Multiverse Tonight - The Podcast about All Your Geeky Universes
Multiverse Tonight - The Podcast about All Your Geeky Universes
Fast Away the Old News Passes
Ready to venture into the realms of science fiction and superhero sagas? Join me as we unlock the secrets of the multiverse with groundbreaking news that promises to surprise and excite. Ever wondered what it takes to go from wrestling champion to a Starfleet officer? WWE’s Becky Lynch is set to blaze a trail in the Star Trek universe with her role in Starfleet Academy, and we’ve got the inside scoop on her journey to the stars. Plus, Paul Giamatti steps into the shadows as the enigmatic villain. With all this and the series already renewed for a second season, there's plenty to anticipate for Trekkies everywhere.
But our journey doesn't stop there. We also explore the galaxy far, far away with a somber look at the cancellation of "Star Wars: The Acolyte." Discover the behind-the-scenes vision that could have expanded the High Republic era into an epic trilogy, shared by actor Mayan Jackinto. On a brighter note, the DC Universe scores a triumph with the renewal of the animated series Creature Commandos, led by the dynamic duo James Gunn and Peter Safran. In this upbeat closer to the year, we celebrate the stories that enrich our geeky passions and look forward to more adventures in the coming year. Tune in for a thrilling ride through your favorite fictional worlds!
Thanks for listening! Come visit the podcast at https://www.multiversetonight.com/
head on over to multiversetonightcom. Tonight it's the end of the year, closeout of news all that and more on this edition of multiverse tonight comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight, and here's your host, thomas Townley. Well, hello everyone and welcome to episode 230 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm, of course, your host, thomas Townley, and well, not a lot of stuff to talk about here at the beginning of the show. It's the weird time between Christmas and New Year's, so there's not a lot going on, but we do have a little bit of news. So let's get right to it with the Star Trek news, and Star Trek news begins Earlier this afternoon.
Speaker 1:The former multi-time WWE Women's Champion, becky Lynch, announced that on the news our social media pages quote you know, when you've already been champion of the world, there's only really one place to go next, and that's to the stars, she said in the video. I'm so excited to share with all of you that I am joining Star Trek Starfleet Academy as part of the bridge crew Lads. This has been the most incredible experience acting alongside just a spectacular cast and crew. I cannot wait for all of you to check it out when it comes out on Paramount Plus. And hey live, long and prosper. Unquote.
Speaker 1:Now, starfleet Academy is unique because it's the first Star Trek project that won't focus on deep space exploration. Well, so did. Deep Space Nine didn't focus on deep space exploration either, so I don't know who writes these things. Instead, it takes place in the 32nd century, san Francisco, following the first class of cadets attending the academy in the early 100 years. That brief description leaves a lot to the imagination. However, we know that Paul Giamatti will play an unnamed villainous character in the series. The new series will take a more YA approach and picks up after the events of Star Trek Discovery, which set the timeline further ahead than ever before. It's clear they believe in this project as a setting stone for the future, and before the first season has been out, it's already been renewed for a season two.
Speaker 1:And now let's go on to the Star Wars news. Roger roger, star Wars news begins with the Acolyte star, mayan Jackinto, revealing that three seasons were actually planned for the Acolyte, the Star Wars show that, unfortunately, was just canceled. The actor appeared during a Fan Expo panel hosted by Collider, where the topic of his time in the galaxy far, far away was brought up. When discussing the Acolyte, which was canceled after a single season, joaquin Tose shed some light on the showrunner, leslie Hedlund's vision for the series, outlying what she had started in her mind for the acolyte Quote. I remember Leslie's dream was for us to do three seasons, not just this one. But there's something about having a finite ending of the things that makes it so much more special. So, yeah, I don't know if I'd do it or not, but you know, three seasons on a movie would have been incredible, and I know we had so much more to explore in that second season. Unquote. Now debuting over the summer, the acolyte marched, the Star Wars franchise's first on-screen depiction of the High Republic era, telling a story that was set roughly 100 years before the Phantom Menace. While the show earned positive reviews from critics, it was panned from one of the most decisive Star Wars projects in the Disney era and was officially canceled in August. Recently, disney Entertainment co-chairman, alan Bergman, shed light on that decision, stating that the acolyte was too expensive to greenlight for a second season. The show's only season had a budget of $230 million for eight episodes.
Speaker 1:And with that let's go on to the DC Comics News. Dc Comics News begins with the Creature Commandos will fight again. The max animated series, written and co-executive produced by DC Studios, co-chief James Gunn, has been renewed for a second season on the streaming platform. The show about incarcerated non-human monsters conscripted to join a covert black ops team marked the first official entry into the new DC Universe as fashioned by Gunn and co-chief Peter Safran. It earned wide acclaim following its December 5th premiere. In the review, variety's Alison Herman said that the series was quote playful and irreverent as the most loud-bearing franchise entrants are pronderous and weighted down by obligations to a larger narrative. The season one finale will debut on January 9th. The first season's voice cast included Andrew Varma as the Bride, frank Grillo as Rick Flagg, sr David Harbour as Frankenstein, zoe Chow as Nina Mazursky.
Speaker 1:Let's go on to the Marvel Comics News. Marvel Comics News begins with Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vincaniera recently telling the Los Angeles Times that, quote Craven the Hunter is probably the worst launch we had in the nearly eight years he's been at the studio. Adding I still don't understand, because the film is not a bad film. Unquote. Craven opened in theaters December 13th to a paltry $11 million, the lowest debut yet for a Sony-released Marvel movie. The movie's current box office total is just about $18 million, while its global haul is $43 million. These are more or less catastrophic results for a superhero movie and cap off a lackluster year for Sony's comic book movies.
Speaker 1:After Madam Web flopped with $100 million worldwide and Venom the Last Dance became the franchise's lowest grossing entry, ben Kinera went on to say quote let's just touch on Madame Web for a moment. Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film. It did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided they didn't want us making these films out of Craven and Mam Webb and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and had Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics and the press for some reason. Unquote Hmm, where to pick that one apart? Yeah, it wasn't the press. These were just wholly bad films.
Speaker 1:I've seen enough enough, uh, reviews from actual, actual fans. And the biggest problem, of course, is that you're taking characters that are part of a of a the Marvel Universe, the Spider-Man Universe and you're breaking them out into things that have nothing to do with the Marvel or Spider-Man Universe. So you're just taking a name and a bit of the concept and trying to make a film out of that. It doesn't work. These characters are supposed to be part of the Spider-Man universe. When you take Spider-Man out, you're left with mush.
Speaker 1:Anyway, let's go on to the geek news. And we begin Geek News with Doctor who producer Bad Wolf reporting an increase in profits by 49%, despite a drop in revenue year on year. Post-tax profits rose from 7,072,610 quid 8.9 million in 2023 to 10,554,620 quid 13.2 million in 2024. Last records show gross profits climbed from 11 million last year to 15 million this year. This is despite revenue dropping from 117 million British quid in 2023 to 94 million in 2024. The accounts filed last week at the UK Business Registered Companies House cover the 12-month period ending March 31, 2024. The filings also show that the value projects Bad Wolf have that are classed as in production have fallen substantially, from $96 million to $72 million this year. Among the shows the other company have in the pipeline is the Other Bennett Sister, a spinoff of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Is the Other Bennett Sister a spin-off of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Bad Wolf, which is run by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner is known for shows such as Doctor who, industry and His Dark Materials. In 2021, the Wales-based company, which also owns a soundstage facility in Cardiff, was acquired by Sony Pictures Television for a rumored 60 million quid. Sing to me, muse.
Speaker 1:Details of Christopher Nolan's stars to the next project at Universal have finally been revealed. According to a new post on X from Universal Pictures, the filmmaker's next project is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film will bring Homer's foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and open in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026. Yes, that's right folks, they're doing the Odyssey. Nolan has assembled an all-star lineup of actors befitting of the epic tale. Matt Damon, tom Holland, anne Hathaway, zendaya Lupien, nyong'o, robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron are set to star the studio, and Nolan's follow-up to the Oscar-winning drama Oppenheimer is projecting a production start date sometime in the first half of 2025. Nolan is set to write and will produce with Emma Thomas under the Syncope banner.
Speaker 1:Homer's ancient Greek epic poem, the Odyssey, remains one of the oldest pieces of literature still read by Meyer Ionses. It chronicles the story of Greek hero Odysseus during his tumultuous journey home following the Trojan War. The Odyssey has been brought to the big screen several times before, first with a 1911 silent film by Giuseppe de Lueri and later with the 1954's Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas. The 2000 satirical comedy film O Brother, where Art Thou, is also loosely based on Homer's magnum opus, and 2024's A Return with Refines is adopted from the last sections of the epic poem.
Speaker 1:Holland admitted last week to signing on to the project without knowing many details, telling the dish quote to be perfectly honest, I don't really know what it's about. I'm super excited but it's been pretty quiet about the project. I met with Nolan. It was awesome. We kind of loosely pitched what it is and I'm sure when he's ready he'll announce what it's about. Does it ever seem like a good idea to sign on to something when you don't know what it's about? Just not a good idea.
Speaker 1:The Animation Guild has ratified its contract with the major studios, despite concerns about some of the protections against artificial intelligence. The Guild announced that 76.1% of the members voted in favor of the deal. Quote this agreement is the next step forward in our goal to create the strongest contract for members, said Steve Kaplan, the business representative of the union. The three-year contract includes raises of 7%, 4% and 3.5% across the board, as well as higher gains for specific crafts. Among them is provision requiring pay equity for colored designers, which has been traditionally female-dominated, and a staffing minimum for TV animation writers. The deal did not include most of the negotiators' most ambitious demands, such as a provision allowing members to opt out of using AI in their jobs and to opt out of having their work used to train AI systems. The Alliance of Motion Picture intelligent producers also did not agree to guild-wide staffing minimums by the power of Greyskull.
Speaker 1:Jared Leto will become a jacked-up, cranially exposed supervillain. The Oscar-winning star of House of Gucci and Dallas Fire's Club is joining Amazon MGM's upcoming live-action version of Masters of the Universe as Skeletor, the archenemy of Eternia's greatest warrior, he-man, which will be played by Nicholas Galitzine. Director Travis Knight has also cast at least some of Skeletor's coterie of henchmen at least some of the Skeletor's coterie of henchmen. Sam C Wilson will play Trapjaw, kojo Ata will play Triclops and Haftor Borgeson will play Goatman. They'll join the previously announced cast of Alison Brie as Skeletor, lieutenant Evil-Lyn, camilla Mendez as Headman's compatriot, tila, and Idris Elba as Tila's father. Man-at-arms Escape artists and Mattel Films are producing the movie, which is scheduled to open on June 5, 2026. Well, will he go? Will Jared go all meta there and actually remove the skin and musculature from his face to accurately portray a talking skull? I guess time will tell.
Speaker 1:Blumhouse, an atomic monster. The newly converged horror producers will unwrap yet another iconic movie monster. The Mummy is coming from Lee Cronin, director of the campy and cult-approved Evil Dead Rise. Cronin will write and direct the project, which has been dated for April 17th 2026 by New Line Cinema. Quote. Cronin said in a statement this will be unlike any mummy movie you ever laid eyes on before. I'm digging deep into the earth to raise something very ancient and very frightening, unquote. The director's label Doppelgangers will also serve as producer alongside James Wan. Jason Blum. The director's label Doppelgangers will also serve as producer alongside James Wan, jason Blum and John Cavill. Blumhouse and Atomic Monster will co-finance Michael Clear, judson Scott and Makedra Kalar, our exec producers, with Elena Gastile as the executive overseeing the project.
Speaker 1:For Atomic Monster, dune Prophecy has been renewed for Season 2 at HBO. The news was announced during a virtual press conference Thursday afternoon, a few days before the Season 1 finale aired on December 22nd. The Dune prequel series set more than 10,000 years before the events of Dennis Villeneuve's Dune movies follows the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the secretive order of powerful witches that influence Arrakis politics behind the scenes. Inspired by the novel Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson, the series follows the leader of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, vela Harkonnen, and Tuna Harkonnen, who team up to combat forces that threaten humankind. Paramount Pictures is prepping Sonic the Hedgehog 4, with the studio anticipating a spring 2027 release date for the latest entry in the family-friendly franchise. And with that we come to an end of today's show.
Speaker 1:Now please be sure to check us out on social media. We're on Blue Sky and Twitter at Multiverse Tom. We're also on Threads, facebook and Instagram at Multiverse Tonight. If you've gotten some value out of the show, please head on over to MultiverseTonightcom and, you know, pay it back. You can also check our Patreon and Ko-fi links, check our show notes, visit our TeePublic store, leave some feedback and so much more. And this is your first time listening. Thank you very much and welcome. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button and share us with others. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Thanks for watching this edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. Goodness, now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night, I've been Rachel from the 24th. All right, see you soon.
