San Diego Comic-Con, the annual event where Hollywood’s biggest studios premiere upcoming productions, has rolled out host of announcements since it began on Thursday. These include a teaser of the new John Wick movie and Marvel Studios’ roadmap until 2024. Here are the highlights.
John Wick is back – again
The fourth John Wick movie, scheduled for 2021 but delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and lead actor Keanu Reeves’s return to the Matrix franchise, will now be released on March 24, 2023. Reeves returns as the deadly assassin under Chad Stahelski’s direction.
The official synopsis: “With the price on his head ever increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin.” The cast includes Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard and Donnie Yen.
Marvel is entering ‘Phases 5 and 6’
Even as Marvel Studios completes its ‘Phase 4’ rollout of titles inspired by Marvel Comics, studio head Kevin Feige announced a bunch of new films and series.
First up is She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, starring Bruce Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), who helps superheroes tackle legal problems. The series will be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar on August 17.
The Black Panther franchise has found a way to go forward after the sudden demise of lead actor Chadwick Boseman from cancer in 2020. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever adds Tenoch Huerta to the cast as King Namor.
The synopsis: Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.”
Ryan Coogler’s film will be released on November 11 in theatres in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Guardians of the Galaxy will end with Vol. 3, which is aiming for a theatrical release on May 5, 2023. Directed by James Gunn, the movie stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper as the racoon Rocket, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Elizabeth Debicki, Will Poulter and Maria Balakova. Among its themes is Rocket’s origin story.
Meanwhile, Groot is getting his own spin-off miniseries. I Am Groot, comprising five short films, will be premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on August 10.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released on February 17, 2023. Directed by Peyton Reed, the film stars Paul Rudd, Kathryn Newton, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror.
Among the upcoming MCU titles for 2023 and 2024 is Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Don Cheadle, Martin Freeman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke.
Hawkeye spinoff Echo is centred on Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox). The vampire character Blade will get a movie version, scheduled for November 3, 2023, and starring Mahershala Ali in the lead role under Bassam Tariq’s direction.
WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Coven of Chaos stars Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). Daredevil: Born Again, scheduled for 2024, is an 18-episode series based on the adventures of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox).
A new Captain America film, subtitled New World Order and starring Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, will be released on May 3, 2024.
Fantastic 4 is scheduled for November 8, 2024, and will feature the villain Victor Von Doom. Two Avengers spin-off movies have been announced: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, scheduled for May 2, 2025, and Avengers: Secret Wars, scheduled for November 7, 2025.
Warner Bros showcases ‘Black Adam’, new ‘Shazam!’ film
Warner Bros stayed clear of its controversial productions The Flash, starring Ezra Miller, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, whose cast includes Amber Heard. Instead, the studio focused on the superhero films Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Black Adam, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, stars Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centino and Sarah Shahi. The scheduled release is October 21.
David F Sandberg’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a sequel to Shazam! (2019), stars Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Asher Angel, Rachel Zegler and Adam Brody. The scheduled United States release is December 21.
New series
Among the show reveals at Comic-Con was AMC’s Interview With The Vampire, a new adaptation of the Anne Rice novel. The seven-episode first season will be premiered on AMC on October 2.
An AMC subscription is available in India through Amazon Prime Video. The series stars Eric Bogosian, Jacob Anderson and Bailey Bass.
A trailer of the under-production Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves inaugurated San Diego Comic-Con. The film based on the table-top game stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the fantasy adventure will be released on March 3, 2023.
Alongside announcing that the fantasy series The Wheel of Time has been renewed for a third season, the streaming platform showcased a behind-the-scenes look at the second season.