Category: Film News

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Legendary’s ‘Toxic Avenger’ Enlists Kevin Bacon As The Villain In The Superhero Satire; Filming Begins This Month In Bulgaria

Before Marvel Comics’ Deadpool, the most violent and comedic character in the “superhero genre” was Troma Films’ Toxie aka The Toxic Avenger. The character debuted in the satirical superhero movie in 1984 that focuses on the transformation of a weakling nerd janitor, Melvin, into the hulking but grotesque titular hero after being dumped into toxic waste.

A new feature film is in the works at Legendary with director Macon Blair set to reboot the character for a new generation as they’ve already assembled a cast that has Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War), Jacob Tremblay (Good Boys, The Predator, Room), and Taylour Paige (Zola, Boogie, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) in lead roles.

The Toxic Avenger reboot has selected an actor to play the film’s villain, as The Hollywood Reporter says they’ve hired veteran actor Kevin Bacon. He’s no stranger to genre pics after previously working on projects such as the sci-fi horror comedy Tremors, James Gunn’s Super, and Joel Schumacher’s underrated thriller Flatliners.

They also mention production begins this month in Bulgaria, a location recently used for Michael Fassbender’s Kung Fury 2.

A string of films were mature but satirical in nature taking the genre to the extreme with hyper-violent scenes including the murder of a child. Despite that, it eventually spawned a Saturday morning cartoon series, a run of comics published by Marvel Comics, and a kids toyline.

THE TOXIC AVENGER – Tromaville, New Jersey is a small American town that terrible criminals have overtaken. As the town’s corrupt mayor sits idly by, muggers, robbers, and teenage punks victimize its helpless citizens. Among the residents of Tromaville is a young man named Melvin—a nerdy, emaciated janitor who works at the local health club. That is he’s meek until a gang of thugs decide to toss the poor kid out a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste. An unexpected metamorphosis takes place as the chemicals take hold of his body, and they transform him into the TOXIC AVENGER—doer of good, and brutal mauler of evil! The rest, as they say, is history as our hero sets out to single handedly wipe out the forces of evil that torment the good people of Tromaville.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Kung Fury 2’ Starring Michael Fassbender & Arnold Schwarzenegger Coming In 2022 – Check Out Wild Pics From The Action Satire

Swedish filmmaker David Sandberg has been putting together a feature film sequel to his crowdfunded Kung Fury trailer that was turned into a short film co-starring Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone. Someone was nutty enough to give him a real budget to work with and make Kung Fury 2 alongside convincing legitimate actors like Michael Fassbender and Arnold Schwarzenegger to appear in it.

David Sandberg also stars as Kung Fury making the project even more bonkers and akin to the VHS era he’s attempting to parody.

Here’s a short synopsis for the bizarre genre mash-up satire.

1985 Miami is kept safe under the watchful eye of Kung Fury and his Thundercops, the ultimate police force assembled from across history to defeat the villainous Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. After the tragic death of a Thundercop sees the group disband, a mysterious villain emerges from the shadows to aid in the Fuhrer’s quest to attain the ultimate weapon. Kung Fury must travel through space and time to save his friends, defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy and defeat evil once and for all.

UPDATE: David Sanberg posted the first image of Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix) as Rey Porter on Instagram.

Sandberg revealed on Instagram last month that Kung Fury 2 would be releasing sometime in 2022.

Check out some promo and behind the scenes images from Kung Fury 2’s shoot in Germany and Bulgaria. The pics certainly showcase a lot of the set construction and practical creature effects as Sandberg seemed to add his own version of King Shark but decided against using motion-capture for it. Arnold Schwarzenegger also seems to be able to live out a fantasy of his, becoming the President, a nod to both Demolition Man and The Simpsons Movie.

Here is the original trailer and music video featuring David Hasselhoff. The short film is age-restricted, so you’ll have to head over to YouTube to watch it.

SOURCE: DAVID SANDBERG

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‘Alien 5’: More Ellen Ripley Concept Art Appears Online From Neill Blomkamp’s Unmade Sequel

Filmmaker Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie, Elysium) famously attempted to put together a new Alien sequel with Sigourney Weaver back in the Ellen Ripley role. Alien 5 aka Red Harvest seemingly would have acted as a direct sequel to James Cameron’s Aliens and ignoring the events of Alien 3/Alien Resurrection allowing them to bring back Hicks and Newt.

Previous concept art revealed that the evil Weyland-Yuanti got their hands on the derelict ship and are breeding xenomorphs in some sort of controlled facility.

Another small batch of concept artwork appeared on the website of artist Geoffroy Thoorens. It shows Ripley wearing a fireproof suit and an image of a space station.

The suit worn by Ripley was actually developed by Alien: Isolation and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker concept artist Calum Alexander Watt. You can see one of his designs for the suit below.

SOURCE: GEOFFROY THOORENS

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Dan Trachtenberg’s ‘Predator 5’ Has Begun Shooting In Calgary

It looks like production Disney’s Predator 5 has kicked off in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The project spent months being under the radar until the trades discovered the film from director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, The Boys), was really a Predator installment as the working title threw people off originally.

Jhane Myers took to Instagram yesterday to announce that Day 1 of filming landed her a predator desert. Something Dan had been teasing on his own Instagram account.

The Ronin first revealed that The Predator’s Kyle Strauts (we’ve now confirmed) would be reprising the role of the titular predator with Legion actress Amber Midthunder potentially taking a lead role (still unconfirmed by Disney/20th Century Studios).

Predator 5’s production team consists of cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane), production designer Kara Lindstrom (Den of Thieves), and stunt coordinator Steven McMichael (Damnation).

Disney hasn’t announced a release date but trades had been speculation it would land a spot in the Summer of 2022.

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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Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Had ‘The Wolverine’ Cinematographer Ross Emery Working As The 2nd Unit Director

It looks like Shang-Chi won’t only have a connection to the Matrix trilogy, but the X-Men franchise as well. The Ronin can confirm that Marvel Studios indeed had Aussie cinematographer Ross Emery working as the second unit director alongside Destin Daniel Cretton on Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.

If you’re unfamiliar with Emery, he was the director of photography on James Mangold’s gorgeous Japanese-set superhero flick The Wolverine and Ridley Scott’s popular sci-fi HBO Max series Raised By Wolves. He also previously worked as a second unit director on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant and with Shang-Chi cinematographer Bill Pope on The Matrix trilogy.

Second unit directors normally handle a bulk of the action sequences, Shang-Chi is being billed as superhero martial arts film and should be action-packed if the teaser trailer is any indication.

Shang-Chi’s main production took place in Sydney at Fox Studios Australia and there was some exterior shots in San Francisco too with additional photography in Los Angeles and England.

There could be an argument made that The Wolverine is the prettiest X-Men film from the 20th Century Fox era. Emery isn’t the only former X-Men franchise cinematographer working on MCU films, as The Ronin first reported that John Mathieson (X-Men: First Class, Logan) was selected by the studio to tackle Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness for director Sam Raimi.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Marvel bringing in James Mangold’s cinematographers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe means that the X-Men filmmaker will get another chance to adapt more Marvel characters in the future. It doesn’t hurt Mangold is already working with Disney by writing/director their big sequel Indiana Jones 5, which just started shooting this week at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom.

Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings will hit theaters exclusively on September 3.

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Joining Simu Liu in the Marvel cast includes Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng. Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, and experience it in theaters on September 3, 2021.

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Amblin’s Dracula Flick ‘Last Voyage Of The Demeter’ Enlists ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ Cinematographer Roman Osin

The Ronin has been able to confirm that Amblin’s upcoming vampire film Last Voyage of The Demeter has added cinematographer Roman Osin. This will see Osin reunite with Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark director André Øvredal.

Zak Olkewicz (Bullet Train, Fear Street) has written the script, which 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.

The project has been around 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.

American actor Corey Hawkins has been officially announced by Amblin for taking the lead role in the new horror film. Hawkins’ credits are Kong: Skull Island, The Walking Dead, Straight Outta Compton, In The Heights, BlacKkKlansman, 6 Underground, Non-Stop, and had a brief role in Marvel’s Iron Man 3.

Filming is going to take place in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Other upcoming Amblin projects include Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Domination, James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5, the WWII series Masters of The Air directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, No Time To Die), and a series based on Stephen King’s The Talisman from The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things).

A release date for Last Voyage of The Demeter has yet to be announced.

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UPDATE: J.J. Abrams-Produced Action Flick ‘Lou’ Starring Allison Janey & Jurnee Smollett Adds Cinematographer

The Ronin has learned that the latest action film from Netflix, Lou, has nabbed cinematographer Michael McDonough (I Am The Night, Fear The Walking Dead, Bosch, Pieces of Her). Bad Robot and J.J. Abrams are producing the film that stars Oscar-winner Allison Janey (Juno, Mom) and Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Lovecraft Country, Escape From Spiderhead) that is set to begin filming soon in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The story centers on a woman whose daughter is kidnapped, so she teams up with the mysterious older woman next door to pursue the kidnapper — a journey into the wilderness that will test their limits and expose dark and shocking secrets from their pasts.

It will be directed by German filmmaker Anna Foerster, who previously helmed Underworld: Blood Wars.

Foerster also worked on episodes of Outlander, Jessica Jones, Westworld (explains the Bad Robot connection), and Carnival Row. At one time, she was attached to direct a sequel to Duncan Jones’ sci-fi thriller Source Code. As a second unit director, working on big action projects such as The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 B.C., and the Charlize Theron pic Æon Flux.

Production is said to begin next week in Vancouver and wrap in late August. This comes after there were extensive delays due to the pandemic in 2020, but things are getting better allowing more productions to begin in various Canadian cities.

I’m sure we’ll be getting more casting announcements in the coming weeks.

Abrams and Bad Robot closed a development deal with WarnerMedia which already has them working on a new Superman film featuring a black incarnation of the iconic superhero and a Justice League Dark series at HBO Max, among other projects.

Netflix hasn’t given Lou an official release date.

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‘Knives Out 2’: Rian Johnson Adds ‘Outer Banks’ Star Madelyn Cline To The Growing Cast

Another potential murder suspect has been added to the cast of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel.

The impressive cast of Knives Out 2 consists of Daniel Craig (No Time To Die), Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy, Army of The Dead), Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Rounders, Moonrise Kingdom), Janelle Monae (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), and Leslie Odom Jr. (Murder On The Orient Express, One Night In Miami).

A new casting report from Deadline mentions that Madelyn Cline has landed a part in Knives Out 2, which will begin shooting later this month in Greece.

Craig will officially reprise the role of detective Benoit Blanc for at least two more films and the scenic filming location of Greece would lead to speculation there has been a murder at some sort of hotel or cruise ship. This is increasingly bolstered by the majority of American cast members in the sequel.

The second film isn’t expected to have any members of the Thrombey family return.

The Knives Out sequels made headlines when Netflix closed a massive deal with Johnson and Craig worth a massive $400 million to secure the next two installments.

The Ronin previous confirmed that Johnson will reunite with his longtime cinematographer Steve Yedlin.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Atomic Blonde’ Actor Bill Skarsgard Reportedly Joins Keanu Reeves In ‘John Wick 4’

Bill Skarsgard is reportedly in talks with Lionsgate to join the cast of John Wick: Chapter 4. The Swedish actor previously worked with John Wick co-director David Leitch on his action flicks Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2. Bill is likely best known to audiences for playing the evil child-eating dimensional entity ,Pennywise The Dancing Clown, in New Line Cinema’s feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

The casting news comes from the folks at Collider, who seem to have a close connection to director Chad Stahelski and have previous revealed location/production details on the new sequel.

Skarsgard joins a cast that already consists of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, and British singer-turned-actress Rina Sawayama. It’s unclear if Halle Berry or Common will return.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John surviving the fall from the roof of The Continential 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. 

John Wick 4 is on the cusp of starting production at Babelsberg Film Studio in Berlin, Germany and another actor has joined the high-octane action sequel. Other filming locations are said to include Paris and Japan.

Lionsgate has set John Wick 4’s release date for May 27, 2022 and have announced plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5 at some point as well.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

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‘Watchmen’ & ‘Batman v Superman’ Cinematographer Larry Fong Returns To The Superhero Genre With Paramount’s ‘Secret Headquarters’

The Ronin can confirm that veteran cinematographer Larry Fong is indeed finally returning to the superhero genre with Paramount Pictures’ Secret Headquarters, which is currently in-production and is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer via Bruckheimer Films.

A high-concept family action movie about a kid who discovers the secret headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero hidden beneath his home and must defend it with his group of friends when villains attack.

Fong’s list of credits include big studio projects such as Watchmen, 300, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kong: Skull Island, The Predator, Sucker Punch, Super 8, and the upcoming Chris Pratt sci-fi action flick The Tomorrow War.

If you kept your eyes peeled during Zack Snyder’s latest effort, Army of The Dead, you would have noticed a cheeky not to his longtime cinematographer, who happened to have worked on the magician franchise Now You See Me. Snyder decided to be his own director of photography on the action-packed zombie movie.

Secret Headquarters stars comedic actor Owen Wilson (Loki, The Life Aquatic, Wedding Crashers) and will be directed by Project Power’s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The directing duo is also attached to helm a feature film adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book, Nemesis, for Warner Bros. with a script penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman).

It has an original story and script from Christopher Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok), the latest draft was worked on by Joost, Schulman, and Josh Koenigsberg.

Owen Wilson can be seen next starring alongside Tom Hiddleston in the highly-anticipated Marvel Studios series Loki, set to debut on Disney+ tomorrow.