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Loki Season 2 Finale (Disney+): There is so much that happens in this episode, especially with the added context that came from The Marvels last weekend. Without spoiling the post-credit scene, there is a clear pathway forward for Marvel Studios to side-step the Jonathan Majors potential minefield while still using the Multiverse Saga for what it is designed for: cashing in on nostalgia. Right now it has been over a decade since The Avengers and when Avengers: Secret Wars comes out in 2027 it will be 15 years almost to the day. What better way to commemorate it than to do a loose adaptation of 2015’s Secret Wars with a more altruistic Loki filling the role of the unambiguously evil Doctor Doom? Having an army of Thor variants patrol the Battleworld would make sense with Loki at the helm and Doctor Strange is already involved in trying to stop a universe-ending incursion so he could align with Loki (who he mistrusts as it is, let alone with him as a god at the center of the multiverse) only to leave him susceptible to the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Santa Clauses Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2 (Disney+): There are a few ways that this season has improved over season one. That’s not to say the show is good but there are signs of improvement year to year. The effects are still abysmal and the sets feel cheap and small like last season, however, the story feels more thought out, and everyone involved is going to actually have an arc. That said, it is fairly obvious that the plot is going to be resolved by Scott’s daughter going through a Dark Phoenix Saga-style arc, although it is more likely that this follows X-Men: Apocalypse considering how much of Magnus Antas’ origin mirrors Apocalypse in that movie. It is disappointing since the only lesson that should have been learned by X-Men: Apocalypse was to not do that again.
You May Have Missed:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Netflix): One of the best animated movies of the year has arrived on Netflix and it holds up just as well as it did in the theater. The sequel follows Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey as they have to grapple with who they are as heroes in the wider multiverse of Spider-variants. While the film is a little over-long towards the end, it is still an enjoyable movie and worth watching. For a full review, click here.
This Week In Theaters:
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: If someone ever wondered how President Snow came to power or how the Hunger Games became a visual spectacle beyond just the baseline brutality, this is the movie for them. Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, and Jason Schwartzmann star.
Next Goal Wins: Taika Waititi returns to theaters with his next film which stars Michael Fassbender as a soccer coach who takes the job of turning around the American Samoa World Cup team.
Last Week At The Box Office:
The Marvels: $46.1 Million
Five Nights At Freddy’s: $9.0 Million
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: $6.1 Million
Priscilla: $4.8 Million
Killers of the Flower Moon: $4.6 Million
Programming Notes:
Coming off of last week’s release of The Marvels, Marvel Studios and Disney have announced a new round of delays. To be clear, this likely has little to do with the box office performance of The Marvels but is almost entirely because it took so long for Disney and the rest of the AMPTP to come to terms with the Screen Actors Guild. The delays are as follows:
- Deadpool 3 has been delayed to July 26th, 2024 from its previous release date of May 3rd, 2024.
- Captain America: Brave New World has been delayed from July 26th, 2024 to February 14th, 2025.
- Blade has been delayed from February 14th, 2025 to November 7th, 2025.
- Thunderbolts has been delayed from December 20th, 2024 to July 25th, 2025.
- Mufasa, the live-action (really photorealistic animation) prequel to The Lion King, has been delayed from July 5th, 2024 to December 20th, 2024.
This shift makes 2024 the first year in a long time with only one release for Marvel Studios but vastly overcompensates in 2025 with four releases since the three above listed join Fantastic Four which is sticking with its May 2nd, 2025 release date. That’s not to say there are no other comic book movies in 2024 since DC is bringing its sequel to Joker in October and Sony is bringing the Spider-Man spin-offs Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter, and Venom 3 in February, August, and November respectively.
