Tag: F9: The Fast Saga

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Shogun’: ‘F9’ Actress Anna Sawai & ‘Thor: Ragnarok’s Tadanobu Asano Join The FX Samurai Series

FX has been working on a new 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.

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.

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

A casting update from The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that actress Anna Sawai (F9: The Fast Saga) will be playing the show’s female lead, Lady Mariko.

Other additions include Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Néstor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi, and Yuka Kouri.

The Ronin exclusively reported the series would be directed by Reprisal’s Jonathan van Tulleken.

Filming is underway in Vancouver and there have been some indications that some second unit filming in Japan is on the table.

Production kicked-off in late September and is expected to wrap in April 2022.

Sanada also has a role in Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 4 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.

SOURCE: THR

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Battle Of The Planets’: Russo Brothers Enlist ‘F9’ Screenwriter Daniel Casey For Their Epic Sci-Fi Anime Adaptation

Back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Anthony and Joe Russo announced a bunch of projects their production company AGBO would be developing and that group included a feature film adaptation of the beloved Japanese anime series Battle of The Planets aka Gatchaman.

There is now a status update as Deadline reports that The Russo Brothers have hired F9: The Fast Saga screenwriter Daniel Casey (Kin, 10 Cloverfield Lane) to work on the script for Battle of The Planets.

The series followed five young orphans who are trained from a young age to form an elite, intergalactic team known as G-Force, swearing to protect Earth and its allies from otherworldly invading forces.

Russo Brothers are behind some of the biggest Marvel Studios successes with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avenger: Endgame. Their experience with large scale team based blockbusters should put fans’ of the anime at ease about a feature film adaptation. They’re currently shooting Netflix’s big budget spy action flick The Gray Man starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, the streamer claiming it is their most expensive film to date with a budget of over $200 million.

There is an expectation the sibling duo will direct Battle of The Planets (given their personal connection to the anime) and could end up getting a hefty budget to cover the elaborate futuristic sets and the visual effects needed to bring the anime adaptation to life.

The project comes as we’ve seen a limited amount of anime/manga adaptations from Hollywood such as Alita: Battle Angel, Ghost In The Shell, Speed Racer, Guyver, Dragonball, Death Note, and Netflix’s upcoming Cowboy Bebop series. Other projects in development include Robotech, Attack On Titan, Gundam, and Warner Bros. has spend almost two decades trying to bring Akira to the big screen.

With most prime comic book projects have been picked over by Hollywood studios over the last thirty years there will be a point that movies based on anime and manga source material will end up having more regularly, because the genre concepts may translate well to the big screen.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Dwayne Johnson Says He Won’t Be Involved With ‘Fast & Furious 10’ Or ‘Fast & Furious 11’; Wishes Them “Best Of Luck”

Once upon a time, the Fast & Furious franchise had lost a bit of it’s mojo and attempted a bit of a resurrection by luring back Vin Diesel when his blockbuster career sort of fizzled-out. Universal Pictures eventually got the bright idea to start asking established movie stars to take supporting or villain roles in the franchise leading to Dwayne Johnson playing Hobbs that sort of signaled to other bigger names that is was okay to put their name to the franchise (which had been a complete joke at one point).

Later on, we’d see folks like Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, and John Cena get involved with the Fast franchise.

Interestingly enough, when it was time to start making spinoff films, Hobbs & Shaw was the first one to get made with the pairing of Johnson and Statham. The movie was a good gamble because it ended up earning $759 million at the global box office and a sequel is officially in the works.

There had been tension between stars Vin Diesel and Johnson (manufactured or not), but it seems real enough to the point that Dwayne hasn’t been involved with the movies since The Fate of The Furious. Well, the actor is promoting his big Disney movie Jungle Cruise that he stars alongside Emily Blunt and revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that he won’t be returning for Fast & Furious 10 or Fast & Furious 11, wishing them well.

“I laughed and I laughed hard. I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that. And that I’ve wished them well. I wish them well on Fast 9. And I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me,” Johnson told THR and revealed he won’t be involved with the final two movies.

F9: The Fast Saga has already earned an impressive global cume of $592.6 million at the box office, a large feat given most pandemic era blockbusters have struggled to turn a profit.

Dwayne Johnson recently wrapped on his DC Comics film Black Adam, a passion project that took well over a decade to get in front of cameras. His busy schedule likely means he can find other things to do and with the Hobbs & Shaw films can dip his toes back in the franchise if he really has the itch.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘F9: The Fast Saga’ Crosses $500M At Global Box Office

Universal Pictures delaying F9: The Fast Saga has paid off for the studio as the sequel is breaking miltuple pandemic records as Box Office Mojo has the film sitting at an international total of $500.3 million with $126 million coming from domestic box office.

The last installment, The Fate of The Furious, made an impressive final total of $1.2 billion.

Vin Diesel recently told Regal Movies in an interview that Furious 10 (parts 1-2) will begin shooting in January. With the main movies winding-down, there are plenty of offshoots in the works from Universal Pictures such as a Hobbs & Shaw sequel in development along with Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron getting spinoffs as well. Diesel has also mused about potential prequels as well.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Sung Kang’ Han will get his own film too because it only makes sense to bring him back to give him a spinoff adventure.

While it’s not complete picture of the theater industry completely healed, it’s a good sign that other summer films might end up doing well as Black Widow, Snake Eyes, and The Suicide Squad are coming up. The problem at the moment is that vaccine numbers have stalled in the U.S. and the Delta variant quickly becoming the dominate version of COVID-9 across the globe, when many countries are behind in their vaccinations.

F9: THE FAST SAGA – Dom Toretto is living the quiet life off the grid with Letty and his son, but they know that danger always lurks just over the peaceful horizon. This time, that threat forces Dom to confront the sins of his past to save those he loves most. His crew soon comes together to stop a world-shattering plot by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve ever encountered — Dom’s forsaken brother.

SOURCE: BOX OFFICE MOJO

Posted on in Film News

Charlize Theron Confirms She’ll Film ‘The Old Guard’ Sequel In 2022 & Vin Diesel Says A Cipher Spinoff Movie Is Being Written

While Oscar-winner Charlize Theron is fully embracing her era as an action star, she won’t be reprising the Furiosa role in George Miller’s prequel film that will begin shooting next month in Australia with Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, The Queen’s Gambit, Last Night In Soho) playing a younger incarnation of the character. However, Theron will have plenty of things on her plate for the foreseeable future.

Variety’s Mark Malkin has dished some interesting updates on Charlize Theron projects such as The Older Guard sequel that will begin shooting in the first quarter of 2022 and even development on a Cipher movie focused on her character from the recent Fast & Furious movies, according to franchise star Vin Diesel.

Charlize Theron tells me that the script is done for the sequel to The Old Guard, her Netflix film adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name. Cameras will start rolling in the first quarter of 2022. The gay couple, played by Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli, will be back, too. “Oh, yeah!” Theron says. “They’re definitely there.” Meanwhile, Vin Diesel tells me that he has writers working on a Fast & Furious spinoff for Theron’s character, Cipher.

The Old Guard is a Netflix action movie based on the Greg Rucka (also wrote the script) comic book about a diverse group of immortals and was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball). According to Netflix, it was one of their most popular original feature films and a sequel felt like a given.

Given the box office successes of The Fate of The Furious and F9: The Fast Saga along with Hobbs & Shaw it feels like an obvious thing to give Theron her own film, but you’d hope that someone hires a better hairstylist for the actress. Other projects in the works at Universal Pictures is a Hobbs & Shaw sequel and a female-led film focused on Michelle Rodriguez’s character Letty Ortiz.

I’ll patiently wait for director David Leitch (Bullet Train, John Wick, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw) and Theron to reunite for an Atomic Blonde sequel.

SOURCE: VARIETY