Tag: Disney

Posted on in Film News

Dan Trachtenberg’s ‘Predator 5’ Has Begun Shooting In Calgary

It looks like production Disney’s Predator 5 has kicked off in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The project spent months being under the radar until the trades discovered the film from director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, The Boys), was really a Predator installment as the working title threw people off originally.

Jhane Myers took to Instagram yesterday to announce that Day 1 of filming landed her a predator desert. Something Dan had been teasing on his own Instagram account.

The Ronin first revealed that The Predator’s Kyle Strauts (we’ve now confirmed) would be reprising the role of the titular predator with Legion actress Amber Midthunder potentially taking a lead role (still unconfirmed by Disney/20th Century Studios).

Predator 5’s production team consists of cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane), production designer Kara Lindstrom (Den of Thieves), and stunt coordinator Steven McMichael (Damnation).

Disney hasn’t announced a release date but trades had been speculation it would land a spot in the Summer of 2022.

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

‘Indiana Jones 5’ Begins Filming Next Week At Pinewood Studios UK

James Mangold is set to write and direct Indiana Jones 5 for Lucasfilm with a growing cast that already consists of Harrison Ford back as Henry Jones Jr. aka Indiana Jones, 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), and Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident).

A new report from Deadline claims that production will begin next week at Pinewood Studios UK.

Steven Spielberg was originally attached to direct Indiana Jones 5, but exited due to script issues and pivoting to his a coming-of age drama inspired by his own childhood. The project stars Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Looper, The Batman), Michelle Williams (Venom, Manchester By The Sea), and Seth Rogen (Steve Jobs).

Confirmed crew members include legendary composer John Williams, production designer Adam Stockhausen (The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Widows, Ready Player One), and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Ford v Ferrari, Walk The Line, 3: 10 To Yuma).

We previously mentioned Lucasfilm is considering to shoot scenes on the East Coast United States.

Disney has chosen to give Indiana Jones 5 a release date of July 29, 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Elizabeth Olsen Says Wanda’s Sokovian Accent Is Returning For ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness’

We’re all excited to get our first glimpse of Sam Raimi’s return to the comic book genre with Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, while a trailer is likely months away, actress Elizabeth Olsen is giving a little bit of insight about the latest incarnation of Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch.

Wanda Maximoff’s American and Sokovian accent seemingly have a life of their own, but Elizabeth Olsen spoke to Rolling Stone recently and dished that her Sokovian accent will be making a return for the Doctor Strange sequel. She also explained why Wanda pivoted to varying levels of accents in previous projects.

OLSEN: “So that started with Civil War. The Russos [directors Anthony and Joseph Russo] said, ‘Can she just have a softer accent, because she’s been in America, and has to have been speaking English more.’ So I was like, sure. I do have to say that in [Wanda’s next appearance, in 2022’s] Dr. Strange [in the Multiverse of Madness], after the experience she has in WandaVision, she goes back to an accent that’s more true to her. Now that I feel a little bit more ownership of the character, I feel like she does retreat back to having this more honest expression. The sitcom part was totally different, because she’s trying to hold on to an American sitcom world and play the part the best she can.”

The sequel seemingly takes place directly after Wanda becomes the Scarlet Witch and is attempting to bring her family out of the Multiverse using the dark magic spell book, The Darkhold, which suggests that she unwillingly unleashes evil creatures into their dimension and leads to Doctor Strange getting involved.

Marvel has officially announced that newcomer Xochitl Gomez will play America Chavez aka Miss America, but the studio hasn’t announced who will be the main villains other than Baron Mordo or if we’ll see characters such as Clea or Brother Voodoo despite former director Scott Derrickson teasing their involvement on social media.

Other returning cast members are Benedict Wong as Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo, and Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer.

The production team includes composer Danny Elfman (Batman, Spider-Man 1-3), cinematographer John Mathieson (Logan, X-Men: First Class) and production designer Charles Wood (Black Widow, Avengers: Endgame).

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness will be released on Mach 25th, 2022.

SOURCE: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

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Concept Art From Neill Blomkamp’s Unmade ‘Alien 5’ Features A New Android Character

Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 aka Red Harvest was once an elevator pitch made to Sigourney Weaver on the set of Chappie alongside a wave of concept art the filmmaker had commissioned on his own that materialized into an actual development deal with 20th Century Fox to make the sci-fi film.

Blomkamp’s idea was to ignore Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection treating Alien 5 as a direct sequel to Aliens, allowing them to have characters such as Michael Biehn’s Hicks and an adult version of Newt (the two characters spotted in concept artwork). If you missed David Fincher’s Alien 3 that movie opened by killing-off both Hicks and Newt something that frustrated fans and Aliens director James Cameron.

James Cameron famously called the Alien 5 script “gangbusters” (Cameron seemingly borrowed Alien 5’s concept for Terminator: Dark Fate) but the project ultimately didn’t get into the production phase as the studio pivoted to making Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant instead. Alien 5 would eventually be trust into limbo with Blomkamp exiting to pursue multiple other projects and Disney hasn’t suggested they plan on resurrecting it anytime soon.

However, a new batch of Alien 5 concept from artist Geoffory Thoorens’ Art Station page has been spotted by AVP Galaxy and it features a new android characters named Jax (fist image seen below with Ellen Ripley) and Killson, the latter looks a lot like Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman (second image seen below). I’m sort of curious if Neill Blomkamp wanted to have Jackman play one of the androids, the Australian actor was the face of 20th Century Fox’s popular X-Men franchise at the time and had recently worked with Blomkamp on Chappie that also co-starred Weaver.

Hugh Jackman as Killson?

UPDATE: Geoffroy’s website includes this stunning key frame image from an action sequence that features an alien queen and another type of xenomorph (Alien 5 was going to feature multiple hybrid xenomorphs). The film would have seen the evil corporation Weyland-Yutani getting their hands on one of the derelict ships filled with xenomorph eggs and finally experimenting on the dangerous alien species for their weapons division, something they’ve been trying to do since the original Ridley Scott film.

The Alien franchise is in odd place as a new television series set on Earth is in the works from Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) and Ridley Scott. There has been chatter from Ridley that he’s developing another film as well, but those plans have yet to be officially announced by the studio.

SOURCE: GEOFFROY THOORENS

Posted on in Television News

Working Title For Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Is ‘Jambalaya’

The Ronin has exclusively confirmed that the working title for Marvel’s Skrull event crossover series, Secret Invasion, will be Jambalaya. This is simply the production title the studio will use during the filming of the show in the United Kingdom, which is said to go in front of cameras sometime in the fall.

In the comics, Secret Invasion focuses on the reveal that multiple people in power and even superheroes have been replaced with an alien race with the ability to shape-shift, called the Skrulls. They were first introduced in Captain Marvel as peaceful cosmic refugees and covered for Nick Fury and Maria Hill while they were seemingly off-world having a space station built (for S.W.O.R.D.?), as seen at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The versions of the Skrulls we’ve previously seen don’t have Super-Skrull abilities, because that had been tied to the Fantastic Four film rights. With the rights back at Marvel Studios, it means that the Skrulls can now mimic the superpowers of various heroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making them even more dangerous opponents than before.

While the show is being billed as a crossover event they haven’t officially announced if cast members from the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, will have duel roles on the Disney+ series, but it’s sort of expected given that S.W.O.R.D. is likely a key element in both projects. It also doesn’t hurt that Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels is confirmed to be filming primarily at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, making the possibility of cast cross-pollination very good.

Secret Invasion’s impressive cast already consists of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Skrull leader Talos, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain, and most recent addition to the Marvel series is character actor Christopher McDonald (Hacks, Happy Gilmore).

The show’s head writer is Kyle Bradstreet with directors Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) recently announced.

Other recent working titles for Marvel feature film projects include the following.

BLACK WIDOW = BLUE BAYOU

ETERNALS = SACK LUNCH

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS = STEAMBOAT

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS = STELLAR VORTEX

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME = THE NOVEMBER PROJECT

THOR: LOVE & THUNDER = THE BIG SALAD

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 = GOAT RODEO

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER = SUMMER BREAK

ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA = DUST BUNNY

Given that production is taking place later in the year, we shouldn’t expect to see Secret Invasion begin airing on Disney+ until late 2022 or early 2023.

Posted on in Television News

FX’s Samurai Series ‘Shōgun’ Starring Hiroyuki Sanada Begins Shooting This August In Vancouver

The Ronin has been able to confirm that the FX limited series Shōgun will begin shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 24 and wraps in June of 2022. The new series is based on the James Clavell novel that was developed into a television miniseries that aired in 1980.

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.

Shōgun’s two male lead characters are Yoshii Toranaga and John Blackthorne. Yoshii is a powerful daimyo from a feared lineage, isolated and outnumbered by his enemies in Osaka Castle and John is an English pilot trying to fight a trade route the Pacific islands. The two lead roles have down to legendary Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

The Samurai series was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo.

Sanada is mostly known in the west for projects such as Westworld, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Army of The Dead, The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Rush Hour 2, and 47 Ronin. He’ll be seen next in the Brad Pitt action flick Bullet Train, directed by David Leitch.

Posted on in Film News

Sony Pictures Says They Have An “Excellent Relationship” With Marvel Studios & Kevin Feige – Will They Announce An Extended Deal?

While there has been tension in the past, new comments from Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch suggest that the working relationship between Sony and Marvel’s Kevin Feige is “excellent.” This comes from an interview Panitch had with Variety where he mentioned their big Spider-Man plans will be revealed after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home in December.

PANITCH: “The great thing is we have this very excellent relationship with Kevin. There’s an incredible sandbox there to play with. We want those MCU movies to be absolutely huge, because that’s great for us and our Marvel characters, and I think that’s the same thing on their side. But we have a great relationship. There’s lots of opportunities, I think, that are going to happen.”

Despite those rosy comments, things weren’t always pleasant between the two companies.

In the early days of Marvel shopping the film rights to studios, Sony Pictures famously rejected a deal that could have landed-up the bulk of the Marvel Comics character lineup when Marvel first approached the studio about tackling Spider-Man movies. Those executives obviously had zero imagination about what the future held for the superhero genre and cinematic universes.

When Marvel Studios became successful, Sony Pictures still scoffed at the idea of teaming together to the point that Sony Japan had to tell their film division to a make a deal with Marvel happen after Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to get audiences jazzed about their Spider-Man cinematic universe. Even after the billion-dollar success of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the deal between Disney and Sony dissolved which led to the potential of Sony Pictures moving forward with Spider-Man 3 without the help of Marvel. Luckily, Tom Holland able to get the two studios back to table and is the reason why Spider-Man: No Way Home exists.

After past attitudes mentioned above, it’s not hard to imagine that Sony could be under the impression they can simply copy the Marvel model for themselves without the help of Marvel Studios. The success of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and it’s Oscar win could give the studio a boost of confidence to go solo again. It wouldn’t be the first studio to do so, and Sony already attempted to create their own cinematic universe with plans to make a Sinister Six movie that was one of the main teases from Amazing Spider-Man 2, alongside introducing future Rogue One actress, Felicity Jones, as Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat (another character that was set to get a solo film).

One of the theories about Spider-Man: No Way Home is that it could be a way for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to ease his way out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gracefully with one final film.

The vagueness of the statements from the studio executive aren’t particular helpful either. We’re still kind of in the dark what Sony plans to do after Spider-Man: No Way Home, Panitch suggests they’ll be revealing their big plan after the release of the third Marvel-made solo Spider-Man film, but haven’t been clear if they’ll continue to have Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in the MCU or agree to give Marvel access to other incarnations of the character (Miles Morales etc) allowing them to keep Holland for their own cinematic universe installments.

There is some hope from fans that everything can simply just be consider part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we’ve examples in the past even at different divisions of Marvel where that wasn’t a simple thing. Marvel Studios Nate Moore mentioned off-handily that the Disney+ shows were the first time that the television and film universes have been cohesive, alluding to the Marvel Television/Loeb era being nixed from MCU hard-canon.

Keeping in mind how the Jeph Loeb era of Marvel shows were blocked from official canon, I personally don’t see how Kevin Feige would suddenly allow Sony’s spinoff films to be so easily accepted to the Marvel Cinematic Universe without his personal oversight on their development and production. Unless Marvel Studios makes or produces these new Sony/Marvel movies I don’t really see how they become part of the hard-canon MCU. Considering that Kevin won’t really be able to oversee quality control, as seen with a bonkers project like Venom.

Speaking of Venom, Sony recently confirmed that Spider-Man won’t appear in the Venom sequel and it’s unclear if films such as Morbius or Kraven The Hunter will include Parker either. Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming showing up in the Morbius trailer has only added to the confusion and fan speculation, the Vulture being a Sony-owned character.

There is also uncertainty about Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman project being part of the MCU, as Marvel wasn’t mentioned as a production partner when it was originally announced and Sony still hasn’t even given the project a title, let alone confirmed that Marvel is working with them on it.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the Marvel and Sony will announce they’ve officially extended their working relationship to other films. There have been rumblings that they’ve worked things out but according to Tom Holland himself he’s finished his existing contract obligations and is willing to re-up if asked to.

If they have a plan it seems odd that Holland doesn’t have a new Spider-Man contract already.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Wars’: J.J. Abrams Reflects On Planning The Sequel Trilogy – “There’s Nothing More Important Than Knowing Where You’re Going”

There has been some criticism from Star Wars fans that Lucasfilm, J.J. Abrams, and Rian Johnson jumped into making the sequel trilogy without a concrete plan and potentially led to some contradictory moments between the three massive movies.

This was highlighted when director Colin Trevorrow’s unmade version of Episode IX, Star Wars: Duel of The Fates, was pretty much scrapped by the studio for something completely different from Abrams and screenwriter Chris Terrio with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Concept artwork and the script for Duel of The Fates made it’s way online placing a spotlight on those scrapped plans, reinforcing the narrative that the studio didn’t have a master plan for this trilogy from the start.

Abrams was doing a round of press interviews to help promote the 4K UHD Blu-Ray home release of his alien adventure film Super 8, where he was asked by Collider if they should have had a plan for the Star Wars trilogy beforehand. The filmmaker gave a mixed repose giving the pros and cons of both.

ABRAMS: “There are projects that I’ve worked on where we had some ideas but we hadn’t worked through them enough, sometimes we had some ideas but then we weren’t allowed to do them the way we wanted to. I’ve had all sorts of situations where you plan things in a certain way and you suddenly find yourself doing something that’s 180 degrees different, and then sometimes it works really well and you feel like, ‘Wow that really came together,’ and other times you think, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe this is where we are,’ and sometimes when it’s not working out it’s because it’s what you planned, and other times when it’s not working out it’s because you didn’t [have a plan].”

“You just never really know, but having a plan I have learned – in some cases the hard way – is the most critical thing, because otherwise you don’t know what you’re setting up. You don’t know what to emphasize. Because if you don’t know the inevitable of the story, you’re just as good as your last sequence or effect or joke or whatever, but you want to be leading to something inevitable.”

The main quote mentioned at the top of the interview piece suggests that Abrams laments not having a plan with their Star Wars movies.

ABRAMS: “I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going.”

J.J. Abrams has since moved to WarnerMedia with a massive deal to develop films/television series for the media company and Lucasfilm is looking beyond the Skywalker Saga with Patty Jenkins directing Star Wars: Rogue Squadron as the next big Star Wars release for December 2023. Other films in development stages are coming from Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson, neither are expected to continue the Rey Skywalker journey.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Television News

FX Samurai Limited Series ‘Shōgun’ Casts Hiroyuki Sanada & Cosmo Jarvis In Lead Roles – Begins Shooting This Summer

The FX limited series Shōgun is finally moving into production after there had been plans to shoot back in 2018 but for various reasons it got delayed. It’s based on the James Clavell novel by that was developed into a television miniseries that aired in 1980.

Shōgun’s two male lead characters are Yoshii Toranaga and John Blackthorne. Yoshii is a powerful daimyo from a feared lineage, isolated and outnumbered by his enemies in Osaka Castle and John is an English pilot trying to fight a trade route the Pacific islands. FX has reportedly secure actors for the lead roles as Deadline says the network has hired legendary Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

The Samurai series was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo.

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.

Filming is said to begin sometime this summer.

Sanada’s western credits include Rush Hour 3, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Westworld, Avengers: Endgame, Life, The Wolverine, Sunshine, 47 Ronin, Speed Racer, and Army of The Dead.

This won’t be the samurai series remake in the works as Entertainment One is developing a show based on the classic the iconic Akira Kurosawa masterpiece Yojimbo from Bryan Cogman, who worked on HBO’s Game of Thrones and Amazon’s new Lord of The Rings series.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Indiana Jones 5’ Aiming To Shoot Scenes On The East Coast

I think we’ve been all waiting long enough for Lucasfilm to finally begin shooting the long-delayed Indiana Jones 5 as they’ve finally started adding new cast members alongside Harrison Ford such as 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), and Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident).

Lucasfilm is currently in pre-production on the next installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. At the helm is James Mangold, director of the Academy Award-winning Ford v Ferrari, and Indy himself, Harrison Ford, will be back to continue his iconic character’s journey. Indy will begin shooting late spring of 2021 and will arrive July 2022.

James Mangold took-up directing duties once Steven Spielberg exited the sequel and also wrote the latest incarnation of the script.

While the main stage facility is likely going to be Pinewood/Shepperton in the United Kingdom (a UK shoot is confirmed), The Ronin has learned that Lucasfilm is indeed planning to shoot some sequences on the East Coast of The United States, most likely New York/New Jersey. It’s worth mentioning that Yale University was used in Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull to double for Marshall College as they shot other various scenes in Connecticut as well.

This comes after writer and director James Mangold teased on Twitter back January that the film could be taking place in 1960’s era New York City.

MANGOLD: “I’m mentally living in 60’s NYC right now cause that’s where all the movies I’m working on take place.”

Confirmed crew members include legendary composer John Williams, production designer Adam Stockhausen (The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Widows, Ready Player One), and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Ford v Ferrari, Walk The Line, 3: 10 To Yuma).

Disney has chosen to give Indiana Jones 5 a release date of July 29, 2022.