Category: Film News

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’: Paramount Enlists The Jost Brothers To Write New Movie Produced By Michael Bay

Paramount Pictures had previously assigned Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to produce an animated film focused on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rogen took to Twitter to announce that his CGI-animated movie is going to be released on August 11, 2023. The film is directed by Jeff Rowe, who wrote on Disney’s Gravity Falls and Netflix’s Disenchantment. He most recently co-directed the Netflix film The Mitchells Vs. The Machines.

Well, Paramount wants more Ninja Turtles.

Deadline reports that Colin and Casey Jost have been tapped to pen a new movie with Michael Bay set to produce, the assumption is that this will be “live-action” but unknown if it’ll be a continuation of the previous two movies or a hard-reboot. There had been talk that next live-action film would be a reboot but it’s not mentioned in this report.

Colin Jost is famously a writer and Weekend Update co-host on Saturday Night Live.

Starting out as a violent comic book turned kids cartoon and toyline that was eventually developed into a live-action film franchise at New Line Cinema starting in 1990 and was recently rebooted with two installments at Paramount from producer Michael Bay.

Paramount hasn’t had much luck with reboots lately as the Michael Bay movies were increasingly bizarre/incoherent in comparison to the original Ninja Turtles films and the studio recently saw their G.I. Joe reboot Snake Eyes flop hard only earning $28.8 million in two weekends of release on a budget of $88 million.

The original 1990 movie had practical suits from Jim Henson, his final film before passing from cancer.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES – In New York, mysterious radioactive ooze has mutated four sewer turtles into talking, upright-walking, crime-fighting ninjas. The intrepid heroes — Michelangelo (Robbie Rist), Donatello (Corey Feldman), Raphael (Josh Pais) and Leonardo (Brian Tochi) — are trained in the Ninjutsu arts by their rat sensei, Splinter. When a villainous rogue ninja, who is a former pupil of Splinter, arrives and spreads lawlessness throughout the city, it’s up to the plucky turtles to stop him.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Planet Of The Apes 4’: Weta Digital Returning With ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ VFX Supervisor Tapped

It was heartbreaking to see Wes Ball’s (Maze Runner Trilogy) big special effects event film Mouse Guard getting scrapped as part of the wave of films that got cancelled in the wake of Disney’s merger with 21st Century Fox and taking oversight on feature films in development at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios).

Ball would instead be announced as the director and co-writer on a fourth installment in the modern Planet of The Apes franchise, the filmmaker assuring fans the project wouldn’t be a reboot but taking place in the same universe as the last three movies. The director co-writing the new film with Josh Friedman, who has worked on Steven Spielberg’s War of The Worlds, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Terminator: Dark Fate, the Snowpiercer series, and Apple’s Foundation.

It looks like the next film should have the same level of impressive visual effects as previous installments.

The Ronin has learned that Weta Digital’s Phillip Leonhardt will be the visual effects supervisor on the untitled film having previously worked on Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Leonhardt is no stranger to the franchise with involvement on Matt Reeves’ War For The Planet of The Apes.

Weta Digital was working closely with Ball on Mouse Guard and Andy Serkis was going to have a role on that film, we would not be shocked if Serkis returned for Planet of The Apes 4. However, Serkis playing new chimpanzee role within the franchise could mimic how Roddy McDowall played both Cornelius and Caesar in the original string of films.

Folks unfamiliar with the original Planet of The Apes movies might be unaware that the modern trilogy really only covered pics such as Conquest of The Planet of The Apes and Battle For The Planet of The Apes, stories that don’t take place in the original timeline of the first two movies which is nearly 2,000 years in the future from the settings we’ve recently seen.

If I’m 20th Century Studios and Wes Ball, I would be ready at this point to make the true time jump to the point were the apes are running their own evolved society (less primitive and speaking) and potentially seeing a group of astronauts crash land on this planet having to navigate a setting where humans are no longer the dominate species. Beneath The Planet of The Apes revealed a secret group of mutated humans have gained the ability of telepathy (something that nobody has tackled since that installment), which could be an interesting spin as it’s not just a straight rehash of the original 1968 film and Tim Burton’s misguided reboot from 2001 starring Mark Wahlberg with fantastic makeup from Rick Baker.

Speaking of Wahlberg, we have our fingers crossed that Wes Ball hires someone with a little more age/skill to play a lead human role such as Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us) for potential roles of Colonel George Taylor or John Brent.

It was revealed he would be reuniting with production designer Daniel Dorrance ((A Good Day To Die Hard, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, The Expendables 3) on Planet of The Apes 4.

We have to assume that Ball will also bring on Maze Runner: The Death Cure cinematographer Gyula Pados (Predators, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level), who has been working on David F. Sandberg’s DC Comics sequel Shazam! Fury of The Gods in Atlanta. Pados having extensive experience with exterior shoots would certainly make his addition to the project an asset.

How far along Planet of The Apes 4 is at the moment is unknown and when they hope to begin shooting.

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Could Dan Levy Be Joining ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’?

The MCU might be adding another Canadian actor.

Asma Khan has posted a pic on Twitter of actors Paul Rudd and Emmy-winner Dan Levy of Schitt’s Creek enjoying a meal at her London restaurant, Darjeeling Express.

Is there a chance that Levy is joining Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania?

There are examples of these hang-outs signaling potential roles.

This normally wouldn’t be worth noticing, however, we saw Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi hanging out with Russell Crowe in Sydney only for the actor to confirm he is playing Zeus in Thor: Love & Thunder.

Benedict Wong was also spotted with Simu Liu at a restaurant in Australia and he’s now confirmed to have a major role as his MCU character Wong in Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.

Director Peyton Reed has an affection for comedians previously giving cameos to Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington in past Ant-Man installments. Dan Levy, like Simu Liu, both had hit comedy shows on Canadian network CBC meaning that Marvel Studios/casting team are aware of those shows. The popularity of Schitt’s Creek skyrocketed before it’s final season.

Levy has teased an openness to play mutant and Alpha Flight member Northstar on Twitter.

This is just speculation and could be simply two friends hanging out. However, Levy seemingly doesn’t have anything shooting in London and interacting with Rudd would suggest the two are potentially in the same bubble (it’s expected Marvel cast members are sticking with people from the set to avoid spreading COVID-19).

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania has finally started shooting at Pinewood UK Studios under the working title Dust Bunny and we’ll see Jonathan Majors playing the film’s big villain, Kang The Conqueror. The evil variant of Majors’ Loki character He That Remains and is expected to become the next Thanos, being an antagonist in multiple MCU movies.

The rest of the cast includes Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton as the newest incarnation of Cassie Lang, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The sequel will debut in theaters on February 17, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRfRtJciK22/

SOURCE: ASMA KHAN/DAN LEVY

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‘Expendables 4’: Sly Stallone Teases Fourth Installment Might Finally Start Shooting Soon

There’s been multiple hiccups and delays concerning studio plans to move forward with a fourth Expendables installment. However, Sly Stallone in the last two years has retired from both the Rambo and Rocky/Creed franchises allowing him to do The Expendables 4, something that has been in development for over five years now.

The movies focus on a team of professional mercenaries based out of the United States, that normally are assigned to rescue missions or operations deemed too dangerous. Their main draw over the years has been pitting various action stars together that previous have never worked together on the big screen. Notable stars include Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Chuck Norris, Antonio Banderas, Mickey Rourke, and Mel Gibson.

Stallone has taken to Instagram over the weekend to tease that the project might finally be underway in the near future. Showing off a new ring for his character Barney.

“Just finished the designing the new ring for EXPENDABLE 4 It’s a little heavy, but it’ll definitely put some muscles on your fingertips,” Stallone said in his post on Instagram.

There have been expectations that Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Arnold Schwarzenegger would be part of the cast, but no major announcements concerning a director or who will be joining Stallone have been made public. Also, there had been a spinoff film reported on a while back that would have focused on Statham’s Lee Christmas, but that seemed to fizzle-out and it’s unknown if that was actually Expendables 4 or not.

Gregory Poirier was the last screenwriter attached to the project and had been expected to shoot in Sofia, Bulgaria at some point.

Expendables 3 attempted a PG-13 rating in what I assume was the studio’s push to make more money, but the film ended up making the least at the box office out of the three installments with only $214.6 million globally, $100 million less than Expendables 2. Hopefully, they’ll wise-up and return to a mature rating given there aren’t many kids out there looking to spend cash watching aging action stars huff and puff for our entertainment.

SOURCE: SLY STALLONE

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Tom Hanks Is The Latest Addition To Wes Anderson’s Next Movie

It’s finally happening, the melding of the minds between two American cinematic icons.

Two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia) is joining Wes Anderson’s latest pic, which was revealed by the folks over at The Hollywood Reporter. The project is supposed to begin shooting this September in Spain after pivoting from a shoot in Rome, Italy. However, they’re quick to say that Hank’s role is small and could be more of a cameo.

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.

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.

Hanks recently played Geppetto in Robert Zemeckis’ live-action Pinocchio movie for Disney and made headlines when he contracted COVID while shooting Baz Lurman’s Elvis movie in Australia.

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

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘Godless’ Actor Samuel Marty To Appear In ‘Predator 5’

We’ve all been extremely interested to see what has been cooking with Disney/20th Century Studios’ next Predator installment as Predator 5, helmed by 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg (The Boys), has been quietly shooting in the Calgary area this summer.

The Ronin has learned that actor Samuel Marty, best known as Truckee from Netflix’s Godless, will have a role in the new untitled Predator movie. The young actor has also appeared on shows such as Fargo, Ray Donovan, and Hell On Wheels.

20th Century Studios and director Dan Tratchenberg have been mostly tight-lipped about Predator 5, but small details have been confirmed over the last couple of weeks/days.

Producers John Davis and John Fox while speaking with Collider, compared the film to The Revenant, teasing the period setting and supporting previous reporting that the film would focus on Native American characters.

This was amplified when cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane) posted a set photo from Skulls (working title) on Instragram with a Native American village seemingly in the background of the shot.

We first confirmed that Kyle Strauts (The Predator) would be back in the predator suit and mentioned Amber Midthunder (Legion, The Ice Road) as the potential female protagonist of the new film.

Midthunder and Marty would be the more high-profile of the cast members which are expected to be made up of mostly newcomers.

It was also announced by producer John Davis during an interview with Collider, that Dan Trachtenberg will be directing a Waterworld streaming series for Universal Television that will take place 20 years after the events of the Kevin Costner movie.

Predator 5 has yet to be given an official release date despite previous teases from trades about a date next summer and while producers have stated they’re shooting for an R-rating they’re open to the idea of it becoming PG-13 during the editing process (I really hope not).

PREDATOR – Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a soldier of fortune, is hired by the U.S. government to secretly rescue a group of politicians trapped in Guatemala. But when Dutch and his team, which includes weapons expert Blain (Jesse Ventura) and CIA agent George (Carl Weathers), land in Central America, something is gravely wrong. After finding a string of dead bodies, the crew discovers they are being hunted by a brutal creature with superhuman strength and the ability to disappear into its surroundings.

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‘Crimes Of The Future’: David Cronenberg Reunites With ‘Pacific Rim’ & ‘Blade II’ Production Designer Carol Spier For New Sci-Fi Movie

Canadian director David Cronenberg (The Fly, Naked Lunch, Eastern Promises) is finally returning to the sci-fi genre as he’ll write and direct the science fiction thriller Crimes of The Future (title lifted from his 1970 film) that will be distributed in the U.S. by Neon (Parasite).

While some embrace the limitless potential of trans-humanism, others attempt to police it. Either way, “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome” is spreading fast. Saul Tenser is a beloved performance artist who has embraced Accelerated Evolution Syndrome, sprouting new and unexpected organs in his body. Along with his partner Caprice, Tenser has turned the removal of these organs into a spectacle for his loyal followers to marvel at in real-time theatre. But with both the government and a strange subculture taking note, Tenser is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.

Crimes of The Future’s cast so far includes Viggo Mortensen (Lord of The Rings, Eastern Promises, The Road, Alatriste), Lea Seydoux (Spectre, No Time To Die, The Lobster), Kristen Stewart (Underwater, Panic Room, Spencer), Scott Speedman (Underworld The Strangers), Welket Bungué, Don McKellar, and Lihi Kornowski.

The Ronin can confirm the sci-fi film will see Cronenberg reunite with his longtime production designer Carol Spier (Eastern Promises, Naked Lunch, A History of Violence). She’s also worked on Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, Blade II, Mimic, and had been attached for his At The Mountains of Madness film at Universal Pictures before the project dissolved.

There is also an expectation that David Cronenberg will again work with cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, Eastern Promises, Naked Lunch) on the pic as he’s been the filmmaker’s go-to director of photography since Dead Ringers.

UPDATE: Deadline reports that Canadian cinematographer Douglas Koch (Funny Boy) will be working on the film and that production has started in Greece.

Filming on Crimes of The Future is expected to begin within days as previous reports stated production is taking place in Athens, Greece over the summer.

A release date has yet to be officially announced by Neon.

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‘Flash Gordon’: Taika Waititi’s Animated Film At 20th Century Studios Pivots To Live-Action

A new Flash Gordon movie has been in the works at 20th Century for ages with two different versions previously in development stages with directors Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, X-Men: First Class) and Julius Avery (Overlord) assigned to the project at various points.

Flash Gordon is a pulp sci-fi hero that helped inspire George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise as Han Solo is directly connected to characters like Flash and Buck Rogers. A comic strip hero that debuted in 1937 with many live-action/animated incarnations with a string of serials and a campy film that released in 1980 that included music from Queen.

In the wake of 20th Century’s merger with Disney, Julius Avery’s incarnation was placed on ice and it was later announced that director Taika Waititi would be tackling an animated movie version of Flash Gordon by writing and directing it. However, producer John Davis has spoken to Collider revealing that Taika is currently writing it and has changed his mind wanting to do a live-action movie instead. He didn’t really give a timeline though or when they expect Waititi will be available to shoot it.

“Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, ‘Let’s do it animated.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Then we got into it and started developing it and he said, ‘No, let’s do it live-action.’ I said, ‘Even better,'” John Davis told Collider of Taika’s pivot to live-action with Flash Gordon.

Disney/20th Century certainly lucked-out nabbing the director as watching Thor: Ragnaok it’s hard not to notice that tone and visuals were most likely inspired by the 1980 movie.

Waititi only recently wrapped on Thor: Love & Thunder and is expected to direct a new Star Wars film for Lucasfilm in the near future alongside other films, but it’s possible that Flash Gordon could be the next big thing given how quickly he shoots these projects. He had once been attached to make a movie based on the manga Akira for Warner Bros., but he’s seemingly won’t be doing that.

I’ll continue to keep my fingers crossed that the studio and Taika will consider Black Panther franchise actor Winston Duke as the new Flash Gordon, given the actor’s stature fits the role perfectly and someone like Chris Hemsworth would be a little redundant since his Thor incarnation is essentially Flash now.

FLASH GORDON – Prepare to save the universe with the King of the Impossible! Alex Raymond’s famous comic strip blasts to life in the timeless sci-fi cult adventure Flash Gordon! When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon unwittingly finds himself heading for the planet Mongo, where – with assistance from beautiful Dale Arden – he’ll take on Ming the Merciless and rescue humankind.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

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‘Black Widow’: Longtime MCU Actress Scarlett Johansson Suing Disney Over Breach Of Contract

Yesterday, Scarlett Johansson made big waves after the Wall Street Journal reported that the actress has filed a lawsuit against Disney claiming that the company breached their contract when pivoting Black Widow from a traditional theatrical window to a hybrid release placing the film on Disney+ (via Premier Access) without adjusting the existing contract after multiple requests from the Johansson’s reps were allegedly ignored.

The outlet reporting that moving Black Widow to Disney+ could end up seeing Johansson lose a hefty $50 million in bonuses.

Disney has responded to the lawsuit with the following statement:

“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so. But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court,” John Berlinksi, Johansson’s attorney, told Business Insider.

Interestingly enough, while the statement says the suit doesn’t have “merit” they’re not willing to say they didn’t breach the contract. This is likely because that could be used against them if this goes to court as a public statement would be used as evidence. It’s worth mentioning that only a judge would be the one to gauge if this lawsuit has merit, not Disney’s fleet of lawyers that are likely looking to avoid paying out Johansson the millions she believes she is owed for as long as possible.

Scarlett’s contractual bonus/back-end deal with Marvel/Disney isn’t a new thing as other actors such as Robert Downey Jr. has had similar deals as an incentive to stick around beyond their original lengthy contract. When Johansson originally signed on to work with Marvel, she was low-balled during the Phase One era spearheaded by Ike Perlmutter having to commit to 6-9 films while other actors made much much more for the same level of work. The idea was that bonuses were established to reward legacy actors for future/past contributes to the Marvel franchise. In the case of Black Widow, she was a producer and helped shape the film.

It’s notable that while Disney is attempting to shame Johansson to filing a lawsuit during the pandemic, the company is extremely comfortable laying off over 32,000 employees along with earning money from their theme parks and in-person theatrical releases as the Delta variant has been an increasing danger to the American public for months now.

During the opening weekend of Black Widow’s domestic release, Disney felt the need to gloat about earning a solid $80 million at the box office alongside another $60 million from Premier Access earnings as they issued a press release highlighting the money they made. Seemingly bragging they were able to get a large amount of people they were able to coax to theaters.

They’re also releasing Jungle Cruise this weekend as the CDC has revealed the Delta variant is as infectious as chicken pox and an indoor location is the perfect way that the virus could be transmitted to the unvaccinated.

Both NATO and IMAX have pointed to the Premier Access release for Black Widow’s huge drops between weekends that was directly connected to mass online piracy. A regular theatrical window would normally protect the studio from piracy tanking box office until the film hit VOD or home video. As most people wouldn’t be as interested in downloading a blurry cam version recorded on someone’s phone compared to an HD version ripped from the streaming source provided by Disney+.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

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‘Doctor Strange 2’ Extra Casting Teases Fight With Namor Villain Gargantos

We’re still pretty much in the dark concerning Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness outside of the additions of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. The rest of the returning cast consists of Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Rachel McAdams.

One thing we do know that Loki head writer Michael Waldron worked with Raimi to rewrite the script from scratch.

Fans have spotted a listing on Mandy that Yenifer Molina is connected to scene that is expected to feature Namor villain Gargantos. This would be the most recent nod to Namor/Atlantis coming to the MCU and it would support the Namor tease that former director Scott Derrickson made on Twitter before deleting the post.

People have jumped to the conclusion that Molina is actually playing Gargantos, but the role simply says “Gargantos Fight 2” (looks like the name of a scene, not a character) and there is a strong possibly it’s simply a nameless extra role (looking at her other roles in her listings are extremely minor such as “officer worker” and “waitress”) that is fighting against or being attacked by the monstrous villain in an action sequence. Normally, Marvel hires motion-capture actors or bigger names to voice these types of CGI characters.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Molina is simply an extra during a visual effects heavy action scene.

There had been rumblings that Brother Voodoo and Clea would appear but those castings haven’t been made official by either trade reports or confirmations by Marvel. Outside of the return of Baron Mordo we don’t have an official villain despite previous teases of Nightmare being used by Derrickson.

I wouldn’t be shocked if we end up seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appear given that Cumberbatch is confirmed for Spider-Man: No Way Home, but must have shot his scenes in London because he wasn’t spotted in Atlanta and the Doctor Strange 2 production overlapped with Spidey 3.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is set to be released on March 25, 2022.

SOURCE: MANDY