Actor Lee Pace (“Foundation”) is the latest addition to the cast of Edgar Wright‘s remake of “The Running Man, the sci-fi action film based on the Stephen King novel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pace is expected to be playing the chief hunter on the game show. Referred to as Stalkers in the original film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, they are antagonists who go around killing contestants known as runners.
He joins Glen Powell and Josh Brolin on the call-sheet.
Also, actress Katy O’Brian (“Star Wars,” “Love Lives Bleeding”) has joined the fray and will play a fellow contestant alongside Ben Richards (Powell).
Pace is no stranger to blockbuster genre film projects, having worked on “The Hobbit” trilogy, “Guardians of The Galaxy,” and “Captain Marvel.”
Filming is set to begin next year in London, and we can add that Wright is reuniting with longtime production designer Marcus Rowland. Paramount Pictures has given the sci-fi remake a release date of November 21, 2025, and I’m sure we’ll learn of more high-profile additions to the cast in the coming weeks.
We’re months away from “The Lord of The Rings” making a grand return to the big screen with “The War of Rohirrim” galloping into theaters in December. But we’re now learning that “Lord of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum” from director Andy Serkis (who oversaw second-unit work on “The Hobbit” trilogy) not only won’t be a two-part story as previously suggested but producers/New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures are quietly developing a second but different live-action film as well.
The update hails from longtime franchise co-writer and producer Philippa Boyens, who explained recently to Empire Magazine that they’re not making two movies out of “The Hunt For Gollum.” Another film entirely is in the works and has yet to be officially announced by studio.
Boyens said, “I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! “That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being ‘The Hunt For Gollum,’ the second one still to be confirmed.”
What that second film is going to be about and who will appear I’m sure is going to be speculated on until we get some concrete details from the studio and the producing team. We wouldn’t be all that surprised if Ian McKellen’s Gandalf would be involved, given the plausibility that his character will become the connective tissue for these next two films to the previous trilogies.
“The Hunt For Gollum” is expected to begin shooting next year with a tentative to-be-announced release date in 2026. The new film has a script penned by Boyens and Fran Walsh alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (the duo recently worked on “Rohirrim”).
“It’s quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria,” Boyens explained about where “The Hunt For Gollum” takes place in the timeline. “It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”
This likely means we’ll be seeing the return of the Nazgul as Gollum is tortured by Mordor’s faction, and it’s why the nine are led to the Shire to find the One Ring.
“Lord of The Rings: The War of Rohirrim” is heading to theaters on December 13.
During a New York Comic-Con Panel hosted by Collider, actor Josh Brolin revealed he’s joined the cast of Edgar Wright‘s “The Running Man.” The film is based on the Stephen King novel that was previously adapted into the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led sci-fi thriller from 1987 and focused on a man wrongfully convicted of a massacre. Forced to compete in a to-the-death game show, where average men have to face down veteran “slayers” who were outfitted with various deadly weapons and colorful costumes.
Trade reports are claiming that Brolin will be playing a villain in the film, potentially the architect or host of the game show. Making him the main antagonist of this new incarnation.
Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) had been previously announced as the new Ben Richards, taking up the role from Schwarzenegger, and the new film is said to be closer to the original novel. The King novel differs a bit from the feature film as Richards willingly volunteers to compete on the show to afford medicine for his sickly daughter and aims to potentially sacrifice himself in order to help her.
Brolin isn’t a stranger to genre projects, having played Thanos in multiple MCU movies, a baddie in Robert Rodriguez’s zombie flick “Planet Terror,” Cable in “Deadpool 2,” and has a supporting role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” trilogy.
Wright’s remake is set to be released on November 21, 2025, by Paramount Pictures.
DC Studios co-head James Gunn has officially confirmed multiple trade reports that British actor Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge”) has landed the role of John Stewart in the upcoming “Green Lantern” reboot series “Lanterns.” Pierre joins previously announced co-star Kyle Chandler, who will play the infamous Hal Jordan. A cosmic DC Comics hero who was played by Ryan Reynolds in the ill-fated live-action film directed by Martin Campbell.
This wasn’t the actor’s first brush with the comic book genre as Pierre had been once attached for a co-starring role in Marvel Studios’ “Blade” reboot before ultimately exiting the film. He also appeared in the “Superman” prequel series “Krypton” that was developed by David S. Goyer.
The new series set to air on HBO is said to be directly part of the new DCU that will be launched with “Creature Commandos,” “Peacemaker” season two, and Gunn’s “Superman.” There is an expectation that Pierre’s version of Stewart will eventually crossover into feature films and possibly a new “Justice League” incarnation down the road.
Welcome to DC, Aaron Pierre. After a long and grueling series of auditions I am absolutely sure we’ve found an incredible John Stewart. #Lanternspic.twitter.com/1grFjppkQe
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan is still riding high from his massively successful atomic bomb drama Oppenheimer, and we now have some idea of what his next feature film will be and when we’ll see it on the big screen. Deadline reports that Nolan will be re-teaming with Universal Pictures (after severing his longtime relationship with Warner Bros.) for yet another feature film that Matt Damon (“Oppenheimer”) is reportedly eyeing a lead role.
Not only that, but it already has a planned release date of July 17, 2026, which would likely mean Universal has greenlit the film and is now feet-first into the casting/pre-production stages.
Filming is expected to begin in early 2025, which, of course, means that we’ll likely receive a lot of casting news and more details in the coming weeks and months.
“Oppenheimer” not only won seven Academy Awards (for Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography) in 2024 but gave Universal a huge box office earner that summer with the R-rated drama amassing an impressive $975.5 million at the global box office. It got a major boost via the organic online theatrical marketing campaign Barbenheimer that attempted to get audiences to see both “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” as they opened the same weekend, but both became two of the biggest films of 2023.
The partnership between Nolan and Universal is seemingly going to be cemented here, and we shouldn’t be all that shocked if this ends up being the director’s new homestead studio for the foreseeable future.
While Marvel Studios is gearing up to shoot things like “Spider-Man 4” with Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings”) directing and the Russo Brothers (“Avengers: Endgame”) making their triumphant return to the MCU for “Avengers: Doomsday,” another big tentpole project is still seeking a director. That project would be their “Blade” reboot after losing two previous helmers (Bassam Tariq and Yann Damage). One rumor can be put to bed after British filmmaker Jeymes Samuel (“The Book of Clarence,” “The Harder They Fall”) squashed the rumbling he was in talks with Marvel Studios for the gig starring Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Jurassic World Rebirth”) as the new Eric Brooks.
Stating, “I don’t know where these rumors start, but I am not in talks to do ‘Blade’ with Marvel.”
You can read his full rebuttal on that rumor he posted on Twitter yesterday below.
I don’t know where these rumors start, but I am not in talks to do Blade with Marvel. I love me the Daywalker tho, I cannot wait to watch that joint.
Sidebar: When Blade 2 came out I prayed they would make: ‘WESLEY SNIPES/CHRISTOPHER LEE – BLADE III’
That aforementioned rumor originated from World of Reel, which has a spotty track record (putting it lightly) for reporting tidbits like these and was later disputed by Jeff Sneider on his YouTube podcast. So it wasn’t all that surprising that this turned out to be inaccurate.
Buyers, beware when it comes to rumors that might sound too good to be true as there are plenty of places, even from those who have strong reputations that haven’t been terribly accurate lately. An abundance of caution should be applied to mainly any non-trade reports or rumors from the jump anyway. Caution is certainly a sentiment shared by “Doctor Strange” director Scott Derrickson, who posted this evergreen message on social media today, warning folks how often rumors concerning Marvel projects tend to be bunk.
“In my years working for Marvel and in all the years since, I would say about 95% of what gets reported as Marvel news is false,” Derrickson posted on Twitter today.
Anyways, there do still seem to be plans to move forward with “Blade” despite the dust-up and extended delays to the horror/action film, which Kevin Feige reaffirmed is aiming to be another R-rated project after the huge success of the studios’ first R-rated release, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” destroyed box office records even with an adult-skewing audience. Funny enough, that film featured the return of Wesley Snipes as the Daywalker, which likely will help Marvel a lot by reminding the general public about the vampire-hunting character ahead of the new film.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing the real name of the director for “Blade,” hopefully soon, to end this online speculation and rumor mill.
Superhero project rumors can come from all different places, and a new one making the rounds online from Production Weekly (picked up by various geek circles and websites over the week) claimed that Matt Reeves (“The Batman,” “The Penguin”) was producing a “Mr. Freeze” film. Days later, the studio revealed that the rumor wasn’t true, and over the weekend was officially debunked by DC Studios‘ James Gunn.
The studio executive chimed in on the DC project rumor on threads where he admittedly liked the idea of a Freeze project but would go on to say, “There’s no truth to it at all.” Gunn has been one of the more vocal studio presences online and goes out of his way to interact with fans on social media. That includes responding to and debunking/confirming the various rumors about his projects at DC Studios.
“It’s not a bad idea, so I wouldn’t say never, but no, there’s no truth to it at all,” Gunn said in response to the rumbling on Threads (See below).
There is a possibility that the upcoming Bane/Deathstroke film (“Suicide Squad 3”?) in development at DC Studios (first reported by THR last week) could have led to the incorrect entry in Production Weekly, but I think it’s more a case of folks needing to exercise caution with reposting their information which can be fabricated or at best, very inaccurate.
Fans have been curious to see if Reeves would attempt to use Freeze in his more grounded take on Gotham City with “The Batman” films led by Robert Pattison, and that has led to speculation about him potentially showing up in the upcoming sequel. Although it has mostly come off as wishful thinking from the fan community rather than something that is 100% going to happen.
I’m sure we’ll end up seeing Mr. Freeze at some point, but this rumor seems to be dead for the time being, and we don’t exactly know when/where the Batman rogue will make his grand return to live-action.
We have our Hal Jordan, and now it looks like HBO and DC Studios are zeroing in on who will play fellow Earthling Geen Lantern, John Stewart. A new report from Deadline reveals that actors Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge”) and Stephan James (“Race”) are being positioned as the two finalists to take the John Stewart part in the upcoming DCU series, “Lanterns.”
I’ve been personally campaigning on Twitter all month for Pierre to get the role of Stewart and even suggested him recently when the news broke earlier in the week that Kyle Chandler (“Bloodline”) was in talks to play Hal Jordan. The British actor isn’t a stranger to comic book projects as he appeared in the short-lived “Superman” prequel series “Krypton” before being tapped by Marvel Studios to join the cast of “Blade” in a supporting role, only for him to exit the reboot.
James is a Canadian actor, most notably playing US Olympic athlete Jesse Owens in the biopic “Race” and the Chadwick Boseman NYC thriller “21 Bridges.”
“Snowfall” actor Damson Idris, a talented young actor on the rise, was also in the mix but is no longer in the running.
It won’t be long before we find out who has nabbed the Green Lantern role that is assumed to be also part of the new “Justice League” lineup once DC Studio figures out when they want to make that DCU event film. Possibly in a couple of years to give the audience time to reset from the previous incarnation.
With “The Penguin” giving audiences another DC Comics villain to root for on the small screen, DC Studios is looking to give fans more baddies on the big screen, too. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed in a new report that the studio is looking to make a new feature film that includes both “Teen Titans” (a feature film has been in the works for a while) villain Deathstroke and longtime Batman rogue Bane.
We don’t have much to go on other than they’ve hired “Captain America: Brave New World” screenwriter Matthew Orton to pen the script. However, a film with two high-profile DC villains paired up begs the question, are they simply developing “Suicide Squad 3” set within the new DCU?
Concept art from James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” revealed that in one incarnation, Slade Wilson was being considered to be part of the sequel’s roster and was seemingly replaced with Bloodsport (Idris Elba). Bane has also been a longtime fan favorite in the franchise, with the fan community once campaigning for Dave Bautista to take the role of the hulking DC Comics villain, who has been part of the team in the comics and was born/raised in prison.
Also, at one time during the Snyderverse era, a solo film about Deathstroke was in the works from writer/director Gareth Edwards (“The Raid”), but that all fizzled out. Joe Mangellio had been in the role previously showing up in a button scene at the end of “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” teasing the Legion of Doom for “Justice League,” that never materialized. The actor was expected to not only lead his own solo film but appear as an antagonist in the Ben Affleck solo “Batman” movie that ended up pivoting to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.”
Gunn once teased his interest in reviving another DC character with feature film aspirations at Warner Bros., that being Lobo. This foul-mouthed bounty hunter character (comparable to Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine) has been inferred before that he could be played by former “Aquaman” actor Jason Momoa. Placing Lobo into the fray of a third “Suicide Squad” film could be just as satisfying as a solo romp, honestly.
Another possibility is that this film could be a “Secret Six” film, given that Bane and Deathstroke were on that DC team together. But it seems odd that they just wouldn’t want to use the existing “Suicide Squad” branding for a villain team-up project for the reasons mentioned above.
“The Suicide Squad” elements are still going strong from Gunn/DC Studios with “Peacemaker” (A “The Suicide Squad” spinoff) season two on the horizon, “Creature Commandos,” and Viola Davis is expected to lead the “Waller” show, too. It should be noted that “The Suicide Squad” characters Weasel and Waller feature in “Creature Commandos,” a live-action Rick Flagg Sr. is appearing in “Peacemaker,” and the upcoming “Waller” series could easily plant seeds for the next “Suicide Squad” installment.
We’ll have to wait for further details and confirmation from the studio before getting our hopes up.
“Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” has landed its second actor as DC Studios, and Warner Bros. has selected the person who will play the reboot’s main villain. Deadline has revealed that Matthias Schoenaerts (“The Old Guard”) has been tapped, assuming the part will be Krem of The Yellow Hills from the comic book the studio is adapting for this new off-world adventure.
According to director Zack Snyder, Schoenaerts had been once considered to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League” had Ben Affleck backed out of the role. So, returning to the world of DC Comics is certainly a full-circle moment for the Belgian actor. He was recently seen alongside actress Kate Winslet in the HBO series “The Regime.”
Of course, this isn’t the first casting on the film as fellow HBO alumni Milly Alcock from “House of The Dragon” was previously announced as the titular superhero.
Aussie filmmaker Craig Gillespie (“Cruella,” ‘Dumb Money,” “I, Tonya”) is set in the director’s chair for the superhero flick that is currently eying a January start in England and was previously announced to have a June 26, 2026, release date.
More casting announcements are expected in the coming weeks and months, leading up to the production start next year.
THE RONIN 