Way back in 2012 (or at least it feels way back), Netflix and Disney struck a deal for all of Disney’s movies — including Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm — to stream exclusively on Netflix Instant. According to the terms of their agreement, the deal wouldn’t kick in until 2016, which just so happens to be the year in which we are currently living. As announced today, Netflix will officially begin streaming Disney films in September, but that doesn’t mean the studio’s entire library will magically appear in your Instant browser.
When Marvel Studios began ambitiously building towards the first Avengers movie, many openly wondered: how can they do this? Many times over the years, notably in Sam Raimi’s bloated Spider-Man 3, too many characters had clogged up the screen, diluting those films of any real focus. This was a legitimate concern for Marvel and for The Avengers, a movie that was going to star not one, but seven superheroes. Flash forward to 2016 and seven superheroes suddenly seems like an intimate gathering. Now Marvel has arrived with Captain America: Civil War, the latest in their progressively expanding franchise, with a lineup that includes 12 superheroes and three villains. Have we reached peak superhero? Is this finally, once and for all, just too much?
NOPE.
As promised last week, the first trailer for Doctor Strange has arrived to tease a more mystical, psychedelic corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following its debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the trailer is now online and offers our first real look at Benedict Cumberbatch’s titular Sorcerer Supreme in action — along with the debut of Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One.
A little inside-baseball saw ABC recently shifting leadership from former boss Paul Lee to Channing Dungey, and as such, little time was wasted issuing 15 renewals across the network. Not only will the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. return for a fourth season, so too will everything from black-ish to Quantico to Dancing With the Stars will get additional runs. That said, who was left off of the list?
Well-received though Disney’s Marvel-ous Big Hero 6 was back in 2014 (it won the freakin’ Oscar), there hasn’t been very much followup by way of a sequel. Now, Disney XD promises to continue the adventures of Hiro, Baymax and the team in a new 2017 TV series, but what might it mean on the movie end?