The Russo Brothers Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Recently, Joe Russo (the filmmaker behind “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”) made headlines for comments he made about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) usage in media. He predicted that within two years, there will be a person who generates a full feature film using only AI.

One of the buzziest topics being discussed in our culture right now is artificial intelligence (AI). We’ve seen advances in AI over the past couple of years that have truly astounded us.

In case you’re unaware, the already prodigious and busy Russo Brothers (“The Gray Man,” “Cherry“), who already run the independent studio AGBO have their own podcast with Pizza Film School. A recent guest on their latest episode was fellow director Zack Snyder (“Man of Steel“), who, like the sibling duo, is also making rather large film projects over at Netflix.

As the Berlin International Film Festival gets underway, so do big purchases on the European Film Market for future movie projects. And Deadline has the scoop on the first big deal at the Berlinale.  Amazon Prime Video has snatched up the international rights to “The Bluff,” a Caribbean action-survival movie with Zoe Saldaña and the Russo Bros.

With the upcoming release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and the forthcoming special presentation, “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe is wrapping up its Phase 4 and moving towards the future. And as it stands, Phase 4 doesn’t seem to have built the excitement that previous Phases in the MCU has, especially considering the Phase 3 one-two punch of “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” This has many fans reminiscing about the good ol’ days when folks like the Russo Brothers were making Marvel films and wondering when the filmmaking duo might return to the MCU fold.

After a massive marketing campaign and boasting the biggest budget for a Netflix movie ever, “The Gray Man” hit the streamer last month to …a pretty tepid critical response.  Joe and Anthony Russo‘s latest received next to no positive tallies from critics. No surprise there: few recent blockbusters are as wooden or narratively inert.

Yesterday, we saw Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige dish out a good amount of information about the studio’s upcoming plans for Phase 5-6. When it comes to Phase 6, it was confirmed we’ll be getting two more “Avengers” installments with “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” as part of the greater Multiverse Saga with Jonathan Major’s Kang The Conqueror assumed to be at the center of both films similar to Thanos.

The debate within Hollywood about what the future of the film industry will look like has been covered quite a bit already. Is the theatrical release model dead? Are streamers the future? Will traditional studios need to change their traditional approach moving forward? The pandemic has already advanced those discussions quite a bit with studios shortening the theatrical release window and streaming services releasing more and more content worldwide.

The Russo Bros. have done alright for themselves in their post-MCU careers, thanks to their relationship with streaming services.

With Joe & Anthony Russo‘s spy actioner “The Gray Man” and “Vol. 2” of “Stranger Things” season 4 out next month, Netflix has two of their biggest tentpoles of 2022 landing in July.

During the mid-1990s, the Greek demi-god Hercules was having a moment. The Sam Raimi-produced television series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” was quite popular at the time and Disney released their own animation feature film, “Hercules” which, similar to previous outings like “Beauty & The Beast” and “Aladdin,” mixed adventure with musical elements.

While some of Netflix‘s original blockbusters are hit-and-miss, the streaming service is banking on The Russo Brothers delivering them a huge franchise-starter. After giving Marvel Studios their biggest box office earners with “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” racking up a combined $4.8 billion globally, the Russos had enough clout and financial interest to start their own studio AGBO and Netflix has been one of their key distribution partners (see the “Extraction” franchise).

As has been evident in the Marvel Studios releases over the past year, the multiverse is here and it’s not going away anytime soon. We’ve seen it in “Loki” and “What If?” on Disney+.

While the film isn’t universally beloved as perhaps “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the follow-up film from The Russo Brothers, “Captain America: Civil War,” is often seen as top-tier Marvel Studios. And a large part of that reasoning is the way the film ended, with Captain America and Iron Man having a brutal fight that fractured their friendship, and the Avengers, for years.

Joe Russo, along with his filmmaking partner/brother Anthony Russo, is known for huge, blockbuster films. These are the guys that have directed billion-dollar hits like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” So, Russo knows a thing or two about crafting a cinema-ready blockbuster.

Netflix and The Russo Brothers’ AGBO’s working relationship continues to grow. Their Chris Hemsworth action pic “Extraction 2” is about to begin production following the film’s TUDUM streaming event announcement.

After the box office juggernaut “Avengers: Endgame,” The Russo Brothers have been keeping busy with the Tom Holland (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “The Impossible,” “The Heart of The Sea“) crime drama “Cherry” and are currently shooting the $200+ million budgeted Netflix spy action film “The Gray Man” led by Ryan Gosling (“Drive“) and Chris Evans (“Snowpiercer“).

When you watch the trailer for the Russo Brothers’ upcoming drama, “Cherry,” it’s clear the film focuses on the downward spiral that affects a young guy, as he deals with untreated PTSD and drug addiction. But at the heart of the film is a love story between its lead characters played by Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo.

Outside of a few other composers (looking at you, Hans Zimmer), you could argue that hardly anyone has written music for more massive blockbusters than Henry Jackman. From superhero films (“Captain America: Civil War”) to massive apes (“Kong: Skull Island”) to family-friendly comedies (“Detective Pikachu”), Jackman’s name in the credits normally means the film is a box office blockbuster.

You can always tell what the newest buzzwords around Hollywood are based on what films get greenlit. After “Bohemian Rhapsody,” won Oscars and earned nearly $1 billion at the box office, you saw a bunch of “rock biopics” getting put into production.

Ana de Armas was having a moment last year, when she really broke out in a big way thanks to her incredible performance in “Knives Out.” But at what point do we stop calling it a “moment” and call it what it really is—an ascension.

Simu Liu might not be a household name yet, but that’s going to change in 2021, when the world is introduced to the actor in the Marvel Studios film, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” However, in the meantime, his membership into the MCU brotherhood is good enough for him to take part in the highly-publicized fantasy football league hosted by the Russo Brothers.

Since they formed their own production company, AGBO, the Russo Brothers have not been shy about reteaming with their ‘Avengers’ cast. To date, AGBO has teamed with Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, and Tom Holland on films already.