David Chase’s Sopranos previous film The Many Saints of Newark, left a lot to be desired as it felt like “Call-Back: The Movie” and for fans sort of simply rehashed stories told in the show rather than giving us something new.
Well, it’s starting to sound like Chase and WarnerMedia are inching closer to more Sopranos content in the near future. WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff spoke to Deadline revealing they are in active talks with David Chase about a new Sopranos-related series at HBO Max and that film’s poor box office wasn’t a huge factor.
“Yes, the box office was not quite as big, but back again to the demographics of whose going to theaters. On the other hand, you see Sopranos pop into the top 10 of the most viewed series on the service. It’s given it an entirely new life. We’re talking to David about a new series Sopranos related on HBO Max. It’s (the movie) literally lifted the Sopranos franchise in a new way, so you can’t measure it in and of itself in the box office,” Sarnoff revealed to Deadline.
Another movie could be on the way too.
Sopranos creator David Chase told Deadline that he’s interested in another prequel movie much like Many Saints of Newark.
It’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t attempt to flush-out young Tony, Johnny Boy, and Junior with this potential series, given the actors they’ve assembled it always felt like they were aiming to making stuff beyond The Many Saints of Newark. That’s unless they’ll attempt to go further back in time.
THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK – Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.
Today, it was announced by WarnerMedia and HBO Max that they’ll be developing another DC Comics series for their new streaming platform. This will be the first live-action series to be directly connected to the feature films as the series will be set in the universe of Matt Reeves’ The Batman focusing on the Gotham Police Department.
They’ve given the series a commitment and it will be written by Terence Winter. Winter is a seasoned veteran at HBO thanks to his fantastic crime series such as Sopranos and the prohibition era Boardwalk Empire produced by Martin Scorsese. He also wrote the script for Martin’s excellent Wolf of Wall Street.
Terence’s involvement would suggest the series would likely focus on the seedy and corrupt nature of the police in Gotham City. It will also likely be much more grounded than the previous Jim Gordon series Gotham.
The Batman director and co-writer Matt Reeves will also be directly involved as the show’s producer via his production company 6th & Idaho.
Here is the official press release.
HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television. The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.
Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves and Emmy® winner/Oscar® nominee Winter (The Sopranos, The Wolf of Wall Street) will executive produce with Clark (Bird Box, Rise, Dawn, and War for Planet of the Apes). The drama, which is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, will also be executive produced by 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales from the Loop); Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will co-executive produce. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will distribute the series globally.
Reeves is currently at the helm of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman, which will be released in October 2021. He previously co-wrote and directed War for the Planet of the Apes, directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, wrote and directed Let Me In, and directed Cloverfield, among other films. Recent 6th & Idaho television series include Amazon Prime Video’s Tales from the Loop, starring Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce; the upcoming Netflix drama Away, starring Hilary Swank; and FOX’s The Passage. Reeves previously co-created (with J.J. Abrams) and executive produced the hit series Felicity, directing the pilot and several additional episodes.
Winter was nominated for 12 Emmy® Awards and won four during his tenure on the landmark HBO drama series The Sopranos, twice for Outstanding Drama Series and twice for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. He created the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which ran for five seasons and earned Winter two additional Outstanding Drama Series Emmy® nominations. He was nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award® for writing the Best Picture–nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, who had previously helmed the Boardwalk Empire pilot. He and Scorsese subsequently co-created (with Mick Jagger and Rich Cohen) the HBO drama Vinyl.
We’ll have to wait and see if we’ll end up getting Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon or John Turturro’s mob boss Carmine Falcone in the show, but there is a good shot it’ll happen.
It’s unknown when we’ll ultimately see the show come together and this isn’t the only DC Comics series coming to HBO Max, they’re also working on bringing Green Lantern to life as well.
HBO recently cracked the comic book series code with Damon Lindelof’s excellent Watchmen and has seemingly set a high bar of quality for these other shows. I’m hopeful that having Terence Winter involved that they’ll be able to do something a little more than simply recreating a regular police procedural.
This announcement is kind of ballsy as there have been prominent protests rallying against police brutality over the last couple of months. DC Comics or not, they’ll likely be getting an earful for pushing forward with this when people are fed-up with police in entertainment media.
THE RONIN 