Tag: The Mandalorian

Posted on in Film News, News

Taika Waititi Says He’s Still Keen On Making The ‘Akira’ Movie; “I Don’t Wanna Give Up On That”

Warner Bros. has been trying to make a live-action feature film version of the beloved cyberpunk/body horror anime and manga Akira and their development goes back almost twenty years starting with Stephen Norrington (Blade) in 2002.

Multiple directors had tried to bring the project to the big screen only for things dissolve and the next set of creatives being hired.

The most recent incarnation had Oscar-winner Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) attempting to adapt for the studio, but seemingly hit a brick wall when trying to make sure he was able to cast a string of young Asian kids for the roles. Warner Bros. had been trying to whitewash the project for ages and even relocate the extremely Japanese story to Manhattan.

There had been an assumption that Taika Waititi had moved to bigger and brighter things with an original Star Wars movie on the horizon and his Flash Gordon movie at 20th Century Fox being upgraded from animation to live-action.

While promoting his acting performance in Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy, he spoke to Wired giving the impression he’s still involved with Akira and hasn’t entirely walked away from it.

 “I’m still trying [to make it]. I don’t wanna give up on that.”

Given his busy schedule and admitting his focus is now on his Star Wars project, it’s unlikely he’ll pivot to Akira anytime soon.

The last big anime adaptation was DreamWorks’ box office flop Ghost In The Shell, hopefully, Warner Bros. learns their lesson from that disaster.

If you’re interested in the development of Akira, you can read a feature I wrote for IGN covering the history of live-action adaptation and it includes a heap of concept artwork from various incarnations.

AKIRA – In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after the nuking of the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo’s supernatural powers suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment’s secrets.

SOURCE: WIRED

Posted on in Film News, News

‘John Wick 4’ Adds ‘Highlander’ & ‘Starship Troopers’ Actor Clancy Brown

John Wick 4 hasn’t stopped adding new cast members and the latest one is a doozy.

Deadline reports that veteran character actor Clancy Brown (The Punisher, Billions, SpongeBob SquarePants) has nabbed a role in the action sequel, who is likely best known for his roles in films such as Highlander, Shawshank Redemption, and Starship Troopers.

Director Chad Stahelski and Clancy Brown have a Highlander connection, as Stahelski is attached to direct a reboot of the fantasy action film for Lionsgate. Given that project is spending a portion of its production shooting in Paris, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before French action star Christopher Lambert is announced next.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him. Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

The newest additions to the cast consist of Japanese action star Hiroyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Marko Zaror (Machete Kills, Alita: Battle Angel), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. 

Returning actors are Ian McShane as Winston, Lance Reddick as Charon and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King. Meanwhile, we’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahman making an appearance in John Wick 4.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022, and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in News, Television News

EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Directing Team Expected To Include ‘Extraction’s Sam Hargrave

The next big live-action Star Wars project from Lucasfilm will be The Book of Boba Fett series starring Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Executive producers Robert Rodriguez, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau are confirmed as directing episodes alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and we have another name to add to the list.

The Ronin is hearing that The Mandalorian Season 2 second unit director Sam Hargrave has been given at least one episode to direct on The Book of Boba Fett and could be still doing second unit stuff throughout the series as well.

Hargrave recently directed Chris Hemsworth in the action-packed Netflix film Extraction that was produced by The Russo Brothers. His other stunt coordinator/second unit work includes Atomic Blonde, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool 2, and The Accountant.

The Book of Boba Fett has already wrapped and will debut on Disney+ sometime in December according to Lucasfilm. We should expect a trailer to drop sometime between now and the fall.

As teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the season finale of The Mandalorian, the legendary bounty hunter’s journey will continue in The Book of Boba Fett. Jon Favreau, executive producer of The Mandalorian, confirmed today on Good Morning America that the new series is currently in production and will arrive December 2021, only on Disney+.

The Book of Boba Fett will be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and star Temuera Morrison as the titular bounty hunter, along with Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Robert Rodriguez — who directed Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, a thrilling installment that reintroduced Boba Fett to the Star Wars galaxy — joins Favreau and Dave Filoni as executive producer.

Cinematographer Dean Cundey has been revealed to be working behind the camera. His fantastic collection of credits consists of Escape of New York, The Fog, Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future Trilogy, Apollo 13, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

We previously confirmed that Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones (The Mandalorian Season 1-3) worked on The Book of Boba Fett as well.

The studio is pushing forward with a wave of live-action projects as Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Mandalorian Season 3 are said to be in various points of production with things such as The Acolyte, Lando, Ahsoka, and Rangers of The New Republic also in development stages at Lucasfilm.

EXTRACTION – A black-market mercenary who has nothing to lose is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. But in the murky underworld of weapons dealers and drug traffickers, an already deadly mission approaches the impossible.

Posted on in Television News

Season 3 Of ‘The Mandalorian’ Might Be Currently In Production & Won’t Air Until 2022

It looks like The Mandalorian will be ready to air on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

American Cinematographer has seemingly revealed that Season 3 of The Mandalorian has begun filming after doing a rundown of various productions using new advanced filming techniques, including ILM’s StageCraft. Below is an excerpt from their lengthy article where they mention the new season has started shooting.

Shows that planned to leverage in-camera VFX from the start include two that will be shot using StageCraft, Industrial Light & Magic’s real-time animation pipeline for LED volumes: The Book of Boba Fett, which will be released later this year, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, set for release in 2022. Both series will use the same volume initially built for The Mandalorian in Manhattan Beach, Calif. More Star Wars shows, including Andor, are in production at Pinewood Studios in England, where ILM has built another large StageCraft volume. Season 3 of The Mandalorian is now in production.

While they have zero reasons to make up news like this, normally, it helps to have either a trade or Lucasfilm/Disney to back this up. However, they’ve been sort of cagey with production details lately and we had to learn about Obi-Wan Kenobi’s shoot directly from Ewan McGregor as other folks weren’t talking to the press about it.

Season 2 ended with Grogu leaving with Luke Skywalker to be trained as a Jedi and Mando has acquired the Darksaber, making him the ruler of Mandalore and will likely lead to Bo-Katan challenging him at some point. It feels like a bigger Imperial threat has yet to be uncovered.

The Ronin can confirm that production designer Andrew Jones is back after working on Seasons 1-2 and The Book of Boba Fett.

Interestingly enough, Pedro Pascal’s The Last of Us series for HBO begins shooting this month in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and will likely pause shooting to allow him to film his scenes for Season 3 of The Mandalorian.

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are coming off shooting The Book of Boba Fett with Robert Rodriguez along with both Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi still in production. It seems like Lucasfilm is burning the candles on both ends to double-up on their Star Wars content for Disney+ in the next year or so. However, it’s unclear when stuff like Ahsoka, Lando, The Acolyte, and Rangers of The New Republic will begin their shoots.

SOURCE: AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

Posted on in Television News

Disney+ Will Continue Dropping Original Series Episodes On Wednesdays & Original Films On Fridays

When Marvel’s Loki series moved from the traditional Fridays to Wednesdays, it felt like a shift in how Disney+ would be dropping original programming as Fridays had been traditionally meant for their big Star Wars and Marvel shows.

However, Deadline is reporting that the streaming is planning to keep original shows for Wednesdays as Fridays will be for original films. The news seems to stem from a new press release of show release dates.

Going forward, the streamer will drop all of its originals on Wednesdays. This will include all original scripted, unscripted and animated series. ..Disney+ Original Movies will continue to premiere on Fridays.

I have to assume this will include Premier Access films are continuing to stick with Fridays such as Marvel’s Black Widow and other projects that will be heading to that added pay service in the future. I’m slightly curious if this means they’ll be aiming to release a greater number of original films weekly and could suggest some stuff that was meant for the big screen could be tossed on Disney+ instead, like the last two Pixar films, Soul and Luca.

Upcoming Disney+ original series coming in the not too distant future include Willow, What…If?, Ms. Marvel, The Book of Boba Fett, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Secret Invasion, Armor Wars, The Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special, Ironheart, Echo, and much much more.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Kong: Skull Island’ Actor Eugene Cordero Reunites With Tom Hiddleston In The First ‘Loki’ Episode

There was an interesting reunion in the first episode of Loki as comedian Eugene Cordero (The Good Place, Star Trek: Lower Decks) has a small role as a Time Variance Agency employee named Casey.

Cordero appeared alongside Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and Samuel L. Jackson in the Monsterverse film Kong: Skull Island playing one of the soldiers. He also appeared in Season 1 of The Mandalorian as one of the farmers that begs Mando to protect their village from bandits, making the comedian part of two rather large universes now.

Loki tracks down Casey to get his hands on the Tesseract, only to discover that in the TVA cosmic and magic power doesn’t work. His desk drawer is full of infinity stones as they’re just shiny objects that are often used as paperweights in the office.

We’ll have to keep watching the series to see if Eugene’s character is just a one-time thing.

Posted on in Film News

‘Watchmen’ & ‘Batman v Superman’ Cinematographer Larry Fong Returns To The Superhero Genre With Paramount’s ‘Secret Headquarters’

The Ronin can confirm that veteran cinematographer Larry Fong is indeed finally returning to the superhero genre with Paramount Pictures’ Secret Headquarters, which is currently in-production and is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer via Bruckheimer Films.

A high-concept family action movie about a kid who discovers the secret headquarters of the world’s most powerful superhero hidden beneath his home and must defend it with his group of friends when villains attack.

Fong’s list of credits include big studio projects such as Watchmen, 300, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kong: Skull Island, The Predator, Sucker Punch, Super 8, and the upcoming Chris Pratt sci-fi action flick The Tomorrow War.

If you kept your eyes peeled during Zack Snyder’s latest effort, Army of The Dead, you would have noticed a cheeky not to his longtime cinematographer, who happened to have worked on the magician franchise Now You See Me. Snyder decided to be his own director of photography on the action-packed zombie movie.

Secret Headquarters stars comedic actor Owen Wilson (Loki, The Life Aquatic, Wedding Crashers) and will be directed by Project Power’s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The directing duo is also attached to helm a feature film adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book, Nemesis, for Warner Bros. with a script penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman).

It has an original story and script from Christopher Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok), the latest draft was worked on by Joost, Schulman, and Josh Koenigsberg.

Owen Wilson can be seen next starring alongside Tom Hiddleston in the highly-anticipated Marvel Studios series Loki, set to debut on Disney+ tomorrow.

Posted on in Film News

‘Predators’ Actress Alice Braga Joins Ben Affleck In Action Thriller ‘Hypnotic’ Directed By Robert Rodriguez – Shoots This September In Austin

Director Robert Rodriguez is in high demand these days after helming Alita: Battle Angel for James Cameron, then jumping into the world of Star Wars with Season 2 of The Mandalorian and then being behind the Boba Fett spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett for Lucasfilm.

His next big project is an action thriller, titled Hypnotic, that stars Ben Affleck as a “detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program while investigating a string of high-end crimes.”

Deadline has a casting update mentioning that Brazilian actress Alice Braga has taken a role in the film. Braga has a connection to Rodriguez as she had a lead role in Predators, the third film in the Predator franchise was developed and produced by the filmmaker. Her other credits include I Am Legend, Repo Men, New Mutants, Queen of The South, and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

They also state that production will begin again on September 20 in Austin, Texas, where Robert’s own studio facility, Troublemaker Studios, is located.

Affleck is currently working on The Flash, reprising his Batman/Bruce Wayne role alongside fellow Caped Crusader alumni Michael Keaton. He also wrapped work on the George Clooney-directed drama The Tender Bar.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Lucasfilm Pumping The Breaks On Their ‘Rangers of The New Republic’ Series?

Back in December, Lucasfilm’s Kathy Kennedy announced that a new Star Wars series, titled Rangers of The New Republic, would be part of a lineup of new shows for Disney+ adding that it would take place within the timeline of The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni set to executive produce. We had heard that Favreau was going to be the showrunner on the project but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be in front of cameras anytime soon.

A small tidbit briefly mentioned in a new Variety write-up highlighting Dave Filoni’s new title as Executive Creative Director (as listed on the Lucasfilm website), suggests that the series currently isn’t in “active development.” This could mean the duo aren’t actively writing or planning-out the newly announced show which isn’t shocking with three other big Star Wars projects on their plate currently.

It’s worth mentioning they didn’t say the project isn’t happening or has been cancelled.

There had been some theories that after Gina Carano was fired by the studio back in February that the show might be in peril as it was said to focus on Carano’s Cara Dune (unconfirmed by Lucasfilm), the second season of The Mandalorian did seemingly attempt to prime audiences for this new series. However, Lucasfilm doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type of company after replacing a handful of directors instead of cancelling projects entirely and would end an entire show over a single actor.

Then again, they temporarily killed films that would center on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett only to give them Disney+ shows instead.

This doesn’t mean Rangers of The New Republic can’t be retooled later or isn’t going to be made entirely, but likely since The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Season 3 of the The Mandalorian are going to be priorities for Favreau and Filoni, there is a good chance that they’re just a little busy at the moment with three other shows to make time for this fourth project. Personally, I believe they could push forward with a recast/new character alongside adding Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Captain Carson Teva and Bill Burr’s Migs Mayfeld to the lineup. Until Lucasfilm says they’re not making it we should assume it’s happening at a later date.

The Book of Boba Fett is the next big Star Wars series to debut on Disney+ in December with Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi currently shooting.

Posted on in Film News

‘The Mandalorian’ Cinematographer Baz Idoine Confirms He’s Working On ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder (working title The Big Salad) has been filming at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia with director Taika Waititi returning to make the fourth installment. The film’s mysterious cinematographer has been officially revealed.

Speaking with New Zealand outlet Kea, Baz Idoine confirmed he is currently working on Thor: Love & Thunder. He is best known for his Emmy-winning work on The Mandalorian series and was the second unit cinematographer on American Sniper and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

IDOINE: “I can’t talk much about them, but I’m working in Australia at the moment on Thor: Love and Thunder which I’ll be working on until the end of 2021. Then, I’ll just see what happens. Personally, my wife and I are hoping to move back to New Zealand next year.”

Taika and Baz previously worked together on The Mandalorian. This could potentially explain why The Book of Boba Fett was placed into production in the fall instead of Season 3 of The Mandalorian as the show’s cinematographer has been busy working on a Marvel Studios movie. I’m curious if the two will reunite on Taika’s untitled Star Wars movie he is developing for Lucasfilm.

Love & Thunder will introduce the cosmic beings known as The Olympians and will feature cameos from many members of Guardians of The Galaxy, one of the final scenes of Avengers: Endgame saw Thor leaving Earth with the Guardians to go on an adventure in space.

The film’s cast consists of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie of New Asgard, Russell Crowe as Zeus, Matt Damon as fake Loki, Melissa McCarthy as fake Hela, Sam Neill as fake Odin, Luke Hemsworth as fake Thor, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Taika as the lovable Korg, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin.

Thor: Love & Thunder will open in theaters on May 6, 2022.

SOURCE: KEA