The Wkly Hit List is back from its week off, and for one week only, we're bringing the news to you in a much different fashion. Last weekend, KlicKNet lend its services to student film project, we saw Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* in theaters, which manages to set up not only Avengers: Doomsday next year, but also The Fantastic Four: First Steps this summer. Speaking of this summer, KlicKNet has set a goal to film the NickCam spinoff Rhodey, NY by any means necessary, not to sound too dramatic right now. You see his week it was announced that the project has moved to pre-production, the lead actors have already agreed to come on board, but there's still a long way to go before the cameras start rolling. If you've been watching our short videos, FTB 60, on social media, you know that we've been vocal on a lot of things, and we're going to give our in-depth reactions to some of them as well as the biggest news of all this week in a very special 5-Day Rounder.
Let's be clear about something, that story about NBC canceling two comedies is not all that serious to talk about, so let's pretend it doesn't even exist. What I do wanna talk about is the success of Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*, so far it has made $181.6 Million Viewers at the box office worldwide and we already know that we'll be seeing the The New Avengers again real soon. Even better than that, we could be seeing the Director of Thunderbolts*, Jake Schreier become apart of another MCU project, because a week after the release of his film, Schreier became the top choice to direct the rebooted X-Men film for Marvel Studios. I hope one they nail him for the job because after seeing how well Schreier did directing a team of Anti-Heroes, he's gonna have a blast directing a team of Mutants. Here's a little fun fact, Jake Schreier would be the fourth director in Marvel Studios history to direct two different film projects based on two different Marvel Comic franchises, the first two are Anthony and Joe Russo who have directed Captain America 2 and 3, Avengers 3 and 4, and right now they making Avengers 5 and 6; the third director who will achieve this accomplishment is Destin Daniel Cretton who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and this summer he will directed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It would be great to direct a superhero film, I could almost picture myself and KlicKNet Productions directing one.
On to other stories on this week's Rounder, last Monday it revealed that the President of the United States might be planning to put tariffs on movies being filmed in country that are not the United States of America. This would be any movie that just went into production, like Avengers: Doomsday and the next Dune, could cost a bigger fortune to make than they already are. I really don't know how tariffs work entirely, just that they make prices for certain items very hard, and a lot of people still waiting for the price of eggs to do go down, but here we are four and a half months into 2025 and that issue hasn't changed at all. Something about this that real caught my eye was when IATSE issued a statement regarding the President's movie tariff announcement, with the headline reading: The United States "needs balanced Federal Response to Return Film and TV Jobs." In a world that was shaken to its core by COVID-19, it's important for the Film and TV industry to offer new jobs and opportunity to people who need them. Since Rhodey, NY will be a low-budget production that will be filmed in New York City, tariffs won't effect this project at all, but what will happen to future movies films outside the United States remain to be seen.
Last Tuesday, people learned of the unbearable news that the U.S. Department of Education would end the "Ready To Learn" grant used for PBS Kids shows for many years. This all started when the President signed an executive order to defund PBS and NPR, but the only saving grace is that only congress has the power to do this, just the same as they power to eliminate the Department of Education. I just wonder how can someone who signed an executive order to eliminate the Education Department could still want it to hang around, but moving on. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting released a statement about the cutting of the "Ready to Learn" grant which will result in a loss of $23 million dollars for children's games and educational shows. It says and i. quote: "Nearly every parent has raised their kids on public broadcasting’s children’s content. For the past 30 years, Ready To Learn-funded PBS KIDS content has produced measurable, real-world impacts on children’s learning," Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB, said in the press release. "Ready To Learn has received strong bipartisan support from Congress for the last 30 years because of the programs’ proven educational value in advancing early learning skills for all children. We will work with Congress and the Administration to preserve funding for this essential program." As someone who grew up watching PBS Kids, I believe that the kids today deserve that same experience so that when they grow up, they not only look back on so many great moments and memories, but they also look back at what they learned from watching shows like Sesame Street, Arthur, Odd Squad, Skillsville, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Carl the Collector. If you want to help save PBS and NPR, there's way a you can do that by going to protectmypublicmedia.org which urges people to tell Congress that they should reject the rescissions package put in place by the current administration and stop the dismantling of public media.
The next story we'll be talking right now and for years to come was the announcement made last Wednesday that The Walt Disney Company teamed up with Miral Group to build Disney's seventh theme park resort in Abu Dhabi. Miral Group has been the creator of leisure and entertainment destinations on Yas Island, from Ferrari World to Yas Waterworld to Warner Bros. World to Yas Marina, and Etihad Arena. The company has also built a SeaWorld theme park and an indoor hub called CLYMB, home of the world's tallest indoor climbing wall and the widest skydiving chamber. A few things to point out, this new theme park resort will be the second to not be operated by Disney Experiences after Tokyo Disney Resort which is fully operated by the Oriental Land Company. So while Disney Abu Dhabi will be operated and funded by the Miral Group, it will be designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, meaning that Miral Group will be under license from Disney Experiences. An opening date has yet to be announced as the project is in its development stage, it'll probably be completed 5 to 10 years from now, and when it does it will feature immersive experiences that integrate Disney storytelling with elements of Emirati culture and design. You should see the concept arts for the park and its castle, you tell this going to be way different from all the other theme parks resorts, and I would say in closing that people had better pray that the President doesn't put any tariffs on this.
Finally, I like to tell you my reaction to the New Pope that was elected last Thursday. First of all, it's really sad that the Pope Francis passed away during Easter Weekend last Monday, good people like him don't deserve to die so soon. Now when the election of a New Pope started, my interest was very low, but my family was watching everything unfold last Thursday and once the white smoke appeared, they told me right away that a choice was made. As the new pope was coming out, I thought about what we might look like and there he was white dress and all. On TV they announced that he is the first American Pope in history, Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1955, he's a diehard Chicago White Sox fan and he graduated from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with a BS degree. Lastly, he announced that his pope name is Leo XIV which sounds a little too close to King Louis XIV of France, but as it turns out that when you're elected Pope, you get to pick any new name you want. The whole wide world is super excited about Pope Leo XIV, even though he's been in Vatican City for only a few days, he has promised to continue the last Pope's dream of peace around the world. The current President of the United States interesting enough has congratulated Leo XIV for being the first American pope and has expressed interest in meeting him soon. Former US Presidents like George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have also congratulated the new pope, Barack Obama (a fellow Chicagoan and a U.S. Senator from Illinois before becoming president) and Joe Biden (the second Catholic U.S. president in history) have congratulated him as well, which means Leo XIV must be doing something right in only a few days. Just like everyone else in the world, I forward to seeing what Pope Louis XIV will do as the new head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, if he's truly looking peace and harmony in the world, then it will be interesting to see how he intends to achieve it.
We have started to release the 7-Part Vlog Series, FakeTV on Deck: The Sequel on YouTube. Part 1 is out, and Part 2 is coming soon, but all and all we are proud that host of FakeTV Box was able to film another vacation on the Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas. We promise that you will see something different than last year's trip on the Odyssey, and maybe some familiar places but from a different perspectives Here's your chance to watch 23-minutes of Part 1 in our Inside Scoop this week, which is very weird I might add, because who needs an Inside Scoop on another person going on vacation for a week?
Comments