Destin Daniel Cretton has taken on a Hawaii Five-O film, with Shang-Chi 2 and Spider-Man 5 waiting

Here we go again — another high-profile director is bouncing between big studio projects, and this time it’s Destin Daniel Cretton at the centre of the storm. Marvel fans are making a bit of a racket online after learning he’s just been brought on to direct a new Hawaii Five-O film for Paramount, with just about everyone wondering what this means for his already teetering stack of other blockbusters.

Who’s got him booked?

Let’s run through the man’s current workload, because frankly, it’s getting a bit crowded. Cretton has already got his mitts on a few top jobs — not just one Marvel sequel lurking in the wings, but possibly two.

• First, there’s Shang-Chi 2, which has been “in development” for so long it’s edging into mythological territory. Cretton is “attached”, but there’s no fixed date on when we’ll actually see this.
• Then you’ve got Spider-Man 5. Earlier this year, Cretton directed ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, with critics and box office alike calling it a smash hit. Sony is said to be very keen for him to come back for the next one.
• Add in his attachment to the live-action Naruto movie, and you start to see why fans are a bit twitchy.
• Now, Paramount has handed him the keys to a Hawaii Five-O feature. This’ll see Cretton not just directing, but developing the adaptation, with Chris Bremner writing and Noah Oppenheim producing.

Destin Daniel Cretton is now developing and directing a new Hawaii Five-O film for Paramount, while still attached to Shang-Chi 2 and a potential Spider-Man 5.

Backlash from Marvel fans

The reaction online has veered from eye-rolling to outright panic. Plenty are drawing up jokes and memes about Cretton’s growing list of commitments, not to mention questioning whether he’ll ever have time to deliver all these sequels. Here’s the social media mood in a nutshell:

• A fair few on X (the PR-perfect name for what used to be Twitter) chimed in about “Shang-Chi 2, Spider-Man, Naruto & now this? Can’t deliver in 3 years, I guess.”
• Others reckon Spider-Man fans are in for a long slog, sharing mocked-up “new release dates” for Spidey 5 pushed out to the next decade.
• Some just want the police procedural binned so Cretton can get back on Marvel duty: “Cancel the movie so Destin can do Shang-Chi 2 and Spider-Man 5.”

Point being: even if Cretton’s got the chops — and after ‘Brand New Day’, he’s Sony and Marvel’s go-to — burning the candle at both ends doesn’t always mean you get more light. He’s juggling a studio wishlist that could make anyone’s schedule fall apart.