Category: Film News

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‘Constantine’ Director Francis Lawrence Still Interested In Making A Sequel With Keanu Reeves – WB Seemingly Has Other Plans For Character

Last year, Constantine actor Keanu Reeves revealed to Variety he would be open to the idea of making a sequel and reprising the role of John Constantine.

REEVES: “I’ve always wanted to play John Constantine again. I just love that world too and I love that character. Yeah, I just had a blast playing that character.”

Director Francis Lawrence has now weighed-in while speaking with our pals over at Slash Film, revealing he has spoken with Keanu and producer/screenwriter Akiva Goldsman about the prospect of a sequel. However, mentioned that the character is out of their hands potentially referring to the Justice League Dark series being developed for HBO Max by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.

LAWRENCE: “I think we all wanted to do it. It was successful enough. We wanted to make a responsible, more R-rated movie. By responsible, I mean we’d make a movie that wouldn’t cost quite as much as the original, which we thought was going to be PG-13. We worked on the sequel for a while. It was tricky to come up with where to take it. What I really liked about the first one was it was a really personal story, so I thought it’d be a mistake to get caught up in the supernatural gobblygook. The idea of a personal story was really interesting, and that was the hard thing to come across. We have been talking about it recently. It’s always stuck with all of us because we all love the movie, and especially realizing there’s a real cult following for this movie, it’d be fun to make. Keanu, Akiva, and I have actually talked about it. “

“Unfortunately, I don’t even remember who has it, but with all these shared universes that exist now, with Constantine being a part of Vertigo, which is a part of DC, people have plans for these shared universes. You know, possibly different Constantines and things like that. Right now, we don’t have that character available to us for TV or movies, which is a bummer. We all investigated it, but I think it’s kind of crazy when you have Keanu, who would love to do another Constantine, and us wanting to do another Constantine, and people are like, ‘Uh, no, we got other plans’. We’ll see what happens.”

We still don’t know if John Constantine will play a role in the new HBO Max series but that makes the most sense at the moment.

Due to Keanu’s recently career resurgence thanks to the John Wick franchise, there might be a reason for Warner Bors. to at least consider having him reprise the role whenever the character resurfaces.

CONSTANTINE – As a suicide survivor, demon hunter John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has literally been to hell and back — and he knows that when he dies, he’s got a one-way ticket to Satan’s realm unless he can earn enough goodwill to climb God’s stairway to heaven. While helping policewoman Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) investigate her identical twin’s apparent suicide, Constantine becomes caught up in a supernatural plot involving both demonic and angelic forces. Based on the DC/Vertigo “Hellblazer” comics.

SOURCE: SLASH FILM

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‘Black Adam’ Reportedly Adds Noah Centineo As Atom Smasher

While it’s been ages since we’ve had an update concerning New Line Cinema’s DC Comics film Black Adam from director Jaume Collet-Serra. It looks like we have our first big casting addition since confirmation that Dwayne Johnson would be playing the titular character.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the studio has hired up-and-coming heartthrob Noah Centineo in the role of Atom Smasher, the DC character had been long rumored for the film.

Centineo will play Atom Smasher, a character who can control his molecular structure and is able to manipulate his size and strength. 

Noah had been previously hired to play Prince Adam/He-Man in Sony’s long-delayed Masters of The Universe reboot film.

Black Adam is said to be shooting in Atlanta, Georgia. However, with the United States including Georgia seeing a massive uptick in new Coronavirus cases a production start anytime soon likely wouldn’t be smart or safe on the part of New Line Cinema.

I had also heard that a portion was expected to shoot in California, another state that is dealing with a wave of new cases.

Warner Bros. has given the film a release date of Decemeber 22nd, 2021. It remains to be seen if they’ll be able to stick that date if production is delayed into 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Just Cause’ Movie Adds ‘Stuber’ Director Mike Dowse – Written By ‘John Wick’ Creator

Deadline has a new update concerning the Just Cause movie from Constantin Film and Prime Universe that has been in development with a script from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier).

Their report reveals that they’ve now hired Canadian director Mike Dowse to handle the video game adaptation.

The film will follow the video game’s blueprint, as Rico Rodriguez is on a race-against-time mission to stop the mercenary group The Black Hand. The series draws its name from the real-life U.S. invasion of Panama, code-named “Operation Just Cause.” Rodriguez (aka “The Scorpion”) has become one of the few Latino iconic video game characters. He has a signature “agent of chaos” approach to taking down the bad guys. 

Dowse’s previous efforts include It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Goon and Stuber.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Jon Hamm To Lead ‘Fletch’ Reboot From ‘Superbad’ Director Greg Mottola

It has been announced today via Variety that Miramax is moving forward with a reboot of the Chevy Chase comedy Fletch with Mad Men actor Jon Hamm taking over the titular role.

Greg Mottola is set to direct with a script from Zev Borrow based on the novel Confess, Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald.

In a mysterious chain of events, Fletch finds himself in the middle of multiple murders — one of which pins him as a prime suspect. While on a quest to prove his innocence, Fletch is tasked with finding his fiancée’s stolen art collection, acquired after her father goes missing and is presumed dead.

Chevy Chase previously played the role in Fletch from 1985 and Fletch Lives in 1989.

FLETCH – A veritable chameleon, investigative reporter Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher might drive his editor up the wall, but he always produces great pieces for the newspaper. When his next story is about the drug trade taking place on the beach, Fletch goes undercover as a homeless man. Unaware of Fletch’s true identity, businessman Alan Stanwyk offers Fletch $50,000 to kill him. Intrigued, Fletch decides to unearth the full story behind the offer.

Mottola is best known for directing Superbad, Paul, and Adventureland.

It’ll be interesting how they’ll attempt to go with the new film since Hamm’s comedic chops have been used sparingly in the past.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Sony’s ‘Uncharted’ Movie Officially Began Filming Today In Germany According To Tom Holland

After years of delays and multiple directors, Sony Pictures’ Uncharted movie based on the PlayStation/Naughty Dog video game franchise has officially begun filming today in Germany according to lead actor Tom Holland.

Tom took to Instagram earlier today to make the announcement that they started the first day of shooting.

I previously confirmed at HN Entertainment they’ll be filming Uncharted at Babelsberg Film Studio.

This isn’t shocking since the British actor had been teasing a return to the shoot on the social media platform over the last week. Production was halted back in March due to the pandemic and was ready to a go at (outside of Berlin) just because the country shut down all shoots.

Uncharted will see Holland playing a younger version of lead character Nathan Drake while Mark Wahlberg playing his mentor Sully. After an exhausting game of musical chairs Sony finally landed on Venom director Ruben Fleischer. At one time, Mark had been cast in the role of Nathan Drake before that incarnation fell apart.

As I pointed out back on Monday, Uncharted‘s shoot will likely be extended longer than normal because of the new COVID-19 precautions on the set. Which could mean that Spider-Man 3 won’t begin shooting in September as rumored and more likely will be bounced into 2021 leading to a release sometime in 2022.

There had been some fan speculation that Sony Pictures would scrap Uncharted to instead focus on the Spider-Man sequel, that has been clearly debunked.

Matrix 4 is also shooting at the same German facility.

SOURCE: TOM HOLLAND

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Charlize Theron Confirms ‘Atomic Blonde 2’ In Early Development At Netflix and Hopeful About ‘The Old Guard’ Sequel

While promoting her comic book Netflix film The Old Guard, actress Charlize Theron revealed to Total Film (via Games Radar) that she is indeed speaking with the streaming service as a home for their sequel to their 80s-set action flick Atomic Blonde, which she previously confirmed is in an early scripting phase.

THERON: “We took [Atomic Blonde 2] to them and Scott Stuber [Head of Original Films at Netflix] was really interested in it. We talked to him about it extensively, and we’re in the process of writing it right now. That character was set up in a way where she didn’t really reveal much of herself. So I feel like there’s a lot of potential there. The bar’s pretty high, but we’re excited about it.”

ATOMIC BLONDE – Sensual and savage, Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in MI6, an agent who’s willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission. With the Berlin Wall about to fall, she travels into the heart of the city to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless espionage ring. Once there, she teams up with an embedded station chief to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.

This would confirm previous information that was circulating months ago via Discussing Film.

Who will ultimately direct the sequel is up-in-the-air since David Leitch is busy with Sony’s Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt and has multiple other projects cooking at various studios as well such as an Enter The Dragon remake for Warner Bros., a movie based on the video game The Division for Netflix, and a feature film based on the classic martial arts series Kung Fu.

I think there is a good shot that we’ll see Atomic Blonde 2‘s setting push into the 1990s and explore a post-Soviet Union world of espionage.

Charlize is also hopeful about Netflix giving a sequel to The Old Guard.

THERON: “We went into this talking about [a sequel] as a possibility, and it’s definitely something that excites us.”

THE OLD GUARD – A group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals with the ability to heal themselves, discover someone is onto their secret, and they must fight to protect their freedom.

The Old Guard is currently streaming on Netflix.

SOURCE: TOTAL FILM

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Director Leigh Whannell Following Up ‘Invisible Man’ With Universal’s ‘Wolfman’ Remake Starring Ryan Gosling

It looks like Blumhouse and Universal Pictures has found the director for their upcoming Wolfman reboot starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049).

Deadline reports that Leigh Whannell has been tapped and is currently negotiating to direct.

Leigh gave Universal their post-Dark Universe hit with Universal Monsters character The Invisible Man, the modern remake of the H.G. Wells story. That success likely is behind the reason why Universal/Blumhouse wanted him to tackle another iconic monster like the wolfman.

Whannell wrote the treatment with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo tackling the script.

There had been some previous comparisons to thriller Nightcrawler and will have a modern setting.

When filming is expected to begin is a little unclear.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Disney Enlists Jude Law To Play Captain Hook In ‘Peter & Wendy’

Yesterday, The Ronin was able to independently confirm that Peter & Wendy director David Lowery would be reuniting with Pete’s Dragon cinematographer Bojan Bazelli (Snake Eyes, The Ring, The Lone Ranger, Spectral) on the live-action version of the classic Peter Pan tale for Disney.

Now, Variety reports that they’ve found their Captain Hook with British actor Jude Law and is currently in talks with the studio. He had recently worked with Disney playing the villain of their cosmic MCU film Captain Marvel.

Jude’s credits include The Talented Mr. Ripley, Enemy At The Gates, Sherlock Holmes, Road To Perdition, Gattaca, Cold Mountain, and his film Contagion recently got a resurgence of popularity on various streaming platforms due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The outlet also insists that Peter & Wendy is still aiming for a theatrical release and won’t be dumped on their streaming service Disney+.

I’m slightly curious if Jude takes the role could it possibly conflict with the production of Fantastic Beasts 3. Law plays a younger version of Dumbledore in those films. Considering the issues that franchise currently has with the problematic public images of Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller, and creator/screenwriter J.K. Rowling I wouldn’t be shocked if we started to see actors decline the project.

The news would suggest that Warner Bros. isn’t moving on Sherlock Holmes 3 anytime soon as well.

Filming was originally set to begin last month under the working title Bonfire and complete by October in Vancouver, but there are signs that the film and television industry might not resume until after the first week in September.

Lowery’s latest film The Green Knight, saw it’s theatrical release date postponed because of the pandemic and a new date has yet to be announced.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Daft Punk Approached By Producers To Score ‘Tron 3’

After yesterday’s report from the DisInsider that Tron 3 starring Oscar-winner Jared Leto (Morbius, Suicide Squad) is potentially getting a second wind at Disney. The report was supported today by The Playlist, who cite their own sources on the matter that Disney is indeed keen on pushing forward with a third film and has been shopping it around to various directors.

The Playlist also cites a June episode of a podcast called Light The Fuse that spoke with Disney’s Mitchell Lieb (President of Music & Soundtracks) revealing that that producers have already approached Daft Punk about returning to score the film and they indeed have a script ready to go.

LIEB: “We’re looking at making a Tron 3. We’ve got a great script. A really phenomenal script that we’re very excited about. Whereas the timing wasn’t right to do it years ago, I think we feel the timing is right, now. We learned a lot of lessons from [Tron: Legacy].“

“The right and first thing to do is to bring Daft Punk back and see if they want to [return]…We don’t even know who will be directing yet. We’re hopeful that Joe Kosinski will come back and do another one…A lot of things gotta fall into the right places…”

Their soundtrack on Tron: Legacy was pretty much the highlight of the marketing campaign and the film itself.

What seems to be up to debate at the moment is if the film will be a direct sequel, hard-reboot, or soft-reboot/continuation of the existing mythology established in the first two films. While fans would obviously like to see the studio continue Joseph Kosinski’s vision, it’s unlikely.

TRON: LEGACY – Sam (Garrett Hedlund), the son of famous video-game developer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), has been haunted for a long time by his father’s mysterious disappearance. A strange signal draws Sam to Flynn’s Arcade, and he is pulled into the same cyberworld in which his father, its creator, has been trapped for 20 years. With fearless warrior Quorra (Olivia Wilde), Kevin and Sam seek to escape from a universe that, while magnificent, is far more advanced and dangerous than Kevin had ever imagined.

SOURCE: LIGHT THE FUSE

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Check Out Concept Art From James Cameron’s Unmade ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Remake – Did They Want To Cast Hugh Jackman?

The Ronin has uncovered a bunch of previously unseen concept artwork from the unmade Fantastic Voyage that was in development by Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox. The project was a futuristic remake of the 1966 film based on the novel by science-fiction author Isaac Asimov (Foundation).

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

FANTASTIC VOYAGE – The brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans, and other objects, for brief periods of time. Benes, who is working in communist Russia, is transported by the CIA to America, but is attacked en route. In order to save the scientist, who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into Benes’ body. They have a finite period of time to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off.

Directors such as James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Avatar), Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Universal Soldier, Independence Day), Paul Greengrass (Bourne Identity), and Shawn Levy (Free Guy, Real Steel, Stranger Things) had once been in the mix at different points of development. Cameron and Jon Landau would end up producing the film via Lightstorm Entertainment.

In 2010, screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, Ghost In The Shell, Altered Carbon) was hired to do rewrites after director Roland Emmerich trashed the previous script in interviews.

In 2016, it was announced that Guillermo del Toro would be attached to direct with a script from Terminator: Dark Fate screenwriters David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade, Blade II, Green Lantern Corps) and Justin Rhodes (RoboCop Returns, Green Lantern Corps) before he pivoted to passion projects like The Shape of Water and his current film Nightmare Alley.

There had been plans on shooting Guillermo’s version in Toronto, Ontario, Canada when had been assembling his production team development/pre-production stages.

While speaking with Screen Rant in the fall of 2017, del Toro suggested he was still keen on the project before moving on to Nightmare Alley.

DEL TORO: “That was on the calendar already. I announced the year in September, and if everything goes well and it happens, it would happen next September. We’d start prepping again. We had already delayed it. It is a very difficult movie, technically, and I needed to figure out a bunch of stuff. We’ve been doing R&D and we’ve been building stuff. I never know whether they’re going to happen or not. I’ve learned that, in 25 years. But, we’re still working on it.”

It remains to be seen if he’ll return to Fantastic Voyage in the future.

A batch of artwork from Shawn Levy’s incarnation (before Guillermo got involved) posted by production designer Tom Meyer (Real Steel, Spectral, BIOS) in a concept reel we spotted for the project features a bunch of concept artwork for the futuristic setting, animations, and storyboard animatics. Some plot details are also revealed in the video.

“Scaling” is the process of nano-sizing bio-technology hardware mechanisms. All illness has been eradicated through a vaccine of networked nano-implants. Hacking of the implant network is now our body’s primary threat.

Killing a pilot by hacking his implants with a “smart virus”, terrorists crash a jet into Washington D.C.’s icy Potomac.

One piece of artwork suggests that X-Men franchise actor Hugh Jackman was indeed wanted for a lead role as his likeness was used for one of the characters. It wouldn’t have been surprising given Shawn having worked with Hugh on Real Steel.

Deadline first connected him to the project back in 2011 and this artwork would support that reporting.

Here are the rest of images we captured from Tom’s concept reel.

Scaling Operating Room
Patient “0”
New Langley, N.S.A. – Implant Tracking Center
Is that William Fichtner on the right?
Main Ship Called Proteus During Scaling Ignition

Below is the reel posted by the film’s production designer Tom Meyer.

After Disney/21st Century Fox merger a handful of high-profile and expensive film projects were killed including Wes Ball’s Mouse Guard. There is a good chance that Disney might have squashed Fantastic Voyage as well.