By now there are already a million and a half articles and Youtube bloggers talking about what is yet to come in the highly anticipated Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After Spider-Man: Far From Home closed out The Infinity Saga, or the first 23 interconnected films of the MCU, tension was at an all time high to answer one question: What comes next? Now that Kevin Feige and a multitude of guests have rocked the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic Con and released a timeline of the next two years, let’s dissect what we learned. BLACK WIDOW – May 1, 2020 This may have been the least shocking reveal, but our next adventure into the Marvel-verse will be a prequel set in the time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Audiences will catch up with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to learn a little more about the trained assassin who fell on Volomir. This will likely be an action spy thriller with David Harbour as Taskmaster, but what this film is going to bring to the table is still unknown. However, I wouldn’t be shocked if something extremely minute shows up in the end credits of this film that sets up the next 10 years of movies. THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER – Only on Disney+ Fall 2020 Honestly, I didn’t expect to see any Disney+ announcements at Comic Con, but I’m glad we finally have a time table for some of these new shows. Seriously, looking ahead at 2021, the first part of Phase Four is going to be HUGE. Our first ever glimpse into what a Marvel-Disney+ Show looks like comes in the form of Bucky Barnes and the new Captain America, who seems to still be going by Falcon, Sam Wilson. With details still pretty tight-lipped, I hope we get one more outing with Old Man Cap. ETERNALS – November 6, 2020 Rounding out next year, the next big thing of the MCU is going to be The Eternals. This space adventure will star Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek Lauren Ridloff and Brian Tyree Henry. Ridloff will play the first deaf character in the MCU. If I am wildly speculating, I hope we see a young Thanos in this movie. It is likely going to take place partially on Titan and I would love to see more of the Mad Titan. SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – February 12, 2021 I’m calling it now, this movie is going to be the highest grossing Marvel film of all time due to international box office. Awkwafina and Tony Leung are set to star in the film and will go up against the REAL Mandarin. I only hope this means Ben Kingsley will be back as Trevor. The ties to Iron Man 3 is a great way to get domestic movie-goers to check out a martial arts film and I am willing to bet a hint at a lot of what’s to come will show up here, just to make it essential viewing. WANDAVISION – Only on Disney+ in Spring 2021 While we know Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen will both be staring in this limited series, it is unclear how Vision will be brought back from the dead. However, I am certain this will include a grieving Wanda and some crazy witchy powers. I hope we see the twins being born here too. The character of Monica Rambeau will be played by Teyonah Parris. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS – May 7, 2021 First, let me just say that this is the first of two really great upcoming MCU titles. Following the events of WandaVision, Doctor Strange and Scarlett Witch will go on a haunting adventure. Scott Derrickson will return as director. I’m guessing we will get confirmation of demons in the MCU. LOKI – Only on Disney+ in Spring 2021 Following the events of Avengers: Endgame an alternate version of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki will go on a time-hopping adventure. I don’t even know what to speculate about here. Maybe we will see the Savage Land? WHAT IF…? – Only on Disney+ in Spring 2021 This will be the first animated series of the MCU which tells alternate stories about what could have been in Phases One through Three. Basically, all of the well-known actors and actresses of the MCU are lending their voices to this series and there’s no need to speculate because it won’t have ramifications for the universe. HAWKEYE – Only on Disney+ in Fall 2021 The fifth and (not really) final Marvel series to hit Disney+ in the next two years is Hawkeye which will see more of Jeremy Renner’s Ronin give up the mantle of Hawkeye to Kate Bishop. I hope Clint Barton actually retires this time. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER – November 5, 2021 Possibly the most anticipated movie and second-best title announced at San Diego Comic Con is Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth installment in the Thor franchise and a return for Natalie Portman’s character, Jane Foster. Portman is expected to wield the powers of Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is also expected to return. It’s probably too much to expect the Hulk in this film but Banner is the only original Avenger that doesn’t seem to have any plans beyond Endgame. I’m sure I’m wrong about that, though. Taika Waititi is returning to direct this film. Will the Guardians of the Galaxy show up? Only time will tell. THE FUTURE
Various other films were announced but not officially put on the slate. However, since Phase Four is only planned out for two years so far, and all the other previous Phases have had three of four years, I expect there to be a second half of this phase announced soon. Possibly at D23 Expo in August? Rounding out the night, Kevin Fiege also announced that Mahershala Ali will star in a reboot of Blade and more movies are on the way. Fantastic Four, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 and Mutants were all name-dropped by Feige. One film that was notably absent was a third Spider-Man film. Part of me is expecting that film to slide into a July 2021 spot or somewhere in the unannounced 2022 timeline. WHAT’S MISSING? So now that we know what I’m calling HALF of Phase Four, what comes next? Marvel still has Feb 2022, May 2022 and July 2022 open for more films. I expect these will be filled with Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Guardians sequels respectively. I also think Young Avengers, Ant-Man 3 and Blade will come out in 2023, finishing Phase Four. Fantastic Four and Mutants will start Phase Five in 2024. (Remember, these are just my guesses.) What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
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Anyone on social media today has probably seen the internet’s hot take on the first trailer for the theatrical debut of Cats. “It’s hideous and terrifying and grotesque and just plain wrong,” seems to be the consensus. However, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is the fourth longest running musical on Broadway and every other musical in that top five list has already received a big-budget Hollywood production. Nearly 37 years later, Cats seems to be proving that there was a reason this show never made it off the stage. That’s because it is so nonsensical and whimsical that no one in their right mind would try to take on the burden of translating it to a widespread audience. Cats has a niche group of theatre-geeks who like the show and that’s all it will ever amount to. I mean, there’s no way a musical about talking animals will ever make vast amounts of money at the box-office and earn praise from the general audience. There’s no way a director will sweep in and receive honor for their ground-breaking, visionary work on a musical with cute songs and….oh wait. Disney’s The Lion King Roars Into Theatres Not only did Disney’s The Lion King become a phenomenon in the 90’s, it went on to become the fourth longest running musical on Broadway. This week, a new live-action remake of that musical is opening in theatres across the nation and the general consensus (which doesn’t include critics like myself) seems to be on board with Jon Favreau’s realistic look that lends itself better to a nature documentary than to a movie about a talking/singing lion cub. However, The Lion King did receive some criticism for making the animals look too realistic and emotionless. So, obviously when making a Cats movie in 2019 on the heels of The Lion King one wants to learn from another person’s feedback, right? Maybe these cats should have realistic, emotion-filled faces. That will make everyone happy! The “Horror-Filled” Trailer Tom Hooper, the award-winning director of Les Miserables and The King’s Speech, decided that he wanted to set out and do something imaginative and unique with Cats. With an all-star cast that includes James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift and Rebel Wilson, Cats was shaping up to be an insane production with huge sets, incredible choreography, magical cinematography and great performances. On all accounts, I still think those descriptions hold up for the footage that I’ve seen. But what to do about the look of the titular cats? On stage, the actors perform as fur-laden, make-up-heavy, stylized anthropomorphic versions of cats. While this is off-putting, no one has complained extensively about the way Cats looks on stage. How else would it be done? However, with a theatrical version, suddenly everyone was expecting these cats to be photo-realistic? The new version of the cats looks fairly similar to the old versions, just now without the makeup, the actor’s faces look that much more jarring. “Digital fur-technology” has me a little worried, but I put my faith in this new retelling of the musical. I too was startled by weird CGI faces and I saw memes comparing this to Sonic The Hedgehog and the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, another musical where suddenly people thought it would look anything but like a blue Will Smith. Where Cats goes from here Obviously the cast and creative team behind Cats have faith in their work. If they didn’t, the trailer would have been dumped much later in the year to try and save face. I still think this film is going to be gorgeous and I will have to get over my disdain for the cat’s faces, but I had to do that when I saw the original too. Disney’s Aladdin opened strong back in May and eventually that disdain for Will Smith’s Genie fizzled out. Sure, there are people who don’t like the film, and that’s okay. There are people who don’t like the new Lion King or Les Miserables. Either way, I think those crews did their best and society will move on. I do worry that Cats will be buried by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker but then again, The Greatest Showman opened against The Last Jedi and found its audience in January and February. Universal’s Cats deserves its time to shine, hideous CGI and all. It was never going to look realistic and after 30 years, everyone should have known that. For now, just enjoy Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of “Memory.” Watch the trailer for Cats (2019) now and let me know what you think in the comments below.
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Erick L. Graham Wood
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