Filming On ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Officially Moves From New Zealand To UK: Production On Season 2 Begins In 2022

Filming on Season 2 of Amazon’s Lord of The Rings series has officially moving from New Zealand to United Kingdom. Amazon Studios claims that it’s part of their commitment to expand their footprint in the United Kingdom, but failed to mention what facility they’ll be using as the homestead stage location.

Below is the official press release:

Amazon Studios announced today that its untitled The Lord of the Rings original series will film Season Two in the United Kingdom (U.K.). The shift from New Zealand to the U.K. aligns with the studio’s strategy of expanding its production footprint and investing in studio space across the U.K., with many of Amazon Studios’ tentpole series and films already calling the U.K. home.

The highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings series recently wrapped principal photography on Season One in New Zealand and is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries around the world on Friday, September 2, 2022.

Season One post production will continue in New Zealand through June 2022, and pre-production on Season Two will begin concurrently in the U.K. after the first of the year.

This should be hugely disappointing to fans hoping that Amazon would keep the series in New Zealand for all five seasons.

The new epic drama brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Beginning in a time of relative peace, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

The series is led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Wayne Che Yip is co-executive producer and directs along with J.A. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström. Christopher Newman is a producer and Ron Ames is a co-producer.

SOURCE: AMAZON

Robert Rodriguez Signs First-Look Deal With HBO & HBO Max: Will He Tackle DC Comics Projects?

WarnerMedia has announced via The Hollywood Reporter that they’ve striked a two year first-look deal with Robert Rodriguez and his Austin-based Troublemaker Studios. He’ll specifically develop various film and television projects for HBO/HBO Max.

The filmmaker had this to say about the deal:

“It’s intriguing to be able to tap into the wealth of iconic IP available across the WarnerMedia portfolio and explore new stories to tell. I’m looking forward to a meaningful collaboration with the high caliber creative talent at HBO and HBO Max who have proven they’re willing to take risks, challenge norms and tell inclusive stories while producing a wide breadth of quality content.”

We previously saw J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot’s deal with WarnerMedia leading to them tackle a wave of DC Comics projects such as Justice League Dark, Constintine, Madame X, and producing a new Superman film.

It wouldn’t be shocking to see Rodriguez/Troublemaker Studios attempt to adapt various comic book projects given their experience with existing material. They were behind films such as Predators, Sin City, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, and Alita: Battle Angel. Robert was once approached by Ryan Reynolds and 20th Century Fox to direct the first installment of Deadpool, but declined.

Most recently Robert Rodriguez was working with Lucasfilm on Star Wars shows such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

There are plenty DC Comics projects Rodriguez could end up bringing to life such as various movies that had been gestating at Warner Bros. for ages such as Lobo (Guy Ritchie formerly attached to direct), Sgt. Rock (Quentin Tarantino was offered it), and Deathstroke (The Raid’s Gareth Evans was developing at one point).

Hopefully, this is a sign that James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is giving WarnerMedia the impression they can continue to keep making mature projects based on their IP.

Like Gunn, Rodriguez has a unique style and vision that clearly is imprinted on his inventive/energetic R-rated action projects such as Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Planet Terror, Machete, and Machete Kills. Applying that to the DCEU could only make for exciting and entertaining adaptations.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Tom Hardy Planning ‘Venom 3’ & ‘Morbius’ Director Daniel Espinosa Spoils Eddie Brock Cameo

Tom Hardy is returning to the Eddie Brock role in Venom: Let There be Carnage, which he’ll earn a “story by” credit and is sounds like he’s already preparing for the potential of a third film. Hardy recently did a lengthy interview with Esquire and brought-up that he’s already in early planning stages for a Venom 3, but wasn’t ready to stay that it was sure bet as Sony Pictures still hasn’t greenlit it.

“I’m thinking about the third movie as well, because I think you need to write that at the same time. A third won’t be greenlit until the second is successful, but the studio were really, really pleased with number two.”

The British actor was also hopeful for crossovers and it looks like Morbius might be where that first happens.

Swedish outlet Movie Zine (via The Direct) recently spoke with Morbius director Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash, Safe House, Life) about the upcoming Spider-Man spinoff and seemingly spilled the beans about Tom Hardy’s cameo as Eddie Brock/Venom in the movie.

“It usually feels strange before the day begins, when you look at the schedule and stand on the set yourself. When you walk around there, the recording looks just like a Swedish production, but then when you look at the schedule and read names like Michael Keaton, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy, then it feels cool and very exciting.”

However, there have been statements from both Sony Pictures and Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis (See below) that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man won’t be involved in the Venom sequel, despite that Michael Keaton’s Vulture is expected to show up in Morbius (as seen in the trailer).

“Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”

Multiple projects are in the works at Sony Pictures with J.C. Chandor’s (Triple Frontier) Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and director Olivia Wilde’s (Booksmart, Don’t Worry Darling) untitled film (expected to be Spider-Woman) to be the next projects to go into production.

MORBIUS – One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar-winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero, Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed and transforms this healer into a hunter.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

SOURCE: ESQUIRE & MOVIE ZINE

Marvel Studios Promotes Brad Winderbaum To Head Of Streaming, Television & Animation: Multiple New Animated Series In Development

Big news was made yesterday when longtime producer Brad Winderbaum was promoted at Marvel Studios.

Winderbaum’s new role at the studio, according to The Hollywood Reporter, will be head of streaming, television, and animation. Essentially, overseeing all the work at Disney+ and other platforms that will be developing animation/television projects using their huge lineup of characters.

Kevin Feige will still keep his role of Marvel Studios head and chief creative officer at Marvel. This just allows someone else to do a lot of the day-to-day business on the television side of things and we have to assume that Winderbaum’s role will be similar to what Jeph Loeb did before Marvel Television was dissolved (rebranded as Marvel TV Studios after Loeb’s exit).

Variety also spoke to Winderbaum, who indicated multiple animated series were on the way and are in “various stages of development” at Disney+, although, no new titles were mentioned. He also indicated that Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige will continue to be closely involved with future projects.

“All of our animation ambitions are going to still be under Marvel Studios, which means they’re going to be produced by Kevin Feige and they’re going to be born of the same stuff that makes the rest of our content.”

Winderbaum also commented on the idea of working with Pixar and Disney Animation at some point, however, isn’t indicating that is something that is actively happening.

“It’s something that we’d be open to under the right circumstances. It all depends on the project.”

We already know that Captain Carter is returning for multiple seasons of What If…? and there had been previous reporting at HN Entertainment that a Power Pack animated series was heading to the streaming service.

Marvel Studios is expected to make a big announcement about their upcoming lineup in the near future and may include a heap of streaming projects alongside new movies.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER & VARIETY

Taika Waititi Says He’s Still Keen On Making The ‘Akira’ Movie; “I Don’t Wanna Give Up On That”

Warner Bros. has been trying to make a live-action feature film version of the beloved cyberpunk/body horror anime and manga Akira and their development goes back almost twenty years starting with Stephen Norrington (Blade) in 2002.

Multiple directors had tried to bring the project to the big screen only for things dissolve and the next set of creatives being hired.

The most recent incarnation had Oscar-winner Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) attempting to adapt for the studio, but seemingly hit a brick wall when trying to make sure he was able to cast a string of young Asian kids for the roles. Warner Bros. had been trying to whitewash the project for ages and even relocate the extremely Japanese story to Manhattan.

There had been an assumption that Taika Waititi had moved to bigger and brighter things with an original Star Wars movie on the horizon and his Flash Gordon movie at 20th Century Fox being upgraded from animation to live-action.

While promoting his acting performance in Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy, he spoke to Wired giving the impression he’s still involved with Akira and hasn’t entirely walked away from it.

 “I’m still trying [to make it]. I don’t wanna give up on that.”

Given his busy schedule and admitting his focus is now on his Star Wars project, it’s unlikely he’ll pivot to Akira anytime soon.

The last big anime adaptation was DreamWorks’ box office flop Ghost In The Shell, hopefully, Warner Bros. learns their lesson from that disaster.

If you’re interested in the development of Akira, you can read a feature I wrote for IGN covering the history of live-action adaptation and it includes a heap of concept artwork from various incarnations.

AKIRA – In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after the nuking of the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo’s supernatural powers suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment’s secrets.

SOURCE: WIRED

‘Ahsoka’: Lucasfilm Reportedly Seeking Actress To Play Sabine Wren In ‘Star Wars’ Series

Last year, we saw a bit of a fake-out with previous rumors stating that Star Wars: Rebels character Sabine Wren would be appearing in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, only for that character seen in trailers to be someone else completely. But, we did see live-action versions of Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan giving fans the idea that surviving members of Star Wars: Rebels would be making the jump to live-action for Disney+ shows.

In December, it was announced by Lucasfilm that Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka would be getting her own solo series on Disney+ with an unannounced release date.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Couch is now stating from sources that the studio is looking to cast an actress to play Sabine Wren for the Ahsoka series.

For now, What If …? is focusing on characters who have already appeared in live-action. But animation history has noteworthy examples of popular characters who appeared in animation first before making it big in live-action. Harley Quinn debuted in the 1990s Batman animated series decades before debuting in Suicide Squad, while Ahsoka Tano, the fan-favorite Jedi, appeared in animation in 2008 before Rosario Dawson made the jump to live action in The Mandalorian season two. Now, Dawson is leading a live-action Ahsoka spinoff for Disney+, with sources saying Lucasfilm is looking for an actress to star opposite Dawson as Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren.

This could line-up with other character rumors for the show and might explain why Sabine didn’t show up in The Mandalorian, as she was being saved for Ahsoka Tano’s solo series.

The Ronin is hearing that it’s possible that Ahsoka might end up shooting in the United Kingdom rather than California, but we’ll have to wait for further confirmation of that before saying that is a “sure thing.” It’s worth nothing that both The Mandalorian Season 3 and Obi-Wan Kenobi are currently using the Californian facilities over the summer.

Lucasfilm is notoriously hush-hush when it comes to casting on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. They might be just as secretive with Ahsoka. Then again, with Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi they were willing to share names on the call-sheet.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘What If…?’ Director & Head Writer Want Hayley Atwell To Land A Live-Action ‘Captain Carter’ Film Franchise

Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter was first introduced back in Captain America: The First Avenger and is a character that keeps chugging along, despite her death in Captain America: Civil War. Appearing in Avengers: Endgame and will have a reoccurring role in the animated series What…If? in subsequent seasons.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, What…If? head writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews are now supporting the idea of Atwell getting her own live-action films as Captain Carter. Hopefully, they’ve extended this desire to Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel.

“I know A.C. and I feel totally the same in this, and while we don’t know if this is necessarily going to happen, it would be amazing if they would just do a Captain Carter movie. Just get Hayley Atwell in the suit, give her her own franchise and just have her blow doors like hells to the yeah.”

The Ronin echoed our own desire last week about Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter leading her own team, a Multiverse version of The Invaders, for a live-action project.

To be fair, this ultimately might not happen as James Gunn has had some issues trying to get a Ravagers and Drax/Mantis series going at Marvel Studios in the past. So, it’s possible unless Captain Carter is a big part of the studio’s future plans we might not see her outside of animation leading her own adventures.

We can hope that Atwell gets more projects thanks to The Multiverse allowing Peggy Carter to return for things other than a third season of Agent Carter, which is the least likely thing to happen as Marvel Studios has indicated all Marvel Television projects fall outside of the main MCU canon.

There are already unconfirmed rumors Captain Carter might be appearing in upcoming films. However, her lengthy production shoot on Mission: Impossible 7 (spanning a year and a half) and eventually shoot for Mission: Impossible 8 might be a problem with her showing up in a significant way.

I guess we’ll have to be patient and see if Marvel ultimately uses Captain Carter on the live-action side of things.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘Dead For A Dollar’: Rachel Brosnahan Joins Willem Dafoe & Christoph Waltz In Walter Hill’s Western

Walter Hill (48 Hours, The Warriors) is tackling a new western thriller Dead For A Dollar that stars two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) and Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe (The Grand Budapest Hotel,

Dead For A Dollar follows a famed bounty hunter (Waltz) who runs into his sworn enemy, a professional gambler and outlaw that he had sent to prison years before (Dafoe), while on a mission to find and return the wife of a successful businessman who is being held hostage in Mexico.

Deadline is reporting that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actress Rachel Brosnahan has taken the role of the wife being held in Mexico.

It’ll be interesting to see how mature the project will be as Walter Hill is known for his grounded action pics.

We’re hearing that filming is expected to take place New Mexico.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

UPDATE: Samuel L. Jackson Teasing Nick Fury’s Reunion With Carol Danvers From The Makeup Trailer?

The pairing of Nick Fury and Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel was an interesting one, as we got a glimpse of an early and fun incarnation of Fury before he became super stoic. We sadly didn’t get to see a reunion of those two characters in Avengers: Endgame, but there are good signs we’ll be seeing that in upcoming projects that will feature them.

Earlier this week, Brie Larson teased to SiriusXM Stars that she’s already shooting Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, talking up the massive sets (hinting to off-world locations) and comparing them to her own Disneyland.

Now, Samuel L. Jackson is posting set photos of him getting ready to play Nick Fury from the makeup trailer. Interestingly enough, he’s wearing a t-shirt with his Captain Marvel cosmic beeper and his hand turning to dust after being snapped by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

Could this be a tease to Nick Fury and Danvers finally getting that reunion in either The Marvels or Secret Invasion?

UPDATE: Yesterday, I posted on Twitter that Secret Invasion might not begin shooting until next month and today Jackson has confirmed he’s indeed working on The Marvels.

The two productions are both shooting in direct proximity of each other in the London area and we’ve been mentioning cross-pollination of those two casts for months now. This seems just like another tease towards S.W.O.R.D. becoming a connective thread between the two projects, possibly alongside the Skrulls element.

We last saw the real version of Fury on some space base being constructed off-world by the Skrulls as Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) was pretending to be Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home. At the end of WandaVision, Monica Rambeau (lead character of The Marvels) was approached by a Skrull to seemingly bring her to this base (The Peak?).

It’s still unconfirmed who cast members such as Zawe Ashton, Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and others will be playing in the MCU projects. However, Marvel Studios could reveal their characters at some lineup presentation before the end of the year.

Both The Marvels and Secret Invasion are expected to debut respectively in late 2022.

SOURCE: SAMUEL L. JACKSON

Wes Anderson Enlists Margot Robbie For A Supporting Role In His Next Movie

Wes Anderson is assembling quite the cast for his next feature film.

The untitled movie already has Wes Anderson regulars Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), and Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) among the cast.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Oscar-nominee Margot Robbie is set to take a supporting role as well. Robbie was recently seen in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad with more awards caliber credits such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Bombshell, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and sports drama I,Tonya.

He’ll also work with two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, who is reportedly taking a cameo role in the pic.

Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.

A release timeline hasn’t been given but it’s assumed that the movie will land at Searchlight Pictures with a potential festival run in 2022 if the film is completed in time.

His latest movie, The French Dispatch, will be released by Searchlight Pictures on October 22.

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER