Category: Film News

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‘Knives Out 2’: Dave Bautista Reunites With Daniel Craig For Rian Johnson’s Murder Mystery Sequel

Rian Johnson is looking to turn his wonderful comedic murder mystery film Knives Out into a full-fledged franchise and has partnered with Netflix to make that happen. A historical deal worth upwards of $400 million was made back in March that would see both Rian Johnson and lead actor Daniel Craig make $100 million each. The hefty deal includes the next two installments that are yet-to-be-titled and I assume if they want to do more Netflix will be all-ears.

We won’t have to wait too long before getting our hands on Knives Out 2 as filming is reportedly set to begin in Greece starting in late June.

Deadline is reporting that Daniel’s Spectre co-star Dave Bautista has landed an undisclosed role in the sequel and we’ll be excited to find out what his character will be. I’m going to lean towards fellow detective but there are likely less obvious choices as well. There is an expectation Knives Out 2 will focus on an entirely new group of characters excluding Craig’s southern detective Benoit Blanc and the Greece setting during a summer shoot will likely be a fantastic visual contrast to the original movie.

Dave Bautista’s upcoming projects includes Zack Snyder’s Army of The Dead and will be reprising the Drax role for James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. Hopefully, he’ll be able to showcase his comedic chops in Knives Out 2 as he’s been known to be extremely assuming when given the chance.

It’ll be interesting to see if Rian will cast other former co-stars of Daniel Craig in various roles. Personally, I’ll be rooting for Casino Royale’s Eva Green to show up and give us another fantastic femme fatale.

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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James Gunn Teases Tackling More ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’ Movies – “Never Say Never”

While there had been previous hints by writer/director James Gunn that he might end his Marvel tenure with Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3, the filmmaker has now suggested on Twitter that might not exactly be the case and even leaves the door open for Guardians as well.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1390858962778664960

It was thought that his dramatic firing and rehiring might have soured his feelings towards both Disney and Marvel Studios, which might be understandable given that the company eventually backtracked from their choice to remove James from the Guardians sequel. However, the opportunity allowed him to play in the DCEU sandbox making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. and the spinoff series Peacemaker for HBO Max, so it wasn’t all bad.

We don’t know for sure if he’ll come back to make more installments of Guardians of The Galaxy or move towards other things he’s been itching to tackle like the Thunderbolts, Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad.

One of his screenwriting tasks for 20th Century Fox early in his career was working on incarnation of the solo Silver Surfer movie that never materialized. The property now back at Marvel Studios is one project that Ant-Man’s Adam McKay has been keen on developing for a while now. Perhaps, we could see James and Adam join forces for a Silver Surfer movie, that could be rad, right?

We’ll have to see how Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 ends and if Gunn still has ideas he wants to pursue with those oddball cosmic characters for another wave of feature films or Disney+ projects. He has somewhat teased more DC Comics stuff could be on the way but what that might be is a little unclear at the moment.

The Suicide Squad is set for release by Warner Bros. on August 6, 2021 and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 will shoot in the United Kingdom in the near future with a release date of May 5, 2023.

SOURCE: JAMES GUNN

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‘Venom 2’: Director Andy Serkis Says Characters Are Unaware of Spider-Man & Reveals Stephen Graham Is Playing Patrick Mulligan aka Toxin

In a trailer breakdown video from Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis posted by IGN, the filmmaker confirmed that the film takes place in it’s own world and that Stephen Graham plays an a police offer named Mulligan, who is most likely Patrick Mulligan the host of the symbiote known as Toxin.

SERKIS: “Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”

There is a strong possibility that Stephen Graham’s Mulligan could become Toxin leading to a new villain for Venom 3, the Netflix/Sony deal recently inadvertently confirmed plans for a third movie. However, Sony Pictures has yet to officially announce they have a script or even a director for it.

Stephen Graham is notorious for play gritty characters with credits such as Snatch, Boardwalk Empire, and The Irishman. It doesn’t hurt he co-starred with Tom Hardy on his series Taboo, which likely means working together on multiple films could be fun for the two friends.

I’m still curious if they’ll attempt to combine Naomie Harris’ Shriek with the symbiote Scream given the slight overlap or have someone else as the human host. The comic storyline Separation Anxiety would make for a good final movie.

SOURCE: IGN

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Watch First-Look Trailer For ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ – Tom Hardy Lands Story Credit On Sequel

Today, is finally the day that Sony Pictures has dropped the first-look trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage giving fans a glimpse at Marvel supervillain Carnage (played by Woody Harrelson), the spawn of the alien symbiote known as Venom, and his partner Shriek (played by Naomie Harris). The film is the sequel to the Spider-Man spinoff that is part of the Sony/Marvel universe and remains to be seen if will directly connect to the MCU or not.

It’s directed by Andy Serkis, who worked as the second unit director on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.

The trailer confirms a previous scoop I posted at HN Entertainment last year while they were still shooting.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

Interestingly enough, Tom Hardy broke the film’s story with screenwriter Kelly Marcel as the actor has landed a story credit on the film, according to the studio.

The sequel is part of Sony Pictures big plans for their own cinematic universe with Morbius coming in January alongside other films in development such as director J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter, Olivia Wilde’s rumored Spider-Woman movie, a Madame Web film, a Jackpot film, a Nightwatch film, a Black Cat film, and a Silver Sable film. However, it’s perplexing to see Michael Keaton’s Vulture appear in the Morbius trailer, when it hasn’t been confirmed if other Sony movies will take place directly within the Marvel Cinematic Universe just like with the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies made by Marvel Studios.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is expected to be released in theaters on September 24, 2021.

SOURCE: SONY PICTURES

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‘Uncharted’ Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy Confirmed For ‘John Wick 4’

The Ronin can confirm that John Wick: Chapter 4 will see Stephen Dunlevy as the sequel’s stunt coordinator as people are being assembled for the production team. As previously mentioned, director Chad Stahelski returns with Keanu Reeves set to reprise his badass role as the Baba Yaga aka John Wick.

In last installment, we saw John Wick and The Bowery King (played by Laurence Fishburne) make an alliance to got to war against The High Table, the international group of criminal puppet masters who control the world of assassins.

JOHN WICK 3 – After gunning down a member of the High Table — the shadowy international assassin’s guild — legendary hit man John Wick finds himself stripped of the organization’s protective services. Now stuck with a $14 million bounty on his head, Wick must fight his way through the streets of New York as he becomes the target of the world’s most ruthless killers.

Stephen isn’t a stranger to the John Wick franchise as he worked with 87Eleven Action Design and played goons that were dispensed in John Wick 2-3. He most recently was in Berlin,Germany as the stunt coordinator on Tom Holland’s video game action flick Uncharted and the assistant stunt coordinator on Lana Wachowski’s Matrix 4. The Aussie stuntman also appeared in George Miller’s action-heavy Mad Max: Fury Road in a couple of roles and played X-Men villain Angelo Macon (member of The Reavers) in James Mangold’s Logan.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Halle Berry’s Sofia Al-Azwar will be making a return, which sounds like a strong possibility.

According to Collider, filming will begin next month with locations to include New York City, Paris, Berlin, and Japan. They added that Mike Finch (American Assassin, Predators) will be the main writer on the script after Derek Kolstad revealed he wouldn’t be writing the next two chapters.

Mike Finch co-wrote the Lionsgate genre action flick Arcana that has Chad Stahelski attached to direct. The many other projects being developed by Chad include a feature film based on the samurai video game Ghost of Tsushima for Sony Pictures, a New Line Cinema film titled Classified described as Die Hard meets Indiana Jones, will produce a remake of The Man From Nowhere, an untitled car action movie for Paramount, and has been attached for ages to Lionsgate’s reboot of the Highlander franchise.

Lionsgate is set to release John Wick: Chapter 4 on May 27, 2022 and the studio has talked-up plans to make a John Wick: Chapter 5, franchise creator Derek Kolstad has suggested that Chapter 5 could be the final film.

That won’t be the last we’ll see of this world as Starz is moving forward with a prequel series that focuses on the NYC hotel The Continental with a young version of Winston set during in the 1970s. Lionsgate previously hired Underworld director Len Wiseman to tackle their John Wick spinoff movie Ballerina written by Shay Hatten.

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‘Predator 5’ Adds ‘Den of Thieves’ Production Designer & ‘Damnation’ Stunt Coordinator – Filming Begins Next Month In Calgary

The Disney-owned 20th Century Studios is moving forward with a fifth Predator film directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg and is said to be a large departure from previous installments. As instead of muscle-bound soldiers or cops, it’s rumored that the main human protagonist is going to be a young female Comanche warrior. 

Dan will be reuniting with cinematographer Jeff Cutter, the two previously worked together on Bad Robot’s 10 Cloverfield Lane. 

The Ronin has now learned that two more folks have joined Predator 5’s production team with Den of Thieves production designer Kara Lindstrom and stunt coordinator Steven McMichael (Damnation, Wynonna Earp) have boarded the sci-fi action flick. Steven was once Hugh Jackman’s stunt double in the original X-Men movie and has moved up the ranks in the stunt world since. 

Kara has been posting amazing landscape pictures from Alberta on Instagram. There has been talk they’ll be using beautiful and remote areas in Alberta for various exteriors needed for the shoot. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/COYDY2IhzkS/

Production in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is confirmed to begin June 7 and wrap by August 20.  There is an assumption we’ll start hearing some casting news with the production less than a month away.

The previous installment The Predator from director Shane Black was meant to lead to multiple contemporary sequels as teased with that ridiculous predator-killer suit post-credit scene. However, this next film isn’t expected to continue that story or characters, which might relieve a lot of fans that weren’t thrilled with how The Predator turned out.

Every Predator sequel since Predator 2 has attempted to coax Arnold Schwarzenegger to return as his iconic franchise character Dutch, but it remains to be seen if they’ll even attempt that if Predator 5 is going to taking place too far in the past for that to make sense.

Neither Disney nor 20th Century Studios have officially given the Predator sequel an official release date or announced the film’s release date.

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‘The Mandalorian’ Cinematographer Baz Idoine Confirms He’s Working On ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder (working title The Big Salad) has been filming at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia with director Taika Waititi returning to make the fourth installment. The film’s mysterious cinematographer has been officially revealed.

Speaking with New Zealand outlet Kea, Baz Idoine confirmed he is currently working on Thor: Love & Thunder. He is best known for his Emmy-winning work on The Mandalorian series and was the second unit cinematographer on American Sniper and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

IDOINE: “I can’t talk much about them, but I’m working in Australia at the moment on Thor: Love and Thunder which I’ll be working on until the end of 2021. Then, I’ll just see what happens. Personally, my wife and I are hoping to move back to New Zealand next year.”

Taika and Baz previously worked together on The Mandalorian. This could potentially explain why The Book of Boba Fett was placed into production in the fall instead of Season 3 of The Mandalorian as the show’s cinematographer has been busy working on a Marvel Studios movie. I’m curious if the two will reunite on Taika’s untitled Star Wars movie he is developing for Lucasfilm.

Love & Thunder will introduce the cosmic beings known as The Olympians and will feature cameos from many members of Guardians of The Galaxy, one of the final scenes of Avengers: Endgame saw Thor leaving Earth with the Guardians to go on an adventure in space.

The film’s cast consists of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie of New Asgard, Russell Crowe as Zeus, Matt Damon as fake Loki, Melissa McCarthy as fake Hela, Sam Neill as fake Odin, Luke Hemsworth as fake Thor, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Taika as the lovable Korg, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin.

Thor: Love & Thunder will open in theaters on May 6, 2022.

SOURCE: KEA

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Dave Bautista Turned Down ‘The Suicide Squad’ To Make A Lot More Money & Work With Zack Snyder On ‘Army of The Dead’

Dave Bautista isn’t automatically thought of as a leading man despite leading a handful of projects in the past, but he’s aiming to branch-out from his intimidating supporting roles with his upcoming action-horror flick Army of The Dead, directed by Zack Snyder.

He was originally offered a role in James Gunn’s R-rated DC Comics film The Suicide Squad but reveals to Digital Spy in a recent interview the reasons he decided to do Army of The Dead instead. Those coming down to a bigger role, a lot more money, building a professional relationship with streaming giant Netflix and getting to work with Zack.

BAUTISTA: “James Gunn wrote a role for me in The Suicide Squad, which I was all fired up about, not only because he was making a huge comeback. He’s come back with The Suicide Squad and was rehired by Marvel, and has really been vindicated as far as that whole thing went. I was all up for it, and then I got Army of the Dead, which was not only a lead role for me, but also I really wanted to work with Zack Snyder. I’ve been wanting to work with him for years.”

“I had The Suicide Squad where I got to work with my boy again, even though it’s a smaller role, and then I had Army of the Dead on which I get to work with Zack, I get to build a relationship with Netflix, I get a lead role in a great film – and I get paid a lot more money. I had to call James, and I told him, ‘It breaks my heart, because as a friend, I want to be there with you, but professionally, this is the smart decision for me.'”

You can’t really blame Bautista to make a career move like that to give himself bigger exposure with a leading role over another supporting role.

The film stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Raúl Castillo, Michael Cassidy, Tig Notaro, and Garret Dillahunt.

Army of The Dead will be released on Netflix May 21 and in select theaters on May 14.

ARMY OF THE DEAD – After a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries takes the ultimate gamble by venturing into the quarantine zone for the greatest heist ever.

SOURCE: DIGITAL SPY

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Dave Bautista Uncertain About Drax’s Future After ‘Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3’ & Downplays Marvel’s Desire To Make Drax/Mantis Movie

You might remember that Drax actor Dave Bautista was one of the biggest defenders of director James Gunn when Disney originally fired him from Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and threatened not to return as Drax if Gunn wasn’t directing the third installment. Luckily, Disney had a change of heart but at that point, James Gunn was already committed to making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. further delaying the Guardians sequel and leading to alterations to the existing script when he ultimately returned. 

Gunn has mentioned publicly that Guardians 3 would likely be his final installment and that could be the case for Dave’s Drax as well. The actor spoke with Digital Spy revealing that while he hasn’t read the latest incarnation of the script, he’s not expecting a big future for Drax after the third pic and downplayed the idea of a Drax/Mantis team-up movie coming together. 

BAUTISTA: “I don’t know what the script of the third film is, to be honest with you. There was a script years ago that obviously is going to have to change because the whole direction of the Marvel universe has changed.”

“There were talks for a while about a Drax and Mantis film. It was really because it was James Gunn’s idea. He really wanted to do a Drax and Mantis film. He laid it out to me. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but I haven’t heard any follow-up from the studio. I don’t think they’re very interested, or it doesn’t fit into the way they have things mapped out. But other than that, no. I mean, as far as my obligations, I’ve got Guardians 3, and that’s probably going to be the end of Drax.”

Director James Gunn is aiming to begin production on Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 (working title Hot Christmas) alongside the Holiday Special in the United Kingdom (where the first film shot) before the end of the year as previously mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter back in November. Gunn has been particularly busy with the post-production of his R-rated DC Comics sequel The Suicide Squad and its spinoff HBO Max series Peacemaker (working title Scriptures) starring John Cena, which is still filming in Vancouver. 

Other upcoming projects for Bautista include co-starring with Milla Jovovich in the Geroge R.R. Martin adaptation of his fantasy novella The Lost Lands from Resident Evil filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson and he’s expected to shoot the alien prison break flick Universe’s Most Wanted next for director Brad Peyton. 

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. is officially set for release on May 5, 2023.

SOURCE: DIGITAL SPY  

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Watch First-Look Trailer For Paul Verhoeven’s 17th Century Italian-Set Erotic Lesbian Nun Movie ‘Benedetta’ – Premiering At Cannes This Summer

Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven has had one of the more interesting directorial careers moving between multiple different genres with satirical sci-fi action outings like RoboCop, Starship Troopers and Total Recall alongside thrillers like Basic Instinct, Elle, and Black Book. He’s set to return with his erotic nun movie Benedetta and the French studio Pathe has dropped the first-look trailer as it will debut first at the Cannes Film Festival on July 9, 2021.

The film stars Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphné Patakia, and Lambert Wilson.

Benedetta is based on the 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown with a script penned by Verhoeven and David Birke. It’s been a longtime coming as they wrapped production back in 2018 and the film has been patiently waiting for a festival reveal after a 2020 premiere at Cannes was cancelled due to the pandemic.

In the late 17th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta’s impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous.

SOURCE: PATHE