Marvel has delayed production of its movie Thunderbolts due to the ongoing writers’ strike, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. The pause comes after the studio similarly delayed its production of the Blade film earlier this year. Marvel plans to begin production on Thunderbolts after the writers’ strike ends, which has also led to a halt in filming of the TV series Wonder Man. Lee Sung Jin, the creator of Beef, was the most recent writer on Thunderbolts, working on an earlier draft by Black Widow writer Eric Pearson. Meanwhile, Marvel is still in production on Captain America: New World Order and a third Deadpool movie has recently begun production in London.
Thunderbolts is focused on a team of Marvel’s morally ambiguous characters, including Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Ayo Edebiri and Steven Yeun also star in the film.
The hiatus caused by the writers’ strike is just one of many ongoing challenges facing Hollywood film studios. In addition to the pandemic, which has upended production schedules and closed movie theatres, the industry has also been contending with demands for higher pay and better working conditions for writers. Some studios have already reached deals with the Writers Guild of America, while others remain in negotiations.
For movie studios, the stakes are high. With competition from streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, and with audiences increasingly demanding content that is both visually stunning and thought-provoking, studios must find ways to balance their obligations to shareholders with their creative ambitions. The ongoing strikes and negotiations could have significant implications for the future of the industry, and for the many creatives whose livelihoods depend on it.
In the case of Thunderbolts, the film’s delay means that audiences will have to wait longer to see some of Marvel’s lesser-known characters brought to life on the big screen. But given the talent involved in the project, and Marvel’s track record of producing critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, there is reason to believe that the final product will be worth the wait.
In the meantime, Marvel fans can look forward to the upcoming release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is set to hit theatres in December of 2021. The film, which features Tom Holland as Spider-Man and a host of other familiar faces from the Marvel universe, is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, and is expected to be a major box office success. Whether Thunderbolts can live up to the hype remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is looking bright.
