Draft:El Muerto (upcoming film)

El Muerto is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is intended to be part of the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The film will be directed by Jonás Cuarón and written by Garreth Dunnet-Alcocer.

Sony and Bad Bunny began looking for a superhero project to work together on after the singer impressed executives with his performance in Bullet Train (2022). They settled on the minor character El Muerto, and announced the film in April 2022. Cuarón and Dunnet-Alcocer joined to respectively direct and write the film that October. Bad Bunny was no longer involved by July 2023.

Cast

 * Juan-Carlos Sanchez / El Muerto: a wrestler with superhuman strength

Development
After Sony Pictures executives were impressed by the performance of singer Bad Bunny in their film Bullet Train (2022) they became interested in having him star in another high-profile film. A similar approach had led to another Bullet Train actor, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, becoming the star of the superhero film Kraven the Hunter (2024) as part of their shared universe based on Spider-Man-related Marvel Comics characters, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). After meetings between Bad Bunny and Sony executives in early 2022 to determine what such a film could be, he "took matters into his own hands" and searched through Sony's library of Marvel characters looking for a Latino hero that he could portray. He settled on the minor character El Muerto, a wrestler who has superhuman strength; the character only appeared in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man issues #6–7 in 2006. He felt this character was perfect for him to play since he used to be a professional wrestler. Sony looked to move quickly on the project to fit around Bad Bunny's busy touring and acting schedule, giving it a release date of January 12, 2024. Bad Bunny made a "surprise appearance" at Sony's CinemaCon panel in April 2022 to announce the film. In October, Jonás Cuarón was hired to direct the film while Garreth Dunnet-Alcocer was writing the script, after previously writing the DC Comics-based film Blue Beetle (2023).

Bad Bunny said in March 2023 that the film had yet to enter production, with his publicist confirming that it was "at a standstill" but still "in development". The script was reportedly completed before the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike began in May, although there was not adequate time for additional work on the script to be done before the writers' strike. Casting was ready to begin at that time, and Sony was eyeing professional wrestler Sasha Banks for an undisclosed role and Marvin Jones III for the role of Tombstone; Jones previously voiced the character in Sony's animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). The following month, Sony scheduled release dates for unspecified Marvel films on November 8, 2024, and June 27, 2025, with one of these dates potentially being for El Muerto. Shortly after, the film was officially taken off of Sony's release schedule, though it remained in development. Bad Bunny's increasingly tight touring schedule during the film's slow development, along with the writers' strike, made finalizing a release date "complicated", with The Hollywood Reporter stating it was unclear how long Bad Bunny could remain attached and what the film's fate would be. Bad Bunny said in July 2023 that the situation surrounding his involvement in the film was "delicate", while his publicist confirmed he was no longer involved. The film re-entered development by January 2024 after further revisions to the script, with Sony intending for it to be a standalone film similar to their other SSU films.

Release
El Muerto does not have a release date. It was originally scheduled to be released on January 12, 2024, before it was taken off of Sony's release schedule in June 2023.