Welcome to Rumor Has It, Player Affinity’s weekly roundup of highly buzzed-about movie rumors circulating throughout Tinseltown. On this week’s docket, we have rumors about Marvel making a Black Panther movie and Universal's upcoming adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.
The Black Panther Might Be Heading to the Silver Screen Sooner Than Later
As recent Rumor Has It installments will reveal, there's been much speculation regarding which heroes Marvel plans to bring to the silver screen next. Well, we may be closer than we've been in quite some time to having our answer. Four completely different yet reportedly reliable sources told Latino Review that the Black Panther will be the next Marvel hero to get his own feature film. Considering that it’s been over a year since Marvel snagged Mark Bailey to write the script, the rumor seems plausible. Entertainment Weekly, however, reported that such rumors weren’t true just one day after they surfaced. Then again, Joss Whedon denied that an extra scene was being shot for The Avengers, and for all of us who’ve seen it, we know how true that statement turned out to be.
For those unfamiliar with the Black Panther, he’s the king of Wakanda, a North African nation. Making his comic debut in 1966, he’s the first African-American superhero to grace mainstream comics in the United States. That being said, there’s already an intense amount of discussion over who should play the Black Panther, if this film is even being made.
Is Angelina Jolie directing Fifty Shades of Grey for Universal?
E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey started out as a fan fiction based on Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series, but the erotic novel became a phenomenon in its own right, moving over 10 million units across the globe and becoming the subject of countless Internet memes. Naturally, Hollywood came calling, and earlier this year, Universal emerged as the lucky studio to pick up the film rights to “Grey” and its two sequels.
Naturally wanting to capitalize on the phenomenon as soon as possible, Universal is looking for a director to take over, and Deadline Hollywood claims that the studio has talked with Angelina Jolie about taking up the helm of “Grey.” Universal more or less denies the existence of such discussions, and even if they have happened, Jolie seems to be devoting all her time and energy to Disney’s Maleficent, which hits theaters on March 14, 2014. The Academy Award-winning actress made her directorial debut last year with In the Land of Blood and Honey, a Golden Globe-nominated drama that takes place in the midst of the Bosnian War.
