Earlier in the month, while praising the work of fellow director Neill Blomkamp on District 9, Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) teased that he’d love to work on something together in the future.
VOGT-ROBERTS: “Rewatching Neill Blomkamp’s DISTRICT 9. Without a doubt a modern classic. Still in awe of what he pulled off all these years later. Still a gold standard for VFX. Still explosive and brilliant. One day I hope to mind-meld with this man.”
Nothing more than a hint but it’s exciting none-the-less.
Jordan has a couple of projects in the works including a live-action adaptation of the beloved military espionage video game series Metal Gear Solid for Sony Pictures. A new draft of the script has been completed but still has yet to be given an official greenlight from the studio.
Neill Blomkamp has been having a rough time securing his next feature film bouncing from Alien 5 to RoboCop Returns to Greenland to his latest original project, a horror film titled Inferno which is expected to begin shooting soon in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Both share a love for video games having directed live-action trailers for Anthem and Destiny 2.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Lana Condor (X-Men: Apocalypse, Alita: Battle Angel) has landed a lead role in Moonshot, a new romantic comedy feature film set on Mars. The HBO Max project will be produced by Greg Berlanti, who is also involved with the live-action Green Lantern series for the streaming service and is about to make his feature directing debut on the third incarnation of Little Shop of Horrors.
Here is a synopsis for the sci-fi HBO Max movie.
Moonshot is set in a future where Mars is terraformed and colonized by the best humanity has to offer. Two very different college students wind up joining forces and sneak onboard a space shuttle to the red planet in order to be united with their significant others.
Chris Winterbauer will be directing from a script penned by Max Taxe.
Condor, who plays Sophie in the new film, is no stranger to either the science fiction or romantic comedy genre, with the latter she has led the successful Netflix franchise To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before co-starring with Noah Centineo.
It’ll be interesting to see a different version of Mars while we’ve mostly seen takes in previous movies that pitted characters against a barren hostile planet devoid of oxygen.
When they plan to begin production remains to be seen.
Deadline is reporting that David F. Sandberg would be returning to the world of horror for a new project from Lionsgate titled The Culling. The filmmaker is best known for directing the DC Comics film Shazam! for New Line Cinema and is attached to also direct it’s sequel. His roots are within the horror genre tackling films such as Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation.
The original horror film is from a spec-script penned by Stephen Herman.
A troubled priest confines himself to a remote cabin in the middle of the woods where he attempts to make a last stand against the demon that terrorized his family when he was a child.
Mångata and Fear Content will produce.
David is expected to shoot his sequel to Shazam! next as the film has a release date of November 4th, 2022. This release date would suggest that they plan to begin filming the superhero film sometime in 2021.
Deadline is reporting that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow is already putting together another film at Universal Pictures after he completes Jurassic World: Dominion (expected to resume production next month at Pinewood Studios UK), which will seemingly stick to genre film making.
The project titled Atlantis is a thriller that will focus on the mythical lost society that has advanced technology. It’s story was development by Colin and Bridge of Spies screenwriter Matt Charman with a script penned by Dante Harper.
Atlantis is set on a lost continent in the Indian Ocean between Africa, India and Oceania. It is a multicultural civilization with its own advanced technology.
Atlantis has been done a lot in pop-culture and most recently was explored in James Wan’s DC Comics film Aquaman. There is expectation that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will also tackle their own version of Atlantis with the character Namor The Sub-Mariner.
Colin had been originally hired to write and direct the final installment of the new Star Wars trilogy before he exited over creative differences and his version Duel of The Fates didn’t make the rounds online until after the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Dante’s credits include the original Edge of Tomorrow script, worked on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, and most recently he tackled Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One follow-up Forever.
Trevorrow’s Metronome Film Co. will produce.
Jurassic World: Dominion was originally set to be released on June 11th, 2021 but delays might bump the sequel to a later date.
Apple has released the first look trailer footage from their upcoming science-fiction series Foundation, based on the classic novels written by visionary author Isaac Asimov.
Foundation is set to be released on Apple TV+ sometime in 2021.
Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.
It sounds like Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne will be replacing Ben Affleck in the DC Comics Cinematic/Expanded Universe as The Hollywood Reporter is adding in their version of the Flash news that he is expected to also possibly join the Batgirl film among other films.
But wait, there’s more. If a deal makes, Keaton wouldn’t just return for Flash but possibly for several other DC-oriented film projects. Sources tell THR that the role being envisioned for the veteran actor is akin to the role played by Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string puller. Batgirl is one the projects in development that could fall under that win.
This sort of sounds like they’re going to do Batman Beyond with a female protege instead, which sounds kind of badass to me.
However, this seems to be only in the early stages and fans need to be open to the idea this won’t come together.
If Keaton is going to become the main version of Bruce Wayne this would suggest that Robert Pattinson’s Batman might be taking place outside of the Expanded Universe, similar to how the Christopher Nolan films were their own thing.
The Wrap is reporting that Michael Keaton is in very early talks to join the upcoming Flash movie starring Ezra Miller, reprising his role of Bruce Wayne aka Batman. This would establish the film will be playing with it’s own Multiverse and could help cement previous expectations that they’ll attempt a version of Flashpoint featuring alternative versions of the DC superheroes.
They are unaware how large or small the part will be.
Keaton last played Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns from 1992.
Andy Muschietti (IT, IT: Chapter Two) was recently hired to direct.
However, when production will begin is a little unknown as Miller is expected to shoot Fantastic Beasts 3. But it’s looking like sometime in 2021 is looking good.
A troubling video of the Flash actor was making the rounds online recently of himself choking a woman and throwing her to the ground, this still hasn’t been addressed by either Warner Bros. or Ezra Miller.
Deadline has news of another interesting film project coming out of the Cannes Virtual Market. British actress Claire Foy will star in an original psychological horror film titled Dust that will be set in Oklahoma during the 1930s.
Westworld writer Karrie Crouse penned the script and will co-direct the film with William Joines. The project from MadRiver is seeking international partners this week with Mad Dog Films and Secret Engine producing.
Foy will play a young mother in 1930s Oklahoma who is haunted by her past and trapped in horrifying dust storms. She becomes convinced that her family is threatened by a mysterious presence and takes extraordinary measures to protect them.
Foy is best known from her work on the Netflix series The Crown. She recently starred in Damien Chazelle’s First Man and attempted to take over the Lisbeth Salander mantle from Rooney Mara in Sony’s soft-reboot The Girl In The Spider’s Web.
Dust sounds like an interesting concept and we’ll have to wait to hear when they plan on starting production on the horror movie.
This week’s roundup is mostly female-centric and some interesting characters might be heading to the MCU.
Salma Hayek Teasing Reshoots On The Way For ‘Eternals’
Eternals actress Salma Hayek, who plays the team’s leader Ajak, has seemingly revealed on Instagram that the film is returning for reshoots very shortly.
HAYEK: “In anticipation for reshoots, I finally had to do my roots.”
The film had been mainly shooting at Pinewood Studios UK under the working title Sack Lunch and will be getting pick-ups/reshoots like with every other MCU movie. Where the Eternals reshoots will take place is a little unclear as Georgia and California tend to be where reshoots normally happen, which might be tough considering the United States is seeing a steep rise in new coronavirus cases.
However, the United Kingdom reportedly will be reopening productions next month starting with Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion at Pinewood.
Eternals recently saw it’s release date bumped from November 6th to February 12th, 2021. Hopefully, it’s able to stick to that date and it isn’t further delayed.
J.K. Simmons Confirms He Filmed His Next Appearance As J. Jonah Jameson and Expects To Do Another One Soon
As Spider-Man 3’s production start is a bit of a question mark, actor J.K. Simmons has revealed he has filmed his next appearance as the Spider-Man character during an interview on SirusXM.
SIMMONS: “There is one more JJJ apparence in the can and from what I’m hearing there is a plan for yet another one. Hopefully, JJJ will continue now and forever.”
This would suggest he’s either showing up in Morbius or Venom 2 aka Venom: Let There Be Carnage, there had been some teases that this would be happening and Jameson might be the glue that connects all the Sony/Marvel films. The latter part would likely mean he’s coming back for Spider-Man 3, which has been assumed since the cliffhanger ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home.
When Spider-Man 3 will begin shoot isn’t concrete at the moment as it originally was going to shoot over the summer once Tom Holland wrapped on Sony’s Uncharted film.
Amanda Seyfried Passed On Gamora Role In ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’ Over The Extensive Makeup
While speaking with Comic Book, actress Amanda Seyfried revealed that the makeup was a huge reason why she passed on the Gamora role in James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy, citing Jennifer Lawrence’s experience playing Mystique in X-Men: First Class.
SEYFRIED: “I think about it often [laughs]. I’m not really a Marvel movie watcher, which is, I think, why I was just like, ‘Ah, I don’t wanna be green. It’s just so much work.’ I remember Jennifer Lawrence talking about once, how long it took her to get blue. And I was like, ‘That seems like hell on earth,’ because then you get to set and you’re only there for a couple hours, and then you have to take everything off. And that was literally the reason.”
Zoe Saldana ended up in the role and is expected to reprise Gamora once again in Guardians of The Galaxy 3.
‘Loki’ Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw Comments On The Disney+ Series
British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw took some time to speak with Variety on their podcast The Big Ticket and gave some interesting insight to both director Kate Herron and co-star Tom Hiddleston.
MBATHA-RAW: “I feel like even though you’re dealing with this big universe, [Kate Herron] still makes it feel very intimate. She just brings it back down to character and moments and emotions.”
“Obviously, it’s a big part of our culture, so I had a huge awareness of it and it’s funny because I actually went to drama school at the same time as Tom Hiddleston. Ten years ago when I first came out here to do a TV pilot, ‘Under Covers,’ he was shooting the first ‘Thor’ at the same time. I remember him telling me about this experience of this new movie that he was doing.”
Loki paused production months back in Atlanta, Georgia when the pandemic forced the shutdown. There has been speculation that filming might resume next month but that has yet to be made official and might not be ready to begin airing on Disney+ until sometime in 2021.
Marvel Rumored To Be Considering Adding Echo, Firestar, and Lucia Von Bardas To The MCU
A handful of rumors concerning a trio of female characters that Marvel Studios wants to introduce to the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been making the rounds over the last week. As with all rumors take these a pinch of salt since where these ladies might show up isn’t being mentioned.
MARIA LOPEZ AKA ECHO (via Murphy’s Multiverse): Charles Murphy is making an excellent assumption based on a recent casting call from casting director Sarah Finn. However, admittedly wasn’t able to say definitely where she might show up and even mentioned this may be a casting call related to a Star Wars series as Finn is also tackling that franchise.
ANGELICA JONES AKA FIRESTAR (via Daniel Richtman): While the character is best known from the animated series Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, the character being a mutant means she is secured under the Marvel Studios rights umbrella and not Sony. There are already rumblings that mutant Takeshi Matsuya aka Whiz Kid (a fellow mutant) could be showing up in Shang-Chi. Daniel is unsure where Jones might show up despite her connections to Spider-Man.
LUCIA VON BARDAS (via MCU Cosmic): This one implies that Marvel is already working on introducing Latveria as Lucia von Bardas is from the fictional nation that is led by Fantastic Four supervillain Doctor Doom, she becomes the Prime Minister of Latveria. While there had been rumblings in the past that a new Fantastic Four film was in development stages and on the cusp of an announcement, that seemed to be premature or simply false. Noah Hawley had been recently speaking with Marvel about his solo Doctor Doom movie that he was originally developing for 20th Century Fox before the merger. As with the other two rumors, Jeremy isn’t ready to proclaim or even guess where Lucia will first appear.
A new trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman prequel King’s Man has been released by 20th Century Studios and they’ll sticking to their September 18th release date.
This new footage includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a shadowy figure (bald and with a mustache) and is most likely playing the film’s main villain. The unnamed character also clearly has a Scottish accent and seems to be leading the group of villains our heroes will be going up against throughout the film.
Could Aaron’s ring be clue that connects him to the Duke of Oxford and the newly formed agency?
As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Disney/20th Century decides to delay the release date.
The rest of the cast in the prequel includes Ralph Fiennes as Duke of Oxford, Harris Dickinson as Conrad, Gemma Arterton as Polly, Djimon Hounsou as Shola, Charles Dance as Arthur, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci, Matthew Goode as Tristan, Tom Hollander, and Rhys Ifans as Rasputin.
You can see Aaron in the new poster wearing a British uniform.
THE RONIN 