Tag: Disney

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Planet Of The Apes 4’: Weta Digital Returning With ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ VFX Supervisor Tapped

It was heartbreaking to see Wes Ball’s (Maze Runner Trilogy) big special effects event film Mouse Guard getting scrapped as part of the wave of films that got cancelled in the wake of Disney’s merger with 21st Century Fox and taking oversight on feature films in development at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios).

Ball would instead be announced as the director and co-writer on a fourth installment in the modern Planet of The Apes franchise, the filmmaker assuring fans the project wouldn’t be a reboot but taking place in the same universe as the last three movies. The director co-writing the new film with Josh Friedman, who has worked on Steven Spielberg’s War of The Worlds, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Terminator: Dark Fate, the Snowpiercer series, and Apple’s Foundation.

It looks like the next film should have the same level of impressive visual effects as previous installments.

The Ronin has learned that Weta Digital’s Phillip Leonhardt will be the visual effects supervisor on the untitled film having previously worked on Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Leonhardt is no stranger to the franchise with involvement on Matt Reeves’ War For The Planet of The Apes.

Weta Digital was working closely with Ball on Mouse Guard and Andy Serkis was going to have a role on that film, we would not be shocked if Serkis returned for Planet of The Apes 4. However, Serkis playing new chimpanzee role within the franchise could mimic how Roddy McDowall played both Cornelius and Caesar in the original string of films.

Folks unfamiliar with the original Planet of The Apes movies might be unaware that the modern trilogy really only covered pics such as Conquest of The Planet of The Apes and Battle For The Planet of The Apes, stories that don’t take place in the original timeline of the first two movies which is nearly 2,000 years in the future from the settings we’ve recently seen.

If I’m 20th Century Studios and Wes Ball, I would be ready at this point to make the true time jump to the point were the apes are running their own evolved society (less primitive and speaking) and potentially seeing a group of astronauts crash land on this planet having to navigate a setting where humans are no longer the dominate species. Beneath The Planet of The Apes revealed a secret group of mutated humans have gained the ability of telepathy (something that nobody has tackled since that installment), which could be an interesting spin as it’s not just a straight rehash of the original 1968 film and Tim Burton’s misguided reboot from 2001 starring Mark Wahlberg with fantastic makeup from Rick Baker.

Speaking of Wahlberg, we have our fingers crossed that Wes Ball hires someone with a little more age/skill to play a lead human role such as Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us) for potential roles of Colonel George Taylor or John Brent.

It was revealed he would be reuniting with production designer Daniel Dorrance ((A Good Day To Die Hard, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, The Expendables 3) on Planet of The Apes 4.

We have to assume that Ball will also bring on Maze Runner: The Death Cure cinematographer Gyula Pados (Predators, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level), who has been working on David F. Sandberg’s DC Comics sequel Shazam! Fury of The Gods in Atlanta. Pados having extensive experience with exterior shoots would certainly make his addition to the project an asset.

How far along Planet of The Apes 4 is at the moment is unknown and when they hope to begin shooting.

Posted on in Film News, News

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Godless’ Actor Samuel Marty To Appear In ‘Predator 5’

We’ve all been extremely interested to see what has been cooking with Disney/20th Century Studios’ next Predator installment as Predator 5, helmed by 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg (The Boys), has been quietly shooting in the Calgary area this summer.

The Ronin has learned that actor Samuel Marty, best known as Truckee from Netflix’s Godless, will have a role in the new untitled Predator movie. The young actor has also appeared on shows such as Fargo, Ray Donovan, and Hell On Wheels.

20th Century Studios and director Dan Tratchenberg have been mostly tight-lipped about Predator 5, but small details have been confirmed over the last couple of weeks/days.

Producers John Davis and John Fox while speaking with Collider, compared the film to The Revenant, teasing the period setting and supporting previous reporting that the film would focus on Native American characters.

This was amplified when cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane) posted a set photo from Skulls (working title) on Instragram with a Native American village seemingly in the background of the shot.

We first confirmed that Kyle Strauts (The Predator) would be back in the predator suit and mentioned Amber Midthunder (Legion, The Ice Road) as the potential female protagonist of the new film.

Midthunder and Marty would be the more high-profile of the cast members which are expected to be made up of mostly newcomers.

It was also announced by producer John Davis during an interview with Collider, that Dan Trachtenberg will be directing a Waterworld streaming series for Universal Television that will take place 20 years after the events of the Kevin Costner movie.

Predator 5 has yet to be given an official release date despite previous teases from trades about a date next summer and while producers have stated they’re shooting for an R-rating they’re open to the idea of it becoming PG-13 during the editing process (I really hope not).

PREDATOR – Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a soldier of fortune, is hired by the U.S. government to secretly rescue a group of politicians trapped in Guatemala. But when Dutch and his team, which includes weapons expert Blain (Jesse Ventura) and CIA agent George (Carl Weathers), land in Central America, something is gravely wrong. After finding a string of dead bodies, the crew discovers they are being hunted by a brutal creature with superhuman strength and the ability to disappear into its surroundings.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Flash Gordon’: Taika Waititi’s Animated Film At 20th Century Studios Pivots To Live-Action

A new Flash Gordon movie has been in the works at 20th Century for ages with two different versions previously in development stages with directors Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, X-Men: First Class) and Julius Avery (Overlord) assigned to the project at various points.

Flash Gordon is a pulp sci-fi hero that helped inspire George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise as Han Solo is directly connected to characters like Flash and Buck Rogers. A comic strip hero that debuted in 1937 with many live-action/animated incarnations with a string of serials and a campy film that released in 1980 that included music from Queen.

In the wake of 20th Century’s merger with Disney, Julius Avery’s incarnation was placed on ice and it was later announced that director Taika Waititi would be tackling an animated movie version of Flash Gordon by writing and directing it. However, producer John Davis has spoken to Collider revealing that Taika is currently writing it and has changed his mind wanting to do a live-action movie instead. He didn’t really give a timeline though or when they expect Waititi will be available to shoot it.

“Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, ‘Let’s do it animated.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Then we got into it and started developing it and he said, ‘No, let’s do it live-action.’ I said, ‘Even better,'” John Davis told Collider of Taika’s pivot to live-action with Flash Gordon.

Disney/20th Century certainly lucked-out nabbing the director as watching Thor: Ragnaok it’s hard not to notice that tone and visuals were most likely inspired by the 1980 movie.

Waititi only recently wrapped on Thor: Love & Thunder and is expected to direct a new Star Wars film for Lucasfilm in the near future alongside other films, but it’s possible that Flash Gordon could be the next big thing given how quickly he shoots these projects. He had once been attached to make a movie based on the manga Akira for Warner Bros., but he’s seemingly won’t be doing that.

I’ll continue to keep my fingers crossed that the studio and Taika will consider Black Panther franchise actor Winston Duke as the new Flash Gordon, given the actor’s stature fits the role perfectly and someone like Chris Hemsworth would be a little redundant since his Thor incarnation is essentially Flash now.

FLASH GORDON – Prepare to save the universe with the King of the Impossible! Alex Raymond’s famous comic strip blasts to life in the timeless sci-fi cult adventure Flash Gordon! When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon unwittingly finds himself heading for the planet Mongo, where – with assistance from beautiful Dale Arden – he’ll take on Ming the Merciless and rescue humankind.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Black Widow’: Longtime MCU Actress Scarlett Johansson Suing Disney Over Breach Of Contract

Yesterday, Scarlett Johansson made big waves after the Wall Street Journal reported that the actress has filed a lawsuit against Disney claiming that the company breached their contract when pivoting Black Widow from a traditional theatrical window to a hybrid release placing the film on Disney+ (via Premier Access) without adjusting the existing contract after multiple requests from the Johansson’s reps were allegedly ignored.

The outlet reporting that moving Black Widow to Disney+ could end up seeing Johansson lose a hefty $50 million in bonuses.

Disney has responded to the lawsuit with the following statement:

“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so. But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court,” John Berlinksi, Johansson’s attorney, told Business Insider.

Interestingly enough, while the statement says the suit doesn’t have “merit” they’re not willing to say they didn’t breach the contract. This is likely because that could be used against them if this goes to court as a public statement would be used as evidence. It’s worth mentioning that only a judge would be the one to gauge if this lawsuit has merit, not Disney’s fleet of lawyers that are likely looking to avoid paying out Johansson the millions she believes she is owed for as long as possible.

Scarlett’s contractual bonus/back-end deal with Marvel/Disney isn’t a new thing as other actors such as Robert Downey Jr. has had similar deals as an incentive to stick around beyond their original lengthy contract. When Johansson originally signed on to work with Marvel, she was low-balled during the Phase One era spearheaded by Ike Perlmutter having to commit to 6-9 films while other actors made much much more for the same level of work. The idea was that bonuses were established to reward legacy actors for future/past contributes to the Marvel franchise. In the case of Black Widow, she was a producer and helped shape the film.

It’s notable that while Disney is attempting to shame Johansson to filing a lawsuit during the pandemic, the company is extremely comfortable laying off over 32,000 employees along with earning money from their theme parks and in-person theatrical releases as the Delta variant has been an increasing danger to the American public for months now.

During the opening weekend of Black Widow’s domestic release, Disney felt the need to gloat about earning a solid $80 million at the box office alongside another $60 million from Premier Access earnings as they issued a press release highlighting the money they made. Seemingly bragging they were able to get a large amount of people they were able to coax to theaters.

They’re also releasing Jungle Cruise this weekend as the CDC has revealed the Delta variant is as infectious as chicken pox and an indoor location is the perfect way that the virus could be transmitted to the unvaccinated.

Both NATO and IMAX have pointed to the Premier Access release for Black Widow’s huge drops between weekends that was directly connected to mass online piracy. A regular theatrical window would normally protect the studio from piracy tanking box office until the film hit VOD or home video. As most people wouldn’t be as interested in downloading a blurry cam version recorded on someone’s phone compared to an HD version ripped from the streaming source provided by Disney+.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Jurassic Park’ & ‘The Thing’ Cinematographer Dean Cundey Worked On ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’

The last season of The Mandalorian ended with a huge tease for a Boba Fett series The Book of Boba Fett. We would later learn that it would begin airing on Disney+ sometime in December 2021 along with producers Robert Rodriguez, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau directing episodes. It would also star Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen back in their respective Star Wars roles.

It’s now been revealed by American Cinematographer that legendary director of photography Dean Cundey has shot multiple episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. The outlet recently revealing that Season 3 of The Mandalorian has already started production.

He recently completed episodes of the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett.

Cundey’s fantastic run of credits includes Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future Trilogy, Apollo 13, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, Casper, The Flintstones, and Road House.

We can only hope that Robert Rodriguez has been able to convince Kurt Russell to take a role in the Star Wars show.

Temuera Morrison spoke with Rotten Tomatoes not too long ago and gave us some teases about the upcoming series along with confirm Rodriguez (Planet Terror, Desperado, Alita: Battle Angel) returned to direct episodes.

“Well, we can’t say too much, but we’re going to see his past and where he’s been since The Empire Strikes Back. Somebody pointed out he’s been kind of stuck in this one place, and now’s the time to actually go back in time and check out his journey and find out more about him. They brought Robert back in to direct a few more. There’s some wonderful directors involved,” Morrison said.

Lucasfilm still hasn’t announced a full cast for The Book of Boba Fett, but we should expect a teaser trailer before the end of the fall.

The button scene saw Fett and Fennec Shand essentially take over Jabba’s Palace and potentially hints at the series could be taking place more in the criminal underworld than previous Star Wars projects. I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if ends up playing to the gangster elements that the franchise has always tipped-toed around even with something like Solo: A Star Wars Story.

SOURCE: AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

Posted on in Film News, News

David Lowery Is Aware ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ Will Be A New Generation’s ‘Peter Pan’ Movie & Hopes It Will Appeal To Adults As Well As Kids

After tackling a reboot of Pete’s Dragon, director David Lowery has been shooting a new Disney film with Peter Pan & Wendy. Based on both the original novel and the beloved animated film that was released back in 1953. 

While speaking with Collider, David Lowery mentioned he understands that he’s making a new generation’s Peter Pan movie and is aiming to make the best version he can that will appeal to both children and adults alike. 

“It’ll be an entire generation’s first Peter Pan movie, and that’s something I don’t take lightly. I want this to be a movie that is important to the children who see [it],” said Lowery. “And I want to make a movie that will matter… that the kids will look back on fondly and think that they got something from it, that they learned something from it, that it mattered to them. And I hope that adults will feel the same way, because as someone who is just now finally feeling comfortable with calling myself an adult, I think there’s a lot of valuable material that we’ve pulled from the source, from the text,” Lowery told Collider. 

The filmmaker also mentions while they’ll be true to the book and using things from the original animated film, he alludes to them ignoring the racist stuff concerning the Native American characters and the notorious musical number What Makes The Red Man Red?. The film being released in the 1950s didn’t have the Native community or sensitivity in mind when making that “creative choice.”

“…Very true to the original book and to the elements of the Disney movie that we can adapt. Obviously, there’s a lot of things about the animated film that you’re just going to leave to the darker side of history, but we’re not reinventing the tale. But I hope that we are illuminating it and making it a movie of great import.”

The cast includes Alexander Molony as Peter, Black Widow’s Ever Anderson as Wendy, Jude Law as Captain Hook, Jim Gaffigan as Mr. Smee, and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell.

Peter Pan & Wendy will hit Disney+ sometime next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K83Ix1R9Mc

David Lowery’s next release will be The Green Knight (not for kids), as it’s still set to head to domestic theaters on July 30, while it recently had its United Kingdom date pulled due to increased COVID cases. The film is an R-rated take on one of the many Arthurian legends, oddly enough, one that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about. 

THE GREEN KNIGHT -An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger, and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger. From visionary filmmaker David Lowery comes a fresh and bold spin on a classic tale from the knights of the round table.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, Trailers

TRAILER: Adam Driver & Matt Damon Are Knights Fighting To The Death In ‘The Last Duel’

Director Ridley Scott is back with another period action drama after previously releasing Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Exodus: Gods & Kings, and Robin Hood. 20th Century Studios has dropped the first trailer for The Last Duel, which is based on a historical event.

The cast consists of Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter, Marton Csokas, Ben Affleck, Nathaniel Parker, Sam Hazeldine, and Michael McElhatton.

THE LAST DUEL – In 14th century France, Norman knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) accuses squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of raping his wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer). He takes the claim to King Charles VI, who declares that the two men must duel to the death. Based on the book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager with a script written by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Nicole Holofcener.

The Last Duel hits theaters exclusively on October 15.

SOURCE: 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: FX’s Samurai Series ‘Shōgun’ Adds ‘Reprisal’ Director Jonathan van Tulleken

FX is finally moving forward with their long-gestating series remake of Shōgun that originally aired back in 1980 and starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Their new incarnation of the samurai series will be led by Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

It was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, which is based on the novel from author James Clavell.

Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that director Jonathan van Tulleken (Trust, Misfits, Top Boy, Reprisal) has signed on to the samurai series and will helm an undisclosed amount of episodes.

Sanada is currently busy with Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4 taking a role alongside franchise star Keanu Reeves and will appear in David Leitch’s Japanese-set action pic Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt. Other Hollywood credits include Westworld, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Army of The Dead, The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Rush Hour 2, and 47 Ronin.

Production on will take place from late August to June of next year in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Speaking of Toshiro Mifune, Bryan Cogman (Game of Thrones, Amazon’s Lord of The Rings) is developing a contemporary series remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic Yojimbo, that originally starred Mifune. Remakes from the west aren’t new for Yojimbo, as Sergio Leone did his version with A Fist Full of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood and there is the lesser known gangster version Last Man Standing from director Walter Hill that starred Bruce Willis.

Shōgun likely won’t be ready to drop until later in 2022.

Posted on in Film News

Antonio Banderas Reportedly Joins The Impressive Cast Of ‘Indiana Jones 5’

Another addition to the cast of James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5 has been announced, as Deadline reports that Spanish actor Antonio Banderas (Pain & Glory, Philadelphia) has landed an undisclosed part in the sequel. Banderas is likely best known for his action films such as The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, Assassins, The 13th Warrior, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Spy Kids, and supporting role in The Expendables 3.

Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Mangold co-wrote the script.

The rest of the cast consists of British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Fleabag), Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts 3, Casino Royale, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Another Round), German actor Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, Valkyrie, Blade II).  Boyd Holbrook (The Predator, Narcos, Logan), Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident), and Toby Jones (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Captain America: The First Avenger).

Production is back in full swing as set photos have confirmed previous plot rumors about the Space Race/Operation Paperclip being a key element of the sequel as revealed by The Illuminerdi, supported before as a sequence set during WWII with a Nazi train were the first set pics that hit online.

Banderas is also involved with another treasure hunter project, as he’ll appear alongside Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg in Sony’s Uncharted film based on the popular Naughty Dog video game franchise. We’re still waiting for the studio to drop a trailer for that action pic.

This is expected to be the final outing for Ford as Indiana Jones, as previously stated by Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and they’ve also dismissed the idea the film will be a reboot as they have reaffirmed it’s a continuation. Despite Harrison Ford’s shoulder injury it looks like Disney will still release Indiana Jones 5 on July 29, 2022, that will go head-to-head with Dwayne Johnson’s DC Comics film Black Adam.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, Trailers

TRAILER: Disney Releases First Footage For Transformation Flick ‘Turning Red’ Teases Canadian Setting; Coming March 2022

Today, Pixar and Disney have released the first teaser trailer for their very next big feature film release. Apparently, won’t be dumped on Disney+ like Soul or Luca. Directed by Chinese-Canadian director Domee Shi, who won an Oscar for the Pixar short Bao, it focuses on a young teenage girl Mei Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), who turns into a giant red panda when too excited.

It’s interesting that there are some clues to this potentially being a Pixar film that is set in Canada, mainly, because Mei is sporting a Canadian flag shirt in one scene and has a Canadian pin on her backpack. Worth pointing out the panda and logo are also using the Canadian flag colors. You can also see the CN Tower at one point which means this takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Yippie!

Canadian actress Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) voices Mei’s mother as well.

TURNING RED – Growing up is a beast. Check out the new trailer for the upcoming all-new original feature film “Turning Red” from Pixar Animation Studios’ director Domee Shi, who won an Oscar® for her 2018 short film, “Bao.” Young actress Rosalie Chiang lends her voice to Mei Lee, a 13-year-old who suddenly “poofs” into a giant red panda when she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS). Sandra Oh voices Mei Lee’s protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, who is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. Directed by Shi and produced by Lindsey Collins, Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” releases March 11, 2022.

SOURCE: DISNEY