Disney+ and Spiderman and Ghostbusters! Oh My!

By Janie Walenda

It is nearly impossible to keep up with movies and TV shows nowadays, so let me help by recapping the past few weeks of Hollywood news, including the latest box office figures, “Spiderman: No Way Home” leaks, recent casting announcements, and Disney+ Day.

While the box office is still nowhere close to the state it was in 2019, it is gradually returning back to normal. After just two weekends, “Eternals” has already earned 118.7 million dollars, surpassing “Dune.  This success shows how loyal the Marvel fanbase is, despite facing harsh criticism.

 “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” posted a strong 44 millon dollar opening.  Coincidentally, the 2016 Ghostbusters had a similar opening, although that film didn’t open during a pandemic.  With Thanksgiving weekend coming up, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is sure to be a popular choice for family outings.

“Spiderman: No Way Home” has been subject to many leaks and rumors

One of, if not the most, highly anticipated films of 2021 is “Spiderman: No Way Home.”  The rumors, speculations, and leaks that have been circulating have reached unprecedented levels.  This has been spurred on by a lack of advertising from Sony and Marvel.  The ad campaign for “No Way Home” has been ridiculously slow, as the movie comes out in a month and only recently released its first trailer.  For context, “The Batman,” which will release on March 4, 2022, has already revealed a teaser and a trailer.

 Both “No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” have had massive plot and character leaks.  Imagine if images of Captain America holding Mjolnir leaked a month before “Endgame.”  It’s that bad.  Hopefully, these leaks are related to the multiverse storyline and aren’t the new norm for Marvel movies.

Good news for Broadway fans: the “Wicked” movie is finally moving ahead.  A week ago, it was confirmed that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will be playing Elphaba and Glinda.  While Erivo will be a stupendous Elphaba, I’m less confident about Grande.  She fits the role well, but without good direction, she’ll only end up playing herself.

Back in August, the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series cast its main characters.  While I wasn’t too interested then, I am excited by this week’s announcement that Daniel Dae Kim and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee will be playing Firelord Ozai and Uncle Iroh respectively. While I’m still skeptical of this adaptation,  it’s beginning to show promise.

In a final bit of casting news, Natasha Liu Bordizzo has been cast as Sabine in the upcoming “Ahsoka” show.  This confirms the incorporation of the animated  “Rebels” show into Star Wars live action, after being teased in season two of “Mandalorian.

November 12 marked the second anniversary of Disney+, and the streaming service had an event to match.  While most of the reveals were just the titles of upcoming projects, there were still some exciting announcements. Disney animation revealed images for upcoming shows such as “Zootopia+”, “Tiana” and a trailer for “Baymax!”  Disney also announced a new live-action adaption of the “Spiderwick Chronicles,” but offered no updates on the upcoming “Percy Jackson” series.

Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk, and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel

The real newsmaker was, as always, Marvel.  While we didn’t get any proper trailers, we did get first looks at “Moon Knight”, “She-Hulk”, and “Ms. Marvel.” While not much plot was shown,  the first looks capture  the energy of each project well.

The most interesting news from Marvel came from their animation department.  “What If…” season two was confirmed as well as a new spinoff “Marvel Zombies.”  “Spider-Man: Freshman Year” will backtrack to tell the origin of the MCU’s Spiderman.  The most thrilling announcement for me was the return of the “X-Men” animated series.  The series won’t introduce the X-Men to the MCU, but instead will be a continuation of the iconic animated show.

 While Star Wars has several exciting projects on the horizon, the franchise disappointed on Disney+ Day.  All we got was some concept art for “Kenobi,” which admittedly is fantastic.

Concept art for “Kenobi” was the only Star Wars content released on Disney+ Day

 We’re swinging into the holiday season, which means most films are either family fare or awards contenders.  “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Encanto” will likely dominate the first category, while films like “House of Gucci,” “King Richard,” and “Tick, Tick, Boom…” will enter the awards race in the next few weeks.  On streaming, “Cowboy Bebop,” “Hawkeye” and “The Wheel of Time” will provide plenty of content to binge over Thanksgiving and Christmas break.

Janie Walenda is a freshman Global Business major and an A&E writer for Cedars.  She enjoys watching musicals and movies as well as rereading the same books ten