A Marvel movie may be shooting this summer in Utah — but it’s a secret.
The Utah Film Commission announced Thursday that the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity Board approved state film incentives to three new productions. The productions range from a low-budget Christmas romance TV movie to an untitled $40 million TV series for Paramount.
It’s the production in the middle that’s the mystery.
The production has the working title “Oops All Berries,” and is planning to shoot this summer in Emery and Grand counties, spending $4,560,961 in the state, according to a news release from the film commission.
The release quotes Brian Chapek, identified as the film’s executive producer.
“In creating a more grounded, globe-trotting film, it was important that we place our characters in as many practical locations as possible,” Chapek said. “With that directive in mind, we needed a location somewhere in the United States to serve as the setting for one of our film’s most important sequences.
“We looked at many options and found that Utah featured such a unique and impressive geography that we hadn’t seen before in a movie. The Utah locations we scouted felt untouched by the larger world, which made us very excited to shoot there.”
According to the Internet Movie Database, Chapek has worked on several movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is credited as an executive producer on 2022′s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” as a producer on 2021′s “Black Widow,” and as an associate producer on 2017′s “Thor: Ragnarok.”
His current project, as listed in the IMDb, is “Thunderbolts,” a Marvel movie due to be released on July 26, 2024.
A Utah Film Commission spokesperson declined to comment about the project, and would not confirm whether “Oops All Berries” is actually “Thunderbolts.” A request for comment from Marvel Studios did not get an immediate response Thursday.
The movie website Cosmic Circus reported last December that “Thunderbolts” was shooting under the working title “Oops All Berries,” referencing an offshoot of Cap’n Crunch breakfast cereal that has all berry-flavored pieces and no Cap’n Crunch pieces.
“Thunderbolts” apparently is all villains and no superheroes — and has been compared to DC’s “Suicide Squad” movies.
According to the IMDb, the cast includes: Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Olga Kurylenko, who all appeared in “Black Widow”; Sebastian Stan, who has played Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, in several movies and one TV series; Hannah John-Kamen, who portrayed Ghost in “Ant-Man and The Wasp”; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has played the mysterious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The movie is also slated to feature Harrison Ford as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, the character played in past Marvel films by William Hurt, who died in March 2022.
Any Hollywood movie production this summer may be delayed, though, because of the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America — and the potential of a strike by SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union.
The three projects, put together, will generate an estimated economic impact of $45 million and 1,700 new jobs, the film commission said. The other two projects are:
• An untitled Paramount TV series, set to be shot at the Utah Film Studios near Park City — the same studios where the first three seasons of Paramount’s hit series “Yellowstone” were filmed. Gary Crandall, the studios’ owner, said in a statement that “we are thrilled that Paramount is returning to Utah and will be providing a cash infusion into rural communities with this new project.”
• A holiday romance, “Destined at Christmas 2,” a sequel to the 2022 film — about two singles who meet during Black Friday shopping and try to reconnect — that premiered on the Great American Family channel.
The movie is being shot now in Utah County, and is being written, directed and produced by local filmmaker Brittany Wiscombe. Brian Brough, producer at Orem-based Silver Peak Productions (and the director’s brother), said that “by filming in Utah, we’re able to find the hardworking crew, talented actors and beautiful locations to bring our movie to life.” (Brough directed, and Wiscombe wrote, the 2016 Utah-made drama “Singing With Angels,” which followed the personal struggles of a woman who sang in what’s now the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.)
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