From 'The New Avengers' to the New 'X-Men': Why Jake Schreier Is in Talks to Direct Marvel’s Mutant Movie

Happy Thursday, gang!

Last night, I watched David Spade’s new Prime Video special Dandelion, and it was good, but not as good as Spade’s past specials Take the Hit and My Fake Problems. It was more on the level of his 2022 Netflix special, Nothing Personal. Spade remains hilarious and an underrated standup comic, but Dandelion wasn’t necessarily his best material.

Yesterday, Deadline confirmed my scoop that Jack Thorne is among the writers working on Sony’s The Beatles: A Four Film Cinematic Event for director Sam Mendes, while adding that Jez Butterworth is also part of the writing team, which also includes Oscar winner Peter Straughan. Straughan’s Conclave has been top of mind this week as Cardinals from around the world voted on the next Pope — an election won by an American-born Robert Prevost, a Cardinal from Peru.

Prevost is the first American pontiff, which is pretty cool, though there’s still no word on whether Pope Leo XIV has a vagina.

And before you complain about that one, please forgive me for having a sense of humor…

Finally, a quick plug for Roshan Sethi’s indie comedy A Nice Indian Boy, which is now available to buy or rent on VOD. The film stars Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff, and was produced by Charlie McSpadden, who recently celebrated a birthday. The film boasts a 96 percent fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, so check it out!

A Nice Indian Boy could use a little love, as it doesn’t have a massive marketing machine behind it like, say, Lilo & Stitch. But boy is that Disney machine working, as the live-action movie is rumored to open to $120 million, though I’ll take the over.

In fact, I think Lilo & Stitch could take in as much as $175 million at the domestic box office over the long holiday weekend, and that’s with Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning opening the same day. I know Nate Bargatze thinks that Disney doesn’t care about its audience, but tracking for Lilo & Stitch would seem to indicate otherwise…

Today, we’ve got breaking news about Marvel’s new X-Men movie, and while I wish this scoop came with its own asterisk, there doesn’t appear to be one. Sigh…

Plus, I weigh in with my thoughts on Ryan Reynolds writing some X-Men-adjacent treatments for Marvel, which is eager to indulge its Deadpool & Wolverine star.

There are also items about Dwayne Johnson getting “ripped,” a Parks and Recreation reunion, a Ferris Bueller reunion, a Beekeeper sequel, a new 10 Things I Hate trilogy, the latest Fantastic Four casting, and a look at Ethan Coen’s new movie starring Margaret Qualley and Chris Evans.

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