Disney rehires James Gunn to direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’

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After being fired over offensive tweets dug up by far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich, James Gunn finds himself at the helm once again of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 as Disney rehires the director. His firing was met with a lot of criticism by reporters, Hollywood insiders, and even the cast of the first two Guardians films to reconsider the firing. Now, Disney has decided to bring him back. According to the company, the decision to rehire Gunn was “mulled and actually made months ago, following conversations with Disney studio leadership and the team at Marvel Studio.” Gunn, who hasn’t tweeted since being fired, sent out a thank you message to fans for their continued support.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was originally slated for a 2020 release, but it’s since been pushed back. There is no news at the moment when it’ll come out. The director is also set to helm Suicide Squad 2 for Warner Bros., which is coming out next year. He’s one of the few directors now who can say he’s gotten to work on both Marvel and DC projects for two different studios.

Source: The Verge

Marvel rumoured to be working on animated 'What If' series of Disney+

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Marvel is reportedly working on an animated series based on the What If comics for the soon-to-be-launched Disney+ streaming service. The What If series are one-shot adventures that exist outside of the comics canon and ask questions like "What if Loki had found the hammer of Thor?" or "What if Spider-Man didn't become a crimefighter?" The series will operate under the same idea, giving different takes on what has happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon.

The series is reportedly being developed by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. And we could expect some of the bigger Marvel stars to come in and voice their characters. This show will join the already-announced Loki series and other rumoured Marvel shows that'll revolve around characters like Vision and Scarlet Witch and another with Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Source: The Verge

‘Captain Marvel’ will be first Disney+ exclusive film

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After Captain Marvel hits theatres next month, you won’t be able to re-watch it later on any other streaming service except for Disney’s upcoming Disney+ service. The company’s CEO Bob Iger announced at an investors call on February 5^th that Captain Marvel will be the first film to exclusively stream on its service. Disney also plans to drop its US$140 million licensing program so all its content will be made exclusive on its service. Iger is also saying that many of its sub-brands—which include Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm—are working on content specifically for Disney+. He even mentioned National Geographic, which Disney is in the process of acquiring as part of its purchase of 21^st Century Fox.

This move will not impact theatrical releases though, according to Iger. We also don’t have that many details about the service right now. But it’s expected to cost less than Netflix and come out sometime at the end of the year.

Source: Hypebeast

Is Marvel ready to make an R-rated ‘Black Widow’ film?

While Captain Marvel marks the first female-led movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, another longstanding member of the MCU might be making waves in her own way. Writer Charles Murphy from the comedy and music podcast The Hashtag Show tweeted that he once heard Marvel Studios thinking about making the Black Widow movie an R-rated film. But this could also stand for other Marvel films, too. He adds “I’m not saying it will be for sure (no way to know what they will settle on at this point), but they have recently said that R-rated MCU films ARE a possibility, so it is a possibility.”

The buzz around possibly having R-rated MCU films came when Disney announced its acquisition of 21^st Century Fox, and with the latter having already made more mature films for Marvel characters like Deadpool and Logan, it seems like something that could happen. We don’t know much about the Black Widow movie but it does currently have a female director in Cate Shortland, Scarlett Johansson will be reprising her role, and filming is expected to start this coming March. Release date is said to be 2020. It’s being rumoured that the film will be a prequel and will follow Natasha Romanoff (or Natalia Romanova) as she works as a spy for the KGB.

Source: Inquirer.net