Category: Film News

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‘Bullet Train’: ‘The Boys’ Actress Karen Fukuhara Confirmed For Role In Brad Pitt Action Flick

The cast for action director David Leitch’s new film titled Bullet Train has landed another key cast member as the director announced on Instagram that actress Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad) has joined the project.

Bullet Train focuses on a group of assassins on a Tokyo train with mysterious motivations.

David Leitch has a strong action film pedigree with credits that include John Wick, Hobbs & Shaw, Atomic Blonde, and Deadpool 2. He’s also assembled a fantastic cast.

The rest of the cast 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), 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 Karen is expected to begin shooting Season 3 of The Boys in Toronto starting in February.

Sony Pictures has yet to give Bullet Train an official release date.

SOURCE: DAVID LEITCH

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‘Terminator’: Mackenzie Davis Says She Would Have Returned For ‘Terminator 7’ and Dishes Details

You might remember that during the promotion of Terminator: Dark Fate, that producer and co-creator James Cameron (also has story credit on Terminator: Dark Fate) talked-up to Cinema Blend knowing where a new Terminator trilogy could be going and having all these “ideas” about the next two films.

CAMERON: “I feel like one of my major motivations on this film or coming back to the, hopefully franchise, was to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence. I don’t feel we did that in Dark Fate. I feel that we set the stage or we set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film.”

“And we know exactly where we’re going to take that idea. What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it’s just going to keep happening. The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other.”

This ultimately is unlikely happening anytime soon as the box office on Dark Fate was again disappointing and sequel plans have seemingly been placed on ice. Actress Mackenzie Davis has now revealed during an interview on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that Terminator 7 would have allowed another version of Grace to appear and she’d reprise the role again.

HOROWITZ: Your character obviously didn’t make it through to the end of the movie. Was that it? Was there any resurrection plan if there were sequels?

DAVIS: “When does an NDA expire?…Yeah…like it was gonna be a timeline thing sort of , where there’d be another timeline that you’d explore. Like, there’s no resurrection, but she came from the future, so…”

HOROWITZ: So we go to the future and we see you in the future? Presumably.

DAVIS: “Yeah.”

What will happen with the Terminator franchise in the future is unknown but with Skydance and Paramount developing shows based on their film properties, a streaming series likely wouldn’t be out the realm of possibilities. However, I’m sure there are plenty of fans that would be fine with nothing new happening anytime soon.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

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‘Plastic Man’: Screenwriter Cat Vasko Tackling A Female-Led Version

I guess it should be called Plastic Woman as there is word from The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. has tasked newcomer Cat Vasko to write a female take on the DC Comics hero Plastic Man. The project said to be more in the comedic realm and had a script previously worked on by Amanda Idoko.

Sources tell THR that the project, which is in the earliest stages of development, will now become a female-leading vehicle. It is unclear if that means a title change or not.

Sonic The Hedgehog actor Ben Schwartz had been actively campaigning to play Plastic Man on social media but that campaign seemingly is now over.

Neither a star or a director is mentioned for the project but joins a laundry list of DC Comics films in various stages of development at the studio. It remains to be seen if they ultimately make the project but hiring a new writer is a good sign along.

I’ll be curious to see how DC fans will react to the idea that the studio is tinkering with the hero like this, but really hasn’t had a feature film adaptation which gives Warner Bros. some wiggle-room to do their own thing with the character.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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AT&T CEO Suggests New Release Model For WB Films Will Extend Beyond 2021

Yesterday, WarnerMedia announced that they would be releasing their 2021 slate with a new day-and-date model releasing their films the same day on HBO Max (for one month) and theatrically. Those 17 films will include The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad, Reminiscence, Malignant, Dune, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard, Cry Macho, and Matrix 4.

While speaking with Deadline, WarnerMedia’s Jason Kilar dodged their question about what 2022 would look like moving forward.

KILNAR: “As to what the world looks like after 2021, I have no grand proclamations to make. Our focus, candidly, is on the here and now. We’re focused on getting through this pandemic like any business is, and we’re putting a lot of brain cells against what the right thing is to do to serve fans and to serve partners and to server ourselves. And all those things are important to do and that’s what our focus is, obviously that is what we announced today.”

However, AT&T CEO John Stankey seemingly jumped into future when asked by The Washington Post if they’d return to normal business practices including severing the day-and-date model they announced yesterday once the pandemic recedes. Stating the following which sounds a lot like they’re keen to keep this model.

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.”

Stankey did highlight the importance of movie theaters but didn’t really go into extensive detail what that relationship will look like post-pandemic. It’ll be interesting to see the reactions of domestic theaters who are going to be the most impacted if this model becomes a permanent thing as they’ll be in direct competition with HBO Max (a domestic streaming service).

You can watch that exchange below they start talking about the announcement around the 43 minute mark.

It was also mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter that WarnerMedia partners like Legendary Entertainment weren’t even told about the day-and-date model prior to the announcement and were just as blindsided as theaters. Legendary is behind WB’s massive upcoming releases such as Dune and Godzilla vs Kong.

SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST

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‘Metal Gear Solid’: Oscar Isaac Lands His Dream Role Playing Solid Snake As Video Game Film Finally Moves Forward At Sony

A while ago during an interview with IGN to promote the Netflix film Triple Frontier, Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac revealed he’d like to play Snake in a Metal Gear Solid movie, a project that was in active development at Sony Pictures with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) attached. Jordan seemed extremely hot on the idea of Oscar in the role on social media and it looks like we have an update on that casting.

Deadline now reports that Oscar is set for the lead role of Solid Snake, the main character in the original Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. Raiden was the main playable character of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty with Big Boss featured as the main character prequel games Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Sony’s long awaited Metal Gear Solid adaptation looks to have gained some major momentum as sources tell Deadline that Oscar Isaac is attached to play Solid Snake in the Jordan Vogt-Roberts film.

METAL GEAR SOLID (1998) – A crack government anti-terrorist squad takes over an obscure Alaskan nuclear disposal facility. Solid Snake is up for the task to infiltrate the facility, rescue the two hostages and thwart the terrorists’ plans.

Derek Connolly (Kong: Island, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdon, Jurassic World: Dominion. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) wrote the most current version of the script.

Isaac is currently filming Scenes From A Marriage and is expected to begin shooting Marvel’s Moon Knight series in March, when Metal Gear Solid will begin production is unknown at this time given Oscar’s busy schedule.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Dune’, ‘Godzilla vs Kong’, ‘The Suicide Squad’, ‘Mortal Kombat’, ‘Matrix 4’, and Other WB Films Heading To HBO Max

Today, it was announced by WarnerMedia (via Deadline) that they’ll be moving their entire 2021 slate to HBO Max for a month of exclusive domestic access the same day as the theatrical release.

Following the one month HBO Max access period domestically, each film will leave the platform and continue theatrically in the U.S. and international territories, with all customary distribution windows applying to the title.

Those features include The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad, Reminiscence, Malignant, Dune, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard, Cry Macho, and Matrix 4.

Here is an excerpt from the WarnerMedia press release on Medium.

We have big news to share. As many of you know, Wonder Woman 1984 is going to be released worldwide in theaters later this month. In the United States, we will also be making the movie available on HBO Max at no extra cost the same day that Wonder Woman 1984 premieres in theaters (for the first month of the film’s release).

We are announcing today that, in the United States, the entire anticipated 17-film 2021 Warner Bros. motion picture slate is going to be released throughout the coming year in theaters and on HBO Max the same day. That’s a Warner Bros. motion picture just about once every three weeks.

HBO Max released this promo video as well.

This would be a massive shakeup for regular theatrical windows and it will be interesting if other studios such as Disney follows this model by placing their 2021 slate on Disney+ in a similar manner. I’m sure this move is likely due to HBO Max not hitting targeted growth given that it’s a domestic streaming service. It’s unknown if HBO Max subscribers will have to pay any additional fees but Wonder Woman 1984 is expected to be free with a subscriptions when it drops later this month on the service.

UPDATE: The films will not be given an added fee.

…we will also be releasing them the same day on HBO Max, at no extra cost, for the first month of each film’s release. 

In Canada, I’m with Bell Media’s Crave that has an exclusive deal for HBO and HBO Max content. It’ll be interesting to see how they plan to do this in Canada and the United Kingdom.

SOURCE: WARNER MEDIA

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‘Five Eyes’: Aubrey Plaza To Co-Star With Jason Statham In Guy Ritchie’s New Spy Flick

Deadline reports that comedic actress Aubrey Plaza (Legion, Happiest Season) has landed a co-starring role opposite Jason Statham in Guy Ritchie’s next film formerly known as Five Eyes (new title unknown). It sounds like Plaza has taken the role of a CIA high-tech expert.

The Fives Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, which was founded back in 1941. This should give an idea of the nationalities of the other characters in the film.

Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies wrote the film with rewrites from Guy.

The story follows MI6 guns-and-steel agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence alliance to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all of his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate billionaire arms broker.

This won’t be Ritchie’s first spy movie as he tackled the genre with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, and Alicia Vikander.

I previously reported that Guy would be reuniting with Wrath of Man production designer Martyn Johns on Five Eyes.

Filming is expected to take place next year in Europe.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Heart of Stone’: Gal Gadot Starring In Spy Film From ‘The Old Guard’ Screenwriter Greg Rucka and Skydance – Director Tom Harper In Talks

Back in July, Discussing Film first reported information that Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot would be returning to her Fast & Furious action roots for an untitled spy film from Skydance and screenwriter Greg Rucka (The Old Guard). Deadline has their own update with the film’s title, Heart of Stone, with Wild Rose director Tom Harper in talks. Also, that the script will be co-written by Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures).

It’s unknown if the project is heading to streaming or will be released theatrical.

Gal has recently wrapped another Skydance film titled Red Notice that co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds that will drop on Netflix sometime in 2021.

SOURCE: DISCUSSING FILM & DEADLINE

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Jason Statham In Talks For ‘Small Dark Look’ Penned By ‘Eastern Promises’ Screenwriter Steven Knight – Focuses On The Russian Mafia In London

Deadline is reporting that British action star Jason Statham is in talks to take a role in a gangster drama titled Small Dark Look. Danish director Martin Zandvliet will be working from a script written by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Peaky Blinders) as the film will take place within the world of the Russian mafia in London, obviously the film is in Knight’s wheelhouse after writing David David Cronenberg’s underrated Eastern Promises.

Details on the project aren’t mentioned in the Deadline article but it had been once said to be Knight’s Eastern Promises 2 script reworked as Body Cross (via Screen Daily and Collider) which has now been given the new title of Small Dark Look.

According to Screen Daily, which broke the news, Body Cross is described a mafia tale about two immigrant brothers living in London. Collider’s sources indicate the script follows a Russian agent who rises to become a London mafia boss’ trusted lieutenant and is soon instructed to assassinate one of his fellow countrymen. As far as I know, Mortensen’s character of Nikolai has been written out of the script, or at least renamed ‘Gregory.’

Jason has been busy with Snatch director Guy Ritchie filming the armored car thriller Wrath of Man and the upcoming spy flick Five Eyes. He’s also loosely attached for a new Expendables film and a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Van Helsing’: New Movie Coming From ‘Overlord’ Director Julius Avery and ‘Black Widow’ Screenwriter Eric Pearson – James Wan Producing

At one time, Universal Pictures tried to develop a new film focusing on the famous monster hunter Van Helsing with director Guillermo del Toro and Tom Cruise starring. The character best known as the nemesis of Count Dracula in multiple installments from Hammer Films played by Star Wars actor Peter Cushing. More recently played by Anthony Hopkins in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992 and Hugh Jackman in the less scary Van Helsing adventure film from 2004.

Back in 2015, Universal then attempted to developed another reboot from screenwriters Jon Spaihts (Dune, Prometheus) and Eric Heisserer (Bloodshot, Arrival, Lights Out). This took place when the studio was assembling their Universal Monsters franchise called Dark Universe, which crumbled after the misstep of The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise flopped at the box office.

Deadline has an update on the project that will see James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster getting involved along with Overlord director Julius Avery now attached for the horror reboot. They also mention that a new script was penned by Eric Pearson (Black Widow, Thor: Ragnarok, Godzilla vs Kong, Agent Carter) that will now get rewrites from Avery.

Julius had once been attached to direct a reboot of Flash Gordon for 20th Century before the the merger with Disney led to the project’s demise.

Fellow Australian director Leigh Whannell (Upgrade) was tapped to reboot The Invisible Man with help from Blumhouse Productions and is now working on a new Wolfman movie that will star Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, Drive). There is a Dracula movie in the works from director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Destroyer) with other more comedic projects in various stages of development.

They had also been trying to reboot both Bride of Frankenstein and Creature From The Black Lagoon.

It’ll be interesting to see if Universal will want to make an R-rated film given the graphic nature of vampires to begin with and making PG-13 movies with vampires tend to be toothless concerning the horror angle being hindered without the use of blood/gore. I’m slightly curious if Avery’s film will be connected to Karyn’s Dracula film.

SOURCE: DEADLINE