EXCLUSIVE: Amblin’s Dracula Movie ‘Last Voyage Of The Demeter’ Enlists ‘Monster Hunter’ & ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ Production Designer

Production is underway on Amblin’s vampire movie The Last Voyage of The Demeter. The story is taken directly from Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel about the Count’s trip from Carpathia to London, where he essentially fed on the ship’s crew at night.

The script is based on a single chapter, “The Captain’s Log,” from Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, which tells the story of the Russian schooner, Demeter, which was charted to carry private cargo (twenty four unmarked wooden creates) from Carpathia to London. 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 Harbour, it was a derelict. There was no trace of the crew.

We first revealed that director Andre Ovredal would be reuniting with cinematographer Roman Osin (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark).

The Ronin can confirm that Demeter has production designer Edward Thomas working on the film’s design/sets, who has been behind genre films such as Monster Hunter, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Escape Room, and the recent sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions.

The horror pic’s casts consists of Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island, The Walking Dead), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Clash of The Titans, The Guard) as the Demeter’s captain, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones, The Nightingale, Black Narcissus), David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049), longtime creature actor Javier Botet (It, Game of Thrones, Slender Man, Alien: Covenant, Crimson Peak, The Conjuring 2) is set to play Dracula, Jon Jon Briones (Ratched), Stefan Kapicic (Deadpool, Deadpool 2), Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman, Martin Furulund and Chris Walley.

The Last Voyage of The Demeter has been a project kicking around Hollywood for ages with previous directors such as David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, Hannibal, American Gods, Black Mirror) and Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones, Westworld, Hellboy, Lost In Space) attaching themselves to only exit. Viggo Mortensen, Noomi Rapace, Jude Law, and Ben Kingsley were reportedly once involved at various stages.

It’s unknown when the film will debut as Amblin recently made a deal with Netflix to fund and distribute original films. There is a good shot that Demeter ends up landing at Netflix.

‘Red Sonja’: Millennium Taps ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’s Hannah John-Kamen For Their Sword & Sorcery Action Flick

Millennium Films has finally found their new Red Sonja as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that British actress Hannah John-Kamen will be playing the fantasy heroine birthed from the pages of Marvel Comics and inspired by characters from Conan creator Robert E. Howard.

Hannah has been long involved with genre projects with credits that include Ant-Man & The Wasp, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Mirror, Misfits, Tomb Raider, Ready Player One, Game of Thrones, and Brave New World. She recently nabbed the Jill Valentine role in the Resident Evil reboot.

Sonya was created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian comic in the early 1970s and was an amalgam of several characters from Conan creator Robert E. Howard. The character, fiery and strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Conan while refusing his advances, proved popular enough to get her own book, continuing to this day even as the Howard and Conan licenses have moved through several companies. Millennium is saying their movie is based on the comic published by Dynamite Entertainment

The film will be directed by Transparent’s Joey Soloway, after the studio removed X-Men’s Bryan Singer in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations. Soloway also co-wrote the remake’s script with Tasha Huo.

Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen played the role originally alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1985 film. A reboot had been previously in the works from producer Robert Rodriguez with Planet Terror’s Rose McGowan set to play the role before things fell apart.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

George R.R. Martin’s ‘In The Lost Lands’ Getting Film Adaptation From Director Paul W.S. Anderson With Milla Jovovich & Dave Bautista Starring

Deadline is reporting that George R.R. Martin’s fantasy short story In The Lost Lands is going to be getting a big screen adaptation from Resident Evil franchise director Paul W.S. Anderson and FilmNation. Martin is most best-known for creating the Game of Thrones franchise, so the project should have some increased interest given the connection to the author.

They also reveal that Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista are attached to star in the fantast-action film as the sorceress Gray Alys and a drifter named Boyce.

Anderson is adapting the short into a script.

The movie will follow a queen, desperate to obtain the gift of shape shifting, who makes a daring play: she hires the sorceress Gray Alys (Jovovich), a woman as feared as she is powerful. Sent to the ghostly wilderness of the ‘Lost Lands’, Alys and her guide, the drifter Boyce (Bautista), must outwit and outfight man and demon in a fable that explores the nature of good and evil, debt and fulfillment, love and loss.

Milla’s action roles go back to Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element and got most of international notoriety from leading the profitable Resident Evil film franchise, she was most recently seen in Lionsgate’s Hellboy reboot.

Bautista is coming off his involvement with Marvel’s successful Guardians of The Galaxy franchise with a third installment on the horizon along with appearing in the box office juggernauts Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He recently worked with Zack Snyder on the zombie flick Army of The Dead and is attached for an alien bounty hunter movie, titled Universe’s Most Wanted, directed by Brad Payton.

The film’s distribution rights are being sold at the European Film Market’s virtual event.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

‘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

‘Resident Evil’: Reboot Horror Film Adds ‘Shazam!’ and ‘Crawl’ Cinematographer Maxime Alexandre

The Ronin has been able to confirm that cinematographer Maxime Alexandre to the production team of the Resident Evil feature film reboot, as filming has been taking place in the Toronto area with the Canadian leg of the shoot expected to finish this month.

Maxime’s credits include The Nun, Shazam!, Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension, Silent Hill: Revelations, and the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

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.

A release date for Resident Evil has yet to be announced.

New ‘Resident Evil’ Movie Adds ‘Blade’ Actor Donal Logue

Deadline reports that Blade and Gotham actor Donal Logue has joined the cast of the Resident Evil reboot currently filming in the Toronto area.

Chad Rook and Lily Gao also are also new additions.

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, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin.

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 film is a hard-reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise that originally focused on the original character Alice, created by director Paul W.S. Anderson for his string of feature films that barely resembled the Capcom video games.

There is a live-action Netflix series in the works as well.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Live-Action ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Series In The Works At Netflix

Today, Netflix announced formally they’ll be teaming up with Ubisoft Film & Television to develop a live-action series for the streaming service based on the popular and long running video game franchise. They are now currently seeking a showrunner and a cast will likely be assembled once that search is over.

The latest installment of the video game titled Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will explore the era of the Vikings.

A feature film starring Michael Fassbender was released back in 2016 by 20th Century Fox which flopped at the box office earning $240.7 million globally on a budget of $125 million.

ASSASSIN’S CREED – Cal Lynch travels back in time to 15th-century Spain through a revolutionary technology that unlocks the genetic memories contained in his DNA. There, he lives out the experiences of Aguilar de Nerha, a distant relative who’s also a member of the Assassins, a secret society that fights to protect free will from the power-hungry Templar Order. Transformed by the past, Cal begins to gain the knowledge and physical skills necessary to battle the oppressive organization in the present.

Ubisoft had also been developing a feature film based on their pandemic video game IP The Division at Netflix from director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, John Wick) with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain attached to star. However, there hasn’t been any concrete updates in ages.

Assassin’s Creed seemingly would fit alongside other live-action series connected to video games such as their upcoming Resident Evil series and The Witcher (fantasy novels turned into popular video games) series which is heading into Season 2.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Watch The First Trailer For ‘Monster Hunter’ Trailer – Milla Jovovich Returns To Secure Her Crown As The Queen of Video Game Adaptations

MONSTER HUNTER – Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When an unexpected sandstorm transports Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her unit (TI Harris, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta) to a new world, the soldiers are shocked to discover that this hostile and unknown environment is home to enormous and terrifying monsters immune to their firepower. In their desperate battle for survival, the unit encounters the mysterious Hunter (Tony Jaa), whose unique skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the powerful creatures. As Artemis and Hunter slowly build trust, she discovers that he is part of a team led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman). Facing a danger so great it could threaten to destroy their world, the brave warriors combine their unique abilities to band together for the ultimate showdown.

Sony Screen Gems has released the first Monster Hunter trailer which stars Milla Jovovich and martial arts star Tony Jaa from Resident Evil franchise director Paul W.S. Anderson (Soldier, Event Horizon, Alien vs. Predator).

The film looks to be a hybrid homage of Transformers meets Reign of Fire meets Jurassic Park that certainly has it having a lot more scale than the Resident Evil films alongside what looks like could be quality VFX (at least in this trailer). Hopefully, it’s a little more accessible and coherent than the previous Resident Evil films given that it’s an entirely new video game franchise it could allow for something a little more interesting.

Also from Capcom, the Monster Hunter video games skew more into the realm of fantasy adventure.

In an unnamed high fantasy setting, humans and other sentient races have set their eyes on the New World, a separate continent from the populated Old World. The New World is an untamed wilderness where many powerful monsters roam, and where researchers have been drawn to uncover new mysteries. Players take the role of a Hunter that serves to help protect a village or help research the large monsters that roam the various areas near the village.

Milla Jovovich has established herself as one of the few actresses that consistently does genre action gaining an international following from playing both Leeloo from The Fifth Element and Alice in the Resident Evil films.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Monster Hunter’s theatrical release date got bumped-up from April 23rd, 2021 to December 30th. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that date sticks.

Sony Screen Gems also released a new domestic poster.

SOURCE: SONY

‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Cast Officially Includes Kaya Scodelario As Claire Redfield and Hannah John-Kamen As Jill Valentine – Will Be Set In 1998

Constantin Film has announced via Deadline that the cast of their upcoming Resident Evil film reboot which includes 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, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

Instead of continuing the Alice story from the Paul W.S. Anderson films they will going to be taking more of a traditional horror angle with the characters from the Capcom video game leading the film as Alice was created for the films.

RESIDENT EVIL (1996) – Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S., as they investigate the outskirts of Raccoon City following the disappearance of their team members. They soon become trapped in a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters.

Filming is confirmed to take place in the Toronto/Greater Toronto Area aka GTA along with talk of a shoot in New Zealand.

Daniel Richtman first mentioned Kaya was in the mix and The Illuminerdi first mentioned that Hannah was up for the Jill Valentine role.

There had been speculation that Kaya was joining the cast of Amazon’s Lord of The Rings series which seems to be debunked with this announcement.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Film Adds ‘Shazam!’ Production Designer Jennifer Spence

The Ronin has been able to confirm that production designer Jennifer Spence has been hired for the Resident Evil reboot film, which is based on the classic Capcom zombie horror video games.

Jennifer’s extensive horror credits include Lights Out, Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3, Paranormal Activity 2, The Lords of Salem, Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4, Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, and most recently The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

She also worked on DC Comics film Shazam! as well.

They’ve also added art director Tony Ianni, who does extensive work on the sci-fi series The Expanse as art director and now as the show’s production designer.

Some character tidbits that leaked suggested that the new film will focus mostly on iconic characters from the video game franchise rather than continuing the Alice story from the Paul W.S. Anderson films that starred Milla Jovovich.

There is a live-action Netflix series in development as well.

Filming is expected to begin in/around the Toronto area on October 13th and complete by December 19th.