Posted on December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 in Film News

‘Star Wars: Rogue Squadron’ Is An Original Film According To Director Patty Jenkins – Not Based On Games or Books

It was exciting to learn last week during the Lucasfilm presentation, at Disney Investor Day, that Patty Jenkins would become the first female director to tackle a Star Wars film with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and she’s given a little more insight to what they’re planning to do with the sci-fi adventure film.

The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.

Patty spoke exclusively with IGN and revealed while Rogue Squadron will be an original project rather than a direct adaptation of existing stories within the Star Wars universe, but will still have “great influence” from the games and books.

JENKINS: “[In the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie] we’re doing something original with great influence from the games and the books. There’s a lot of things being acknowledged and understood about the greatness of all of those things, but yes, it’s an original story and I’m so psyched to do it.”

It’s not shocking the studio is looking to focus on pilots as the best scenes from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were the spectacular space battles enhanced by modern special effects.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron will be released on December 22nd, 2023 and will likely between shooting sometime in 2022.

I’ll be keeping my fingers-crossed that Patty and Lucasfilm will consider adding Legends pilot Dash Rendar aka Rogue Twelve for the new film.

The X-Wing pilot book series had 10 installments which consists of the following titles:

Rogue Squadron (1996), Wedge’s Gamble (1996), The Krytos Trap (1996), The Bacta War (1997) -Wraith Squadron (1998), Iron Fist (1998), Solo Command (1999), Isard’s Revenge (1999), Starfighters of Adumar (1999), and Mercy Kill (2012).

The run of video games included Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998), Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001), and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003).

Earlier in the year, Lucasfilm and EA released the video game Star Wars: Squadron.

SOURCE: IGN

Posted on December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 in Television News

‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’: Ewan McGregor Teasing Limited Series May Go Off-World? – “We Start On Tatooine and We Go On A Rollicking Adventure”

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will be directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) officially takes places 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith as announced by Lucasfilm during the Disney Investor Day presentation last week.

Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor made some interesting comments (spotted by The Playlist) on the upcoming Star Wars project which might hint that the limited series may actually leave Tatooine for off-world adventures.

MCGREGOR: “There’s a hunger for this character to come back. The fans have been waiting long enough, you know? We start on Tatooine, and we go on a rollicking adventure.”

What this could mean is pretty vague as some fans believe that we might get to see some gritty flashbacks to battles during the Clone Wars as General Kenobi giving more of a war-like edge to the prequels or possibly Obi-Wan reflecting on past adventures as a Jedi Knight. Also, it’s possible something else could drag Kenobi off-world like fellow Jedi in distress and during the development of the Sequel Trilogy there was chatter that Rey might have ended up part of the Kenobi family, something that could be explored in this project.

It’s worth mentioning that Hayden Christiensen is confirmed to reprise the role of Darth Vader in the series and having him arrive on Tatooine wouldn’t make a lot of sense as he simply arriving on the planet could sense a young Luke Skywalker’s presence. Then again, he had multiple interactions with Princess Leia without discovering she was his daughter. Having whatever interactions off-world with Obi-Wan Kenobi or through the force could be a better explanation of his involvement. Darth Vader is also under the impression his children died in childbirth and the Empire is possibly only seeking out former Jedi to kill them.

Having off-world adventures might be one of the ways to keep Luke Skywalker’s location on Tatooine kept a secret along with the knowledge that the Jed Knight is using the alias Ben Kenobi while hiding out on the planet or even there to begin with.

Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that production would begin this March and that Andor is already three weeks into it’s UK production.

There are plenty of fans that are praying that the limited series could be the perfect excuse to bring in Legends characters such as Galen Marek aka Starkiller, a powerful character from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games played by actor Sam Witwer (The Mist) that happened to be Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. He was slightly referenced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story via Mads Mikkelsen’s character Galen Erso and before that with Starkiller Base in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, since he’s a Legends character he can be retrofitted to become whatever a specific project needs him to be and may simply turn Marek into one of the many force-sensitive Inquisitors that are tasked to hunt-down and kill Jedi for the Empire as seen in Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The Mandalorian has established that most characters aren’t off the table for live-action adaptations as Legends character Grand Admiral Thrawn was repurposed for Star Wars: Rebels and a live-action version could show up on the Ahsoka series after being teased in Season 2 of The Mandalorian.

A release date for Obi-Wan Kenobi hasn’t been announced but sometime in 2022 wouldn’t be shocking that Andor is aiming for a release in 2022.

Posted on December 14, 2020 in Television News

‘Ms. Marvel’: Aramis Knight Officially Playing Marvel Crimefighter Red Dagger

During the Marvel Studios presentation at the Disney Investor Day, Kevin Feige revealed that Ms Marvel actress Iman Vellani would be co-starring with Brie Larson in Captain Marvel 2, but would be appearing first in Kamala Khan’s solo series first and would begin airing on Disney+ in late 2021.

The rest of the cast announced by Disney/Marvel will include Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha.

Ms. Marvel, launching on Disney+ in late 2021, is a new series that introduces Kamala Khan—a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. A great student, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. But Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school—that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right?

The Badlands actor Aramis Knight confirmed on Instagram he’ll be playing Kareem aka Red Dagger.

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Filming is underway in Atlanta, Georgia.

A sizzle video with some brief footage from the upcoming series was also released during the Marvel presentation.

Posted on December 14, 2020 in Television News

‘Hawkeye’: Marvel Series Officially Adds ‘Spotlight’ Actor Brian D’Arcy James

Another big casting score for Marvel Studios!

Brian D’Arcy James has officially joined the cast of Hawkeye according to Marvel Studios and Disney. He was part of the Best Picture Winner Spotlight that featured a stellar cast that happened to include many Marvel Cinematic Universe alumni such as Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci, and John Slattery.

Spotlight is a personal favorite and the drama is worth checking out if you haven’t already.

The news was announced as part of the Disney Investor Day event from last week and we have missed the casting tidbit in the shuffle.

Marvel also confirmed many other casting additions such as Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, and newcomer Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez aka Echo. These names had been previously reported on. Filming on the series has been taking place in NYC with mostly exterior shots featuring Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld as Barton’s young protege Kate Bishop. The production will eventually move back down to Atlanta.

While not announced by Marvel, there are reports that revealed characters such as Clown, The Swordsman, and Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova will be part of the lineup.

As previously reported by The Ronin, Marvel Studios is indeed aiming for Hawkeye to begin airing in late 2021 on Disney+ along with Ms. Marvel. This means there will be five live-action shows coming to Disney+ from Marvel next year not to mention the four feature films.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 in Television News

‘Alien’ Series Officially Coming From Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley – Will Be Set On Earth

Over a year ago I first reported at HN Entertainment that there was a rumbling of a potential live-action Alien series from producer Ridley Scott was in the works at Hulu and later on it was revealed that Fargo‘s Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch an Alien series then played coy about show’s current status when Deadline confronted him with sourced information that it was happening.

There was a sense after HBO Max announced that Ridley Scott’s mature sci-fi series Raised By Wolves was their their most viewed original on the streaming service, that it was only a matter of time before Disney came to their senses with a series set within the Alien universe.

During the Disney Investor Day event earlier in the week, it was officially announced that the series was moving forward at FX on Hulu with a combined effort from Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley. Nothing was revealed outside the project will be the first to be set on a near future Earth, of course, they’re ignoring the Alien vs. Predator films.

Noah had recently telegraphed in an interview with the Observer his series would focus on the human-side of the Alien universe which is just as dangerous as the xenomorphs as profits come before lives.

HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”

“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”

Alien is currently in development at @FXNetworks. The first TV series based on the classic film series is helmed by Fargo and Legion's @noahhawley. Expect a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future here on Earth. pic.twitter.com/KBigUGnXpB
— Alien: Romulus (@AlienAnthology) December 10, 2020

Ridley Scott has suggested in various interviews that his Alien: Awakening (working title) could still happen and was in development at 20th Century Studios. A third incarnation of Alien V was recently being written on spec by franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler. The pair have worked on Scott’s Alien, James Cameron’s Aliens, and David Fincher’s Alien 3.

We’re still waiting on Disney and 20th Century Studios to make announcements concerning the feature film side.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on December 10, 2020December 10, 2020 in Film News

‘Indiana Jones 5’: Producer Frank Marshall Confirms That Director James Mangold Is Still Writing A New Script

While we’re bound to get some sort of update concerning Indiana Jones 5 later today from Disney, producer Frank Marshall has spoken with Den of Geek and provided an early update on the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Frank reiterates that Harrison Ford is indeed reprising the role something that Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy said last year that the sequel would be a continuation, not a reboot or prequel which had been reported at one point.

He also confirmed that director James Mangold (Logan, The Wolverine, Ford v Ferrari) is still working on a new script for the film and hasn’t even seen/read the thing. This could suggest that development isn’t as far along as imagined when it was announced that Mangold would be directing.

MARSHALL: “Yeah, we are working on the script. There will only be one Indiana Jones and that’s Harrison Ford. What I’m excited about with Jim is a great story. I think you see that in his movies like Ford Vs Ferrari. It’s all about characters and telling a good story. So I’m excited to see what he comes up with. I haven’t seen (the script) yet so I don’t know what to tell you.”

James Mangold took over directing duties after Steven Spielberg dropped-out after headaches trying to get the script in a good place. Previous drafts had been penned by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man) and Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Willow) before this new version from James. Lucasfilm is in a tricky spot with the franchise as Harrison Ford is pushing 80 years old and the last film Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skulls was sort of ridiculed by audiences/critics. They’re really going to have to be very very careful not to repeat the mistakes of the last film part of this would be making sure the script is as strong as it possibly could be.

Mangold’s writing credits include Logan, Walk The Line, and his underrated cop drama Cop Land. Notably all character driven stories that run the gauntlet of genres.

I’m a little curious if this means they might not be able to hit the film’s targeted release date of July 29, 2022 or even begin shooting when they’re expected to later this year. Disney has changed the release date so many times I don’t think it even matters anymore.

SOURCE: DEN OF GEEK

Posted on December 10, 2020 in Film News

‘Black Widow’: Disney Reportedly Still Not Interested In Dumping The Marvel Flick On Disney+

In the wake of WarnerMedia’s shocking announcement that 17 films in 2021 will be heading to HBO Max with a new day-and-date model, there had been continued fan speculation that Disney would announce something similar to that with their own 2021 lineup of films. However, multiple outlets have repeatedly suggested otherwise and another tidbit from the New York Times is claiming that despite what WarnerMedia is planning to do, Disney will not be throwing the Marvel Studios film Black Widow on the streaming service.

And some of Disney’s biggest movies will continue to receive exclusive runs in theaters before arriving on the company’s streaming services. For instance, contrary to widespread speculation, Black Widow, a much-anticipated Marvel spectacle, will remain on Disney’s theatrical release calendar for May 7, the people with knowledge of the presentation said.

This would likely mean that films such as Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings and Eternals will be spared from Disney+ dumps as well. We’ll ultimately know more later today thanks to the Disney Investor Day event which should shed some light on the roll-out of Marvel films in 2021 and beyond.

Fans have been feverishly trying to convince Disney to place Black Widow on Disney+ since the film’s original delays earlier in the year due to COVID-19, however, the company seems to be realistic after their experiment with Mulan on Premier Access (asking subscribers to pay $30 while the film is now free this month) turned out to be more of a let down.

It was recently confirmed that Florence Pugh will be reprising her Black Widow role of Yelena Belova in the Hawkeye series that is currently in production. The show will focus on Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton working alongside his new protege Kate Bishop played by Oscar nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Bumblebee).

BLACK WIDOW – In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

Posted on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 in News

Report Claims “Significant Expansion” of ‘Star Wars’ Franchise Will Be Announced At Disney Investor Day Tomorrow

We’ve already heard from Deadline that Disney’s Investor Day 2020 event tomorrow will reveal a wave of new film/television projects from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.

The New York Times is echoing this sentiment and adds the following concerning potential Star Wars announcements.

A significant expansion of the Star Wars universe.

Neither outlet are ready to give out specifics on what the announcements will be but there are plenty of candidates are known and unknown. We have a better idea what the Marvel Studios announcements will look like as a bunch of the films haven’t been announced officially.

Earlier in the week I did a rundown of upcoming live-action Star Wars projects that had been previously reported on that could highlight some potential contenders.

The main thing I’m expecting is Lucasfilm to announce the next wave of Star Wars shows for Disney+ which should include the Boba Fett series that Deadline reported is already filming. I’m sure fans are keeping their fingers-crossed that Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan will get their own spinoffs.

We still have two more episodes of The Mandalorian left and Jon Favreau confirmed they’re trying to get production started on Season 3 as soon as possible.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

Posted on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 in Film News

‘Young Woman & The Sea’: Disney+ Drama From ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Director May Star Daisy Ridley

Deadline reports that Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley is negotiations with Disney+ to play Trudy Ederle in an upcoming drama from director Joaquim Ronning, who previously worked with Disney for Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Disney+ is negotiating for Daisy Ridley to star and Joaquim Ronning to direct Young Woman And The Sea, a Jeff Nathanson-scripted drama based on the book by Glenn Stout that chronicles the daring journey of the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle made the 21 mile swim in 1926.

The daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan, Ederle was a competitive swimmer, who won gold in the 1924 Olympics when she decided to attempt crossing the channel. She undertook the feat after first swimming 22 miles from Battery Park in New York to Sandy Hook, NJ, setting a record that stood for 81 years. She contracted with two newspapers and sold her story, thereby financing her quest. There was actually a race among women who would be first to cross as only five men had done so before.

Daisy Ridley is coming off making three massive Star Wars movies for Disney, she also has a Lionsgate film titled Chaos Walking co-starring Tom Holland. Disney+ is expected to have many more original films developed for the streaming service and picking-up more dramatic features might be an attempt to attract an older demographic.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on December 7, 2020December 7, 2020 in News

Disney Will Reportedly Announce New Projects From Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm At Investor Day 2020 On December 10th

In a report from Deadline, Mike Fleming claims that Disney will make announcements at Investor Day 2020 on December 10th concerning new projects (theatrical films and television) from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.

Details aren’t mentioned or what those “new” projects will be.

Disney on December 10 will announce its upcoming slate. While the studio will solidify what Deadline revealed recently – that the Tom Hanks-starrer Pinocchio, Peter Pan and the Emma Stone-starrer Cruella will bypass movie theaters to become Disney+ releases, the studio will also announce new projects from Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar that will encompass TV as well as theatrical. It will be a gesture toward not abandoning the exhibitors.

Fans will be curious to hear if Disney will attempt a similar day-and-day model that was recently announced by WarnerMedia for their entire 2021 film slate, as delayed Marvel films such as Black Widow and Shang-Chi could be part of that hypothetical announcement seeing large theatrical films landing on Disney+.

Collider recently suggested that Disney might be considering merging Disney+ and mature content from Hulu into a single service, another big update from Disney that could be announced (if true) at Investor Day this week.

Kevin Feige would likely confirm castings concerning Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk. A Nick Fury series was announced to be in develop, which we assume will star Samuel L. Jackson and possibly include Skrulls/S.W.O.R.D. but that would need to be confirmed. They could also announce their plans for an MCU reboot of Fantastic Four on the film side or updates concerning things we know are happening officially like Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Deadpool 3 and Blade.

Concerning Lucasfilm, we know that Star Wars shows such as Boba Fett, Cassian Andor, Kenobi, The Mandalorian (Season 3), and a series coming from Leslye Headland are in varying stages of prep/production. There are a couple of films in development from Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson as well.

They’re also about to begin shooting their Willow sequel series in Wales with director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and we might finally get a concrete update on James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5.

Hopefully, we get some new details on December 10th and we’re not hearing new information for projects already made known.