Tag: Fantasy

Posted on in Television News

‘Willow’: Director Jon M. Chu Announces His Exit From Lucasfilm’s Fantasy Series For Disney+

The Willow series was about to begin shooting soon in Wales as it’s director Jon M. Chu has taken to Twitter to announce because the pandemic and the pregnancy of his wife he’ll be stepping down to focus on his family.

You can read Chu’s own words below explaining his departure from Willow.

According to Lucasfilm’s press release for the Disney Investor Day, they had planned on starting production in March and release the series on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

Willow, coming to Disney+, will be set decades after Ron Howard’s 1988 movie, continuing the spirit of adventure, heroics, and humor of the original film. Warwick Davis will return in the role of the great sorcerer, Willow Ufgood. Willow begins shooting next March in Wales and will debut on Disney+ in 2022.

They had been in the middle of casting the fantasy series with reports that actresses were in the mix for lead roles. Those names included Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) for the role of Jade, Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Bad Times At The El Royale) playing Kit and English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove.

The original film was directed by Ron Howard, who is a executive producer on the new Disney+ series which is said to be a continuation of the the 1988 film rather than a reboot.

WILLOW – Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.

SOURCE: JON M. CHU

Posted on in Film News

A24 Announces R-Rated Arthurian Film ‘The Green Knight’ Will Be Released In Late July

We’ve been all anticipating over the summer/fall when we’ll eventually get to see the Arthurian flick The Green Knight and now we have a better idea when A24 plans to release it. A24 Films has updated the film’s release date on their official website for July 30th, 2021.

The fantasy film is based on the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. They’re seemingly aiming for a much more adult audience as the film had recently earned an R rating from the MPAA for violence, some sexuality, and graphic nudity.

David Lowery directs a cast that includes Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan, and Ralph Ineson.

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.

While we have no idea what will happen with the film’s earning potential, I would love to see A24/David Lowery potentially make a bunch of films based around the Arthurian legends given how beautiful The Green Knight looks and could become counter-programming to things like Lord of The Rings, which were directly influenced by these stories. Making a batch of artful fantasy films for adult audiences.

SOURCE: A24 FILMS

Posted on in Film News

‘Game Night’ Cinematographer Barry Peterson Confirmed For Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Movie – Will Shoot In Belfast and France

The Ronin has spotted some Instagram posts from cinematographer Barry Peterson (21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, Game Night, Zoolander) that has him location scouting for the upcoming shoot of the new Dungeons & Dragons movie in Belfast, Northern Ireland and France.

The Hasbro fantasy property is based on a beloved tabletop game that also integrated fantasy author Fritz Leiber’s City of Lankhmar from his Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser stories that take place in the world of Nehwon. It’s an expansive IP with decades worth of material to pull from for a film franchise.

These posts would confirm that he’ll be reuniting with Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The pair of directors had been previously attached to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. and co-wrote the screenplay for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Production designer Owen Paterson (The Matrix, Godzilla, Captain America: Civil War, Godzilla vs Kong, V For Vendetta, Speed Racer, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions) is also part of the fantasy film’s crew. Owen happened to work on George Miller’s failed DC Comics film Justice League: Mortal.

The film’s working title during production was previously confirmed to be Chainmail.

They’ve been casting for ages which means that we should start hearing about actors soon as production is finally coming together in Northern Ireland.

Dungeons & Dragons is set to be released on May 27th, 2022 by Paramount Pictures.

SOURCE: BARRY PETERSON

Posted on in Television News

Netflix Developing New ‘Conan The Barbarian’ Series – Based On The Sword and Sorcery Hero From Robert E. Howard

Deadline reports that a new series version of Conan The Barbarian based on the classic Robert E. Howard sword and sorcery hero is in development at Netflix. They also point out that Netflix can make new movies as well.

Netflix has put in development an epic live-action series based on Conan, the iconic sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Robert E. Howard, I have learned. I hear the project, from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, is the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment. The pact gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.

A feature film titled The Legend of Conan was in the works with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role and later on a reboot series at Amazon had been in development before it was killed.

Schwarzenegger made the role famous in Conan The Barbarian and the sub-par sequel Conan The Destroyer. A series titled Conan The Adventurer starring Gladiator actor Ralf Möller had been made before Jason Momoa took a crack at the character in the 2011 remake of Conan The Barbarian.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN – Orphaned boy Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is enslaved after his village is destroyed by the forces of vicious necromancer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), and is compelled to push “The Wheel of Pain” for many years. Once he reaches adulthood, Conan sets off across the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age in search of the man who killed his family and stole his father’s sword. With beautiful warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez), he faces a supernatural evil.

A Conan The Barbarian series would fit nicely among The Witcher series, a string of Polish fantasy novels that owe a lot to Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Netflix being the home of the series should allow all the sex and violence that the franchise is known for.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Cyberpunk Sequel To ’47 Ronin’ Heading To Netflix – Original Starred Keanu Reeves

Deadline reports that Universal 1440 and Netflix are teaming up for a sequel to the Keanu Reeves samurai fantasy film 47 Ronin, inspired by the Japanese historical event from the 18th Century but added fantasy elements to it. The new film is said to be set 300 years in the future and will be set in the exotic world of cyberpunk adding science fiction elements to the fantasy/horror from the original.

Mulan actor Ron Yuan will be directing with an expectation that filming could begin in the first quarter of 2021.

It’s unknown if they’ll attempt to bring any original cast members to play new characters but it certainly allows them to hire a majority of Asian actors to lead the film.

47 RONIN – In feudal Japan, Lord Asano rules his province with fairness. However, jealous Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) fears that the shogun favors Asano over him and hatches a plot that ends with Asano’s ritual suicide. After Asano’s death, his samurai, led by Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), are forced to live as outcasts. Oishi wanders for several years but realizes that he must turn to Kai (Keanu Reeves), a mixed-blood warrior he once rejected, to help him and his ronin comrades take revenge on Lord Kira.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Netflix Announces New Series ‘The Witcher: Blood Origins’ – Prequel Takes Place 1200 Years In The Past

Today, Netflix took to Twitter to announce a new prequel series spinoff set in the world of The Witcher. The prequel titled The Witcher: Blood Origins from Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich will focus on the first Witcher taking place 1200 years in the past. 

The fantasy series is based on the novels turned video game franchise. 

The Witcher starring Henry Cavill as the infamous Geralt of Rivia is currently in the middle of filming Season 2 (expected to resume filming in the United Kingdom next month). 

SOURCE: NETFLIX