Before we get into this week's episode, we need to touch on something important:
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After a month long hiatus (sorry about that, but Costa Rica was splendid. Thank you for asking), Julian and Jeremy return to the show to catch up on the biggest film and TV stories that were missed. Not the least of which being the Spider-Man shaped roller-coaster we’ve all been on as the release of ‘No Way Home’ rapidly approaches. With speculation that Tom Holland may be done as the web-slinger swirling, it came as a bit of a shock as Marvel and Sony announced that Tom be sticking around for at least another 3 movies, as their corporate partnership looks to continue for the foreseeable future. Sigh of relief. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Disney machine, the “creative differences” continue to pile up at Lucasfilm and Star Wars. Patty Jenkins fighter pilot film, ‘Rogue Squadron’, has been put on the backburner (as opposed to the afterburner), along with ‘Rangers of the New Republic’ on the TV side. It also doesn’t look like we’ll be getting Rian Johnson’s trilogy any time soon as that is also shelved (damn!). Plus, with the release of a new behind the scenes book at HBO, details on the failed 'Game of Thrones' spin-off series, ‘The Long Night’, have come to light. And finally, as part of an extended “What We’ve Been Watching” segment, Jeremy dives deep into his thoughts on ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’. All that, and so much more, on this week’s Tower of Babble Podcast.
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Show Notes
Movies
Marvel
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is staying put in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Sony producer Amy Pascal - THR
This all comes after a recent GQ magazine interview with Tom Holland where was quoted as saying “if I'm playing Spider-Man after I'm 30, I've done something wrong”. He is currently 25.
Scarlett Johansson speaks publicly about her recently settled lawsuit against Disney around ‘Black Widow’.
Following the settlement of the lawsuit, the actress has gone on to sign on as a producer for a ‘top secret’ Marvel project that’s unrelated to her Black Widow character.
A revival of ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ is in the works for Disney+. Set to release 2023. It’s currently called ‘X-Men ‘97’.
First looks at ‘Moon Knight’ and ‘She-Hulk’.
Star Wars
Boba Fett’s ship is officially renamed ‘Firespray’, which is also the name of the ship class (confusingly).
Things aren’t looking good for ‘Rangers of the New Republic’, as it’s been back burnered by Lucasfilm. - Slashfilm
This news comes shortly after the news that the first Star Wars movie since ‘Rise of Skywalker’, ‘Rogue Squadron’ has also been delayed. - THR
Speaking of things being delayed, Rian Johnson’s trilogy has also apparently been shelved. This time over “creative differences”.
Other
Tom Cruise has been practicing/training for the next Mission Impossible film and was last seen dangling upside down from the wing of a WWII bi-plane. Oh and then the plane does a nose-dive and spin.
Chris McKay, director of ‘The Tomorrow War’ and ‘The Lego Batman Movie’, and who is attached to direct a Nightwing movie, is first making a movie about Renfield, the “infamous lackey” to Dracula, starring Nicholas Hoult as the titular character. Why am I mentioning this you might ask? Well because none other than Nicolas Cage will be playing Dracula.
We got our first look at the ‘Predator’ prequel, simply called ‘Prey’.
Agree of Disagree
Ridley Scott’s comments on superhero movies and the problems with the millennial generation:
“The best films are driven by the characters, and we’ll come to superheroes after this if you want, because I’ll crush it. I’ll fucking crush it. They’re fucking boring as shit, [Superhero movie] scripts are not any fucking good. I’ve made three great scripted superhero movies… One would be Alien with Sigourney Weaver. One would be fucking Gladiator, and one would be Harrison Ford [in Blade Runner]. They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, come on. [Superhero movies] are mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects, if you’ve got the money. Harrison Ford was one superhero but everyone was confused because he got the shit beaten out of him at the end by the other superhero, who they thought was the bad guy, but turned out to be a good guy. I think that’s pretty cool.” - https://www.avclub.com/ridley-scott-calls-superhero-movies-boring-but-says-h-1848059244
“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cellphones. The millennian [sic] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you’re told it on a cellphone. This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.” - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ridley-scott-blames-the-last-duel-bombing-millennials-1235051736/
Interestingly enough, actor Stellan Skarsgård, also had something to say on all this, in an interview with The Guardian:
“I’ve got nothing against superhero movies. I’ve been in a couple, and they definitely have a place. The problem is that the system that allows eight people to own half of the wealth in the world enhances the power of the market forces, so small and independent cinemas rarely exist anymore outside a few big cities. There’s no distribution channels for all the mid-budget films that have the best actors, the best writing because they can’t throw up $3m for a marketing campaign. When cinemas let them in, they do so for one week, and if it doesn’t pay off in a week, they’re gone. Remember that ‘The Godfather’ first opened in 100 cinemas in the United States – big films now open in 4,000. They had small ads in the New York Times, but it grew and grew because it was such a good film. The people’s opinion has no chance anymore. And that is sad. I think that we should have Marvel films and more rollercoaster films. We should have other films, too. And that’s the sad thing: when raw market forces come in, studios start being run by companies that don’t care if they’re dealing in films or toothpaste so long as they get their 10% [return]. When AT&T took over Time Warner, it immediately told HBO to become lighter and more commercial. They were always making money. But not enough for an investor.” - https://www.slashfilm.com/671486/stellan-skarsgrd-laments-the-decline-of-the-mid-budget-movie/
TV
Game of Thrones
A new book, ‘Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers’, by James Andrew Miller, has revealed some very interesting things about the production of Game of Thrones and it’s spin-offs.
A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin reportedly became concerned with the direction of HBO's Game of Thrones adaptation after Season 5, when showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss began to diverge more drastically from his outline.
We have learned how much HBO spent on it’s cancelled Game of Thrones prequel series ‘The Long Night’ and it’s not cheap. $30M was spent on the series that starred Noami Watts. - EW
Other
Amazon and EA are reportedly close to closing a deal to adapt Mass Effect into a TV series. - IGN
The first teaser for the dramatic reimagining of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, simply called ‘Bel-Air’ has been released. The series is set to release on Peacock in 2022.
What We’ve Been Watching
Eternals
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Red Notice
Hawkeye
Resident Evil
