Tag: DC Comics

Posted on in Film News

‘Batgirl’: Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Grace & Haley Lu Richardson In The Mix To Play Barbara Gordon

A Batgirl movie has been in development for years now and Warner Bros. dodged a bullet when Joss Whedon exited as his toxic behavior on the set of Justice League reshoots among other sets over the years. Instead, the project has moved from Warner Bros. to HBO Max with Bad Boys For Life and Ms. Marvel directing duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are helming the DC Comics from a script penned by Christina Hodson (The Flash, Birds of Prey).

Deadline is now reporting that Warner Bros. is in the thick of casting an actress to play Batgirl.

Although test deals still are being locked up and some already have passed, the talent expected to test for the role includes Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch and Leslie Grace. We also have heard Haley Lu Richardson’s name, but she might have bowed out before the test process.

The list of candidates would suggest that Batgirl isn’t directly connected to Matt Reeves’ The Batman trilogy and likely will have a stronger connection to projects like The Flash and other recent DCEU projects. Folks have assumed that Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne could end up being a mentor to this incarnation of Barb and seeing the project becoming a female version of Batman Beyond.

Given that Batgirl is expected to be set in Gotham City it’ll be interesting to see what villains she’ll end up tackling. If I was Warner Bros./HBO Max, I would plant seeds for Gotham City Sirens by adding Poison Ivy and other potential characters.

Other DC Comics movies in the works include Wonder Woman 3, Zatanna, Blue Beetle, Static Shock, Supergirl, a black Superman movie produced by J.J. Abrams, Hourman, a female version of Plastic Man, and director Chris McKay is still hopeful about making Nightwing.

Batgirl has yet to be given a release date at HBO Max.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Dwayne Johnson Wraps Filming On DC Comics Movie ‘Black Adam’

Black Adam has been shooting in Atlanta and star Dwayne Johnson has announced on Instagram that filming has wrapped. The character is best known as the antagonists of Captain Marvel, now know as Shazam!, and Johnson has spent over a decade trying to get the DC Comics film going finally getting cameras rolling this year after various hiccups.

Interestingly enough, while there have been downplays of a crossover with Zachary Levi’s Shazam! until a Black Adam 2 or Shazam! 3. This despite Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of The Gods shooting at the same time in Atlanta recently.

The supporting cast includes Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall aka Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein aka Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkell aka Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz aka Isis, and Marwan Kenzari expected to play the film’s villain.

“Honored and proud to say that’s an official wrap on BLACK ADAM. I knew many years ago, the opportunity for me to make BLACK ADAM would be a ONCE IN A CAREER EVENT. It has been my true honor to go shoulder to shoulder with over 1,000 brilliant and hungry crew of filmmakers and storytellers to bring the antihero known as, BLACK ADAM to life. This has been one for the ages and easily the hardest labor and toughest grind mentally and physically of my entire career. Worth. Every. Second.”

SOURCE: DWAYNE JOHNSON

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Adam’: Dwayne Johnson Posts New Set Photo Showing Off Costume

Dwayne Johnson has taken to Instagram to post a new pic from the set of Black Adam in Atlanta and gives us the best look at his DCEU character’s costume as production is about to wrap soon.

Joining Johnson on the superhero project directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) includes Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall aka Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson aka Dr. Fate, Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein aka Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkell aka Cyclone, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz aka Isis, Bodhi Sabongui, James Cusati-Moyer, and Marwan Kenzari expected to play the film’s villain.

A project like Black Adam will allow them to introduce a multitude of new characters in a single installment with The Justice Society playing a role in the film. They should be an interesting addition to the DCEU alongside the Shazam! family.

The New Line Cinema project is going to be releasing head-to-head with Indiana Jones 5 on July 29, 2022 as Lucasfilm announced they would be sticking to the summer date even after Warner Bros. placed Black Adam in the same spot. We imagine one of them is going to eventually find a new date down the road with Indy’s recently production delays it’s starting to feel like Disney will find a new release date.

“This image of Black Adam from behind gives you a tactile sense of the absolute massive scale and size of our movie. You also see a little of the intricate and beautiful textured detail of Black Adam’s body suit. (this is not your typical DC or Marvel muscle suit) And finally you get a glimpse of the enormous and appropriate destruction. As we all know, superheroes have a code of justice and don’t kill the bad guys. But, Black Adam does. The hierarchy of power in the DC UNIVERSE is changing.”

SOURCE: DWAYNE JOHNSON

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: James Gunn’s ‘Peacemaker’ Series Adds ‘Game Of Thrones’ & ‘Lost In Space’ Cinematographer Sam McCurdy

The Ronin can confirm that James Gunn’s HBO Max series Peacemaker has added British cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who is likely best known for shooting Neil Marshall’s Blackwater episode of Game of Thrones. Pacemaker is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming sequel The Suicide Squad focusing on the origins of John Cena’s character Christopher Smith.

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.

Sam McCurdy also worked with Neill Marshall on his feature films Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday, and Centurion. Other credits include Netflix’s Lost In Space (Neil Marshall again), The Hills Have Eyes 2, The Devil’s Double, Into The Badlands, Pennyworth, and Carnival Row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxKzT7AzK1c

He isn’t the only seasoned cinematographer on the DC Comics project as Michael Bonvillain (Westworld, Zombieland, Cloverfield, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Outside The Wire) was announced a while back.

The show’s directing team working alongside James Gunn consists of Jody Hill (Eastbound & Down), Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones), and Brad Anderson (Boardwalk Empire).

Production on Peacemaker is said to be wrapping up next month and actor Chris Pratt revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he expects Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 to begin filming in November.

James Gunn previously announced that Peacemaker will debut on HBO Max sometime in January 2022 and you’ll get your first real taste of John Cena as the character on August 6 in The Suicide Squad.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

Posted on in Film News

‘Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom’ Has Officially Started Filming & Cinematographer Don Burgess Confirmed

Director James Wan has taken to Instagram to announce that the Aquaman sequel, Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom, has begun filming on the United Kingdom stages and the photo also confirmed that cinematographer Don Burgess is back after shooting the last installment.

Wan’s photo below showcases an icy set and reiterates the sequel’s working title of Nercus, a reference to King Mongo’s kingdom aka The Black City.

Filming will be taking place at Warner Bros. Studios. Leavesden in Watford, England and a bit of a change-up of shooting location as the first film was shot at Village Roadshow Studios in Australia. The English facility is also being used for The Flash movie alongside recently wrapped Warner Bros. pics such as The Batman and Fantastic Beasts 3.

Other DC Comics films in production include Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam that is about finish up soon and David F. Sandberg’s Shazam!: Fury of The Gods recently just started down in Atlanta.

Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom is set for release on December 16, 2022 pitting it against James Cameron’s Avatar 2.

SOURCE: JAMES WAN

Posted on in Film News

‘Aquaman’ Sequel Officially Titled ‘Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom’; Confirming The Setting Of Necrus

Danish actor Pilou Asbæk (Overlord, Ghost In The Shell, Game of Thrones) is the latest addition to the Aquaman sequel with Jason Momoa and Amber Heard set to return as Aquaman 2’s leads.  The working title going to be Necrus, a direct nod the underwater city of Necrus aka The Black City that is ruled by King Mongo, a character that Pilou is most likely playing.

Well, the film’s title seems to all confirming Necrus will be the setting, as director James Wan announced on Instagram the official title will be Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom.

Momoa previous confirmed a production start next month at Warner Bros. Studios Leavseden in Watford, England. Those same stages are being used for The Flash and Fantastic Beasts 3. The actor revealed he’ll also be landing story credit on the sequel.

The Ronin can confirm that production designer Bill Brzeski is back for Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom.

The original film was shot at Village Roadshow Studios in Australia under the working title Ahab.

It’s expected that Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, and Temuera Morrison will appear as well.

Other DC Comics films currently in production are The Flash, Black Adam, and Shazam! Fury of The Gods.

Warner Bros. has given the sequel a release date of December 16, 2022.

AQUAMAN – Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people — and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm’s half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.

SOURCE: JAMES WAN

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: Brad Anderson Joins The Directing Team On HBO Max Series ‘Peacemaker’

The Ronin can confirm that veteran director Brad Anderson is the latest person added to the directing team on James Gunn’s Peacemaker series starring John Cena. Anderson’s credits include the Christian Bale thriller The Machinist, Beirut starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike, Fringe, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, The Shield, Treme, The Killing, Almost Human, The Man In The High Castle, Treadstone, and Titans.

The HBO Max show is a direct spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming film The Suicide Squad.

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.

We previously reported that Jody Hill (Observe & Report, Eastbound & Down) is also directing on the DC Comics series alongside James Gunn and Rosemary Rodriguez (Jessica Jones).

Peacemaker is said to debut January 2022 on HBO Max.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD – Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

Posted on in Television News

‘Green Lantern’: Lee Toland Krieger Directing The First Two Episodes On The HBO Max Superhero Series

A couple days ago it was reported by The Direct that Lee Toland Krieger was attached to director episodes of the HBO Max series Green Lantern, the report was spot on as Deadline confirms the information, adding that Lee will helm the first two episodes of the mature DC Comics show.

Green Lantern will focus on multiple human members of the Green Lantern Corps. such as Finn Wittrock’s Guy Gardner, Jeremy Irvine’s Alan Scott, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Sinestro, and Kilowog. The group consists of a specially selected roster of space cops (mostly aliens) from across the universe that use green power rings to fight evil and that are recharged using a cosmic green lantern.

Lee isn’t a stranger to genre television previously directing episodes of Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Deadly Class, Superman & Lois, and Shadow & Bone.

Warner Bros. released a live-action feature film built around Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan in 2011, but trilogy plans quickly were squashed when the film failed to meet expectations and the needed box office earnings to move forward with sequels. Zack Snyder attempted to include John Stewart (played by Wayne T. Carr) at the end of the Snyder Cut version of Justice League but the scene was ultimately removed. The studio is said to be still planning to make their Green Lantern Corps. movie that has been in development stages for years now that reportedly will feature a two-hander with Jordan and Stewart as the main characters.

SOURCE: THE DIRECT & DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Mark Strong Confirms Dr. Thaddeus Sivana Won’t Appear In ‘Shazam! Fury of The Gods’ As Production Is About To Begin In Atlanta

The DCEU is chugging along with David F. Sandberg is set to direct Shazam! Fury of The Gods with a release date of June 2, 2023. Returning cast members include Zachary Levi as Shazam, and Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, Meagan Good, Michelle Borth, Ross Butler, D.J. Cotrona, and Adam Brody.

The new additions are Helen Mirren as Hespera, Lucy Liu as Kalypso, and Rachel Zegler.

It doesn’t look like Mark Strong’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana will be coming back for the next film as he revealed to Den of Geek and is happy to see a group of female villains stepping up for the sequel.

STRONG: “Dr. Sivana isn’t in Shazam! 2. What’s happened is, I think Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu and perhaps someone else — they’ve got some female villains in. And to be honest with you, I’m very happy to take a back seat to some female villains and let them have a go, because judging by the work that Emma Thompson and Emma Stone have done in Cruella, it’s about time.”

However, Mark didn’t close the door on Shazam! 3.

STRONG: “Who knows? He’s still got unfinished business with Mister Mind.”

Filming on Fury of The Gods is confirmed for Atlanta, Georgia as the film’s lead Zachary Levi officially landed in the city not too long ago as revealed by a recent Instagram post. The same city that is being used to shoot Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, a foe of Levi’s Shazam! and will introduce the Justice Society to DCEU. The proximity to the two productions could see a crossover sooner than expected, but we’ll have to wait and see.

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.

SOURCE: DEN OF GEEK

Posted on in Film News

‘Aquaman 2’: Jason Momoa Wrote The Sequel’s Story Treatment & Confirms A July Production Start – Shooting At Warner Bros. Studios In Watford, England

Warner Bros. is in an interesting position with their DCEU franchise as The Batman has seemingly finished-up production, The Suicide Squad releases this summer, with production started on The Flash and Black Adam respectively. Shazam: Fury of The Gods is also set to begin shooting soon as well.

The next big DC Comics film will be James Wan’s sequel to the billion-dollar hit Aquaman and Jason Momoa has confirmed during an interview with The Drew Barrymore Show that production will begin this July, adding that he contributed to the film as a writer working on the sequel’s story treatment and originally pitching the idea to the studio.

The Ronin can confirm that production will be taking place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England. It’s a facility commonly used for DC Comics shoots including Wonder Woman 1984, The Flash, The Batman, and Justice League. The previous Aquaman film was shot mostly under in Australia at Village Roadshow Studios and it’s unclear why they decided to stick with Watford, England this time around.

Amber Heard is confirmed to reprise the role of Mera with Danish actor Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones, Overlord, Ghost In The Shell) joining the sequel’s cast.

Momoa has been filming projects in Canada recently such as the Netflix film Slumberland.

Aquaman 2 is still set to be released by Warner Bros. on December 16, 2022.

AQUAMAN – Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people — and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm’s half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.

SOURCE: THE DREW BERRYMORE SHOW