Filming on Marvel’s Hawkeye series has officially started as a section of shooting is now taking place in a Brooklyn subway under the working title of Anchor Point.
The Hawkeye set, at least for today, is underground in the subway. Good luck getting any leaks. pic.twitter.com/4Pj1vmP5uu
Murphy’s Multiverse has posted what looks to be the first official footage from the Hawkeye set. The footage looks to be taken from someone’s phone from some distance and we don’t get a great look at Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton or what is expected to be Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop (according to the person who recorded the footage).
I personally can’t make out if it’s Hailee or not because of the quality of the video but my opinion likely doesn’t mean too much.
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.
Because of the pandemic 2020 was the first year in ages that we didn’t get a brand new Marvel Studios release and 2021 looks like it will be an overload of content.
The Ronin first revealed back in August that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’s debut had been bumped to 2021 and added a production order for upcoming shows which had been mostly on-point. We have another update tidbit to share as we’re hearing that both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye are still expected to debut at some point in 2021 despite production hiccups due to COVID-19.
However, what is the plan now might change as time goes on.
The key thing will be how Disney+ plans to rollout their multiple MCU shows as WandaVision will kick-off on January 15th with Falcon, What-If…?, and Loki unclear where they’ll land on the streaming service’s schedule. WandaVision and Falcon’s delays will certainly help Disney+ keep more eyeballs on the service for the first half of the year.
She-Hulk and Moon Knight will not begin filming until March suggesting they won’t be ready until 2022.
Here is a reminder what the MCU film slate looks like.
Black Widow – May 7th 2021
Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings – July 9th, 2021
Eternals – November 5th, 2021
Spider-Man 3 December 17th, 2021
Thor: Love & Thunder – February 11th, 2022
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness March 25th, 2022
Black Panther 2 – May 6th, 2022 (Subject To Change)
Captain Marvel 2 – July 8th, 2022 (Subject To Change)
The Ronin has been able to confirm that cinematographer Maxime Alexandre to the production team of the Resident Evil feature film reboot, as filming has been taking place in the Toronto area with the Canadian leg of the shoot expected to finish this month.
Maxime’s credits include The Nun, Shazam!, Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension, Silent Hill: Revelations, and the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.
Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin, Donal Logue, Chad Rook and Lily Gao.
A release date for Resident Evil has yet to be announced.
Deadline reports that Emmy winning actor Peter Dinklage has been set for the lead role in Legendary’s reboot of the cult superhero franchise The Toxic Avenger from director Macon Blair. Peter isn’t a stranger to either comedy or genre projects with credits such as Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Pixels.
They don’t mention who Peter is playing but the assumption he’ll end up playing Melvin Junko or a version of him, a nerdy New Jersey janitor that is turned into the hulking Toxic Avenger aka Toxie after a prank by a bunch of bullies lands him into a batch of toxic waste.
It’s tone is all over the place as the violence is on par with stuff like RoboCop and Total Recall while being just as satirical as a parody like Scary Movie. I’m extremely curious to see how they want to approach the reboot and if they’ll attempt to be as violent as the original installments. However, with the popularity of a character like Deadpool that was created in the wake of Toxie’s popularity in the 1980s, it wouldn’t tough to see how Legendary might want to let director Macon Blair do what he likes with it. Blair is already working if Peter on the comedy Brothers for Legendary which co-stars Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame).
The Toxic Avenger is an oddball franchise since the films were hyper-violent it still managed to be given a children’s cartoon titled The Toxic Crusaders along with a batch of toys spawned from the cartoon and some comics published by Marvel Comics. I had a couple of toys from the cartoon myself growing up. It wasn’t all that uncommon for R-rated films to have toys released or cartoons marketed towards kids as movies like Police Academy, Robocop, Rambo, and Aliens had similar money-making ploys.
Brothers is seemingly still in the pre-production phase at Legendary and it’s unknown when they’ll want to start on The Toxic Avenger.
Deadline reports that Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada (Westworld) has taken a role in Sony’s Bullet Train, an action film is set on a Japanese bullet train filled that happens to be filled with assassins with various motivations.
Hiroyuki Sanada is a legendary actor in Japan along with roles in Hollywood films such as The Last Samurai, The Wolverine, and had a brief cameo in Avengers: Endgame playing a Yakuza boss. I have to assume he would be playing some sort of Yakzua character in the film given the subject matter.
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), Logan Lerman (Fury, Hunters), Lady Gaga (Gucci, A Star Is Born, Machete Kills), Masi Oka (Heroes), and Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2).
Filming is taking place in Los Angeles with director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, John Wick, Atomic Blonde) at the helm.
Deadline reports that Lucasfilm’s Disney+ series Willow, a sequel based on the original 1988 film, is in negotiations with a trio of actresses to take lead roles in the fantasy series from Solo: A Star Wars Story screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan and co-showrunner Wendy Mericle with star Warwick Davis expected to reprise the role of Willow.
Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) is said to be up for the role of Jade, Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Bad Times At The El Royale) playing Kit and English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove.
They also included some character information which you can see below which sounds like the show will be mostly female driven.
According to circulated casting information for the series, it revolves around a group on a mission to save a kidnapped prince. The members of the team include Dove (Bamber), whose backstory resembles that of Willow from the movie. Dove is an unassuming kitchen maid who proves that she is the “chosen one” as she embarks on the journey. She is joined by Kit (Spaeny), the princess whose twin brother was abducted. She is destined to be a leader and ultimately the queen. Kellyman plays Jade, a servant who is Kit’s best friend and moral compass. She is on her way to becoming the best young warrior in the kingdom. Also part of the group is a guy who echoes Val Kilmer’s character in the movie. A thief and liar, he joins the quest in exchange for getting out of prison.
Erin did her scenes in Solo: A Star Wars Story alongside Willow lead Warwick Davis.
Disney officially announced the series was moving forward last month in a press release.
Filming will be taking place in Wales with Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) set to direct the pilot.
WILLOW – Enter the world of “Willow.” Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.
While we’re still waiting on official confirmation on who is playing Kate Bishop in Marvel’s Hawkeye series a new rumor is making the rounds.
The Direct claims that Black Widow actress Florence Pugh will be reprising her role of Yelena Belova in the show, although, they can’t say how large the appearance will be or if this will be a reoccurring role.
She is currently busy making the feature film thriller Don’t Worry Darling in California for director Olivia Wilde and if Florence is joining the Hawkeye show she won’t be filming scenes anytime soon.
Yelena Belova is part of the main character lineup of the Black Widow film (takes places between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War) and there has been assumptions from fans that Pugh would continue the legacy of the Black Widow mantle in future films after Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame. However, we don’t ultimately know Yelena’s fate in the Black Widow movie until we actually watch it.
The MCU incarnation of Yelena is meant to be more of a little sister to Natasha instead of a rival.
Filming will mainly take place in Atlanta but there is confirmation that some of the shoot will take place in NYC this week.
Jeremy Renner will be reprising the Clint Barton role as he mentors a young protege named Kate Bishop that becomes a member of the Young Avengers.
Writer/director Alex Garland is moving back into feature films as he tells Empire Magazine he abandoned a new series he was developing to focus on a low-budget horror film he plans to begin shooting in spring or summer of next year. Although, we don’t really get any preliminary details or teases concerning the project’s plot.
GARLAND: “I wrote a low-budget horror movie, set in the UK… I don’t know if it’s unrealistic or not. Always at this particular moment, a film always feels unrealistic, but then somehow it works out.”
You might remember that Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later which spawned a sequel titled 28 Weeks Later. Body horror was a huge part of Annihilation and there are plenty of horror/thriller elements in pretty much everything he’s done including his recent series DEVS.
A while back it was reported that Fargo and Legion series creator Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch 20th Century Fox to develop a series at FX set within the Alien universe which was ultimately rejected before the merger with Disney.
An Alien series wouldn’t be the first new project that was purposed.
District 9’s Neill Blomkamp had tried to finally get an Alien 5 movie (Ridley Scott and James Cameron pitched a version before AVP years ago) off the ground with Sigourney Weaver attached to star and Ridley Scott producing but that never materialized. As Scott has been talking up a third installment of his Alien prequel, a follow-up to Alien: Covenant that had been once called Alien: Awakening and more recently has been indicating that it’s in development stages. Franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler seemingly inspired by Blomkamp’s concept of erasing the two sequels had written a couple of drafts for Alien V with Weaver reading an early draft of it.
It was announced that Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Land, Black Mirror) would be directing Predator 5 aka Skulls, that according to him had been in the works for almost four years. An old synopsis for the project suggested it could be taking a period western setting with the main human character being “a female Comanche warrior”.
There had been some hints that Disney might want to circle back to Noah’s Alien series idea and Deadline asked him about it in their interview for Season 4 of Fargo. Admitting he’s since had talks about the show since the merger which sounds like new interest in making it as Deadline suggests a deal for a show is incoming.
DEADLINE: Are you still involved with the Alien reboot TV series? I understand deals are trying to be done.
HAWLEY: “I know that there’s an effort to reshuffle a lot of things post-Disney takeover and it was a conversation that I had a couple years back. And I have not in the last few weeks been having those conversations about it. But I know that like any studio that there’s a great desire to make the most of one’s library so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like that.”
DEADLINE: But you’re involved in it?
HAWLEY: “Ya know, I have conversations from time to time but I’m not committed.”
DEADLINE: And there isn’t a hard conceit to it yet?
HAWLEY: “No, I haven’t — nothing is at that stage.”
Back in September, Noah gave some insight to Observer what he wanted to do and hinted that he would like to explore a character-driven series set in the universe that may have focused on the humans behind the Weyland-Yutani company and those underneath them. An interesting proposal given that filmmakers have really only scratched the surface of what that futuristic universe looks like.
HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”
“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”
We had heard a while back there had been some interest in Ridley Scott getting involved with a Hulu series, the streamer now has a strong relationship with FX’s programming post-merger and would be a perfect home for an Alien series if/when it come together. If there were to be any Alien series Scott is most likely landing an automatic executive producer credit given his current status on the franchise and previous involvement with Alien 5 as a producer.
It’s also worth noting that Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves (formerly at TNT) had been touted by HBO Max as their most successful original series and that could help influence folks at Disney, 20th Century Studios, FX, and Hulu to give Noah’s series a second look as it sounds like they might already have.
THE RONIN 