Deadline has a new update concerning the Just Cause movie from Constantin Film and Prime Universe that has been in development with a script from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier).
Their report reveals that they’ve now hired Canadian director Mike Dowse to handle the video game adaptation.
The film will follow the video game’s blueprint, as Rico Rodriguez is on a race-against-time mission to stop the mercenary group The Black Hand. The series draws its name from the real-life U.S. invasion of Panama, code-named “Operation Just Cause.” Rodriguez (aka “The Scorpion”) has become one of the few Latino iconic video game characters. He has a signature “agent of chaos” approach to taking down the bad guys.
Dowse’s previous efforts include It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Goon and Stuber.
Today, it was announced that Netflix will be making a new CGI animated series titled Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles based on Stan Sakai’s beloved Usagi Yojimbo comic book series. The streaming service will be teaming up with Gaumont and James Wan’s Atomic Monster.
The character also famously did crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and was part of their toy line.
88 Pictures, who previously did the animation for Trollhunters will be working on the series.
Below is the official press release.
Netflix and Gaumont announce new comedy-action CGI animated series Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles based on the globally successful 35-year-old comic book, Usagi Yojimbo, from award-winning creator Stan Sakai.
The series takes place in the far future, set in a world that mixes modern high-tech images with classic Japanese references. It follows the teenage Rabbit Samurai Yuichi, descendent of the great warrior Miyamoto Usagi, on his epic quest to become a true samurai. But he isn’t alone! He leads a ragtag team of misfit heroes – including a roguish bounty hunter, a cunning ninja, an acrobatic pickpocket and a faithful pet lizard – as he battles depth-charging moles, metal-tipped winged bats, and monsters from another dimension, all in the pursuit to become the best samurai Usagi!
The series is produced in partnership with Stan Sakai, the legendary creator, writer and illustrator of the comic-book series who will serve as Executive Producer, along with Gaumont (Executive Producers Nicolas Atlan, Terry Kalagian, Sidonie Dumas and Christophe Riandee), Dark Horse Entertainment (Executive Producers Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg and Chris Tongue), and Atomic Monster (Executive Producers James Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett). Candie and Doug Langdale (Maya and the Three, The Book of Life, Puss in Boots, Niko and the Sword of Life, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness) are attached as executive producers and showrunners. Ben Jones (Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teen Titans, Iron Giant) is Supervising Producer while Khang Le (Big Hero 6, Little Big Awesome) will serve as Art Director on the series.
Mumbai-based 88 Pictures (Trollhunters, 3Below: Tales of Arcadia, Fast & Furious Spy Racers) has been appointed as the CGI animation studio.
The acclaimed comic series has received a number of awards over the last three decades, including Parents’ Choice Award, an American Library Association Award, and the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Award. Usagi Yojimbo has also been named on Empire Magazine’s Top 50 comic-book characters of all time, IGN’s Top 100 comic-book characters of all time and Rolling Stone’s Top 50 non-superhero graphic novels. Sakai is a six-time Eisner Award winner, the recipient of multiple Haxter Awards, and won the Best Cartoonist Harvey Award in 2016.
It has been announced today via Variety that Miramax is moving forward with a reboot of the Chevy Chase comedy Fletch with Mad Men actor Jon Hamm taking over the titular role.
Greg Mottola is set to direct with a script from Zev Borrow based on the novel Confess, Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald.
In a mysterious chain of events, Fletch finds himself in the middle of multiple murders — one of which pins him as a prime suspect. While on a quest to prove his innocence, Fletch is tasked with finding his fiancée’s stolen art collection, acquired after her father goes missing and is presumed dead.
Chevy Chase previously played the role in Fletch from 1985 and Fletch Lives in 1989.
FLETCH – A veritable chameleon, investigative reporter Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher might drive his editor up the wall, but he always produces great pieces for the newspaper. When his next story is about the drug trade taking place on the beach, Fletch goes undercover as a homeless man. Unaware of Fletch’s true identity, businessman Alan Stanwyk offers Fletch $50,000 to kill him. Intrigued, Fletch decides to unearth the full story behind the offer.
Mottola is best known for directing Superbad, Paul, and Adventureland.
It’ll be interesting how they’ll attempt to go with the new film since Hamm’s comedic chops have been used sparingly in the past.
After years of delays and multiple directors, Sony Pictures’ Uncharted movie based on the PlayStation/Naughty Dog video game franchise has officially begun filming today in Germany according to lead actor Tom Holland.
Tom took to Instagram earlier today to make the announcement that they started the first day of shooting.
I previously confirmed at HN Entertainment they’ll be filming Uncharted at Babelsberg Film Studio.
This isn’t shocking since the British actor had been teasing a return to the shoot on the social media platform over the last week. Production was halted back in March due to the pandemic and was ready to a go at (outside of Berlin) just because the country shut down all shoots.
Uncharted will see Holland playing a younger version of lead character Nathan Drake while Mark Wahlberg playing his mentor Sully. After an exhausting game of musical chairs Sony finally landed on Venom director Ruben Fleischer. At one time, Mark had been cast in the role of Nathan Drake before that incarnation fell apart.
As I pointed out back on Monday, Uncharted‘s shoot will likely be extended longer than normal because of the new COVID-19 precautions on the set. Which could mean that Spider-Man 3 won’t begin shooting in September as rumored and more likely will be bounced into 2021 leading to a release sometime in 2022.
There had been some fan speculation that Sony Pictures would scrap Uncharted to instead focus on the Spider-Man sequel, that has been clearly debunked.
Matrix 4 is also shooting at the same German facility.
Today, Lucafilms has announced they’ll be moving forward with a The Clone Wars spinoff series titled Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Focusing on a group of oddball clone troops that were introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will debut in 2021 on Disney+.
Below is the official press release from Lucasfilm and Disney.
Today, Disney+ ordered its next animated series from Lucasfilm, Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Fresh off of the critically-acclaimed series finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Disney+ original series will premiere on the streaming service in 2021.
The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.
“Giving new and existing fans the final chapter of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been our honor at Disney+, and we are overjoyed by the global response to this landmark series,” said Agnes Chu, senior vice president, Content, Disney+. “While The Clone Wars may have come to its conclusion, our partnership with the groundbreaking storytellers and artists at Lucasfilm Animation is only beginning. We are thrilled to bring Dave Filoni’s vision to life through the next adventures of the Bad Batch.”
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is executive produced by Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Athena Portillo (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels), Brad Rau (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance) and Jennifer Corbett (Star Wars Resistance, NCIS) with Carrie Beck (The Mandalorian, Star Wars Rebels) as co-executive producer and Josh Rimes as producer (Star Wars Resistance). Rau is also serving as supervising director with Corbett as head writer.
Tom Holland Teases That ‘Uncharted’ Will Begin Shooting Soon In Germany
Fans have been guessing about what Sony Pictures would do about Uncharted and Spider-Man 3 as their productions would now conflict with each other. The obvious thing was that Uncharted would begin shooting first because it was ready to begin in Germany back in March but filming was paused to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Some fans had made giant leaps with theories that Sony would just kill/delay Uncharted (after multiple production woes and hiccups over the years) and push forward with Spider-Man 3 instead. As we’ve been saying for months Uncharted is the priority at the moment and this has been cemented by Tom Holland.
Recent Instagram posts from Tom Holland suggest he’s about to begin shooting Uncharted in Germany very soon after taking a COVID-19 test, getting his hair done to play Nathan Drake and showing off how ripped he got to work with his Uncharted co-star Mark Wahlberg.
This would give the impression that he’ll be too busy over the next couple of months for Spider-Man 3 to begin production in September as previously rumored.
In normal times, Uncharted might have been able to complete it’s production within a range of 3-4 months, however, with the new COVID-19 precautions this would likely extend the filming a couple of months. That’s if people don’t get sick and they have to pause for a couple of weeks.
I think it’s extremely unlikely that Spider-Man 3 either is ready to shoot this September in Atlanta and Sony/Marvel will simply push that production into 2021 then bumping that November 5th, 2021 release to sometime in 2022.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Still Expected To Shoot Primarily At Longcross Studios
Speaking of Phase Four films that have seen their productions delayed in 2020, I have an update as it looks like Marvel still plans to film Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. A major filming location I had previously confirmed over at HN Entertainment.
Not anything crazy but, interestingly, they’ve been sticking to that stage space instead of considering other places. Longcross is the same stage facility where the original film shot and director Sam Raimi shot his Wizard of Oz prequel for Disney titled Oz, The Great & Powerful.
It’s a little unclear when they’ll begin shooting since it’s unknown how much set construction or prep has been taking place since the United Kingdom has been in lockdown. We also won’t know if they’ll be able to meet their 2021 release date until Marvel makes it known when they’ll be able to start filming.
I had also reported that they were planning on filming the sequel in New York City and Norway, but it remains to be seen if they’ll be doing any international filming anytime soon.
We shouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Strange 2 like Spider-Man 3 is delayed into 2021. However, Spider-Man 3 is a slightly different case as their lead is shooting another large studio film first.
Then again, we have little idea how much set construction and prep has been underway on either of the MCU sequels during the pandemic.
‘Moonlight’s Janelle Monae Wants To Play Storm In ‘Black Panther 2’
We’ve been all been excited to see who will ultimately play the rebooted version of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and yet another actress has thrown their hand in the ring to play aka Storm.
Moonlight actress and singer Janelle Monae spoke to Empire recently and revealed she’d very much like to play Ororo Munroe aka Storm in the Black Panther sequel. Bringing it up to cast members when they were hanging out in Atlanta.
MONAE: “I definitely have thrown it out there. One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice.”
T’Challa and Ororo in the comics do become romantically involved leading to marriage and it would be an organic way to introduce her into the MCU given that her mother N’Dare (a tribal princess) is from Kenya. Ororo potentially being fellow royalty wouldn’t be a stretch.
We still don’t know where Black Panther 2 is in the development stage other than Ryan Coogler is writing the script. While there have been rumblings of Spider-Man‘s Kraven The Hunter, Namor, and Fantastic Four‘s Doctor Doom appearing in the film nothing has been announced or confirmed.
‘The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito Says He’s Keen For Marvel Studios Role Next
Janelle isn’t the only actor seemingly gunning for a Marvel role. Veteran film and television actor Giancarlo Esposito (Do The Right Thing, The Mandalorian) briefly mentioned to Entertainment Tonight that he’d like to work with Marvel Studios at some point.
ESPOSITO: “Well there’s been all these rumors about being with Marvel, I want to work with those guys. I put it out there all the time. I haven’t created any of those rumors, but I worked years ago with Louis D’Esposito, who is one of the guys at Marvel, back when he was doing Cotton Club and I was doing Cotton Club, he was the [1st assistant director].”
“What they do is fantastic, and I want to do something enduring with them. I think the Marvel world would be, likely, the next step for me.”
This comes after a year ago there were rumblings the Breaking Bad actor was wanted for a role, however, that was neither announced nor confirmed.
Where he could land role-wise is unknown despite the fan suggestions for Norman Osborn and Magneto. I personally think he’d be excellent as a hero like Norrin Radd aka Silver Surfer since Adam McKay was trying to get a feature film together over at Marvel last year.
Charlize Theron Admits She Has Never Been In Talks With Marvel For Roles
While speaking with Variety, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde, Mad Max: Fury Road) has revealed that despite rumors over the years she has ultimately never spoken with Marvel Studios about various roles.
THERON: “I swear to God. I’ve never gotten anything. No, I’m not lying to you. But that’s okay. You know what? I am paving my own way. I’m creating my own opportunities. So it’s alright.”
This doesn’t mean Charlize will never meet with Marvel in the future but it sounds like it hasn’t happened up to this point.
Russo Brothers Support Anthony Mackie’s Comments On Lack of Diversity Behind The Scenes At Marvel Studios
After Anthony Mackie pointed out not too long ago that the people behind the scenes of Marvel Studios movies are mostly white and not as diverse as it could be. He is getting some support from directors The Russo Brothers while asked about it by Movie Maker.
JOE RUSSO: “I think we can always all do better at diversity, constantly in this business, and in every facet of every industry — so he’s not wrong at all. I think that we all have to work harder to keep endorsing and supporting diversity on both sides of the camera.”
Marvel Studios Artist Charlie Wen Shares Unofficial ‘Shang-Chi’ Artwork
A brief post made by Marvel Studios concept artist Charlie Wen on his Instagram shows us some interesting but unofficial artwork featuring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi.
While promoting her comic book Netflix film The Old Guard, actress Charlize Theron revealed to Total Film (via Games Radar) that she is indeed speaking with the streaming service as a home for their sequel to their 80s-set action flick Atomic Blonde, which she previously confirmed is in an early scripting phase.
THERON: “We took [Atomic Blonde 2] to them and Scott Stuber [Head of Original Films at Netflix] was really interested in it. We talked to him about it extensively, and we’re in the process of writing it right now. That character was set up in a way where she didn’t really reveal much of herself. So I feel like there’s a lot of potential there. The bar’s pretty high, but we’re excited about it.”
ATOMIC BLONDE – Sensual and savage, Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in MI6, an agent who’s willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission. With the Berlin Wall about to fall, she travels into the heart of the city to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless espionage ring. Once there, she teams up with an embedded station chief to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.
This would confirm previous information that was circulating months ago via Discussing Film.
Who will ultimately direct the sequel is up-in-the-air since David Leitch is busy with Sony’s Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt and has multiple other projects cooking at various studios as well such as an Enter The Dragon remake for Warner Bros., a movie based on the video game The Division for Netflix, and a feature film based on the classic martial arts series Kung Fu.
I think there is a good shot that we’ll see Atomic Blonde 2‘s setting push into the 1990s and explore a post-Soviet Union world of espionage.
Charlize is also hopeful about Netflix giving a sequel to The Old Guard.
THERON: “We went into this talking about [a sequel] as a possibility, and it’s definitely something that excites us.”
THE OLD GUARD – A group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals with the ability to heal themselves, discover someone is onto their secret, and they must fight to protect their freedom.
Today, it was announced by WarnerMedia and HBO Max that they’ll be developing another DC Comics series for their new streaming platform. This will be the first live-action series to be directly connected to the feature films as the series will be set in the universe of Matt Reeves’ The Batman focusing on the Gotham Police Department.
They’ve given the series a commitment and it will be written by Terence Winter. Winter is a seasoned veteran at HBO thanks to his fantastic crime series such as Sopranos and the prohibition era Boardwalk Empire produced by Martin Scorsese. He also wrote the script for Martin’s excellent Wolf of Wall Street.
Terence’s involvement would suggest the series would likely focus on the seedy and corrupt nature of the police in Gotham City. It will also likely be much more grounded than the previous Jim Gordon series Gotham.
The Batman director and co-writer Matt Reeves will also be directly involved as the show’s producer via his production company 6th & Idaho.
Here is the official press release.
HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television. The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.
Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves and Emmy® winner/Oscar® nominee Winter (The Sopranos, The Wolf of Wall Street) will executive produce with Clark (Bird Box, Rise, Dawn, and War for Planet of the Apes). The drama, which is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, will also be executive produced by 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales from the Loop); Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will co-executive produce. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will distribute the series globally.
Reeves is currently at the helm of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman, which will be released in October 2021. He previously co-wrote and directed War for the Planet of the Apes, directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, wrote and directed Let Me In, and directed Cloverfield, among other films. Recent 6th & Idaho television series include Amazon Prime Video’s Tales from the Loop, starring Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce; the upcoming Netflix drama Away, starring Hilary Swank; and FOX’s The Passage. Reeves previously co-created (with J.J. Abrams) and executive produced the hit series Felicity, directing the pilot and several additional episodes.
Winter was nominated for 12 Emmy® Awards and won four during his tenure on the landmark HBO drama series The Sopranos, twice for Outstanding Drama Series and twice for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. He created the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which ran for five seasons and earned Winter two additional Outstanding Drama Series Emmy® nominations. He was nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award® for writing the Best Picture–nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, who had previously helmed the Boardwalk Empire pilot. He and Scorsese subsequently co-created (with Mick Jagger and Rich Cohen) the HBO drama Vinyl.
We’ll have to wait and see if we’ll end up getting Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon or John Turturro’s mob boss Carmine Falcone in the show, but there is a good shot it’ll happen.
It’s unknown when we’ll ultimately see the show come together and this isn’t the only DC Comics series coming to HBO Max, they’re also working on bringing Green Lantern to life as well.
HBO recently cracked the comic book series code with Damon Lindelof’s excellent Watchmen and has seemingly set a high bar of quality for these other shows. I’m hopeful that having Terence Winter involved that they’ll be able to do something a little more than simply recreating a regular police procedural.
This announcement is kind of ballsy as there have been prominent protests rallying against police brutality over the last couple of months. DC Comics or not, they’ll likely be getting an earful for pushing forward with this when people are fed-up with police in entertainment media.
It looks like Blumhouse and Universal Pictures has found the director for their upcoming Wolfman reboot starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049).
Deadline reports that Leigh Whannell has been tapped and is currently negotiating to direct.
Leigh gave Universal their post-Dark Universe hit with Universal Monsters character The Invisible Man, the modern remake of the H.G. Wells story. That success likely is behind the reason why Universal/Blumhouse wanted him to tackle another iconic monster like the wolfman.
Whannell wrote the treatment with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo tackling the script.
There had been some previous comparisons to thriller Nightcrawler and will have a modern setting.
When filming is expected to begin is a little unclear.
Yesterday, The Ronin was able to independently confirm that Peter & Wendy director David Lowery would be reuniting with Pete’s Dragon cinematographer Bojan Bazelli (Snake Eyes, The Ring, The Lone Ranger, Spectral) on the live-action version of the classic Peter Pan tale for Disney.
Now, Variety reports that they’ve found their Captain Hook with British actor Jude Law and is currently in talks with the studio. He had recently worked with Disney playing the villain of their cosmic MCU film Captain Marvel.
Jude’s credits include The Talented Mr. Ripley, Enemy At The Gates, Sherlock Holmes, Road To Perdition, Gattaca, Cold Mountain, and his film Contagion recently got a resurgence of popularity on various streaming platforms due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The outlet also insists that Peter & Wendy is still aiming for a theatrical release and won’t be dumped on their streaming service Disney+.
I’m slightly curious if Jude takes the role could it possibly conflict with the production of Fantastic Beasts 3. Law plays a younger version of Dumbledore in those films. Considering the issues that franchise currently has with the problematic public images of Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller, and creator/screenwriter J.K. Rowling I wouldn’t be shocked if we started to see actors decline the project.
The news would suggest that Warner Bros. isn’t moving on Sherlock Holmes 3 anytime soon as well.
Filming was originally set to begin last month under the working title Bonfire and complete by October in Vancouver, but there are signs that the film and television industry might not resume until after the first week in September.
Lowery’s latest film The Green Knight, saw it’s theatrical release date postponed because of the pandemic and a new date has yet to be announced.
THE RONIN 