Jon Hamm Eyes the MCU, New Penguin Trailer, Blade Movie Still in the Works, Plus Box Office Talk

Multiverse News

In a Q&A with The Hollywood Reporter, Fargo and Mad Men star Jon Hamm proclaimed himself a “comic book nerd” and mentioned he is still in talks with both heads of Marvel and DC for roles as well as confirmed that he passed on The Green Lantern saying it was one he “definitely didn’t want to do.” Hamm even indicated he has a role selected at Marvel, if the studio does the storyline…and they say they will.

The second trailer for The Penguin, the Colin Farrell-led spinoff series of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, was released. It highlights more characters who will appear and indicates the Falcones, Gotham’s first family of crime, will be at the center of the story. The show also features Salvatore Maroni, played by Clancy Brown, and is led by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. showrunner Lauren LeFranc.

Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has jetted past Dune Part 2 to take the crown for top box office take of the year so far. Arthouse film The Bikeriders was highly marketed, but opened at third place with $10 million, and Russell Crowe’s horror flick The Exorcism didn’t even scrape the bottom of the barrel at a $2.43 million opening.

At this point Blade isn’t in purgatory…it is officially in development hell. Between the writer’s and actor’s strikes, actors, writers, and directors being let go and leaving the project, it seems almost impossible that Mahershala Ali’s Blade will ever see the light of day. But Hollywood Reporter claims both Ali and Marvel boss Kevin Feige seem like they don’t want to drive a stake through the movie, regardless of the lengthy development timeline, obvious loss of money, revolving door of talent, complete changes to the story, and more.

M3GAN, the hit horror movie from James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, is getting a spinoff titled SOULM8TE, a thriller that expands the M3GAN universe and is set for release on January 2, 2026.

Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films such as The Dirty Dozen, MASH, Klute, Animal House, Ordinary People, Pride & Prejudice, and The Hunger Games franchise and won an Emmy for Citizen X, died last Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

HBO has officially greenlit the first show under DC Studios titled Lanterns. The series has been given an eight episode straight-to-series order by HBO with Chris Mundy serving as showrunner and executive producer.

Jonathan Majors is set to star in the revenge thriller Merciless, which is based on an original screenplay by Frank Hannah. Martin Villeneuve, the younger brother of filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, will direct. The film will mark Majors’ first role since his third degree assault and harassment conviction earlier this year.

Paramount has released the first trailer for Smile 2, the follow up to Parker Finn's 2022 horror hit. The

film debuts in theaters on October 18.

DC Comics pulled all unpublished cover artwork by artist Francesco Mattina after Adi Granov and Scott Williams accused him of using AI in recently released cover artwork. Williams is the inking partner of publisher and CCO, Jim Lee at DC.

A Spaceballs sequel is in development at Amazon MGM Studios. Josh Gad is set to star, and will produce alongside Mel Brooks.

Patrick Dempsey has joined the cast of Dexter: Original Sin as a series regular. He is set to portray Aaron Spencer, the Captain of Miami Metro Homicide who has a decades-long relationship with Christian Slater’s Harry Morgan.

Sources tell Deadline that Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are in negotiations to star in Season 2 of the Netflix and A24 anthology series Beef. The roles Isaac and Mulligan would be playing were rumored to be for Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, but that ultimately did not come to fruition.

Apple Films has acquired the rights to The Wives, an original film produced by A24 and starring Jennifer Lawrence. The Wives is described as a murder mystery inspired by The Real Housewives franchise.