DC Comics and Zack Snyder fans seemed to rejoice last week with Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally being released on HBO Max, the 4-hour juggernaut’s release seemed to give the impression to fans that there was a shot that David Ayer’s original cut of Suicide Squad referred to by fans as The Ayer Cut could see the light of day.
WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff seemed to dispel rumors The Ayer Cut was being worked on or even on the table in the future during an in-depth interview with Variety that was published yesterday. Ann was pretty blunt about The Ayer Cut when asked if they would be releasing that version of the film, stating the following.
SARNOFF: “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut.”
David Ayer had suggested the original version had a lot more of Jared Leto’s Joker and there had been some drastic editing involved with the final theatrical version. But it doesn’t look like that version aka The Ayer Cut is going to be released on HBO Max or anywhere else anytime soon.
The franchise is chugging along without David Ayer as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is set to hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6th.
After it was previously announced that J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot would be working on a Justice League Dark series, there is word from Deadline that he’ll also be working on a new Constantine series reboot that will be written by Guy Bolton based on the occult DC Comics character. Bolton is said to be prepping to open a writers’ room next month.
The report stating the new version will skew darker than the previous series. Matt Ryan most recently played John after the Keanu Reeves film released back in 2005, they are reportedly seeking a diverse young actor to play the new version.
This is part of the overall deal that Bad Robot has with WarnerMedia. Abrams is also a producer on HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Westworld.
It’ll be interesting to see if this project will directly connect to that Justice League Dark show in development given that John Constantine is a key character on that team. Justice League Dark originally was put together as film for Guillermo del Toro before the studio attempted to give to other directors before deciding to turn it into a series instead.
CONSTANTINE – As a suicide survivor, demon hunter John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has literally been to hell and back — and he knows that when he dies, he’s got a one-way ticket to Satan’s realm unless he can earn enough goodwill to climb God’s stairway to heaven. While helping policewoman Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) investigate her identical twin’s apparent suicide, Constantine becomes caught up in a supernatural plot involving both demonic and angelic forces. Based on the DC/Vertigo “Hellblazer” comics.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that WarnerMedia is in early development on a Harry Potter/Potterverse series for HBO Max. Plot details aren’t mentioned, where it will take place in the franchise timeline, characters it will focus on or who will work on the series.
Essentially, it sounds like the series hasn’t exactly come together just yet and there is a chance it doesn’t even happen if these “exploratory meetings” don’t go anywhere.
A Harry Potter live-action TV series is in early development at HBO Max. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that executives at the WarnerMedia-backed streamer have engaged in multiple conversations with potential writers exploring various ideas that would bring the beloved property to television. Sources say broad ideas have been discussed as part of the early-stage exploratory meetings.
Filming is currently underway on Fantastic Beasts 3 in Watford, England, as the studio replaced Johnny Depp with Mads Mikkelsen for the role of villain Gellert Grindelwald. There are also two more Fantastic Beasts sequels also in the works at the studio.
It would be interesting if they’ll attempt another prequel series potentially set even before Fantastic Beasts or will attempt something more contemporary with new characters.
HBO Max has been looking to mine a bunch of film spinoff series including James Gunn’s Peacemaker, The Batman series focusing on Gotham PD, Dune: The Sisterhood, Overlook, and heap of other DC Comics projects.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed they’ll eventually announce other off-shoot shows such as one set in Godzilla vs. Kong‘s Monsterverse or taking place in the worlds of The Matrix and Mad Max. I’d personally would love to see a Matrix origin series that takes place during the war between humans and the machines.
It’s unknown how much involvement that J.K. Rowling will have on the untitled series, considering the franchise creator has been doubling-down on multiple anti-trans comments and endorsements. Making Rowling increasingly toxic to have attached to future projects.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal (spotted by The Playlist) is claiming that Warner Bros. golden-child director Christopher Nolan is now “unlikely” to make future films at the studio due to their decision to embrace a new day-and-date release model that is meant to boost subscriptions to HBO Max on the backs of the film division and filmmakers. This wouldn’t be terribly surprising as Christopher Nolan has been vocal against this release model since it’s announcement caught most directors it affected off guard and almost led to a potential lawsuit from production partner Legendary Entertainment.
The filmmaker made his opinions widely known in various interviews including the following quote from The Hollywood Reporter.
NOLAN: “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service. Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”
Dune director Denis Villeneuve also made a similar plea to the studio in an op-ed at The Hollywood Reporter, suggesting the studio could be killing the Dune franchise.
This would be the first time in twenty years that Nolan had a movie that wasn’t made for Warner Bros. or distributed by them since 2001’s Memento. The filmmaker is one of the few people that can convince a studio to give him a blockbuster-level budget to make original films as seen with Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and last summer’s Tenet.
Here is a rundown of the global box office earnings of the Warner Bros. films made by Christopher Nolan over the years.
INSOMNIA (2002) – $113.7 Million
BATMAN BEGINS (2004) – $373.6 Million
THE PRESTIGE (2006) – $109.6 Million
THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) – $1 Billion
INCEPTION (2010) – $836.8 Million
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) – $1.08 Billion
INTERSTELLAR (2014) – $701.7 Million
DUNKIRK (2017) – $526.9 Million
TENET (2020) – $363.1 Million
If Nolan ultimately exits the studio this could be a huge loss for Warner Bros. and a sign of more creative fallout from WarnerMedia/AT&T’s new day-and-date model. The model sees WarnerMedia adding a bulk of their 2021 theatrical releases to their struggling streaming service HBO Max exclusively for a month at the same time the film is being released domestically in theaters, having HBO Max and theaters going head-to-head for audiences.
AT&T CEO John Stankey had previously alluded to The Washington Post in an interview, that this is likely going to be a release model they’ll be using beyond 2021 and the pandemic giving the impression they wouldn’t be turning back to regular release windows that gave theaters a proper amount of time to earn money.
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.”
Nolan could stick around at Warner Bros. if they change their minds on the release model or more likely he could easily find a home at another studio. I don’t think he’d have much trouble getting the same deal elsewhere given his track record.
WarnerMedia may end up backing down thanks to the threat of lawsuit from Legendary after it was announced their pricey Dune remake was being thrown on to HBO Max (day-and-date model) without their consent or knowledge. The production company who had spent their own money on 75% of the budgets of both Dune and Godzilla vs Kong were not consulted before their films were added to the domestic streaming service putting their films in direct competition with the theatrical release.
Deadline seemingly has some sort of vague update concerning the fate of Dune, however, the outlet is making sure to use the word “rumors” when stating WarnerMedia may end up keeping the traditional theatrical release. We have to assume this would be a way to avoid further legal issues with Legendary, who certainly have the legal grounds to take them to court.
Battles big and small are being fought on numerous films: Legendary is in a big fight that might result in lawsuits after it financed 75% of tent poles Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong and was completely blindsided. Rumors have the solution to that breach being to preserve Dune as a traditional theatrical to preserve its franchise potential and since its October 1 release date falls well after the estimated late spring date when Covid vaccines should achieve herd immunity. Godzilla vs. Kong might stay an HBO Max hybrid in its May 21 slot, but only if Warner Bros makes a deal with Legendary that uses as a base the $250 million value established when the film was shopped earlier to Netflix.
Legendary wasn’t the only party upset over the HBO Max announcement, director Denis Villeneuve penned a strongly worded editorial condemning the move. Denis happens to be producing and directing a Dune spinoff series for HBO Max titled Dune: The Sisterhood that would most likely be put into chaos over a falling-out between WarnerMedia and Legendary/Villeneuve.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).
Filming on The Suicide Squad spinoff series Peacemaker will begin next month in Vancouver and there are bunch of new cast/character announcements from James Gunn on his official Instagram account and HBO Max.
The four new additions include Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn, Lochlyn Munro as Larry Fitzgibbon, Annie Chang as Sophie Song, and Christopher Heyerdahl as Captain Locke.
They join a cast that already consists of John Cena as Christopher Smith aka Peacemaker, Steve Agee as John Economos, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, and Chris Conrad as Adrian Chase aka Vigilante.
Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first.
While details about “Peacemaker” are being kept under wraps, the series will explore the origins of the character that Cena will play in the upcoming film, a man who believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill to get it.
In a brief exchange with a fan on Vero, it looks like director Zack Snyder has revealed that his version of Justice League heading to HBO Max next year will be coming out sometime in March.
Zack Snyder has confirmed Zack Snyder’s Justice League will debut on HBO Max in March! pic.twitter.com/MnoIvmVEfe
Following some strong worded comments from Warner Bros. darling Christopher Nolan after WarnerMedia announced they would be adding their entire 2021 film slate on HBO Mac with a day-and-date release alongside theaters, a model that is expected to become the new norm at WarnerMedia even post-pandemic.
There were even some signs earlier in the week that Legendary Entertainment could end up filing a lawsuit against WarnerMedia for not being consulted prior to the announcement and the industry unions are also displeased which could lead to a boycott of the company.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve has chosen to write an opinion editorial on Variety laying out his concerns. I selective some of the key segments which you can read below but I would advise people read the entire opinion piece in full.
Warner Bros.’ sudden reversal from being a legacy home for filmmakers to the new era of complete disregard draws a clear line for me. Filmmaking is a collaboration, reliant on the mutual trust of team work and Warner Bros. has declared they are no longer on the same team.
Streaming services are a positive and powerful addition to the movie and TV ecosystems. But I want the audience to understand that streaming alone can’t sustain the film industry as we knew it before COVID. Streaming can produce great content, but not movies of “Dune’s” scope and scale. Warner Bros.’ decision means “Dune” won’t have the chance to perform financially in order to be viable and piracy will ultimately triumph. Warner Bros. might just have killed the Dune franchise. This one is for the fans. AT&T’s John Stankey said that the streaming horse left the barn. In truth, the horse left the barn for the slaughterhouse.
Public safety comes first. Nobody argues with that. Which is why when it became apparent the winter would bring a second wave of the pandemic, I understood and supported the decision to delay Dune’s opening by almost a year. The plan was that Dune would open in theaters in October 2021, when vaccinations will be advanced and, hopefully, the virus behind us. Science tells us that everything should be back to a new normal next fall.
I’m speaking on my own behalf, though I stand in solidarity with the sixteen other filmmakers who now face the same fate. Please know I am with you and that together we are strong. The artists are the ones who create movies and series. Once the pandemic is over, theaters will be filled again with film lovers. That is my strong belief. Not because the movie industry needs it, but because we humans need cinema, as a collective experience.
Denis is rightfully upset because he’s currently working on a second film titled Dune: Part Two with screenwriter Jon Spaihts covering the second part of the original Dune novel by Frank Herbert and is producing an HBO Max series titled Dune: The Sisterhood that Denis is expected to direct. There are still five original books to adapt into feature films with even more subsequent installments from Frank’s son Brian Herbert and franchise writing partner Kevin J. Anderson.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The science fiction property was the inspiration for Star Wars as key elements were lifted by George Lucas and if given the right chance could become a global success story after the David Lynch version from 1984 become a famous flop.
We’re all excited to see how the new Game of Thrones spinoff series House of The Dragon as production is said to be kicking-off this spring in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Today, WarnerMedia has announced three new additions to the cast that will be joining Paddy Considine in the fantasy prequel that will focus on various Targaryens. The new names include Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.
The Illuminerdi first reported that Matt Smith was in the mix.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, the series will tell the story of House Targaryen (a.k.a. the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and take place 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Directors on the first season are Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel, and Greg Yaitanes.
You can read the official character breakdowns below.
Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen. Viserys was chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy, but as we’ve learned from Game of Thrones, good men do not necessarily make for great kings.
Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. She’s the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.
Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. The king’s first-born child. She is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything…but she was not born a man.
Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen. The younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne, Daemon is a peerless warrior and a dragonrider who possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…
It’s unclear when House of The Dragon will begin airing on HBO and HBO Max.
Today hasn’t been a good day for WarnerMedia. This morning news broke about a possible lawsuit that could be coming from Legendary Entertainment stemming from last week’s HBO Max announcement (Warner Bros. 2021 film slate heading to the streamer) and the studio’s golden-child Christopher Nolan has less than enthusiastic statements concerning their move as well.
More bad news as The New York Times reports that while most directors and actors were notified about the announcement 90 minutes before it happened last week, one project got special treatment.
To prevent the news of the 17-movie shift from leaking (and to make the move speedily rather than get mired in the expected blowback), WarnerMedia kept the major agencies and talent management companies in the dark until roughly 90 minutes before issuing a news release. Even some Warner Bros. executives had little warning.
WarnerMedia and agencies managed to quietly secure deals for $10 million plus each for director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot ahead of the announcement of Wonder Woman 1984 going to HBO Max for Christmas Day, along with their cooperation they’d still help promote the film. I don’t think that this says anything about Patty or Gal, but it certainly looks bad for WarnerMedia being more concerned about the news leaking than speaking with the filmmakers and actors.
Last month, Warner Bros. quietly approached Hollywood’s two biggest talent agencies, William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists.
With Wonder Woman 1984, agents argued that Ms. Gadot, Ms. Jenkins and the producer Charles Roven (among others) needed to be paid what they most likely would have received had the sequel been released in a traditional manner (an exclusive run in theaters before arriving online) and not during the height of a pandemic. After all, that was what they signed up for, and Warner Bros. and HBO Max, its corporate sibling, wanted their help in promoting the film, did they not? After a tense negotiation, Warner Bros., which is owned by AT&T, agreed that Ms. Gadot and Ms. Jenkins would each get more than $10 million, according to two people with knowledge of the deals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private agreements.
Industry folks, the Director Guild of America, and other talent agencies weren’t entirely thrilled either.
The surprise move left agencies on a war footing. Representatives for major Warner Bros. stars like Denzel Washington, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Jackman and Angelina Jolie wanted to know why their clients had been treated in a lesser manner than Ms. Gadot. Talk of a Warner Bros. boycott began circulating inside the Directors Guild of America. A partner at one talent agency spent part of the weekend meeting with litigators. Some people started to angrily refer to the studio as Former Bros.
THE RONIN 