Tag: Kevin Feige

Kevin Feige Announcess Disney-Fox Deal Won’t Affect MCU Films Already in Progress

When the Disney-Fox merger was announced a few weeks ago many fans of the movies produced for the Marvel Cinematic Universe wondered if and more importantly when characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises would work their way into the MCU.

The media website Vulture spoke to MCU head Kevin Feige during the press junket for Black Panther and asked him about the looming deal and the impact it will have on the MCU. Feige said that he had no prior knowledge of the deal taking place, stating that he “found out about it in the press like everybody else.”  He also confirmed that they won’t be changing their next six films.

“The truth of the matter as I understand it is the deal has to be figured out. There’s been no communication. We’re not thinking about it. We’re focusing on everything we’ve already announced. If and when the deal actually happens, we’ll start to think more about it. Until then, we have a lot to do. … It would be years away. We’ve announced everything through 2019, so none of those would be adjusted.”

This isn’t a huge surprise considering the complexity of the merger and what people associated with the MCU have been saying recently.  It’s likely that the Disney-Fox merger will take up to a year to finalize.  So we’re looking at late 2018 or early 2019 for that to happen.

James Gunn recently confirmed that the deal won’t change his plans for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  It also echoes what one of Marvel’s artists said earlier this month.

The delay in integrating the Fox Marvel characters also makes sense when you look at Marvel Studios’ production slate. Infinity War is coming out in just a few months, and while reshoots are still coming, the introduction of mutants or Marvel’s first family would involve more than minor rewrites. Ant-Man and The Wasp is in a similar boat and may even take place chronologically before Infinity War.  That leaves Captain Marvel and the culmination of the entire MCU in Avengers 4, as well as Spidey’s sequel, to bring in these new toys.  With Avengers 4 already done filming and the other two in deep pre-production, it would be nearly impossible to implement major changes that would be needed to integrate the new characters at this point.

Let the speculation begin about what will happen after 2019 or 2020.

Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of the X-Men either in the movies or the comic books, so I can go either way on this.  If Feige decides that they need to be integrated into the MCU, I’m sure it would be done well.  But on the other hand, if he decides that they should remain in their own universe I’d be okay with that too.

Do you want to see an integration of the newly acquired characters with the MCU characters or would you prefer that that Marvel keep these characters in their own cinematic universe?

 

 

Kevin Feige Wants a Marvel Convention Separate from Comic-Con

If you enjoy attending cons like NYCC and SDCC to get a first glimpse of the latest Marvel news, you might want to start planning different travel arrangements. MCU head honcho Kevin Feige recently said he’s keen to see a Marvel-specific convention, similar to Disney’s Star Wars Celebration event. Good news for Marvel fans, not such good news for regular Comic-Con attendees. The Marvel convention news awaits you below.

Well, this was probably inevitable. Disney, in their never-ending quest for entertainment world domination, currently owns both Marvel and Star Wars. That’s a hefty chunk of pop culture entertainment, and with that comes the inevitable convention gatherings where exciting new projects are announced. For most of recent history, events like SDCC were the site of the biggest announcements. But the times they are a changing.

In recent years, Star Wars Celebration, first started in 1999, has eclipsed Comic-Con as the location for big Star Wars news. With the Star Wars Celebration only growing bigger and better, it was only a matter of time before Marvel made the jump to their own con as well. Then there’s the biennial D23 Expo, which recently featured Marvel announcements alongside events for Star Wars. Marvel President Kevin Feige is out making the rounds to help promote promote Thor: Ragnarok right now, and dropping hints left and right of things to come. In a new interview with Fandango, Feige talks about how there have been many discussions regarding a Marvel-only con, and how much he’d like to make it happen:

“Over the years there have been discussions about that […] I think what we try to do occasionally in San Diego we’re very proud of and think is a fun tradition. That being said, I think [Star Wars] Celebration is pretty amazing. I’ve been to a few Celebrations and the idea of doing something like that … I think we have enough content, and enough fans, and enough ideas that we could easily do something like that, I’m just not sure where or when.”

When and if this finally happens (and let’s be honest, it probably will), the question that arises is: what becomes of Comic-Con? With no Marvel and Star Wars, does Comic-Con wither away and die? Or will it soldier on with other big events surrounding companies like DC? Marvel and Star Wars may be big, but are they big enough that their absence at an event would sink the event completely? Time will tell. At the very least, the big movie studios pulling out would let Comic-Con be about comics again.

From SlashFilm

Disney Removes Marvel’s ‘Inhumans’ From Release Schedule

Disney has confirmed what most fanboys have known for the past 11 days: The studio is pulling Marvel’s Inhumans off its July 12, 2019 release date for the time being, and leaving it as unset. Marvel has made a lot of additions to its release calendar, i.e. Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7, 2017 and Ant-Man And The Wasp on July 6, 2018, which has pushed Inhumans to the back burner. In an interview with Collider, Marvel honcho Kevin Feige pointed to the fact that Disney/Lucasfilm’s next Indiana Jones film is scheduled for the weekend following Inhumans, July 19.

Inhumans isn’t dead, it’s just a matter of when Marvel will fire it up. Currently, there’s a script by Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther, American Crime Story). Originally, Inhumans was part of Marvel’s 3.0 phase where they were delving even deeper into their vaults to launch more of their niche superheros on the big screen.

Who are the Inhumans? They’re a race of super people, who were first introduced in a December 1965 issues of The Fantastic Four. They also appeared during the second season of Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

From Deadline

Marvel Shake-Up: Film Chief Kevin Feige to Report Directly to Alan Horn

kevin_feige

After what one source describes as “several years of frustration,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has pulled off a reorganization of the vaunted film company that has him reporting to Disney studio chief Alan Horn as opposed to the infamously micromanaging Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter.

Feige, the architect of Marvel’s transition from a flailing comic book company into a film powerhouse that was sold to Disney for $4 billion in 2009, is said to have vented his unhappiness to Horn and Disney CEO Bob Iger earlier this summer. The reorganization was put into effect last week, according to sources.

“Marvel Studios is taking the next logical step in its integration with The Walt Disney Studios, joining Pixar and Lucasfilm in centralizing many of its film-related functions in Burbank, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito continuing to lead the Marvel Studios team reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn,” a Disney spokesperson tells THR in a statement.

The revamp is a blow to New York-based Perlmutter, a low-profile billionaire who has contributed to Marvel’s reputation in Hollywood for frugality and secrecy (as THR reported in a 2014 feature, he attended the premiere of Iron Man in a disguise to go undetected and once complained that journalists at a press junket were allowed two sodas instead of one). Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel Television, continues to report to Perlmutter, who will maintain oversight of Marvel’s TV group, publishing, animation and other New York-based operations.

Perlmutter, 72, is said to have accepted Feige’s insistence on the film group breaking free. But the move illustrates the power that Feige has amassed within the Disney empire, having overseen a slate of films since 2009 that has grossed more than $7 billion while rival Warner Bros. has struggled to turn its DC superheroes into a comparable cinematic universe. Disney has plotted out Marvel films until at least 2019.

The shift also evidences the tricky executive politics that Iger must manage as a result of assembling several freestanding feifdoms under the Disney banner over the past decade. Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm and Marvel have been key acquisitions that brought with them valuable intellectual property assets and creative expertise. But each silo is overseen by powerful executives such as animation gurus John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, producer Kathleen Kennedy and Perlmutter and Feige, respectively, all of whom have tremendous influence within their corner of the Disney empire.

Feige, 42, has been considered the key man at Marvel, producing everything from the original Iron Man through this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. One insider says Feige has earned the opportunity to break free from Perlmutter, who is not only controlling, but also obsessed with thrift.

“Everybody knows Ike is difficult,” says one source close to the company. “This has been a long time coming. Kevin has grown his entire career under Ike and now it just makes sense.”

From The Hollywood Reporter

Sony Pictures Entertainment Brings Marvel Studios Into The Amazing World Of Spider-Man

image

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man.

Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. Together, they will collaborate on a new creative direction for the web slinger. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.

Marvel and Sony Pictures are also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.

The new relationship follows a decade of speculation among fans about whether Spider-Man – who has always been an integral and important part of the larger Marvel Universe in the comic books – could become part of the Marvel Universe on the big screen. Spider-Man has more than 50 years of history in Marvel’s world, and with this deal, fans will be able to experience Spider-Man taking his rightful place among other Super Heroes in the MCU.

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company said: “Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s great characters, beloved around the world. We’re thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building.”

“We always want to collaborate with the best and most successful filmmakers to grow our franchises and develop our characters. Marvel, Kevin Feige and Amy, who helped orchestrate this deal, are the perfect team to help produce the next chapter of Spider-Man,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans.”

“Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together. This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker’s story into the future,” added Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

“I am thrilled to team with my friends at Sony Pictures along with Amy Pascal to produce the next Spider-Man movie,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “Amy has been deeply involved in the realization on film of one of the world’s most beloved characters. Marvel’s involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU. I am equally excited for the opportunity to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU, something which both we at Marvel, and fans alike, have been looking forward to for years.”

Spider-Man, embraced all over the world, is the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures, with the five films having taken in more than $4 billion worldwide.

Marvel Studios Announces Phase Three Slate…Includes Two-Part ‘Avengers’ Threequel

Avengers Infinity War

Marvel Studios spends most of its time clamping down on secrets, so when they open up the vault, it’s usually something big.

Usually that happens at San Diego Comic-Con before an audience of 6,000-plus screaming fans, and everything is planned out months in advance. But on Tuesday morning at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood, Marvel put on a relatively impromptu show, gathering press and fans alike to reveal …

Phase 3 has been announced, and it’s everything — everything you could want. Captain Marvel! Black Panther! Inhumans! And most incredibly, a two-part Avengers: Infinity War!!! Keep checking back for updates!

Among those sitting in the very front row of the theater are Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who are also overseeing the third Cap film. The brothers were also at Comic-Con last July and hoped to make an announcement about their film there, but held back at the last moment because some details weren’t finalized. Robert Downey Jr. has been in talks to co-star in Cap 3, bringing the clash between Iron Man and the do-gooder patriotic hero to the fore in a cinematic version of the Civil War comics storyline.

Avengers writer-director and Marvel brain-trust member Joss Whedon was in the second row behind the Brothers Russo, who are turned around in their seats talking with him and Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito. Whedon wouldn’t be here if the event didn’t involve the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The complete slate is as follows –

• Doctor Strange on November 4th, 2016

No casting was confirmed, obviously.

• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on May 5th, 2017

• Thor 3: Ragnarok on July 28th, 2017

• Black Panther on November 3rd, 2017

Chadwick Boseman, star of 42: The Jackie Robinson Story, has already been cast as Black Panther!

• Captain Marvel on July 6th, 2018

Kevin Feige confirmed this will star Carol Danvers, not Mar-Vell. YESSSSS.

• Inhumans on November 2nd, 2018

• Avengers: Infinity War Part One in May 2018

• Avengers: Infinity War Part Two in May 2019

%d bloggers like this: