TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 21:59:50

TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 21:59:50

The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds is working on “various treatments” for a movie that would include Deadpool and three or four other X-Men characters. As for who exactly might join up with Wade this time around? That remains a mystery, but Reynolds previously shared his belief that Deadpool works better as a supporting character, so this news lines up with what the actor/writer/producer has said in the past. It also further builds on something Reynolds teased himself recently.

“I’m writing a little something right now,” Reynolds revealed in an interview with Time. “It’s an ensemble but I like that he’s isolated. If Deadpool becomes an Avenger or an X-Man, we’re at the end. That’s his wish fulfillment and you can’t give him that.”

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Even though Marvel and Disney haven’t officially given this team-up film the green light, it’s easy to imagine they would be on board. Last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” made more than $1.3 billion at the box office, becoming the biggest R-rated movie ever. It’s one of the biggest hits the Marvel Cinematic Universe has enjoyed in the last handful of years. Undoubtedly, the powers that be would like to tap into that juice again if they can.

Deadpool can expand the scope of the X-Men franchise in the MCU

In light of how little information has been confirmed at this point, we’re left to speculate. The most obvious answer would be an “X-Force” movie, which Reynolds very much wanted to make several years back. That spin-off was even teed up rather nicely by 2018’s “Deadpool 2,” but when Disney purchased Fox in 2019, those plans went out the window. Why not revisit that concept now?

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The report also noted that the ensemble concept “could allow for the X-Men characters to be used in unexpected ways.” Marvel Studios is currently prepping an “X-Men” movie reboot, with Michael Lesslie (“Hunger Games”) set to pen the screenplay. Reynolds’ concept could make room for more obscure characters to enter the MCU fold without having to overcrowd the flagship “X-Men” movies.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” proved that more mutants can, under the right circumstances, equal more success. Channing Tatum finally got to play Gambit in that movie and now he’s returning for next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” no doubt thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response from audiences to his take on the card-throwing mutant. Deadpool could, in theory, serve as a springboard for other mutants to take the spotlight.

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Before anyone gets too excited, it needs to be made clear that this probably won’t happen too soon. At the very least, Marvel probably wants to get through “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which is due to hit theaters in 2027. But after that? Anything is possible.

The next “Deadpool” movie doesn’t have a release date yet, but stay tuned.

Ryan Reynolds in Early Stages of Exploring a Deadpool/X-Men Teamup Movie (Exclusive)

Ryan Reynolds in Early Stages of Exploring a Deadpool/X-Men Teamup Movie (Exclusive)

Ryan Reynolds in Early Stages of Exploring a Deadpool/X-Men Teamup Movie (Exclusive)

In the aftermath of Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds remained firm that he did not see another solo Deadpool movie in his future. That was despite the film grossing $1.338 billion, a number that validated the extraordinary amount of creative control he wields over the franchise, and which proved he was the most valuable new player in the Marvel Studios arsenal. 

Now, nine months after Deadpool & Wolverine became the top-grossing R-rated movie of all time, Reynolds is quietly plotting his return to the character, but true to his word, it won’t be as the lead of a solo movie.

Reynolds is exploring ideas for a Deadpool movie that would feature X-Men characters, as well as continuing to script the Paramount comedy Boy Band after making writing a priority for much of this year before tackling other obligations, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The multi-hyphenate is working on various treatments for an ensemble film featuring three or four X-Men characters. Deadpool would of course appear, but perhaps only as a supporting player. Reynolds is said to believe that keeping his f-bomb wielding anti-hero more on the sidelines could allow for the X-Men characters to be used in unexpected ways. Reynolds has been open about every Deadpool movie needing a strong reason to exist, and it’s possible this could provide the avenue he needs.

The potential film is separate from a potential X-Men movie that Hunger Games writer Michael Lesslie is penning for Marvel Studios.

There’s no word on which X-Men characters Reynolds is toying with, though Oscar-nominated Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, whom Reynolds honored at the National Board of Review in January alongside her co-star Ariana Grande, has publicly lobbied to play Storm in the MCU. Reynolds would need to defer to Marvel on any such casting decisions.

It’s extremely early days and far from becoming a reality, and Reynolds — known for tinkering with concepts he hopes to share with Marvel in the future — is working separate from the studio at this stage. It’s not unusual for Reynolds to go through many iterations before landing on the right idea; before Deadpool & Wolverine, one idea he pitched for Deadpool 3 was a low-budget road trip movie.

Reynolds has played in the X-Men sandbox before, with Deadpool & Wolverine featuring villains Sabertooth (Tyler Mane) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford), while X-Men such as Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) have been in all three Deadpool movies. He lured Hugh Jackman out of retirement as Wolverine, a character who likely will show up in an Avengers movie down the road. And he wrote a Deadpool & Wolverine role for Channing Tatum, who was long attached to a Gambit movie that never happened at Fox. Tatum will now appear in Avengers: Doomsday, along with stars from the original Fox X-Men movies such as Patrick Stewart (Prof. X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Alan Cuming (Nightcrawler) and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique).

His focus on his writing came amid a planned break in filming. It also ended up coinciding with the high-profile legal battle between his wife Blake Lively and her It Ends with Us director/co-star Justin Baldoni (Reynolds has been named alongside Lively as a plaintiff in Baldoni’s suit, but Reynold’s attorney are requesting that he be dismissed). If the two sides don’t settle, a trail is set for next March.

Sources say Reynolds also continues to work on a rewrite of the script for Boy Band, a Paramount feature he would star in about aging members of a boy band. His close friend Jackman is keen to co-star, and the cameo possibilities are delicious to ponder. While Reynolds will still appear in front of the camera, the project is all part of a shift in recent years to producing and writing. There is no start date or release date for the film.

“I’m more passionate about storytelling than I am about acting,” Reynolds said in an interview with THR last year. “If I win, great. If I lose, I get to also feel like I was the architect of my own demise.”

At the time, Reynolds also told THR that he believed Deadpool could appear opposite the X-Men and the Avengers, but that the character joining those teams would have unintended consequences. “His ultimate dream is to be accepted and appreciated. But he can’t be accepted. His coping mechanism of deflecting shame through humor works only when used to pave over his many inadequacies. If and when he does become an Avenger or X-Man, we’re at the end of his journey.”

Reynolds noted something similar last month while suggesting that he might be working on an MCU pic. Said the star at the Time 100 Summit, where he was among the honorees speaking on various panels: “I like that he’s isolated. If Deadpool becomes an Avenger or an X-Man, we’re at the end. That’s his wish fulfillment, and you can’t give him that.”

TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 21:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 21:00:00

(played by Lewis Pullman, who replaced Steven Yeun after he parted ways with the project). Designed to fill the gap left by The Avengers, who haven’t assembled since the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” The Sentry is the superforce that goes out of control, leaving the titular team to get together and try to stop him. But just what kind of force are they going up against, and how much of The Sentry’s original power set from the comics is making its way into the MCU?

Well, much like his comic book iteration, there’s really not much Bob can’t do, and that’s precisely why he’s something to be afraid of here and going forward for his eventual reappearance in “Avengers: Doomsday” and whatever side he’ll be on when we’re reunited with him there. See, our boy Bob is a complex fellow with multiple sides to him, one of which we’d advise you absolutely don’t come face to face with, unless you’re happy with staring into The Void.

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The Sentry is Marvel’s answer to Superman – just a very broken one

Debuting in his own comic in 2000, The Sentry was a superhero who had all the basic but equally brilliant abilities that all standard superheroes have. Blessed with super strength, speed, and the ability to fly, The Sentry felt like Marvel’s answer to DC’s Superman. He was simply unstoppable, and with his transition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, things haven’t changed.

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In the comics, The Sentry has been known to hold his own against some of the most powerful entities in the Marvel universe. Going toe-to-toe with the likes of Thor, Hulk, and Doctor Doom, there was even one brutal and memorable instance where Bob went up against Ares, the god of war, and ripped the deity in half. Over time, The Sentry even discovered new powers that he didn’t initially possess, including molecularization, giving him the power to alter objects down to a molecular level, and psionics, which allow him to manipulate reality itself. 

The movie version of the character is described in the movie as being “more powerful than all of the Avengers combined,” and has, so far, developed super strength, speed, the ability to fly, potentially some kind of extra-sensory perception where he can anticipate where Ghost is going to phase in and out of vision, and an apparent invulnerability. But if his comics counterpart points the way toward the live-action version gaining even more powers, he might find himself in a prime place on the battlefield for “Avengers: Doomsday.” The only concern is whether he will be able to maintain control, given that, as powerful as Bob might be, another presence in him poses an even greater threat. Haunting Bob’s subconscious and just itching to get out is Bob’s darker alias, The Void, bent on causing chaos and disaster with a mere thought.

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The Void is The Sentry’s dark half and a force to be reckoned with

With characters like Norman Osborn, Bruce Banner, and Marc Spector, the Marvel universe is full of characters with split identities, and one of the most terrifying is Bob Reynolds’ unhinged alter-ego, The Void. The counter personality to The Sentry, The Void taunts Bob when he takes over, luring him on a path of destruction that, if not restrained, can destroy the universe. Its history is equally as dark and mysterious as the threat it poses, given that in the comics, it’s alluded to that The Void may have been present at around 1600 BCE and could very well be the Angel of Death before it latched onto Bob. Such a title is fitting, given that one of The Void’s most despicable acts in the comics was killing over a million civilians in Manhattan.

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As we’ve already seen in the trailer, the black shadow definitely makes an appearance in “Thunderbolts*,” seemingly snapping people out of existence in a way that even Thanos might be impressed with. How will the fallout of Bob’s opposing identities tee up whatever dangers are headed our heroes way when they return for “Avengers: Doomsday?” Let’s hope Victor Von Doom doesn’t find a way to get a hold of them for himself.

“Thunderbolts*” is in theaters now.

TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 20:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-05-02 20:00:00

As Peter Biskind’s 2008 piece about “The Deer Hunter” and “Coming Home” at the 1979 Oscars in Vanity Fair details, producer Barry Spikings bought “The Man Who Came to Play” for EMI, and couldn’t figure out how to make it until he met with Cimino. According to Spikings’ recollection, the director succinctly solved that problem:

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“You know why you’re obsessed with [that script]? It’s because the Russian roulette is a metaphor for what America was doing with its young people, sending them to a war in a foreign place, when there was no justification for it. I know something about Vietnam, and I’ve always wanted to do a movie about it. Are you up for it?”

Spikings’ answer was a resounding yes, and Cimino’s “The Deer Hunter” got underway. Yet the story grew, and so did the shooting schedule and budget, so much so that there was controversy surrounding the film before a cut was ever completed. Once a version of the finished movie existed, it screened for executives at Universal Pictures, who owned the rights to the film’s domestic distribution. When Lew Wasserman (head of Universal’s then-parent company MCA) and Sid Sheinberg saw the film, their reception of it was especially bad. According to Spikings:

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“I think they were shocked…They really didn’t like the movie. And they certainly didn’t like it at three hours two minutes.”

In addition to the controversy over the film’s political content (more on that in a second), the executives subscribed to what became a popular notion, that Cimino’s film was too lengthy, especially the first half, where the main characters attend a wedding of one of their buddies, just before many of them are sent to Vietnam. While myself and other aficionados of the film find this criticism erroneous, it was something that nearly prevented “The Deer Hunter” from being released at all. As Spikings recalled, Sheinberg gave him and Cimino an ultimatum:

“You’ve got to get one hour out of this movie—then we might think about releasing it.”

The controversy over the ending of The Deer Hunter

Although the Universal execs hired one of their own editors, Verna Fields (who worked on “Jaws”), to try and cut “The Deer Hunter” down to their size, the final choice of which cut to release fell to the CEO of EMI, Bernard Delfont, who ended up choosing Cimino’s cut. The executives didn’t just have an issue with the movie’s length, however. Much more concerning to them, according to Spikings, was its commentary on America:

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“What really upset them was ‘God Bless America.’ Sheinberg thought it was anti-American. He was vehement. He said something like ‘You’re poking a stick in the eye of America.'”

The “God Bless America” moment is the ending of the film, where the broken yet surviving characters sing the hymn as they sit down to a meal. Indeed as Sheinberg said, it became a flashpoint scene for discourse about what the movie was trying to say about Vietnam and America in general, whether the song choice was intended as ironic, satiric, or genuinely patriotic. Fortunately, even though it’s not clear whether Fields’ cut removed or softened the ending somehow, the moment remained intact thanks to Delfont preferring Cimino’s cut of the movie.

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Cimino remains one of the most divisive figures in American film, and while “The Deer Hunter” is generally regarded as his masterpiece, its merits and flaws are still debated to this day. Some of those flaws aside (including playing fast and loose with its politics), one of the strengths of the film is how it gives the viewer the opportunity to draw their own conclusions while still having a point of view. The Vietnam War was far too fresh in American’s minds in 1978, so much so that of course a movie as bold as “The Deer Hunter” would be shocking. In 2025, it’s far easier to comprehend an ending (and a film) that has affection for America while pointing a bitter, condemning finger at it. Being able to simultaneously love and criticize our country is one of the greatest freedoms we Americans get to enjoy — for now.

Heidi Gardner, Golfer Bobby Ray Join Amazon MGM Comedy ‘Judgment Day’ From Nicholas Stoller (Exclusive)

Heidi Gardner, Golfer Bobby Ray Join Amazon MGM Comedy ‘Judgment Day’ From Nicholas Stoller (Exclusive)

Heidi Gardner, Golfer Bobby Ray Join Amazon MGM Comedy ‘Judgment Day’ From Nicholas Stoller (Exclusive)

Amazon MGM Studios is continuing to lock up its cast for the forthcoming comedy feature Judgment Day from director Nicholas Stoller.

Heidi Gardner and golfer Bobby Ray have joined the cast for the movie that is set to star Will Ferrell and Zac Efron. Other previously announced castmembers include Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jimmy Tatro, Michael Peña, Fortune Feimster, Bill Camp, Billy Eichner, Tyler Lofton, Rachel Hilson, Rory Scovel, Bobby Cannavale and Regina Hall. 

Judgment Day focuses on a young convict (Efron) who gets out of prison and takes an unscripted TV courtroom hostage, as he blames the egomaniacal judge (Ferrell) for the ruling that destroyed his life. Details regarding Gardner and Ray’s roles have not yet been shared for the movie that had previously been untitled. A release date has not been announced.

Stoller reunites with Amazon MGM after directing Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon for the studio’s You’re Cordially Invited, which began streaming earlier this year. Producers for Judgment Day include Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and Alex Brown for Gloria Sanchez Productions and Stoller for Stoller Global Solutions.

Gardner will complete her eighth season on Saturday Night Live later this month and can also be seen on the final season of Netflix’s You. Additionally, she is known for such series as Apple TV+’s Shrinking and the Netflix features Otherhood and the Adam Sandler-led Hustle, along with voice roles in Leo and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Ray is ranked 10th in the world in the sport of long drive. He is also known for broadcast appearances and YouTube content centering on golf and was the winner of the Fox dating series Paradise Hotel in 2019.

Gardner is represented by CAA, OPE, and Melissa Fox at Hansen Jacobson.

Oscars Keep 2026 Date as L.A. Marathon Agrees to Reschedule to Avoid Conflict

Oscars Keep 2026 Date as L.A. Marathon Agrees to Reschedule to Avoid Conflict

Oscars Keep 2026 Date as L.A. Marathon Agrees to Reschedule to Avoid Conflict

Considering that the route of the Los Angeles Marathon traditionally runs through Hollywood Boulevard, along which the Oscars red carpet is annually laid out in front of the Dolby Theater, it was a pretty big problem that the L.A. Marathon and the Oscars were both scheduled to take place in 2026 on the same day, Sunday, March 15.

Fortunately for all parties concerned, an agreement has been reached between the organizers of the L.A. Marathon, the McCourt Foundation and the organizers of the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that will avert such a collision.

LA Mayor Karen Bass announced the agreement on Friday, although sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that it was largely resolved in direct talks between the two parties. The end result: the Oscars will remain on Sunday, March 15, while the L.A. Marathon will move to another date in March 2026 that will be announced in the near future.

All parties have also agreed that, moving forward, the L.A. Marathon will take place on the third Sunday in March (on which it has often but not always been held in recent years), and the Oscars will take place on a different date.

The backers of the L.A. Marathon and the Oscars have also agreed to establish a partnership to promote each other’s events, although details were not immediately available.