Many film fans are extremely excited about the prospect of a new Martin Scorsese film is just around the corner with “Killers of The Flower Moon” heading to theaters this fall and there has been an exciting development on that front. Today, it was announced by Apple that the film will no longer have a limited release date as that has since been replaced with a global-wide release on October 20. Securing audiences will be able to see the film in a theatrical setting and that includes the IMAX format, before its streaming debut on Apple TV+ later on.
Just yesterday, it was revealed by “Killers of The Moon” author David Grann that the next film Scorsese will be making is an adaptation of Grann’s shipwreck novel “The Wager” which already has the backing of Apple Original Films and will see Marty’s longtime muse DiCaprio take the lead role for their seventh movie together.
At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. Also starring Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion, Killers of the Flower Moon is directed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Eric Roth and Scorsese, based on David Grann’s best-selling book.
Check out the new posters Apple released below as the announcement was made on Twitter.
As filmmaker Michael Mann is trying to develop a sequel to his epic 1990s crime thriller “Heat,” based on a recently published novel that works as both a prequel and sequel to the 1995 film. Another high-profile heist adaptation is now reportedly in the works as Deadline has revealed a package deal is being put to auction with a feature film adaptation of the Don Winslow novella “Crime 101” that has actors Chris Hemsworth (“Blackhat”) and Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) attached for lead roles along with director Bart Layton (“American Animals”) also involved.
The pic is said to be in the vein of “Heat” which is obvious given the source material’s plot.
Here is how Amazon describes Winslow’s novella:
A string of high-level jewel heists up and down the Pacific Coast Highway has gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls “Crime 101”. Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels. But Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man. Now the lone-wolf jewel thief is looking for that fabled final last score, and Lou breaks all the rules of “Crime 101”.
The outlet adds that the two main suitors for “Crime 101” have been widdled down to Amazon and Netflix. However, Deadline is under the belief that Amazon has the main edge.
This week sees the third installment of the feature film incarnation of “The Equalizer” with both star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua reuniting for an Italian-set sequel that sees Robert McCall going up against the local mafia after going head-to-head with the Russian mob in Boston for the first pic.
During the press tour for “The Equalizer 3,” Fuqua spoke with genre outlet JoBlo earlier in the month where they brought up the idea of a Robert McCall prequel focusing on a younger version of the skilled former government operator. Fuqua seemed game to the idea and mentioned the hypothetical casting of Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther,” “Creed III”) before the interviewer brought up Denzel’s actor son, John David Washington (“Tenet,” “The Creator”) which the filmmaker agreed was a better pick.
When we asked Fuqua what he thought about developing an Equalizer prequel, he agreed it would be an idea worth exploring.
“I think it’s a really good idea to do that, and go back,” Fuqua said. “You can get Michael B. Jordan or somebody to be the young McCall.”
To which JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray then suggested, “Why not John David [Washington]?”
“Even better, right,” Fuqua replied. “Wouldn’t that be amazing?” After a brief pause, Fuqua added, “That’s a good idea! How cool would that be, man?”
There aren’t current plans at Sony to make a prequel, however, that might be a good way to go if they want to keep things rolling. Screenwriter Richard Wenk has been writing these films and could be relied upon to develop a prequel that very well could take place in the 1980s or 1990s. Clearly, hiring younger actors that could fill those shoes would be preferable to CGI de-aging technology that is getting better, but just not good enough.
To which JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray then suggested, “Why not John David [Washington]?” “Even better, right,” Fuqua replied. “Wouldn’t that be amazing?” After a brief pause, Fuqua added, “That’s a good idea! How cool would that be, man?”
Sony Pictures’ official synopsis for “The Equalizer 3” reads as follows:
Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.
“The Equalizer 3” opens in theaters on September 1 and will see Washington share some screentime with “Man On Fire” co-star Dakota Fanning.
We’re about to see the start of the Venice Film Festival which includes the premiere of David Fincher‘s upcoming thriller “The Killer,” based on the French graphic novel (written by Alexis Nolent a.k.a Matz and illustrated by Luc Jacamon) with Michael Fassbender set to play a skilled assassin in the Netflix film. It will also see Fincher reuniting, yet again, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross after previously working with the composing duo on films such as “Mank,” “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” and “The Social Network.”
Ahead of the festival kicking off, Netflix has released some promotional materials for “The Killer” including a teaser poster and a first-look trailer (See both below). The rest of the cast consists of Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O’Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Sala Baker, Emiliano Pernía, and Gabriel Polanco.
Netflix has provided us with the film’s official logline:
After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Fincher said the following about the film during a statement for the Venice Film Festival via ThePlaylist:
“‘The Killer’ is my attempt to reconcile notions I’ve had for years about cinematic stories and their telling. I have always held: “What were you doing in Chinatown?… As little as possible”—to be the single greatest evocation of backstory I’ve ever heard. I was also playfully curious about the revenge genre as a tension delivery system. So when Mr. Walker came aboard and fully embraced these notions/ questions about broad brushstrokes of understanding giving way to the blind stitch of “moment expansion” – I felt we needed to try something. Mr. Fassbender’s 3-hour response time for: “Yes, let’s!” sealed it for us both, and, of course, we all wanted Tilda (Mr. Walker wrote it with her in mind—but please don’t tell Ms. Swinton, she could become insufferable if she knows literally everyone feels this way about her.)“
You can watch that aforementioned first-look trailer below.
Director Chad Stahelski has been doing wonders for the action film community with a quadrilogy of superb films with the “John Wick” franchise starring Canadian action star Keanu Reeves. He’s coming off the massive success of “John Wick: Chapter 4” not only making coins at the box office but also being hailed as a great action film by audiences and critics alike. However, that’s not the only project brewing over at Lionsgate with the filmmaker.
While speaking with Josh Horowitz on his podcast, Happy Sad Confused (See below) he reveals that his long-in-development reboot of the “Highlander” franchise is not only still in the works at Lionsgate but actor Henry Cavill (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” “The Witcher”) is indeed still attached for an unnamed role in the sci-fi adventure pic.
“I think we have some very good elements now. The trick is when you have the tagline ‘there can only be one’, you can’t just kill everybody the first time. I’ll say it for you first, our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that, but we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property.”
If you’re not familiar with the “Highlander” films or shows, it focuses on a group of immortals that seek each other out to fight for “the prize” (being granted morality to live a regular life) and others are less interested in that by killing as many fellow immortals as they can to boost their powers/abilities with each encounter with The Quickening. When the power of a killed immortal is applied to another immortal via lightning strikes, making them more powerful and lengthening their immortality.
The director has previously talked up the idea of combining the film and television mythology, which they have done with the latter sequels. Taking a crack at focusing on world-building and then going into The Gathering, where immortals are steered towards each other to battle to the death until one. The main crux of the franchise line is: “There can be only one.” A troublesome aspect of the first film is that it ends with Connor winning the prize and leading to bizarre aspects to bring back other immortals from the past or other planets for subsequent sequels sort of shooting themselves in the foot isn’t something that Stahelski is interested in here with his incarnation.
Cavill, for his part, had recently exited the Netflix fantasy series “The Witcher” where you guessed it, he swung a sword for multiple seasons. It’s still unclear if Cavill would play hero or mentor in the reboot, but it’s starting to sound like we could be seeing both Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert’s role) and Duncan MacLeod (the main character from the first television series) in this reboot. Tapping into the duo of the “Scottish” cousins could be a good way to move past the alien stuff that was introduced in “Highlander II: The Quickening” and try to focus more on immortals simply happening among the human population, not to mention their human observers, The Watchers.
Sadly, this isn’t the only film in the works for Stahelski as he is also looking to make a live-action film at Sony Pictures based on the hit samurai video game “Ghost of Tsushima,” a sequel in the John Clark franchise with “Rainbow Six” starring Michael B. Jordan in the follow-up to “Without Remorse,” a Netflix feature film based on the pulp novels “Black Samurai,” an urban fantasy film called “Arcana” from the writers of “Predators,” and is hypothetically open to the idea of returning for “John Wick 5” if they come up with the right idea for it.
We’ll have to continue to be patient about future updates concerning “Highlander.”
Ridley Scott and period films go together like peanut butter and jelly. The British filmmaker originally got attention for his breakout film “The Duelist” before making his landmark sci-fi horror film “Alien,” which essentially established Scott as one of the more creative filmmakers of his generation as he’s continued to pump out releases on a consistent basis, sometimes multiple films in a single year.
So, it wasn’t that shocking when Scott was interested in exploring the life and downfall of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Given that Ridley has always been drawn to dramatizing/fictionalizing historical events with a certain level of flare. Bonaparte was once a subject that captured the interest of legendary director Stanley Kubrick with a never-made project that is expected to be resurrected one day by producer Steven Spielberg.
The film is expected to debut in theaters on November 22, then will be streaming exclusively on Apple TV+, and there is a new blurb in Empire Magazine (via World of Reel) that Scott is keen on Apple releasing a rather long extended cut, four and a half hours to be exact. For some context, the theatrical version we’re expected to get this fall is said to be nearly three hours as it stands currently.
This much longer cut would add more scenes with Vanessa Kirby’s Joséphine and would suggest that Scott is happy with her performance.
‘Napoleon’ is almost three hours long, although Scott has a “fantastic” near four-and-a-half-hour cut, which features more of Joséphine’s life before she meets Napoleon. He’d love Apple (who funded the film) to eventually screen it. But what they have now is hardly slight. “It’s an astonishing story,” Phoenix says of Napoleon’s life. “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.” Even without the piles.
Of course, this isn’t a new concept from Scott as most of his films have seen “extended versions” released down the line in some form. And a handful of those ended up somewhat superior to their theatrical cuts.
Examples of those include “Blade Runner: The Final Cut” which removes the horrible half-assed original voiceover from Harrison Ford and the extended cut of “Kingdom of Heaven” places the Orlando Bloom film in a better light as well. It’s unclear if Apple or Sony Pictures is actually going to take Scott up on the idea, but I don’t think this is a huge ask of them and it could potentially nudge audiences to watch the film a second time out of curiosity.
After the release of “Napoleon,” Scott will be returning to his love of the Roman epic with a sequel to his Oscar-winning period action film, “Gladiator.” The sequel had been shooting until the strikes paused production and there is an assumption it would only resume once those contracts have been resolved.
Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.
Recently, it was announced by Warner Bros. that they would be moving the release of their sci-fi fantasy film “Dune: Part Two” from November 3, 2023 to March 15, 2024. The move stemmed from the studio being upset they wouldn’t be able to get the film’s popular/young cast to help promote the film ahead of release because the actors’ strike has prevented members from doing press/promotion for struck studio work. A key element of the disruptive nature of strikes and how actors could be highlighting how important their contributions are beyond being in front of the camera. Pushing the film into 2024 is an obvious tactic by the studio to a new date when they assumingly believe the strikes could be resolved.
That hasn’t stopped the early promotional campaign for the film such as a new issue of Empire Magazine featuring an interview with co-writer/director Denis Villeneuve and the filmmaker gave a brief update on the status of their third film in a “Dune” trilogy with the adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s second novel, “Dune Messiah.” Something that the director has been talking about making for a while now and seems like there has been some writing taking place.
“If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream,” the filmmaker told Empire. “’Dune Messiah’ was written in reaction to the fact that people perceived Paul Atreides as a hero,” Villeneuve explains. “Which is not what [Frank Herbert] wanted to do. My adaptation [of Dune] is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.”
“I will say, there are words on paper,” Villeneuve said of the status of the third film referred to as “Dune: Part Three.”
There had been previous indications that franchise screenwriter Jon Spaihts (“Prometheus”) had already tossed around ideas, but it’s starting to sound like they might actually be developing an early outline/draft. This wouldn’t be that shocking given Villeneuve has been talking about making his “Dune” trilogy for a while now. The speediness of the development would likely hinge on the material already existing in a book that the public is very much aware of and that fits nicely alongside the last two films. It would also explain why Villeneuve is talking about stepping away from the director’s chair once he completes the trilogy, three films would allow him to accomplish his adaptation without having to wade into the waters of the more wacky elements of the subsequent sequels that got increasingly weirder.
We’re all excited to see how Martin Scorsese‘s “Killers of The Flower Moon” does with global audiences and critics. It’s a film about a string of murders plagued by the oil-rich indigenous group, The Osage Nation, in the 1920s and based on real-life events that eventually drew the attention of the FBI. While the filmmaker has been circling and developing multiple future projects over the years, it looks like we have a better idea of what exactly is coming next and will have a connection to that upcoming release.
During an interview with French outlet Telerama, “Killers of The Flower Moon” author David Grann revealed that the next Scorsese film will be a feature adaption of his 1700s-set high-seas novel, “The Wager: A Story of Shipwreck, Mutiny & Murder.” And as we’d all assume, the director’s muse and Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio is said to be taking the lead of the period drama. “The Wager” would mark the duo’s seventh film together and it had been previously reported to have landed financing from Apple back in 2022, where Scorsese recently made “Killers of The Flower Moon.” Other players involved include Imperative Entertainment, Sieklia Productions, and Appian Way Productions.
That aforementioned novel’s synopsis reads as follows:
Set in the 1740s, Wager’s story is set in motion when a patched-together boat with 30 emaciated men landed on the coast of Brazil. The men were the surviving crew of a British ship that was chasing a Spanish vessel and had crashed onto an island in South America’s Patagonia region. Their tales of surviving the seas and elements made them heroes. However, six months later another vessel, even more beat up than the first one, ended up on the coat of Chile, this one with three men. These new sailors charged that the other men were actually mutineers.
Given the project is going to feature multiple sailors, it is assumed we should end up seeing a bunch of actors from recent Scorsese films landing supporting roles alongside DiCaprio. I would be extremely shocked if English actors Stephen Graham (“The Irishman,” “Gangs of New York”), Andrew Garfield (“Silence”), and Jack Huston (“The Irishman,” “Boardwalk Empire”) didn’t show up in the pic or were approached during the casting process. “Oppenheimer” breakout Cillian Murphy might also be an actor Scorsese pursues, given the obvious awards chatter already surrounding the actor for the atomic bomb biopic and his previous work on “Dunkirk” and “In The Heart of The Sea” would mean he would already have experience with the film’s setting after making his own fair share of boat dramas.
However, given the ongoing strikes in Hollywood, it’s unclear when filming on “The Wager” is expected to take place given that prep and pre-production likely won’t be happening anytime soon. Other Scorsese projects that had been in the works include a biopic on Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia that had Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) attached to star as the frontman and another long-gestating film about President Teddy Roosevelt that would star DiCaprio in that role.
There had been some rumblings back in July that Warner Bros., in the wake of the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, was strongly considering a delay for the release of “Dune: Part Two.” The reasoning was said to be due to the studio not being able to capitalize on the young/popular cast members promoting the film and participating in various press interviews to boost audience numbers leading up to the theatrical release. As actors are being asked not to promote projects during the strikes on struck projects. In the hopes for a large financial jump at the global box office from the last film that was directly impacted by COVID.
Well, it looks like that is indeed the case as Warner Bros. has officially bumped the release date for “Dune 2” from November 3 to all the way into 2024 with a new March 15 date. We’ll keep our fingers crossed there won’t be another delay and this one sticks.
It is also assumed Warners will move their DC Comics pic “Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom” (a December movie that is without a trailer) into 2024, but we’re still waiting on official confirmation on that front and the studio seems to be still mulling over that decision despite failing to even start a marketing campaign.
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has previously teased his desire to adapt the second Frank Herbert novel, “Dune Messiah,” to round out a “Dune” trilogy. There is also a prequel/spinoff series at Max, “Dune: The Sisterhood,” currently shooting after multiple creative/production hiccups that will focus on the Harkonnen Sisters establishing the Bene Gesserit and is set 10,000 years before the events of the movies.
“Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
The big-screen epic continues the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed bestseller Dune with returning and new stars, including Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Wonka,” “Call Me by Your Name”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Malcolm & Marie,” “Euphoria”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”), Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Avengers: End Game,” “Milk”), Oscar nominee Austin Butler (“Elvis,” “Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood”), Oscar nominee Florence Pugh (“Black Widow,” “Little Women”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Thor: Love and Thunder”), Oscar winner Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter,” “Hairspray”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Léa Seydoux (the “James Bond” franchise and “Crimes of the Future”), with Stellan Skarsgård (the “Mamma Mia!” films, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Being the Ricardos”).
While it looks like we won’t be getting any massive lineup updates about the Marvel Cinematic Universe anytime soon there are some early seeds being planted for a hypothetical “Thor 5” and what could interestingly be a sign we might be heading back to more Thor-focused comic book mythology being the inspiration for it. Some new quotes from an upcoming “Thor: Love & Thunder” tie-in book (via ScreenRant) reveal writer/director Taika Waititi’s feelings on where things should be heading for the God of Thunder in a fifth potential film.
“What is left to do to him? It’s got to be something that feels like it’s carrying on with the evolution of the character, but still in a very fun way and still giving him things to come up against that feel like they’re building on the obstacles that he has to overcome. I don’t think we can have a villain that’s weaker than Hela. I feel like we need to step up from there and add a villain that’s somehow more formidable”
It’s a project that hasn’t been made official by Marvel Studios but is likely to happen given Chris Hemsworth’s willingness to return to the role and the last film establishing Valhalla as another MCU realm where both Jane Foster and Heimdall now reside after their on-screen deaths. It’s the location of the mythical great hall of fallen heroes where the Valkyries take the dead warriors from the battlefield to prepare for victory at Ragnarok.
Valhalla opens the door for all sorts of Norse characters to potentially make their MCU debuts such as Balder The Brave, Karnilla The Norn Queen, Amora The Enchantress, Angela, Sigurd, and even an even more obscure villain like Harokin who is one of The Einherjar, the fallen undead heroes of Asgard/Valhalla that are expected to be called upon by Odin to fight the Jotun as part of his army.
Another option could be Thor’s uncle Cul Borson, aka The Serpent, who more or less could end up becoming the movie version of the Midgard Serpent. In Norse mythology, the Midgard Serpent, aka, Jörmungandr (recently seen in the “God of War” games and tied to Marvel’s Multiverse villain The Black Winter) is a massive snake-like creature and child of Loki that is destined to kill Thor in the events of Ragnarok with its deadly venom. Jörmungandr does kill Thor in Norse legends and might be exactly the kind of “formidable villain” Waititi is referring to in these teasing statements.
We’ve actually already experienced one of these deadly end-of-the-world beasts in the past. “Thor: Ragnarok” featured Fenris Wolf (a version of Fenrir), a giant wolf that kills Odin during the final battle of Ragnarok. But this version was the undead companion of Hela and was dispatched by Hulk as Odin had died earlier in the film. Hulk flung Fenris off the edge of Asgard into the void of space.
Of course, there are even more outlandish contenders like Ulik The Rock Troll, the long-rumored Mephisto (Marvel’s cosmic take on the Satan that is a longtime foe of Thor), and in a hilarious episode of “She-Hulk,” it’s been established Asgard’s allies, the Light Elves, are walking around Midgard.
While some may be in the belief that Brett Goldstein’s Hercules and the Greek pantheon of gods should be antagonists, it feels sort of like small potatoes compared to what Waititi is talking about. Plus, circling back to the Norse elements would be super refreshing after Marvel goes out of their way to avoid tackling all the existing unused material this whole time (light elves, rock trolls, giants, Midgard serpent).
The filmmaker also reiterates the importance of focusing on Thor’s comic book mythology which hopefully means they may return to untapped Norse/comic elements they’ve been avoiding this entire time.
The director also revealed that there is one aspect that he thinks is more true to Thor than any other MCU character, and that is “the mythology that he originates from.” Waititi believes pitting Thor against “more and more outlandish and crazy beasts, monsters and aliens” as he continues in the MCU stays true to Thor in the comics and his mythological origin.
However, it’s worth mentioning that Waititi has given the impression in previous interviews he might be moving on from making future “Thor” installments himself. And it wouldn’t be that surprising given the negative reaction to “Love & Thunder” alongside the filmmaker’s increasingly large dance card that includes a remake of “Flash Gordon” at 20th Century Studios, “Klara & The Sun” based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, an adaptation of Jodorowsky/Moebius’ sci-fi fantasy graphic novel “The Incal,” and finally a long-gestating “Star Wars” film at Lucasfilm.
I guess we’ll have to be patient about any future developments concerning “Thor 5.”
SOURCE: TITAN’S THOR: LOVE & THUNDER THE OFFICIAL MOVIE SPECIAL
THE RONIN 