What The James Gunn Guardians 3 News Means For The Suicide Squad

What The James Gunn Guardians 3 News Means For The Suicide Squad

In a surprising bombshell, it has been reported that James Gunn will be returning to direct Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after being fired from the project last summer. This is great news for the film and Marvel fans, but is it bad news for Suicide Squad 2, the DC film Gunn signed on to write and direct after his firing? Thankfully, no, James Gunn’s return to Guardians 3 will not impact The Suicide Squad.

In the report from Deadline about James Gunn’s reinstatement as director for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it is revealed that James Gunn will still write and direct The Suicide Squad as planned. This complicates the time table for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but Marvel Studios has agreed to wait to begin production on the threequel until after James Gunn finishes The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. and DC.

This was all made possible because Marvel never even met with or considered other filmmakers to replace James Gunn. The studio seemingly knew that there was nobody else who could do the job and infuse the same personality James Gunn did that would appease the fans and the cast. So Marvel was willing to wait for him to do Suicide Squad 2 first.

It would have been easy for DC fans and those excited to see what James Gunn could do with The Suicide Squad to get worried upon reading headlines about his Marvel return, but those fears are unfounded. Essentially, James Gunn’s return to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 means nothing for The Suicide Squad other than that we’ll be getting two James Gunn comic book movies, in two different universes, back to back.

This is one of those rare situations that is pretty much a win-win all around. James Gunn gets a second chance and those who felt he was unfairly fired see that situation righted, DC still gets a great filmmaker to come in and put his stamp on the universe with some exciting characters in The Suicide Squad, and we get James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Sure, we aren’t getting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as soon as we once expected, but up until today it seemed like the best we could hope for was that James Gunn’s script would be used. Now James Gunn will return to both write and direct. Dave Bautista and the rest of the cast have to be ecstatic.

Speaking of casts, we still don’t know exactly who will and won’t be returning for Suicide Squad 2, but we do know that Idris Elba will be replacing Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie is expected to reprise her role as Harley Quinn.

The Suicide Squad is set to hit theaters on August 6, 2021. A new release date for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has not been set. For release dates we do know, check out our premiere guide to see what’s headed to theaters this year.

Why Disney Has Become So Successful With Live Action Reimaginings, According To One Head Honcho

Why Disney Has Become So Successful With Live Action Reimaginings, According To One Head Honcho

Disney is going hard on live action reimaginings of previous animated movies this year. Dumbo has already been released into theaters and Aladdin, The Lion King and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will all hit theaters before 2019 ends. Why so many? Well, they’ve been pretty successful at the box office. This week at CinemaCon, Disney executive Sean Bailey explained why this type of movie has been so successful, noting the answer lies in the fact the story is not simply being retold in the same way. Per Bailey:

Over the past several years we’ve had great success in revisiting some of these stories and characters and reimagining them for moviegoers. The reason we’ve been successful is because we are never simply retelling. We always want to stay true to their spirit and protect what people love and remember about them.

If you look at the recently released tale of Dumbo that retelling is far different from the original. There are human characters that help Dumbo fully realize his ability to fly; there’s a whole separate theme park premise and a different antagonist who is basically a nod to a bad Walt Disney. Similarly, Maleficent took a tale fans know and love and told it from the perspective of the villain from the original film. So, that was a big twist to the narrative as well.

Other classics, including Beauty and The Beast, are closer to the traditional animated narrative, but even then Disney does try to throw in new original songs, new jokes and more to differentiate from what audiences got with the animated tale. Similarly, Aladdin will feature a brand new song sung by Princess Jasmine.

According to Bailey, the process starts with a simple question.

We ask ourselves: How do we take these timeless stories and expand and update them to reflect our current world? Our goal is to create the quintessential, modern, live action versions of these stories.

In general, the way these live action reimaginings are coming together seems to be working. Beauty and the Beast, in particular, made over a billion dollars worldwide when it hit theaters in 2017, but most other live action products from the company have been successes financially even if they didn’t hit the billion mark.

Of the live action reimaginings, the recent Dumbo did fall a little short of box office expectations on opening weekend, although it still managed to be the #1 movie the weekend of its release, bringing in $45 million during its first outting. It’s too early to tell if one movie falling a little short of expectations is the start of a trend, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted regarding how the other live action properties fare in 2019.

In the meantime, be sure to take a look at when Aladdin, The Lion King and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will be hitting theaters with our full movie premiere guide.

Yes, Sonic Is An Alien In His New Movie

Yes, Sonic Is An Alien In His New Movie

This year a couple of classic fluffy ‘90s video game characters are hitting the big screen in their first live action iterations. Ahead of Detective Pikachu’s release next week, the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog darted its way onto the internet this morning and it looks like there are quite a few changes from the video game fans know, love … or love to hate anyway.

Besides the character’s glaring buff and blue human legs, it looks like Sonic will also be an alien in his first big-screen iteration. In the trailer, the speedster says “looks like I’m going to have to save your planet”. Followers of his games probably don’t remember the blue hedgehog being an extraterrestrial before, but looks like he will be in the upcoming movie!

Back in 2018 when the film was seeking approval to be filmed in the town of Ladysmith, British Colombia, the film’s location manager, Abraham Fraser confirmed this Sonic is not of this world when he briefly explained the film. In his words:

Sonic is a video game character, who is an alien. The story is kind of ala E.T.. In the sense of a small town coming together to help the sheriff save our alien from the bad guys, which are the government chasing them. It’s very heartwarming. And I think it’ll be a big hit.

A blue hedgehog being of this world does make a lot more sense in an animated video game world than in a live-action one, but the movie does look to be ignoring the roots of the Sega game, even if they aren’t widely known. According to the “Sonic Bible”, which contains the complete background of the character, here is the iconic video game character’s true origins:

Sonny Hedgehog was born on Earth in the early 21st century, in the town of Hardly, Nebraska, population 1,226. He and his mother and five sisters live underneath a scraggly hedge beside the local burger joint, and subsist on burger scraps, milkshakes and the occasional slug or bug that crawls their way.

How will Sonic the Hedgehog be explaining Sonic’s home world? Is there a planet somewhere full of blue hedgehogs who where running shoes and speed around all day? I’d think an origin story about the hedge they lived under being contaminated with some chemical planet might have sufficed. Take a look at the trailer below:

Sonic the Hedgehog will star Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden as a cop named Tom. The movie will center on Sonic in the rural town of Green Hills as he tries to escape from the government who are trying to catch him. Sonic hits theaters on November 8.

The John Wick Match-Up We Need To See In Chapter 4

The John Wick Match-Up We Need To See In Chapter 4

Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Read at your own risk!

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum featured John Wick going up against some of The High Table's finest assassins, although none were good enough to take down the film's hero and eliminate him when he was excommunicado. That may be because one of the key assassins who might have been most capable wasn't one seeking to kill the famed assassin, but was on his side for a majority of the movie.

Now that they're seemingly on opposite sides and John Wick: Chapter 4 is officially a go for 2021, it may finally be time for John to take on a character who may actually stand a chance at bringing him to his knees. Even if he was unsuccessful, it would be a good fight, which is why John Wick vs. Charon, The Continental's hotel concierge, is the match-up we need to see for a number of reasons.

Why Charon Is The Underrated Assassin Of John Wick

For the first two movies of the franchise, Charon has been both seen and heard, but we don't know a whole lot about him. What we do know is he's the bodyguard of New York's Continental manager, Winston, and the overall gatekeeper of sorts to The Continental. He's calm and collected regardless of the situation, and he doesn't seem to fear much of anything.

It wasn't until John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum that we really saw Charon in action, as he helped John defend The Continental from the High Table forces that invaded the hotel. He did so as competently as John, and while he didn't have the same fatigue as his colleague, seemed to be of equal standing in terms of marksmanship.

If Charon is a capable assassin, why is he not out taking missions on behalf of the High Table? It depends on how one looks at it, but one would think being the gatekeeper to New York City's Continental is a huge honor perhaps bestowed to him for exceptional service, or maybe because he's more than capable of keeping a building of assassins in check. Whether that's true I can only speculate, but I'd wager Charon is a talented assassin.

Would Charon Fight John Wick?

Charon looked as though he could at least put up a decent fight againt John Wick if it came down to it, but would he really go toe-to-toe with him? After all, Charon has been shown to have a deep respect for John, and has gone above and beyond for him in the past without being asked. There's certainly some admiration on his end, and John seems to have that same respect for Charon.

As audiences learned in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, however, admiration does not always keep assassins from pursuing each other. In fact, Zero (the Adjudicator's skilled assassin) seemed to be a huge fanboy of John Wick, which made him all the more eager to fight and attempt to kill him. Clearly assassins' minds work a bit differently than others.

Plus, for all the admiration that Charon has for John, he's Winston's employee. Protecting his boss appears to be his priority above all else, and if John is coming for Winston, then it looks like Charon is going to be standing in the way. Even if he's sure it will end in his death, Charon doesn't seem like the type to break his loyalty to his employer.

Could Charon Defeat John Wick In A Fight?

This is a tough question to answer, as it's hard to ever discount John Wick in a fight after these past three movies. He is the title character after all, and has escaped certain death plenty of times. Does Charon really stand a chance against one of the most notable assassins in the High Table's history?

Charon has one big advantage after the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. To start, he's aligned with Winston, who got back into the High Table's good graces at the end of the movie. With John still possibly being hunted, it's safe to say that if he is coming for Winston, and he'll run into quite a few High Table cronies on the road. That means he could be somewhat fatigued by the time the two meet, which gives Charon an advantage.

Additionally, one would reckon that neither Winston or Charon have any reason to leave The Continental now that Winston's name has been cleared. John is likely familiar with the facility, but it's doubtful he knows the grounds as well as Charon. Knowledge of a location is a huge tactical advantage in most battle situations, so John could be in a very precarious position if he's forced to take on Charon inside the hotel.

Will Charon And John Wick Fight In Chapter 4?

The ending of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is somewhat strange, as Winston's betrayal seemed to come out of nowhere. Was it really an on the spot decision for Winston to turn the tables on John, or was it an elaborate scheme the two concocted that will further an agenda to usurp the High Table?

If there was some plan like that in play, it doesn't seem as though John was in on it. He arrived before the Bowery King broken and, in his words, pissed off. Getting shot off of a building is liable to piss anyone off, but is John mad about that, or that Winston tried to kill him when John defied the High Table's order to kill The Continental manager? He can be mad at both things, right?

It's possible Winston thought on his toes and ensured John was initially believed to be dead knowing he wasn't in an effort to protect him. Unfortunately, he probably won't have a way of convincing John of that anytime soon, which means Charon may be forced to defend Winston even though he understands the move was made to protect John. Oof, wouldn't that be a tragic end to one of the franchise's more interesting characters?

John Wick Kill Count: All The Kills In All 3 Movies

We'll get to see if Charon and John go toe to toe In John Wick: Chapter 4 when the film is in theaters Friday, May 21, 2021. Stick with CinemaBlend until then for more updates on its development, as well as the latest news in movies, television and pop culture.

Chris Hemsworth Is Open To Returning To Thor After Avengers: Endgame

Chris Hemsworth Is Open To Returning To Thor After Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame has been teased as a finale. The film will close the book on 11 years of storytelling, and that finality extends to the characters. The original six Avengers (plus some surviving friends) are on a collision course and not everyone is going to make it out alive. While we can only speculate as to who may be leaving the MCU, Chris Hemsworth has decided to leave the door open for himself.

I’d play this character for as long as anyone would let me. I’ve loved it so much. But the combination of this many characters in this Phase Three, as Marvel calls it, you’ll never have this interaction with this many people again. Who knows what the future holds and whether they do prequels and sequels or whatever, I’d be open to anything. But right now, this is where we finish up.

It's no secret that Chris Hemsworth wasn't entirely pleased with playing Thor before Thor: Ragnarok came around. The actor has admitted in the past that he was feeling frustrated in the role and that the films have never quite found the right tone, with Thor: The Dark World as a perfect example.

But then Taika Waititi came along to direct Ragnarok, creating one of Marvel's funniest and most entertaining films. It was just the revitalization that Chris Hemsworth needed, and now with Endgame fast approaching, the actor is happy to return should he get the call.

In an interview with Yahoo Movies UK, Chris Hemsworth spoke on his feelings playing Thor changing after Ragnarok, and what an experience it has been to play the character for a decade. It sounds like Hemsworth is not entirely ready to put the hammer down for good, and he would love to play the character again if it was ever needed. (Darryl needs you, man.)

While it's rumored that Chris Hemsworth's contract is complete after Endgame, the future of Marvel is fairly unclear. While we do know of plenty of projects in development -- like Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and The Eternals -- none have technically been officially confirmed. There's plenty of room in Marvel's slate for a Thor 4 if it wants it.

It's good to hear that Chris Hemsworth is down for more Thor. The character just found his stride, so why call it quits now?

As for where Thor could show up again, it's not hard to see him popping up as a side character in other cosmic franchises like The Eternals or Captain Marvel. Also, it would be really fun if Thor had a cameo in the Loki series over on Disney+.

We'll be able to better judge what fate has in store for Thor after seeing Avengers: Endgame, which is out in theaters in less than one week on April 26. To learn more about the film, here's what we know so far.

This Rotten Week: Predicting Breakthrough, Penguins, And The Curse Of La Llorona Reviews

This Rotten Week: Predicting Breakthrough, Penguins, And The Curse Of La Llorona Reviews

Hollywood is getting ready to ramp things up in a big way for the summer blockbuster season, but we still have a bit of spring to get through. A nice mix of titles are coming out this week, including a religious drama, a nature documentary, and the latest chapter of The Conjuring Universe. Get ready for Breakthrough, Penguins and The Curse of La Llorona.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at This Rotten Week has to offer.

Based on the book The Impossible, Breakthrough tells the story of a teenager who falls through the ice and is trapped underwater for about 15 minutes. He's ultimately rescued and his family is told that his chances of survival are limited, but with the support of the community incredible things happen. It's a new drama with a heavy religious bent, but it looks like one of the rare examples of its type that could wind up with a "Fresh" score.

Director Roxann Dawson has a number of well-received television credits, but this is her first big screen release. Early reviews for Breakthrough are coming in on the positive side of things so far, which is pretty impressive all by itself considering these kinds of titles rarely screen in advance for critics. Some writers so far cite the movie's lack of heavy handedness when it comes to the Christian elements, and that could mean it will appeal to a broader crowd. I think the score dips a little over the course of the week, but not by much.

DisneyNature Films has had incredible critical success with their movies. The last five credits from the studio are Born In China (84%), Monkey Kingdom (92%), Chimpanzee (75%), Bears (91%), and Oceans (81%). Their strategy clearly works, which is to say using the best documentary visuals you’ll see on the big screen to carve out a narrative with a collection of super cool/cute animals . It does kind of seem like it’s an easy game, but who can argue with the results?

Penguins is now continuing the tradition, following around a flightless bird named Steve as he survives in the Antarctic and coexists with his waddle (the term for a group of penguins on land). The movie’s creators appear to offer plenty of antagonists to the fray, namely the other animals trying to kill Steve, but that's all just good drama. So far, critics love it. It’s sitting at 92% with 12 reviews posted, and I don't see the score going much lower. It might tick down a bit, more into the range of the other DisneyNature films mentioned above, but it’s clearly going to be another winner.

As I’ve said many times in this column in the past, it often feels like the protagonists in horror movies are kind of just asking for it. For instance, if you are walking around a house and a door creepily opens behind you, if some kind of ghoul/terror was then revealed would you spend more than 1.5 seconds remaining in said house? Of course not, but these dopes do and that’s usually what drives the next 90 minutes of horror action. Sadly, it looks like the adventure featured in The Curse of La Llorona is the most recent example of this kind of fare.

From director Michael Chaves, The Curse of La Llorona tells the story of a social worker (Linda Cardellini) who gets caught up in some evil happenings because she’s a do-gooder who just can’t leave well enough alone. The movie is part of The Conjuring Universe, which has had it’s share of ups, such as The Conjuring (86%), and downs, with titles like The Nun (29%), when it comes to critical reception. If early reviews are any indication (42% on the Tomatometer) this will fall into the latter group.

Well, last week was interesting to say the least. I had two movies that were clear wins, one near-ish miss, and a rather epic fail that ranks among my worst predictions ever. Let’s start with the worst first. Hellboy (Predicted: 68% Actual: 15%) bombed in almost hilarious fashion. It totally missed the mark, and was nearly universally panned by critics. Writers hated the ultra-violence, lack of story, unevenness of the plot, and came up with new and creative ways to call the movie a piece of garbage.

The two wins were Missing Link (Predicted: 82% Actual: 89%) and After (Predicted: 14% Actual: 13%). The former was a rather easy prediction to make thanks to some early reviews and the previous success of Laika Studios. Critics loved the visuals and the story equally, and this goes down as yet another victory (at least in terms of reception).

Meanwhile, After was such an easy call considering the source material and absolutely ridiculous trailer. The movie looked like a schlocky mess and it delivered as exactly that. I thought about going even lower on the score because of how bad it looked, but I am glad I stopped where I did.

Finally, Little (Predicted: 63% Actual: 49%) finished just out of range. I was probably just a tad too bullish on this movie’s critical prospects considering it was just a body-switch comedy. Going more towards 50% was clearly the right play, and something I should have considered more strongly in the moment.

Next time around we’ve got the big one with Avengers: Endgame. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!

Captain Marvel's Nick Fury Almost Lost His Eye In A Fight With The Skrulls

Captain Marvel's Nick Fury Almost Lost His Eye In A Fight With The Skrulls

Warning: spoilers for Captain Marvel are in play. If you still haven’t seen the film, you may want to come back once you’re current.

Acting as the ‘90s throwback that it was set up to be, Captain Marvel set the table for a lot of different things that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has -- and will -- engage in during its thematic course of events. One such moment was, naturally, how Nick Fury lost vision in one of his eyes, something that had been alluded to previously but never explicitly shown onscreen before Captain Marvel.

While Captain Marvel gave us a definitive answer, we almost got an entirely different scenario altogether. One that would have seen Nick Fury losing an eye during a fight with some angry Skrulls.

During a recent interview for the home video release of Captain Marvel, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were on hand to provide some insight into their big ticket MCU hit. And when it came to how Fury’s accident originally happened, Fleck provided the following commentary on how it was originally supposed to happen:

There were definitely a lot of discussions and that was not the first idea on the table. You're probably going to ask me what some of the other ideas were and I don't know if I can tell you that, not because I'm hiding anything, but because there were just so many absurd ideas we had. There was a strong contender for a while that a fight with the Skrulls seemed like the most obvious choice, but then the more we thought about it, it just became too obvious.

The scenario that the Captain Marvel team eventually landed on was not only a surprising turn of events, but also the most Samuel L. Jackson moment the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever included. During the action of the film’s third act finale, Fury casually gets his eye scratched by Goose, the cat co-star of Captain Marvel that has stolen the hearts of the world. This leads to him shouting a very PG-13 friendly, “Mother-Flerkin!”

It’s certainly that elusive surprise that Ryan Fleck seemed to be looking for when talking out the thought process behind plotting Captain Marvel’s reveal of just how Nick Fury got his memorable look. He continued to discuss that point in greater detail during his interview alongside Anna Boden for CBM:

Since this is just as much Nick Fury's origin story as Captain Marvel's, we thought that it would be a fun piece of his backstory that moving forward, he was creative a new narrative for himself that he didn't really talk about but he was fine with people wanting to muse about a potentially more serious way he could have lost his eye.

No one can blame Nick Fury for not wanting to talk about losing his eye to an intergalactic creature that had taken the form of a cat. It’s not an easy story that you could tell to just anyone, as there are a lot of other details that’d need to be involved in the telling. But losing an eye to mysterious circumstances involving the last person you trusted? That’s a total super-spy story, and that would probably get you at least one round on the house when going out for drinks.

Keeping the Marvel Cinematic Universe fresh is something that definitely takes a lot of work, and outside-the-box thinking. Changing Nick Fury’s pivotal, eye-destroying moment was one of those instances where the process worked out in everyone’s favor.

As we move into the future of the MCU, it’s that type of thinking that should propel the series into its next story arc. So if you see a cute animal on screen at any point in the future, think twice before holding it too close to your face.

Captain Marvel may still be in your local theater. If it isn’t, you’ll be able to take the film home either on Digital HD as of May 28th, or 4K UHD/Blu-ray/DVD on June 11th.