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Tag: Doctor Strange

  • ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ set to release in India

    By Express News Service

    Michelle Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere All At Once is finally getting an Indian theatrical release. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the quirky take on the multiverse concept tackles family drama, relationships, and nihilism. The directing pair had earlier turned heads with Swiss Army Man starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.

    Mumbai-based firm Impact Films are releasing the film in India. No release date has been announced for the Indian release yet. The absurdist sci-fi comedy drama first premiered at the South By Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March of 2022 and went on to have a wide theatrical release in the US by April.

    The film was released alongside Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, which made use of a similar multiverse concept and received far greater critical praise than the MCU juggernaut. The film marks the return of Ke Huay Quan, most famous for playing ‘Short Round’ in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, after nearly 20 years of staying away from acting.

    Michelle Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere All At Once is finally getting an Indian theatrical release. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the quirky take on the multiverse concept tackles family drama, relationships, and nihilism. The directing pair had earlier turned heads with Swiss Army Man starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.

    Mumbai-based firm Impact Films are releasing the film in India. No release date has been announced for the Indian release yet. The absurdist sci-fi comedy drama first premiered at the South By Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March of 2022 and went on to have a wide theatrical release in the US by April.

    The film was released alongside Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, which made use of a similar multiverse concept and received far greater critical praise than the MCU juggernaut. The film marks the return of Ke Huay Quan, most famous for playing ‘Short Round’ in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, after nearly 20 years of staying away from acting.

  • Elizabeth Olsen has not seen ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, here’s why 

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Hollywood actor Elizabeth Olsen, who was last seen as Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, revealed that she has still not seen the film.

    As per Variety, during her recent appearance on ‘The Tonight Show,’ Olson said that a cold prevented her from watching the movie at its premiere, and then later she refused to watch the watermarked screener Disney sent her as a backup because it was just too “distracting.”

    “I’m not one of those [actors who don’t watch her own movies]. I’m one of those people who like to study something so I can figure out how to make it better. But I had a cold when we had the premiere and I didn’t want to sit through it. And so, I asked them to send a copy so I could watch it, and it had my name on it and it had the time that I was watching it, and I didn’t want to watch it like that,” Olsen said.

    She added, “My name was on it and the exact time and date. It’s just distracting.”

    The show’s host Jimmy Fallon explained that Marvel screeners have watermarks on them “in case you sell it illegally,’ to which Olsen responded, “How do you even do that? Who do you even send it to? How do you even record it on a computer?”

    As for Olsen’s future in the MCU, she remains in the dark. Scarlet Witch’s fate was left unknown at the end of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’.

    According to Variety, the character’s Disney Plus series, ‘WandaVision’, is getting an Agatha Harkness spinoff, while rumours continue to swirl about some kind of Scarlet Witch standalone project.

  • INTERVIEW | I was never a big comic fan: Benedict Cumberbatch

    Express News Service

    How would you describe Doctor Strange in the Mutliverse of Madness?It has a lot of thrills. It takes the idea of the multiverse and explodes it on a mind-blowing scale. You see Doctor Strange wrestling with parts of who he really is in this film. He’s the most vulnerable we have ever seen him.

    How much fun was it to be reunited with Elizabeth Olsen after your time together on the Avengers movies?Elizabeth is a wonderful actress and a wonderful person, so it was a joy to be able to work with her again and more extensively this time. Any time you get to work with people like her, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor and the rest of our amazing cast is pure joy.

    Doctor Strange’s cloak has also become a major star. How do you both get along off set?My cloak is a far bigger star than I am. He has his own entourage and everything. He’s a fun aspect of the character. I love the cloak and the way it is very much a character in its own right. I know he has a huge fanbase these days. Not that I’m jealous!

    What is it about Doctor Strange that makes him such a fascinating character?For me, it’s the mystery of the character and the fact that he’s such a rebel and a renegade. I have always been drawn to characters like that. Any character who bends or even breaks the rules is a lot more fun to play than a character that just always does the right thing. Strange is good and he does try to do the right thing but he does it on his own terms and his own way.

    How do you come up with all the hand gestures for the spells you cast as Doctor Strange?There are references taken from the comics, but most of the gestures come from an amazing guy called Jay Funk, who is what they call a hand-tutter, which is a form of hand breakdancing. He has helpedus invent the language of hand gestures used in these films. It’s all brilliant fun to stand there doing the whole spell thing and working out how it should look, even if I often feel a bit stupid when I’m doing it.

    What was it like having Sam Rami as your director on this one?I loved working with Sam. He’s an incredible director and he brought a lot of the experience of working on the Spider Man films to this project. This film is certainly darker with a lot more shock and horror aspects because of Sam and his incredible vision as a filmmaker.

    Did you ever read Marvel comics when you were growing up?I have to hold my hand up and humbly admit that I am not and never was a big comic book fan. I did have a few comics and I loved the Superman films with Christopher Reeve. That shows how old I am! I certainly didn’t know anything about Doctor Strange. I had to ask some people about who he was when the character was first pitched to me. The more I have discovered about him, the more I have loved him as a character. He’s a wonderful character to play.

    Did you always know that Doctor Strange would go to play such a prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?Not really. I’m still surprised at how prominent he has become. I always knew there was amazing potential there because of all the aspects to the character, but I definitely had no idea that we would get to be at this point with the multiverse aspect when we started out.

    Where in the multiverse would you like to see Doctor Strange pop up next?I rather like the idea of him popping up with Banana Man.I was a big Banana Man fan as a kid and I like the idea of us going there to see what he’s been up to.

    Where in the multiverse would you go if you had Doctor Strange’s powers in real life?I’m often asked that. Right now I quite like the idea of popping up at some place in time to invent an alternative source of fuel that doesn’t slowly destroy our planet.

    Finally, will there be a third Doctor Strange movie?I hope so. I would love to do another one. Doctor Strange is such a complex character and it feels like there is so much more to explore with him. He is such a brilliant character and I’m still having a wild time playing him.

    Asia Features

  • ‘Most sincere, weirdest blockbuster’: Doctor Strange’ writer C Robert Cargill bowled over ‘RRR’

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: American screenwriter C Robert Cargill, known for penning Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer “Doctor Strange”, has called filmmaker SS Rajamouli’s “RRR” the “craziest” blockbuster he has ever seen. Released in March, “RRR” opened to a thundering response at the box office with many lauding Rajamouli’s fantastical vision and grand mounting of a story of two friends.

    The film, which had clocked more than Rs 1000 cr the global box office, has been getting a wider international acclaim ever since its Netflix premiere in May. Cargill, whose other screenwriting credits include supernatural films like “Sinister” and “The Black Phone”, took to Twitter and wrote he was happy to be a part of the “cult” that is “RRR”.

    Friends came over last night to initiate me into the cult of RRR (RISE ROAR REVOLT) and I’m here to report I am now fully, truly, deeply a member. This is the craziest, most sincere, weirdest blockbuster I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure Jess and I are watching it again this week. pic.twitter.com/WFpOAKq8VG
    — C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) June 6, 2022
    “Friends came over last night to initiate me into the cult of ‘RRR’ (Rise Roar Revolt) and I’m here to report I am now fully, truly, deeply a member. This is the craziest, most sincere, weirdest blockbuster I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure Jess and I are watching it again this week,” his tweet, which had more than 15,000 likes, read.

    “RRR” is Rajamouli’s third consecutive blockbuster after “Baahubali: The Beginning” and its sequel, “Baahubali: The Conclusion”. The film followed the fictional tale of two Indian freedom fighters from the early 20th century – Alluri Sitarama, played by Ram Charan and Kumaram Bheem, played by Jr NTR.

  • Doctor Strange’ remains atop box office as ‘Top Gun’ looms

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES:  Doctor Strange and his multiverse got to linger a little longer atop the weekend box office as Tom Cruise and “Top Gun” wait in the wings.

    Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” was the top-earning film of the weekend for the third straight week, bringing in $31.6 million in 4,534 North American theaters, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

    “Downton Abbey: A New Era” made a strong opening showing for Focus Features with $16 million from 3,820 theaters, but there has been no real blockbuster competition for “Doctor Strange.”

    “This film has had a pretty wide-open marketplace,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “This weekend really is, this is the proverbial calm before the storm.”

    That storm will come in the form of the long-awaited, and long-delayed, the release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel that arrives next week on Memorial Day weekend, 36 years after the original smash hit and cultural landmark. It flies in amid sky-high hype.

    “The marketing for this movie has really been going on for about three years,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s a pretty long runway to build up excitement.”

    Cruise had the film festival in Cannes, France, abuzz on Wednesday with a whirlwind appearance for the film’s European premiere that included a fly-over of French fighter jets and an honorary Palme d’Or award.

    “Top Gun” represents two seemingly fading phenomena — the major movie star and the big-screen-only experience, for which Cruise has been a tireless ambassador. And the industry is hoping they will help bring a more familiar summer for theaters.

    “This is going to be one of the most important Memorial Day weekends ever, considering what the stakes are,” Dergarabedian said. “We didn’t have a traditional summer movie season for two years.”

    Before the pandemic, the summer box office season generally brought in more than $4 billion annually. After an essentially non-existent 2020, the 2021 take, in a year of recovery, was $1.75 billion. This year’s crop of films, which also includes “Jurassic World Dominion” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” could double that, Dergarabedian said.

    But while the world waits, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” crossed the $800 million mark in global grosses, surpassing “The Batman” to become the top-grossing film of the year.

    Released by the Walt Disney Co. and directed by Sam Raimi, “ Doctor Strange 2 ” benefitted from being the first Marvel movie to follow “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer played a pivotal role.

    It also builds upon the popular Disney+ series “Wandavision” and contains a number of cameos that fans didn’t want to be spoiled.

    Holdover family films “The Bad Guys” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” took the third and fourth spots. Universal’s “The Bad Guys” added $6.1 million in its fifth week. “Sonic 2” earned $3.9 million in its seventh.

    Director Alex Garland’s folk horror thriller “Men” brought in $3.3 million for the production company and distributor A24.

    Meanwhile, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is still going strong even after nine weeks in release. The A24 film picked up an additional $3.3 million, down only 6% from the previous weekend, bringing its total grosses to $47 million.

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $31.6 million.

    2. “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” $16 million.

    3. “The Bad Guys,” $6.1 million.

    4. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $3.9 million.

    5. “Men,” $3.3 million.

    6. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” $3.1 million.

    7. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $1.9 million.

    8. “Firestarter,” $1.9 million.

    9. “The Lost City,” $1.5 million.

    10. “The Northman,” $1 million.

  • ‘Kevin Feige wanted a battle between Bach and Beethoven’

    Express News Service

    One of the most exciting scenes from the recent Marvel movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, for me, is the duel between the two Doctor Stranges from parallel universes. The background music, fascinatingly, seems appropriate for a wuxia Chinese drama, but captures the existential vibe of this duel. The composer, Danny Elfman, in this conversation, sheds light on the conception of this scene among many, why he loved composing for Wanda’s Scarlet Witch, and his relationship with longtime collaborator, director Sam Raimi. Could you breakdown the composition of the momentous duel scene for us?It was very last second, because the first version of it — I was scoring it — also combined different kinds of themes of different composers, from light to heavy. Then in the very last moment, I got on a call with Sam Raimi and Kevin Feige (President of MCU), and the latter said he wanted it to be a battle between Bach and Beethoven. I wrote it really fast and just got it into the film in time for release. It was like Doctor Strange Beethoven’s fifth symphony, and evil Doctor Strange Bach’s Toccata and Fugue. It was so much fun.

    How has your experience been, working on the themes of end-credits, and the allusion to the genre of horror through Wanda?The main titles — whether at the beginning or at the end — are the most fun I have in a film. It’s where I really like to explore and cut loose. There’s no dialogue, no sound effects, and it is just a total playground for me. I live for those moments. 

    Wanda’s theme really was very special for me because it is the first time I have had a villain that I also really adore. She breaks my heart. You know it is a unique situation. Normally, a villain is like Darth Vader and its heavy, and their theme is all about menace, menace, menace. But here, the antagonist Wanda is also heartbreaking. This was a unique chance to create a theme that could be both heartbreaking and sweet, or powerful and menacing. I loved her character. I mean, whenever has there been a superhero villain whose goal is not to destroy the world, but to get her children back? It’s so unique; I have never seen anything like that. What is it like to include memorable themes by other composers into your score?It is fun! It is ironic that at the same moment I was finding moment for Michael Giacchino’s original Doctor Strange theme in the new one, and he was having moments on Spider-Man where he was using my original Spider-Man theme in his film. We were doing this almost simultaneously. So, it was kind of a strange world. But I like doing that, engaging in variations. There is also a small nod for WandaVision, since Marvel likes these little Easter eggs. There is a third musical homage, which I won’t say, as we are still hoping fans will find this moment. 

    How do you distinguish between scoring music for a superhero film?It is different as it gets crazy at times. I was scoring Batman way back when there were no rules because there was no sense of what it should be. The only superhero model we had was Superman then. We decided that we didn’t want to make it sound like the John Williams’ mould, even though we love that and it’s beautiful. So, it was all experimentation and invention. By the time I did Spider-Man, Hulk and Justice League, there was more context for superhero films. Now, as we come full circle back to Doctor Strange, we thought we will get a little crazy again as this film supports going outside the line a little bit more. What is it like to collaborate once again with Sam Raimi, and this time, on his first MCU project?Working with Sam is like a special treat. He is a nice guy, and he is funny. Our meetings together tend to be funny. He turns working together into a fun time and he has always been like that. I do feel comfortable with him. We go back so far, and in fact, I met my wife on the set of one of his movies that I scored called The Simple Plan. So, we are connected in many ways. 

    My wife and I think of our son as the child of the Evil Dead franchise in a sense (laughs). We are both fans of his and we finally got to meet on the sets of one of his movies. Now, we have our 17-year-old Oliver from that happy coincidence. 

    A marvellous phenomenonDirector Sam Raimi isn’t surprised at all that the MCU has evolved as it has since his original Spider-Man trilogy. “Stan Lee had created a great pantheon of characters and stories that were all interconnected and beautiful to behold. The comic books were really cool and exciting. That’s why I tried to sell Thor at that time, but the studios didn’t understand it. I tried again with The Batman and The Shadow. Hollywood’s history with superheroes was chequered at best,” he says. “I always saw the potential though, even if I failed to realise it successfully early in my career.” The filmmaker believes he has learned from his mistakes, speaking mainly of Spider-Man 3 (2007), that came out to negative reviews and brought the franchise to a premature end. “My learning is that the audience connects to the humanity and vulnerability in superheroes. These attributes must be present at every moment in the film.”

    (With inputs from Sudhir Srinivasan)

  • ‘Doctor Strange 2’ becomes fourth biggest opening weekend for Hollywood film in India

    By IANS

    MUMBAI: British star Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest release ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is the fourth biggest opening weekend for a Hollywood film in India as it has collected a whopping Rs 27.5 crore at the box office in the country.

    ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is a little behind last year’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’. Overall, the opening is the fourth best among Hollywood films such as Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.

    #DoctorStrange is yet another triumph for #Marvel in #India, the much-awaited biggie posts massive numbers in Weekend 1… Non-holiday release… Should stay strong on Day 4 [Mon]… Fri 28.35 cr, Sat 25.75 cr, Sun 25.40 cr. Total: ₹ 79.50 cr. #India biz. All versions. pic.twitter.com/yV3eK98O2c
    — taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) May 9, 2022
    Trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the numbers on Twitter. He wrote: “”#DoctorStrange is MARVEL-ous on Day 1- 4TH BIGGEST HOLLYWOOD OPENER in #India *Day 1* biz [2019] #AvengersEndgame: Rs 53.10 cr [2021] #SpiderMan: Rs 32.67 cr [2018]#AvengersInfinityWar: Rs 31.30 cr, Rs [2022] #DoctorStrange: Rs 27.50 cr #India biz. All versions. Total – Rs. 95 crores”

    #DoctorStrange is MARVEL-ous on Day 1… 4TH BIGGEST HOLLYWOOD OPENER in #India… *Day 1* biz…[2019] #AvengersEndgame: ₹ 53.10 cr[2021] #SpiderMan: ₹ 32.67 cr[2018] #AvengersInfinityWar: ₹ 31.30 cr[2022] #DoctorStrange: ₹ 27.50 cr#India biz. All versions. pic.twitter.com/1VWKthczJw
    — taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) May 7, 2022
    ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is a superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. It is the sequel to ‘Doctor Strange’ (2016) and the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It also stars Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.

  • Avatar  sequel titled Avatar: The Way of Water

    By Express News Service

    The official title of Avatar 2 was revealed to be Avatar: The Way of Water at CinemaCon 2022. It was also announced that a remastered version of the original Avatar will be released in theatres on September 23, 2022. Producer Jon Landau has revealed that Jake and Neytiri’s family will be at the centre of each of the four sequels. Each film will have a standalone story, but all of them will be connected and will sum up a larger tale.

    Director James Cameron appeared in a pre-recorded message and said he is excited for the world to see Avatar: The Way of Water in theatres on December 16, 2022, and teased that his team has “set out once again to push the limits of what cinema can do.”

    The attendees at CinemaCon 2022 were also presented with a teaser trailer of Avatar: The Way of Water, featuring the Avatar world and underwater footage. The trailer will debut exclusively in theatres with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6, and it won’t be released online until a week after.

    The official description of the sequel reads, “Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.”

    Avatar: The Way of Water will be directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Landau. The film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, and Kate Winslet.

  • ‘Doctor Strange’ sequel mints over Rs 10 crore in advance booking ahead of India release

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has collected over Rs 10 cr in pre-sale booking in India, according to leading distributors.

    “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, the second part to Marvel Studios 2016 film “Doctor Strange”, is slated to be released in theatres across the country in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam on May 6.

    Kamal Gianchandani, CEO – PVR Pictures, said Marvel films have always created magic at the Indian box office and a month advance opening has been a strategic move from the studio.

    “There has been a massive response to the advance booking and with the increasing demand from the fans, we are expecting all the shows across India to go house full very soon,” Gianchandani said in a statement.

    According to Devang Sampat, CEO Cinepolis, such a high pre-sale record with a Marvel film was last witnessed in the country with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame”.

    “Marvel movies enjoy a great fan following in India and this movie has also seen tremendous response with such crazy fandom across the nation, we can see yet another Marvel blockbuster coming at Cinepolis India 400 screens,” Sampat added.

    Rajender Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer at INOX Leisure, said he expects “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” to open with big numbers in India on May 6.

    “Metro Cities have always been the Marvel fanatics but this time with Doctor Strange what surprises us is that we have got a phenomenal response from Tier 2 markets as well. This indeed shows the reach that Marvel films and characters have created over the years. We are delighted that the advance booking numbers are phenomenal across the INOX cinemas, ” he said.

    The upcoming film is directed by Sam Raimi and stars Cumberbatch as the titular character.

    The sequel follows Doctor Strange as he tries to contain the aftermath of the multiverse-fracturing spell he cast in the 2021 hit film “Spider-Man: No Way Home” — which caused villains from across the multiverse to spill over into the central Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.

    It also stars Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.

  • ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ banned in Saudi Arabia.

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Marvel Studios’ much-anticipated movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has been banned in Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries due to the presence of a gay character.

    The “Doctor Strange” sequel, which will release in the US on May 6, was originally scheduled for hit theatres in the Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on May 5.

    According to Variety, the Saudi Arabian censors didn’t issue the distribution certificate to the Benedict Cumberbatch-led superhero movie.

    The Sam Raimi-directed sequel stars Cumberbatch as the titular character and also features new hero America Chavez, played by actor Xochitl Gomez. Her character in the film is reportedly gay.

    Prior to “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, Marvel’s “The Eternals” was banned in Saudi Arabia, over its same-gender couple romance and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first gay superhero.

    “Doctor Strange” sequel follows the Sorcerer Supreme as he tries to contain the aftermath of the multiverse-fracturing spell he cast in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” which caused villains from across the multiverse to spill over into the central Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.