Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Train To Busan’ Remake Director Timo Tjahjanto Co-Wrote Secret Genre Movie With ‘Doctor Strange’s Scott Derrickson

Director Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes For Us) has announced on social media that he co-written a passion project of his with Doctor Strange screenwriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. Tjahjanto is attached to direct an English remake of the hit South Korean horror flick Train To Busan for producer James Wan and New Line Cinema.

He also confirmed that the Train To Busan remake will be made first.

“After nearly seven years of trying to get this passion project running. It had finally gained some amazingly “strange” traction. Humbled and honored to be working with two of these very talented filmmakers and writers. This one will happen after a train ride, and when it does…[multiple skull emojis],” Timo Tjahjanto stated in a post on Instagram alongside a brief synopsis of the project teasing a possible dystopian sci-fi angle.

The year is 20**, society is screwed. Crime and violence have risen steadily in all remaining regions of planet Earth. Most of Asia has been unified.

Scott Derrickson has been busy since exiting Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness over creative differences with Marvel Studios. He’s attached to direct an adaptation of Joe Hill’s The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke and is also making a sequel to Jim Henson’s beloved fantasy film Labyrinth.

TRAIN TO BUSAN – Life-or-death survival in train bound to Busan. A divorced man, Seok-woo is always caught up at work, leaving him no time to spare with his daughter Su-an. He offers to take her on the train to see her mother in Busan. As the train departs, an abnormal virus spreads from a girl who is infected, and people start to transform to zombies. Will Seok-woo and Su-an make it out alive? TRAIN TO BUSAN is director YEON Sang-ho’s debut feature film, who is loved by Cannes with his edgy animation.

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HBO’s ‘Last Of Us’ Series Adds ‘Mindhunter’ Actress Anna Torv

The Last of Us series from HBO has seemingly started shooting in Calgary this month and Variety reports that Australian actress Anna Torv has landed the role of Tess, a smuggler and hardened survivor. The rest of the cast consists of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as well as cast members Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandrige, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlet, Con O’Neill, and Jeffery Pierce.

Torv is likely best known for her work on shows such as Fringe and David Fincher’s Mindhunter.

The Last of Us takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival. 

Craig Mazin (HBO’s “Chernobyl”), Neil Druckmann (“The Last of Us” and “Uncharted” video game franchises), and Carolyn Strauss (HBO’s “Chernobyl” and “Game of Thrones”) are executive producers along with Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. Written by Mazin and Druckmann, the series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and Naughty Dog produce.

It will be airing on both HBO and HBO Max.

Pascal is also expected to eventually return for Season 3 of The Mandalorian, which is apparently already shooting shooting in the Los Angeles/Manhattan Beach area. However, it’s unknown when Pedro Pascal will be joining the cast as the shoot for The Last of Us is expected to continue into the fall.

The Last of Us is part of a new wave of video game adaptations based on Sony-owned properties. Tom Holland leads a feature film adaptation of Uncharted and John Wick’s Chad Stahelski is attached to turn Sony’s popular samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima, into a movie as well.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Michael B. Jordan Developing New ‘Superman’ Project At HBO Max That Will Focus On Val-Zod

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Michael B. Jordan Developing New ‘Superman’ Project At HBO Max That Will Focus On Val-Zod

It’s been long rumored that Michael B. Jordan was in the mix for a new Superman project at Warner Bros. and it looks like the details have finally been revealed thanks to a new report from the folks over at Collider.

Michael B. Jordan and his production company Outlier Society are developing their own Black Superman project for HBO Max that centers on the Val-Zod incarnation of the character, Collider has exclusively learned.

However, despite having an unnamed writer working on this new Val-Zod Superman project, they’re not entirely sure if this will end up a series or film. DC Comics adaptations at HBO Max have been both series and films, making it’s difficult to get a beat on what is happening with this new Superman thing. Films focused on Zatanna and Batgirl are moving forward alongside series such as Peacemaker, Gotham P.D., Green Lantern, a Constantine reboot, Justice League Dark, and more.

Jordan is also involved with a live-action Static Shock film as well. The actor is attached to star in a Rainbow Six movie as a follow-up to Without Remorse and will lead the second remake of The Thomas Crown Affair for AGBO (The Russo Brothers’ production company).

Warner Bros. is also developing a new Superman feature film with a script from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams via Bad Robot. Coates is best-known for his work on the fantastic modern run of Black Panther comics for Marvel. This film would be separate from the HBO Max incarnation from Michael B. Jordan.

Having two new Superman projects in the works and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl making her debut in The Flash (A solo Supergirl film has been in development for years now), could mean that WarnerMedia is open to the idea of many different Superman incarnations happening all at once.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

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‘Wheel Of Time’: Amazon Announces Fantasy Series Will Debut In November

Finally, Amazon has announced that their series adaptation of Robert Jordan’s fantasy novels The Wheel of Time will be heading to Prime Video on November.

The Wheel of Time is one of the most popular and enduring fantasy series of all-time, with over 90 million books sold. Set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to access it, the story follows Moiraine, a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity.   

Adapted for television by executive producer/showrunner Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove). Larry Mondragon and Rick Selvage of Red Eagle Entertainment (Winter Dragon), Ted Field and Mike Weber of Radar Pictures (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Winter Dragon), Darren Lemke (Shazam!, Goosebumps, Winter Dragon), Marigo Kehoe and Uta Briesewitz will also serve as executive producers, with Briesewitz set to direct the first two episodes. Rosamund Pike will serve as Producer and Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson as consulting producers. The Wheel of Time is co-produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television.

Wheel of Time’s cast consists of Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford, Barney Harris, Zoë Robins, Daniel Henney, Álvaro Morte, Hammed Animashaun, Johann Myers, Priyanka Bose, Taylor Napier and Emmanuel Imani.

The project is such a priority for Amazon as they’ve already started filming Season 2 this week and Radar Films (Amazon’s partner on the show) is also developing a trilogy of feature films. Amazon must be seeing something with the dailies or Season 1 episodes that they believe enough in the show to move forward with Season 2 even though audiences haven’t seen a trailer for the first season.

SOURCE: AMAZON

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Sony Pictures Adapting ‘Kaiju Score’ With ‘Brightburn’ Screenwriters

Sony Pictures landed the rights to the genre hybrid comic book Kaiju Score last summer and focuses on a massive heist that takes place during a massive kaiju attack.

It’s the most dangerous heist ever attempted. Four desperate criminals are going all in on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to steal millions in art and turn their miserable lives around. The catch? They have to pull it off under the nose of a one thousand-ton Kaiju. And a giant monster might just be the least of their problems.

Deadline now says that development is moving forward with Brightburn (a horror spin on Superman) screenwriters Brian and Mark Gunn (cousins of filmmaker James Gunn) tackling the script for Kaiju Score, but remains to be seen who’ll Sony will select as the film’s director.

It’s hard not to get Army of The Dead vibes from the project, but adding the kaiju element could certainly be neat if done correctly. However, we’ve seen with Pacific Rim: Uprising that simply having kaiju in your film doesn’t make it entertaining or compelling. The crux for pulling this off will obviously be making sure you hire a charismatic cast alongside a solid script and giving a filmmaker the budget needed to make an event kaiju pic.

Nothing could be worse if they don’t get the visual effects where it needs to be, one of the biggest issues with Legendary’s Godzilla movies has been how dark and muddy the effects have been until Godzilla vs. Kong brightened things up.

BRIGHTBURN – After a difficult struggle with fertility, Tori Breyer’s dreams of motherhood come true with the arrival of a mysterious baby boy. Brandon appears to be everything Tori and her husband, Kyle, ever wanted — bright, talented and curious about the world. But as Brandon nears puberty, powerful darkness manifests within him, and Tori becomes consumed by terrible doubts about her son. Once Brandon begins to act on his twisted urges, those closest to him find themselves in grave danger.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Battle Of The Planets’: Russo Brothers Enlist ‘F9’ Screenwriter Daniel Casey For Their Epic Sci-Fi Anime Adaptation

Back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Anthony and Joe Russo announced a bunch of projects their production company AGBO would be developing and that group included a feature film adaptation of the beloved Japanese anime series Battle of The Planets aka Gatchaman.

There is now a status update as Deadline reports that The Russo Brothers have hired F9: The Fast Saga screenwriter Daniel Casey (Kin, 10 Cloverfield Lane) to work on the script for Battle of The Planets.

The series followed five young orphans who are trained from a young age to form an elite, intergalactic team known as G-Force, swearing to protect Earth and its allies from otherworldly invading forces.

Russo Brothers are behind some of the biggest Marvel Studios successes with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avenger: Endgame. Their experience with large scale team based blockbusters should put fans’ of the anime at ease about a feature film adaptation. They’re currently shooting Netflix’s big budget spy action flick The Gray Man starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, the streamer claiming it is their most expensive film to date with a budget of over $200 million.

There is an expectation the sibling duo will direct Battle of The Planets (given their personal connection to the anime) and could end up getting a hefty budget to cover the elaborate futuristic sets and the visual effects needed to bring the anime adaptation to life.

The project comes as we’ve seen a limited amount of anime/manga adaptations from Hollywood such as Alita: Battle Angel, Ghost In The Shell, Speed Racer, Guyver, Dragonball, Death Note, and Netflix’s upcoming Cowboy Bebop series. Other projects in development include Robotech, Attack On Titan, Gundam, and Warner Bros. has spend almost two decades trying to bring Akira to the big screen.

With most prime comic book projects have been picked over by Hollywood studios over the last thirty years there will be a point that movies based on anime and manga source material will end up having more regularly, because the genre concepts may translate well to the big screen.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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EXCLUSIVE: Amblin’s Dracula Movie ‘Last Voyage Of The Demeter’ Enlists ‘Monster Hunter’ & ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ Production Designer

Production is underway on Amblin’s vampire movie The Last Voyage of The Demeter. The story is taken directly from Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel about the Count’s trip from Carpathia to London, where he essentially fed on the ship’s crew at night.

The script is based on a single chapter, “The Captain’s Log,” from Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, which tells the story of the Russian schooner, Demeter, which was charted to carry private cargo (twenty four unmarked wooden creates) from Carpathia to London. The film will detail the strange events that befell the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a terrifying presence onboard the ship. When it finally arrived near Whitby Harbour, it was a derelict. There was no trace of the crew.

We first revealed that director Andre Ovredal would be reuniting with cinematographer Roman Osin (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark).

The Ronin can confirm that Demeter has production designer Edward Thomas working on the film’s design/sets, who has been behind genre films such as Monster Hunter, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Escape Room, and the recent sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions.

The horror pic’s casts consists of Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island, The Walking Dead), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Clash of The Titans, The Guard) as the Demeter’s captain, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones, The Nightingale, Black Narcissus), David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049), longtime creature actor Javier Botet (It, Game of Thrones, Slender Man, Alien: Covenant, Crimson Peak, The Conjuring 2) is set to play Dracula, Jon Jon Briones (Ratched), Stefan Kapicic (Deadpool, Deadpool 2), Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman, Martin Furulund and Chris Walley.

The Last Voyage of The Demeter has been a project kicking around Hollywood for ages with previous directors such as David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, Hannibal, American Gods, Black Mirror) and Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones, Westworld, Hellboy, Lost In Space) attaching themselves to only exit. Viggo Mortensen, Noomi Rapace, Jude Law, and Ben Kingsley were reportedly once involved at various stages.

It’s unknown when the film will debut as Amblin recently made a deal with Netflix to fund and distribute original films. There is a good shot that Demeter ends up landing at Netflix.

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Legendary Entertainment Reportedly Exploring Sale/Merger; Behind ‘Dune’ & ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’

After reports of Apple inquiring a potential purchase of A24 and Amazon picking up MGM Studios for a hefty $8.45 billion, it looks like another major production studio might end up on the auction block. Variety is reporting that Legendary Entertainment could be looking to be sold or merge with another company,. This comes after Bloomberg revealed that Legendary was working with investment bank LionTree LLC to develop possible deals.

Any deal would likely be for less than than the $3.5 billion that Dalian Wanda paid to acquire Legendary in 2016 from founder Thomas Tull, because that pact included the assumption of substantial debt. 

Legendary is behind recent releases such as Godzilla vs. Kong and the upcoming sci-fi epic Dune from director Denis Villeneuve. In the past, the company has had distribution deals with Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., however, there have been tension with the partnering companies over the years. There were multiple reports that Legendary was on the cusp of suing WarnerMedia over blocking a deal to offload Godzilla vs. Kong at Netflix for around $200 million. Instead, WarnerMedia with little notice announced plans to add Godzilla vs. Kong and Dune to their big day-and-date slate, that would the two pricey films dropped on HBO Max at the same time as theaters.

A sale could essentially dissolve distribution deals, meaning that future Dune and Monsterverse (pending Toho extending their rights deal) franchise installments could find a new home depending if there is a sale or merger on the horizon. That is unless WarnerMedia believes they want to acquire Legendary.

There a bunch of projects still in development including Dune: Part Two and a handful of Monsterverse movies such as the rumored Son of Kong from director Adam Wingard. It remains to be seen what this could mean for those films and other various things being worked on behind the scenes.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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‘Dune’ Prequel Series ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’ Lands New Showrunner Diane Ademu-John; Denis Villeneuve To Direct Pilot

You might remember that Legendary and HBO Max would be partnering for a spinoff series set within the Dune universe acting as a prequel to the upcoming film helmed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival, Prisoners, Blade Runner: 2049). The show, Dune: The Sisterhood, originally had Dune co-writer Jon Spaihts set to showrun the project, but exited to help work on Dune: Part Two.

Dune: The Sisterhood is told through the eyes of a mysterious order of women known as the Bene Gesserit. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis, known to its inhabitants as Dune. It will serve as a prequel to the films.

A new report from Variety has revealed that they have hired Diane Ademu-John as the new showrunner of the the sci-fi series at HBO Max. She has previously worked on shows such as The Haunting of Bly Manor, Empire, The Originals, and The Vampire Diaries.

Denis Villeneuve is a producer on Dune: The Sisterhood and will still direct the pilot.

Dune, of course, is coming soon with a release date of October 22 as it will hit both theaters and HBO Max on that date.

DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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EXCLUSIVE: Paul Feig’s ‘The School Of Good & Evil’ Shot By ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Cinematographer John Schwartzman

Director Paul Feig’s (Spy, Last Christmas, Bridesmaids) next feature film will be The School of Good & Evil for Netflix, from a script penned by David Magee (Life of Pi, Mary Poppins Returns, Finding Neverland) and Laura Solon (Office Christmas Party, Let It Snow) based on the bestselling book by Soman Chainani.

Best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where fairytale legacies go to school: the School for Good and Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. With her princess ambitions, Sophie knows she’ll be picked for the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and wicked cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, Agatha into the School for Good. But what if the mistake is the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are? Their friendship will be put to the test in this thrilling and comedic story where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that the adaptation will have cinematographer John Schwartzman, who previously worked with director Paul Feig on his holiday pic Last Christmas. His other credits include Jurassic World, The Little Things, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dracula: Untold, The Green Hornet, and Universal’s big upcoming blockbuster release Jurassic World: Dominion.

We can also confirm that the film’s production designer will be Andy Nicholson, who previously worked on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed, Captain Marvel, Gravity, and Netflix’s big action pic Red Notice.

It has a fantastic cast that includes folks such as Oscar-winner Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, The Old Guard, F9: The Fast Saga) as Lady Lesso, Michelle Yeoh (Shang-Chi, Gunpowder Milkshake, Last Christmas, Crazy Rich Asians) Professor Anemone, Laurence Fishburne (Man of Steel, John Wick 2, John Wick 3, Ant-Man & The Wasp) as the Schoolmaster, Kerry Washington (Django Unchained, The Last King of Scotland, Scandal) as Professor Dovey, Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie, Sophie Wylie as Agatha, Demi Isaac Oviawe as Anadil, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi as Dot, and Freya Theodora Parks as Gester.

Filming is taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The location has been recently used for Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons movie led by Chris Pine, Robert Eggers’ Viking epic The Northman, and famously was the home for eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Netflix has yet to announce a release date for The School of Good & Evil.