The WGA strike has now been going for a week and there aren’t any signs that it will be ending anytime soon. While that’s likely to have some very significant repercussions in the entertainment world in the long term if things don’t change, the short-term outlook is still ok, as several major productions are still moving toward filing, including two upcoming Marvel movies Thunderbolts and Deadpool 3.
Some Marvel movies, like Blade, are being put on the back burner, because that movie doesn’t have a finished script, and thus it won’t have one until the strike is resolved. Conversely, THR reports that Deadpool 3 is looking to start filming later this month. Reynolds and Jackman have been hitting the gym hard to get ready. Meanwhile, Thunderbolts, with new star Harrison Ford, is set to start going in front of cameras in June, and that’s still the case despite the writer’s strike.
While both movies may have finished scripts, that of course doesn’t mean that the writers' work would normally be completely done at this stage. Many films, including many major blockbusters, tend to see significant rewrites while shooting. If these movies go forward while the strike is still happening, that means that either there will be zero rewrites, or more likely, those rewrites will be done by somebody who is not part of the union, like a director or even the actor themselves, though it seems unlikely Marvel would want to do that.
There’s also the possibility that there’s a feeling, or at least a hope, that by the time filming actually begins, the strike will have been dealt with. That’s certainly possible, though it’s certainly more likely for Thunderbolts that’s a little further out. One assumes that once there is agreement in principle between the writers and the studios work will resume quickly, so even if it happens days before Deadpool 3 begins shooting, that work will likely happen as planned.
Clearly Marvel is hoping to avoid delaying releases for these major films expected to bring in big money, The longer the strike goes the more likely that will be. Even if Deadpool 3 and Thunderbolts are able to complete production without having a writer available, at some point you get to movies like Blade that don’t have completed scripts and can’t go anywhere until that work is done.
Hopefully this will all get resolved because shooting without a writer is a pretty worst-case scenario for these MCU movies. If it’s realized that the shooting script could be improved, but the films simply don’t because they can’t, they’re going to make movies they know are not as good as they can be, and that would certainly be unfortunate.
