Tag: Skydance Media

Posted on in Film News, News

Director Guy Ritchie Casts John Krasinski & Natalie Portman For Global Heist Adventure Flick ‘Fountain Of Youth’ At Apple

There doesn’t seem to be any stopping Guy Ritchie as The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the British director has selected his next feature film effort with “Fountain of Youth.” It will focus on “two estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth” and landed at Apple Original Films/Skydance Media. The outlet also names actors John Krasinski (“Jack Ryan”) and Natalie Portman (“Thor: Love & Thunder”) as the two leads of the film playing the aforementioned siblings with an original script penned by James Vanderbilt.

The veteran screenwriter has a varied group of credits that include the John McTiernan-directed military whodunnit “Basic,” David Fincher’s fantastic serial killer pic “Zodiac,” the last two “Scream” movies, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” Dwayne Johnson’s Brazil-set actioner “The Rundown,” and the upcoming post-WWII drama “Nuremberg” starring Russell Crowe that is based on the novel “The Nazi & The Psychiatrist” by Jack El-Hai.

Ritchie has been a bit of a workhorse lately after delivering Disney a billion-dollar hit with “Aladdin” by shooting a string of quickly developed movies since 2018 that consist of “The Gentlemen,” “Wrath of Man,” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre,” “The Covenant,” and the upcoming WWII commando flick “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” The filmmaker most recently reunited with Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal for an untitled action thriller, which will see them play two extraction specialists who are tasked to designate a route of escape for a senior female negotiator with that latter role being occupied by Eiza González (“Ambulance”).

Despite mainly focusing on grinding out a horde of action-packed films, Ritchie is also involved with a series spinoff of “The Gentlemen” as well that will drop on Netflix in the not-too-distant future which stars actors Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, and longtime pal/former football star Vinnie Jones (“Snatch”).

Eddie Halstead inherits large estate from father, unaware it fronts Pearson’s drug empire. With no crime experience, he must take over the operation or lose the estate.

Interestingly enough, the director’s former creative partner and producer Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake”) has also set up shop at the streaming service after Apple spent an impressive $200 million to acquire his spy-comedy “Argylle.” There had been talk that the film could spawn a new franchise which is said to be a motivating factor why Apple spent so much money on securing the film that will debut on February 2, 2024, with Universal Pictures handling the distribution before it lands on Apple TV+.

The report isn’t exactly clear when they plan to begin production on “Fountain of Youth,” but I’m sure we’ll be getting more details in the coming weeks and months on that front.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

Rebecca Ferguson To Star In Skydance’s Fantasy Revenge Flick ‘Best Served Cold’ From ‘Deadpool’ Director Tim Miller

“Deadpool” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” director Tim Miller has finally found his next big feature film project after spending his time recently on the acclaimed animated anthology series “Love Death + Robots” at Netflix that he co-produces with David Fincher. The new project is based on the fantasy revenge novel “Best Served Cold” from author Joe Abercrombie and landed an A-list actress to lead it.

Deadline has revealed that Rebecca Ferguson has been enlisted to play the film’s heroine. Ferguson is no stranger to genre projects becoming a main staple of the “Mission Impossible” franchise along with the two “Dune” films. She’ll play the legendary mercenary Monza Murcatto, who is the aforementioned revenge seeker of the story. Abercrombie has also penned the script and has previously worked with Miller on “Love Death + Robots.”

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employer’s taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die. Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started…

While an actual distributor home isn’t named in the report, Skydance has been expanding it’s reach on streaming services such as Apple, Netflix, and Amazon. They do still put out theatrical releases for Paramount Pictures but there is a really good chance this project does end up on streaming. Given Ferguson’s hit series “Silo” is an Apple TV+ success, we shouldn’t be terrible shocked if it lands there.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Buck Rogers’: Skydance Developing A Competing Movie As Legendary Is Hit With Legal Threats From Buck Rogers Estate

Deadline is reporting that Skydance Media is going to be making their own Buck Rogers project after there was news of Legendary hiring Brian K. Vaughn to write a new live-action series with George Clooney set to produce and possibly star as the titular Buck. This is certainly odd given that Legendary had announced it secured animation, film, and television rights to the sci-fi pulp hero.

But there seemingly have been ongoing legal issues and claims surrounding the property for ages.

Skydance is apparently developing a feature film with the Buck Rogers Estate sending a cease-and-desist letter to Legendary in the hopes of them nixing their projects claiming they’ve already signed away the property rights to Skydance. However, it doesn’t sound like Legendary is actually taking the threat of legal action seriously.

This isn’t the first or last time that a IP’s rights have been fought over.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Spy Kids’: Director Robert Rodriguez Rebooting The Kid-Friendly Action Franchise With New Movie

Robert Rodriguez is working on yet another new project!

Deadline reports that Robert has signed-on to write and direct a reboot of his Spy Kids franchise for Skydance Media and Spyglass Media. Robert attempted a soft-reboot of sorts with Spy Kids: All The Time In The World but Carmen and Juni still appeared connecting it to the previous three movies, it’s unknown if this will be another hard-reboot or expansion simply with a new family/kids.

Rodriguez is also working on is the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett, a spinoff set in The Mandalorian timeline starring Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen that is said to be currently filming California for debut on Disney+ in December 2021. He wrapped the Ben Affleck thriller Hypnotic and recently got a sequel to We Can Be Heroes greenlit by Netflix.

SPY KIDS – Two young kids become spies in attempt to save their parents, who are ex-spies, from an evil mastermind. Armed with a bag of high tech gadgets and out-of-this world transportation, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara) will bravely jet through the air, dive under the seas and crisscross the globe in a series of thrilling adventures on a mission to save their parents … and maybe even the world.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘The Tomorrow War’: Amazon Reportedly Offering $200M To Buy Chris Pratt Sci-Fi Movie From Paramount

A report from Deadline is claiming that Amazon has now offered Skydance/Paramount a hefty $200 million to secure the rights to their upcoming sci-fi action film The Tomorrow War, which stars Guardians of The Galaxy and Jurassic World actor Chris Pratt.

Tonight, Amazon has aggressively offered $200M. The deal is still not done. Amazon recently bought Paramount’s Coming 2 America for $125M, which was set to debut during the year-end holiday corridor, and Skydance’s Without Remorse which was also set to get a theatrical release via Paramount this past autumn.

It was directed by The Lego Batman Movie‘s Chris McKay and we’re still waiting on more significant promotion materials from the film including a first-look trailer.

The film follows a man (played by Chris Pratt) who is drafted to fight a future war in which the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront his past. 

As pointed out by Deadline, this wouldn’t be the first film that Amazon has picked up from either studio which should give them an edge on other suitors at major streaming services alongside the hefty offer. They’re quick to point that this has yet to be accepted or finalized.

In all likelihood they’re moving quickly on securing a deal quickly, so that Amazon can piece together promo materials for the upcoming Super Bowl, normally a place where studios spend a lot of money to promote upcoming films. However, given the uncertainty of release dates we might end up seeing more spending from the streaming side this year.

Pratt recently completed work on Jurassic World: Dominion for Universal Pictures, has seemingly started or about to begin work in Sydney on Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder directed by Taika Waititi, and is set to return again as Star-Lord for James Gunn‘s Guardians of The Galaxy 3.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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

Posted on in Film News

Mark Ruffalo Is The Latest Marvel Alumni To Join Ryan Reynolds’ Sci-Fi Film ‘The Adam Project’

The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned that Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo and veteran actress Catherine Keener (Get Out, Out of Sight, Being John Malkovich) have joined Shawn Levy’s upcoming sci-fi action film The Adam Project, Ruffalo becoming the fourth actor from a Marvel Comics film. The time-travel film coming from Skydance Media and will land at Netflix.

The pair will be joining Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of The Galaxy), and Jennifer Garner (Daredevil, Elektra).

Ruffalo and Garner worked together on 13 Going On 30 back in 2004.

Reynolds is starring as a man who travels back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they have to find their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds, and set things right in order to save the future.

Ruffalo is playing Reynolds’ dad, a brilliant physicist. Keener will play the movie’s villain, a woman who has stolen powerful technology from the physicist.

We previously confirmed that Brian Smrz will act as the second unit director on The Adam Project and will be overseeing the film’s action sequences. Brian’s credits include X-Men 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Iron Man 3, Terminator Genisys, The Predator, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

A sign to the scale Skydance could aiming for with the action scenes.

Filming is already underway in Vancouver.

Mark Ruffalo had a stellar role in Best Picture winner Spotlight as he’s been mostly working on Marvel Studios films with The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and is expected to play Professor Hulk in the upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk.

She-Hulk begins filming in Atlanta around March when The Adam Project is said to wrap.

Director Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Stranger Thins) and Ryan have already worked together on the 20th Century Studios film Free Guy.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series Reboot Shooting In Toronto From April To July – Stars Alan Ritchson

The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that Skydance and Amazon’s upcoming Jack Reacher series reboot starring Alan Ritchson will be shooting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Filming is on the streaming series is expected to take place next year from April 15th to July 30th.

Alan Ritchson isn’t a stranger to shooting projects in Canada as he shot DC Universe’s Titans in Toronto as well.

The first season is reportedly taking cues from the novel The Killing Floor written by Lee Child and takes place in Georgia.

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

Tom Cruise previously played the titular role in the Paramount feature films Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. A casting choice that author Lee Child was never happy with given the character is a tall and hulking figure in the books.

Skydance Media is also behind Amazon’s Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski.

Since that Jack Reacher isn’t likely going to wrap until the summer (barring production delays) I wouldn’t assume that it would be ready to be released before the fall of 2021 or early 2022.

Posted on in Film News

Ryan Reynolds and Director Shawn Levy To Reunite For Time-Travelling Movie At Skydance

Free Guy director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds will be reuniting for a time-travel feature film project once titled Our Name Is Adam that is coming from Skydance Media.

It’s based on a spec-script penned by T.S. Nowlin that later saw screenwriter Jonathan Tropper attached to rework it.

Reynolds will star as a man who must travel back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they encounter their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds.

Ryan has quickly turned into one of Skydance’s most visible actors after working on Michael Bay’s 6 Underground and is expected to resume filming on Red Notice very soon in Atlanta. Both projects being distributed by Netflix and there is a good shot this new one will end up at Netflix as well.

The Canadian actor is also attached for Netflix’s Dragon’s Lair, a fantasy adventure film based on the famous arcade game. Considering Ryan’s busy schedule it’s unclear when this could begin filming.

Other upcoming projects from Skydance Media include The Tomorrow War, G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes, Without Remorse, and Top Gun: Maverick.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER