Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" set in motion the possibility of a movie like "Captain Marvel" existing. Before that, having a female-led superhero movie was deemed "box-office poison" by the powers-that-be, whoever the hell those people are-- especially since 2005’s Jennifer Garner-starring “Elektra," was a box-office bomb and seemed to reinforce that point to many. The success of "Wonder Woman" proved nay in terms of the mainstream not accepting a female superhero. They did. Jenkins' movie made $821M worldwide.
Enter "Captain Marvel": A 1990s-set Marvel film that serves as their first prequel, it also is their first superhero movie with a female lead ("Wonder Woman" was DC). If you're going to do that might as well hire Oscar-winner Brie Larson to play Carol Danvers, a pilot with superpowers. Here's my problem with this latest Marvel extravaganza: the plot has something to do with a galactic war between two alien races. Ugh.
The good news is that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are directing and they made some stellar stuff over their short careers as filmmakers such as "Mississippi Grind," "Sugar" and the critically-acclaimed "Half Nelson." The screenplay credit is being shared between five female screenwriters Meg LeFauve ("Inside Out"), and Nicole Perlman ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), Geneva Robertson-Dworet ("Tomb Raider"), Liz Flahive & Carly Mensch ("GLOW"), as well as Boden and Fleck. Fantastic, progressive stuff again by Marvel.
Larson is joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Jude Law, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan,Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, and McKenna Grace.
"Captain Marvel" is set for a March 8, 2019 release.
Before practically going bankrupt, Row K had planned to release "Cliffhanger" in August 2026 on more than 3000 screens nationwide — hopefully with Vertical it hits as many theaters.