Doctor Strange 2 Gets Poster
Hot on the heels of today's release of the first teaser for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the social campaign for the film has also released new key art for the film. The poster features stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen seen through the prism of the fractured walls of the MCU multiverse. The film arrives in theaters May 6.
Batgirl Movie to Feature Keaton as Batman?
It was somewhat surprising that Warner Bros. listed the Batgirl movie in its 2022 preview kit, but it looks like fans will see the film on HBO Max within a year. Even more surprising is the inclusion of actor Michael Keaton in the cast listing. Keaton is slated to reprise his Bruce Wayne role in the upcoming Flash movie, but that's assumed to be an alt-timeline/multiverse version that is removed from the DC Extended Universe. Batgirl features J.K. Simmons as Gordon and in the DCEU, Gordon's caped contemporary is the Ben Affleck model.
Leslie Grace (In the Heights) has the lead role. Batgirl is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys For Life) and does not have a firm release date.
Zod and Faora to Menace The Flash?
It looks like we can add General Zod and his right-hand Faora-Ul to the mix of cross-universe guest players in next year's feature film version of The Flash. A recent media kit issued by Warner Bros. lists actors Michael Shannon and Antje Traue among the cast for the scarlet speedster movie. Fans of the DC Extended Universe know well that the pair previously appeared in Man of Steel as Zod and Faora. Director Andy Muschietti is adapting what looks to be a multiverse shattering Flashpoint-esque adaptation that is already pulling in Batman, played by Michael Keaton and, reportedly, Ben Affleck (although Affleck does no appear in the official cast list). A new version of Supergirl played by Sasha Calle is also among the cast, along with multiple versions of Barry Allen. The film is due November 4.
Shang-Chi #3 in Streaming Ratings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings did not power up in its second week of streaming release on Disney+. According to the partially-published Nielsen Streaming Ratings for the week of November 15 to 21, the Marvel Studios feature drew 878 million minutes of viewership in what would have been its first full week on the streamer. That's a loss of about 18% of its audience. The film held its #2 spot on the Movies charts behind Red Notice on Netflix. It slipped to #3 on the overall chart with Prime Video's Wheel of Time coming in at #2.
Also drawing eyeballs for comic-sourced content is season two of Locke & Key. The Netflix series attracted 293 million minutes of attention across its 20 available episodes. That's a drop of 28%, causing it to slip from #7 to #9 on the Original Programming chart.
Because Nielsen failed to completely update their Movies listing, it's unclear if Marvel Studios' Black Widow ranked this week, as it has in previous weeks.
In related streaming ratings news, season three of the HBO Max series Titans is apparently available on Netflix at the moment. In fact, it was the #2 English-language series ranked on the streamer's ratings chart for the week of December 6 - 12. The season rung up 26 million hours viewed, according to Netflix's metrics. It only trailed the third season of Lost in Space on that chart.
