Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News

‘Knives Out 2’: Rian Johnson Casts ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ Actor & Oscar-Nominee Leslie Odom Jr.

The cast for Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 continues to grow as The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that Oscar-nominee Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night In Miami) has landed a role in the whodunit sequel opposite Daniel Craig. It’s quickly becoming a game itself trying to figure out who will Rian will add next, which is almost as fun as when the filmmaker and the Knives Out Twitter account asked film fans to come up with a title for Knives Out 2.

He’ll be joining a stacked cast with actors such as  Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy, Army of The Dead), Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Rounders, Moonrise Kingdom), Janelle Monae (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), and Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision) already on the film’s the call-sheet.

Despite this being a sequel, the Greece setting will make it difficult for characters from the first film to appear as there has been signs that Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is going to be working on a completely different case and group of murder suspects.

Leslie is an interesting pick considering that he appeared in 20th Century Studios’ Murder On The Orient Express, based on the Agatha Christie novel that Johnson has been attempting to homage with Knives Out and it’s untitled sequels. I guess this means that other actors from Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile are fair game.

Rian and Daniel made a historical deal with Netflix for the next two films for a massive $400 million, the two earning $100 million each. The streamer is aiming to turn Knives Out into a their own high-end franchise aimed directly at an adult audience and it’ll be interesting to see if they pursue further installments beyond the next two movies.

Netflix hasn’t given Knives Out 2 a release date but will begin shooting next month in Greece.

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.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Aquaman 2’: Jason Momoa Wrote The Sequel’s Story Treatment & Confirms A July Production Start – Shooting At Warner Bros. Studios In Watford, England

Warner Bros. is in an interesting position with their DCEU franchise as The Batman has seemingly finished-up production, The Suicide Squad releases this summer, with production started on The Flash and Black Adam respectively. Shazam: Fury of The Gods is also set to begin shooting soon as well.

The next big DC Comics film will be James Wan’s sequel to the billion-dollar hit Aquaman and Jason Momoa has confirmed during an interview with The Drew Barrymore Show that production will begin this July, adding that he contributed to the film as a writer working on the sequel’s story treatment and originally pitching the idea to the studio.

The Ronin can confirm that production will be taking place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England. It’s a facility commonly used for DC Comics shoots including Wonder Woman 1984, The Flash, The Batman, and Justice League. The previous Aquaman film was shot mostly under in Australia at Village Roadshow Studios and it’s unclear why they decided to stick with Watford, England this time around.

Amber Heard is confirmed to reprise the role of Mera with Danish actor Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones, Overlord, Ghost In The Shell) joining the sequel’s cast.

Momoa has been filming projects in Canada recently such as the Netflix film Slumberland.

Aquaman 2 is still set to be released by Warner Bros. on December 16, 2022.

AQUAMAN – Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people — and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm’s half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.

SOURCE: THE DREW BERRYMORE SHOW

Posted on in Film News

Warner Bros. Taps Director Angela Robinson To Remake Tony Scott’s Erotic Vampire Thriller ‘The Hunger’

Warner Bros. has reportedly found a director and writer for their remake of the sexually-charged vampire thriller The Hunger. The original film released in 1983 had early hallmarks of goth culture added to an erotic tale of a female vampire seeking a new lover.

Deadline has revealed that Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S., True Blood) is in final talks to direct from a script penned by American Horror Story’s Jessica Sharzer.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of details on the reboot but the Tony Scott film is easily one of the best vampire films of the 1980s and helped to further expand upon the sexual narrative of the vampire lore. I have to assume they’ll set this version in a modern setting and I’m curious how erotic they’ll go with this one, as the original featured a lesbian affair between Miriam and Sarah.

THE HUNGER – John (David Bowie) is the lover of the gorgeous immortal vampire Miriam (Catherine Deneuve), and he’s been led to believe that he’ll live forever, too. Unfortunately, he quickly deteriorates into a horrible living death, and Miriam seeks a new companion. She soon sets her sights on Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a lovely young scientist, who quickly falls under Miriam’s spell. However, Sarah doesn’t warm up to the concept of vampirism easily, leading to conflict with Miriam.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Paul King’s Prequel Film ‘Wonka’ Confirmed To Shoot At Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden

The Ronin has been able to confirm that director Paul King’s Willy Wonka prequel, Wonka, is set to film on the stages of Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England. Affectionately known as the Harry Potter studio, as it was the home of the Harry Potter films alongside the three installments of Fantastic Beasts.

The facility was most recently used for Mission: Impossible 7, The Batman, Fantastic Beasts 3, and The Flash. There is still an expectation that Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie will return to the stages in Watford when they start filming Mission: Impossible 8 as there had been multiple production delays on the recent installment due to the pandemic.

Despite the production plans being set alongside a release date the studio has yet to officially announce an actor for the role of the young Willy Wonka. The iconic character created by children’s author Roald Dahl had been previously played on the big screen by Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp.

Paul King was behind the first two Paddington movies and worked on the British comedy series The Mighty Boosh.

The had been reports that filming was hoping to begin by September and with a release date of March 17, 2023 it gives Warner Bros. plenty of wiggle-room if they have to push the production start to early 2022.

Posted on in Film News

Mark Millar Announces Oscar-Winner Emerald Fennell Has Finished Writing Her Draft For The ‘Nemesis’ Movie

It was recently reported that Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell would be tackling a script for a feature film focusing on DC Comics heroine Zatanna for producer J.J. Abrams.

Now, Mark Millar has announced/confirmed on Forbidden Planet TV’s YouTube channel that the Oscar-winning screenwriter will also pen the Nemesis movie based on his mature comic book published by Icon Comics for Warner Bros. as well and revealing that Fennell finished her draft before winning the Oscar last month. Nemesis has been in development for years and seemingly stuck in development hell until this announcement.

Fennell was reportedly attached to the film last year as mentioned by Collider back in August. The outlet also added that Project Power’s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are directing.

It’s interesting that Warner Bros. is making the project because the crux of the comic was “What if Batman was The Joker?” and seemingly ruffled feathers over at DC Comics. Most of Millar’s work is parodying existing comic book characters and franchises then placing them in mature hyper-violent settings.

At one point. Joe Carnahan (The Grey) was attached to write and direct.

Millar’s comics such as Kick-Ass, Kingsman, Wanted, and Jupiter’s Legacy have all been adapted to live-action alongside a Millarworld deal with Netflix. Screenwriter Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class) previously helped adapt Millar’s comics Kick-ass and Kingsman to the big screen.

SOURCE: FORBIDDEN PLANET TV

Posted on in Television News

RUMOR: ‘Moon Knight’ Might Shoot Scenes In Jordan

Marvel’s Moon Knight is filming in Budapest, Hungary with a spotting of Ethan Hawke but we’re hearing that won’t be the only filming location. We’ve been able to previously confirm that a portion will be shot in the London era and there seems to be a third location for the new Disney+ series.

While The Ronin can’t confirm this at the moment, there is talk that Marvel is looking to shoot scenes or exterior landscapes in Jordan. The gorgeous country has been previously used on Oscar Isaac films Dune and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This might seem like a difficult thing to pull-off during the pandemic, however, Ms. Marvel recently shot some stuff in Thailand and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier returned to Prague to finish-up filming too. On the film side, San Francisco was recently a filming location for Shang-Chi and is going to be used again for Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight. 

There have already been some exciting teases of the show’s action sequences with some lovely training sequences with Oscar Isaac kicking some ass. Marvel isn’t messing around as we were able to confirm that they hired No Time To Die stunt coordinator Olivier Schneider, signaling that they might be aiming for some high-quality action.

The directing team consists of Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead with Jeremy Slater and Beau DeMayo writing on the show.

Kevin Feige previously told Collider that Moon Knight will be getting 6-episodes and is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2022.

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘She-Hulk’ Adds ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Stunt Coordinator & ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Costume Designer

The Ronin can confirm that Canadian stunt coordinator Monique Ganderton is indeed currently working on Marvel’s She-Hulk series that is actively shooting in Atlanta with Emmy-winner Tatiana Malsany (Orphan Black) starring as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. Monique isn’t new to the world of Marvel Studios with credits such as Loki, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, and Thor: Ragnarok.

In the comics, Jennifer Walters is a defense lawyer, who is given Hulk powers after she needs a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner. It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll get her powers in the MCU incarnation and how closely they’ll be sticking to comic book lore as this will be the first time we’re getting a live-action She-Hulk.

UPDATE: Monique Ganderton has now confirmed her involvement on She-Hulk on her Instagram bio backing up our confirmation from May.

It’s assumed that Ganderton will be doing the motion-capture/stunt work for She-Hulk given that she already filled a similar role for the Avengers villain Proxima Midnight (voiced by Carrie Coons) and seemingly played a motion-capture character for the Loki series as well.

We can also confirm that Godzilla Vs. Kong costume designer Ann Foley is officially working on the Marvel show as well. Ann’s credits include Netflix’s Altered Carbon, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Sony’s Masters of The Universe remake (seemingly stuck in limbo).

The 10-episode series will be directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia.

Joining Tatiana in the Disney+ show will be Mark Ruffalo officially returning to play Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner aka Hulk, Tim Roth is finally back as Incredible Hulk villain Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Amelia, and Ginger Gonzaga.

Recently, we were able to confirm that Lovecraft Country production designer is Elena Albanese hard at work on the Disney+ series too.

Considering that Jennifer has a strong comic book connection to the Fantastic Four, I’m curious if the series will plant the seeds to her involvement with Marvel’s reboot directed by Jon Watts as She-Hulk at one time had become a member of the team. Watts is currently busy finishing-up Spider-Man: No Way Home due in theaters on December 17.

Given the extensive visual effects involved with bringing She-Hulk, Hulk, and Abomination to life it’s expected that She-Hulk won’t debut until later in 2022.

Posted on in News

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar Reportedly Exiting After Being Kept In The Dark About Merger

A little over a year after being hired by AT&T CEO John Stankey to run WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar is looking for the exit, according to a report from The New York Times. Stankey announced that Discovery and WarnerMedia would be merging in a shocking media announcement today while avoiding multiple questions about Kilar’s future role at the company.

Jason Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive of WarnerMedia, according to two people briefed on the matter. AT&T, which owns WarnerMedia, said on Monday that it had agreed to spin off the division and merge it with a rival media company, Discovery Inc. Mr. Kilar was kept in the dark about the deal until recent days, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

This comes after subscribers for their HBO Max service seemingly wasn’t doing as great as other competitors and WarnerMedia sacrificed hefty budgeted blockbusters to hand-out a free month of access to new releases on HBO Max as part of their controversial day-and-date release model. There were also reports like the one at Bloomberg that Kilar was earning more than his boss at AT&T, another controversy as most studios were hemorrhaging money last year making the pay-bump a bit ridiculous.

While speaking on CNBC, business journalist Kara Swisher had more dire perspective on the news saying that John Stankey is simply wasting shareholder money trying to catch-up with mega-streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney. It should be noted this is simply an opinion but this is also coming from someone with years of experience covering these kinds of stories.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Posted on in Film News

‘Snake Eyes’: Paramount Releases First Trailer & Featurette For ‘G.I. Joe’ Reboot Starring Henry Golding

Last night, Paramount Pictures released the first big promo push for their G.I. Joe reboot summer flick Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins showcasing footage in a trailer and featurette. This is a huge deal as Paramount and Hasbro is looking to reboot the franchise with Snake Eyes being the first step in that pivot as the film will also explore characters such as Storm Shadow, The Baroness, and Scarlett.

A third G.I. Joe movie has been in the works but the studio hasn’t officially moved forward with it and likely might be waiting to see how audiences react to Snake Eyes before spending money on multiple new films.

Snake Eyes will release on July 23, 2021.

SNAKE EYES – Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins stars Henry Golding as Snake Eyes, a tenacious loner who is welcomed into an ancient Japanese clan called the Arashikage after saving the life of their heir apparent. Upon arrival in Japan, the Arashikage teach Snake Eyes the ways of the ninja warrior while also providing something he’s been longing for: a home. But, when secrets from his past are revealed, Snake Eyes’ honor and allegiance will be tested – even if that means losing the trust of those closest to him. Based on the iconic G.I. Joe character, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Originsalso stars Andrew Koji as Storm Shadow, Úrsula Corberó as The Baroness, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Haruka Abe as Akiko, Tahehiro Hira as Kenta and Iko Uwais as Hard Master.

SOURCE: PARAMOUNT

Posted on in Film News

Nia DaCosta’s ‘The Marvels’ Confirmed To Shoot At Longcross Studios

The Ronin has been able to confirm that the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels will be shooting mainly at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. The stages have been previously used for other Marvel Studios projects such as Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and most recently for Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen.

Candyman’s Nia DaCosta is directing The Marvels as she reunites with production designer Cara Bower (Candyman, Us) and will have the extremely talented cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (Widows, Judas & The Black Messiah, Shame) behind the camera.

The cast officially consists of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan. The only new addition to the cast so far is Zawe Ashton, who is said to be playing a villain. We are assuming that there will be crossover with the casts of The Marvels and their Skrull event series Secret Invasion given the two projects will be shooting around the same time in the United Kingdom.

It’s new title could suggest they might be aiming to add more heroes to the lineup such as Blue Marvel, but that remains to be seen. However, it’s a little odd that the studio has seemingly pivoted from a solo film franchise to what now looks like a team project bumping Larson’s Captain Marvel from the title.

There has been confirmation previously that Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania would be shooting at Pinewood Studios UK, where things like Black Widow, and Eternals have shot in the last couple of years. Other projects heading to the United Kingdom in the next year or so include Moon Knight, Secret Invasion, and James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. There is also a chance that Season 2 of Loki could be moving from Atlanta to England.

The Marvels will hit theaters on November 11, 2022.