Tag: Daniel Craig

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‘Knives Out 2’: Director Rian Johnson Adds ‘Moonlight’ & ‘Hidden Figures’ Actress Janelle Monae

The latest addition to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 has been announced.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Moonlight actress Janelle Monae will take an undisclosed role in the sequel. Monae will join a cast that consists of Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, Dave Bautista (Spectre, Blade Runner 2049, Army of The Dead), and Edward Norton (Fight Club, Rounders, 25th Hour).

Netflix made a historical deal with Rian and Daniel Craig for at least two Knives Out sequels for a massive $400+ million, the two earning $100 million each. The first installment for Netflix will begin shooting next month in Greece and we’ll likely continue to see more announcements for the cast as Johnson taking cues from Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novels and various mystery shows.

Knives Out was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and made an impressive $311.4 million at the global box office on a budget of $40 million.

While this will be a sequel, Daniel Craig is expected to be the only returning cast member at the moment as they’ll likely focus a new group of murder suspects in the European-set whodunit.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Knives Out 2’: Edward Norton Joins Daniel Craig In Rian Johnson’s Whodunit Sequel

Another high-profile addition to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 has been revealed.

A report from Deadline announces that Edward Norton has joined the murder mystery alongside Daniel Craig and Dave Bautista. Norton is a three-time Oscar nominee with credits such as Birdman, Fight Club, Moonrise Kingdom, The Incredible Hulk, American History X, Primal Fear, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Bourne Legacy, Kingdom of Heaven, 25th Hour, Red Dragon, Rounders, Alita: Battle Angel, and Isle of Dogs.

Craig plays southern crime novelist Benoit Blanc, who also moonlights as a detective and in the sequel will be needed during another murder in the very scenic country of Greece. Other plot details are being kept under lock-and-key which is a good thing as there is an expected twist that hopefully isn’t spoiled before it’s release. While this will be a sequel, from what we understand Daniel Craig is expected to be the only returning cast member.

It remains to be seen if we’ll be seeing another family focused murder plot or something a little different to the formula.

Production will begin next month in Greece and Netflix spent a massive $400+ million to secure Rian Johnson’s two sequels. The big payday will see both Rian and Daniel Craig land $100 million each, opening the door for Netflix to get another franchise under their belt.

Folks are trying to do their own sleuthing as Rian recently followed actress Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, A Most Violent Year, Crimson Peak, Interstellar) on Instagram, which might signal that she might have landed a role, but it’s only speculation for the moment.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Knives Out 2’: Dave Bautista Reunites With Daniel Craig For Rian Johnson’s Murder Mystery Sequel

Rian Johnson is looking to turn his wonderful comedic murder mystery film Knives Out into a full-fledged franchise and has partnered with Netflix to make that happen. A historical deal worth upwards of $400 million was made back in March that would see both Rian Johnson and lead actor Daniel Craig make $100 million each. The hefty deal includes the next two installments that are yet-to-be-titled and I assume if they want to do more Netflix will be all-ears.

We won’t have to wait too long before getting our hands on Knives Out 2 as filming is reportedly set to begin in Greece starting in late June.

Deadline is reporting that Daniel’s Spectre co-star Dave Bautista has landed an undisclosed role in the sequel and we’ll be excited to find out what his character will be. I’m going to lean towards fellow detective but there are likely less obvious choices as well. There is an expectation Knives Out 2 will focus on an entirely new group of characters excluding Craig’s southern detective Benoit Blanc and the Greece setting during a summer shoot will likely be a fantastic visual contrast to the original movie.

Dave Bautista’s upcoming projects includes Zack Snyder’s Army of The Dead and will be reprising the Drax role for James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. Hopefully, he’ll be able to showcase his comedic chops in Knives Out 2 as he’s been known to be extremely assuming when given the chance.

It’ll be interesting to see if Rian will cast other former co-stars of Daniel Craig in various roles. Personally, I’ll be rooting for Casino Royale’s Eva Green to show up and give us another fantastic femme fatale.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Netflix Shelling-Out $450M For Rian Johnson’s Next Two ‘Knives Out’ Sequels Starring Daniel Craig As Benoit Blanc

Earlier in the week it was announced via a report from Deadline that Netflix was looking to finance and secure the next two Knives Out sequels from writer/director Rian Johnson. The untitled sequels will see Daniel Craig reprise the role of Southern crime novelist/detective Benoit Blanc. The character is a take on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mixed with Jessica Fletcher from the series Murder, She Wrote.

The streaming giant was said to be looking spend $400 million on the two films with Variety stating in their own write-up that the number is actually closer to $450 million. The number likely has to do with the original film earning an impressive $311.4 million at the international box office on a modest budget of $40 million, Netflix seeing the value in having the next two films being part of their originals lineup.

Knives Out originally was at MRC and distributed by Lionsgate, however, the companies didn’t make deals for potential sequels leaving the door open for Amazon, Apple, and Netflix to compete for the rights. Netflix seemingly landing them.

Filming on the second installment isn’t far away as Deadline says that production is set to begin this June 28, 2021 in Greece. The location moving out of the United States could allow for international cast and fans of the originally are dying to see what actors Johnson ends up hiring as there is expectations for another large cast.

The Benoit Blanc role could be a huge deal for Daniel Craig trying to get away from the shadow of the James Bond franchise as he’ll be exiting after the release of No Time To Die. It would be nice if Craig was able to have his character Benoit Blanc as notable to his career as Bond. The only way that is going to happen is if these next two films knock it out of the park.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

Rundown of 2021 Movies That Have Been Given New Release Dates

No Time To Die wasn’t the only studio film to get a bump to later in the year as there were a wave of release changes yesterday. The COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t seem to be letting up over the spring or possibly the summer meaning that theatrical releases are going to be further delayed.

Here is a rundown of those releases changes that took place over the week.

  • Godzilla vs. Kong – March 26th, 2021 (moved up)
  • Nobody – April 2nd, 2021
  • BIOS – August 13th, 2021
  • The Many Saints of Newark – September 24th, 2021
  • No Time To Die – October 8th, 2021
  • Last Night In Soho – October 22nd, 2021
  • Antlers – October 29th, 2021
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife – November 11th, 2021
  • Nightmare Alley – December 3rd, 2021
  • Morbius – January 21st, 2022
  • Uncharted – February 11th, 2022
  • Ambulance – February 18th, 2022

We’re likely to get more release date changes in the coming weeks as summer movies alongside other spring films might be getting pushed later in the year or to 2022. I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if we saw new dates for films such big films as Black Widow, Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Spider-Man 3, F9, The King’s Man, Top Gun: Maverick, Jungle Cruise and others.

I know people are going to assume that studios will simply throw these projects on streaming services, however, considering the large budgets involved they will be more interested in turning a profit than offloading the films from their slates, they are still businesses that need to generate revenue. Until we get those official announcements it seems a little premature to speculate which projects will end up on streaming as plenty of these releases escaped that fate in 2020 and might continue that in 2021.

I personally believe the best way to go is with reasonable prices for multiple digital renting and buying options along with great access to those choices. Having access to these films suck behind a paywall then given high price of $30 like with what Disney did with Mulan meant that Disney+ subscribers still had to pay a premium price alongside their monthly subscription. At the very least, they should have given a discount to subs asking for $10-20.

We’ll certainly update when further changes are announced.

Posted on in Film News

‘No Time To Die’ Officially Delayed To October 8th

EON has officially announced that No Time To Die has been bumped from April 2nd to October 8th. A rumored fall delay had been making the rounds lately which has now been confirmed by the studio.

It looks like other studios are delaying their big films coming in the spring as well.

The cast will include Daniel Craig as James Bond, Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek (Bohemian Rapsody) as a new villain named Safin (Dr. No?), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Felix Leiter, Ralph Fiennes (The King’s Man) as M, Christoph Waltz returning as Spectre’s Blofeld, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) as Nomi aka the new Agent 007, Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049) as Paloma, Ben Whishaw as Q, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: EON

Posted on in Film News

‘No Time To Die’ Expected To Get Another Release Delay

We’ve been waiting almost a full year to finally get to watch the final Daniel Craig outing as James Bond, however, No Time To Die has moved it’s official release date twice already and it looks like there might be another release hiccup on the way. According to a small tidbit from Daily Mail reporter Baz Bamigboye (very reliable for Bond news) another delay for the action blockbuster is expected.

The actress plays an MI6 agent with a licence to kill in No Time To Die. But the 007 movie keeps being postponed. A release date was set for April 2. Expect it to shift again.

We’ll have to wait for official word from EON/MGM concerning No Time To Die‘s release delay.

This wouldn’t be terribly shocking as the pandemic is getting increasingly worse in both the United States and the United Kingdom, both top box office markets for the Bond franchise. There is also the less than speedy distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccines in North America. Delaying a couple of months into the summer or even November at this point seems like a foregone conclusion for it’s distributor to avoid a weak box office performance in April.

We have yet to hear about the fate of other movies in the spring but there could be a move from studios to either push releases to later in the year, further offload to streaming services or quickly put together PVOD options for consumers. It seems tougher to find homes for these massive blockbusters given their budgets and projected profits.

Wonder Woman 1984 recently had an extremely tough time earning money at the domestic box office over the holiday season proving that releasing big films theatrically during the pandemic won’t magically create box office dollars even with large studio IP and franchises. It’s also worth mentioning that WarnerMedia’s streaming service HBO Max was a direct competitor with U.S. theaters via their day-and-date release model likely kneecapping those domestic numbers alongside online piracy, a symptom of early digital access.

How major studios and distributors will react to the pandemic in 2021 isn’t fully known at this point as we’re only in January. There are signs that WarnerMedia might pivot from dumping their entire 17 film lineup on HBO Max after backlash and potential lawsuits from Legendary, films like Dune may avoid the day-and-date model. If this extends to other big projects remains to be seen.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

Posted on in News

MGM Reportedly Exploring Sale – EON’s Partners On The James Bond Franchise

In a report coming from the Wall Street Journal, there are claims that MGM Holdings Inc. aka MGM Studios is now exploring the idea of a sale which includes their massive film library and involvement in the billion-dollar James Bond franchise (working with EON on the films as co-owners of the rights). Mentioning that the company is currently valued at $5.5 billion which could give you an idea of what their asking price might be.

MGM Holdings Inc., the movie studio behind the James Bond franchise, is exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter, betting that its library of content will prove attractive to companies pursuing growth in streaming video.

The company has a market value of around $5.5 billion, based on privately traded shares and including debt, some of the people said.

They don’t name potential suitors but allude to their valuation and attractiveness due to streaming services. Netflix and Disney are dealing with a crazy amount of debt which might put them out of the running. While Apple seems like a rational option, they recently backed-out on an offer to buy the exclusive rights to No Time To Die because MGM/EON asked too much, so those deep pockets have a limit. Not every streamer is going to have $5+ billion laying around when the pandemic has hit most entertainment companies hard.

I’m curious what this would mean for EON, who are traditionalists and have a controlling interest in the James Bond franchise and likely wouldn’t be terribly keen on turning their IP into some streaming film franchise. They’d likely want assurances that theatrical would still be on the table or it could turn into a messy legal fight, I would assume any sale would have to need EON’s blessing because the Bond stuff would be the more attractive aspect.

Here is how EON describes their relationship with MGM.

EON Productions Limited and Danjaq LLC are wholly owned and controlled by the Wilson/Broccoli family. Danjaq is the US based company that co-owns, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, the copyright to the existing James Bond films and controls the right to produce future James Bond films.

We’ll have to wait and see to if things will materialize next year.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

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MGM Says ‘No Time To Die’ Is Not For Sale Despite Report of Talks With Apple and Netflix

A report from Bloomberg states that MGM has held talks with Netflix and Apple (Apple TV+) about taking the latest James Bond installment titled No Time To Die to streaming with a massive deal, but the studio is declining to comment on those talks pointing out that the film isn’t for sale and they’re committed to releasing the film theatrically.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. held discussions with Apple Inc. and Netflix Inc. about taking its new James Bond film directly to streaming, according to people familiar with the situation, but the studio says it’s committed to a theatrical release.

The film, “No Time to Die,” could fetch hundreds of millions of dollars in a potential streaming sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. MGM declined to comment on any talks, but said the film “is not for sale.”

A deal like that would be massive and I have to assume would be extremely pricey given how costly the production budget is to make one of these James Bond films. However, it might cap what the producers, EON, and MGM would end up making in comparison to a regular theatrical run and might not be terribly appealing.

UPDATE: Variety says they were asking for a massive $600 million which was too rich for the streaming companies.

However, multiple insiders at rival studios and companies said that a possible Bond sale was explored overtly, and believe that MGM was at least open to the possibility of unloading their crown jewel for a princely sum. The studio was said to be looking for a deal of roughly $600 million — a price tag that was deemed too rich for two of the free-spending streaming services.

The film recently moved to a theatrical release on April 2nd, 2021.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

Posted on in Film News

Producer Barbara Broccoli Debunks New James Bond Casting Rumor – “You Can Only Be In Love With One Person At A Time”

Most recently, there was a rumor circulating online that Tom Hardy has been locked-in as the official replacement for Daniel Craig in the James Bond franchise for months. However, producer Barbara Broccoli has now seemingly debunked that. Going into detail with Total Film stating that nobody has been hired for the role while promoting No Time To Die. Suggesting they will not even consider looking until No Time To Die has been released and some time has passed.

BROCCOLI: “I always say you can only be in love with one person at a time. Once the film’s come out, then some time will pass, and then we’ll have to get on to the business of the future. But for now, we just cannot think about anything beyond Daniel.”

This direct quote would surely counterclaim that Tom Hardy has cast as James Bond. 

Most of the time tabloids and websites will run any sort of Bond rumor to drum-up traffic because it’s well-known that EON doesn’t often comment on such silliness. However, Barbara seemingly has killed that Tom Hardy rumbling for the time being and previously debunked the Bond 25 title rumors as well.

On a more positive note, it was reported that No Time To Die screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge is currently working on a Bond 26 script. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga and producers have also recently suggested interest for his return to the franchise in the future, Cary being open to directing multiple films beyond No Time To Die.

No Time To Die’s release date has been moved to April 2nd, 2021. 

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: TOTAL FILM