Sam Raimi is the latest big name director potentially making the jump to the MCU. The Spider-Man and Evil Dead filmmaker is reportedly in talks with Marvel to direct Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
If he signs on, Raimi will replace Scott Derrickson, who helmed the first film but stepped away from this sequel in January over the dreaded “creative differences”. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to reprise his role as the title character, while the film will also feature Elizabeth Olsen‘s Scarlet Witch.
Usually when a studio searches for a replacement director they end up with someone a little bland. Not in this case. Raimi would be a fascinating choice and it would be great to see what his creative mind could do with Doctor Strange. His hiring also might lend credence to the rumours that Madness may lean into the horror genre, although that is something Kevin Feige has downplayed:
“When I was a kid in the 80s, Spielberg did an amazing job. I mean, there are horrifying sequences in Raiders […] Or Temple Of Doom, of course, or Gremlins, or Poltergeist. These are the movies that invented the PG-13 rating, by the way”.
So maybe the next Doctor Strange film won’t be Evil Dead-esque, but there should be plenty of things Raimi can work with. He hasn’t directed a film since 2013’s Oz The Great And Powerful, so he’s probably champing at the bit to get back in the director’s chair.
Hopefully Feige lets him run free – or free by Marvel’s standards – and lets his creative juices flow the way Ryan Coogler and James Gunn were allowed to on Black Panther and Guardians Of The Galaxy, respectively.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is already scheduled to hit cinemas on May 7, 2021.
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