New ‘Dexter’ Sequel Starring Michael C. Hall Announced at Comic-Con 

Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
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New ‘Dexter’ Sequel Starring Michael C. Hall Announced at Comic-Con 

Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)

The “Dexter” universe is expanding, with everyone’s favorite serial killer coming back from the dead.

At San Diego Comic-Con, the “Dexter” team, led by showrunner Clyde Phillips, announced that audiences would see more of the character in “Dexter: Resurrection,” a new sequel series from Showtime. It will pick up where fellow franchise sequel “Dexter: New Blood” left off with its main character dead, prompting many fans to believe any future sequels would be impossible.

Michael C. Hall, who started playing the titular character in 2006, will reprise his role. He made a surprise appearance at the Comic-Con panel, shocking fans even before they heard the news of the new series. Phillips didn’t disclose too many details, but somehow, the “Resurrection” will revive its lead.

The announcement came during the promotion of “Dexter: Original Sin,” a prequel series that explores the character as a younger man, played by Patrick Gibson.

“This weekend there were a lot of surprises,” Gibson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They set up the characters in season one to have such rich inner life and so much complexity that even with eight seasons, there’s so much more to explore.”

At the panel, the creatives behind the franchise also announced that Hall is the narrator of the “Original Sin” series, where he will divulge the inner thoughts of young Dexter. The prequel series is set to release in December 2024 and “Dexter: Resurrection” will start filming in January for a summer 2025 release.

Fans at the packed venue Friday exploded with cheers when the panel made the surprise announcement.

“Original Sin” also stars Christian Slater, who said he was “obsessed” with the original series and was looking forward to exploring more of the story that the previous series didn’t get to examine.

“To see Dexter becoming Dexter — it’s really cool to see how Clyde Phillips has handled that and the writing is just so good and so rich, it’s fun to do,” Slater told The Associated Press.

“Dexter” premiered in 2006 and ran for eight seasons, earning Hall five drama actor Emmy nominations. It quickly became one of Showtime’s most successful series and gained a cult-like following.



‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Smashes R-rated Record with $205 Million Debut

FILE PHOTO: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of 'Deadpool and Wolverine' in New York City, New York, US, July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of 'Deadpool and Wolverine' in New York City, New York, US, July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo
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‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Smashes R-rated Record with $205 Million Debut

FILE PHOTO: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of 'Deadpool and Wolverine' in New York City, New York, US, July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of 'Deadpool and Wolverine' in New York City, New York, US, July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo

Marvel is back on top with “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The comic-book movie made a staggering $205 million in its first weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It shattered the opening record for R-rated films previously held by the first “Deadpool” ($132 million) and notched a spot in the top 10 openings of all time.
Including international showings, where it’s racked up an addition $233.3 million from 52 markets, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is looking at a global opening of over $438.3 million, The Associated Press reported.
Fittingly for both characters’ introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Deadpool & Wolverine” played less like earlier X-Men or Deadpool movies and more like an Avengers pic. In the top domestic opening weekends ever, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is seated in 8th place between “The Avengers” ($207.4 million) and “Black Panther" ($202 million), bumping “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($191.3 million) out of the top 10.
It’s by far biggest opening of the year, unseating Disney’s “ Inside Out 2 ” ($154.2 million) and the most tickets a movie has sold in its debut weekend since “Barbie” ($162 million) stormed theaters last July. Playing in 4,210 locations, “Deadpool & Wolverine” also surpassed 2019’s “The Lion King” ($191.8 million) to become the biggest July opening ever, and is the 34th consecutive MCU movie to debut in first place. And these are numbers previously thought impossible for an R-rated film.
The Walt Disney Studios release arrived at a pivotal time for an industry grappling with box office returns that continue to run at a double-digit deficit from last year. The success is also an important moment for Marvel Studios, which has had several high-profile disappointments lately; Most notably in “ The Marvels ” which opened to an MCU low of $47 million last November.
Superheroes have been struggling even more elsewhere: Sony, which reached a high point with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.9 billion worldwide) had a new low with “Madame Web,” which barely crossed $100 million. Warner Bros. Discovery, after a string of disappointments with “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle,” is currently working on restarting their DC universe under the supervision of James Gunn.
Marvel's savior came in the form of two characters who got their start outside of the MCU, and carried a Motion Picture Association rating that seemed to have an earnings cap.
Both Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, existed previously under the 21st Century Fox banner which for two decades had the rights to Marvel characters like the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four.” That changed when Disney acquired the studio’s film and TV assets in early 2019 and plans started to take shape of how all these characters would fit into Kevin Feige’s MCU. In some cases, as with “Fantastic Four,” Marvel Studios is starting fresh. With “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the stars were as crucial as their characters.
Going into the weekend, $200 million domestic seemed like a pipe dream. Analysts were more conservative with predictions in the $160 million range. But from the start of the 3 p.m. Thursday preview screenings it was clear that “Deadpool & Wolverine” was more powerful. By the end of Friday, it had already made $96 million and received a coveted A CinemaScore from audiences. Critics, too, have been mostly positive. Premium screens, including IMAX and other large formats, accounted for 18% of the total box office.
The top domestic opening of all time still firmly belongs to “Avengers: Endgame” with $357.1 million. It’s followed by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($260.1 million), “Avengers: Infinity War” ($257.6 million), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($247.9 million) and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($220 million).
Second place went to Universal's “Twisters,” now in its second weekend with $35.3 million. The standalone sequel to “Twister” has now earned $154.9 million in North America. Universal also claimed third place with “Despicable Me 4,” which added $14.2 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly $291 million.
“Inside Out 2” landed in fourth place with $8.3 million. The Disney and Pixar release this week became the biggest animated release ever with $613.4 million domestically (surpassing “Incredibles 2”) and $1.5 billion globally. It also passed “Top Gun: Maverick” to become the 12th highest-earning global release of all time.
It all adds up to one of the top 10 domestic grossing weekends of all time, with around $280 million, according to Comscore. That puts it ahead of this weekend last year, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” helped propel the box office to over $216.9 million in their second weekends.