Category: Film News

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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.

Posted on in Film News, News

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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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.

Posted on in Film News, News, Trailers

TRAILER: Sci-Fi Epic ‘Dune’ Is Coming October 22; Fight Like Demons

Today, Warner Bros. has released the main trailer for Denis Villleneuve’s Dune, based on the first half of the classic Frank Herbert sci-fi fantasy novel. It will hit both theaters and HBO Max on October 22 with Legendary hoping that it will turn into a franchise as a sequel covering the second half of the book in already in development and an HBO Max series Dune: The Sisterhood has been announced as well.

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.

The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).

SOURCE: WARNERMEDIA

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Batgirl’: Leslie Grace Nabs Barbara Gordon Role In Solo Movie At HBO Max

A Batgirl movie has been in development for years now and Warner Bros. dodged a bullet when Joss Whedon exited as his toxic behavior on the set of Justice League reshoots among other sets over the years. Instead, the project has moved from Warner Bros. to HBO Max with Bad Boys For Life and Ms. Marvel directing duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are helming the DC Comics from a script penned by Christina Hodson (The Flash, Birds of Prey).

After a recent report of a multiple candidates in the mix to play Barbara Gordon, it’s been revealed by Deadline that In The Heights actress Leslie Grace has secured the role. Barb is the daughter of Gotham City police commissioner Jim Gordon and suits-up alongside Batman, Robin, and handful of other masked vigilantes.

The solo Batgirl film is at HBO Max, but it’ll be curious to see if Grace ends up playing the role any of upcoming DC Comics movies.

Folks have assumed that Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne could end up being a mentor to this incarnation of Barb and seeing the project becoming a female version of Batman Beyond.Given that Batgirl is expected to be set in Gotham City it’ll be interesting to see what villains she’ll end up tackling. If I was Warner Bros./HBO Max, I would plant seeds for Gotham City Sirens by adding Poison Ivy and other potential characters.

Other DC Comics movies in the works include Wonder Woman 3, Zatanna, Blue Beetle, Static Shock, Supergirl, a black Superman movie produced by J.J. Abrams, Hourman, a female version of Plastic Man, and director Chris McKay is still hopeful about making Nightwing.

Batgirl has yet to be given a release date at HBO Max.

IN THE HEIGHTS – In Washington Heights, N.Y., the scent of warm coffee hangs in the air just outside of the 181st St. subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies a vibrant and tight-knit community. At the intersection of it all is a likable and magnetic bodega owner who hopes, imagines and sings about a better life.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Michaela Coel Joins ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ In Mystery MCU Role

Marvel announced that production has started on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever recently in Atlanta with Ryan Coogler back as co-writer and director on the Black Panther sequel. The studio, cast, and crew are still mourning the loss of Chadwick Boseman, who died after a battle with colon cancer last summer.

There is news coming from Variety that Marvel has cast actress Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) in an undisclosed MCU role.

We could easily speculate that the could be someone like Princess Zanda of Narobia or someone more familar to audiences such as Ororo Munroe (X-Men’s Storm). However, it’s unknown if Marvel is ready to introduce main X-Men members anytime soon.

Various online rumors have pointed to the inclusion of Doctor Doom and Namor The Submariner, but neither have been confirmed officially as Marvel still hasn’t announced a villain for Black Panther 2.

I’m still interested to see their angle to move on from T’Challa and Chadwick Boseman, as they’ve said they don’t want to recast the role.

The sequel will be released on July 8, 2022 with a returning cast that includes Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, and Martin Freeman. A Wakanda focused Disney+ series is also on the way from Ryan Coogler.

BLACK PANTHER – After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Zack Snyder Will Make ‘Army Of The Dead 2’ After He Finishes ‘Rebel Moon’; Could It Explore Area 51 Or Alien Origin?

The other week it was announced that Zack Snyder would be reuniting with Netflix for his sci-fi Rebel Moon, that he plans on shooting next and is based on his old Star Wars pitch that would homage the classic samurai movie “Seven Samurai” directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.

The story is set in motion when a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius. Desperate people dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them make a stand.

Today, it was announced that Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder’s Stone Quarry Productions have signed a first-look deal with Netflix. The deal revealed from The Hollywood Reporter, includes Army of The Dead 2 that will be written by Shay Hatten and will shoot after Rebel Moon. Rebel Moon is said to begin shooting in 2022 with franchise early plans for sequels and spinoff installments.

We don’t know exactly how the sequel will focus on but there are some breadcrumbs our there.

The opening sequence from Army of The Dead with the military convoy transporting Zeus, seemingly gave the impression it came from Area 51 and Zack Snyder has teased the alien connection the zombies’ origin (explaining the blue glow is alien in origin). Producer Deborah Snyder spoke to IndieWire a few months back reiterating that but teased future projects could cover that angle, but tried not to exactly spoil things.

“We hint in the movie that we’re coming from Area 51, so maybe there’s a sci-fi element to it. I’m not going to say for sure, but it’s really fun to be able to do that and also to see our team when they were at the top of their game, doing the search and rescue. It’s just another bit of information. Our movie takes place after the pandemic, they’ve contained the zombies to Vegas, but we don’t really talk about where it comes from. Where did this pathogen come from? How did this all happen? And we see our team and that they had been on these rescue missions. We see some flashbacks, what they were doing, but we don’t really know more, so the anime series is a great way to find out the origin of this,” producer Deborah Snyder teased about the alien/Area 51 linkage when speaking with IndieWire.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed for aliens, martians or a huge underground facility/Area 51 in the sequel.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

Dwayne Johnson Says He Won’t Be Involved With ‘Fast & Furious 10’ Or ‘Fast & Furious 11’; Wishes Them “Best Of Luck”

Once upon a time, the Fast & Furious franchise had lost a bit of it’s mojo and attempted a bit of a resurrection by luring back Vin Diesel when his blockbuster career sort of fizzled-out. Universal Pictures eventually got the bright idea to start asking established movie stars to take supporting or villain roles in the franchise leading to Dwayne Johnson playing Hobbs that sort of signaled to other bigger names that is was okay to put their name to the franchise (which had been a complete joke at one point).

Later on, we’d see folks like Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, and John Cena get involved with the Fast franchise.

Interestingly enough, when it was time to start making spinoff films, Hobbs & Shaw was the first one to get made with the pairing of Johnson and Statham. The movie was a good gamble because it ended up earning $759 million at the global box office and a sequel is officially in the works.

There had been tension between stars Vin Diesel and Johnson (manufactured or not), but it seems real enough to the point that Dwayne hasn’t been involved with the movies since The Fate of The Furious. Well, the actor is promoting his big Disney movie Jungle Cruise that he stars alongside Emily Blunt and revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that he won’t be returning for Fast & Furious 10 or Fast & Furious 11, wishing them well.

“I laughed and I laughed hard. I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that. And that I’ve wished them well. I wish them well on Fast 9. And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me,” Johnson told THR and revealed he won’t be involved with the final two movies.

F9: The Fast Saga has already earned an impressive global cume of $592.6 million at the box office, a large feat given most pandemic era blockbusters have struggled to turn a profit.

Dwayne Johnson recently wrapped on his DC Comics film Black Adam, a passion project that took well over a decade to get in front of cameras. His busy schedule likely means he can find other things to do and with the Hobbs & Shaw films can dip his toes back in the franchise if he really has the itch.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Anthony Mackie & David Harbour To Star In Netflix’s ‘We Have A Ghost’ From ‘Freaky’ Director Christopher Landon; Filming Has Started

Freaky director Christopher Landon has secured a high-profile project at Netflix with We Have a Ghost, which is based on the short story Ernest from Geoff Manaugh.

We Have A Ghost follows Kevin and his family, who find a ghost named Ernest haunting their new home and get turned into overnight social media sensations. But when Kevin and Ernest go rogue to investigate the mystery of Ernest’s past, they become a target of the CIA.

The news coming from The Hollywood Reporter adds that the fantastic cast consists of Anthony Mackie (Outside The Wire, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier), David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow), Tig Nataro (Army of The Dead, Star Trek: Discovery), Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde), Erica Ash (Survivor’s Remorse, Uncle Drew), Isabella Russo (School of Rock the Musical, Crashing), Niles Fitch (This Is Us), Faith Ford (Murphy Brown, Hope & Faith) and Steve Coulter (Shotgun Wedding, The Conjuring).

It’s not mentioned in the report, but Landon’s previous work has skewed more comedic/tongue-in-cheek and I guess we’ll have to assume that is the case with We Have A Ghost, given that Harbour and Mackie have done humorous roles in the past.

Christopher Landon took to Twitter to announced that film had officially started on Monday and confirmed that cinematographer Marc Spicer (Escape Room, Escape Room 2) will be behind the camera. Spicer has a wonderful eye and those Escape Room movies have an extremely slick look which should mean that We Have A Ghost will really have a strong visual edge to it.

The pairing of Mackie and Harbour is interesting as Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige suggested on Twitter (during a Black Widow watch party) recently he’d like to see Sam Wilson’s Captain America and Alexei’s Red Guardian come to blows at some point. It’ll be interesting if the two actors could reunite for an MCU project like Captain America 4.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘The Marvels’: Director Nia DaCosta Says Marvel Is Giving Her A Lot Of Freedom On The ‘Captain Marvel’ Sequel

Captain Marvel was a huge hit for Marvel Studios as the film, like Black Panther, crossed a billion dollars at the global box office and they’re already moving forward with a sequel that was recently re-titled as The Marvels. The new title seems to reflect the group of three different generations of Captain Marvel incarnations with a cast that consists of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, newcomer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, and Zawe Ashton is reportedly playing the film’s villain. 

Confirming that she is in London getting ready to shoot The Marvels, director Nia DaCosta spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the Captain Marvel sequel and how Marvel Studios is giving her more freedom than she’s had on her last two projects.

“It’s a lot less traumatizing to work on for sure [laughs]. But this movie also deals with specific, personal, sometimes sad things. But no, it’s been nice to work in a different world for sure. It’s amazing. [It’s] more [freedom] than I’ve had on anything. It’s great because we’re all just comic-book nerds who want to make a great comic-book movie,” DaCosta tells Entertainment Weekly.

The Marvels (working title Goat Rodeo) as we’ve previously confirmed will mainly shoot at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England with a production team that has cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (Widows, Judas & The Black Messiah) and production designer Cara Brower (Candyman).

Local South Korean outlets reported on Parasite actor Park Seo-Joon joining the film, but have yet to be supported by Hollywood trades or Marvel/Disney.

There is a proximity to the Skrull event series Secret Invasion, which is also shooting close to Longcross and likely means the cast members on both shoots could crossover. It’s also assumed that Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel series will also plant seeds for The Marvels too.

Disney has given the sequel a release date of November 11, 2022.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY