This week’s Ketchup comes to you timed alongside two very different events: the release today of Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World (which led to various Marvel Comics related stories), and the American Film Market, which is an annual event during which independent producers and distributors from around the world meet in Santa Monica, California to schmooze and make deals. Stars like Dwayne Johnson, Gerard Butler, and Samuel L. Jackson are among those included in the resulting movie development stories.
Hugh Jackman is now 45 years old, and he’s been around as a movie star for thirteen years since the first X-Men came out, so you might think he’d be ready to stop making Wolverine movies. It’s at this point that someone might challenge you to name non-Wolverine movies that Hugh Jackman has made in the last five years, and all you come up with is Les Miserables, Prisoners, and Real Steel (there were others, but who’s fondly recalling Australia at this point?). There’s also the tiny detail that The Wolverine was one of this summer’s more overlooked hits (probably because it “only” made $132 million domestically), despite a worldwide take of over $413 million. And so… Hugh Jackman will be reuniting with that film’s director, James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma), for a third solo Wolverine movie for 20th Century Fox. We don’t know what this one will be about yet (Mangold is also making a deal to write), but there are definitely a lot of as-yet-unadapted elements from Wolverine’s 40 years of comic book history to delve into. For example, we’ve not yet seen Wolverine go to Madripoor, call himself Patch, team up with Jubilee, be brainwashed to become an assassin, spend some time adventuring in Hell, or find out that he has (a) a son called Daken, and (b) a female clone called X-23. There’s probably at least three movies in that sentence alone, and that’s only a smidgen of what Wolverine’s done (Marvel publishes a LOT of Wolverine stories). The third Wolverine solo movie gets the Top Story status this week because, unlike some of the other high profile projects in the news this week, it’s an actual new movie that we haven’t heard about before this week.
The expression is thrown around a lot, but we truly are living in a new Golden Age of Television. Part of that is that the lines between movies and TV are blurring, and some of the old biases about television don’t necessarily hold up that well anymore. The definition of television itself is open for debate, as Netflix’s continuing expansion into exclusive productions continues. That company scored one of its biggest deals ever this week with the revelation that Marvel is planning on producing five separate live action titles for Netflix starting in 2015, totalling at least 60 episodes. The first series will focus on Daredevil, followed by Jessica Jones (of Marvel’s Alias), Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, all of which will eventually join up in a mini-series version of The Defenders. This is all related to movie news because those three male characters have all in the past been talked about as possibly getting their own movies, either through a deal at Marvel (Daredevil and Luke Cage), or Lions Gate (Iron Fist), many years ago. As for Jessica Jones, she was previously the focus of TV series development at ABC (home to that other Alias, possibly coincidentally) which would have been called AKA Jessica Jones. In the comics, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are also a long-term romantic couple, complete with a baby whose nanny is Squirrel Girl. Disney CEO Bob Iger is also holding out the possibility that if any of those shows are successful enough on Netflix, they could eventually get their own Marvel feature films. ABC is also still developing a second Marvel TV series, which strong speculation suggests might be a “prequel” series for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. about Agent Carter, played by Hayley Atwell. Marvel’s “Distinguished Competition” is still in the TV show business, too, of course (Arrow and the upcoming The Flash), with plans this week to develop a series about Hourman, about a pharmacist who invents a secret formula that allows him to be super strong for one hour. One of the writers of The Sopranos is working on Hourman.
After months of speculation, it was finally officially confirmed this week that Star Wars Episode VII will be the first film in the franchise to be released in a month other than May. The release date will instead be December 18, 2015, which could be interpreted as a bold move from Disney showing that they are not going to just copy everything that 20th Century Fox did with the first six movies. There’s also the little detail that Summer, 2015 is already crowded with big movies, and it takes a long time to produce Star Wars movies (and this one hasn’t started filming yet). To fill the spot that might have formerly been expected to go to Star Wars Episode VII, Disney is bumping Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland from its former spot in November, 2014 to May 22, 2015. Filming of Star Wars Episode VII is going to start at Pinewood Studios in early 2014, which is only getting closer and closer, so the continuing casting rumors that inundate many movie news websites each week are soon going to have to start resulting in actual casting announcements. The latest name to get bandied about is Chewitel Ejiofor, who’s been fielding questions while doing press for 12 Years a Slave. And surprisingly few of them are asking if he would be playing Lando Calrissian’s son. Ah, progress.
Speaking of casting rumors, another big 2015 movie which needs to find more of its stars to meet its release date (July 17, 2015) is the still-not-completely-titled Batman Vs Superman movie at Warner Bros. Progress definitely seemed to happen this week, however, with the report that three actresses have met with the studio for the movie’s female lead, which is being speculated as being either Bruce Wayne’s romantic interest, Wonder Woman herself, or both (there is precedent for that concept in the comics). Those three actresses are Gal Gadot (Fast and Furious), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), and Elodie Yung (G.I. Joe: Retaliation). The role they’re discussing is described by sources as “tall, brunette, athletic, and exotic.” One actress who is most likely not in the running to play Wonder Woman (though that hasn’t stopped her from discussing it with the press) is Jaimie Alexander, whose role as Sif in the Thor movies probably eliminates her as a candidate.
Although he’s still producing it, the time when Brad Pitt might have once starred in the adaptation of the true story exploration book The Lost City of Z has now since past (possibly because he remains un-British). Instead, Benedict Cumberbatch will be starring as English soldier-turned-explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, whose obsession with a secret city in South America eventually led to his disappearance. This week, we learned that Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga, Cosmopolis) has joined Cumberbatch in the project, although we don’t yet know what role he will be playing (there’s speculation it could be as Fawcett’s son, but Pattinson and Cumberbatch seem too close in age for that?). The Lost City of Z is ramping up for filming under the direction of James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night, The Immigrant).
The American Film Market was in full swing in Santa Monica this week, and as has happened in previous years, Samuel L. Jackson was a popular actor for film producers to name-check in the announcement of deals. Some of these movies also never end up getting made, but hey, maybe these two will have better luck. First up is the indie drama Harry and the Butler, which will also costar Michael Caine. George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues) will direct the two actors in the story about a former jazz star (Jackson) who inherits a large sum of money and hires a real life butler (Caine), who has also experienced a lot of bad luck and disappointment. The other new movie for Jackson at AFM this week is an adaptation of Stephen King’s Cell, which has two connections to another King adaptation, 1408. Besides Samuel L. Jackson, both movies also feature the acting talents of John Cusack. Cell tells the story of “a New England artist struggling to reunite with his son after a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell phone network turns humans into mindless vicious animals.” Cell will be directed by Tod “Kip” Williams, whose filmography includes The Door in the Floor and Paranormal Activity 2.
Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, who costarred together in the overlooked nostalgic comedy Adventureland, will be reuniting in an action comedy called American Ultra. The script was written by Max Landis (Chronicle), and the movie will be directed by Nima Nourizadeh (Project X). The Rotten score of 28% for Project X is why this is one of the week’s Rotten Ideas. “Eisenberg will play an unmotivated stoner named Mike, who lives with his girlfriend Phoebe (Stewart) in a small, sleepy town. One night, their lives take an unexpected turn when Mike’s past comes back to haunt him, and he becomes the target of a government operation set to wipe him out.”
Well, at least it’s obviously not a “kids movie.” Dwayne Johnson has signed with MGM to star in the action project called SEAL Team 666. The movie is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a team of Navy SEALs “battle demons and assorted threats and discover that there’s a greater supernatural force bent on destroying the world.” Of course, there is. SEAL Team 666 was written by Evan Spiliotopoulos, who also wrote the new Hercules movie that Dwayne Johnson recently filmed with director Brett Ratner.
The comedy The Internship sort of came and went without much fanfare this past summer, which arguably leaves the door open for the similarly titled The Intern, which is being directed and written by Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated). Tina Fey was previously expected to be starring in the comedy as “the owner of a successful fashion website who bonds with the elderly intern her company hires,” but she eventually dropped out of the project. Now, Reese Witherspon is in talks for the role instead, and Robert De Niro is expected to play the “elderly intern.” Cue the comedy?
The world is still waiting for the great video game adaptation movie that will start a new wave of quality movies, in the way that things changed for comic book movies in the early 2000s. In the meantime, we are still getting movies like Kane & Lynch, which appears closer to happening than it has in the several years it’s been in development now. Gerard Butler is now in talks to play Kane, and an offer has been made to Vin Diesel to play Lynch. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men was a fairly popular shooter in 2007 featuring two lead characters who really don’t look anything like Gerard Butler or Vin Diesel. Kane & Lynch will be directed by F. Gary Gray, whose last three films have all received RT Tomatometer scores under 31% (Be Cool, A Man Apart, and Law Abiding Citizen). Vin Diesel starred in A Man Apart and Gerard Butler starred in Law Abiding Citizen.
For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS via Facebook.
