Category: Film News

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‘Tron: Legacy’ & ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Director Joseph Kosinski Returns To Sci-Fi With ‘Chariot’ For Warner Bros.

Filmmaker Joseph Kosinski finished the big Tom Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which simply waiting to be released by Paramount Pictures this fall and is in post-production stages with his Chris Hemsworth pic Escape From Spiderhead at Netflix.

After previously talking the science-fiction genre with Disney’s Tron: Legacy and the Tom Cruise action movie Oblivion, Kosinski is reportedly returning to the genre for a comic book adaptation, Chariot. The adaptation, according to Deadline, was won by Warner Bros. after the project went to auction.

The Chariot was a Cold War-era secret government project to provide its star agent with a weapon unlike any other in the form of a supercharged muscle car. It sank into the ocean decades ago, and the agent along with it. Now, a petty criminal looking to reform his life has stumbled upon the Chariot, and he’s about to find out that the agent’s consciousness is still controlling it in this synthwave thriller.

Julian Meiojas (Jack Ryan) adapted the sci-film’s script from the AWA Studios graphic novel written by comic book creator and screenwriter Bryan Edward Hill (American Carnage, Bitter Root) and drawn by Priscilla Petraites (Rat Queens).

From design standpoint, Chariot lucked-out landing at the feet of Joseph Kosinski as Tron: Legacy was pure eye candy and this new project could easily take similar visual cues, alongside a hip synthwave soundtrack. Sadly, Daft Punk have broken up and won’t likely get involved here.

With the popularity if the Fast & Furious franchise, picking up a high-octane driving genre movie based on a graphic novel doesn’t sound like the worst idea imaginable, hopefully, it doesn’t turn out as generic as Need For Speed did. Chariot certainly feels like it could be the fourth project for Kosinski and Tom Cruise, as Warner Bros. is also trying put together a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow with director Doug Liman but is reliant on schedules and might offer this up if things are delayed further.

Then again, it could be a good excuse for the director to reunite with Garrett Hedlund.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘John Wick 4’ Adds Chilean Martial Arts Actor Marko Zaror From ‘Machete Kills’ & ‘Alita: Battle Angel’

Production is currently under way in Germany on John Wick 4 starring Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski behind the camera.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him. Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

There is yet another martial arts trained actor joining the fourth installment, as Deadline reports that Chilean actor Marko Zaror (Machete Kills, Undisputed III: Redemption, Alita: Battle Angel, From Dusk Till Dawn) is in talks for an undisclosed role that might be villainous in nature.

The franchise’s newest additions joining for the fourth film include Japanese action star Horiyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. 

Returning actors include Ian McShane as Winston, Lance Reddick as Charon, and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King.

We’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahamn making an appearance in John Wick 4.

The Ronin first reveled and confirmed cinematographer Dan Laustsen would be back behind the camera.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022 and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Black Adam’: Dwayne Johnson Posts New Set Photo Showing Off Costume

Dwayne Johnson has taken to Instagram to post a new pic from the set of Black Adam in Atlanta and gives us the best look at his DCEU character’s costume as production is about to wrap soon.

Joining Johnson on the superhero project directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) includes Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall aka Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson aka Dr. Fate, Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein aka Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkell aka Cyclone, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz aka Isis, Bodhi Sabongui, James Cusati-Moyer, and Marwan Kenzari expected to play the film’s villain.

A project like Black Adam will allow them to introduce a multitude of new characters in a single installment with The Justice Society playing a role in the film. They should be an interesting addition to the DCEU alongside the Shazam! family.

The New Line Cinema project is going to be releasing head-to-head with Indiana Jones 5 on July 29, 2022 as Lucasfilm announced they would be sticking to the summer date even after Warner Bros. placed Black Adam in the same spot. We imagine one of them is going to eventually find a new date down the road with Indy’s recently production delays it’s starting to feel like Disney will find a new release date.

“This image of Black Adam from behind gives you a tactile sense of the absolute massive scale and size of our movie. You also see a little of the intricate and beautiful textured detail of Black Adam’s body suit. (this is not your typical DC or Marvel muscle suit) And finally you get a glimpse of the enormous and appropriate destruction. As we all know, superheroes have a code of justice and don’t kill the bad guys. But, Black Adam does. The hierarchy of power in the DC UNIVERSE is changing.”

SOURCE: DWAYNE JOHNSON

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‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland Says Red Guardian Needs His Own Movie; Should They Do A Winter Guard Project?

Marvel Studios is currently at a point where they’re open to branching-out various characters with their own Disney+ shows or even giving them their own films. A good example is Anthony Mackie leading Captain America 4 after playing a sidekick for years and then landing his own series with The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

Could we see that with David Harbour’s Red Guardian?

Black Widow director Cate Shortland believes that Red Guardian deserves his own film while speaking with The Wrap. She previously said she’d return for a hypothetical Black Widow 2, that could be led by other characters (Florence Pugh’s Yelena is a given).

“Sometimes — not sometimes — often I would be crying with laughter. And there was so much good stuff that didn’t end up in the film. But I think that’s why Red Guardian needs his own movie. Because it will be so funny,” the filmmaker told The Wrap as she champions the idea of a Red Guardian spinoff film.

After mentioning to Collider that he’s had early talks with Marvel about reprising the role, David Harbour mentioned to The Wrap he is game for a Red Guardian project if Marvel decided to make it.

“People want to see more of this character, I would love to give people more. And I’m glad he’s alive at the end of the movie too,” David Harbour said when asked if he’d want to reprise the role in a series or movie.

Clearly, there is more you could do with Red Guardian because in the comics he leads his own team, Winter Guard (made up of other Russian Marvel characters), and allows him to do his own side adventures outside of the Black Wdow franchise. Darkstar, Ursa Major, Red Widow, Vostok, Perun, Crimson Dynamo, Fantasma, Sibercat, Powersurge, and Chernobog could end up being members of the Winter Guard roster led by The Red Guardian.

Yelena briefly calls Alexei, Crimson Dynamo, an Iron Man villain and member of Winter Guard.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: THE WRAP

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Quentin Tarantino Wanted An All-Black Cast For His ‘Reservoir Dogs’ Remake; Could End Up Becoming A Stage Play Instead

Not too long ago, Quentin Tarantino revealed that one of the early ideas he was considering for his tenth and final film was a remake of his 1992 hit film Reservoir Dogs, but he abandoned the idea and promised that it wouldn’t end up doing it as he decided against it but mulled over turning it into a novel. 

However, while speaking with CinemaBlend’s Reel Blend Podcast (via The Playlist) the filmmaker dished that the crux of the remake was having a fresh perspective by having an all-black cast and added that he might consider doing it as a stage play instead. 

“I didn’t get that far in it, but I’ve decided that if I wanted to do something like that I would do it more onstage. I think that would be cool, but my thought process was, well, if it’s a strong piece of material, it would work doing it any time, it does seem timeless, and with a new group of actors, it would have a new life and it would have a new life because of the fact that I didn’t really know what the hell I was doing when I did Reservoir Dogs, and now I know what I’m doing a little bit more so that could be interesting. I won’t have the youthful exuberance that I had, but we’ll see how much that accounts for anything,” Tarantino said of remaking the film because of his years of experience being applied to that original idea. 

The filmmaker continued revealing that he wanted to cast black actors, “At the time, I was considering doing it as a movie, making it as an all-Black cast, that would have been my twist on it as far as making it a different movie. Nah, I don’t think I took it that far,” he said when asked about a potential cast for the remake. “I think part of the idea to open up would be just to see who responded to it and figure it out that way.”

Tarantino’s stage play idea isn’t a new thing as when his Hateful Eight script leaked online he cancelled the film, only to do a play version that eventually inspired him to return to the feature film incarnation after having a bunch of much fun dong it live with an audience.

Considering that he didn’t get that far with coming up with ideas for the new cast. I figured I’d come up with my dream cast after re-watching the film and trying to figure out, who would likely work for the characters and also be people that Tarantino would want to work with given their body of work. 

  • Don Cheadle – Mr. White
  • Daniel Kaluuya – Mr. Orange
  • Jamie Foxx – Mr. Blonde
  • Brian Tyree Henry – Mr. Pink
  • Samuel L. Jackson – Joe Cabot
  • Craig Robinson – Nice Guy Eddie
  • Jonathan Majors – Mr. Brown
  • Laurence Fishburne – Mr. Blue
  • Jake Gyllenhaal – Officer Marvin Nash
  • Walton Goggins – Detective Holdaway

I’d also like to see a setting and era switch-up, possibly seeing this crew stealing from Al Capone during the height of the gangster’s empire of crime in Chicago in the 1920s (the 1970s could work too). That would allow Tarantino to make his large scale gangster film just like his directing heroes Brian De Palma (The Untouchables) and Sergio Leone (Once Upon A Time In America).

SOURCE: REEL BLEND PODCAST

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Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Film ‘Kitbag’ Adds Oscar-Winning ‘Gladiator’ Costume Designer Janty Yates

Ridley Scott and Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix are set to reunite for an epic period film at Apple Studios that will focus on Napoleon Bonaparte with Phoenix playing the lead role. Shooting is expected to begin next year in the United Kingdom with Scott reportedly adding The Last Duel’s Jodie Comer to play Josephine. The script was penned by All The Money In The World’s David Scarpa

The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

The Ronin can now confirm that the period epic has added Oscar-winning costume designer Janty Yates, who previously worked with both Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix on Gladiator. Yates’ extensive credits include Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, Exodus, Raised By Wolves, Prometheus, The Last Duel and the Lady Gaga-led crime film House of Gucci.

Famously, Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange, 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Shining) attempted to make a Napoleon project spending years developing and researching it. HBO/MGM recently tried to resurrect as a miniseries with Steven Spielberg producing and Cary Fukunaga (No Time To Die, True Detective, Masters of The Air) directing.

Phoenix is currently shooting Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd. in Montreal and is attached to co-star with Rooney Mara in director Lynne Ramsey’s Polaris.

There is an assumption that Scott’s longtime cinematographer Dariusz Wolski will be part of the film’s crew as well.

Speaking of Gladiator, the British filmmaker has been developing a direct sequel with The Town screenwriter Peter Craig and takes place 25-30 years after the events of the original movie that earned Russell Crowe a Best Actor Oscar statue. There is an expectation that Spencer Treat Clark’s (Animal Kingdom, Glass, Unbreakable) Lucius will be the focus of that project.

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‘Black Widow’ Heading Towards $80M+ Opening Weekend & David Harbour Teases Red Guardian’s Future

Marvel Studios and Disney waiting over a full year to release Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is likely going to pay off big time for the studio, as the film is said to have already earned nearly $40 million ($39.5 million) on Friday at the domestic box office and it’s a good start considering the solo film’s $200 million budget.

Estimates from Deadline now place the full weekend opening potentially heading towards $80-90 million, which will give the film a pandemic era box office record. 

Collider also recently spoke with Red Guardian actor David Harbour about plans to see his Russian character making a return to the MCU in the not too distant future. 

“There is some chatter around certain things. We were pretty focused on just this. They also have a lot of stuff in the pipe that, it seems like in this particular phase, there’s a lot of different… There’s like Eternals…There’s different elements to this universe that I think they’re branching out at this point until they start to do this. I knew I wasn’t involved in that branch. The discussions were… They didn’t really give a sense of what was up next. It was more just really focused on this movie, and some speculation of possibilities,” David Harbour responded to the question of his character Red Guardian’s potential return in the future. 

Stuff like a Thunderbolts project or even Anthony Mackie’s Captain American 4 would be a good bet to make for Red Guardians’ return unless Marvel potentially considers giving Alexei Shostakov a solo Disney+ series.

Director Cate Shortland has talked up the idea of returning for a Black Widow sequel focusing on “other characters,” in theory, that could be a way to have him return by including Alexei alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow. 

“I think following a different character, yes. I think Scarlett is really happy that she’s leaving the party, you know, and she’s not the last to leave. She decided she wanted to go. And I don’t think she would want to come back at the moment,” the filmmaker told the Radio Times when asked about the possibility of a sequel and alluding to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova taking over the mantle.

As it stands, Marvel hasn’t announced plans for Black Widow 2. However, Pugh’s Yelena will appear in the Hawkeye series that will likely drop on Disney+ later in the year.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

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Paul Verhoeven Declined To Direct Legendary Flop ‘Cutthroat Island’ To Focus On His Expensive ‘Crusade’ Movie Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

Paul Verhoeven is busy these days making more slightly more artsy films than his commercial Hollywood work with projects like the WWII espionage pic “Black Book,” the French-language revenge thriller “Elle,” and his latest the erotic nun movie “Benedetta” that will debut this week at Cannes. 

In the 1990s, Verhoeven attempted to recapture the magic from the Oscar-winning sci-fi action satire blockbuster “Total Recall” by reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a big-budget epic “Crusade,” that would see the action star returning to his “Conan The Barbarian” roots. The project is Hollywood legend as the studio behind “Total Recall,” Carolco was having massive financial troubles at the time and had two pricey projects on deck, they could only afford to make one of them. Those projects being “Crusade” and the other Geena Davis-led pirate adventure blockbuster “Cutthroat Island,” the studio picked the pirate movie and it tanked so hard it bankrupted the studio, ultimately killing Carolco and “Crusade” among other films with it. 

In an interview with Variety, the Dutch filmmaker reveals that Carolco originally offered him “Cutthroat Island,” but declined because his passion was for reuniting with Schwarzenegger and dishes some details as the project would have seen his character become the king of Jerusalem only settle on a farm by the end of the film, taking cues from Voltaire‘s “Candide.”

Verhoeven reveals he almost made “Cutthroat” after it was offered to him but declined, At one point they even asked me if I was interested in “Cutthroat Island,” but I really wanted to work with Arnold again after “Total Recall.” Our idea was to make this movie where Arnold becomes the king of Jerusalem. At the end he abandons all of that to live with his girlfriend and settles in a little farm. It’s basically the end from Voltaire’s ‘Candide,’ when the main character is asked what he’s going to do now and he says he’s going to cultivate his own garden.

When it was time to make “Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl,” Disney must have been extremely nervous after “Waterworld” and “Cutthroat Island” being monster bombs, both boat/ocean based adventure movies.

Some of the other never made Schwarzenegger movies include a mostly silent version of “I Am Legend” from director Ridley Scott with mostly practical effects that turned into the Will Smith vehicle and a direct sequel to “Total Recall” based on Philip K. Dick‘s “Minority Report” that in the wake of Carolco’s bankruptcy switched studios with director Steven Spielberg severing all ties to “Total Recall” and hiring Tom Cruise to star. 

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Henry Cavill Returns To Spy Genre With Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Argylle’; Bryan Cranston, John Cena & More Join Too

Matthew Vaughn’s next feature film Argylle is officially a go!

A while back, The Ronin first revealed that the title for Vaughn’s flick would be Argylle (originally we thought it was a working title) along with confirmations that the film’s production team would consist of cinematographer George Richmond (Fantastic Beasts 3, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle) and production designer Daniel Taylor (Tetris).

Deadline has now revealed/confirmed the full cast after a handful of names from the cast were revealed yesterday by Observer.

The spy flick based on the upcoming novel by Ellie Conway will star Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Man of Steel), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Moon, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards), Bryce Dallas Howard (Black Mirror, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion), Bryan Cranston (Godzilla, Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone, SCTV, Schitt’s Creek, John Cena (Bumblebee, F9: The Fast Saga), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained).

This will be a return for Cavill to the spy genre after taking roles in Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E and playing a villain in Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout opposite franchise star Tom Cruise.

Director Matthew Vaughn will be reuniting with Cavill after working with him on his second feature film Stardust and more recently worked with Jackson on Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Conway’s novel follows the world’s greatest spy, Argylle, as he is caught up in a globe-trotting adventure.

Here is the character information from the Observer.

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to star in the lead role. Tricked into thinking she’s a writer, her lethal skills return with her memories, setting her down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization she used to work for, the Division. Also in talks to star are Sam Rockwell as a former Division agent and our heroine’s love interest, and Samuel L. Jackson as a rogue agent dedicated to exposing the corruption within the clandestine spy network.

Singer Dua Lipa will also make her acting debut in the project and teased a release in 2022 alongside a teaser poster.

Argylle is said to be the first of a planned trilogy.

We were previously able to confirm filming will be taking place in London as Deadline adds filming begins this August.

Giant Freaking Robot first dished on early plot details.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Big Budget Action Pic ‘Red Notice’ Releases November 12 On Netflix

Netflix has officially announced their high-profile and expensive action movie Red Notice, will drop on November 12 on the streaming giant. The pricey pic costing between $160-200 million stars Hollywood blockbuster darlings Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds in the lead roles.

In the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief.

SOURCE: NETFLIX