During a New York Comic-Con Panel hosted by Collider, actor Josh Brolin revealed he’s joined the cast of Edgar Wright‘s “The Running Man.” The film is based on the Stephen King novel that was previously adapted into the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led sci-fi thriller from 1987 and focused on a man wrongfully convicted of a massacre. Forced to compete in a to-the-death game show, where average men have to face down veteran “slayers” who were outfitted with various deadly weapons and colorful costumes.
Trade reports are claiming that Brolin will be playing a villain in the film, potentially the architect or host of the game show. Making him the main antagonist of this new incarnation.
Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) had been previously announced as the new Ben Richards, taking up the role from Schwarzenegger, and the new film is said to be closer to the original novel. The King novel differs a bit from the feature film as Richards willingly volunteers to compete on the show to afford medicine for his sickly daughter and aims to potentially sacrifice himself in order to help her.
Brolin isn’t a stranger to genre projects, having played Thanos in multiple MCU movies, a baddie in Robert Rodriguez’s zombie flick “Planet Terror,” Cable in “Deadpool 2,” and has a supporting role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” trilogy.
Wright’s remake is set to be released on November 21, 2025, by Paramount Pictures.
Writer/director Zach Cregger is finally gearing up on his next film after a sensensational reaction to his horror pic “Barbarian.” The new project titled “Weapons” landed at New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. after a heated bidding war, however, it recently lost their main star and they’ve now found a potential replacement. The Hollywood Reporter states that Josh Brolin (“Sicario”) is now in talks to take the role originally meant for Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) after the actor had to leave due to scheduling issues.
Pascal had to exit because of his commitment to Marvel‘s upcoming reboot of the “Fantastic Four” which is expected to shoot at Pinewood Studios UK over the summer with director Matt Shakman (“Wandavision”) casting Pascal as Dr. Reed Richards, aka, Mister Fantastic. The rest of the cast includes Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (The Thing), and Joseph Quinn as Sue’s brother Johnny Storm (The Human Torch).
Not much is known about “Weapons” but is said to be an interrelated, multistory horror epic that tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia.” This wouldn’t be Brolin’s first entry into horror with projects such as Guillermo del Toro’s “Mimic,” Robert Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror,” Paul Verhoeven’s modern take on “The Invisible Man” with “Hollow Man,” and the serial killer thriller “Nightwatch” where he co-starred with young Ewan McGregor.
Over the weekend we got an update of sorts from “Sicario 3″ producers Molly Smith and Trent Luckinbill that they were aiming to bring back both Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin alongside confirmed returning franchise star Benicio Del Toro. Now, there aresome juicy quotes about who is involved, potentially on the creative side. While continuing their chat with Collider to promote Del Toro’s Netflix thriller “Reptile,” they were able to dish that both franchise creator Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”) and Christopher McQuarrie (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) are “partners” on “Sicario 3.” They seemingly didn’t expand upon the roles of Sheridan or McQuarrie, but considering that the former penned the last two installments and essentially created the franchise it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the workaholic writer penned the script or the story.
“But we don’t know who’s going to direct yet. It’s all gonna be about timing. We’ve got obviously a wealth of great partners on it, everybody from Taylor Sheridan to Chris McQuarrie as a partner on it, but it’ll all be about the timing and what aligns with everyone’s schedule.”
As previously alluded to, Sheridan is a busy man overseeing multiple television series and likely might have handed off polishing duties to someone like McQuarrie (still working on “Mission: Impossible 8”), who is also known in the industry as a script doctor. Case in point, McQuarrie helped out with the script to “Top Gun: Maverick” despite not directing and could have a similar role here on this project, if not bigger.
Sheridan being extremely busy was also echoed by Luckinbill, “He is so busy, and he stays close to it, and will obviously have input, too. Then it’s just a question of when we get schedules lined up and all of that starting to have real conversations to see who’s available and who wants to do it. So certainly, I think everybody that’s ever been involved with this has stayed really close and has stayed fans of it. So, we’ll just push forward and see what lines up and who lines up in our window.”
“Sicario 3” is still seemingly without a director, officially, and the talk of schedule would suggest that either of those two would be welcomed as helming the third installment. Whether that happens remains to be seen and will likely take a bit of time.
Having the trio of actors back with Sheridan and McQuarrie possibly being the creative force behind it would very much be a welcomed shot in the arm after that lackluster second film. Of course, the original from 2015 was helmed by French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who has since moved to tackle two installments of the “Dune” franchise as he’s also in development on a third film based on the second Frank Herbert novel “Dune Messiah.” We still don’t know if Villeneuve will indeed make that third “Dune” film next or could be hypothetically persuaded to direct Sicario 3,” which would likely be a less intense or lengthy shoot in comparison.
Denis Villeneuve‘s thrillers such as “Prisoners” and “Sicario” helped put the French-Canadian filmmaker on the radar of global audiences alongside studios leading to more pricey sci-fi projects such as “Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049,” and his two “Dune” movies. So, it’s not that shocking that “Sicario” after becoming a financial and acclaimed critical success would end up getting a sequel. Despite the mixed reception of that second film, a third one is in active development with the expectation that Benicio del Toro will be leading “Sicario 3.” While there had been some assumption that Josh Brolin‘s Matt, a C.I.A. Agent, would be making a grand return in “Sicario 3” seemingly in an antagonist role, it sounds like producers are also aiming to get Emily Blunt back in the fold as well.
During a chat with Collider to promote the Netflix crime thriller “Reptile,” franchise producers Molly Smith and Trent Luckinbill dished that they want to get the trio in the next movie but scheduling is going to play a big role for that to come together.
“Our idea is to get the cast back together with Benicio, Emily, and Josh, and we’ve got a great story to tell…Benicio, by nature of just working with us most recently, has been probably the closest to it at the moment. But we’re keeping all the talent informed. They’ve stayed close to it. Like Trent said, the strike has just slowed us down a bit on this last draft, but I think everybody is very excited. Everyone sort of knows the framework of the story and is very excited to, hopefully, get our shooting draft in order very soon.”
How exactly they’ll navigate the busy schedules of two of their primary actors isn’t clear but another aspect hasn’t been announced either, who will direct “Sicario 3” and what the plot will be pertaining to how Blunt’s FBI Agent gets pulled back into the fray. We’ll just have to wait for more information once the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved, hopefully in the near future. I think it would be in their best interest to also court co-star Daniel Kaluuya, considering his star has risen as well since the first film was released back in 2015.
In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent [Emily Blunt] is enlisted by an elite government task force official [Josh Brolin] to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past [Benicio Del Toro], the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.
Actor Benicio Del Toro landed himself a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in Denis Villeneuve‘s “Sicario” which had a script penned by rising talent Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”) and led to a sequel directed by Stefano Sollima that took a slight dip at the box office earning $75.8 million (Compared the original’s take of $84.8 million). Without spoiling the ending of “Sicario: Day of The Soldado,” Del Toro’s character Alejandro Gillick (An ex-Mexican prosecutor who became a CIA-trained assassin after his family was murdered by the kingpin) survived the brutal events of the film and would be expected to be the protagonist of the third installment. That third film is now officially in the works.
Producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee are now confirming development on “Sicaro 3” while speaking with The Messenger, the duo are known for working on the previous two films alongside the successful “John Wick” franchise including the upcoming spinoff “Ballerina” that stars Ana de Armas and Norman Reedus.
“When we can continue writing it. It was pencils down, but the idea is awesome,” Iwanyk said of the status of “Sicario 3.” Adding, “I can’t wait for ‘Sicario 3,’ I could watch Benicio play that guy forever. I mean, I can watch Benicio in anything, but with that character, it doesn’t get old.”
While Sheridan wrote the scripts for the last two installments, it’s unclear if he’ll be returning for “Sicario 3” given his attention has been focused on a growing television empire at Paramount with multiple shows actively shooting and being developed all at the same time. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that producers can convince Sheridan to take a directing role after tackling feature thrillers like “Wind River” and “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” Then again, he’s extremely busy.
Even less clear if we’re ever going to see the return of Emily Blunt’s FBI Agent Kate Macer, who had been the original protagonist and before the sequel switched to the perspective of Del Toro’s Alejandro. The second film seemed to indicate that Alejandro would see his story continued in a future installment.
While folks will get a chance to see early screenings of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, Warner Bros. has officially delayed the film’s mainstream release from October 1 to October 2. The news mentioned by Aaron Couch from The Hollywood Reporter on his Twitter account.
Warners has pushed #Dune back 3 weeks to Oct. 22. Many Saints of Newark moves back a week to 10/01/21
This release date update likely won’t make sci-fi fans like myself happy but folks need to understand that studios will continue to shift release dates over 2021. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see even more changes from Warner Bros. in the coming weeks and months.
Legendary is hoping that Dune becomes a big hit for them as they’re already developing Dune: Part Two based on the second half of the original Frank Herbert novel and an HBO Max series, Dune: The Sisterhood, is also in the works. There are six books in the original run from Frank Herbert and countless other books set within the Dune universe to pull from if Legendary wants to make a heap of sequels and shows. They have plenty of source material to work with.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, DUNE tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).
Following some strong worded comments from Warner Bros. darling Christopher Nolan after WarnerMedia announced they would be adding their entire 2021 film slate on HBO Mac with a day-and-date release alongside theaters, a model that is expected to become the new norm at WarnerMedia even post-pandemic.
There were even some signs earlier in the week that Legendary Entertainment could end up filing a lawsuit against WarnerMedia for not being consulted prior to the announcement and the industry unions are also displeased which could lead to a boycott of the company.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve has chosen to write an opinion editorial on Variety laying out his concerns. I selective some of the key segments which you can read below but I would advise people read the entire opinion piece in full.
Warner Bros.’ sudden reversal from being a legacy home for filmmakers to the new era of complete disregard draws a clear line for me. Filmmaking is a collaboration, reliant on the mutual trust of team work and Warner Bros. has declared they are no longer on the same team.
Streaming services are a positive and powerful addition to the movie and TV ecosystems. But I want the audience to understand that streaming alone can’t sustain the film industry as we knew it before COVID. Streaming can produce great content, but not movies of “Dune’s” scope and scale. Warner Bros.’ decision means “Dune” won’t have the chance to perform financially in order to be viable and piracy will ultimately triumph. Warner Bros. might just have killed the Dune franchise. This one is for the fans. AT&T’s John Stankey said that the streaming horse left the barn. In truth, the horse left the barn for the slaughterhouse.
Public safety comes first. Nobody argues with that. Which is why when it became apparent the winter would bring a second wave of the pandemic, I understood and supported the decision to delay Dune’s opening by almost a year. The plan was that Dune would open in theaters in October 2021, when vaccinations will be advanced and, hopefully, the virus behind us. Science tells us that everything should be back to a new normal next fall.
I’m speaking on my own behalf, though I stand in solidarity with the sixteen other filmmakers who now face the same fate. Please know I am with you and that together we are strong. The artists are the ones who create movies and series. Once the pandemic is over, theaters will be filled again with film lovers. That is my strong belief. Not because the movie industry needs it, but because we humans need cinema, as a collective experience.
Denis is rightfully upset because he’s currently working on a second film titled Dune: Part Two with screenwriter Jon Spaihts covering the second part of the original Dune novel by Frank Herbert and is producing an HBO Max series titled Dune: The Sisterhood that Denis is expected to direct. There are still five original books to adapt into feature films with even more subsequent installments from Frank’s son Brian Herbert and franchise writing partner Kevin J. Anderson.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The science fiction property was the inspiration for Star Wars as key elements were lifted by George Lucas and if given the right chance could become a global success story after the David Lynch version from 1984 become a famous flop.
While we’re still waiting on an official announcement concerning the fate of Deadpool 3 at Marvel Studios, Cabble actor Josh Brolin spoke to cinematographer Roger Deakins on his podcast Team Deakins (spotted by The Playlist) about the differences between working on Deadpool 2 in juxtapose to working with Marvel/The Russo Brothers on Avengers Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
BROLIN: “Deadpool was hard. Even though it was funny, it was harder. That was more of a business transaction, it was more, ‘We need to make this like this,’ which I didn’t feel that way with Avengers.”
“[The Russo Brothers] would constantly go back and reference Scarface or Dog Day Afternoon. Whether or not it was a manipulation, they knew what to throw out there to bring it back into something inspired.”
Josh’s comments here are terribly off-base as the Deadpool sequel underwent specific reshoots because producers/studio felt certain scenes didn’t test well and it’s possible that set had less of a creative environment than with The Russo Brothers.
There have been rumblings of Marvel considering a return for Brolin’s Thanos but that remains only rumor at this point. It’ll be interesting if they do end up moving forward with new Deadpool movies that if they’ll keep Brolin in the Nathan Summers aka Cable role as the only official carry-over from the Fox era is Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson.
Before the merger, the plan at 20th Century was to tackle an X-Force movie from writer/director Drew Goddard before a third solo installment.
Ryan confirmed back in December 2019 that Deadpool 3 was indeed in development at Marvel Studios but we really haven’t a solid update since.
Today, Legendary and Warner Bros. have finally revealed the first official trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s new feature film iteration of Frank Herbert’s science fiction fantasy masterpiece Dune.
You can watch the first trailer below along with an interview from super-fan Stephen Colbert as Twitter Movies is streaming the reveal event.
— Movies is Counting Down to Watch The Equalizer 3 (@Movies) September 9, 2020
The studio is splitting the first novel into two movies with the sequel expected to be titled Dune: Part Two and is currently being worked on by screenwriter Jon Spaihts.
Author Frank Herbert left the Denis and Legendary plenty of material to use as he wrote six rather hefty novels before son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson took over the franchise writing multiple installments in various points in the mythology.
A spinoff series in the works for HBO Max called Dune: The Sisterhood that will see Denis direct the pilot and produce the series.
Dune is set for release on December 18th, but there is a shot it could be delayed to 2021 like a majority of other 2020 films.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).
Deadline has revealed that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will be returning to Budapest, Hungary to film an unknown amount of additional photography. The film is the latest adaptation of the sci-fi novels written by Frank Herbert.
Filming had previously taken place at Origo Film Studios in Budapest along with exterior shoots in Norway and Jordan.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
It’s cast includes Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, and David Dastmalchian.
Legendary is already developing a sequel will act as Part 2 of the first novel with screenwriter Jon Spaihts currently working on the script. There is also an HBO Max series in the works titled Dune: The Sisterhood.
The release date has been set for December 18th, but with all the various shifting dates for Warner Bros. movies, it’s hard to assume that they’ll ultimately stick to that holiday spot.
THE RONIN 