Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
The Week in Geek: Sony vs. Disney, Neo returns to The Matrix, and Bane delivers
Hey! You made it to the end of another week! Good job! Summer is almost over, and so big, nerdy things are starting to happen again. This weekend is Disney's big convention, D23, so we may have a new Star Wars trailer on the horizon ...
But! in the meantime ...
Here they are, folks: the five biggest stories from ... The Week in Geek!
PETER PARKER IS MICKEY MOUSE ... NO MORE
A long time ago (last month) there was a rumor going around that a deal: If Spider-Man: Far From Home didn't break $1 billion in worldwide box-office gross, Sony would regain all control of the character and Disney would be out of the picture.
Then Far From Home exceeded the billion-dollar mark and MCU fans everywhere breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
But this week negotiations broke down anyway and now Spider-Man is maybe no longer a part of the MCU?
AHHHH!!!!
Okay. Deep breaths. This week the initial report coming out of a Deadline article stated that this was a money issue. Supposedly, Disney wanted a 50/50 co-financing split, while Sony wanted to stick with the original deal, in which Disney gets a 5 percent cut of first-dollar grosses in addition to all that fat merchandising cash.
Then Sony released a rare public statement on Twitter regarding Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, specifically, which reads:
"We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue."
Among the many, many rumors floating around is one SYFY WIRE heard stating that Feige was involved in Spider-Man movies his name wasn't actually on, including the Sony solo joint Venom.
We can't say for sure what's really going on. It's clear things are getting ugly between Disney and Sony. A cursory glance at Twitter shows there are trending topics aplenty as people pick a side over who the villain is here. Some people think Sony is ruining the MCU, some people think Disney is being greedy. Stan Lee's daughter, J.C. Lee, mysteriously showed up out of the blue in a TMZ interview to say that no one at Disney reached out to her after her father's death and that, "in the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney’s executives."
It's a real "mommy, daddy: please don't fight" situation. Negotiations are likely still ongoing. Hopefully that Far From Home cliffhanger will get resolved and Peter Parker won't suddenly vanish from the MCU after he was slated to be the new Tony Stark.
THIS IS (STILL) THE M4TRIX
Twenty years ago, The Wachowskis famously reinvented the sci-fi action movie with their magnum opus, The Matrix. Four years later, they infamously spoiled all their goodwill with two bloated sequels that squandered and confused many of the fans of that initial reinvention.
Meanwhile, in 2019, Matrix star Keanu Reeves has been having what the kids call "a moment." John Wick, Toy Story, Always Be My Maybe. And, as I type this, Reeves is revisiting the first franchise to make him a star: Bill & Ted.
This week we found out Wyld Stallyns isn't the only band getting back together. Yes, Neo: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lana Wachowski, concept artist Geoff Darrow, and more creatives to-be-announced are returning to the Matrix for a continuation of the story.
Wyld, indeed.
Obviously, this is as early as days can be. How can Neo still be alive? We don't know. Will there be de-aging technology used on the actors? Who can say! Will it still be 1999 inside of the Matrix? If it means getting my flip phone back, then I sure hope so!
Production is theoretically set to start in 2020, at which time we may already be batteries in a post-apocalyptic society ruled by sentient tentacle robots. We'll see!
READY OR NOT, HERE COMES A MOVIE ... CALLED READY OR NOT
August is not usually a big month for movies. It's a time where movie studios cool their heels for a minute and catch their breath before, inevitably, releasing an onslaught of big-budget popcorn flicks and Oscar bait in the fall.
But August? Nah, man, that month is pretty chill, homie. Except for this August 2019, the year Fox Searchlight dropped the adorable hide-and-seek movie Ready or Not, which is not actually adorable at all and is, in fact, a blood-drenched murder fest.
It's fun.
You might not be expecting a great horror movie in August. You might be expecting to kick it in neutral after Midsommar and before It: Chapter 2, but, ready or not, here comes, uh ... Ready or Not. It's out this week and, if you love horror movies and are looking for an R-rated movie with a good sense of humor and plenty of fun death scenes that's also technically about the oppressed rising up to devour the rich, you should probably see it.
BANE COULDN'T BREAK THE BATMAN, SO HE BROKE [SPOILERS] INSTEAD
**Spoilers for Batman #77**
If you were unaware, while we're waiting for another Batman movie (someday it will come), there are still these things called comic books in which Batman gets new stories multiple times a month!
Tom King is currently writing a story arc in the main Batman comic called "City of Bane," which is about what happens when Bane takes over Gotham City. To catch you up: Bane decides the cops are bad at keeping Gotham safe (fair), so he takes over and uses other members of Batman's villainous gallery of rogues to keep law and order himself (less fair). Naturally, Batman and his allies are not welcome in Gotham under Bane's rule. If they show up, Alfred (who Bane has held captive) will be killed.
Bruce Wayne's son and current Robin, Damian Wayne, decides he'll roll into Gotham anyway. Damian takes out Claire Clove, aka Gotham Girl (she has Superman powers, but when she uses them she dies very fast), but gets dispatched by his alternate-universe grandfather, Thomas Wayne, who is also Batman but also working for Bane.
Long story short, this week Bane snapped Alfred Pennyworth's neck and now everyone's favorite butler is dead. At least for now.
How long Alfred will stay dead is anyone's guess. But for the time being, Bruce Wayne's surrogate father and, arguably, one of the most essential characters in the Batman mythos is gone.
This could be a big year for Alfred. There's a Pennyworth TV series on Epix right now, which is a lot better than you were probably expecting. And, with his death, Alfred could actually get quite a lot of attention. Flashbacks. Eulogies. An inevitable resurrection arc. Maybe 2019 into 2020 will be the year of Alfred.
Right now, though, he's a corpse. Kind of a big deal!
HE-MAN ISN'T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY
With the ongoing success of Noelle Stevenson's ongoing She-Ra series, it was inevitable that Netflix would get around to bringing her secret brother, He-Man, to his own Netflix series. And, by the power of Grayskull, it's actually happening.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation will be an anime series — however, it will, apparently, pick up where the original cartoon left off. Also, the new series will be helmed by the man, the myth, the Jersey legend himself, Kevin Smith. So, if you'd always imagined Prince Adam as Eternia's equivalent of Dante Hicks, you're in luck!
The news dropped over the weekend at the annual Masters of the Universe Convention, PowerCon. The story will start with Teela searching for the missing Sword of Power. Smith said her journey will lead to "what may be the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor."
Wowzers.
Writers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation include Eric Carrasco, Tim Sheridan, Diya Mishra, and Smith's Fatman Beyond co-host (and co-host of SYFY WIRE's Battlestar Galacticast), Marc Bernardin. No release date has been announced, and there's no indication whether He-Man and the current She-Ra will meet. We imagine it's inevitable, provided both series continue to be successful.
And that's it. Your Week in Geek is over. Go in peace. Let us know what you think of these stories and what the biggest stories were from your week.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's, and do not necessarily reflect those of SYFY WIRE, SYFY, or NBC Universal.
