‘Blade, The Vampire Hunter’: Marvel Selects ‘Watchmen’ & ‘Hunters’ Writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour To Pen Their Reboot

Yesterday, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Marvel’s search for screenwriters to tackle their upcoming Blade reboot (seemingly now titled Blade, The Vampire Hunter) has ended as the studio has reportedly selected writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour to tackle the reboot’s script. The studio is said to have been looking for black writers for the last six months that could jump onto their new incarnation.

Stacy is no stranger to comic book or genre project as she previous worked on HBO’s Watchmen and Amazon’s Nazi-hunter exploitation homage Hunters. A perfect choice if you ask me given those her credits. This will make her the first black female writer to work on a Marvel Studios feature film.

Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is taking over the role of Eric Brooks aka Blade made famous by Wesley Snipes starting in 1998. The success of that first film led to two sequels along with messy live-action televisions that aired on Spike TV. It also predates the release of Fox’s X-Men by two years and proved that feature film adaptations based on Marvel Comics characters could connect with audiences, and make money.

Blade is a half-vampire which allows him to be immune to sunlight leading to his nickname, The Daywalker. He has the strength and speed of a vampire along with their thirst for blood. In the films, he used a serum to keep his thirst at bay. It remains to be seen how much of the established film lore will survive the new MCU version.

We’ll have to wait and see what their angle for the reboot as the trilogy (Blade: Trinity was produced by Kevin Feige) is best known as an R-rated genre hybrid of martial arts action and horror. If Marvel Studios is keen to keep Deadpool 3 an R-rated film there is a likelihood that Blade, The Vampire Hunter could be targeted towards adult audiences given that kids really don’t identify the character or for certain age groups even know he exists.

The next big step will be hiring a director.

While no names have been circulated to be in the running, I’d love to see Rick Famuyiwa to be considered as his work on Lucasfilm’s Star Wars series The Mandalorian has proven he can play within a large established sandbox and also contribute to it at the same time.

As they’ve only just announced a screenwriter, I don’t think the Blade reboot is going to be shooting in 2021 as Marvel is currently busy with productions such as Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love & Thunder filming in Atlanta, London, and Sydney respectively. They’re also expected to begin shooting Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, and Black Panther 2 later in the year.

A release date for Blade, The Vampire Hunter has yet to be announced.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘Eternals’ Director Chloe Zhao Tapped By Universal For New ‘Dracula’ Movie That Will Be A Mix of Sci-Fi & Western Genres

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Nomadland and Eternals director Chloe Zhao has been hired by Universal Pictures for a new Dracula film. Instead of treading on previous ground with the good Count, Chloe’s take is said to be a mix of horror, science fiction and western genres.

This new Dracula project, however, will be a far cry from the more traditional or even modern incarnations made over the years. Details are being kept in the coffin, but Zhao’s version is described as an original, futuristic, sci-fi Western. Themes of being on society’s fringes, something Zhao has tackled in her previous work, will course through the project’s veins.

Vampire movies that sort of come to mind here are Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Blade/Blade II, and Daybreakers.

Zhao’s latest film Nomadland is looking to become a huge Oscar contender and she will likely land some commercial success with her upcoming Marvel Studios movie Eternals coming out on November 5th, 2021.

Universal Pictures has been developing a heap of projects with their iconic Universal Monsters along with a recent remake of The Invisible Man, which has led to director Leigh Whannell to return for a new Wolf Man remake with Ryan Gosling attached to star. There many more projects in the works as well.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Viggo Mortensen Teases Reunion With Director David Cronenberg For A Disturbing Film – Could It Be ‘The Fly’ Sequel?

Viggo Mortensen and Canadian director David Cronenberg are apparently trying to work together on a new film as the actor revealed in a recent chat with GQ Magazine, revealing that the film will see Cronenberg going back to his “origins.” The project might even end up in the thriller or horror genre depending how you take in Viggo’s answers below during the interview.

Adding that filming could begin as early as this summer.

GQ: Are you two in talks for another collaboration sometime soon?

MORTENSEN: “Yes, we do have something in mind. It’s something he wrote a long time ago, and he never got it made. Now he’s refined it, and he wants to shoot it. Hopefully, it’ll be this summer we’ll be filming. I would say, without giving the story away, he’s going maybe a little bit back to his origins.”

GQ: So, body-horror type stuff?

MORTENSEN: “Yeah, it’s very interesting. It’s almost like a strange film noir story. It’s disturbing and it’s good, I think. But since his origins, he’s obviously developed in terms of technique and self-assurance as a director.”

I’m sure the “origins” comment would lead many to believe he’s talking about David’s early work in the horror genre but we’ll likely have to wait on more concrete details.

At one point, David tried to get 20th Century Fox (pre-Disney merger) to make a film within the same universe of his remake The Fly. Here is how the filmmaker described the project to The Playlist back in 2012 calling it more of a sequel/sidebar than a full-on remake.

CRONENBERG: “It wasn’t really a remake, it was more of a sequel or a sidebar. It was a meditation on fly-ness. None of the same characters or anything and, of course, with an understanding of modern technology. It was something I was very pleased with and it was a disappointment not to get it made.”

THE FLY – When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly’s cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle’s girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.

Viggo and David have previously worked together on the comic book adaptation A History of Violence, the Russian gangster film Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method. Interesting enough, a spiritual sequel to Eastern Promises is moving forward with Jason Statham’s Small Dark Look that was penned by screenwriter Steven Knight and that had been originally planned as a direct follow-up with Cronenberg expected to direct (formerly known as Body Cross) before budget issues killed it.

SOURCE: GQ

‘Bones & All’: Luca Guadagnino To Direct Romantic Horror Movie With Timothee Chalamet & Taylor Russell In Talks To Star

Deadline is reporting that Timothee Chalamet and Waves actress Taylor Russell are in talks to star in Bones & All, a horror romance that will be directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. Luca and Timothee previously worked together on the drama Call Me By Your Name.

Luca isn’t a stranger to horror as he helmed a remake of Dario Argento’s classic horror movie Suspiria. Currently, he’s working on Universal’s latest Scarface remake.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

‘Last Voyage of The Demeter’: Amblin Taps ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Actor Corey Hawkins To Lead Dracula Flick

According to Deadline, Amblin has hired Corey Hawkins to lead their upcoming vampire movie Last Voyage of The Demeter, the Russian ship that transports Dracula to London as the vampire feeds on the crew members during the journey. The horrific trip was seen in films such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola and the classic silent film Nosferatu.

Hawkins is no stranger to creature features appearing in Kong: Skull Island and The Walking Dead.

The film will detail the strange events that befell the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a terrifying presence onboard the ship. When it finally arrived near Whitby Harbor, it was a derelict. There was no trace of the crew. The initial script was written by Bragi Schut.

Andre Øvredal is directing from a script from Bullet Train screenwriter Zak Olkewicz.

The project has been kicking around for just under two decades with various directors attaching themselves and exiting before Amblin kicked things into gear with this incarnation.

When they plan to begin shooting wasn’t mentioned in the report.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

‘A Quiet Place Part II’: The Anticipated Horror Sequel Leaps From April To September

Another big film has been moved from the spring as Paramount Pictures has also delayed their anticipated horror flick A Quiet Place Part II moving it from April 23rd to September 17th.

Studios weighing closures of theaters alongside the the slow rollout of the vaccine has led to a bulk of the spring line-up being pushed to the summer and fall. In the case of some Sony Pictures films such as Uncharted and Morbius, moved completely out of 2021 to early 2022.

Paramount seems to be committed to a theatrical release of their films despite the rebranding of the streaming service CBS All Access as Paramount+ coming soon. There are signs that Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick could be bumped when studios start moving more summer tentpoles but there are suggestions they will keep a theatrical release.

However, we’ll likely see more of these pushes in the coming weeks.

The studio has future plans of continuing A Quiet Place franchise as director Jeff Nichols is currently attached to write and direct an untitled third film.

A QUIET PLACE PART II – Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

Here’s a reminder of the recent date changes.

  • Godzilla vs. Kong – March 26th, 2021 (moved up)
  • Nobody – April 2nd, 2021
  • BIOS – August 13th, 2021
  • The King’s Man – August 20th, 2021
  • A Quiet Place Part II – September 17th, 2021
  • The Many Saints of Newark – September 24th, 2021
  • No Time To Die – October 8th, 2021
  • Last Night In Soho – October 22nd, 2021
  • Antlers – October 29th, 2021
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife – November 11th, 2021
  • Nightmare Alley – December 3rd, 2021
  • Morbius – January 21st, 2022
  • Uncharted – February 11th, 2022
  • Ambulance – February 18th, 2022
  • Bob’s Burgers (TBA)

SOURCE: PARAMOUNT PICTURES

‘Army of The Dead’: Zack Snyder Says Warner Bros. Passed On The Zombie Project – Prequel Movie Wraps Production

Zack Snyder‘s horror remake Dawn of The Dead (penned by James Gunn) is arguably one of the filmmaker’s most accessible feature films to date. So, having the the director return to the zombie/action-horror genre with Army of The Dead for Netflix is exciting for a multitude of reasons.

Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Zack reveals that the film had been lingering at Warner Bros. for years but the studio ultimately didn’t want to make it because of the money involved for the budget that would have taken to get it made the way that Snyder wanted.

SNYDER: “They didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a zombie movie, or just didn’t take it that seriously. I was always like, ‘Look guys, this is more than [just a zombie movie],’ but it fizzled out.”

Ultimately, the streaming giant Netflix picked-up Army of The Dead after they loved the pitch detailed by Snyder. They’ve been so enthused about the project, Netflix also recently wrapped on a prequel film last month directed by franchise actor Matthias Schweighofer.

SNYDER: “We were in a meeting at Netflix and I was talking about some of these scripts I was working on. And I mentioned the idea to [Netflix head of original films Scott Stuber] and he was like, ‘That is the movie! Go write that movie and let’s make it.’ I was like, ‘What, do you mean now?’ And he’s like, ‘Go write it tomorrow and we’ll do shoot it in a week.'”

Netflix obviously has few roadblocks concerning budgets for their projects as they notably spend a hefty amount of money on original programming, however, The Gray Man from The Russo Brothers will be their first film budgeted over $200 million competing on the level of major film studios.

Army of The Dead’s large cast consists of Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Huma Qureshi, Omari Hardwick, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Matthias Schweighöfer, Raúl Castillo, Nora Arnezeder, Tig Notaro, and Samantha Win. 

It’s expected to drop later this year and Netflix is banking on it becoming their new horror franchise. A trailer is likely on the horizon given the new promotion for the film.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Movie Has Officially Wrapped Production

The Canadian shoot of the Resident Evil reboot film has officially completed production according to a tweet from Sony Pictures, which you can see below.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998. The last six Resident Evil films were very loosely based on the video games as it focused on Alice, a character created for the movies. The new film will take cues from the video games released by Capcom.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin, Donal Logue, Chad Rook and Lily Gao.

Resident Evil may release in September 9, 2021, although Sony has yet to announce a domestic release date.

SOURCE: SONY PICTURES

David Gordon Green Reportedly In Talks To Direct ‘Exorcist’ Sequel For Blumhouse – William Friedkin Debunks His Involvement

Blumhouse is zeroing-in on a director for their sequel to The Exorcist.

According to Observer (backed-up by trades), David Gordon Green is in talks to direct the horror project. David you might remember is behind the successful Halloween soft-reboot/sequel along with the two sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Details are a little scarce and if they’ll be attempting to make a film with returning characters or simply reworking the existing mythology for something new but establishing the events of the original film still happened.

The Exorcist is considered a benchmark film in the horror genre as it was a massive box office hit and also helped elevate the quality of horror films that could be made by filmmakers beyond the B-movie. The previous sequels have never really match the bar set by the original and this new project will have rather large shoes to fill.

THE EXORCIST – One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When young Regan (Linda Blair) starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother (Ellen Burstyn) seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest (Jason Miller), however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert (Max von Sydow) to help with the difficult job.

The original film’s director William Friedkin took to Twitter recently to debunk an IMDB listing that suggested he was involved with the new project and makes it clear he never would be part of it. I guess they won’t get a blessing similar to John Carpenter on their Halloween sequels.

FRIEDKIN: “There’s a rumor on IMDB that I’m involved with a new version of The Exorcist. This isn’t a rumor, it’s a flat-out life. There’s not enough money or motivation in the world to get me to do this.”

SOURCE: OBSERVER

TRAILER: Chloë Grace Moretz Fights Airborne Creatures In WWII Horror Flick ‘Shadow In The Cloud’ – Produced By David Leitch

SHADOW IN THE CLOUD: During World War II, pilots of the Allies’ various air force women’s auxiliaries were called upon to ferry planes from factories to airfields — sometimes through enemy territory, often without proper navigational tools or ammunition. Writer-director Roseanne Liang pays pulpy tribute to these veterans with Shadow In The Cloud, a rip-roaring action/horror hybrid that finds one such airwoman, WAAF officer Maude Garrett (Chloë Grace Moretz), assigned under mysterious circumstances to a rickety B-17 Flying Fortress, where she is custodian of a strictly classified piece of cargo. Forcibly sequestered by the all-male crew to a ball turret hanging from the belly of the bomber, Garrett’s dizzying new-found perspective brings to light yet another unexpected passenger — one whose stealthily sinister presence may jeopardize the lives of all aboard. Moretz is dynamite as the young aviator, a Greatest Generation “Ellen Ripley” whose warnings to her deaf-eared chauvinist comrades are validated when bizarre mechanical failures manifest throughout the vessel, and enemy forces suddenly mount a surprise aerial ambush. As the put-upon Garrett’s personal motivations come into sharper focus with each perilous predicament, the action expands from the claustrophobic confines of the turret into a death- (and gravity-) defying spectacle that encompasses the plane’s rapidly disintegrating fuselage. Yet Liang never loses sight of her remarkable lead actor. The audience remains with Moretz through every white-knuckled minute, with the rat-tat-tat radio chatter of obstinate and panicky men playing partial soundtrack to wicked suspense and freaky mayhem. With resolute verve similar to that of Shadow In The Cloud’s protagonist, Liang has radically remixed wartime superstitions and a beloved pulp-fiction premise (you’ll know it when you see it) into an exhilarating vehicle of personal empowerment — one not to be marred by any surplus of unchecked and toxic testosterone.

Shadow In The Cloud will be in select theaters, VOD, and digital on January 1, 2021.

SOURCE: VERTICAL ENTERTAINMENT