This Weekend in the Nerd Verse… August 8th-9th, 2015

For those of you wondering who will return for Pacific Rim 2 the answer is everyone who didn’t die. Charlie Day will be back (YES!) and will play a bigger role, and so will his German scientist buddy Burn Gorman. Charlie Hunnam will be back of course, and I can only imagine Ron Perlman will pop up too. Source: Slash Films

Bill Murray will indeed make an appearance in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, but he will not be playing Peter Venkman. What the what? Source: Birth Movies Death

Jeff Pinkner (The Amazin Spider-Man 2, Lost, Fringe) will reportedly be writing Universal Studios remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the lead role has been offered to Scarlett Johansson. Creature is one of the best monsters and movies of all time, don’t you ruin this for me Pinkner! Source: Tracking Board

23 Jump Street is happening. And this time they’re going to med school. And Chris Miller and Phil Lord will only be producing. Source: Slash Films

It was another quiet weekend at the box office. Mission Impossible held on to the top spot, Fantastic Four was a Fantastic Fail, and The Gift made a descent showing for a film of it’s genre.

1. Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation           $29.4 million
2. Fantastic Four                                                  $26.2 million
3. The Gift                                                               $12 million
4. Vacation                                                             $9.1 million
5. Ant-Man                                                             $7.8 million

This Weekend in the Nerd Verse… June 20th-21st, 2015

Miles Morales will be swinging at ya this fall after the Secret Wars arc is over. Not only that, but he will be the Spider-Man. No asterisk. He is the real deal. Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli will work on the book together. Bendis and Pichelli are the co-creators of the bi-racial Puerto Rican and African-American character, who debuted in 2011. Along with the news, Bendis told the story of when his little boy, who is African-American found a Miles Morales mask in the store:

“I started crying in the middle of the aisle,” says Bendis. “I realized my kids are going to grow up in a world that has a multi-racial Spider-Man, and an African American Captain America and a female Thor.”

Source: New York Daily News

It looks like Marvel Studios liked the first Thor movie better than the second because they are reportedly looking to get Kenneth Branaugh to return to the franchise. Thor: Ragnarok will play a big part in the development of the MCU and Marvel wants the property to be entrusted to someone they trust and feel will tell the story best. Source: Screen Rant 

For those of you asking for it, which I’m assuming is none of you, a new Halloween movie will begin production next month. This one won’t even follow the rebooted storyline done by Rob Zombie a few years ago. This will be the 11^th film in the original series. Because why not? Why bother keeping iconic film villains scary? Let’s just turn them all into punchlines and laughing stocks. Source: Geek Tyrant

Malcolm Merlyn, aka the new Ra’s al Ghul, will be returning to Arrow season four. John Barrowman finalized his contact and confirmed his return. Source: Comicbook.com 

David Tennant, British actor extraordinaire, will be the voice of Mason Savoy in Chew, the animated series. The role was originally Robin Williams, and after his untimely death, the producers of Chew wanted tot take time before finding a replacement. Tennant is reportedly in studio this week working on his parts. Source: The Hollywood Reporter

And finally, this weekend at the box office dinosaurs still ruled the earth while Pixar fans felt some feelings with a strong opening weekend, and an indie property showed it can hang with the big boys.

1. Jurassic World      $102 million
2. Inside Out              $91 million
3. Spy                         $10.5 million
4. San Andreas        $8.2 million
5. Dope                      $6 million