ICv2: 'Madame Web' Tanks; 'Fantastic Four' Cast; 'X-Men '97,' 'Godzilla x Kong,' and 'Knuckles' Trailers; Luc Besson on New 'Dracula'; 'MOTU' Eyes Director

NEWS

'MADAME WEB' TANKS; 'FANTASTIC FOUR' CAST; 'X-MEN '97,' 'GODZILLA X KONG,' AND 'KNUCKLES' TRAILERS; LUC BESSON ON NEW 'DRACULA'; 'MOTU' EYES DIRECTOR

Showbiz Round-Up

Posted by Jeffrey Dohm-Sanchez, Milton Griepp on February 19, 2024 @ 4:01 am CT

Fresh Hollywood news has hit the wire, and it's time for another round-up!

Sony’s Madame Web (see "New ‘Madame Web’ Posters") tanked spectacularly, grossing only $17.6 million domestically for the weekend, and another $25.7 million internationally, below even Morbius, which grossed over twice as much in its opening weekend. according to Variety. The film joins a line-up of disappointing superhero movie releases that seem to get worse over time.

Marvel Studios revealed the cast for their Fantastic Four movie; the four leads are as follows: The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (see "Pedro Pascal Circles 'Fantastic Four 4'"), The Crown's Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Stranger Things' Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. This movie will hit theaters on February 14, 2025 (see "Best in Shows -- 2025").

Marvel Animation launched a trailer for X-Men'97 (see below). This follow-up to the X-Men: The Animated Series (see "'X-Men '97'") hits Disney+ on March 20, 2024.

Warner Bros. Pictures released a second trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (see below). It will hit theaters on March 29, 2024 (see "'Godzilla X Kong’").

Paramount+ released an official trailer for the Knuckles series (see below). Knuckles is a Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff series, starring Idris Elba (see "New 'Sonic'"); it will start streaming on April 27, 2024.

Luc Besson has signed on to helm a Dracula movie, according to Variety. Besson's EuropaCorp is producing the project, and is in talks with Christopher Waltz, who played Ernst Starvo Blofeld in the most recent James Bond movie (see "Bond is Back"), and Caleb Landry-Jones to star in the movie.

Amazon MGM Studios is in talks with Travis Knight to direct the long-awaited live-action Masters of the Universe adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Travis Knight is the CEO of LAIKA and a part-time filmmaker. This movie project started out at Netflix, which pulled the plug (see "'MotU' Live-Action Feature Dead"), and moved to Amazon MGM in November 2023 (see "'MOTU' Movie to Amazon").

For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2's Best in Shows Geek Movie Calendar. Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.