Screenwriter and director Emerald Fennell is coming off a very successful year for her rape-revenge film Promising Young Woman as it landed an impressive five Oscar nominations, three for Fennell. Those include Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Director there is a good chance she’ll end up with multiple awards come April 25th.
Studios are already circling the talented filmmaker as Variety reports that Warner Bros. has tapped Fennell to write a DC Comics film focused on the heroine Zatanna for them with DC Films and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot producing it.
Zatanna, created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, is a magician and considered one of the most powerful sorcerers in the DC universe. Her magical abilities are genetic, as her dad Giovanni Zatara was also an alchemist.
There had been an expectation that the Zatanna character would be part of the Justice League Dark series on HBO Max that Abrams is also involved with. However, Variety states the feature film will this incarnations first appearance.
It’s quite interesting to see DC Films recruiting from Oscar contenders.
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – Nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be — she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs from the past.
Director Zack Snyder had confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter this week that he had been dreaming about adding Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern to his cut of Justice League (now ready to stream on HBO Max). Further mentioning he wanted to a group of Lanterns that would have included Jordan.
SNYDER: “There was another idea I had for the Green Lantern that wasn’t Ryan, and so I thought that if we had gone down this path of Green Lantern, I would have had to have Ryan as the additional Lantern, filling out the Lantern Corps a little bit more than say just one Green Lantern.”
He names another Lantern he wanted to add.
While speaking with Vanity Fair, Zack Snyder revealed that he originally wanted to use John Stewart, another version of Green Lantern, but wasn’t allowed by studio as they had other plans for him and instead settled on Martian Manhunter.
SNYDER: “We shot a version of this scene with Green Lantern, but the studio really fought me and said, ‘We really don’t want you to do Green Lantern,’ so I made a deal with them, and they let me do this [instead].”
Okay, but which Green Lantern did Snyder want to use?
SNYDER: “It would be John Stewart.They were like, ‘We have plans for John Stewart and we want to do our own announcement.’ So I said all right, I’ll give you that. So [Martian Manhunter] was the compromise.”
The studio ultimately didn’t use Stewart, as you might remember that Warner Bros. had attempted to make a Green Lantern Corps. movie but they decided to go with an HBO Max series. The streaming series will feature DC characters such as Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, Sinestro, and Kilowog.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is ready to watch depending where you live in the world.
Director and co-writer Matt Reeves has taken to Twitter to give a big update on the production of The Batman, as he’s declared Saturday is the last day of principal photography. The film is part one of a new Batman trilogy from Reeves with Robert Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne and according to DC Films takes place in Earth 2.
Filming on the DC Comics reboot hasn’t been as smooth as the studio would have liked as they originally had to halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then had to pause again after resuming due to Robert Pattinson testing positive.
The Flash is the next big film to shoot on the Warner Bros. stages in Watford, England. Funny enough, that superhero flick is expected to include two Batman actors with both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck set to appear.
The Batman’s teaser trailer from the summer seemed to make a huge impression given the limited footage they had to work with and has become one of the most anticipated films from the studio after some initial hesitation from fans with the casting news of Robert Pattinson playing Batman for the foreseeable future.
Warner Bros. has given The Batman a release date of March 4th, 2022.
THE BATMAN – 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.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Warner Bros. has cast Spanish actress Maribel Verdu (Pan’s Labyrinth) has taken the role of Barry Allen’s mother. The DC Comics movie is a feature version of the Flashpoint storyline, where Barry goes back in time using his powers and saves the life of his mother only for the consequences of changing the timeline leading to extremely bleak alternative future. A superhero version of The Butterfly Effect.
It director Andy Muschietti is directing from a script penned by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) with a cast that includes Ezra Miller as Barry Allen aka The Flash, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, and Sasha Calle as Supergirl.
Watchmen actor Billy Crudup plays Barry’s father.
Filming will be taking place in Watford, England and has a release date of November 4th, 2022.
There is breaking casting news concerning Andy Muschietti’s Flash movie as The Hollywood Reporter has word that actress Kiersey Clemons (Dope) is returning to the role of love interest Iris West for the solo film.
The actress will reprise her role as Iris West, the romantic interest of Barry Allen, aka The Flash. Clemons portrayed the intrepid reporter West in Justice League, but her role was cut by director Zack Snyder back in 2017 before he turned the film over to Joss Whedon.
Clemons previous played the role briefly in Justice League and there had been a question if she’d end up continuing the part in future films. She’ll join Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, and Sasha Calle, the latter landing the new take on the big screen vesion of Supergirl.
Filming is taking place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England.
The Flash is said to be released on November 4th, 2022.
Deadline has breaking news that Warner Bros. is looking to reboot their iconic Superman franchise with a script from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams via Bad Robot. Coates is best-known for his work on the fantastic modern run of Black Panther comics for Marvel.
Deadline has confirmed that author Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing a Superman reboot feature for Warner Bros and DC, which J.J. Abrams is producing under his Bad Robot label.
Funny, it’s being called a “reboot” and Deadline mentions Henry Cavill, but if it’s a hard-reboot that would likely mean he’s not going to be in it. The addition of Coates would give the impression they might be going with a different take on the DC hero.
They point out that Coates is working with Ryan Coolger and Michael B. Jordan on the film Wrong Answer, the connection to Jordan is certainly interesting given rumblings he wanted to play a new version of Superman.
Could that Michael B. Jordan/Superman casting rumor come true?
Variety mentioned in a report last year that Jordan pitched a Superman project.
To help find a way to make Superman relevant to modern audiences, studio brass has been polling lots of high-profile talent. There have been discussions with J.J. Abrams, whose company Bad Robot recently signed a massive first-look deal with the studio, and there was a meeting with Michael B. Jordan earlier this year with the “Creed” star pitching Warners on a vision for the character. However, Jordan isn’t ready to commit to taking on the project since filming doesn’t seem likely to happen for several years and he has a full dance card of projects. Insiders think that a new Superman film is unlikely to hit screens before 2023, given that there’s no script and no director attached.
UPDATE:The Hollywood Reporter has chimed-in and Warner Bros. are reportedly indeed looking to introduce a black Superman in the reboot. They certainly have options with Steel’s John Henry Irons, Val-Zod, and Calvin Ellis established in the comic books. Given Coates is writing the reboot and his history with Black Panther it’s hard to imagine this won’t have a black Superman.
According to sources, the project is being set up as a Black Superman story. This is something that the studio has been trying to wrap its head around for months, if not a year or two. Michael B. Jordan tried to develop a Black Superman project when he first arrived at the studio with his deal in 2019, but that did not go very far at the time, according to sources. It is possible that the studio could return to him to star down the line.
Will audiences be introduced to a Black Superman? That is the intent and something that the studio has been trying to find a way in for months if not a year or two, according to sources. https://t.co/X8RTtSJ7EK
It’s worth mentioning Michael B. Jordan is producing a film for the studio based on the DC Comics hero Static Shock.
This news comes after Warner Bros. has been developing a new solo Supergirl film from The Cloverfield Paradox (produced by Abrams) screenwriter Oren Uziel and the studio recently hiring Sasha Calle in the role, making her big screen debut in The Flash.
It’ll be interesting to see if Henry Cavill ultimately comes back to the Superman role as the chances of that seem to be getting smaller with Supergirl entering the picture and this reboot from Bad Robot now in development.
A new report from The Wrap has revealed that a director Angel Manuel Soto has been hired for the upcoming Blue Beetle movie from Warner Bros. and DC Films. Filming is also said to be aiming for the fall.
Charm City Kings director Angel Manuel Soto is set to direct Blue Beetle, DC Films and Warner Bros.’ first superhero movie starring a Latino character, individuals with knowledge of the project exclusively tells TheWrap.
The big step will be finding an actor to play Jaime Reyes aka Blue Beetle.
Blue Beetle won’t be the only Latinx superhero Warner Bros. is introducing as Sasha Calle was recently cast as Supergirl for their Flash film, there is an expectation that Sasha could end up leading the solo film they’ve been developing at the studio with screenwriter Oren Uziel working on a script. We’ll likely see Sasha’s Supergirl make her big screen debut before Blue Beetle.
The Flash movie is getting more superhero help as Deadline reports that actress Sash Calle has been cast in the role of Supergirl. The newcomer was selected over 400 potential candidates but impressed the studio and director Andy Muschietti.
A new Supergirl solo film had been in development stages at Warner Bros. before her addition to the Flash project, we have to assume that Sasha will likely lead that project if things finally come together on it. Screenwriter Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat, 22 Jump Street, The Cloverfield Paradox) had been previously hired to write a script for Supergirl before development on the solo project froze.
The latest incarnation of Flash’s script was penned by Christina Hodson and will open the DCEU to their own Multiverse via Barry’s speed-force powers, taking cues from the Flashpoint story. There are already two Batman actors expected to appear with Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck teased in official concept art released over the summer.
The Flash will be shooting at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England with a release date set by Warner Bros. for November 4th, 2022.
The Hollywood Reporter is confirming a fall report from The Illuminerdi that Aladdin and The Old Guard actor Marwan Kenzari is joining the New Line Cinema film Black Adam, a solo DC Comics film starring Dwayne Johnson in the titular role.
The original report from October claimed that Kenzari was being considered to play DC villain Sabbac, however, the new update isn’t mentioning the part actually is.
Marwan joins a growing cast that includes Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein aka Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall aka Hawkman, and Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkell aka Cyclone.
Filming is set to begin this April in Atlanta, Georgia.
After it was previously announced that J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot would be working on a Justice League Dark series, there is word from Deadline that he’ll also be working on a new Constantine series reboot that will be written by Guy Bolton based on the occult DC Comics character. Bolton is said to be prepping to open a writers’ room next month.
The report stating the new version will skew darker than the previous series. Matt Ryan most recently played John after the Keanu Reeves film released back in 2005, they are reportedly seeking a diverse young actor to play the new version.
This is part of the overall deal that Bad Robot has with WarnerMedia. Abrams is also a producer on HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Westworld.
It’ll be interesting to see if this project will directly connect to that Justice League Dark show in development given that John Constantine is a key character on that team. Justice League Dark originally was put together as film for Guillermo del Toro before the studio attempted to give to other directors before deciding to turn it into a series instead.
CONSTANTINE – As a suicide survivor, demon hunter John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has literally been to hell and back — and he knows that when he dies, he’s got a one-way ticket to Satan’s realm unless he can earn enough goodwill to climb God’s stairway to heaven. While helping policewoman Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) investigate her identical twin’s apparent suicide, Constantine becomes caught up in a supernatural plot involving both demonic and angelic forces. Based on the DC/Vertigo “Hellblazer” comics.
THE RONIN 