvels and WandaVision star Teyonah Parris was asked by Deadline about the future of her character Monica Rambeau in the MCU and she responded “I miss Monica as much as you guys do. I wish her well and I’m excited to see what they do next.” Sony dropped the full trailer for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil ahead of its Comic-Con panel; the film hits theaters September 18. Avatar: Seven Havens, a new animated series, premieres October 9 on Paramount+, announced during the Comic-Con panel for Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, which itself premiered on the service this weekend. Apple TV debuted the first trailer for Matchbox the Movie, starring John Cena, Jessica Biel, and Teyonah Parris, streaming October 9. Sony has won the bidding war for Ridley Scott’s Treasure Island, which will star Hugh Jackman as Long John Silver. Jonathan Levine is in talks to direct Days of Thunder 2 for Paramount, with Tom Cruise returning to star and Jerry Bruckheimer back to produce. Obsession’s Michael Johnston is in early talks to join Universal’s next Mummy film. Loki producer Kevin R. Wright and Tom Hiddleston have reunited for Pompeii: Out of Time, a three-part National Geographic docuseries now streaming on Disney+.

Marvel Studios finally gave us something to whet our appetites regarding Avengers: Doomsday as they dropped the first full-length trailer on Monday. Old and new favorite heroes are coming together to band against the biggest threat they’ve ever encountered, Doctor Victor Von Doom. Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated film The Odyssey premiered last weekend to a box office best for the savant director, opening to $264.1 million globally. With a stacked A-list cast, Nolan’s flair and drive for practical filmmaking, and a huge push to see the movie in IMAX (since it was filmed that way,) this entry to Nolan’s repertoire has been as long-awaited as Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. And clearly…the people are liking what they see. For 2026, The Odyssey has the third best opening weekend behind Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II is being delayed once again and will now open in theaters on February 18, 2028. That release date is nearly six years after the March 2022 opening of The Batman. Reeves announced the new opening date on Vimeo accompanied by the first camera test footage of Robert Pattinson’s return as the Dark Knight. Pattinson began filming during the press tour for The Odyssey, which he was also part of.  At an appearance at Fanatics Fest 2026, Ryan Reynolds confirmed that there will be another Deadpool movie at some point in the future, although he did not provide any more details past that confirmation.  After calling New York City home for almost 90 years, Marvel Comics will be relocating to Burbank, California, the current headquarters of Marvel Studios and corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company. Stephen Wacker, a respected veteran comics editor who also earned an Emmy nomination for his work in the company’s forays in animation, has been named Marvel’s new editor-in-chief, replacing outgoing chief C.B. Cebulski, who had steered the division since 2017. The move also leaves NYC without a major comics publisher, as DC Comics relocated to California in 2015.  Amazon Prime Video‘s God of War series will recast the starring role of Kratos following an injury to the original actor Ryan Hurst on set that he suffered in late June. While performing a stunt, Hurst tore his bicep and had to undergo surgery. His recovery timetable puts him out until early 2027 at best. Sources tell Deadline that four episodes had been fully completed at the time of the incident.  Colman Domingo and Tony-nominated director Robert O’Hara are in talks to co-write a live action film based on Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog for Disney. It is not described as a live-action remake of The Princess and the Frog, but rather a story inspired by the original film.  In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Kevin Feige spoke on the Mahershala Ali Blade reboot that has yet to materialize saying "I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala." He was also asked about Adam Driver as Magneto rumors and responded “It’s no secret we’d like to [work with Driver], but it’s a tradition to Zoom with him, and then he passes. That’s a long-lived tradition."

According to Deadline’s sources, Michael Waldron, who has written a number of MCU projects including Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as the first treatment of the never-to-be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, is developing the script for a Nova feature film. Waldron is currently on the Avengers: Doomsday writing team with Steven McFeely and a Nova focused TV or film project has long been rumored to be in the works for Marvel;  Last week Warner Bros and Legendary released the official trailer for Dune: Part Three, the seemingly epic conclusion to Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbet’s fundamental sci-fi source material. The trailer, like the teasers before it, depicts the conflict situated around the rise and fall of Timothee Chalamet’s warmongering, would-be messiah, Paul Atriedes, while showcasing the star-studded cast of newcomers, and returning characters in more ways than one. Dune: Part Three has yet to waiver from its December debut coinciding with Avengers: Doomsday;  The post-Supergirl DCU has been the subject of much consternation and the latest pieces of news coming from the studio and franchise do little to change the tunes on either side of the chorusline. First, Jimmy Tatro is reportedly in talks to voice Gorilla Grodd in the Jimmy Olsen TV spinoff series that is supposedly titled DC Crime. Elsewhere, Deadline sources claim Xolo Marideuna is set to suit up as the Blue Beetle once more in Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to 2025’s Superman. Avengers: Doomsday tickets go on sale July 20, and the early sale announcement comes with a confirmed runtime of 165 minutes.  Julianne Nicholson joins Season 2 of HBO's Task, reprising her Emmy-winning Mare of Easttown role as Lori Ross and officially placing the two shows in the same universe.  Prime Video released first look images at Carrie, Mike Flanagan's series adaptation of the Stephen King novel, coming this fall.  Paramount has closed a deal for U.S. rights to Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street screenplay, with plans to adapt it into a new feature.  Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park, The Piano, and In the Mouth of Madness, has died at 78.  The live-action Moana opened to $95 million worldwide, well under projections, with Deadline reporting the film stands to lose $100-125 million.  Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer for Digger, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film starring Tom Cruise as oil baron Digger Rockwell, in theaters October 2.  The M3GAN spinoff Soulm8te is skipping theaters after being pulled from Universal's calendar and heads straight to digital on August 1.  The 2026 Emmy nominations were announced last week and are led by HBO Max's The Pitt with 25 nominations, narrowly ahead of the final season of Hacks with 24, making them the clear frontrunners heading into September's ceremony.  The first trailer arrived for Buddy, Casper Kelly's horror comedy starring Cristin Milioti and Keegan-Michael Key, hitting theaters August 28. New Line’s The Conuring prequel The Conjuring: First Communion has cast Garrett Wareing and Amanda Fix in lead roles. The pair will play young versions of franchise characters Ed and Lorraine Warren. A coalition of a dozen states on Monday sued to block Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, posing a new challenge to the $110 billion deal that would unite two of the nation's largest media companies.

DCU Infighting on Supergirl? A Sleepy July Fourth Box Office and Sony Deals a Deadly Blow to Physical Media. All that and more coming up right after this. Welcome to Multiverse News, your source for information about all your favorite fictional universes. Five Star Review: Facebook Group comment from Oliver Griffin: I’ve listened to every episode since the beginning, one of my absolute favourite podcasts.  Disagreements Over Supergirl Some questions of the failure of Supergirl at the box office may be getting answered, as The Hollywood Reporter learned last week about creative disputes between the studio and director Craig Gillespie with one insider saying “they were not creatively aligned.” While other insiders dispute this claim, the news does nothing to help the DCU’s second feature film’s outing. Other reports say the filmmakers knew last fall that the movie wasn’t hitting its marks yet and James Gunn brought writer Jeremy Slater in to work on some reshoots. Slater wrote The Authority for DC under Gunn, a film that is now no longer being made. According to The Hollywood Reporter, music was one of the main issues of friction - especially the use of the cover of The Middle; apparently Gunn wanted Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Ultimately, two cuts of the film were tested - one by the studio and one by Gillespie - and the studio’s film is what was released. There’s a lot of nuance and likely unknown information, but given what we do know - is the DCU ship steering the right course right now?Jay Box Office Slowdown  While heavy hitters Toy Story 5, Michael, Obsession, and The Backrooms, are still steady at the box office, new releases seem to be struggling to stay even on par with predictions. Illumination’s Minions & Monsters all but failed in the states, garnering only $37 million but looking ok with oversea ticket sales. Supergirl has barely crossed the $100 million mark. Both films look to struggle even more with Disney’s live-action Moana getting ready to premiere, as well as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, hotly followed by Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Is the Fourth of July weekend too hot for movies in cool theaters to do well?Hayley Physical Media Meltdown The downfall of physical media continues with an announcement from Sony: in January 2028 game disc production for all newly-released PlayStation console games will be discontinued. While this certainly follows a trend we’ve been seeing over the last few years in regards to physical media, there’s an expected backlash that comes with this major statement. Though Sony points to consumer preferences with facts as the cause for this decision, there’s certainly a population still desiring the physical versions of games. The pros and cons also include smaller developers having more opportunity, but data space being sacrificed. For the gamers on our panel, what’s your reaction to this news?Jay Coming up in the Lightning Round: Kachow! After a short lightning round, we’re going to look ahead to the rest of the year and which projects we’re most excited for. Don’t go anywhere! Patreon Plug – Patron of the Week: Amanda M Spotify Poll: Only if you’ve seen it, what did you think of Supergirl? Best Ever – 0%Great – 17.2%Good – 48.3%Meh – 37%Bad – 3.4% Lightning Round Coming out on top of a five-studio bidding war with a massive, multi-million-dollar deal, Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the underlying rights to Siren Head, a project based on a viral online video sensation. Weapons filmmaker Zach Cregger is teaming on the script with Brian Duffield.  Obsession breakout star Inde Navarette has reportedly met with Jake Schrier, who directed Thunderbolts*, and was quoted as saying that if she was asked to do a Marvel movie, she would. Law and Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay will host the 2026 Emmys on September 14th. That makes Hargitay the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years — since 2011, when Jane Lynch hosted for Fox.