Tag: Warner Bros.

Posted on in Film News

‘The Flash’: Ray Fisher’s Cyborg Cameo Reportedly Written Out – Role Won’t Be Recast

It’s starting to look like Ray Fisher and his character Cyborg won’t be appearing in The Flash after all.

The Wrap is supporting a tweet from Forbes writer Mark Hughes that Cyborg’s cameo in the film has been removed and they will not be recasting the part. This news would debunk unreliable online rumors that the studio and director was recasting the Cyborg role specifically for The Flash.

Justice League actor Ray Fisher, who was offered a cameo role last June to appear as Cyborg in The Flash solo movie, has been written out of the screenplay and will not be recast, according to insiders with knowledge of the situation.

However, we aren’t terribly shocked by this news as the Justice League actor seemed to telegraph this update on his character. Ray Fisher made the following statement on Twitter last month signaling he wouldn’t be working with DC Films or Walter Hamada in the future, possibly getting ahead of the reports of his cameo being nixed by the studio. Essentially announcing his exit from the franchise.

DC Films had previously announced a solo Cyborg movie that never materialized as neither a screenwriter or director were ever announced as developing it. The character is also being used in the live-action realm with the series Doom Patrol, played by Jovian Wade.

Andy Muschietti (IT, Mama) is directing from a script penned by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) with a cast said to include Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, and Michael Keaton using a different version of The Flashpoint storyline that will usher-in DC Comics’ own Multiverse.

Filming on The Flash is expected to begin this April at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios in Watford, England. The facility is currently being used for Fantastic Beasts 3 as it’s been the homestead production stages for the Harry Potter franchise and was used for previous DC Comics movies such as The Batman, Justice League, and Wonder Woman.

It’s release date has been set for November 4th, 2022.

SOURCE: THE WRAP

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‘Batgirl’ & ‘Static Shock’ Movies Might Become HBO Max Exclusives

In a new article from the New York Times, where they speak with DC Films president Walter Hamada and it’s revealed that they are going to make superhero films that will become HBO Max exclusives.

The outlet speculating that “risker characters” like Batgirl and Static Shock could be some projects that ultimately head to HBO Max. However, it reads more like their opinion rather sourced information.

The most expensive DC movies (up to four a year, starting in 2022) are designed for release in theaters, Mr. Hamada said. Additional superhero films (two annually is the goal, perhaps focused on riskier characters like Batgirl and Static Shock) will arrive exclusively on HBO Max, the fledgling streaming service owned by WarnerMedia.

It’ll be interesting if Warner Bros. and DC Films feels like diverse projects like these would only be viable on streaming rather than theatrical. Only time will tell as this isn’t official news or anything.

There is already some feathers ruffled with WarnerMedia’s day-and-date model coming in 2021 and are signs that future directors are making sure their movies won’t be suddenly thrown on HBO Max. Making sure directors are aware that films are heading to streaming ahead of time is likely a good thing rather than what recently happened to filmmakers.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

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‘Furiosa’: George Miller’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Prequel Releases June 23, 2023

It was announced not too long ago via Warner Bros. that they are indeed moving forward with the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel dating it for June 23, 2023. They also confirmed the official title is simply Furiosa with director George Miller co-writing the film alongside Doug Mitchell. A summer 2023 release date suggests they might expect filming to begin sometime in 2022.

Here is an excerpt from the studio press release that confirms that the prequel’s lead actors will include Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

Up first in the lineup will be writer/director/producer George Miller’s “Furiosa,” a prequel to his hit “Mad Max: Fury Road” that introduced the wildly popular character.  Set for June 23, 2023, it will star Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role, alongside Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.  Miller penned the script and produces alongside his longtime partner, Oscar-nominated producer Doug Mitchell (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Babe”).

George Miller is currently busy shooting in Australia with his fantasy film titled Three Thousand Years of Longing that had been delayed earlier in the year when the film’s main lead Idris Elba got COVID-19 and documented his experience on social media leading to a hiatus. Filming recently resumed down under with Elba and co-star Tilda Swinton.

Despite Furiosa being a “prequel”, all four movies have been considered standalone features in the franchise which could mean, technically, another version of Max could appear in the film. Charlize Theron originally played the role but was recast with Anya because Miller wasn’t thrilled with the digital de-aging visual effects technology.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot’s five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive, armored truck the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS.

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Patty Jenkins Officially Returning To Write & Direct ‘Wonder Woman 3’ – Will Have A Traditional Theatrical Release

Despite some wishy-washy comments made by Patty Jenkins during the promotion of Wonder Woman 1984 about possibly not coming back to make a third film, the filmmaker is officially returning for Wonder Woman 3, an announcement that been expected since the success of the first film. The studio adhering to her demand of a traditional theatrical release as well.

The announcement made by the studio hit multiple trade outlets including Variety.

Gal Gadot is also returning with Jenkins writing and directing the third installment of their trilogy.

There is still an expectation this third film will be set in the present as it had been rumored going back to the first film that the first two movies would be period projects with the third film using a contemporary setting. The scale could also be increased. It’ll be interesting to see if they will attempt to make a crossover with other DC Comics heroes since a bunch are running around in modern times and could open the door for Diana to team-up with Jason Momoa’s Aquaman or the film could even have a connection to Ava DuVernay’s New Gods movie via Granny Goodness.

Using the term “fast-tracking” is a little misleading as Jenkins is busy with her Cleopatra film for Paramount Pictures and recently was announced for Disney’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. The Star Wars pic is expected to being shooting in 2022 as it has a release date of December 22, 2023 and there could be a year’s worth of prep/development for that project giving it’s scale. Seeing Patty jump into making a massive studio film beforehand like Wonder Woman 3 when the pandemic is expected to continue well into 2021, seems like a fan wish rather than a reality given the logistical nightmare that would end up becoming.

In theory, Warner Bros. may have to wait until Patty has finished-up on Star Wars: Rogue Squadron since that deal seemingly was secured first.

However, this news should relieve fans that have caught the wave of comments from Jenkins about taking a pause on the Wonder Woman franchise.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Patty Jenkins Would Hypothetically Want To Tackle Marvel’s ‘Spider-Man’ & ‘Black Widow’ If Given The Chance

If Patty Jenkins ever decided to tackle other superheroes beyond Wonder Woman, we now have a pretty good idea of who she’d want to use. As a fan on Twitter has asked Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins that very question and her answer consisted of Superman, Spider-Man, and even Black Widow. 

JENKINS: “Thank you for the question. Probably Superman, Spiderman, or Black Widow! So much potential with all of them, always.”

You might remember that Patty Jenkins is currently assigned to direct Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for Lucasfilm making her part of that family of studios under the Disney umbrella. It’s expected to begin production sometime before the end of 2022 as the release date is set for December 22, 2023. 

There are a handful of examples of crossovers between Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios with Thor franchise’s Taika Waititi tackling both The Mandalorian and an untitled live-action feature film. Also, Ant-Man trilogy director Peyton Reed ended up directing two episodes in Season 2 even the emotional season finale. We can’t forget that Jon Favreau, who help usher-in the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Iron Man and Iron Man 2, spearheaded The Mandalorian series with Dave Filoni, producing three spinoffs that include The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Rangers of The New Republic. Jon also continues to play the role of Happy Hogun, most recently appearing in the post-Avengers: Endgame film Spider-Man: Far From Home back in 2019. 

Despite rumors, there hasn’t been any official word of how Warner Bros. would like to pursue another Superman film beyond having the character potentially have cameos in other projects. There had been development on a Supergirl film but that seemingly has stalled.

Concerning Spider-Man, we don’t know if Sony/Marvel will extend their production deal despite some signals that could be happening behind closed doors as Olivia Wilde‘s Spider-Woman movie could be Sony/Marvel co-production. With Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts announced for Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot there is now an expectation he could be moving on to make a trilogy there making it less likely he’d return to make Spider-Man 4 and beyond leaving room for a new director to make a second trilogy, that’s if Sony/Marvel can play nice for another batch of movies. 

Having Patty get involved with Black Widow is an interesting proposition as it seems like Florence Pugh may end up taking that mantle as Yelena Belova in future MCU projects. Such as her reported involvement in the upcoming Hawkeye series that will be airing on Disney+ in late 2021. Yelena could lead a Black Widow franchise of films moving forward because of the death of Natasha during the events of Avengers: Endgame. 

I think it’ll be a long time before we know for sure if Patty will make Wonder Woman 3 or any other superhero films given the next couple of years will be dedicated to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

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New ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Now Set For Release On April 16th – Coming To Theaters & HBO Max

The other day it was officially announced by Warner Bros. that the New Line Cinema reboot of the Mortal Kombat film franchise is now coming to theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max on April 16, 2021. The martial arts film produced by James Wan‘s Atomic Monster is expected to take a new angle on the franchise which is based on the supernatural fighting tournament arcade video game. It’s the feature directorial debut of Simon McQuoid with a script penned by Greg Russo.

There is an expectation the reboot will land an R-rating as it will involve the brutally violent fatality moves made famous from the video games, the two original movies were PG-13.

The cast consists of Lewis Tan as a new character described as a family man, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, and Sisi Stringer as Melina.

The film has been undergoing reshoots with main actors in South Australia at Adelaide Studios and wasn’t going to be ready for it’s previous release date of January 15th, 2021 regardless. They had originally wrapped principal photography back in December 2019 but had to wait until recently to do reshoots because of the pandemic restricting international travel.

Mortal Kombat is part of a controversial announcement from WarnerMedia that they would be adding 17 upcoming films from their 2021 feature film slate to both HBO Max and theaters on the same day.

A trailer is likely coming in the near future.

Posted on in Film News

‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’: George Miller’s Follow-Up To ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Finally Shooting – Adds ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Production Designer

After actor Idris Elba caught COVID-19 earlier this year while getting ready to shoot the George Miller film Three Thousand Years of Longing, production on the film halted and Elba returned to the United States to film another project while the project was given time to pause.

According to Deadline, filming has resumed on the secretive project in Sydney, New South Wales Australia and they plan of having the film ready for release by September 2021. The production team for the film budgeted at $60 million includes cinematographer John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road), production designer Roger Ford (Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), and composer Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL (Deadpool, Mad Max: Fury Road).

Ford previously working with Miller on the two Babe movies.

The Sydney-based production, which is observing numerous on-set Covid safety protocols, is in fact 20 days into its 62-day shoot. The team will break up over Christmas and reconvene early next year before wrapping in the early spring for a planned September 2021 delivery. Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba are starring in Miller’s latest, whose plot details are being kept under wraps. The visionary filmmaker previously described the project to us as an “anti-Mad Max” with plenty of interiors and dialogue but also punctuated with action scenes.

George Miller is also prepping a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road focusing on a younger version of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa with a cast that is said to include Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The Mad Max sequel likely won’t begin until either the fall of 2021 or sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Ben Affleck’s ‘Batman’ Movie Would Have Been Similar To David Fincher’s ‘The Game’ According To Joe Manganiello – “Deathstroke Was Like A Shark or Horror Movie Villain”

Before Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, there had been plans for Ben Affleck to co-write, star, and direct a solo Batman film. Creative differences and Affleck’s apparent frustration eventually led to him first exiting the project as director then later leaving the Bruce Wayne/Batman role altogether.

We don’t know a lot of about the unmade project but there had been confirmation from cinematographer Robert Richardson (Live By Night, Kill Bill, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds), who had been once attached to the Affleck film, that the film would involved the infamous Arkham Asylum.

RICHARDSON: “I wanted to shoot Batman with Ben [Affleck] cause that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it. Well, he was going into the more insanity aspects. He was entering more into the Arkham, he’s going into where everyone was bad.“

Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello had been expected to reprise the Slade Wilson part for Ben’s Batman solo project allowing him to later get a meatier role than his small cameo in Justice League. While speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Joe compared the purposed Affleck project to David Fincher’s underrated Michael Douglas thriller The Game and gave some details about the tone they were attempting to go for.

MANGANIELLO: “There were similarities to The Game…It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him…It was really cool, really dark and really hard. I was very excited for it.”

Joe confirmed his return to the Deathstroke role in Zack Snyder’s extended version of Justice League for HBO Max on social media, but remains to be seen if he’ll ever play the role again.

THE GAME (1997) – Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift — participation in a personalized, real-life game — Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game’s organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself.

The David Fincher connection isn’t shocking given that Ben Affleck had recently worked with the director on the thriller Gone Girl and Matt Reeves incarnation is essentially taking cues from Fincher’s entire movie library. I’ve spotted multiple homages or nods to Zodaic, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, and even the aforementioned film The Game in the teaser trailer.

Matt’s movie seems to be taking a similar dark tone and might be picking up on what Affleck wanted to do.

SOURCE: YAHOO ENTERTAINMENT

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‘Edge of Tomorrow 2’: Emily Blunt Calls Script “Really Promising” and Reiterates That Schedules Need To Align

Warner Bros. and director Doug Liman have been trying to put together a sequel to the Tom Cruise sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow that co-starred Emily Blunt. The original film focuses on cowardly military officer that focuses mainly on PR for the war between an invading force of aliens. His big mouth leads to him being stripped of his rank and thrown into the meat-grinder with the rest of the grunts leading to his death, however, he is covered in alien blood that allows him to relive the same day over and over (similar to Groundhog Dog). Until he runs into another soldier that previously had the same ability and they work together to finally put a stop to the alien horde that leads to her training him into a soldier tough enough to survive the battlefield and stop the aliens from conquering Earth.

A script for Edge of Tomorrow has been kicking around for a while now but the busy schedules of both Tom and Emily has been a huge issue. While recently speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Blunt revealed that the script is “really promising” but the as previously pointed out multiple times that scheduling has been a huge headache to getting production started on the sequel.

BLUNT: “Yes, [the script] is really promising and really, really cool. I just don’t know when everything’s going to sort of align, you know what I mean? Between all of our schedules, it would just have to be the right time. But there is something in the works, for sure, that’s a great idea. A great idea.”

Tom Cruise is really busy completing Mission: Impossible 7, Mission: Impossible 8, and a new film with Doug Liman that will be shot in space for Universal Pictures budgeted at over $200 million. Liman had also been preoccupied with finishing the Lionsgate sci-fi film Chaos Walking starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley.

EDGE OF TOMORROW – When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise), an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission. Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop, in which he relives the same brutal fight — and his death — over and over again. However, Cage’s fighting skills improve with each encore, bringing him and a comrade (Emily Blunt) ever closer to defeating the aliens.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Legendary May Sue WarnerMedia Over HBO Max Announcement For ‘Godzilla vs Kong’ and ‘Dune’ – Didn’t Give Them Advance Notice

It doesn’t sound like Legendary Entertainment is terribly happy with WarnerMedia’s announcement last week to throw two of their expensive films such as Dune and Godzilla vs Kong on HBO Max as part of their new day-and-date model for the entire 2021 Warner Bros. release slate, all 17 films.

The announcement was just as shocking to Legendary Entertainment as it was to everyone else because they weren’t given advance notice or even knew it was happening. Deadline reports that Legendary is aiming to challenge the move by WarnerMedia as they never gave them advance notice before the announcement, the latter is something that both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter have mentioned in separate reports.

I’m hearing that Legendary Entertainment either has or will send legal letters to Warner Bros as soon as today, challenging the decision to put the Denis Villenueve-directed Dune into the HBO Max deal, and maybe Godzilla vs Kong as well.

WarnerMedia blocked a hefty $250 million offer from Netflix which likely only adds to Legendary’s frustrations.

On the latter, Legendary reportedly had Netflix ready to pull the film from Warner Bros for around $250 million, before WarnerMedia blocked it. Sources said Legendary had no advance notice before last week’s announcement that both Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong were part of the HBO Max plan.

Variety also adding that this might turn into a lawsuit if a deal isn’t agreed upon.

Legendary Entertainment, the production company that co-financed Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong, may take legal action against Warner Bros. over the studio’s decision to send its movies to HBO Max at the same time they debut in cinemas.

Sources familiar with the situation say top brass at Legendary are trying to have conversations with Warner Bros. regarding its upcoming films… Legendary is hoping to first negotiate a more generous deal, but isn’t taking legal action off the table should the two companies fail to come to a compromise. One possibility is that Warner Bros. would buy the films outright from Legendary. No legal challenge has been filed yet, but a suit could materialize early this week. It’s unclear what legal grounds Legendary would use to challenge the decision, though it would likely involve some breach of contract.

While WarnerMedia dodged questions concerning if the day-and-date model would continue into 2022 and beyond, AT&T CEO John Stankey alluded to The Washington Post they won’t be going back even post-pandemic giving the impression the model is staying.

STANKEY: “In March, we unleashed a new normal in society. That horse left the barn. I don’t think any of us are going to change that dynamic.”

SOURCE: DEADLINE & VARIETY