Tag: Warner Bros.

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‘Dune Messiah’: Denis Villeneuve Says Script “Almost Finished” But Hopes To Make Another Movie Before Tackling His Last ‘Dune’ Installment

There has been an assumption of what happens next for the “Dune” franchise once the second installment, the other half of the first book, is released in theaters on March 1, 2024, after being bumped from its November date as Warner Bros. fearing the cast wouldn’t be able to promote the sequel due to the SAG-AFTRA strike (A deal with the AMPTP is now ratified by members). Director, co-writer, and producer Denis Villeneuve is giving us a rather large update.

While speaking at an event in South Korea (via Tong Tong Culture) today to promote “Dune: Part Two,” the filmmaker revealed that the script to “Dune Messiah,” aka, “Dune 3” is nearly finished but doesn’t see himself jumping back to Arrakis anytime soon after a “very challenging” shoot on the second pic.

“There’s the dream of making an adaptation of ‘Dune Messiah,’ the third movie that will be the end of the journey of Paul Atreides. It will make absolute sense for me to do this movie. The movie is being written right now, the screenplay is almost finished, but it’s not finished it will take a little time. I don’t know exactly when I’ll go back to Arrakis, but I might make a detour before just to move away from the sand for my mental sanity (laughs), I might do something in between but my dream would be to rule one last time on this planet that I love.”

Villeneuve also seemed to reiterate that the third film is expected to be when he dismounts from as the franchise director, nothing says someone else couldn’t keep the movies going as there are four other novels from Frank Herbert to adapt. Neither Legendary nor Warner Bros. has officially greenlit/dated the third installment. Still, barring any major box office and critical hiccups next year when “Dune: Part Two” is finally released, there is an expectation that the studio will sign off on the next installment of the “Dune” saga.

One of those potential projects Villeneuve could attempt to make between “Dune” installments is his adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke sci-fi novel “Rendezvous With Rama” and would see him reunite with Alcon Entertainment after working with them on “Blade Runner 2049” and his thriller “Prisoners.” Clarke, of course, was the author and co-writer of the screenplay of the iconic Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The French-Canadian filmmaker was first announced for the project back in December 2021 in an article from The Hollywood Reporter and screenwriter Eric Roth (“Killers of The Flower Moon“) may have revealed doing some screenwriting work on the project last month without directly naming “Rama.”

“I just wrote a movie for Denis Villeneuve. We’ll see what ends up happening with it, but it’s about space and time, and it’s very lonely. It’s certainly about eternity,” Roth said on the Script Apart Podcast.

Rumors based on a production grid making the rounds online had suggested that his next film could be “Cleopatra” for Sony Pictures. However, this has yet to be confirmed/backed up by Villeneuve (Who has yet to announce his involvement), trades, or Sony themselves. Also worth bringing back up is Villeneuve’s new statement from today about “moving away from the sand” for a production shoot which would suggest he’s not itching right now to make a movie about a historical Egyptian leader.

As mentioned, “Dune: Part Two” will hit theaters on March 1, 2024.

You can watch that full exchange with Villeneuve below.

SOURCE: DENIS VILLENEUVE VIA TONG TONG CULTURE

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Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice 2’ Cast Adds Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci & Catharine O’Hara

Tim Burton‘s “Beetlejuice” came out a year before he revitalized the superhero genre with “Batman.” After a nearly three decade attempt to make a sequel, it is finally coming to fruition with “Beetlejuice 2.” Warner Bros. is about to being shooting the sequel soon in London and it comes after star Michael Keaton had recreantly returned to the Bruce Wayne/Batman role for “The Flash” film. Burton, who back in the director’s chair, is slowly assembling quite the interesting cast and the newest acquisition is no different.

Backing up previous rumblings online, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that actor Willem Dafoe (“Poor Things”) has indeed joined the cast alongside fellow new additions such as Jenna Ortega (“Scream 6”), Justin Theroux (“Leftovers”), and Monica Bellucci (“Spectre”). Returning cast members include Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catharine O’Hara is now confirmed to be reprising the role of Lydia’s mother from the original pic.

In the first movie, Beetlejuice was more of an adversary than his cartoon counterpart and with Bellucci said to be playing the ghost’s wife in the sequel it could quell some of the more icky aspects of the 1988 installment. Mainly, Beetlejuice trying to marry a minor and could see the sequel lean more into the mythology established in that aforementioned cartoon series that explored the Netherworld (Land of The Dead) in more depth.

A script for the sequel was penned by Al Gough and Miles Millar, who had recently worked with Burton on his popular Netflix series “Wednesday” that starred Ortega as the titular character in the “Addams Family” revival.

The studio recently gave “Beetlejuice 2” a prime release date of September 6, 2024.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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WB Making New Middle-Earth Films With Peter Jackson Kept In The Loop About The Deal

Yesterday, it was announced in a joint press statement by Warner Bros. Pictures and Embracer Group that they’ve reached a brand new deal for New Line Cinema to continue to make feature films based on the work on Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Expanding the existing cinematic universe, although, the announcement failed to mention what exact source material they’ll be adapting or what those new movies will look like. This comes after the studio is about to release an animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim on April 12, 2024 and last year Amazon released their first of five seasons of their Middle-Earth streaming series, Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. So, there was plenty of Middle-Earth material being released beyond live-action feature films.

The previous six feature films (set during The Third Age) were directed, produced, and co-written by filmmaker Peter Jackson. Interestingly enough, on the heels of the announcement Deadline was able to get a direct quote from Jackson, where he said that the two companies have kept himself alongside his producing/writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in the loop about the deal.

“Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” the Oscar-winning trio said. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”

I can’t really imagine that Jackson has the stomach to direct any more Middle-Earth adventures after he was forced to helm The Hobbit trilogy after Guillermo del Toro exited over scheduling issues to focus on Pacific Rim. However, potentially producing or writing new live-action films might be appealing as it would bring more business to Wellington, New Zeeland’s Stone Street Studios and Weta Digital/Workshop.

There is plenty of source material to pull from if they attempt to craft movies around the legends/tidbits that Tolkien sprinkled throughout his books or the expanded material published by his son Christopher Tolkien after his death. Personally, I could see tackling The Dark Lord Morgoth and The First Age (teased in The Rings of Power) as very much worthwhile adapting into a third trilogy of films unless the studio wants to move forward beyond with The Fourth Age. There are also other unexplored portions of the Middle-Earth mythology we haven’t seen on the big-screen like the two Blue Wizards and territories of the Easterlings.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS. & DEADLINE

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Steven Spielberg To Direct New Frank Bullitt Movie For Warner Bros.

While Steven Spielberg is getting for the Oscars, he’s already lining up a future film project at Amblin and Warner Bros. as the filmmaker is looking to direct a brand new film focusing on Steve McQueen’s iconic 1960s cop Frank Bullitt.

Deadline reports the project isn’t simply a reboot of the original film Bullitt but seemingly is a continuation with Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer tackling the script, it also has the blessing of the McQueen family. Although, it’s not mentioned who will be taking over the role from McQueen.

A lot of people are rooting for Canadian actor Ryan Gosling after his role as the quiet but deadly getaway driver in Nicholas Winding Refn’s neo-noir film Drive, but I wouldn’t rule out an older seasoned veteran like Oscar-winner Brad Pitt (Ounce Upon A Time In Hollywood) being considered.

When the news broke, folks seemed to be puzzled that Spielberg would want to tackle an action-focused cop thriller. Despite his credits including things like Saving Private Ryan, Munich, four Indiana Jones installments, and Minority Report proving the director has the chops to handle the action side of things.

If you’re unfamiliar with the original film, check out the trailer and synopsis below.

Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal’s hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Bong Joon Ho Returning To Sci-Fi With Off-World Colonization Pic Starring Robert Pattinson For Warner Bros.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho got a bunch of awards for his fantastic dark comedy Parasite, however, is reportedly returning to the sci-fi genre for a new project at Warner Bros. and will see him tackle an off-world setting.

Deadline has revealed that the new sci-fi movie will be adapted from the upcoming novel Mickey7 written by Edward Ashton.

It centers on a man on an expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim.

The good news doesn’t stop there as British actor Robert Pattinson is attached for a lead role. Pattinson will play Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ new film The Batman which will hit theaters in March, expected to launch a new trilogy for Warner Bros. with Reeves shepherding it.

It’s unclear at this time if the untitled film will have a mostly western cast or will include South Korean actors that have worked with the director in the past. We can assume it’ll be a mix of the two.

Bong Joon Ho’s previous films such as Snowpiercer, Okja, and The Host have explored the sci-fi genre.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Prequel ‘Furiosa’ Delayed To May 2024 Due To Production Delays

Yesterday, Warner Bros. announced via Variety that Furiosa would be getting a release delay from June 23, 2023 to Memorial Day weekend in May 2024. This is directly because of the production hiccups linked to COVID-19 in Australia, where the film was originally scheduled to shoot over the summer.

Instead, the film’s main leads Anya Taylor-Joy (The Northman, Last Night In Soho, The Menu), Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Love & Thunder, Extraction 2), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman, The Matrix Resurrections, Aquman & The Lost Kingdom) are going to shoot other projects until cameras roll on Furisoa in 2022.

The extensive post-production and editing process on the film is expected to take much longer than with most big studio action films, as it did with Mad Max: Fury Road, since it shot in 2012 but didn’t release until 2015.

Production on Furiosa was going to take place at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales. The same stage facility recently used to shoot Marvel flicks Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings and Thor: Love & Thunder.

Director George Miller isn’t new to delays on his Mad Max films, there was a ten year delay on Fury Road before they started shooting that one leading to the recasting of Mel Gibson with Tom Hardy. Hopefully, they’ll be able to begin filming next year without any further hiccups.

Furiosa will be the first film in the Mad Max franchise to focus on another lead character as it will explore the female warrior’s journey from The Green Place to The Citadel.

Miller is still expected to return Tom Hardy’s Max at some point with a continuation to Fury Road.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Official Synopsis Hinting The Sequels Aren’t Canon & Young Morpheus Confirmed?

Yesterday, saw the release of the first trailer for Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections with Keanu Reeves back as The One, Neo.

Interestingly enough, the film’s official synopsis suggests that the new film is only going by the previous events of The Matrix, not the two sequels. It was previously assumed that Resurrections would be a follow-up to The Matrix Revolutions, making many believe that Warner Bros. might be consider the previous films as taking place outside of canon.

The Matrix Resurrections is a continuation of the story established in the first MATRIX film. It reunites Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as cinematic icons Neo & Trinity in an expansion of their story that ventures back into the Matrix and even deeper down the rabbit hole. A mind-bending new adventure with action and epic scale, it’s set in a familiar yet even more provocative world where reality is more subjective than ever and all that’s required to see the truth is to free your mind.

20 years after the first film, the franchise that helped define pop culture at the turn of the century is back for a continuation and extension of the original movie. The Matrix remains in the zeitgeist as a film that has changed the way we look at cinema and reality itself. With its game changing action and visual effects, The Matrix helped pave the way for films to follow.

Very interesting they’re not talking about the trilogy, only the original movie.

If true, this could mean that there were alternative events that took place between The Matrix and The Matrix Resurrections that are different from what happened in the previous two films. While this could be simple phrasing from the studio to potentially skirt the use of the films to promote the new one, since Reloaded and Revolutions aren’t as highly regarded as the original.

Clearly, certain things from the other films will carry over as seen in the trailer.

There is also the possibility that moving the story forward potentially needed to ignore the events of those films as well.

Another interesting thing is that actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II captioned on Instagram his image from the new trailer with “Morpheus,” suggesting that he is indeed playing a young version of the character in the film.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTm3V-LgW7V/

From visionary filmmaker Lana Wachowski comes “The Matrix Resurrections,” the long-awaited fourth film in the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre. The new film reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the iconic roles they made famous, Neo and Trinity.

The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the “Aquaman” franchise) Jessica Henwick (TV’s “Iron Fist,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” TV’s “Mindhunter”), Neil Patrick Harris (“Gone Girl”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s “Quantico,”), Christina Ricci (TV’s “Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”), Telma Hopkins (TV’s “Dead to Me,”), Eréndira Ibarra (series “Sense8,” “Ingobernable”), Toby Onwumere (TV’s “Empire”), Max Riemelt (series “Sense8”), Brian J. Smith (series “Sense8,” “Treadstone”), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Angel Has Fallen,” TV’s “Gotham”).

Lana Wachowski directed from a screenplay by Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis. The film was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski. The executive producers were Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman. Wachowski’s creative team behind the scenes included “Sense8” collaborators: directors of photography Daniele Massaccesi and John Toll, production designers Hugh Bateup and Peter Walpole, editor Joseph Jett Sally, costume designer Lindsay Pugh, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, and composers Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, In Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, In Association with Venus Castina Productions, “The Matrix Resurrections.” The film will be distributed by worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will be in theaters nationwide and on HBO Max via the Ad-Free plan on December 22, 2021; it will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Aquaman 2’: James Wan Says Sequel “Heavily Inspired” By Mario Bava’s Classic Sci-Fi Horror Film ‘Planet Of The Vampires’

Production has been underway for a while now on Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England. However, we don’t know a lot about the film outside of it focusing on Necrus (assumed to be the “lost kingdom”) and the DC Comics villain Mongo.

Director James Wan has mentioned a key film that will “heavily inspire” the Aquaman sequel. While speaking with Total Film, the filmmaker cited Mario Bava’s classic Italian sci-fi horror film Planet of The Vampires from 1965.

“Aquaman 2 is very heavily inspired by Planet of the Vampires. You can take the boy out of horror but you can never take the horror out the boy.”

It’s a little shocking given how goofy and colorful the original installment was, but Wan seemingly indicates they’ll be doing a little darker with Aquaman 2.

“Well, the first movie took a lot of people by surprise, right? And that’s partially because they were not familiar with the comic book, which deals in this very lurid, strange world. People were taken aback that I didn’t throw all that stuff away and make a dark, heavy film. But I didn’t feel that would have been right for it. So with the second film, I feel it will be easier for people to accept where we go because I’ve already laid the foundation.”

If you’re not familiar to the Italian sci-fi horror film check out a synopsis and trailer (alongside Joe Dante talking about the film for Trailers From hell) below.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES – In the near future the two spaceships Argos and Galliot are sent to investigate the mysterious planet Aura. As the Galliot lands on the planet her crew suddenly go berserk and attack each other. The strange event passes, but the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos – and learns that her crew died fighting each other! Investigating further, the explorers come to realize the existence of a race of bodiless aliens that seek to escape from their dying world.

Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.

SOURCE: TOTAL FILM

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‘The Suicide Squad’: James Gunn Indicates Studio Uncertainty About Superman Is Why He Wasn’t Used

The Suicide Squad is winning over a lot of people and there had been early ideas to have Task Force X being assembled to take down Superman. However, the main threat of the film was the Borg-like alien Starro The Conqueror, who was able to control the minds of anyone that was unlucky enough to get one of the self-replicated mini-Starro attached to their face.

James Gunn has revealed to the Script Apart podcast (via Comic Book) that one of the big reasons they didn’t go with Superman was the studio’s uncertainty about Henry Cavill sticking around or what exactly their DCEU plans for the son of Krypton moving forward.

“There was a time when I thought The Suicide Squad should fight Superman. At the time, there were a lot of questions like, ‘Who is Superman in the DCEU? Is this movie outside the DCEU?’ I just didn’t want to deal with it all that much.”

This could also explain why the Superman cameo in Shazam! was a stand-in, despite that film clearly takes place within the Snyderverse/DCEU.

It’s revealed that Idris Elba’s Bloodsport put Superman in the ICU after shooting him with Kryptonite bullet, so at the least they were able to add that small connective tidbit.

Gunn explained why he wanted to use Starro.

“I think he’s a perfect comic book character because he’s absolutely ludicrous but also very scary in his own way. What he does is scary. He used to scare the crap out of me when I was a child, putting those face-huggers on Superman and Batman. So I thought he was one of the major, major DC villains that was probably never going to be put into another movie. And if they did, it’d have been a ‘black cloud’ version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a kaiju that’s bright pink and cerulean blue, this ridiculously big, bright bad guy.”

The studio has indicated that they’re keen on working with James Gunn again on more DC movies, but that seemingly won’t Gotham City Sirens as the director downplayed recent speculation on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1426194551866335232

SOURCE: SCRIPT APART PODCAST

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‘Salem’s Lot’: James Wan-Produced Vampire Flick Adds ‘Malignant’ Cinematographer Michael Burgess

New Line Cinema, producer James Wan, and writer/director Gary Dauberman are re-teaming for a feature film adaptation of the Stephen King vampire novel Salem’s Lot.

Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. Author Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

Dauberman has some strong horror credits as he previously wrote the scripts for It and It: Chapter Two for director Andy Muschietti, another Stephen King adaptation. Other projects he’s written include the Swamp Thing series, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Homes, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle.

Things are finally coming together on Salem’s Lot as they’re assembling their production team.

The Ronin can confirm that cinematographer Michael Burgess will reunite with director Gary Dauberman, after previously working with him on Annabelle Comes Home. Burgess has worked on other horror films such as The Nun, The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and James Wan’s upcoming horror pic Malignant.

We’re still waiting on official news concerning casting for Salem’s Lot.

James Wan is currently shooting Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England with Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and Patrick Wilson reprising their roles.

His next pic Malignant will hit theaters and HBO Max on September 10.

Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.