Universal and Jordan Peele are reuniting for an untitled film that will be a follow-up to his hits Get Out and Us. Peele is attempting to cast Daniel Kaluuya in a lead role, who previously worked with the filmmaker on Get Out and actress KeKe Palmer is also attached to the project. Daniel has recently been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Judas & The Black Messiah.
After Jesse Plemons had to drop-out of talks to focus on Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller Killers of The Flower Moon, another sought-after actor is in talks for a role. According to Deadline, Minari’s Steven Yeun is in negotiations to join the Jordan Peele movie. Yeun is also in the Oscar race this year, however, is up for Best Actor thanks to the wonderful performance in Best Picture hopeful Minari.
You might remember that Jordan’s work on Get Out earned himself a Best Original Screenplay award for his fantastic script.
Universal has given the untitled Peele film a sweet summer release set for July 22, 2022.
Earlier in the week it was announced via a report from Deadline that Netflix was looking to finance and secure the next two Knives Out sequels from writer/director Rian Johnson. The untitled sequels will see Daniel Craig reprise the role of Southern crime novelist/detective Benoit Blanc. The character is a take on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mixed with Jessica Fletcher from the series Murder, She Wrote.
The streaming giant was said to be looking spend $400 million on the two films with Variety stating in their own write-up that the number is actually closer to $450 million. The number likely has to do with the original film earning an impressive $311.4 million at the international box office on a modest budget of $40 million, Netflix seeing the value in having the next two films being part of their originals lineup.
Knives Out originally was at MRC and distributed by Lionsgate, however, the companies didn’t make deals for potential sequels leaving the door open for Amazon, Apple, and Netflix to compete for the rights. Netflix seemingly landing them.
Filming on the second installment isn’t far away as Deadline says that production is set to begin this June 28, 2021 in Greece. The location moving out of the United States could allow for international cast and fans of the originally are dying to see what actors Johnson ends up hiring as there is expectations for another large cast.
The Benoit Blanc role could be a huge deal for Daniel Craig trying to get away from the shadow of the James Bond franchise as he’ll be exiting after the release of No Time To Die. It would be nice if Craig was able to have his character Benoit Blanc as notable to his career as Bond. The only way that is going to happen is if these next two films knock it out of the park.
KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.
It’s been a while since we’ve had any real concrete updates on multiple DC Comics films in development at Warner Bros. and it was revealed yesterday that the studio’s plans still include Green Lantern Corps. and Supergirl movies, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Other projects on the slate due out in 2022-23 include Warners’ and New Line’s Black Adam (July 29, 2022) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (June 2, 2023), as well as Warners’ Blue Beetle, Batgirl, Supergirl, Green Lantern Corps and Static Shock.
We really shouldn’t be too shocked that a new Supergirl movie is still being considered. The solo project has had screenwriter Oren Uziel working on a script and the studio has cast actress Sasha Calle as the character for their upcoming Flash movie that will introduce DC’s multiverse. All they’re missing is a director and a release date at this point.
However, there hasn’t been much movement on a Green Lantern Corps. film since the announcement of a live-action Green Lantern series heading to HBO Max. Geoff Johns, David Goyer, and Justin Rhodes had been previously tasked to write. A series could do heavy lifting to introduce a heap of Lanterns before a feature film and we’ve seen with Peacemaker and Gotham PD that the studio is open to linking the films to the HBO Max shows. It’s been established that the Green Lantern series will feature Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, Sinestro, and Kilowog.
Other films in the works include a Zatanna movie written by Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell and a Superman reboot from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, both will be produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.
Warner Bros. and DC Films have been developing a heap of feature films based on DC Comics characters along with a few spinoffs of existing projects set within the DCEU. There was a time when announcing projects felt like they’d never follow through with the volume of press releases.
Yesterday, it made huge waves when The Hollywood Reporter announced that Warner Bros. won’t be moving with Ava DuVernay’s New Gods movie she was writing with comic book writer Tom King, featuring the cosmic characters created by Jack Kirby. Some appeared in the Justice League (Granny Goodness & Darkseid) and were expected to play a bigger role in Zack Snyder’s never-made sequels.
It’s not the only project getting the boot.
Aquaman’s James Wan was working to develop a horror spinoff from his Aquaman film with Trench, a horror flick that was penned by Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald. Wan and Peter Safran (Black Adam, Shazam!) were producers on the project that was expected to have a much smaller budget than it’s superhero counterparts. It’s also not moving forward as well.
Wan is about to shoot Aquaman 2 and produced the Mortal Kombat reboot set to be released later this month. Ava is also working on a CW series Naomi and a DMZ series for HBO Max. So their working relationships with WarnerMedia don’t seem to be tarnished over this decision.
This what the studio had to say in a statement suggesting they might consider circling back in the future.
“As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward. We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”
Ava posted on Twitter her reaction to the news praising co-writer Tom King.
Tom, I loved writing NEW GODS with you. I’m upset that the saga of Barda, Scott, Granny, Highfather and The Furies ends this way. Diving into Kirby’s Fourth World was the adventure of a lifetime. That can’t be taken away. Thank you for your friendship. And remember… #DarkseidIspic.twitter.com/XyyIjcB8Wv
This news comes after WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff revealed to Variety last month they weren’t interested in restoring the Snyderverse and hoped to continue moving forward with new projects instead.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if the studio started announcing other things they won’t be making, officially. Projects like Steven Spielberg’s WWII flick Blackhawk I suspect will go the way of Sgt. Rock, Joker & Harley Quinn, Lobo, and the purposed Cyborg movie.
Marvel Studios recently moved the release date of Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings from July 9, 2021 to September 3, 2021 as they delayed Black Widow to that July spot.
There is now word of yet another casting addition to the Asian-led superhero flick. Actor Dallas Liu (Pen15) has reportedly joined the cast of Shang-Chi according to Deadline, however, the outlet doesn’t mention the character he’ll be playing.
Production wrapped last year with the filming primarily taking place at Fox Australia Studios in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They paused filming in early 2020 due to the pandemic but resumed last summer and was able to complete principal photography along with some brief exterior shots in San Francisco.
The film’s cast includes Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Awkwafina as Katy, Tony Leung as Wenwu aka The Mandarin, Michelle Yeoh, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist.
Shang-Chi aka Master of Kung-Fu, as his title would suggest is an expert in martial arts and eventually in the comics was given the super-human ability to make copies of himself, not unlike mutant character Multiple Man. It’s unclear if we’ll be seeing Shang-Chi’s more recent power-set or if that will come later.
While unconfirmed, there is a strong possibility the film will attempt to introduce/tease the Atlas Foundation (base of operations is underneath San Francisco), which could lead to the superhero team Agents of Atlas joining the MCU. A recent incarnation has Shang-Chi as a member and Randall Park’s FBI Agent Jimmy Woo has always had a leadership role on the roster.
We’ll continue to hope that we’ll get a Shang-Chi trailer in the very near future.
Westworld showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan are developing a series adaptation of William Gibson’s science fiction novel The Peripheral for Amazon. It was created by Scott B. Smith and will be showrun by Greg Plageman.
There is news of another casting addition to The Peripheral as Deadline reports that Irish actor Jack Reynor has taken a lead role of in the show. He’ll be playing Burton, the Marine brother of Chloe Grace Moretz’s Flynne.
The book centers on Flynne (Moretz) and her brother Burton (Reynor). In the novel, Burton, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps’ elite Haptic Recon force, is hired for a security job which takes place in what he thinks is cyberspace. When Flynne temporarily takes his place, she witnesses something that might have been murder.
Jack Reynor is likely best known from Transformers: Age of Extinction, Ben Wheatley’s action comedy Free Fire, and Ari Aster’s horror flick Midsommar.
If you’re not aware, author William Gibson is one of the fathers of the cyberpunk genre. His first novel, Neuromancer, was published in 1984 and became popular in the wake of the release of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. That film was based on the work of legendary science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, another famous author connected to the creation of cyberpunk. At one point, Gibson attempted to write a screenplay for an early incarnation of Alien 3 that never got made but was eventually turned into graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics.
Lisa Joy is making her feature film debut with the Hugh Jackman sci-fi thriller Reminiscence for Warner Bros. and Jonathan Nolan is an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter. Jonathan writing scripts for his brother, Christopher Nolan, those projects include The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar. The pair are producing via their production company Kilter Films which is also working on a series based on the post-Apocalypse video game franchise Fallout.
The Ronin has learned that director Jody Hill will be working on the HBO Max original series Peacemaker starring John Cena as the titular DC Comics character. The show is a direct spinoff of James Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad sequel.
As the original press release from WarnerMedia states, Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker but won’t be directing all them leading to the hiring of Jody Hill.
Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first.
Hill is best known for his collaborations with comedian Danny McBride. His credits include Eastbound & Down, Observe & Report, The Foot Fist Way, Vice Principles, The Legacy of A Deer Hunter, and The Righteous Gems.
UPDATE: James Gunn has now confirmed our original reporting via Twitter.
Judging by their previous work it’s hard to ignore that Jody and James share a similar sense of humor. I guess we’ll have to keep our fingers-crossed that Danny McBride appears on the show and Jody ends up pitching his own DC Comics series or film.
Production on Peacemaker is already underway in Vancouver.
It’s cast also consists of Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn, Lochlyn Munro as Larry Fitzgibbon, Annie Chang as Sophie Song, Christopher Heyerdahl as Captain Locke, Nhut Le as Judomaster, Steve Agee as John Economos, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, and Chris Conrad as Adrian Chase aka Vigilante.
The Suicide Squad is coming to HBO Max and theaters on August 6, 2021.
Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
Erin Kellyman is having quite the career thanks to Disney as the British actress has appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story as Enfys Nest, is currently seen playing Karli Morgenthau on Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and has a lead role in the Willow sequel series at Disney+ that is filming in Wales.
The young actress is doing some press for The Falcon & The Winter Soldier when she was asked by Screen Rant about the possibility of reprising the role of Enfys Nest in a future Star Wars project. In her response, admitting she hasn’t spoken to the studio about it but would be willing to play her again.
KELLYMAN: “I would love if that was the case. I haven’t heard anything, but I would love to play Enfys Nest again. If Disney came to me and said, ‘Will you play her again?’ I would 100% do it. She was such a fun character to play.”
While the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series takes place around the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story (follows Han Solo over multiple years), her other commitments to Willow would likely prevent her from appearing even if that was an option. However, depending when the upcoming Lando series is set within the Star Wars timeline, it could allow Kellyman to at least cameo as Nest down the road.
A much older version of the character could appear in The Mandalorian era shows on Disney+, but would likely mean they’d have to hire an older actress or keep Nest in the helmet.
We’ll have to wait and see if Lucasfilm ultimately has her return to the Star Wars universe.
The Ronin can confirm that HBO is indeed planning to shoot The Last of Us series in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Based on the popular video game from Naughty Dog it was recently announced the main leads will be played by Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
Filming is said to be taking place from early July and finish early June of 2022 (confirming info previously shared by Knight Edge Media).
It’s possible they could pause filming within that year to allow Pedro Pascal to leave to shoot for his Disney+ series The Mandalorian in California. When The Mandalorian Season 3 is actually filming hasn’t been confirmed but during the fall/winter would make a lot of sense as I wouldn’t recommend HBO film scenes for The Last of Us outside during an Alberta winter. There had been some confusion previously when the Season 3 shoot got mixed up with The Book of Boba Fett. Pedro’s busy schedule could explain why Obi-Wan Kenobi is set to begin filming next month in Los Angeles.
The Last of Us series is being developed by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.
Twenty years after a fungal infection obliterated most of the U.S. population and turned the victims into infected monstrosities, Joel is tasked with escorting Ellie to the Fireflies to help reverse engineer a cure. However, this isnt easy for either of them, since Joel has been left almost permanently bitter after the death of his daughter, and Ellie is distrusting of him.
Alberta would be sort of the perfect place for rugged and wild terrain for the show.
UPDATE: We’ve also learned that 20th Century Studios’ Predator 5 aka Skulls is said to be finishing pre-production tomorrow and likely will begin shooting sometime in April-May. Oddly enough, there hasn’t been any actual cast announcements concerning the film that is being directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) but they seem to be deep in the casting process.
Coming off a massive international debut of Godzilla vs Kong earning an impressive $123 million, director Adam Wingard is attached to direct another huge IP project.
Warner Bros. has spent ages trying to figure out how to turn the ThunderCats franchise into a movie and Deadline reports that Wingard will be developing a feature film with his writing partner Simon Barrett. They’ll rewrite a previous script from David Coggeshall and Adam is attached to direct the hybrid project a combination of CGI and animation.
The project had been developed by Rideback’s Dan Lin and Vertigo’s Roy Lee (they were producers on the Wingard-directed Death Note), with an early script by David Coggeshall. Wingard will rewrite a script with Simon Barrett, and will turn all this into a hybrid of CGI and animation.
Adam Wingard also spoke with Deadline about ThunderCats being his dream project and how he approached Warner Bros. about making it after they loved Godzilla vs Kong. It’s looking like a good move after the Monsterverse movie might end up being one of the highest grossing films of 2021 and the pandemic era.
WINGARD: “I’m in a place where Godzilla vs. Kong has gone well with Warner Bros. They love the movie, as we were wrapping it. I heard there was a ThunderCats script out there and it happened to be set up with some of my producers on Death Note. I asked them, I want to rewrite this script with my friend Simon Barrett. This is a huge passion thing for me. Nobody on this planet knows or has thought as much about ThunderCats as I have. They gave me the reins. I saw this as an opportunity to do a new type of fantasy sci-fi spectacle film that people have never seen before. It’s got a rich mythology; the characters are fantastic. The colors. I want to do a ThunderCats film that takes you back to that ‘80s aesthetic. I don’t want to reinvent the way they look; I want them to look like ThunderCats. I don’t want to do it live action, either. I don’t want it to look like Cats, I don’t want those kinds of issues — no disrespect to that director, whom I don’t mean to throw under the bus any more than everyone else has. I want to do a movie you’ve never seen before. A hybrid CGI film that has a hyper real look and somehow bridges the gap between cartoon and CGI. That’s the starting point, and Simon Barrett and I are getting into the script now.”
The filmmaker is about to launch the domestic release of Godzilla vs Kong this week and is attached to make a sequel to Face/Off.
THE RONIN 