Tag: New Line Cinema

Philippa Boyens Confirms Second Live-Action 'Lord Of The Rings' Movie In Development Different From 'The Hunt For Gollum'
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Philippa Boyens Confirms Second Live-Action ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Movie In Development Different From ‘The Hunt For Gollum’

We’re months away from “The Lord of The Rings” making a grand return to the big screen with “The War of Rohirrim” galloping into theaters in December. But we’re now learning that “Lord of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum” from director Andy Serkis (who oversaw second-unit work on “The Hobbit” trilogy) not only won’t be a two-part story as previously suggested but producers/New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures are quietly developing a second but different live-action film as well.

The update hails from longtime franchise co-writer and producer Philippa Boyens, who explained recently to Empire Magazine that they’re not making two movies out of “The Hunt For Gollum.” Another film entirely is in the works and has yet to be officially announced by studio.

Boyens said, “I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! “That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being ‘The Hunt For Gollum,’ the second one still to be confirmed.”

What that second film is going to be about and who will appear I’m sure is going to be speculated on until we get some concrete details from the studio and the producing team. We wouldn’t be all that surprised if Ian McKellen’s Gandalf would be involved, given the plausibility that his character will become the connective tissue for these next two films to the previous trilogies.

“The Hunt For Gollum” is expected to begin shooting next year with a tentative to-be-announced release date in 2026. The new film has a script penned by Boyens and Fran Walsh alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (the duo recently worked on “Rohirrim”).

“It’s quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria,” Boyens explained about where “The Hunt For Gollum” takes place in the timeline. “It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Photo Gallery

This likely means we’ll be seeing the return of the Nazgul as Gollum is tortured by Mordor’s faction, and it’s why the nine are led to the Shire to find the One Ring.

“Lord of The Rings: The War of Rohirrim” is heading to theaters on December 13.

SOURCE: EMPIRE MAGAZINE

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‘Weapons’: Josh Brolin Returning To Horror As He’s In Talks To Replace Pedro Pascal In Zach Cregger’s Follow-Up To ‘Barbarian’

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.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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WB’s ‘Mortal Kombat 2’ Casts Johnny Cage, Jade & Princess Kitana

Fans of the “Mortal Kombat” video game franchise learned this month of a bit of shakeup as the upcoming release of “Mortal Kombat 1” is expected to be a hard reboot rather than a continuation. When it comes to the theatrical side, New Line Cinema is putting together a new cast for their second new live-action film that sees director Simon McQuoid and producer James Wan returning for “Mortal Kombat 2.”

The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively revealed that the latest casting addition will be Adeline Rudolph (“Hellboy: The Crooked Man”) as Princess Kitana joining her “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” co-star Tati Gabrielle (“Uncharted”) who plays the deadly Jade and Kiwi actor Karl Urban (“The Boys”) as beloved big-mouth Hollywood action star, Johnny Cage.

If you’re not familiar with the video game lore a group of skilled fighters from Earth realm have to protect it from a group of monstrous and god-like fighters from Outworld that will eventually gain complete control over our realm if they win a certain amount of to-the-death tournaments. The video game first burst onto the scene in the early 1990s which was strictly an arcade game that eventually was ported for home consoles and was the violent competitor to Capcom’s extremely popular “Street Fighter.”

Filming will take place in Australia again like the first installment which boasted a hefty cast that included Lewis Tan (“Deadpool 2”) as Cole Young; Jessica McNamee (“The Meg”) as Sonya Blade; Josh Lawson (“Bombshell”) as Kano; Tadanobu Asano (“Kate”) as Lord Raiden; Mehcad Brooks (“Supergirl”) as Jackson “Jax” Bridges; Ludi Lin (“Aquaman”) as Liu Kang; with Chin Han (“The Dark Knight”) as Shang Tsung; Joe Taslim (“Star Trek Beyond”) as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero; and Hiroyuki Sanada (“Skyscraper”) as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion. Also featured are Max Huang as Kung Lao and Sisi Stringer as Mileena.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Renate Reinsve To Star Opposite Pedro Pascal In Zach Cregger’s New Horror Flick ‘Weapons’ At New Line

Last year, the twisty satirical horror film “Barbarian” made waves as filmmaker Zach Cregger made quite the critic and crowd pleasing film that not only provided some quality jump scares but also a decent commentary on modern society with was likely unexpected. The success of the streaming film led to a huge bidding war for his upcoming projects including a new “Magnolia” inspired horror film called “Weapons” that ultimately landed at New Line Cinema.

There is now some traction on the casting side of things with another interesting name being added to the original horror project. Earlier this week, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person In The World”) has nabbed a leading role in “Weapons” opposite Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) in the new horror flick from Cregger.

Although, it’s unclear what their roles are and we’re still waiting on a more detailed plot synopsis as the only details about the film are sort of cryptic in nature. Then again, given the big twist of “Barbarian” it might be simply how they plan on keeping things secret until the film’s eventual theatrical release.

That aforementioned nod to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 drama “Magnolia” is said to be more of the structure of the film as it’ll have interconnected stories taking place through the runtime, which likely means we’ll see these characters either interact at points or have some sort of connective tissue leading to the film’s climax. Whatever the actual execution or plan is for “Weapons” it certainly sounds like an ambitious endeavor on Cregger’s part.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

WB Making New Middle-Earth Films With Peter Jackson Kept In The Loop About The Deal

Yesterday, it was announced in a joint press statement by Warner Bros. Pictures and Embracer Group that they’ve reached a brand new deal for New Line Cinema to continue to make feature films based on the work on Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Expanding the existing cinematic universe, although, the announcement failed to mention what exact source material they’ll be adapting or what those new movies will look like. This comes after the studio is about to release an animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim on April 12, 2024 and last year Amazon released their first of five seasons of their Middle-Earth streaming series, Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. So, there was plenty of Middle-Earth material being released beyond live-action feature films.

The previous six feature films (set during The Third Age) were directed, produced, and co-written by filmmaker Peter Jackson. Interestingly enough, on the heels of the announcement Deadline was able to get a direct quote from Jackson, where he said that the two companies have kept himself alongside his producing/writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in the loop about the deal.

“Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” the Oscar-winning trio said. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”

I can’t really imagine that Jackson has the stomach to direct any more Middle-Earth adventures after he was forced to helm The Hobbit trilogy after Guillermo del Toro exited over scheduling issues to focus on Pacific Rim. However, potentially producing or writing new live-action films might be appealing as it would bring more business to Wellington, New Zeeland’s Stone Street Studios and Weta Digital/Workshop.

There is plenty of source material to pull from if they attempt to craft movies around the legends/tidbits that Tolkien sprinkled throughout his books or the expanded material published by his son Christopher Tolkien after his death. Personally, I could see tackling The Dark Lord Morgoth and The First Age (teased in The Rings of Power) as very much worthwhile adapting into a third trilogy of films unless the studio wants to move forward beyond with The Fourth Age. There are also other unexplored portions of the Middle-Earth mythology we haven’t seen on the big-screen like the two Blue Wizards and territories of the Easterlings.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS. & DEADLINE

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‘Barbarian’ Director Zach Cregger’s Next Film ‘Weapons’ Lands At New Line Cinema

One of the more interesting horror projects that got released last year was Zach Cregger’s Barbarian, without spoiling things it showcased the filmmaker’s great handling of the satirical horror film with plenty of misdirection and surprises that certainly kept audiences on their toes. Oddly enough, the filmmaker originally comes from the world of sketch comedy being a cast member on the television series The Whitest Kids You Know and has now reinvented himself as potentially the next Jordan Peele. There is finally word on what his feature will be despite a lack of plot details.

The popularity of Barbarian had led to a massive bidding war for his next project, titled Weapons. When the dust has settled, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Cregger landed a eight figure deal from New Line Cinema to write and direct. He’s also secured final cut on Weapons, backend participation, and the project has already been greenlit. All things considered to be a director’s dream when it comes to getting creative control over a film that will ultimately distributed by a major studio. We’re still waiting on what the film will exactly focus on but a synopsis is likely months away from being announced by anyone.

Also, it was mentioned in the report that if Weapons is a big hit for them they are said to be open to making Cregger a “significant horror voice” for Warner Bros. Discovery/New Line moving forward. Potentially mirror the deal that Peele secured with Universal after Get Out became a massive pulpy landmark in the horror genre leading him to easily have Us and Nope greenlit without a studio meddling with his vision for those films.

Speaking of Peele, according to reports from Deadline the director’s production company Monkeypaw with the help of Universal Pictures attempted to bid on the film but ultimately lost out to New Line when they offered $38 million to buy the pic which includes budget and fees. Universal reportedly offered $7 million less.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to learn more about Weapons.

SOURCE: THR & DEADLINE

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‘Shang-Chi’ Heading Towards $36M In Second Weekend

Shang-Chi & The Legends of The Ten Rings is doing pretty decent all things considered, as the new numbers for this weekend have arrived. Deadline says the current weekend estimates for the film’s second weekend at the domestic box office is $35.7 million, which is a 53% drop from their $75.3 million opening and impressive $94.6 million four-day over the Labor Day long weekend.

The new Avenger has made quite the global impact earning $258 million and counting. Disney might have to settle with lower than normal international earnings as it’s looking less likely that Shang-Chi will secure a release date in China due to the increasingly disgruntled government censors that are now looking for excuses to reject western films.

There is already chatter that Eternals might also be passed over for Chinese date too.

Disney recently mentioned that Chloe Zhao’s Eternals will be keeping a theatrical window, not unlike Shang-Chi, meaning that they’ll be avoiding a hybrid release with Premier Access. They also announced four mystery MCU films for 2024, could one of them be for Shang-Chi 2?

It’s not so great for James Wan and New Line Cinema though, as the horror pic Malignant earned a poultry $5.5 million. Not the best news when the high-profile genre project likely is essentially a flop when production, marketing/distribution costs are factored in, it will be impossible for the film to turn a profit from the domestic box office alone.

Interestingly enough, a majority of Wan’s films that he directors or produces tend to do well at the box office, but Malignant, for whatever reason, didn’t seem to interest mature audiences this time around.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Salem’s Lot’: James Wan-Produced Vampire Pic Taps ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman As Lead Of The Stephen King Adaptation

New Line Cinema, producer James Wan, and writer/director Gary Dauberman are teaming up for a new feature film adaption of the Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot, which features vampires in a small town.

Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. Author Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

There is finally some casting news to share on the project.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the horror film’s protagonist, Ben Mears, will be played by Lewis Pullman (son of Bill Pullman), who is likely best known from Bad Times At The El Royale and will be seen in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick.

Filming on Salem’s Lot begins next month in Boston, according to the report.

It’ll be interesting if they’ll end up hiring bigger names or seasoned actors to surround Pullman in the supporting cast.

You might remember that Gary Dauberman previously wrote the scripts for Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two for director, another Stephen King adaptation. He’s also wrote stuff such as the Swamp Thing series, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Homes, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle.

The Ronin previously confirmed that cinematographer Michael Burgess would be the film’s director of photography. With extensive horror credits such as Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and James Wan’s upcoming horror pic Malignant.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Salem’s Lot’: James Wan-Produced Vampire Flick Adds ‘Malignant’ Cinematographer Michael Burgess

New Line Cinema, producer James Wan, and writer/director Gary Dauberman are re-teaming for a feature film adaptation of the Stephen King vampire novel Salem’s Lot.

Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. Author Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

Dauberman has some strong horror credits as he previously wrote the scripts for It and It: Chapter Two for director Andy Muschietti, another Stephen King adaptation. Other projects he’s written include the Swamp Thing series, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Homes, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle.

Things are finally coming together on Salem’s Lot as they’re assembling their production team.

The Ronin can confirm that cinematographer Michael Burgess will reunite with director Gary Dauberman, after previously working with him on Annabelle Comes Home. Burgess has worked on other horror films such as The Nun, The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and James Wan’s upcoming horror pic Malignant.

We’re still waiting on official news concerning casting for Salem’s Lot.

James Wan is currently shooting Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England with Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and Patrick Wilson reprising their roles.

His next pic Malignant will hit theaters and HBO Max on September 10.

Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

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‘Train To Busan’ Remake Director Timo Tjahjanto Co-Wrote Secret Genre Movie With ‘Doctor Strange’s Scott Derrickson

Director Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes For Us) has announced on social media that he co-written a passion project of his with Doctor Strange screenwriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. Tjahjanto is attached to direct an English remake of the hit South Korean horror flick Train To Busan for producer James Wan and New Line Cinema.

He also confirmed that the Train To Busan remake will be made first.

“After nearly seven years of trying to get this passion project running. It had finally gained some amazingly “strange” traction. Humbled and honored to be working with two of these very talented filmmakers and writers. This one will happen after a train ride, and when it does…[multiple skull emojis],” Timo Tjahjanto stated in a post on Instagram alongside a brief synopsis of the project teasing a possible dystopian sci-fi angle.

The year is 20**, society is screwed. Crime and violence have risen steadily in all remaining regions of planet Earth. Most of Asia has been unified.

Scott Derrickson has been busy since exiting Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness over creative differences with Marvel Studios. He’s attached to direct an adaptation of Joe Hill’s The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke and is also making a sequel to Jim Henson’s beloved fantasy film Labyrinth.

TRAIN TO BUSAN – Life-or-death survival in train bound to Busan. A divorced man, Seok-woo is always caught up at work, leaving him no time to spare with his daughter Su-an. He offers to take her on the train to see her mother in Busan. As the train departs, an abnormal virus spreads from a girl who is infected, and people start to transform to zombies. Will Seok-woo and Su-an make it out alive? TRAIN TO BUSAN is director YEON Sang-ho’s debut feature film, who is loved by Cannes with his edgy animation.