Captain Marvel Duo to Write and Direct New Movie from Blue Beetle Producers

After going higher, further, faster to 1995 California in Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have signed on to write and direct a drama set in '87 Oakland for Entertainment One. The Mississippi Grind and Mrs. America directing duo will next helm Freaky Tales, produced by eOne (Snake Eyes, the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and DC's Blue Beetle) and Macro (Sorry to Bother You, Judas and the Black Messiah, the upcoming They Cloned Tyrone). Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.

According to Deadline, Freaky Tales is "composed of four interconnected stories set in 1987 Oakland, CA. The movie is a love letter to the music, movies, sports, politics, people, places and memories — some true, some invented — that Fleck grew up with in the '80s. On the surface, each story appears to exist in a world familiar to our own, but the Oakland of Freaky Tales hovers just beyond our knowable universe. Sure you can reach out and touch it, but it's going to be very sticky." 

Jelani Johnson (Cleopatra Jones) and Poppy Hanks (Fences, Sorry to Bother You) are producing for Macro. Along with Boden and Fleck, executive producers include James Lopez (Girls Trip, Young.Wild.Free) and Charles D. King (The Land, Judas and the Black Messiah). Oakland hip-hop legend and "Blow the Whistle" rapper Todd Shaw, a.k.a. Too $hort, also serves as executive producer with his manager David Weintraub. 

Boden and Fleck's script is reportedly built around Shaw's music, which was synonymous with '80s Oakland, making it important that Shaw be part of the movie, according to Deadline.  

Fresh off their Emmy-nominated drama Mrs. America for FX/Hulu, Boden and Fleck are also directors on Masters of the Air, a World War II mini-series from Band of Brothers and The Pacific executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. In 2019, the directors released the Brie Larson-starring Captain Marvel for Disney's Marvel Studios, which grossed $1.1 billion worldwide. 

Boden and Fleck did not return for the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels, which reunites Larson and co-star Samuel L. Jackson under director Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, Candyman). The ensemble, which also stars Teyonah Parris (WandaVision), Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), and MCU newcomer Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat, Velvet Buzzsaw), releases in theaters on July 28, 2023.