Filming has been underway on Thor: Love & Thunder in Sydney, Australia and some new set photos posted by the Daily Mail released confirmed that the Loki play is coming back with Melissa McCarthy taking a new part.
You can see in the set photos that Melissa McCarthy is in Cate Blanchett’s Hela costume along with the return of Matt Damon’s Loki and Luke Hemsworth’s Thor. This would suggest that Damon’s return was indeed to reprise this Asgardian actor character from Thor: Ragnarok and could mean that McCarthy is also playing another Asgardian.
New Asgard is expected to be a tourist location on Earth as revealed in concept art shown last year by director Taika Waititi during an Instagram stream. Which could explain the return of the play despite the destruction of Asgard.
Multiple Guardians of The Galaxy actors were also spotted on set previously.
Another George R.R. Martin adaptation is on the way at Netflix.
Collider reports that Martin’s novelette Sandkings will be getting a feature film at Netflix from director Gore Verbinski and Dennis Kelly writing the script.
Veteran director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) is teaming with original Utopia creator Dennis Kelly on a feature adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s 1979 novelette Sandkings that is currently in the works at Netflix, Collider has exclusively learned.
Here is what the story is about.
The story follows a wealthy playboy named Simon Kress who collects dangerous, exotic animals. One day, he stumbles across a mysterious establishment called Wo & Shade, where he purchases a terrarium filled with four colonies of creatures called sandkings, which grow to fill whatever environment they are kept in. Each colony consists of a large female called the maw, and numerous insect-like mobiles that she controls via telepathy. In addition to finding food for the maw, the mobiles also construct a sandcastle around her to protect the maw from invading colonies. Indeed, the four colonies — white, black, red and orange — often engage in coordinated wars with one another, especially once their new owner makes them fight over food by starving them. Simon begins taking bets on the outcomes of these wars, which leave some of his friends impressed, and others disgusted. Eventually, the sandkings escape Simon’s terrarium and begin to take over his house as their hunger — and Simon’s desperation — intensifies.
Sandkings was adapted into an episode of The Outer Limits in the 1990s and takes place within Martin’s Thousand Worlds universe, which is also the setting of his sci-fi horror story Nightflyers that got a feature film and short-lived series.
Martin is busy producing multiple spinoff series at HBO set within the Game of Thrones franchise.
Verbinski directed films like The Ring, The Mexican, Disney’s Pirate of The Caribbean trilogy, and a lackluster Lone Ranger film. He famously attempted to make a feature film based on the video game BioShock that went nowhere and was one of the many directors that tried to make a solo Gambit film for 20th Century Fox before the X-Men rights returned to Marvel. Gore most recently made A Cure For Wellness.
It looks like Marvel Studios won’t be bringing back rapper turned actor T.I. for their upcoming Ant-Man sequel as The Hollywood Reporter says the studios don’t have plans for him to return to the role of Dave in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. This likely stems from fallout due to the multiple sexual abuse allegations made by women against the actor and his wife, but hasn’t been confirmed as a direct connection.
T.I. will not be returning for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The embattled rapper and actor is not a part of the cast, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, but it’s unclear whether this is related to recent accusations of sexual abuse he is facing alongside his wife, musician Tiny.
You can read more about those allegations in the THR’s report from the link below.
While Disney hasn’t given the sequel a release date, filming is set for this summer and they’ve been aiming for a spot in 2022.
Lovecraft Country actor Jonathan Majors is set to play Marvel Comics villain Kang The Conqueror, which could mean he’ll appear in multiple films.
During an interview with GQ Magazine to promote Cherry, directors Joe and Anthony Russo talked about originally casting Tom Holland for Captain America: Civil War and while Marvel Studios/Kevin Feige were onboard, Sony Pictures resisted. Apparently, Sony had some serious second thoughts about hiring a real teenager for Spider-Man.
JOE RUSSO: “We talked with Feige at Marvel about Holland and he got excited and then we went to Sony…And they were like, ‘Let’s think about it for a minute.’ We could tell we were meeting resistance from Sony. So we brought [Holland] back, brought him back, brought him back, and we were relentless in our pursuit of jamming him down the throat of the studio who owns this IP. It came down to a fight, yet Sony just kept dragging their feet.”
ANTHONY RUSSO: “Sony’s reservations were: ‘Are we loaning it? Or are we giving it to them to help us reinvent it in a way that adds value for us?’ It was the first time Spider-Man had ever been cast as an actual teenager, right? Which was very important to us; there was a distinct nervousness of casting a kid.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home will be Holland’s fifth and potentially his final film as the actor is aware that could be a possibility despite his openness to reprise the role. Tom has previously stated his Marvel Studios contract has ended and plans to take a break.
HOLLAND: “I really don’t know what the future holds, so I am just savouring every moment, as it could potentially be the last.”
Sony has set the release date for Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17th, 2021.
Actor Idris Elba is currently in Australia shooting the George Miller film Three Thousand Years of Longing and given the proximity to Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder production there is some speculation he could end up reprising the Heimdall role.
There is a potential hint that could end up happening.
A new Instagram photo posted by Chris Hemsworth over the weekend on from an 1980s birthday party features himself with Matt Damon and Elba.
You might be asking why would Heimdall be coming back? He was killed-off in Avengers: Infinity War. True, but there are teases from the Loki trailer Elba might have shot a cameo for that Disney+ series (Loki mentions Heimdall by name) alongside Jaimie Alexander’s Lady Sif (also expected for Love & Thunder). There are a few ways to have Heimdall come back, The Multiverse and flashbacks being the most reasonable options.
Oscar-winner Christian Bale was confirmed by Marvel Studios in December as playing the film’s alien villain Gorr The God Butcher.
Filming has been underway since last month at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney with multiple Guardians of The Galaxy actors spotted on the set.
However, unlike other actors we know that Idris is specifically there for another movie production and his presence in Australia doesn’t automatically mean he’ll end up in the film. There is just an extremely good chance that it happens.
Today, we learned that District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is working on a script for a sequel to his debut sci-fi action film, titled District 10. That’s not the only thing he teased on Twitter. A fan asked him if he’d make a Starship Troopers film and candidly seemed to agree with him with “I’ll do it”, while dismissing someone else’s call to do something in the Star Wars universe.
Interestingly, a Starship Troopers reboot was announced back in 2016 at Sony Pictures as first revealed by The Hollywood Reporter. The bad news was that producer Neal H. Moritz is attached, who was behind the horribly generic PG-13 remakes of RoboCop and Total Recall. Along with the screenwriters behind the long forgotten Baywatch movie.
Five years later and there really hasn’t been a concrete update on the project.
Starship Troopers was based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein, the book helped inspire James Cameron’s Colonial Marines in Aliens and Microsoft’s Halo franchise. It landed a Japanese anime, feature film from director Paul Verhoeven released in 1997, a kids CGI animated series, multiple low-budget film sequels, and animated projects.
It’s worth mentioning the Blomkamp hasn’t had the best luck when trying to turn existing IP into feature films as he was originally set to make his film debut with 20th Century Fox’s Halo film before pivoting to District 9. More recently he exited 20th Century Fox’s Alien 5 (a direct sequel to James Cameron’s Aliens) and MGM Studios’ RoboCop Returns (a direct sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s original) before moving on to his own stuff.
Neill would certainly be a strong pick for a new Starship Troopers film and given the lack of status updates from Sony it doesn’t sound like they’re about get that earlier reboot incarnation into production anytime soon. Then again, tweeting interest doesn’t mean it will come together but teasing stuff on social media is how Blomkamp eventually got a development deal for Alien 5 at Fox.
STARSHIP TROOPERS – In the distant future, the Earth is at war with a race of giant alien insects. Little is known about the Bugs except that they are intent on the eradication of all human life. But there was a time before the war… A Mobile Infantry travels to distant alien planets to take the war to the Bugs. They are a ruthless enemy with only one mission: Survival of their species no matter what the cost…
Deadline has breaking news that Warner Bros. is looking to reboot their iconic Superman franchise with a script from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams via Bad Robot. Coates is best-known for his work on the fantastic modern run of Black Panther comics for Marvel.
Deadline has confirmed that author Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing a Superman reboot feature for Warner Bros and DC, which J.J. Abrams is producing under his Bad Robot label.
Funny, it’s being called a “reboot” and Deadline mentions Henry Cavill, but if it’s a hard-reboot that would likely mean he’s not going to be in it. The addition of Coates would give the impression they might be going with a different take on the DC hero.
They point out that Coates is working with Ryan Coolger and Michael B. Jordan on the film Wrong Answer, the connection to Jordan is certainly interesting given rumblings he wanted to play a new version of Superman.
Could that Michael B. Jordan/Superman casting rumor come true?
Variety mentioned in a report last year that Jordan pitched a Superman project.
To help find a way to make Superman relevant to modern audiences, studio brass has been polling lots of high-profile talent. There have been discussions with J.J. Abrams, whose company Bad Robot recently signed a massive first-look deal with the studio, and there was a meeting with Michael B. Jordan earlier this year with the “Creed” star pitching Warners on a vision for the character. However, Jordan isn’t ready to commit to taking on the project since filming doesn’t seem likely to happen for several years and he has a full dance card of projects. Insiders think that a new Superman film is unlikely to hit screens before 2023, given that there’s no script and no director attached.
UPDATE:The Hollywood Reporter has chimed-in and Warner Bros. are reportedly indeed looking to introduce a black Superman in the reboot. They certainly have options with Steel’s John Henry Irons, Val-Zod, and Calvin Ellis established in the comic books. Given Coates is writing the reboot and his history with Black Panther it’s hard to imagine this won’t have a black Superman.
According to sources, the project is being set up as a Black Superman story. This is something that the studio has been trying to wrap its head around for months, if not a year or two. Michael B. Jordan tried to develop a Black Superman project when he first arrived at the studio with his deal in 2019, but that did not go very far at the time, according to sources. It is possible that the studio could return to him to star down the line.
Will audiences be introduced to a Black Superman? That is the intent and something that the studio has been trying to find a way in for months if not a year or two, according to sources. https://t.co/X8RTtSJ7EK
It’s worth mentioning Michael B. Jordan is producing a film for the studio based on the DC Comics hero Static Shock.
This news comes after Warner Bros. has been developing a new solo Supergirl film from The Cloverfield Paradox (produced by Abrams) screenwriter Oren Uziel and the studio recently hiring Sasha Calle in the role, making her big screen debut in The Flash.
It’ll be interesting to see if Henry Cavill ultimately comes back to the Superman role as the chances of that seem to be getting smaller with Supergirl entering the picture and this reboot from Bad Robot now in development.
Deadline has word that David Lietch has been replaced as director on Netflix’s feature film adaptation of the video game Tom Clancy’s The Division. They’ve pivoted to director Rawson Marshall Thurber, who recently wrapped the high-budgeted heist flick Red Notice that stars Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds.
Marshall will co-write The Division’s script with Ellen Shanman.
The story is set in the near future with a virus spread via paper money on Black Friday, decimating the city of New York and killing millions. By Christmas, what’s left of society has descended into chaos. A group of civilians, trained to operate in catastrophic times, are activated in an attempt to save who and what remains.
Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal are still set to star/produce the film.
Leitch is apparently too busy to tackle the film as he’s deep into production on Sony’s assassin flick Bullet Train starring Oscar-winner Brad Pitt. However, he’ll stay on as producer via 87North Productions.
It’s unknown when filming is going to start.
The Ubisoft video game has been reasonably successful with two installments released.
Fans of Neill Blomkamp’s debut film District 9 have been patiently waiting for a sequel as the end of original film finished on a cliffhanger on the promise of Wikus being transformed back into a human.
The filmmaker has revealed on Twitter that they’ve started work on the sequel’s script with himself, his wife Terri Tatchell (co-wrote the original) and Sharlto Copley working on it.
It’s unknown at this point if Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films or Sony Pictures will be involved. We know that Neill had a falling out with the head of Sony Pictures, Tom Rothman, over the failed film adaptation of Halo when Tom was the head of 20th Century Fox. Blomkamp stopped working with Sony Pictures conveniently around the same time Rothman joined the studio and attempted to make Alien 5 at Rothman’s former studio 20th Century Fox.
DISTRICT 9 – Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth — not to conquer or give aid, but — to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by Multi-National United, which is unconcerned with the aliens’ welfare but will do anything to master their advanced technology. When a company field agent (Sharlto Copley) contracts a mysterious virus that begins to alter his DNA, there is only one place he can hide: District 9.
Warner Bros. has hired director Jon M. Chu for a heist film the studio is developing based on a GQ article by Alex W. Palmer according to a report from Deadline. Titled The Greatest Chinese Art Heist, the film will be focusing on a rash of real-life crimes where a group in Europe stole a bunch of Chinese antiquities and art that might have been connected to the Chinese government.
The article follows a slew of museum art robberies that occurred in Europe, in which Chinese antiquities were stolen, chiefly those that came from the country’s old Summer Palace which was raided in 1860 by French soldiers. No one knows who the thieves are, but the works of art continually wind up back in China. Essentially, there’s a new generation of wealthy Chinese people who are collecting artifacts from the old Summer Palace. Is China’s government behind the art theft wave? The feature questions who gets to own art, and who gets to own history and culture. The GQ piece also poses the question whether there’s some sort of coordinated effort to reclaim Chinese art.about.
Meanwhile the museums are remaining quiet about the robberies. The thefts put museums in a vulnerable position: Everyone questions their security, no one wants to donate works or materials, and their insurance rates spike as many would question an art institution’s credibility.
The studio is currently seeking a screenwriter to pair with the filmmaker.
Chu previously directed Crazy Rich Asians and the upcoming musical In The Heights. He recently exited the Lucasfilm series Willow, instead attaching himself to the feature film adaptation of the stage musical Wicked for Universal Pictures.
THE RONIN 