Wow, HBO Max is already working on a spinoff series focusing on James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad!
WarnerMedia and HBO Max have announced today that they’ll be making a Peacekeeper series on the streaming service starring John Cena. The series will focus on Cena’s character from the upcoming DC Comics film that was written and directed by James Gunn.
Gunn is said to be directing multiple episodes before heading off to make Guardians of The Galaxy 3 and writing all 8-episodes.
Below is the official press release.
Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first. Gunn and The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran will serve as executive producers of the series, with Cena as co-executive producer. Based on characters from DC, Peacemaker will be produced by Gunn’s Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. Peacemaker is scheduled to begin production in early 2021, prior to Gunn beginning work on the next Guardians of the Galaxy film.
HBO’s Watchmen did extremely well at the Primetime Emmy Awards this year which saw it win an impressive 11 Emmys including for Best Limited Series.
The key prizes were that Regina King won Best Actress In A Limited Series or Movie and her co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II landing Supporting Actor In A Limited Series or Movie. Along with Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson winning for Best Writing In A Limited Series or Movie. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also won for Best Score which has them now inching the pair closer to earn an EGOT.
Other awards the show earned included Sci-Fi/Fantasy Costumes, Cinematographer (Limited Series), Casting (Limited Series), Single-Camera Picture Editing (Limited Series), Sound Mixing (Limited Series), and Sound Editing (Limited Series).
Damon Lindelof has been adamant about not returning for a second season which may end up not end up moving forward at all without him, but only time will tell.
I loved the series and it was extremely prescient despite the unwarranted backlash for the infusion of race and politics, I mean, Alan Moore did the exact thing with his original graphic novel.
WATCHMEN – From Damon Lindelof and set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, this drama series embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name while attempting to break new ground of its own. The cast includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.
After various British outlets have reported that The Batman has resumed production on The Batman, Deadline claims they have confirmation from Warner Bros. this indeed correct but couldn’t get any comments about Robert Pattinson’s health status and if he’s returned to the set after testing positive for COVID-19.
Warner Bros has confirmed that The Batman is back up and running. This comes two weeks after the production shut down after star Robert Pattinson tested positive for COVID-19. No word yet if Pattinson is back on set at Warner Bros Leavesden as the studio doesn’t comment on staffers’ personal status.
Hopefully, Warner Bros. will try to keep cast and crew safe as the United Kingdom is experiencing a rise of new COVID-19 cases and has seen a return of various restrictions, which could easily lead to another shutdown.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes “The Batman,” with director Matt Reeves (the “Planet of the Apes” films) at the helm and with Robert Pattinson (“Tenet,” “The Lighthouse,” “Good Time”) starring as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Also in the star-studded ensemble as Gotham’s famous and infamous cast of characters are Zoë Kravitz (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy,” “12 Years a Slave”) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the “Hunger Games” films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the “Transformers” films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (“The Magnificent Seven,” “Black Mass”) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”) as Officer Stanley Merkel; Jayme Lawson (“Farewell Amor”) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the “Planet of the Apes” films, “Black Panther”) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Dumbo”) as Oswald Cobblepot.
Warner Bros. had given the film a release date of October 1st, 2021.
This seems like a horrible idea but Warner Bros. has moved Wonder Woman 1984 to December 25th from it’s former October 2nd spot announced via The Hollywood Reporter. The interesting angle here is that the massive film Dune is still slated to be released on December 18th.
This would certainly hurt one or both films releasing them so closely to each other.
I suspect Warner Bros. will realize the issue and bump Dune to another date in 2021 and just hasn’t figured out where to place it.
The Wonder Woman 1984 move sounds like a direct response to Tenet’s weak domestic opening of $20.2 million (estimated) and they’ll be hopeful that things will be better in December.
WONDER WOMAN 1984 –Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah. With director Patty Jenkins back at the helm and Gal Gadot returning in the title role, “Wonder Woman 1984” is Warner Bros. Pictures’ follow up to the DC Super Hero’s first outing, 2017’s record-breaking “Wonder Woman,” which took in $822 million at the worldwide box office. The film also stars Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Kristen Wiig as The Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, Robin Wright as Antiope, and Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta.
Deadline recently confirmed a Daily Mail story that a crew member working on The Batman has tested positive placing the production on hiatus again.
Even more shocking is that Vanity Fair reports the person who tested positive is actually their lead star Robert Pattinson, who is playing Bruce Wayne aka Batman in the reboot.
Robert Pattinson has tested positive for the coronavirus, causing filming of The Batman to be halted just days after the superhero drama resumed work at studios outside of London.
This certainly puts into question the prevention tools the film industry has put so much faith in during the return to productions in the United Kingdom. I’m starting to think that if Pattinson can’t be protected others are just as open to infection, if not more.
Hopefully, Robert and others on the film remain in good health and spirits.
This news comes a day after action star Dwayne Johnson revealed himself and his family, including his two young daughters had tested positive for COVID-19 as well. Johnson revealed this on Instagram while reiterating how important wearing a mask is.
The Batman had previously stopped production back in March alongside a bulk of projects filming in England and had only recently started filming again.
Warner Bros. is coming off massive buzz for film after the release of the teaser trailer that spread like wildfire online.
The Dark Knight trilogy director Christopher Nolan was briefly asked by Geeks of Color about his Tenet star John David Washington playing DC Comics hero Green Lantern and the possibility of him directing the project.
NOLAN: “I think my DC days are over but I think he’d be an excellent choice, he certainly gets my vote.”
I’m not terribly sure how much pull Nolan has considering during the press tour for Dunkirk he endorsed star Tom Hardy as the next James Bond, we’ll see if the ringing endorsement actually sways anyone at the studio.
Plans for a new Green Lantern film have seemingly stalled in recent years after David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes had been tasked to pen Green Lantern Corps. a while ago with then Geoff Johns taking a stab at a script.
It was announced that there are plans at HBO Max to make a Green Lantern television series but it’s unknown how that will directly impact future films.
There is a chance the series could be connected to the film as The Batman is getting a tie-in Gotham PD series taking place a year before the events of the upcoming film.
It’s starting to look like the main threat of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, might not be Earthbound. Folks such as Knight Edge Media have seemingly have spotted a blurry shot of what looks to be one of Starro The Conqueror’s facehugger-like alien creatures on the face of a soldier the Suicide Squad as taken out.
A villain that has already been previously rumored for the sequel via Splash Report.
I’ve tried to make the pink creature as clear as possible with my own edited screenshots which you can see below. Images were taken from the sizzle reel/behind-the-scenes video revealed during DC FanDome over the weekend.
James Gunn could have decided to use Starro as a slight nod to his sci-fi horror film Slither from 2006. While fans have assumed Taika Waititi would be voicing King Shark, there is a good chance Starro could be an option.
There seem to be more soldiers with the pink creature in the background that I can spot but are much harder to make out in the image.
This wouldn’t be the only alien character in the film as in the comic books Mongal (played by Mayling Ng) is an alien warlord.
The Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 6th, 2021.
Back in July, it was announced HBO Max would be developing a series spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman focusing on the Gotham City Police Department with writer and executive producer Terence Winter on board. Winter’s credits include The Sopranos, Wolf of Wall Street, and Boardwalk Empire.
Here is that 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.
Matt revealed a small detail about the series during DC FanDome yesterday stating the show takes place during Batman’s first year as the film is set in his second year.
REEVES: “The idea of this story was a story in which Gotham, which has this depth of corruption, and the idea that we could do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department, the corrupt inner workings of the city. And the way we’re gonna do this series. Terence Winter is just an incredible writer, so the idea that we got him to do this, just is literally a dream. The idea is, we go back to year one, and year one is the beginning of the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for his soul.”
“He’s a cop over generations and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years, and the story is like, as you realize that there’s this myth-building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before – some of them we’ll touch on that you may have seen in the comics, but others are totally new. Then you can go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie, and to go into these rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terence is going to create.”
This means there is a strong chance that cast members such as Jeffrey Wright (Jim Gordon) and newly announced addition Barry Keoghan (Officer Stanley Merkel) could have reoccurring roles in the HBO Max show.
Teaser footage from The Batman establishes a much more grounded take on the caped crusader that explains why someone like Winter would get involved with a show set within a comic book universe. Reeves also talked about how much corruption is in Gotham City that will be explored in The Batman taking cues from the 1970s thriller Chinatown.
A first teaser trailer was released for Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Warner Bros. also released these three images just before the panel.
The cast led by Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne aka Batman also includes Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano as Edward Nashton aka The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin.
Filming is expected to resume next month at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England.
The Batman is set to be released on October 1st, 2021.
Another short panel from DC FanDome and it includes a special cameo from comedian Sinbad.
While director David F. Sandberg and the cast didn’t share much they did reveal the title for the Shazam sequel will be Shazam!: Fury of The Gods.
SHAZAM! – We all have a superhero inside of us — it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In 14-year-old Billy Batson’s case, all he needs to do is shout out one word to transform into the adult superhero Shazam. Still a kid at heart, Shazam revels in the new version of himself by doing what any other teen would do — have fun while testing out his newfound powers. But he’ll need to master them quickly before the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana can get his hands on Shazam’s magical abilities.
Shazam! 2 is set to be released on November 4th, 2022.
THE RONIN 