As you might be already aware, director Zack Snyder (“Army of The Dead”) is returning to genre filmmaking with his latest installment at Netflix, “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” and it features British actor Charlie Hunnam (“Pacific Rim”) as part of the ensemble cast. Like his director, Hunnam has a slim connection to the world of DC Comics films as fans have long campaigned to get him to play the feature film version of Oliver Queen, aka, Green Arrow.
It sounds like the role was once on the table but the actor declined the part. While speaking with Comic Book he clarified that Snyder didn’t approach him to play the character, Hunnam admitted he wasn’t unaware of the character and couldn’t exactly remember who asked him to play Green Arrow.
“I did not share their enthusiasm,” Hannum said of how he declined the mystery project. “I don’t know who Green Arrow is and don’t want to offend anyone.”
This might go back to the era of David S. Goyer‘s unmade “Green Arrow: Escape FromSuper Max” pitch, a prison-set action pic with Green Arrow unmasked and jailed having to deal with a Super Max Prison filled with violent inmates and DC villains like The Joker and Lex Luthor alongside more obscure ones. It was penned by Goyer and Justin Marks. Eerily, the Ben Affleck solo “Batman” film was expected to take some cues from it with the setting taking place in Arkham Asylum and Wayne having to work with/fight various rogues.
As far as we know, there aren’t current plans for Green Arrow in the new DCU spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new heads of DC Studios. Things could change very quickly given that Gunn has been trying to flesh out his new cinematic universe rather quickly as the production of “Superman: Legacy” is about to begin soon in Atlanta.
Yesterday, it was reported by Deadline that Marvel’s fourth “Captain America” film, “Captain America: Brave New World,” would be undergoing further rewrites ahead of reshoots with the help of screenwriter Matthew Orton (“Operation Finale”), who had previously worked with Marvel Studios on “Moon Knight.”
Plot details are being kept under wraps but there is an expectation that an MCU version of the supervillain team The Serpent Society (previously used as a fake title for “Captain America: Civil War” and their involvement seemingly backed up in set photos) could be the antagonists of the action flick alongside Tim Blake Nelson’s The Leader. Harrison Ford had been recast as President “Thunderbolt” Ross after the death of William Hurt and could be either friend or foe to Sam Wilson.
Dalan Musson and Malcolm Spellman wrote the shooting version of the script with Julius Onah directing.
That additional filming is said to be taking place in the spring/summer of 2024 and will hit theaters on February 14, 2025. It’s important to point out that all MCU films have reshoots built into their budgets and nearly all projects undergo reshoots/pickups after they’ve wrapped principal photography.
More business-as-usual for the studio.
Also, while this isn’t a huge tidbit, “Thunderbolts” star Wyatt Russell (“The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”) while promoting his Apple TV+ series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via ThePlaylist) revealed that neither Harrison Ford (President Thunderbolt Ross) nor Daniel Bruhl (Zemo) would be appearing in the film but hasn’t read the MCU film’s script to know for sure.
“Daniel is not going to be it, [but] he could play a part in it. I don’t know. I haven’t read a script yet, but as of now, I’m not sure. Harrison’s in ‘Captain America 4,’ I think. I don’t know, I haven’t read a script, so I don’t know who exactly who is in it. I know Florence is in it, I know Sebastian’s in it. I know David Harbour is going to be in it. David Harbour is another guy who’s, like, so good. I love everything he does.”
We could theorize the actor is likely basing his knowledge of who is in the film based on the official concept art that announced the film’s character lineup such as Russell’s U.S. Agent. Then again, it might help if Russell had read the script before answering the question. It’s worth pointing out that “Thunderbolts” filming and “Captain America: Brave New World” reshoots are expected to overlap with each other leaving room for Ross/Zemo to appear.
“Thunderbolts” like a bunch of recent Marvel films have been undergoing rewrites ahead of their production and it remains to be seen if either President Ross or Zemo ultimately show up in the pic. However, it is worth mentioning that Zemo was a founding member of the team in the comics and there had been some assumptions given President Ross’ (Red Hulk is a Thunderbolts member in more recent incarnations of the roster in the comics) connection to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine established in other films that he could be showing up.
It was recently confirmed by Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead,” “Invincible”) on a YouTube video that his actor pal Steven Yeun (“Nope”) is set in the role of Sentry and had a costume fitting. The rest of the film’s cast includes Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/White Wolf/Winter Soldier), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova/Black Widow, David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine), and Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster).
Filming on “Thunderbolts” is expected to begin in the new year once rewrites are completed and has a release date of July 25, 2025.
You can watch that full exchange on the Happy Sad Confused podcast below.
Another modern remake of “The Wolf Man” had been in development at Blumhouse/Universal after the studio’s plans for a cinematic universe centered on their iconic Universal Monsters had been in the works but there is a bit of shakeup on the project. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that both director Derek Cianfrance (“A Place Beyond The Pines”) and Ryan Gosling have exited “Wolf Man,” with replacements already found.
Actor Christopher Abbott (“Poor Things”) has been tapped to take over the lead role from Gosling and Aussie filmmaker Leigh Whannell (“Upgrade”) is back on the film after Cianfrance had been hired to take on directing duties. Whannell was behind Universal’s “Invisible Man,” a modern take on the H.G. Wells character with a domestic abuse spin that had a solid reception from both audiences and critics leading to the studio to assign the director for a remake of “The Wolf Man” next.
The script was penned by both Whannell and Corbett Tuck.
Abbott is no stranger to genre projects with a string of credits that include Brandon Cronenberg’s cyberpunk thriller “Possessor,” “Catch-22,” and most recently can be seen in the Frankenstein-inspired satire “Poor Things.”
Of course, the movie would focus on a man who is cursed with transforming into the Wolf Man during a full moon with deadly results. Oscar-winner Benedict Del Toro starred in the last incarnation helmed by Joe Johnston (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) which was released back in 2010 and used a mix of Rick Baker’s excellent practical makeup alongside wonky digital effects. “Wolf Man” already has a release date set for October 25, 2024, which means production is about to start soon.
Director Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love & Thunder”) had recently bowed out of the running to tackle a hypothetical “Thor 5” while stating that franchise star Chris Hemsworth was “talking to” Marvel about the next installment. However, Marvel and Disney have yet to officially announce plans for “Thor 5.” As soon as it was clear that Waititi wasn’t returning, suddenly an online rumor pegged Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One,” “Godzilla,” “The Creator”) as a potential contender. Well, that might not actually be the case.
The filmmaker has seemingly debunked this rumbling while appearing on Bro Bible’s Post Credit Podcast (via ThePlaylist). He was aware of the rumor making the rounds on the internet while suggesting it wasn’t real but it still amused him and clarified he’s more interested in “pursuing original sci-fi” instead of any other franchise projects.
“I saw those rumors too. I saw it and I jokingly sent it to my girlfriend. I just texted her the link and said, ‘I didn’t want you to find out this way.’ I’ve never heard anything about it. It’s totally… the internet is an incredible place,” said Edwards.
He added, “I love those movies. I love Marvel, a lot of my friends work on Marvel films. I’m very excited about the future of cinema, personally. I feel like everything we did differently on ‘The Creator’ is probably the strongest part of the film. And I just want to push that even further, so having the freedom and being able to take risks, being allowed to fail. I think that’s all an important part of any creativity.”
Pouring more cold water on the potential of him jumping toward the MCU.
“I love all the other movies and franchises, I go to see them. I have most of them on my DVD/Blu-ray shelf. But I really want to keep pursuing original sci-fi. Was that a very politically correct answer? I never say never. In the right circumstances, absolutely.”
Edwards never made much sense given his infamous experience with Disney/Lucasfilm making “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (the studio brought in Tony Gilroy to rewrite/reshoot scenes) and focusing his energy these days on original ideas with “The Creator,” which could lead to more budget-conscious projects that allow him to have way more creative freedom than being a hired-gun on an existing franchise.
We still don’t even know if “Thor 5” is going to happen and will have to wait for Kevin Feige to share an update. Given that, even a hint of a sequel hasn’t come from Marvel. Then again, there are plenty of unused characters and Norse mythology for the studio to mine for a fifth installment such as the Midgard Serpent, The Einherjar (dead warriors waiting to fight in Ragnarok), the Light Elves in the realm of Alfheim, Ulik of the Rock Trolls, and Balder The Brave.
Hollywood is starting to learn how to properly adapt video game properties for both the small screen like with the acclaimed show “The Last of Us” on HBO/Max and for the big screen as the animated “Super Mario Bros.” movie was able to dominate the 2023 box office by earning over a billion dollars globally when other pics where struggling. Another hot property has been gobbled up and it was announced by video game guru Hideo Kojima of Kojima Productions that A24 Films would be developing a live-action film based on his original game, “Death Stranding.”
The thing about “Death Stranding” is that it already had known actors in key roles such as Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”) as protagonist Sam Porter Bridges, Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Troy Baker, Margaret Qualley, and Lindsay Wagner. It also featured the likenesses of fellow directors Guillermo del Toro and Nicholas Winding Refn. A second game is currently in development as well that could be source material for a potential sequel and has added American actress Elle Fanning to the cast.
It remains to be seen if established cast members will reprise those roles, but the likelihood would be good. Neither a director nor a screenwriter was named in the announcement.
Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.The film promises to delve into the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event called the ‘Death Stranding,’ which blurred the lines between life and death, and brought forth nightmarish creatures into a world on the brink of collapse.
This comes after Sony Pictures and producer Avi Arad have been trying to put together another film based on a popular Kojima video game with a live-action feature incarnation of “Metal Gear Solid” that had “Star Wars” actor Oscar Isaac attached to play Snake and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”) set to direct from a scripted penned by Derek Connolly (“Kong: Skull Island,” “Legend of Zelda”). We’re still waiting for an official update on the status of “Metal Gear Solid” and if the military-action pic will be moving forward into production anytime soon.
A24 and DEATH STRANDING will be made into a live-action movie🎬📷🫶
“A24 was born into this world about 10 years ago, their presence is singular within the industry, they are like no other. The films they are delivering to the world are high in quality and very innovative. I… pic.twitter.com/4CiO8F1HUF
Filmmaker Justin Lin (“Star Trek Beyond”) has rebounded after exiting “Fast X” over creative issues and has secured two extremely high-profile leading actors for his upcoming heist thriller at Apple. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Lin has cast Oscar-winner Charlize Theron (“Atomic Blonde”) and former James Bond actor Daniel Craig (“No Time To Die”) as the leads of his new movie “Two For The Money.” Details on the film are scarce but the pic will see Theron and Craig play seasoned thieves while their relationship evolves over three big heists.
“Two For The Money” landed at Apple after a multiple studio bidding war and has a script penned by Dan Mazeau (“Damsel”) after working with Lin to co-write the script for “Fast X.”
Theron, of course, has worked with Lin previously on the “Fast & Furious” franchise directing her case Cipher in “F9: The Fast Saga.” The South African actress has some other action projects on the horizon including “The Old Guard 2,” a long-gestating sequel to “Atomic Blonde” at Netflix as well, and a potential return to the Furiosa role if a third pic connected to George Miller‘s “Mad Max: Fury Road” comes together as planned.
Craig is coming off his tenure playing the iconic British spy James Bond and is still expected to reunite with Rian Johnson for a third untitled Benoit Blanc film at Netflix after the success of “Knives Out,” and “Glass Onion.” His most recent role is playing Lee in Luca Guadagnino‘s adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel, “Queer.”
It’s unclear when “Two For The Money” will go in front of cameras.
There has been an assumption of what happens next for the “Dune” franchise once the second installment, the other half of the first book, is released in theaters on March 1, 2024, after being bumped from its November date as Warner Bros. fearing the cast wouldn’t be able to promote the sequel due to the SAG-AFTRA strike (A deal with the AMPTP is now ratified by members). Director, co-writer, and producer Denis Villeneuve is giving us a rather large update.
While speaking at an event in South Korea (via Tong Tong Culture) today to promote “Dune: Part Two,” the filmmaker revealed that the script to “Dune Messiah,” aka, “Dune 3” is nearly finished but doesn’t see himself jumping back to Arrakis anytime soon after a “very challenging” shoot on the second pic.
“There’s the dream of making an adaptation of ‘Dune Messiah,’ the third movie that will be the end of the journey of Paul Atreides. It will make absolute sense for me to do this movie. The movie is being written right now, the screenplay is almost finished, but it’s not finished it will take a little time. I don’t know exactly when I’ll go back to Arrakis, but I might make a detour before just to move away from the sand for my mental sanity (laughs), I might do something in between but my dream would be to rule one last time on this planet that I love.”
Villeneuve also seemed to reiterate that the third film is expected to be when he dismounts from as the franchise director, nothing says someone else couldn’t keep the movies going as there are four other novels from Frank Herbert to adapt. Neither Legendary nor Warner Bros. has officially greenlit/dated the third installment. Still, barring any major box office and critical hiccups next year when “Dune: Part Two” is finally released, there is an expectation that the studio will sign off on the next installment of the “Dune” saga.
One of those potential projects Villeneuve could attempt to make between “Dune” installments is his adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke sci-fi novel “Rendezvous With Rama” and would see him reunite with Alcon Entertainment after working with them on “Blade Runner 2049” and his thriller “Prisoners.” Clarke, of course, was the author and co-writer of the screenplay of the iconic Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The French-Canadian filmmaker was first announced for the project back in December 2021 in an article from The Hollywood Reporter and screenwriter Eric Roth (“Killers of The Flower Moon“) may have revealed doing some screenwriting work on the project last month without directly naming “Rama.”
“I just wrote a movie for Denis Villeneuve. We’ll see what ends up happening with it, but it’s about space and time, and it’s very lonely. It’s certainly about eternity,” Roth said on the Script Apart Podcast.
Rumors based on a production grid making the rounds online had suggested that his next film could be “Cleopatra” for Sony Pictures. However, this has yet to be confirmed/backed up by Villeneuve (Who has yet to announce his involvement), trades, or Sony themselves. Also worth bringing back up is Villeneuve’s new statement from today about “moving away from the sand” for a production shoot which would suggest he’s not itching right now to make a movie about a historical Egyptian leader.
As mentioned, “Dune: Part Two” will hit theaters on March 1, 2024.
You can watch that full exchange with Villeneuve below.
In August of next year, we’re expected to get our first new “Alien” film since 2017’s “Alien: Covenant” that focused on the David and Enigeeners. We now have a really solid idea of when in the franchise’s timeline the new film takes place along with a potentially exact location as well. A new quote from the film’s star Cailee Spaeny to Variety has revealed that the new “Alien” film is set between Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and James Cameron’s “Aliens.”
“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie,” Spaeny told Variety at the Gotham Awards. “They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”
This would seemingly confirm the film about young off-world colonists is indeed a film about the outbreak at the Weyland-Yutani colony, Hadley’s Hope, on LV-426 where a “shake and bake colony” gets overrun by an army of xenomorphs and their Queen. From the sounds of things, we don’t really need much in the way of plot details because we know that Newt ends up the sole survivor of events leading somewhat directly into “Aliens.” The team of Colonial Marines arrives to find all of the colonists, minus Newt, have either been facehugged or killed.
The fate of Hadley’s Hope (the main location of “Aliens”) was simply alluded to in the original theatrical cut of the 1986 film, but later “Special Editions” would add 30-40 minutes of deleted scenes that featured Ripley being told her daughter Amanda (the protagonist of “Alien: Isolation”) has died after being lost in space for decades and how the outbreak on LV-426 had Newt’s father as the first victim of the face huggers.
Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”), the director, had recently talked up that his director’s cut of “Romulus” had been given the seal of approval by the extremely picky Ridley Scott, who is now one of the main stewards and producers of the franchise via Scott Free.
“Alien: Romulus” is set by 20th Century Studios for a release date of August 16, 2024.
Marvel Studios is indeed retooling their next “Avengers” installment as it’s now been revealed that Michael Waldron (“Rick & Morty”), the creator of the “Loki” series and screenwriter of the Multiverse-focused “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” has been tasked to rewrite/rework the script for “Avengers 5” that had been previously titled, “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” This comes after Destin Daniel Cretton was said to have exited the film to focus on a sequel to “Shang-Chi” alongside his “Wonder Man” series on Disney+ that is expected to resume production soon.
Waldron is also working on “Avengers: Secret Wars” and now makes him Marvel’s main screenwriter on their big Multiverse films. Getting someone to pen the next two installments would sort of mirror how the duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were assigned to both “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” after working on “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War.”
This would confirm that previous screenwriter Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) has stepped aside from the project. Earlier in the month, there had been rumors suggesting that the studio had moved on from Loveness after the disappointing reaction to his “Ant-Man” sequel featuring Jonathan Majors’ Kang The Conqueror as the main antagonist. It remains to be seen if they’ll keep Kang as their big bad over the next two installments. The recent season finale of “Loki” seemingly sidestepped Kang being such a threat and left the door open for someone else to fill that void, potentially.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Multiverse villains, The Squadron Supreme, are considered for the pic. A superpowered team that was Marvel’s evil knock-off of The Justice League that had been originally pulled out of the Multiverse as foes for The Avengers. Instead of having a single menacing baddie, there could be a whole team of them looking to defeat our heroes.
A longstanding rumor over the last year or so has been that “Doctor Strange 2” helmer Sam Raimi is being courted for “Avengers Secret Wars” and could also end up making “The Kang Dynasty” as well. Raimi’s involvement has yet to be officially announced by Marvel/Disney or backed up by trade reports, but we shouldn’t be all that shocked if someone is named in the very near future.
As production on the new “Alien” series is expected to resume in the new year according to creator/showrunner/director Noah Hawley, a big casting addition has been revealed by Deadline. The outlet reports that veteran actor Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) has joined the sci-fi horror series that had been shooting in Thailand and is said to be playing an android character. Synthetic characters in the “Alien” franchise have been both friends (Walter, Bishop, Call) and foes (Ash, David) to our human leads.
Olyphant and Hawley previously worked together on the fourth season of “Fargo.”
The rest of the cast consists of Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, and Kit Young.
While we’re waiting on more concrete plot details the show is expected to take place in the events of the original “Alien” from 1979 and specifically is set on Earth, the first installment of the main franchise to do so. Outside of Paris scenes in “Alien Resurrection” and the opening of “Prometheus.” There is an expectation it will focus on the greedy and evil corporation Weyland Industries/Weyland-Yutani, who act as the secondary antagonists that throw various expendable crew members into the meat grinder in an attempt to secure the Xenomorph for their biological weapons program.
Meanwhile, on the film front, we’re expected to have “Alien: Romulus” by director Fede Alvarez released on August 16, 2024. That pic is said to be focused on a young group of off-world colonists that are forced to confront the Xenomorph/Xenomorphs.
THE RONIN 