This is less breaking news and more “I must break you” news.
Given how successful the two ‘Creed’ movies – which continue the story of the ‘Rocky’ films while focusing on Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of Apollo Creed, as so memorably played by Carl Weathers in the 1970s and ‘80s – it’s not surprising that studio MGM might be considering spin-offs.
Word arrives today that just such an idea, a movie based around Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago, is moving to the script stage.
Drago, of course, was the hulking Russian antagonist in 1985’s ‘Rocky IV,’ (who kills Apollo Creed, the fiend). Continuing the family theme, his son Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) was the threat to Adonis in 2018’s ‘Creed II’.
Lundgren himself acted as hype man for a Drago movie back in November last year when talking to The Hollywood Reporter. After admitting his disappointment that a fan-pleasing fight with Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa hit the cutting room floor from ‘Creed II’, he teased seeing more of Drago: “I think there’s some talk about doing a whole spinoff on Drago with MGM. So you may get more of that.”
According to The Wrap, Robert Lawton is now on board to write the script for the new movie. He reportedly impressed executives with his spec screenplay ‘Becoming Rocky’ which chronicled the behind-the-scenes efforts to make the 1976 original.
(L to R) Michael B. Jordan and Florian Munteanu in 2018’s ‘Creed II.’
And he had an idea for a Drago-centric movie that excited MGM’s team enough to score him the job. No details have emerged about what that story might be, but there is plenty of scope for more of Drago and potentially Viktor’s story to be told.
Now we wait to see whether the bell rings on this one and if a director steps aboard to guide it out of the development dressing room.
There is related, and not so good news about the next iteration of the main ‘Creed’ franchise, though chances are it’s more to give the movie time to be finished.
Star Jordan – who once again leads the cast as Adonis – stepped up to direct this latest movie, but while it was targeting a November 23rd release date until recently, it is now on the move to March 3rd next year.
And this ‘Creed’ will be without possibly its heaviest hitter besides Jordan, as this is the first in the new series not to include Stallone.
Still, ‘Creed III’ still boasts Tessa Thompson reprising her role as Donnie’s girlfriend Bianca and Phylicia Rashad is returning as his stepmother Mary Anne in its corner.
(L to R) Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in 1985’s ‘Rocky IV.’
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Directed by Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as Thor, with actress Natalie Portman returning to play Jane Foster after sitting out the last movie. This time Foster becomes The Mighty Thor, and must team with her ex-boyfriend to defeat Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who has vowed to kill all Gods.
Moviefone and Made In Hollywood recently had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with Natalie Portman in-person about her work on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’
(L to R) Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
You can read the full interview with Natalie Portman below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Portman and Chris Hemsworth.
Moviefone: To begin with, people are going back to the theaters and Marvel fans are really excited to see ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ on the big screen. Is there anything you’d like to say directly to the fans as they’re getting ready to sit down and watch this movie?
Natalie Portman: I’m just so excited for people to see it. I just feel like it’s so entertaining. I think they’ll get a lot of joy and heart from it.
MF: Can you talk about returning to this franchise, returning to the character of Jane Foster, and having the opportunity to hold the hammer and finally play a superhero yourself?
NP: It was such an incredible opportunity that Taika and Marvel invited me back in this way where Jane gets to become The Mighty Thor. I got to work with Chris again, and with Tessa again, even though we hadn’t worked in the MCU together, but we had worked together on ‘Annihilation.’ It was just such a gift to get to come into this incredibly fun environment, and with people I felt so comfortable with.
Natalie Portman in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
MF: Had you followed this storyline in the comics? Were you aware that Jane Foster eventually becomes The Mighty Thor?
NP: I did. I think it was actually first mentioned to me by journalists when I was doing press for something around the time the comics first came out. So, I had heard about it, but it wasn’t until Taika approached me. I mean, it was right before the pandemic I feel like that he kind of started talking to me about the possibility of doing it together.
MF: What was it like reuniting with Chris Hemsworth, and can you talk about the different dynamics between Jane and Thor this time around?
NP: Well, it was so fun to work with Chris again. I mean, first of all, he’s just the best person, he’s so nice, fun, hardworking and such a good actor. He’s so just wonderful, and it was also very moving. When we met, we had both just started dating our future spouses on the first one and now our kids are running around on the set playing together. So, that was so wild to kind of cut to 10 years later.
Similarly, in the film, I think our characters are kind of reuniting after all this time passed and seeing where the other is in their lives, and so much has changed for them. I mean, it’s not similar places. We are in our lives as our characters are, but just the passage of time and how wild that is to have this relationship with someone that you’ve known for so long.
(L to R) Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
MF: Finally, what was your experience like working with director Taika Waititi on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder?’
NP: Taika is just so extraordinary, and singular as a director and as a person. I mean, he really insists on spontaneity all the time, which is so incredible to be challenged with as an actor to be like, oh, every time has to be completely different. I have to be completely open to anything that could happen and just flow with it. It was really wonderful.
Then he also kind of makes it his responsibility to have everyone have a great time every day. He’s DJing, there’s music, and he’s on the mic making jokes. He’s leading the crew in workouts every hour on the hour. So, it’s the most fun set and it’s just his generosity that he cares about everyone having a good time.
Natalie Portman stars in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’
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Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with Chris Hemsworth in-person about his work on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’
Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
Moviefone: To begin with, people are going back to the theaters and Marvel fans are really excited to see ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ on the big screen. Is there anything you’d like to say directly to the fans as they’re getting ready to sit down and watch this movie?
Chris Hemsworth: I’d say, strap in, and get ready for the wildest wacky Marvel adventure you’ve ever been on.
MF: You’ve played this character for over ten years now in multiple films, what does playing Thor mean to you personally?
CH: Well, it’s paralleled my life. My whole career has been instructed around playing this character and being a part of the Marvel universe. It’s an absolute honor and a dream, and it’s such a special thing to be able to come back and play the character again, and with a different cast, different directors and trying different things. If you asked me when I first started acting what my dream career looked like, this was well above and beyond anything I could have imagined. So, I’m thankful.
(L to R) Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
You can read the full interview with Chris Hemsworth below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Hemsworth and Natalie Portman.
MF: Can you talk about reuniting with Natalie Portman on this movie and the different dynamic between Jane Foster and Thor this time around?
CH: It was great. I started this journey with Natalie eleven years ago, and now to reunite and see her back dressed like Thor was so impressive. It was fun and unique. It did immediately change the paradigm of the space, and my character and his interaction. That’s what you want. You want your fellow actors and actresses to manipulate the scene. You want them to throw something in there that dramatically shifts your interpretation of it, and then it becomes unpredictable and it becomes unique.
She’s incredible and so much fun. She is a dear friend of mine. As I said, back on the first film, and we were just talking about this earlier today, she was so kind to me. To think that she’d won an Oscar, she was Natalie Portman, and this was my first job. I thought, I’m going to be fired or replaced at some point. But she was encouraging, supportive, and wonderful. I’m really thankful for that. I think about where it all started and so much of it, I think, the path that I was set on was due to that collaboration.
MF: Finally, after working with him on ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ what was the collaboration like on set between you and director Taika Waititi making ‘Thor: Love and Thunder?’
CH: It’s just about embodying the same thing we did in ‘Ragnarok,’ which is a sense of adventure and fun. If you’d asked a couple of five-year-olds what they wanted to see in a movie, that’s what this film is. That was us kind of riffing and throwing more and more ridiculous elements into it.
Again, he’s another very close friend of mine and to have that space to experiment, improvise and try different things, often that’s a little daunting. You don’t know what the director’s going to do with that in the edit room and how you’re going to look, but I have complete trust and faith in him. It’s a safe space to just go for it and I know he’s going to have my back.
Chris Hemsworth plays Thor in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder,’ which opens in theaters on July 8th.
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The result is another fun and stylish MCU outing from Waititi that features amazing performances from Portman, Hemsworth, and Bale, but tries to recreate too many moments from ‘Ragnarok’ and as a sequel never transcends its direct predecessor.
The film opens with Gorr the God Butcher’s (Bale) backstory, before a clever narration from Korg (Waititi) bringing the audience up to speed on Thor’s (Hemsworth) adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy since we last saw him in ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ We see him transform from “Dude Thor” to his old self and then leave the Guardians with Korg when he learns of Gorr’s vow to kill all Gods. Worried about his fellow Asgardians, Thor returns to New Asgard to find King Valkyrie (Thompson) who has turned their town into a Disneyland-like tourist attraction.
Tessa Thompson in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
Meanwhile, Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Portman) is dying of cancer. She feels the broken pieces of his hammer, Mjolnir calling to her and she arrives in New Asgard to investigate. The hammer suddenly comes alive, rebuilding itself, and eventually transforming Foster into The Mighty Thor, which temporarily cures her disease. Thor is surprised to see his ex, as well as wondering why Mjolnir has chosen her, but teams with Foster, Valkyrie and Korg to stop Gorr. In order to do so, they will need the aid of Zeus (Crowe) and his fellow Gods to defeat the butcher before it’s too late.
I loved ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and I would put it in the top five on my list of the all-time best MCU movies. But I only liked it on my first viewing, it took repeat viewings for me to fall in love with it. I had a similar experience with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.’ ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ was not quite as enjoyable for me as ‘Ragnarok’ but it is one of the better Marvel sequels, although technically it is the forth in the franchise. To that point, it is still far superior to ‘Thor’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World,’ which are among Marvel’s most disappointing.
I also love Taika Waititi and think he is a brilliant filmmaker and actor, but he goes to the well one too many times trying to recreate ‘Ragnarok’s best moments in ‘Love and Thunder.’ For example, Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, and Sam Neill return, now with Melissa McCarthy, as Asgardian actors performing a play, which is the same joke from ‘Ragnarok’ and was given more prominence but lacked the surprise the second time around.
Another example is the sequence in the court of Gods with Zeus, which is very similar to the “Contest of Champions” scene with Hulk in ‘Ragnarok.’ It seemed unnecessary to the story and just an excuse to fill the scene with Easter eggs.
Christian Bale in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
While the musical choices are also similar to ‘Ragnarok,’ just swapping Led Zeppelin for Guns N’ Roses, it actually works exceedingly well and is explained by the story. But Waititi makes a bold choice by having the character of Gorr and his world presented in black and white, which is in stark contrast to the other colorful costumes and characters in the movie. While the film feels like it runs a little long, even at only 119 minutes, it’s completely entertaining and Waititi fills it with his unique humor and point of view.
In his eighth full length performance as the God of Thunder in a little over ten years, Hemsworth has finally found his Thor, which has become his signature character as an actor. Let’s be honest, no matter what else he does in his career, “Thor” will be in the first sentence of his obituary.
It took Hemsworth a few movies to truly find the character, and it didn’t really begin to happen till ‘Ragnarok,’ but once he was allowed to inject his own humor into the character he became the Thor we all know and love. In ‘Love and Thunder’ Hemsworth continues the characters journey after the events of ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame,’ by restoring the humor and insecurities that have made the God-like hero so relatable in the second half of Hemsworth’s tenure.
Christian Bale, who is of course no stranger to comic book movies after playing Batman in ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, gives a brilliant and terrifying performance as Gorr the God Butcher. Bale creates a sympathetic character that is not only truly frightening, but also a worthy nemesis for Thor and his alleys. Tessa Thompson also gets to build on her character, Valkyrie after ‘Ragnarok’ and ‘Endgame,’ and while the actress is excellent, I do wish we got a bit more of her in the film.
Natalie Portman in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
But the breakout performance for me came from Natalie Portman, who returns to the franchise after sitting out ‘Ragnarok.’ The Academy Award winning actress wasn’t given a lot to do in the first two ‘Thor’ movies, which is probably why she opted not to do the last one, but after a cameo in ‘Endgame’ returns thanks to a more pivotal story arc and likely the opportunity to work with Waititi. Adapting the “Mighty Thor” storyline from the comics allowed Portman to actually be a superhero too, and she is fantastic battling alongside Hemsworth.
However, I thought this was going to be a “passing of the hammer’ movie and it is not. I have news for you, Chris Hemsworth is here to stay as Thor. That’s fine by me, but I hope there is a way to bring Portman back again in the future. Her storyline was sad yet inspiring, and the actress clearly relished in having the opportunity to do more with the character.
There are two end-credit scenes, although I won’t give them away. I’ll just say that Marvel continues its trend of introducing a deep-cut comic book character played by a veteran movie star (see Charlize Theron as Clea in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’) or a fan-favorite celebrity (see Harry Styles as Starfox in ‘Eternals’) in the end-credits. It’s fun for fans of that particular actor or comic book historians, but the rest of the audience is often left scratching their heads asking, “Why is Charlize Theron in this movie?”
(L to R) Pom Klementieff, Chris Pratt, and Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
And for anyone hoping the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ actors would have major roles in the movie, I hate to disappoint you, but they don’t. While it was nice to see Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, and Karen Gillan, and hear Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, they are not in much of the film, so you’ll have to wait to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ to see more of their story arc. But I’m glad they concluded Thor’s story with the Guardians before their next full-length feature outing, and their appearance does add to the film.
In the end, I may have been a little harsh on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and I really do hope that I will eventually love it as much as I wanted to, but for now, I only really liked it. Director Taika Waititi delivers a strong sequel, that tries too hard to recreate the magic of the last film, but is still entirely entertaining, funny, and action packed, and also features great performances from Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, and in particular, Natalie Portman.
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.
Chris Hemsworth in Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Photo courtesy of Disney Studios.
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(L to R) Christian Bale, Chris Hemsworth, Taika Waititi, and Tessa Thompson in Marvel Studios’ ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’
The first teaser for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ was just that… a tease. We got glimpses of Chris Hemsworth’s Asgardian Avenger trying to find himself after all his battles and adventures.
Of course, the new Marvel movie wouldn’t exactly thrill fans if it was two hours of Hemsworth sitting around on a yoga mat (though we’re sure people would still go and watch it). Which means that of course he’ll be thrown back into a big story full of gods, monsters and lots the humor that director Taika Waititi brought to his previous outing, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’.
The big threat this time is from Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who, as his name suggests, has a real problem with gods. He’s sick of how the powerful omnipotent beings care little for those whose lives their ruin, and he, well, again with the name thing, aims to kill them.
Thor is naturally on his list, though the likes of Zeus (Russell Crowe) should also be worried. And Crowe’s character features in one of the big laugh moments of the trailer, as he accidentally strips our hero, much to the fainting consternation of the women around him. All, of course, except for Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).
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Oh yes… Jane Foster. She’s back in Thor’s life in a big way and has her own god-like powers. While there’s an explanation for that in the comics, the trailer naturally is going to let the movie explain all of that. All we do know is that Jane can wield Mjolnir and dispatch baddies with her own lightning abilities. Plus, she’s certainly got some strength there. While there’s no sign (yet) of Kat Dennings’ Darcy, the double act between Jane and Valkyrie shows promise.
Also around (though probably not spending much time in the movie), the Guardians of the Galaxy, including Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Pom Klementieff’s Mantis, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, the Vin Diesel-voiced Groot, and Rocket Raccoon, brought to life as usual by Sean Gunn on set with the vocal tones of Bradley Cooper. Oh, and we can also expect to glimpse Kraglin (also played by Gunn, without needing his Rocket performance capture equipment).
Waititi’s back in performance capture gear himself to play Thor’s rocky pal Korg, who becomes something of a storyteller here. Could we be seeing a framing device for the movie? It’s also a funny moment for the character. Who, as you might figure is an unreliable narrator.
And it’s not just gags – there’s plenty of action and the usual deep dive into Thor’s character. Written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson alongside Waititi and featuring the likes of Jaimie Alexander (back as Lady Sif), Sam Neill, Melissa McCarthy, and Matt Damon (McCarthy joins a returning Neill and Damon as actors playing Asgardian heroes), ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ rumbles into theaters on July 8th.
Disney has release a first look image of the dog stars in its upcoming live-action remake of “Lady and the Tramp.”
The new live-action/CG version of the 1955 original will premiere on the forthcoming Disney+ streaming platform.
The photo appears on the cover of D23 magazine and features the titular characters, who are voiced by Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux
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The story follows stray mongrel Tramp, who falls in love with a refined, pampered Cocker Spaniel named Lady after she ends up on the street. They embark on a whirlwind romantic adventure, including an iconic moment where they share a plate of spaghetti.
Director Charlie Bean employed a canine cast of rescue dogs that were adopted after production (awwww!).
The voice cast also includes Janelle Monáe, Sam Elliott, Benedict Wong, Kiersey Clemons, Yvette Nicole Brown, Thomas Mann, Ashley Jensen, Arturo Castro and Adrian Martinez.
As the MCU moves into its next phase, the “Thor” franchise will continue: “Thor 4” is officially in the works, with “Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi once again at the helm.
The scoop comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says that Waititi has just signed on to both write and direct the latest flick following the God of Thunder. As is typical with Marvel projects, no details about the potential plot were revealed, though there are a number of different directions in which Waititi and co. can take the franchise moving forward, considering where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) ended up at the conclusion of “Avengers: Endgame.”
When we last saw our heroes, Thor was jetting off to join the Guardians of the Galaxy gang (perhaps setting up a cameo in “Guardians vol. 3”), while Valkyrie had taken over as the ruler of the Asgardians. Hemsworth is expected to return for “Thor 4,” according to THR, though there’s no word yet on Thompson’s involvement.
What is more clear, however, is how “Thor 4” will affect Waititi’s upcoming flick “Akira,” the live-action remake of the anime classic. That Warner Bros. project, which had been languishing in development for quite some time, was delayed by scripting changes that pushed back its production start date, which in turn put it in conflict with “Thor 4.” Now that Waititi has committed to the latter film, Warner Bros. is putting “Akira” on indefinite hold; while it’s not a done deal yet, THR says that the studio may simply wait for the director to wrap “Thor 4,” and save the project for him to tackle after he finishes the Marvel movie.
Stay tuned to see when “Thor 4” is expected to hit theaters.
Sony dropped a new trailer for the reboot/continuation of the franchise. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are the lead agents, taking the place of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
Emma Thompson reprises her role as Agent O, the head of MIB’s American branch. She sends new recruit Agent M (Thompson) to London to team up with Agent H (Hemsworth) in investigating a series of alien attacks. But their mission is compromised by a mole within the ranks of the MIB.
The trailer shows Hemsworth and Thompson have lost none of the chemistry they had in “Thor: Ragnarok.” And Kumail Nanjiani brings his usual hilarious wit to voicing a tiny alien named Pawny.
“Men in Black: International” opens in theaters June 14.
Disney has released the first photo of its live-action remake of “Lady and the Tramp.” Unlike some of the other “live-action” remakes the studio’s been doing lately, this one features real, not CGI, animals.
Charlie Bean (“The LEGO Ninjago Movie”) is directing from a script by Andrew Bujalski (“Support the Girls”).
Reaction so far has been mixed, as it’s hard to imagine these pups exchanging the same swooning looks as in the 1955 animated film.
And people’s enthusiasm for Disney live-action remakes, including Tim Burton’s “Dumbo” and the upcoming “Aladdin” has ranged from indifference to “But why?!”
We’ll see if they got a real-life beaver to chew through Lady’s unwanted muzzle, as in the original.
This year’s Oscars will mark the first time in three decades that the ceremony has gone without a host. But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is making sure that the event will still feature plenty of stars on stage.
Earlier this week, Oscars producer Donna Gigliotti and co-producer and director Glenn Weiss revealed the first round of presenters who will be announcing categories and handing out statuettes at the Academy Awards later this month. That group is:
Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amandla Stenberg, Charlize Theron, Tessa Thompson, and Constance Wu.
We have to hand it to producers: That’s a pretty solid list of people. We’re especially excited to see what kind of witty banter Fey, Poehler, and Rudolph deliver. (Perhaps a preview of their upcoming Netflix film, “Wine Country”?)
According to the producers, the show’s aim is to put the focus squarely on the honored films, and the diversity that they represent in the industry at large.
“The Oscar nominees have generated tremendous worldwide attention through their captivating stories, achievements and performances,” Gigliotti and Weiss said in a joint statement. “We want to give the public an opportunity to once again experience the moments that have moved us all. It is a celebration of our universal love of movies.”
The 91st annual Oscars will air on Sunday, February 24 on ABC.
