Category: Film News

Posted on in Film News

Neill Blomkamp Secretly Shot An Untitled Supernatural Horror Movie For AGC Studios Over The Summer – His First Feature Film In 5 Years

District 9’s Neill Blomkamp has finally shot a follow-up to his film Chappie!

Neill has had a long journey with multiple mishaps and projects that never quite happened. For whatever reason films such as Alien 5, RoboCop Returns, Greenland, and his upcoming film Inferno (delayed to 2021) just didn’t come together over the years.

However, there is news he’s finally finished a new feature film. Neill recently he shot an untitled sci-fi horror film over the summer in British Columbia, Canada (where Neill’s Oats Studios is located) according to Deadline with the new film being set for AGC Studios.

They also add they’re expected to be finished by the spring of 2021 and that cinematographer Byron Kopman worked on the horror project.

Details are scarce but this seems to be the only post Neill really made about the project, on Instagram at least.

This would be the first feature film for Neill in five years since he released Chappie back in 2015. Blomkamp had originally planned to shoot his action horror film Inferno (also at AGC Studios) in Albuquerque, New Mexico this year starring Taylor Kitsch (John Carter, True Detective) but that has been delayed to 2021. Blomkamp has been keeping himself busy shooting short films for Oats Studios alongside commercials.

AGC Studios is beyond handful of upcoming films including Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall for Lionsgate and the pandemic heist film Lockdown from director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, Chaos Walking) that stars Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Ben Stiller that landed at HBO Max. They also put together the sci-fi action film Universe’s Most Wanted with Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy) and Brad Peyton directing.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot Secured $10M+ Deals Before ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Was Announced For HBO Max – WarnerMedia Left Others Out To Dry

Today hasn’t been a good day for WarnerMedia. This morning news broke about a possible lawsuit that could be coming from Legendary Entertainment stemming from last week’s HBO Max announcement (Warner Bros. 2021 film slate heading to the streamer) and the studio’s golden-child Christopher Nolan has less than enthusiastic statements concerning their move as well.

More bad news as The New York Times reports that while most directors and actors were notified about the announcement 90 minutes before it happened last week, one project got special treatment.

To prevent the news of the 17-movie shift from leaking (and to make the move speedily rather than get mired in the expected blowback), WarnerMedia kept the major agencies and talent management companies in the dark until roughly 90 minutes before issuing a news release. Even some Warner Bros. executives had little warning.

WarnerMedia and agencies managed to quietly secure deals for $10 million plus each for director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot ahead of the announcement of Wonder Woman 1984 going to HBO Max for Christmas Day, along with their cooperation they’d still help promote the film. I don’t think that this says anything about Patty or Gal, but it certainly looks bad for WarnerMedia being more concerned about the news leaking than speaking with the filmmakers and actors.

Last month, Warner Bros. quietly approached Hollywood’s two biggest talent agencies, William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists.

With Wonder Woman 1984, agents argued that Ms. Gadot, Ms. Jenkins and the producer Charles Roven (among others) needed to be paid what they most likely would have received had the sequel been released in a traditional manner (an exclusive run in theaters before arriving online) and not during the height of a pandemic. After all, that was what they signed up for, and Warner Bros. and HBO Max, its corporate sibling, wanted their help in promoting the film, did they not? After a tense negotiation, Warner Bros., which is owned by AT&T, agreed that Ms. Gadot and Ms. Jenkins would each get more than $10 million, according to two people with knowledge of the deals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private agreements.

Industry folks, the Director Guild of America, and other talent agencies weren’t entirely thrilled either.

The surprise move left agencies on a war footing. Representatives for major Warner Bros. stars like Denzel Washington, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Jackman and Angelina Jolie wanted to know why their clients had been treated in a lesser manner than Ms. Gadot. Talk of a Warner Bros. boycott began circulating inside the Directors Guild of America. A partner at one talent agency spent part of the weekend meeting with litigators. Some people started to angrily refer to the studio as Former Bros.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Posted on in Film News

Christopher Nolan Reacts Negatively To News of WarnerMedia Moving Their 2021 Film Slate To HBO Max – Upset They Didn’t Consult With Filmmakers Beforehand

The announcement that Warner Bros. slate of films from 2021 heading to HBO Max certainly sounded like a gut punch to U.S theaters but the people who made the films aren’t terribly happy either. It sounds like WarnerMedia and AT&T failed to tell production partners and the filmmakers themselves they were planning on making the move to a day-and-date model. Today, there were reports that director Denis Villeneuve is upset that Dune (part one of at least two planned films) will be negatively impacted by the move and Legendary Entertainment may end up suing WarnerMedia if they can’t work something out.

One of WarnerMedia’s biggest assets also isn’t terribly pleased with how they announced the plan either.

Entertainment Tonight was able to speak with director Christopher Nolan about the whole thing and as you’d imagine he has some stern words for the company calling it a “controversy” along with a suggestion that they’re simply doing this to pump-up the new streaming service while mistreating the people who actually worked on the films without even consulting with them.

NOLAN: “Oh, I mean, disbelief. Especially the way in which they did. There’s such controversy around it, because they didn’t tell anyone. In 2021, they’ve got some of the top filmmakers in the world, they’ve got some of the biggest stars in the world who worked for years in some cases on these projects very close to their hearts that are meant to be big-screen experiences. They’re meant to be out there for the widest possible audiences… And now they’re being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service — for the fledgling streaming service — without any consultation. So, there’s a lot of controversy. It’s very, very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch. Yeah, it’s sort of not how you treat filmmakers and stars and people who, these guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.”

“Long-term, I think all of the studios know that the movie theater experience will bounce back and be a very important part of the ecosystem long-term. What you have right now in our business is a lot of the use of the pandemic as an excuse for sort of grappling for short-term advantage. And it’s really unfortunate. It’s not the way to do business and it’s not the best thing for the health of our industry. But when the theaters are back and people are going back to the movies, when the vaccine has been rolled out and there’s an appropriate health response from the federal government, I’m very bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry. People love going to the movies and they’re going to get to go again.”

UPDATE: Christopher Nolan had even more choice words when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter.

NOLAN: “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service. Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”

Nolan isn’t without his own bit of controversy as his latest film Tenet had been released in the height of the pandemic over the summer, where there was plenty of finger-pointing when it came to who had the bright idea to keep the theatrical release date in the summer instead postponing. I don’t think it’s lost on Christopher that Tenet could have easily been part of this group of films thrown on HBO Max without having any real discussions beforehand.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

Posted on in Film News

‘Gucci’: Jeremy Irons Joins Ridley Scott Crime Drama Starring Lady Gaga – Releasing November 24th, 2021

The Hollywood Reporter along with other outlets are reporting that veteran actor Jeremy Irons has taken a role in Ridley Scott’s next feature film Gucci, a true-crime drama based on novel The House of Gucci with Lady Gaga in the lead role of Patrizia Reggiani.

The fashion-focused true-crime drama, based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, will focus on the murder of fashion trailblazer Maurizio Gucci, with Gaga playing Patrizia Reggiani, Gucci’s ex-wife who was convicted of orchestrating his hit after he had an affair.

Irons has previously worked with Scott on the underrated film Kingdom of Heaven and most recently had a supporting role in HBO’s Watchmen series. Other actors zeroing-in on deals to appear include Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Jack Huston, and Reeve Carney.

Jeremy will play Rodolfo Gucci, the father of Adam Driver’s Maurizio Gucci.

Ridley Scott had only just wrapped on the period drama The Last Duel after the pandemic paused production that was taking place in France and Ireland.

Filming is expected to take place in Italy and MGM has set the release date for November 24th, 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Shang-Chi’: Awkwafina Briefly Talks About Her Mystery Marvel Role

Filming on Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings has officially wrapped their shoot in Australia, however, the studio has yet to give more than four names of the actors that are in the film. We really only know that Simu Liu is playing Shang-Chi and Andy Lau is playing the real version of The Mandarin.

Lead actress Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell) who plays an unnamed lead character in the Marvel film recently spoke with Style Caster (spotted by The Direct) and talked a little bit about her role along with what they’re aiming to do with busting Asian tropes.

AWKWAFINA: “There’s a little bit of me in every character I play, which is a good and bad thing. I do feel like I can relate to her. I can’t say much about the role, but I can say that she is thrust into a world where she doesn’t really know what to do. At the same time, she’s discovering things about herself.”

“When you think about certain things that have characterized Asians and Asian Americans in American media, you think about things like kung fu and martial arts. While this movie is actually about that, we were able to work with world-class stunt teams of people where this is their livelihood. So the authenticity that the studio and Destin approached those tropes is very, very special.”

The film will see Marvel’s first Asian-led superhero film and might end up becoming another cultural landmark for the studio.

Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings is set to be released on July 9th, 2021.

SOURCE: STYLE CASTER

Posted on in Film News

Legendary May Sue WarnerMedia Over HBO Max Announcement For ‘Godzilla vs Kong’ and ‘Dune’ – Didn’t Give Them Advance Notice

It doesn’t sound like Legendary Entertainment is terribly happy with WarnerMedia’s announcement last week to throw two of their expensive films such as Dune and Godzilla vs Kong on HBO Max as part of their new day-and-date model for the entire 2021 Warner Bros. release slate, all 17 films.

The announcement was just as shocking to Legendary Entertainment as it was to everyone else because they weren’t given advance notice or even knew it was happening. Deadline reports that Legendary is aiming to challenge the move by WarnerMedia as they never gave them advance notice before the announcement, the latter is something that both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter have mentioned in separate reports.

I’m hearing that Legendary Entertainment either has or will send legal letters to Warner Bros as soon as today, challenging the decision to put the Denis Villenueve-directed Dune into the HBO Max deal, and maybe Godzilla vs Kong as well.

WarnerMedia blocked a hefty $250 million offer from Netflix which likely only adds to Legendary’s frustrations.

On the latter, Legendary reportedly had Netflix ready to pull the film from Warner Bros for around $250 million, before WarnerMedia blocked it. Sources said Legendary had no advance notice before last week’s announcement that both Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong were part of the HBO Max plan.

Variety also adding that this might turn into a lawsuit if a deal isn’t agreed upon.

Legendary Entertainment, the production company that co-financed Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong, may take legal action against Warner Bros. over the studio’s decision to send its movies to HBO Max at the same time they debut in cinemas.

Sources familiar with the situation say top brass at Legendary are trying to have conversations with Warner Bros. regarding its upcoming films… Legendary is hoping to first negotiate a more generous deal, but isn’t taking legal action off the table should the two companies fail to come to a compromise. One possibility is that Warner Bros. would buy the films outright from Legendary. No legal challenge has been filed yet, but a suit could materialize early this week. It’s unclear what legal grounds Legendary would use to challenge the decision, though it would likely involve some breach of contract.

While WarnerMedia dodged questions concerning if the day-and-date model would continue into 2022 and beyond, AT&T CEO John Stankey alluded to The Washington Post they won’t be going back even post-pandemic giving the impression the model is staying.

STANKEY: “In March, we unleashed a new normal in society. That horse left the barn. I don’t think any of us are going to change that dynamic.”

SOURCE: DEADLINE & VARIETY

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‘Kingsman’: Matthew Vaughn Is Plotting Seven More Films Alongside A Television Series According To Marv

Kingsman is one of the many film franchises that Disney inherited when they bought 21st Century Fox. The big news coming from Marv Group CEO Zygi Kamasa at the UK Finance Summit from last week via Deadline is that Matthew Vaughn is plotting “something like seven more Kingsman films” as Marv Films hopes to make more projects as part of their expansion plans.

KASAMA: “We have a Kingsman TV series in the works and there are two-three other franchises that are being developed alongside the Kingsman world.”

A prequel film titled The King’s Man is completed with a release date for February 12th, 2021.

It’s cast consists of Ralph Fiennes as The Duke of Oxford, Harris Dickinson as Conrad, Gemma Arterton as Polly, Djimon Hounsou as Shola, Charles Dance as Arthur, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci, Matthew Goode as Tristan, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Hollander, and Rhys Ifans as Rasputin.

THE KING’S MAN: As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man.

Kingsman 3 is also in development stages with Taron Egerton and Colin Firth set to return. Matthew Vaughn had recently suggested to Empire Magazine he wanted to direct the third installment after there had been talk of someone else taking over directing duties.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle introduced an American branch called The Statesman, which could also get their own films.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Star Wars’: George Lucas Explains Why He Sold The Rights To Disney and Didn’t Make The Sequel Trilogy Himself

While George Lucas has been hands-off with the franchise since selling it to Disney back in 2012, fans have sort of wondered what the reasoning was behind handing over the franchise to Disney beyond the billions they gave him.

Author Paul Duncan has posted on Twitter an excerpt from his new book The Star Wars Archives Episodes I-III giving some insight, in the pages he asks George Lucas why he ultimately sold the rights to Disney and stepped away from making the Sequel Trilogy himself. Lucas’ answer seems to be more about having free time and not having to spend the next decade working on film trilogy.

DUNCAN: I wonder why you passed control of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012?

LUCAS: “At that time I was starting the next trilogy; I talked to the actors and I was starting to gear up. I was also about to have a daughter with my wife. It takes 10 years to make a trilogy, Episodes I to III took from 1995 to 2005.”

“I was 69. So the question was am I going to keep doing this the rest of my life? Do I want to go through this again? Finally, I decided I’d rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.”

“I’m one of those micromanager guys and I can’t help it. So I figured I would forgo that, enjoy what I had, and I was looking forward to raising my daughter. Also, I wanted to build a museum, which I’d always wanted to do, so I was thinking ‘if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get that done’.”

“I’ve spent my life creating Star Wars, 40 years, and giving it up was very, very painful. But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that.”

Lucas previously dished to Duncan about what some of his ideas for the new trilogy were that didn’t ultimately get used by Disney including the villains and how the Luke would started a new wave of Jedi with help from the survivors of Order 66.

SOURCE: STAR WARS ARCHIVES EPISODES I-III

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‘Monster Hunter’: A Scene That References Racist Nursery Rhyme Gets Movie Pulled From Theaters In China

Deadline and other outlets reported that the release of Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil, Event Horizon, Soldier, AVP) latest video game adaptation Monster Hunter, met with some angry Chinese audiences as the movie released there and it included a racist 10-second scene referencing the offensive nursery rhyme “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees”.

Leading Monster Hunter to be pulled from the screens.

The 10-second scene that has generated an outcry features Asian-American rapper/actor Jin Au-Yeung (aka MC Jin), who at one point riffs to his scene partner, “Look at my knees. What kind of knees are these? Chinese.” This is being linked to a racist playground rhyme used to mock children of Asian origin. Upset, we understand, has further been sown by the scene’s local subtitles.

There are expectations the scene will be removed but it’s unknown if the government will allow Monster Hunter to return to local screens. It’s also possible the backlash will have done enough damage there that big dollars expected from China while most theaters around the world are closed aren’t likely going to be as massive as the studio first imagined.

It’s a little disheartening because the film is an adaption of Japanese-based Capcom’s video game franchise with Chinese-based distribution company Tencent working on the film as well. Monster Hunter also had a very impressive international trailer marketed towards the Chinese audience that was miles better than the domestic cut trailer.

However, this does seem to highlight that extra care needed to make sure that you’re not offending entire countries or a race of people with outdated humor or references.

I think it’s worth pointing out this even isn’t the only 2020 film from a British director to reference the rhyme. Guy Ritchie’s most recent film The Gentlemen has Hugh Grant’s character Fletcher also play with the racist rhyme when Fletcher is referencing Henry Golding’s character Dry Eye and his Asian heritage.

FLETCHER: “I talk Raymondo of Dry Eye. Oh Dry Eye, what is he? Chinese, Japanese, Pekingese, get on your fucking knees. Dirty dragon filth. Yellow is the colour, gambling is the game.”

It seems like Hollywood still needs to do better when attempting humor and making sure they’re not returning to racist tropes we thought that were over decades ago.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Bullet Train’: Brad Pitt Action Movie Officially Adds ‘John Wick’ Cinematographer and ‘The Mandalorian’ Stunt Coordinator

Bullet Train is currently filming and director David Leitch has announced on Instagram the film’s production team will include cinematographer Jonathan Sela (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, Transformers: The Last Knight), stunt coordinator Greg Rementer (The Mandalorian, Nobody, Hobbs & Shaw), and costume designer Sarah Evelyn (Hobbs & Shaw, Hollywood, American Horror Story).

He also confirmed The Ronin’s previous report that he would be reuniting with production designer David Scheunemann (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, Gunpowder Milkshake).

The action is considered a big project at Sony Pictures which is reflected with it’s rather large and established cast. Bullet Train’s cast lineup consists of Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes), Michael Shannon (Knives Out, Man of Steel), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Godzilla, Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs Kong, Widows, Joker, Eternals), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Westworld, The Last Samurai), Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad), Logan Lerman (Fury, Hunters), Lady Gaga (Gucci, A Star Is Born, Machete Kills), Masi Oka (Heroes), and Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2).

Filming is currently underway in Los Angeles and Sony Pictures has yet to give Bullet Train an official release date.

SOURCE: DAVID LEITCH