Category: Film News

Posted on in Film News

Ridley Scott Still Hopeful ‘Alien: Awakening’ Will Get Made – His Third ‘Alien’ Prequel

You might be unaware but a full year ago it was reported by Variety that 20th Century Studios was still developing a third Alien prequel film (previously referred to Alien: Awakening) from director Ridley Scott attached and script being written.

This was reinforced by Scott himself when speaking The Hollywood Reporter that there were discussions for future installments.

Ruminating on the immediate future of the Alien franchise, now that Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox, Scott confirms that there are discussions for future installments, but warns that if the basic premise of “the beast” does not evolve like the Xenomorph itself, the “joke” gets old.

The Los Angeles Times was able to speak with Ridley recently and he gave some more hope to fans that are waiting for some official announcement about the project moving forward.

SCOTT: “I still think there’s a lot of mileage in ‘Alien,’ but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve. What I always thought when I was making it, the first one, why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs. What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question — who, why, and for what purpose is the next idea, I think.”

We don’t know what the main details of Alien: Awakening could be other than David now having access to the Covenant colonists for his experiments. However, an excerpt from Empire Magazine claimed that the third film from screenwriter John Logan (Alien: Covenant) may see David face surviving Engineers, alluding to how the derelict ship got on LV-426 and led to the events of the original Alien.

Lead actor Michael Fassbender is still keen to return for more films after speaking with Italian outlet Bad Taste last year while promoting Dark Phoenix.

FASSBENDER: “I’d love to. I just absolutely love working with Ridley and it was a real moment for me. When I stepped onto the set of Prometheus and got to work with him, and yeah I love the character. It’s a lot of fun, so yeah.” 

We’ll have to wait for 20th Century Studios to make an official announcement, but it’s worth mentioning that the new President of Production, Steve Asbell, has a facehugger on his official Twitter avatar image.

SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES

Posted on in Film News

Director Chad Stahelski Talks ‘Highlander’ Reboot

While director Chad Stahelski is waiting for Matrix 4 to complete before he can begin shooting John Wick: Chapter 4, he’s also still developing a feature film reboot of the beloved 1980s action film Highlander starring Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown.

The original 1986 film spawned multiple sequels and a couple of television shows.

HIGHLANDER – An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled “Prize”.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Chad gave some insight and updates on the current status of the Highlander project.

STAHELSKI: “As far as Highlander goes, it’s a project I’ve been working on for a little over three years now. It’s a project that’s not only near and dear to my heart but also the other creative people that are involved in it. It’s something that we feel we’ve got a good direction on. It’s just a tough nut to crack because the Highlander property is so involved and the mythology is so deep. But to try and make it our own, and be somewhat true to the original, yet do it in a way that makes it ours, is a little tricky. We don’t want to do a remake. We don’t want to do a reinvention. We want to do something that’s fresh, that utilizes the mythology of what everyone loves from the first movie. To make a good film is hard, to make a great film is even harder. We choose challenging projects in trying to be new and diverse — at least something that the audience hasn’t exactly seen our way yet. So, time is always a good thing, but I think I have a knack for picking projects that aren’t easy to develop. So, that’s good, I guess.“

He was also asked to give his pitch to the younger John Wick fans, who might not be familiar with the Highlander property given that it really hasn’t had a modern incarnation.

STAHELSKI: “It’s a cool story about… I call it the burden of immortality problem. You’ve got a group of individuals that, for some cosmic reason, have been allocated to be immortal. They have to live through human times and experience the human experience over centuries. The caveat to that being everyone you love or anyone whom you can bond with, you’re going to outlive. And the only people you can relate to, other immortals, the one simple truth is that there can be only one of you at the end. So, that means the only people you can relate to or actually become friends with want to take your head. So, how do you live through life with that kind of loneliness or that kind of burden upon you, knowing that you have to push love aside and you have to push friendship aside? And still learn every fighting style in the world because at the end of it, it’s one big gladiatorial pit over centuries, that there can be only one. And your mission in life is to survive, learn as much as you can and sword fight to the death. Come on. If you can’t get behind that, done to some really cool music, I don’t know what you’re doing.“

When Highlander will begin shooting remains to be seen as Chad has been mulling over potentially tackling a series (likely at Starz) to help flush-out the mythology to a new generation that might be unfamiliar with the mythology.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is officially on deck next with a May 2022 release date and is presumed to begin shooting sometime in 2021.

It was recently reported by Deadline that the director is putting together another action film at Paramount Pictures that would focus around cars/driving with a script penned by Andrew Nemec and Josh Appelbaum.

There were also some teases last month from John Wick franchise writer/creator Derek Kolstad while speaking with Comic Book that John Wick: Chapter 5 is a possibility, which could be the final installment of the Wick franchise.

KOLSTAD: “Because when you look at having been a part of establishing and building out the foundation of this world, you sign that first contract, I’m a nobody. I am part and parcel with both a part of it and not, and yet you just want to give it your blessing and have them play and have them play well. I’m not like a George Lucas in this capacity.”

 “I am the guy who wrote the spec that got made and I was blessed enough to be part of three, and hope, in a certain respect, to be a part elsewhere. The studios reminding me again and again that it’s become bigger than me, but that is as iconic a studio line as you can hear. And yet, it’s been a fucking joy.”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Lionsgate ultimately does with the property.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Labyrinth’ Sequel Lands ‘Doctor Strange’ Director Scott Derrickson

Deadline reported earlier in the week that the long-gestating Labyrinth sequel has finally signed a director with Scott Derrickson. The project will be produced by The Henson Company and Sony’s TriStar Pictures.

The original 1986 fantasy musical was directed by Jim Henson starring a young Jennifer Connelly as Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth, The Goblin King.

LABYRINTH – Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King (David Bowie). Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers.

The sequel’s script was penned by Maggie Levin.

It isn’t mentioned if Scott and his writing/producing partner C. Robert Cargill (Doctor Strange) will take a crack at working on the script.

How exactly the plan on tackling the second film remains to be seen and given the dark nature of the 80’s film, it’ll be very difficult to land another PG rating from the modern MPAA.

Scott Derrickson is best known for helming Marvel’s Doctor Strange and famously exiting Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness over creative differences that led to the hiring of Sam Raimi as a replacement.

Casting information wasn’t mentioned along with production and release dates. Given the current climate of production delays due to the global Coronavirus pandemic and backlogged projects we might not hear when they expect to begin filming for some time.

The Henson Company recently resurrected The Dark Crystal, another beloved Henson film from the 1980s, with their prequel series for Netflix titled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Ryan Gosling Attached To Universal’s ‘Wolfman’ Reboot

Yesterday, it was reported by Variety that actor Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, Drive, The Nice Guys) is now attached to lead Universal Pictures’ Wolfman reboot. The film is said to be seeking a director with the new horror film set during present time and expected to take tone cues from the thriller Nightcrawler.

One of the directors in the mix is Bad Education’s Cory Finley.

Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo wrote the film’s script which is based on a pitch from Gosling.

Universal Pictures had attempted to quickly craft their own cinematic universe with the Dark Universe featuring their classic horror characters. They ended up having to scrap the entire thing after the horrible box office and critical reaction to Tom Cruise’s Mummy reboot directed by Alex Kurtzman. Instead, the studio decided to try something different which led to them hiring Upgrade’s Leigh Whannel to write and direct a brand new version of The Invisible Man for them.

Action star Dwayne Johnson at one time was connected for a previous incarnation of the Wolfman.

It will certainly be interesting to see if they’ll employ traditional makeup effects for their new werewolf special effects or cop-out to use CGI visual effects that would lessen the impact of the iconic horror character on-screen.

Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) directed the 2010 film which starred Beneicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving.

A timeline of when they plan to begin production or release the Wolfman is unclear at this time.

SOURCE: VARIETY