News Analysis India

Tag: Marvel movies

  • Marvel movies return to China after nearly four-year break

    By AFP

    BEIJING: Chinese film fans on Wednesday celebrated the return of Marvel movies to the country’s cinemas after an absence of nearly four years.

    Foreign films are tightly controlled in China, which imposes an annual release quota, and movies in the hugely popular Marvel franchises have been off the silver screen since the release of “Spider-Man: Far from Home” in July 2019.

    Disney-owned Marvel Studios on Wednesday said on Weibo that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will be released in Chinese cinemas on February 7, followed by “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” on February 17.

    The China Film Administration, affiliated with the Communist Party’s propaganda department, has not offered any explanation on why Marvel movies were blocked.

    Disney had previously declined requests by Chinese censors to remove references to same-sex relationships in films including “Eternals” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”.

    Chinese fans welcomed the announcement.

    “It feels surreal… I’ve missed the Marvel universe, one Weibo user wrote, referring to the huge set of interconnected franchises that have raked in billions of dollars worldwide for the company.

    “Will they also release the other six instalments of the Marvel (franchises) that were blocked?” wrote another, adding: “Now we can at least escape from our Covid-hit reality.”

    “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, the sequel to the 2018 blockbuster “Black Panther”, debuted in cinemas worldwide in November.

    “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” — the third movie in that franchise — will hit Chinese cinemas on the same day it premieres in the United States.

    A return to China would mark an end to Disney’s lost earnings in one of the world’s biggest movie markets.

    The first Black Panther film took in $105 million at Chinese cinemas, while the second Ant-Man movie generated $121 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

    BEIJING: Chinese film fans on Wednesday celebrated the return of Marvel movies to the country’s cinemas after an absence of nearly four years.

    Foreign films are tightly controlled in China, which imposes an annual release quota, and movies in the hugely popular Marvel franchises have been off the silver screen since the release of “Spider-Man: Far from Home” in July 2019.

    Disney-owned Marvel Studios on Wednesday said on Weibo that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will be released in Chinese cinemas on February 7, followed by “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” on February 17.

    The China Film Administration, affiliated with the Communist Party’s propaganda department, has not offered any explanation on why Marvel movies were blocked.

    Disney had previously declined requests by Chinese censors to remove references to same-sex relationships in films including “Eternals” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”.

    Chinese fans welcomed the announcement.

    “It feels surreal… I’ve missed the Marvel universe, one Weibo user wrote, referring to the huge set of interconnected franchises that have raked in billions of dollars worldwide for the company.

    “Will they also release the other six instalments of the Marvel (franchises) that were blocked?” wrote another, adding: “Now we can at least escape from our Covid-hit reality.”

    “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, the sequel to the 2018 blockbuster “Black Panther”, debuted in cinemas worldwide in November.

    “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” — the third movie in that franchise — will hit Chinese cinemas on the same day it premieres in the United States.

    A return to China would mark an end to Disney’s lost earnings in one of the world’s biggest movie markets.

    The first Black Panther film took in $105 million at Chinese cinemas, while the second Ant-Man movie generated $121 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

  • 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.

  • It’s a joy to play two different parts of a psyche in ‘Venom’, says Tom Hardy 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor Tom Hardy, who has reprised his role as Eddie Brock/ Venom in the upcoming film “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”, said it’s fun to explore two different sides of a psyche in the anti-hero franchise.

    In the sequel to the 2018 original film “Venom”, Hardy returns as journalist Eddie Brock, who unites with an alien symbiote to form Venom.

    Hardy, the star of films such as “The Dark Knight Rises”, “Dunkirk” and “This Means War”, also praised screenplay writer Kelly Marcel, who developed the story that she wrote with the actor in this film.

    “It’s a joy to play two different parts of a psyche because Venom and Eddie are one for me, they are just differentiated by the fact that one is the monster and one is Eddie but they are always contained within one individual,” said Hardy.

    “It’s entirely orchestrated by the script and the script has been created by a writer who has been in the driving seat from the get-go so it’s great fun and I just want to keep challenging it and pushing it and seeing what else I can do with it,” the actor added.

    “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is directed by Andy Serkis and also features Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams and Naomie Harris.

    Harrelson stars as the antagonist Cletus Kasady aka Carnage, who made a last-minute cameo in “Venom”.