In the 1990s, Disney was behind one of the more unique genre-bending cartoon series with “Gargoyles.” A series that proposes that Gargoyles are actually living creatures/warriors that turn to stone in the daylight and come alive again at night, adding a time-travel and superhero angle to some extra creative flare. There had once been a rumor that Jordan Peele (“Nope”) attempted a live-action incarnation at Disney but that seemingly has gone nowhere as The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that they’ll be working alongside writer/director Gary Dauberman (“Annabelle Comes Home”) on a series at Disney+ with James Wan‘s production company Atomic Monster (“M3GAN”) also getting involved.
Here is a logline for the original cartoon:
After spending a thousand years in an enchanted petrified state, the gargoyles (who have been transported from medieval Scotland) are reawakened in modern-day New York City, and take on roles as the city’s secret night-time protectors.
Dauberman recently directed a feature film incarnation of Stephen King’s vampire novel “Salem’s Lot,” along with writing the scripts for multiple movies within Wan’s “Conjuring” cinematic universe including “The Nun.” So, he’ll certainly bring out the darker visual and horror elements from the animated version that aired between 1994 and 1997.
This would be one of the higher-profile Disney+ series after the Marvel and “Star Wars” projects, given the Gargoyles to be convincing enough would likely need to be done via top-notch CGI and that could speak to the scale of the visual effects budget. The main character Goliath was voiced by veteran film actor Keith David (“Spawn,” “The Thing,” “They Live”), who could potentially reprise the role if they’re looking to do motion-capture/CGI versions of the Gargoyles. David’s signature buttery voice would be appreciated but not make-or-break.
Today marks the release of the second season of Marvel’s “Loki” and there had been previous delays on the other streaming shows. We now might have an idea when two of them are going to be released next. MCU Direct is suggesting the upcoming Disney+ series “Ironheart” is expected to begin airing on September 3, 2025 (A huge push given they’ve completed filming), and “Agatha” is coming out on September 1, 2024. These dates come from listings on the United States Copyright Office, which would make them slightly more official than just a regular rumbling online.
“Agatha” is a magic-focused series and spinoff of “WandaVision” featuring Kathryn Hahn returning as the titular Agatha Harkness along with actors such as Aubrey Plaza as Rio Dival, and Sasheer Zamata in the role of a key horror-occult character, Jennifer Kale.
Dominique Thorne‘s Riri Williams made her debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” as a brilliant college student who builds her own armor suit from scratch. “Ironheart” is expected to continue those adventures and will introduce the supernatural villain, The Hood, who has “In The Heights” actor Anthony Ramos in the role. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” actor Alden Ehrenreich is also in the series and rumored to be playing the son of “Iron Man” villain Obadiah Stane portrayed by Jeff Bridges.
Other live-action MCU shows on the horizon include “Echo” on January 10, 2024, and “Daredevil: Born Again” on January 2025.
These delays stem from Disney+ juggling multiple original series from Marvel Studios and the “Star Wars” shows coming from Lucasfilm. They’re also looking like a bit of a content gap is coming next year in the wake of the strikes (long expected). Disney’s Bob Iger had also suggested to the public that they are considering slowing down the volume of Marvel shows to keep the studio from stretching itself too thin as their aim is to get the feature films on track.
With the release of a massive update to the video game “Cyberpunk 2077” from developers alongside the “Phantom Liberty,” the new expansion story. It looks like there is now some renewed interest in adapting further incarnations into other forms of media after the Netflix anime series “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.”
Today, the video game developers CD Projekt Red (“The Witcher”) have announced they have partnered with Anonymous Content (“True Detective,” “Spotlight”) to put together a “live-action project.” The press release stops short of revealing if they’re aiming for it to be aired on TV/streaming or will head to the big screen. But does mention they’ll now be seeking a screenwriter, which could indicate the desire to do a feature film within this mature cyberpunk universe. Also, stating it’ll be a “brand-new story,” likely means they won’t be adapting existing plots for this project.
“The new project is at an early development stage and has currently commenced searching for a screenwriter to tell a brand-new story set in the world of ‘Cyberpunk 2077,'” the developers said in their official press release. “Anonymous Content’s AC Studios will serve as the studio on the project. The project will be developed in close collaboration with the ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ creative team.”
In “Cyberpunk 2077,” users play as V, as they attempt to navigate the seedy world of Night City and the newly explored Dogtown. A near-future fictionalized dangerous cyberpunk world filled with corporate espionage, gangs, advanced weapons, robotics/cyborgs, and cybernetic body enhancements. Taking all the best elements from sci-fi properties like “Dredd,” “Ghost In The Shell,” “Elysium,” and “Akira.”
I think of I’m getting sick of Hollywood’s version of cyberpunk mostly revolving around white characters when a huge aspect of the sci-fi sub-genre is steeped within the aesthetics and culture of Japan. It would be really smart on the part of AC Studios to consider hiring an actor of Asian descent to play the project’s protagonist. One person who jumps out to us is singer and “John Wick 4” breakout Rina Sawayama.
Given CD Prokect Red’s working relationship with Netflix for “The Witcher” and “Edgerunners” I don’t think it would shock anyone if Netflix got their mits on “Cyberpunk.” Interestingly enough, both action stars Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba are already featured as supporting in-game characters. Hopefully, they end up getting involved and reprising their “Cyberpunk” roles in this new project given how quickly fans have embraced their involvement. Having those two attached, the famous faces of the game could get a lot of eyeballs and it does a lot of the heavy lifting to convince fans to support it.
Next month will see the return of one of the most popular animated satire series. Adult Swim has released a first-look trailer for the seventh season of “Rick & Morty” as they hope to move from co-creator Justin Roiland voicing the titular characters. This gives fans a chance to first hear the new voice-over actors as they’ve decided to pursue unnamed “soundalikes” rather than a celeb stunt casting like how Hulu picked British actor Dan Stevens (“Legion”) to replace Roiland in “Solar Opposites.”
Also, a noticeable element seen in the footage is that they’re circling back to previous teases of the duo becoming vampire hunters in some sort of parody episode of the 1998 film “Blade.” The film had been linked to a sword with built-in A.I. that had studied “Blade” to beat anyone in combat and another episode had teased them looking like badasses killing vampires in an alternate reality.
We’ve seen the show take on superheroes multiple times with their lampooning of “The Avengers” with “The Vindicators” along with a Captain Planet-type character, Planetina, who ended up having a tension-filled romantic relationship with Morty. It’ll be interesting to see if the “Blade” stuff is a full episode or simply a visual nod. Not to mention various writers from the show have made the jump to Marvel Studios working on high-profile MCU projects such as “Loki,” “She-Hulk,” “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
Here is the official logline for the upcoming seventh season:
“’Rick & Morty’ are back and sounding more like themselves than ever! It’s season seven, and the possibilities are endless: what’s up with Jerry? EVIL Summer?! And will they ever go back to the high school?! Maybe not! But let’s find out! There’s probably less piss than last season. Rick and Morty, 100 years! Or at least until season 10!”
Folks involved with writing/producing the show have previously indicated that on the creative side, they won’t see much impact with the co-creator’s exit suggesting Roiland really hadn’t been contributing that much to recent seasons. This shouldn’t be that shocking given the growing group of writers working on the show (many leaving for Marvel Studios) has been the main creative force since Adult Swim made a deal to bankroll episodes until Season 10.
“Rick & Morty” will officially return to the airwaves as it premieres October 15 on Adult Swim and you can watch the aforementioned new trailer below.
While producer/director Shawn Levy (“The Adam Project,” “Stranger Things”) is attending the Toronto International Film Festival to promote the Netflix series “All The Light We Cannot See,” he’s been talking up other projects in the works such as his big “X-Men” film under Marvel Studios, “Deadpool 3.” He confirmed that filming was only at the midway point before there was stoppage but that’s not the only massive project he’s cooking up at Disney that has been placed on pause.
Speaking with Collider, Levy gave some minor updates on the status of both his Disney+ series sequel to the Hugh Jackman-led sci-fi sports film “Real Steel” that was announced early last year and his mysterious “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm. Levy assures fans of the film that the sequel show is very much “alive” but just like with the film development halted when the WGA strike kicked in (AMPTP refuses to make a good-faith counteroffer to the unions and get everyone back to work by making a fair deal) and the “Star Wars” film is also in a similar situation. It’s still happening, but on hold until the strikes are resolved.
“We were just starting the process of developing my movie, and the writer strike happened. So we are in that holding pattern that so much of our industry is in,” Levy told Collider of the status of his new “Star Wars” movie. And on the ‘Real Steel’ series he said, “Same, I could literally say, ‘See above.’ Same. Still, as I told you, I want it as badly as the lovers of ‘Real Steel’ want it, so alive, but paused.”
Back in 2022, the director was quick to suggest to Collider how protective he is of the property and if they weren’t to get a good idea going, Levy would rather just not make the show.
“But I will say that we heard a lot of pitches. And I realized, over the course of those pitches, that I am fiercely protective of ‘Real Steel.’ I’d rather make no show than the wrong show. And I finally heard a take that takes the lore of the movie and does some really exciting things with it. I’m finally getting really excited about where we’re headed.”
The Amblin project focused on fighting robots didn’t exactly become a huge earner at the box office, $300 million on a production budget of $110 million. However, a series revival might be a bit more attractive given that Jackman’s co-stars would eventually get their own Marvel Comics roles with Evangeline Lilly playing an incarnation of The Wasp and Anthony Mackie (doing a lot of TV lately) originally taking the role of The Falcon only to eventually take the Captain American mantle from Chris Evans.
I think the biggest question going on here is, does Hugh Jackman want to make a limited series? Answering that might be slightly easier with Levy and Jackman reuniting for “Deadpool 3” where the director could eventually convince the Aussie actor to do it. Pending on a really good reason to make a follow-up.
When it comes to “Star Wars” it feels like Lucasfilm/Disney is more interested in making announcements about future films than actually completing them. Some of those growing feature films consist of one from Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”), a force/Jedi origin film from James Mangold (“Logan”), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is tackling a film set 15 years after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker” with Daisy Ridley attached to reprise her role of Rey Skywalker, and Dave Filoni (“Ahsoka”) is going to be making his big jump from TV to the big-screen with another mysterious film set during the timeline of the streaming shows which is years after “Return of The Jedi” (Expected to potentially see the return of Luke, Leia, and Han in some sort of form). It will be surprising if any of these movies crossed the finish line given how many have been scrapped or retooled into Disney+ shows like “Kenboi” and “The Book of Boba Fett.”
“Ahsoka” is currently airing on Disney+ with other live-action shows such as “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” and The High Republic-era series “The Acolyte” (will be littered with Jedi characters) on the horizon.
Legendary is making sure that their Monsterverse franchise keeps expanding and a new spinoff series is expected to help with exactly that. Originally titled “Godzilla & The Titans,” the upcoming Apple TV+ series retitled “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is set to debut mid-November and aims to explore the origins of the secretive global organization Monarch. The group has been tasked for decades to not only keep the existence of Titans a secret but also have spent that same time researching them. It’s unknown if any of the new characters will make the ultimate jump to the feature films, but it wouldn’t be that shocking if the streaming series does end up planting seeds for the next solo “Godzilla” installment after “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is released next year.
The series has multiple directors handling episodes but the one that stands out is Matt Shakman, who previously worked on Marvel’s “WandaVision” and is still attached to helm their high-profile reboot of “The Fantastic Four.” It also sees both Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell (“The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” “Overlord”) working together on the same project, as they play the same character on the show, Army Officer Lee Shaw. But in different periods of the character’s life as part of Monarch.
Apple has released a first-look teaser trailer, which you can view below. The 10-episode run will debut in November with the first two episodes, followed by one episode every Friday through January 12.
Here is the show’s official logline via Apple:
Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco, and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army Officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later when Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. Based on the Monsterverse from Legendary, and starring Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski, this dramatic saga — spanning three generations — reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.
As mentioned, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” will debut this November 17 on Apple TV+ and next year will see Adam Wingard’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” hit the big screen on April 12. Although given multiple release dates being shuffled around, it’s possible that the latter date could shift in the coming months.
With the WGA strike recently crossing the 100-day mark and the possibility that the SAG-AFTRA strike might follow suit, it’s starting to feel like it’s only a matter of time before the AMPTP (Hollywood studios/streamers) end up coming to their senses by returning to the bargaining table. However, one of those sticking points, both writers and actors have been decrying the use of new artificial intelligence bots/programs in the industry. Writers could see themselves either replaced entirely or forced to rewrite haphazard scripts created by sketchy programs that are already getting dinged for plagiarism. Actors on the other hand are directly seeing what bleak future they’re up against, as some background/extras have been subjected to digital scans that would allow studios to use their likeness/image without future consent or even payment impacting a majority of the union’s membership.
It looks like a federal judge (U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell) yesterday (via The Hollywood Reporter) has ruled that AI-created art isn’t able to be copyrighted, upholding a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office. This essentially means that art/image, writing, music, and potentially even footage cannot be protected under the same laws that studios have long used for their film/shows. Likely making any dominating involvement with AI potentially a risk to their copyright.
This comes after challenges were made when the government refused to issue copyrights for AI-generated material. Judge Howell’s opinion from the ruling stressed that “Human authorship is a bedrock requirement” and that copyright “protects only works of human creation.” Howell added, “Human involvement in, and ultimate creative control over, the work at issue was key to the conclusion that the new type of work fell within the bounds of copyright.”
Making it clear that Hollywood executives/CEOs won’t have that blanket financial incentive to replace humans working behind and in front of the camera. Without copyright protections anyone can steal, reproduce, and sell that work without fear of legal ramifications from those actions (think public domain media). However, what will likely be up for debate next is the human involvement threshold needed for work to be copyrighted, if there indeed are major A.I. contributions to that material. It simply might be safer to avoid that altogether and continue to work in a traditional manner to keep the copyright strong from the jump.
In a previous case, it was found that neither work produced by animals was subject to being granted copyrights either.
Back in December 2020, Lucasfilm had first announced early plans to develop a new Disney+ series that would focus on Donald Glover‘s incarnation of Lando Calrissian from “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” An infamous smuggler pilot and card shark turned businessman that first appeared as a former acquaintance of Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Affectionally titled “Lando,” there really hasn’t been much in the way of updates on the streaming series until now.
Yesterday, it was revealed by a report from Variety that the show is very much still alive as Lucasfilm has replaced Justin Simien (“Haunted Mansion,” “Dear White People”) after the creative had exited the “Star Wars” spinoff series. They’ve now hired Glover and his brother Stephen Glover (“Swarm,” “Atlanta”) to write the series, which isn’t that entirely shocking since the pair are currently working together over at Amazon as part of the overall deal which includes the upcoming “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” series at Prime.
While there is going to be plenty of speculation of the series being a sequel surrogate to “Solo,” it’s unclear if some or any of those characters will make their grand return to the “Star Wars” universe. The show is expected to mainly focus on Lando’s own adventures and potentially explore how he ends up running Cloud City, an iconic franchise location that is a tibanna gas mining colony on the planet of Bespin.
Given that show is starting with new writers it’s unlikely going to begin shooting anytime soon given the writers’ strike is still ongoing. “Ahsoka” is the next big “Star Wars” show to debut on Disney+ next month on August 23.
Between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, there isn’t much in the way of productions going on in the United States as film/television workers are looking to get a fair deal in the wake of streaming and the increasing threat of artificial intelligence. While multiple shows and movies have halted some are pushing through such as the upcoming/untitled Earthbound “Alien” prequel streaming series coming from Noah Hawley (“Fargo,” “Legion”)
A new report from Deadline is now confirming that filming in Thailand is going ahead as planned with the addition of actors such as “Andor” supporting cast member Alex Lawther (“Black Mirror”) and Samuel Blenkin (“Black Mirror,” “The Sandman”). The rest of the cast includes Sydney Chandler (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav. All the deals had reportedly been secured before the strike and Equity performers (the UK union for actors) have been told if they walk they would be sued. Sounds like a totally normal and not all bizarre environment to be shooting a show in.
The outlet adds shooting has already started this week with none of the actors on set being SAG-AFTRA, which allows them to shoot the show without crossing the picket line. Actors like Chandler, who are part of the union, are said to be not involved in the current round of filming as it’s expected their scenes will be shot at a later date once the actors’ strike is resolved.
Of course, is sort of an odd time for the “Alien” franchise as the newest feature film from filmmaker Fede Alvarez had recently wrapped filming as that project had been upgraded from a Hulu-exclusive to landing a prime August 16, 2024, theatrical release date from 20th Century Studios/Disney. The thinking likely is that given how big of a hit “Prey” has been they didn’t want to lose an opportunity to actually make some cash off the sci-fi horror film.
It’s still unclear when the FX on Hulu series will be airing as the scheduling for shooting scenes with the attached SAG-AFRTRA actors will likely be determined by how long the strike goes on back in the United States. What hypothetically could end up happening if the studio runs out of patience is that those striking actors could end up being recast, although, that seems like an extremely stupid move on their part.
While Dune: Part Two completed it’s principal photography last year, the HBO Max series spinoff Dune: The Sisterhood coming from Legendary Television isn’t having the same kind of smooth develop or production process. A prequel series that started filming back in November that focuses on the influential Bene Gesserit (a religious sect of women with powers that inspired the Jedi) with the Harkonnen Sisters being some of the lead characters as the story takes place 10,000 years before the events of the films.
Deadline reports that the show is seeing even more turbulence and this time in front and behind the camera. Director Johan Renck (The Last of Us, Chernobyl) that had been tasked to shoot the first two episodes has now left. One of the lead actors on the show, Shirley Henderson had been tapped to play Tula Harkonnen but has also exited and her role will now be recast with someone else. Lastly, like that wasn’t enough of a headache co-showrunner Diane Ademu-John left ahead of production making Alison Schapker the sole showrunner on the prequel series. This has led to a production hiatus as the show is said to be undergoing a creative overhaul as Schapker is busy undergoing rewrites and production attempts to find a new director (possibly to reshoot those first two episodes).
The rest of the Dune: The Sisterhood cast includes Emily Watson, Indira Varma, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds, Chloe Lea, Travis Fimmel, Mark Strong, Jade Anouka, and Chris Mason.
Dune: The Sisterhood is told through the eyes of a mysterious order of women known as the Bene Gesserit. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis, known to its inhabitants as Dune. It will serve as a prequel to the films.
This doesn’t give off confidence about the show, however, HBO Max is trying to downplay the latest round of musical chairs on the project as they made their own official statement on the reporting, confirming elements of it. In that statement, HBO Max says that Renck’s exit was mutual but the report suggests that his footage might not ultimately end up being used in the final show as they now are seeking a new director.
“As Dune: The Sisterhood has entered a pre-scheduled hiatus, there are some creative changes being made to the production in an effort to create the best series possible and stay true to the source material,” an HBO Max spokesperson told Deadline in a statement. “Johan Renck has completed his work on the series and a new director will be brought on; through mutual agreement, Johan is moving on to pursue other projects. Additionally, Shirley Henderson will be exiting the series and will no longer be playing Tula Harkonnen.”
This isn’t the first time there have been hiccups. Dune: Part One screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and Dana Calvo (Narcos) had been previously tasked to write/showrun the spinoff streaming series only for Spaihts to exit himself as Legendary/Warner Bros. fast-tracked Dune: Part Two, which is now in the post-production stage as it’s set to be released on November 3, 2023. Calvo would also quietly leave with Ademu-John and Schapker picking up the reigns. Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve was announced to direct the pilot until Renck was brought on to replace him. So, as you might imagine more drama wasn’t all that shocking for anyone following this project.
We likely won’t have to wait too long for another director to be announced as Legendary/HBO Max are hellbent on getting this right.
THE RONIN 