Fantastic Four’s Box Office Bomb Contributed To Gambit’s Delays

Fantastic Four’s Box Office Bomb Contributed To Gambit’s Delays

Before superhero movies were everywhere, 20th Century Fox and Bryan Singer brought X-Men to theaters back in the year 2000. That franchise is still going strong today, with Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants set to arrive in theaters, despite Fox's upcoming merger with Disney. But Fox has had some missteps along the way, including Josh Trank's already infamous Fantastic Four movie. The comic book adaptation was a critical and financial flop, barely recouping its budget while being panned by audiences and critics alike.

While Fox has let the Deadpool franchise flourish and continued the main X-Men franchise, there is a certain flick that has sat in development hell for years: Channing Tatum's Gambit movie. The fan favorite character's solo movie has been pushed back a number of times, and the Fox/Disney merger makes its fate all the more precarious. Rupert Wyatt was poised to direct the project at one point, but he recently revealed that the failure of The Fantastic Four negatively affected the film's potential budget. As he put it:

I was very close with Channing Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin, and I was on the script with him and Josh Zetumer as a writer. We were close, I believe 10 weeks away. It simply came down to budget. There was not enough. You know all too well about the politics of the business. Fantastic Four had been released by Fox a month before and had not gone well for them, so our budget was slashed quite considerably.

Superhero movies may be the most profitable genre in the film world, but they also require the biggest budgets. As such, each new release is a major gamble. Fantastic Four failed to perform at the box office, so it seems Fox kept its purse strings a bit tighter, and didn't want to give Gambit the same type of cash money. Poor Remy Lebeau.

Rupert Wyatt's comments to Comics Beat help to illuminate the myriad delays that have hit Gambit since the potential blockbuster was announced. Channing Tatum has been signed to the project since May of 2014, so moviegoers have been waiting quite a bit of time for the fan favorite X-Man to reappear on the silver screen. Wyatt isn't the only director who has been attached to the project, as Doug Liman also left due to script concerns. The script was presumably being worked on, before the project's development was put officially on hold.

It's unclear if Disney has any interest in bringing Gambit into the MCU, with the House of Mouse expected to acquire the rival studio in a matter of weeks. This puts the fate of Gambit up in the air, as well as where/when exactly The New Mutants will be completed and released. This is a series of events the public has grown accustomed to, although The Fantastic Four's affect on Gambit's budget is an interesting development in the potential film's story.

Gambit has been delayed for years, with three different directors brought on, before eventually departing the ill-fated blockbuster. In addition to Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman, The Ring director Gore Verbinski was the most recent addition to the trio. Verbinski was set to direct Channing Tatum when Gambit was going to get a December 14th, 2019 release date. The project would be somewhat romantic comedy inspired, and the casting process had even began before Verbinski departed Gambit due to scheduling and creative differences.

From there, Gambit's fate remained unclear. The project got pushed back a number of times since then, although Channing Tatum seemed determined to play the New Orleans mutant one way or another. Most recently, reports indicated Tatum had interest in both directing and starring in the project. Unfortunately, the news stopped there, as Fox's potential projects were put on hold due to the company's impending merger with Disney.

Gambit might never make it to theaters, which will no doubt be a point of contention with the rabid comic book fandom. Gambit became a household name due to the X-Men animated series, and his generations of fans are eager to see the card thrower on the big screen.

Of course, Gambit did appear in live-action once before, although it's a memory the fandom is likely trying to forget. Taylor Kitsch played Remy LeBeau in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first spinoff in the X-Men franchise. While playing a supporting role and aligning with Hugh Jackman's Logan, the character (and movie) wasn't received well by the fans. As such, Channing Tatum's possible movie offers a welcomed alternative to that characterization. If it ever makes it to theaters, that is.

Overall, it's unclear exactly what Disney is planning to do with Fox's X-Men franchise, once the merger is finalized at last. While the House of Mouse will likely let Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool franchise operate independently, the rest of the mutants likely won't fare the same. Comic fans are eager to see the X-Men finally appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it seems unlikely that the same cast will be brought onto the payroll. Dark Phoenix has the potential to be the final installment in the long-running franchise, so potential projects like Gambit are probably the least of the studio's concerns at the moment.

Still, a superhero movie starring Channing Tatum as a fan favorite hero seems like money in the bank, who Disney might end up getting yet another director and moving forward with Gambit. Focusing on one X-Man at a time may help ease them into the MCU, rather than bringing an entire team of characters to an already crowded shared universe. At this point, it's anyone's guess.

Comic book fans are also hoping the Fantastic Four will get their own reboot within the MCU, as that's another team that has been noticeably missing from the larger shared universe. But considering how recently Josh Trank's version was in theaters, it may take moviegoers more time to get the taste of that flop out of their mouths.

The next installment in Fox's X-Men franchise will be Dark Phoenix on June 7th, and Gambit's release date was last set on March 13th, 2020. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

How Robert Downey Jr. Changed And Improved Tony And Peter’s Gut-Wrenching Infinity War Scene

How Robert Downey Jr. Changed And Improved Tony And Peter’s Gut-Wrenching Infinity War Scene

Tom Holland has become an instant favorite in the Marvel Cinematic Universe among fans. And a major reason why is because of the young actor’s chemistry with Robert Downey Jr., playing mentor to Peter Parker in both Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. The Iron Man and Spidey kinship helps explain why audiences were so devastated by Peter’s death in Avengers: Infinity War, turning “I don’t feel so good” into a Marvel meme.

But as it turns out, there were helpful emotional suggestions made to that scene by Robert Downey Jr. himself that the Russo Brothers believe nailed the significance of the moment and cemented Peter and Tony as spiritual touchstones in the MCU.

During a recent interview with Joe and Anthony Russo on CinemaBlend’s own ReelBlend podcast, the duo looked back on Avengers: Infinity War and the daring choices they made that had to be addressed in Endgame. When we circled around to Peter Parker’s dusting scene – an iconic MCU moment, by this point – Joe Russo elaborated on how that scene came together, and how Downey helped them get to where they needed to be. He said:

We had done a take or two… where it plays quicker than all of the other ones. We thought, ‘This has to be climactic.’ He's got spider sense, so he could feel it coming before it actually gets him. And we thought, wouldn't it be interesting too if your own emotional or spiritual core could hold [the dusting] off for a second or two longer than someone else. Because this is a magical event. It's nothing that's based on anything in the physical universe.

We just started talking to Tom and Downey. Downey is always extremely helpful in blocking. And we started saying, ‘This isn't having the emotional impact it needs to have. Tom, what if, you know, you’re a kid. This is scaring the shit out of you. What if this is something that you don't want to have happen. You can't, you know, you're scared. You don't want to go. So what would happen?’ And then he started improvising. ‘I don't want to go!’ And Downey, I think, he helped with the blocking of [Holland] falling into Robert and Robert laying him down on the ground. Frankly, it took about five or 10 minutes to shift. And in the next take, we went out and they nailed it and that was it. Everybody was crying on the set.

What’s that? You want to be devastated by this sorrow? Well, OK. Here’s that scene, in case you haven’t watched it 1,000,000 times before.

During the press run up to Avengers: Infinity War, the brothers were not able to discuss specifics, so as to protect spoilers. And they are in a similar situation with Avengers: Endgame. Yes the movie is out and dominating at the box office. But they are trying to protect the big reveals from the new movie as much as possible, which is why we used some small portion of our time with them to go back over the best parts of Infinity War.

Here is the first half of our conversation with Joe and Anthony Russo, as part of the ReelBlend podcast:

Not that you need to be told this, but Avengers: Endgame is in theaters as we speak. Come back to CinemaBlend next Monday, when we will post the second half of our conversation with the Russos, which is filled with MCU and Endgame spoiler talk. It’s worth the wait.

Hey DC, Sebastian Stan 'Would Love' To Play This Villain

Hey DC, Sebastian Stan 'Would Love' To Play This Villain

Sebastian Stan is best known for playing Bucky Barnes in the Marvel movies. Bucky went from good guy to villain and then back to good guy again. It's unclear how much longer Stan will play Bucky, but if he ever wants a change of pace, he knows the next comic book character he'd like to play. Stan would take a trip across the bridge to DC to act as, surprisingly enough, the Riddler.

After making his MCU debut in Captain America: The First Avenger, Sebastian Stan has appeared as Bucky Barnes in four more Marvel movies. With a Disney+ series called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on the way, we can likely count on seeing Stan in the MCU for the foreseeable future. However, if Stan ever needs a break from being bros with Captain America, he thinks that he'd like to torture Batman with increasingly difficult word puzzles.

While appearing at Jus In Bello in Rome (via CBR), Sebastian Stan was asked what other comic book characters he'd like to play. Stan opted to go with the classic Batman villain the Riddler, who is about as far from the Winter Soldier as you can possibly get.

I would love to try and play The Riddler. That's an interesting character. I don't know how you'd play that one actually, that would be very hard to be honest, because you couldn't be like crazy crazy crazy. You would have to be kind of much darker than that, but that's an interesting character.

Edward Nygma, better known as the Riddler, is an iconic member of Batman's rogues gallery, having fought the Dark Knight for decades. His whole shtick is that he thinks he's smarter than Batman and tries to prove it by planning elaborate schemes and traps. He has never ever beaten Batman.

It's certainly an interesting pick for Sebastian Stan, but it's unclear when he'd get a chance to prove his stuff as the Riddler. While the character has enjoyed a healthy TV run as a series regular over on Gotham, he hasn't been seen in a movie since 1995's Batman Forever. In that film he was played by Jim Carrey with maximum camp.

There's a new Batman solo movie that will be making its way to theaters in 2021. It was recently revealed that Robert Pattinson is the frontrunner to play Batman, while reports suggest that Penguin and Catwoman will be the villains. It doesn't sound like the Riddler will be involved, but these reports could always turn out to be inaccurate, or the filmmakers could change the villains.

Maybe Sebastian Stan will get his shot as the Riddler but, for now, you can see him in Avengers: Endgame and the upcoming The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series on Disney+. The series doesn't have a release date yet, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the updates.

Godzilla: King Of Monsters Clip Shows Him Throwing Down With Ghidora

Godzilla: King Of Monsters Clip Shows Him Throwing Down With Ghidora

We watch Godzilla movies for basically one reason, right? We want to see the giant monster break stuff. Also, punch other giant monsters in the face. Godzilla: King of the Monsters promises to give us lots of monsters fighting monsters action when it hits theaters later this year, and a new video is teasing us with what is sure to be one of the bigger battles of them all, Godzilla vs. Ghidora. Check it out.

While the video, posted by Bastizilla, titled simply "Run," does give a brief glimpse at other creatures, most of what we see here is the three-headed beast that is King Ghidora. We get a shot of Ghidora and Godzilla charging each other, one that unfortunately cuts before the two actually collide. However, later we see what appears to be Godzilla with his claws wrapped around one of the heads of Ghidora and driving it straight into the ground. We also see Godzilla about to blast somebody with his breath weapon. The next shot in that sequence is probably awesome.

Ghidora looks absolutely amazing here. While Hollywood has tried to make Godzilla work in the west before, this is the first time that some of these other massive creatures have appeared in a western production. Ghidora looks like he's going to give Godzilla a run for his money in the ass kicking department. Watching them throw down may be the highlight of the new movie.

One other interesting piece of information we get from the new clip is that the monsters that we have seen previously getting all the spotlight, Godzilla, Ghidora, Mothra, and Rodan, aren't going to be the only creatures in the movie. Ken Watanabe's character appears to say that 17 different creatures have been detected, and he clearly expects more. It doesn't mean they'll all be major kaiju we know from classic Godzilla movies, they may be largely generic creatures like the ones Godzilla fought in the previous film, but maybe there's more going in Godzilla: King of the Monsters than we know.

Either way, since the entire premise of the new movie is that humanity and Godzilla team up to take down all the other monsters threatening the planet, Godzilla may be doing a lot more fighting than even we thought.

Of course, that assumes that by the end of the movie Godzilla has ended every threat. That may not actually be the case. Considering that the one thing we know about this franchise is that Godzilla Vs. Kong is happening, perhaps that won't be the case. At the very least, one would expect a cliffhanger ending or a post-credits scene that teases that the fight isn't quite over yet.

The battle with Ghidora looks great here, and the fact that we're expecting a couple of other major kaiju battles in Godzilla: King of the Monsters is only making things more exciting. We'll get to see all the monster smashing action in May.

Chinese Censors Banned These Bohemian Rhapsody LGBTQ Moments

Chinese Censors Banned These Bohemian Rhapsody LGBTQ Moments

It's only been a couple of days since Bohemian Rhapsody was released into Chinese theaters, and it was a long road to even get there. This week, word is coming out as to what's been cut from the film. We knew that Bohemian Rhapsody was going to have some issues as it was cleared for a Chinese release and would endure some omissions due to Chinese restrictions and censors. Now we have a specific rundown of just what's been cut, and the trimmed material ranges from the mere usage of the word “gay” to crucial scenes involving the arc of Freddie Mercury's eventual acceptance of his sexuality.

The specific moments trimmed from Bohemian Rhapsody include the comedic beat during Queen's early Top of the Pops performance where Freddie's crotch is in full view of the camera, a couple of kisses between the Queen front man and his lovers, and even a moment where band mate Roger Taylor tells Freddie that his haircut makes him look “gayer.”

But perhaps the biggest cuts to Bohemian Rhapsody are two scenes that most help nail down the film's identity. The first is the moment with Freddie Mercury and his wife Mary, played by Lucy Boynton, who eventually outs her husband as gay; and the second is the recreation of the “I Want To Break Free” music video, which led to an MTV ban on the song's music video back in 1984. Both are lynchpin moments for the twin narratives of both Freddie's and the band's evolutions, and yet both were dropped.

In total, six sequences were cited as removed in an analysis provided to CNN by documentarian Fan Popo, a Chinese-born filmmaker. Also known as an LGBTQ activist in his home country, Popo revealed this list of cut moments as an antithesis to the viewpoint that Bohemian Rhapsody's mere release in the country should be seen as a win. Further driving his point home, he provided the following feelings about these moments being excised from Bohemian Rhapsody:

Rather than homophobic, I think (China's censors) are sexphobic. They are probably the most conservative people in China, that's why they are chosen for this job.

It was highly unexpected that Bohemian Rhapsody would hit Chinese theaters at all due to the country's strict LGBTQ media stance, so even the fact a trimmed down version of the movie made it to theaters is news.  Should a potential sequel to Bohemian Rhapsody that's been bandied about as of late ever get off the ground, it would be interesting to see if rather than pushing the envelope and trimming the film to fit a specific release, the next picture would just avoid those sorts of moments at the script level. Not only would such an approach save time and money on cutting two different versions of the film, it would potentially give this hypothetical blockbuster a means to break even more records than its predecessor. At the same time, it wouldn't be super accurate to Freddie Mercury's life.

While Bohemian Rhapsody didn't suffer the fate of being banned from China, much like Crimson Peak, it did run into some rather sharp editing shears on the way to its release. Which begs the question, which is the better fate: to have your film's message altered or to not be shown at all in a particular market? That something that the (now) Fox-owned Disney will need to figure out movie forward.  It's also something you can think about as you watch Bohemian Rhapsody, which is already available on Digital HD, as well as home video.

Bill And Ted Face The Music Has Added Another Returning Character

Bill And Ted Face The Music Has Added Another Returning Character

After years stuck in development hell, Bill and Ted Face The Music finally got some good news last week. An announcement from Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter confirmed that the titular duo will be back in a second sequel that will be hitting theaters next year, and revealed that production is underway. Obviously we still have a lot of questions about the project, but one that has now been answered is that actor William Sadler will be reprising his role as Death in the comedy.

Like the aforementioned release date announcement, this news comes to us from the official Bill & Ted 3 Twitter account, which revealed the casting while writing "For those who have been asking, @Wm_Sadler will totally be reprising his role!" No details were offered beyond that, and we still don't know how big his part in the story will be, but we're still giving ourselves licence to be excited.

William Sadler's Death wasn't featured in the first Bill and Ted movie, 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but instead was introduced as an antagonist-turned-protagonist in the 1991 sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Over the course of that film he goes from offering to play Bill and Ted in a game in exchange for their souls, to being a key member of the rock band Wyld Stallyns - the greatest band the universe has ever known and the foundation of a Utopian society.

Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait before reprising a role, especially an ageless one like Death. Fortunately, William Sadler has an ally on his side: super heavy makeup. As you can tell from the image above, his face is going to be so covered up that you won't be able to tell if he's 30 or 60.

It's very possible that this won't be the last time we hear about an actor returning to reprise a role in Bill and Ted Face The Music, but, sadly, one character we know won't be showing up is Rufus. Though he was a key part of both Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, George Carlin passed away in 2008, and the new movie has decided not to recast the part. Instead, according to the official Twitter account, his absence will be a big part of the movie thematically:

Based on a script by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and directed by Dean Parisot, Bill & Ted Face The Music will catch up with the titular characters not as world-class rock stars, but instead as struggling middle-aged dads who can't figure out how to fulfill their destiny. They had been told as teens that they were supposed to write a song that would save the universe, but they simply can't get it together. With the movie now filming, hopefully more details will be coming soon, including more casting announcements.

The Biggest Way Avengers: Endgame Should Affect Spider-Man: Far From Home

The Biggest Way Avengers: Endgame Should Affect Spider-Man: Far From Home

Major SPOILER warning: The ending of Avengers: Endgame is a big focus of this article. DON'T read this until you've seen the movie. You have been warned!

Avengers: Endgame is here, and while the movie is busy destroying every box office opening record, fans are still recuperating from its massive ending. Tears were shed, laughs were had and the battle was won. The MCU was left unquestionably changed following the events of the film, and the one movie where we could and most definitely should see the repercussions of the finale is Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The Web-Slinger's sequel is the first movie after Avengers: Endgame and it's also the final movie of Phase 3. If there was anywhere we would see the aftermath of Endgame, it's in this movie, because it means that Far From Home will have to address the direct effects of the Snap and where it leaves Peter Parker and all his classmates.

Okay, spoiler time.

In Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers are successfully able to acquire all of the Infinity Stones and build their own Infinity Gauntlet. The Hulk, being the only one who can take the full power of the stones, uses the Gauntlet to bring back everyone who was snapped out of existence at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.

Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, The Guardians of the Galaxy and, of course, Spider-Man are among the people brought back to life, but the catch is that five years have passed since they were dusted. To them, no time has passed at all, but the rest of world had to learn to move on, and that probably includes public school systems.

Endgame hints that the world was in pretty terrible shape, but there's no indication that school was stopped. While Peter Parker was wiped off the face of the Earth, some of his classmates definitely weren't, and so they must have completed high school by the time he was resurrected.

That's why it gets tricky for Far From Home, because now it has to address who was and wasn't snapped, and how school works now that half of all teenagers missed out on an education. If it doesn't address the Snap at all, then that's extremely odd.

Assuming that school went on and kids graduated (the acceptance rate for colleges must have skyrocketed in those five years), Far From Home should have a pretty different cast from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thanks to trailers, I have a pretty decent idea which of Peter's friends were snapped.

There are really only four kids other than Peter who can be considered the main high school cast. Those characters are Ned, Michelle Jones, Flash Thompson, and Betty Brant. Of those, only Betty didn't have that big a part in Homecoming, but it looks like that has changed a bit in Far From Home.

Each of those kids are in Far From Home on the school trip to Europe, so it's probably safe to assume they were all snapped. The trailers don't show any other familiar school kids like the ones on the debate team, so we can guess that they all graduated. I would be surprised if any of these kids were important down the line, but they are all actually real deep-cut Spider-Man references.

For example, one of the kids on the debate team is named Abe Brown. In the comics, this character is actually a vigilante known as Black Tiger, and he's the brother of Hobie Brown, a slightly more well known character who's the original Prowler. Another character, Cindy Moon, was bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers in the comics. She becomes the hero Silk, but there's no indication that happened in the MCU.

Abe, Cindy and the rest of the debate team are either extremely difficult to spot or just aren't in the Far From Home trailer, but I'm thinking they aren't in the movie at all. Maybe they just didn't get to go on the field trip, but it seems like too much of a coincidence that all the tertiary characters have been left out. The Snap would certainly explain the absence.

Otherwise, it would also be extremely weird if Peter's entire class wasn't affected by the Snap. It's mathematically impossible that the whole cast of the Spider-Man movies got off scot free. The events of Infinity War and Endgame are too massive to ignore, and Far From Home is the first movie from the viewpoint of the (mostly) regular citizens. It's a great opportunity to show that Endgame's conclusion has far-reaching effects.

It wouldn't necessarily be that hard a thing to deal with either. The movie just has to explain the status quo in the beginning and then it can get to the summer fun, Elementals and whatever else is going on in Far From Home. Yes, having a whole scene of the group dealing with the fact that they were dead for five years would be great drama to watch, but that's heavier material than I think people are looking for in a Spider-Man movie.

There can just be a scene in the beginning between Peter and Aunt May where they do some light exposition dumping about how Peter and some of his class are still in the same grade after being gone for five years.

Of course, all of this is assuming that Far From Home takes place after Endgame. It could be set before Infinity War and then the Snap won't factor into it all. That's a 'get our of jail free card' if there ever was one, but then whatever the next Spider-Man movie is will have to deal with the issue of the Snap. It's unavoidable, so Marvel might as well just deal with it now and get it over with.

Ultimately, it's a good thing for Far From Home to address the Snap. It helps to explain how the world works now that Thanos has come and gone, and it sets the status quo for Peter moving forward. Marvel likes the high school setting for Spider-Man and it makes sense that it'd want to keep him there for as long as possible. I don't expect Far From Home to dig too deeply into it, but an explanation would certainly be helpful and serve as a great way to show how this universe is moving post in a post-Endgame world.

We'll find out what's happening one way or the other when Spider-Man: Far From Home swings into theaters on July 2.