Tag: Paramount Pictures

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Trek’: Chris Pine Isn’t Sure If He’ll Be Back For Future Films – Thinks Quentin Tarantino’s Project Would Be “Tremendously Interesting”

Actor Chris Pine is currently doing the press rounds to help promote his upcoming film Wonder Woman 1984 and while speaking with Comic Book revealed he hasn’t read any scripts concerning the Star Trek franchise such as Noah Hawley‘s Star Trek 4 or even the Quentin Tarantino project written by Mark L. Smith, the latter was said to be influenced by the 1930s gangster episode from the original series.

“You know, I haven’t [read a script],” Pine tells Comic Book. “I really, in terms of the Star Trek of it all, I wish I knew anything. I’m quite literally one of the last people ever to find out. So, I haven’t read that script, I don’t know where it is in development, I haven’t read the Noah Hawley script, I have no idea what’s happening in Star Trek land. But I love the character, I love the universe, I love my friends in it, you know, to have a Quentin take on it would be tremendously interesting and entertaining.”

Pine even suggests he might not even return for future films in the exchange.

“You know, look, whatever happens, if I come back or not, it’s a great universe, it deserves to have a future, and I hope that is the case.”

Paramount has seemingly pressed pause on the film side of the franchise to focus on multiple television shows for their streaming service Paramount+ formerly CBS All Access. It would be a little upsetting if the studio ultimately recast the Captain Kirk role but hardly surprising given that they couldn’t figure out salaries back when S.J. Clarkson was attached to direct Star Trek 4 years ago.

SOURCE: COMIC BOOK

Posted on in Film News

Chris Pine Tapped To Swing A Sword In Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Movie

Filming on Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons (working tile Chainmail) is expected to begin sometime in the spring with locations set to include Belfast, Northern Ireland and various spots in France. It was recently confirmed that Game Night cinematographer Barry Peterson would be reuniting with directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The director of photography has been location scouting in 2020 getting ready for production to take place in 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Chris Pine is now in talks to take an unnamed lead role in the fantasy flick. We still don’t have a good picture of what type of film they’re going for as people could easily be sucked into a game or it simply might explore the mythology of Dungeons & Dragons as straight fantasy film. There is an expectation since the adventure game is played with a group of people that Pine will be part of an ensemble of actors playing the lead roles.

The iconic table-top game was a huge hit in the 1980s and recently got a resurgence thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things popularizing it with a new generation. It’s mostly a hodgepodge of fantasy elements and creatures either created via the Monster Manuel or influenced by existing material pulled from various literary sources.

Pine is likely best known globally for his lead roles in the Star Trek and Wonder Woman films making him an obvious franchise player in the eyes of a studio. This wouldn’t be the first time Chris has swung a sword as he played Scottish historical hero Robert The Bruce in the Netflix film The Outlaw King from director David Mackenzie.

I watched it recently and was quite impressed with Pine’s accent.

THE OUTLAW KING – The untold, true story of Robert The Bruce who transformed from defeated nobleman, to reluctant King, to outlaw hero over the course of an extraordinary year. Forced into battle in order to save his family, his people and his country from the oppressive English occupation of medieval Scotland, Robert seizes the Scottish crown and rallies a ragtag group of men to face off against the wrath of the world’s strongest army lead by the ferocious King Edward 1 and his volatile son, the Prince of Wales.

Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley made waves with their comedy Game Night, but also penned Marvel’s successful Spider-Man: Homecoming and led the duo being hired to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. only for them to eventually exit.

Dungeons & Dragons currently has a release date of May 27, 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Trek’: Screenwriter Mark L. Smith Talks Quentin Tarantino Project and Seemingly Confirms Captain Kirk’s Involvement

When news hit that Paramount Pictures would be rethinking the Star Trek franchise placing Noah Hawley’s Star Trek 4 on pause it was revealed by Deadline that the Quentin Tarantino project penned by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Overlord, The Midnight Sky) may have been influenced by a classic Star Trek episode titled “A Piece of The Action” that featured a 1930s gangster setting.

Tarantino dropped out as director, but the project is still viable based on an episode of the classic Star Trek series that takes place largely earthbound in a 30s gangster setting — might serve the franchise best as Logan-like spinoffs when the core franchise has been revitalized. 

SFX Magazine (via Games Radar) spoke with Mark L. Smith and he certainly indicated that Captain Kirk would have been part of it. We have to assume they would have wanted Chris Pine back in that role given Tarantino’s previous supportive comments on Pine.

SMITH: “I wrote a Star Trek with Tarantino, and that was a sci-fi script on which I could have fun and lean into some bigger, broader things. Kirk is always just so fun. Tarantino and I had so much fun with him, because Kirk is just William Shatner, y’know? It’s like: you’re not sure who is who, so you can kinda lean into that. Because you watch Chris Pine and he’s playing Kirk, but he’s also playing William Shatner a touch.”

How Paramount moves forward with the franchise is a little unclear as Star Trek 4 isn’t happening anytime soon and the studio seems to be more keen to grind-out various television shows for it’s streaming service. Tarantino also has been public that he is going to be working on books and is prepping a television series of Bounty Law as well.

SOURCE: SFX MAGAZINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Terminator’: Mackenzie Davis Says She Would Have Returned For ‘Terminator 7’ and Dishes Details

You might remember that during the promotion of Terminator: Dark Fate, that producer and co-creator James Cameron (also has story credit on Terminator: Dark Fate) talked-up to Cinema Blend knowing where a new Terminator trilogy could be going and having all these “ideas” about the next two films.

CAMERON: “I feel like one of my major motivations on this film or coming back to the, hopefully franchise, was to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence. I don’t feel we did that in Dark Fate. I feel that we set the stage or we set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film.”

“And we know exactly where we’re going to take that idea. What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it’s just going to keep happening. The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other.”

This ultimately is unlikely happening anytime soon as the box office on Dark Fate was again disappointing and sequel plans have seemingly been placed on ice. Actress Mackenzie Davis has now revealed during an interview on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that Terminator 7 would have allowed another version of Grace to appear and she’d reprise the role again.

HOROWITZ: Your character obviously didn’t make it through to the end of the movie. Was that it? Was there any resurrection plan if there were sequels?

DAVIS: “When does an NDA expire?…Yeah…like it was gonna be a timeline thing sort of , where there’d be another timeline that you’d explore. Like, there’s no resurrection, but she came from the future, so…”

HOROWITZ: So we go to the future and we see you in the future? Presumably.

DAVIS: “Yeah.”

What will happen with the Terminator franchise in the future is unknown but with Skydance and Paramount developing shows based on their film properties, a streaming series likely wouldn’t be out the realm of possibilities. However, I’m sure there are plenty of fans that would be fine with nothing new happening anytime soon.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

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Paramount In Talks With ‘Creed 2’ Director Steven Caple Jr. For Next ‘Transformers’ Film Penned By ‘Kenobi’ Writer

After months of searching Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Studios has found a director for their next Transformers film. Deadline reports that Creed 2 director Steven Caple Jr. has been tapped by the studio for the upcoming blockbuster gig that will see him tackle a new film in the newly soft-reboot of the franchise that started with Bumblebee.

They point out that negotiations haven’t begun with the director.

This will be based on the script that screenwriter Joby Harold (Kenobi, Army of The Dead) developed.

This news would likely explain why Steven wasn’t being considered for Creed 3 with star Michael B. Jordan mulling over making his directorial debut on the Rocky spinoff sequel.

Hasbro Studios is also behind G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes and a new Power Rangers film.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Jeff Nichols To Write and Direct ‘A Quiet Place 3’ For A Release In 2022

Deadline reports that filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special) has been hired by Paramount Pictures to write and direct a third film in the A Quiet Place franchise, which had it’s first two installments directed by John Krasinski.

They aren’t saying if the project is a direct sequel featuring the Abbott family or simply set in the world of the other two films.

Jeff had been developing a remake of Alien Nation for 20th Century Fox before the merger with Disney. The original was a sci-fi take on the Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop model of the buddy cop genre.

A Quiet Place II was delayed by Paramount Pictures to April 23rd, 2021 due to COVID-19.

A QUIET PLACE II – The Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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

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Eddie Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ Heading To Amazon For An Impressive $125M and Could Drop December 18th On Prime Video

I guess we won’t have to wait too long before getting access to Eddie Murphy’s long-awaited sequel to his 1988 hit Coming To America titled Coming 2 America.

Variety is reporting that Amazon in the process of purchasing the comedy sequel for a hefty $125 million from Paramount Pictures and is planning on dropping the film over the holidays, possibly on December 18th.

Prince Akeem is set to become king of the fictional country of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son he never knew about in America — a street-savvy Queens native named Lavelle. To honor the former king’s dying wish to groom his grandson as the crown prince, Akeem and Semmi set off to America.

Paramount had originally planned on releasing the film theatrically on August 7th before delaying it to December 18th, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Joining Eddie in the sequel directed by Craig Brewer includes James Earl Jones, Jermaine Fowler, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Arsenio Hall, and Wesley Snipes.

Brewer and Murphy had recently teamed on the Netflix film Dolemite Is My Name.

We could see more sales from studios looking to offload their delayed features to streaming services for some quick cash considering that many studios are having to push multiple films out of the 2020 slate entirely. Amazon had also recently acquired the Borat sequel and Paramount’s spy action flick Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan that takes place within the Jack Ryan universe created by Tom Clancy.

COMING TO AMERICA – Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is the prince of a wealthy African country and wants for nothing, except a wife who will love him in spite of his title. To escape an arranged marriage, Akeem flees to America accompanied by his persnickety sidekick, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), to find his queen. Disguised as a foreign student working in fast food, he romances Lisa (Shari Headley), but struggles with revealing his true identity to her and his marital intentions to his king father (James Earl Jones).

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell Spotted Filming ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Action Scene In Rome, Italy

After spending some time filming scenes in Norway, the production of Mission: Impossible 7 has moved to Rome, Italy as The Associated Press has posted some set footage of actors Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter, Captain America: The First Avenger) filming an action scene that features a police car.

They had been planning on filming in Venice before a COVID-19 outbreak in the city led to a production halt.

Hayley Atwell has been teasing stunt driving and weapons training for the film on her Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Lq1gtguB7/

Christopher McQuarrie has returned to write and direct the next two installments which would be using the working title Libra as primary filming was taking place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England.

There was a recent casting shake-up as character actor Esai Morales (Ozark, Titans) has replaced Nicholas Hoult as the film’s villain after Hoult had to bow-out over a scheduling conflict. The rest of the cast includes Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, and the original film’s cast member Henry Czerny. 

The studio had recently bumped the release dates for the pair of action sequels due to the production delays, those new spots in the release calendar are November 19th, 2021, and November 4th, 2022.

SOURCE: AP

Posted on in Film News

Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot Reunite For Paramount’s ‘Cleopatra’ Movie – Written By ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis

Deadline has some interesting news this weekend as Wonder Woman duo of director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot are set to reunite on a Cleopatra biopic film written by Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, Altered Carbon, Shutter Island) for Paramount Pictures. The studio won a biding war that included contenders such as Warner Bros., Netflix, Universal, and Apple.

It most recently had Dune and Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve attached for a time before it eventually moved to Jenkins.

Cleopatra is the daughter of Ptolemy, ancestor of the leader of Alexander the Great’s army. When Rome’s ruler Julius Caesar’s mentor-turned-rival Pompey fled to Egypt after a brutal war for control of the empire, Egypt became a fixation of Roman rulers. Two siblings battled for the throne of Egypt. After winning that internal struggle by appealing personally to Caesar, Cleopatra had a complicated relationship with Rome, becoming the lover of Caesar and later Marc Antony. The latter alliance would become the undoing of both Antony and Cleopatra.

While Jenkins is currently known for directing Wonder Woman and the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984, she has tackled mostly serious features including the serial killer film Monster that earned Charlize Theron a Best Actress Oscar.

Laeta Kalogridis’ background in the action genre would suggest that the film could be more than strictly a period drama.

When filming is expected to begin is a little unclear at the moment as Gal is currently shooting Netflix’s Red Notice and has other projects in the works as well.

SOURCE: DEADLINE