This week’s Ketchup covers the week this year leading up to Thanksgiving, as the Hollywood folks who provide us with our glimpses into film development each week are frequently taking early holiday vacations. Even so, there were still several major movie news stories this week. Included in the mix are stories about such films as Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, Murder on the Orient Express, and the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.
Sometimes fairly major casting or development revelations are in stories that are basically “burying the lead.” This week, it happened with a story about the down sides of the “one for me, one for them” relationship between many stars and their studios which leads to films like By the Sea (Brad Pitt and Angelina Pitt Jolie) or Our Brand is Crisis (Sandra Bullock) being box office flops for their studios. The reasoning is that the studios back pet projects for major stars so that they will then sign on to the more obvious box office draw films that the studio wants them to star in. That story then led to the mention that Universal Pictures hopes Angelina Jolie Pitt will sign on to star in their remake of Bride of Frankenstein, and that part right there was one of this week’s biggest new developments. (The story also mentioned Universal’s interest in AJP starring in Wanted 2, but that’s been commonly known since 2008). It has been known for years that Universal Pictures wants to develop a “cinematic universe” for new remakes of their various “Universal Monsters” (such as The Mummy, Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, etc). It’s not yet known which director might take on Bride of Frankenstein, but Guillermo Del Toro did tell us (RT) a few years ago that it’s one of his Five Favorite Films, and he’s worked with Universal Pictures in the past (Crimson Peak, Hellboy II: The Golden Army). That Universal Pictures is working on Bride of Frankenstein (but not necessarily, immediately, a Frankenstein movie) seems to gel with recent reports that The Mummy may also be female. If both pan out, with at least two of the Universal Monsters, the studio may be including more female characters. And those aren’t the only possibilities; could Universal maybe deliver a Wives of Dracula movie, or a female Creature from the Black Lagoon?
20th Century Fox confirmed this week that director Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Thor) will indeed follow up his 2015 hit Cinderella with their adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (11/10/17). That news also comes with the revelation that Kenneth Branagh will also be starring in the film in addition to directing. And the character that Branagh’s taking on is one of Agatha Christie’s most famous characters, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Poirot has appeared in 33 novels, played on film by such actors as Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, and Tony Randall, and for 24 years (1989-2013), in the British TV series as played by David Suchet. This new adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express is being adapted by screenwriter Michael Green, who has also worked on such upcoming films as the Blade Runner sequel, the third Wolverine solo film, and Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. If Murder on the Orient Express proves to be a hit in late 2017, 20th Century Fox may also follow it up with other Hercule Poirot films.
Along with Janis Joplin, the idea of an Evel Knievel biopic has been drifting through film development since at least the late 1990s (starting with a project called Pure Evel which Matthew McConaughey was once considering). Evel Knievel (1938-2007) was of course the daredevil motorcycle stuntman who became something of a pop culture sensation in the 1970s, going on to even have his own line of popular toys and action figures. Recently, there had been news about a possible Evel Knievel biopic featuring Channing Tatum and directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Noah, Black Swan), who chose a Jennifer Lawrence project as his next instead. Hollywood producers and executives sometimes can’t resist the lure of a challenge, and so we often get into situations of “dueling movies,” where different people try to make the same movie at the same time (such as the Snow White movies of 2012). And now, that appears to be happening with the Evel Knievel biopic. Paramount Pictures is also developing their own film, adapted from the book Evel Knievel on Tour, by Sheldon Saltman, which focused on Knievel’s failed attempt at jumping over the Snake River (using a rocket!) in 1974. Paramount has hired screenwriter William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven, Body of Lies) to adapt Saltman’s book. The studio’s hope is that Monahan’s script can attract the interest of director Martin Scorsese, who has worked with Monahan before on The Departed. If Scorsese does indeed sign on to direct this film, the list of possible Knievels is lengthy, but Leonardo DiCaprio would probably be the first choice, considering his star power, and his long list of collaborations with Martin Scorsese (five to date, with The Devil in the White City expected to be #6… or #7 if this movie happens first).
There are now less than four years remaining until the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission (July 20, 2019, to be precise, which is a Saturday). That means that there is still time for Universal Pictures to prepare First Man, their planned biopic of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, who is famously quoted as saying, “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” on that day as he became the first human being to walk on the Moon. For First Man, Universal is combining the efforts of three individuals whose careers are on the upswing. The book First Man: A Life of Neil A. Armstrong (by James Hansen) is beind adapted by screenwriter Josh Singer, who wrote The Fifth Estate, and this fall’s Spotlight (both are true story dramas). Director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) is already attached, and Universal is hoping to cast Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong. Gosling and Chazelle are currently working together on the musical La La Land, scheduled for July 15, 2016.
Setting up the sequel, one of the final scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy addressed the mystery of the identity of the father of Star-Lord (AKA Chris Pratt). Over the last year, fans have speculated at length about who exactly it will be (since director James Gunn has made it clear that it won’t be the same character as in the comics, J’son of Spartax). On Tuesday, a rumor appeared online that Star-Lord’s father will be Mar-Vell, AKA Marvel’s original Captain Marvel, before the title was passed to Carol Danvers. (Captain Marvel is already known to be getting her own movie, currently scheduled for March 8, 2019). That story was only online for about two hours before James Gunn took to his Facebook page to officially debunk it. Specifically, James Gunn wrote, “That said, the rumors surrounding Quill’s parentage at the present moment are completely false, and aren’t even close to the truth. I don’t know how people come up with this stuff, but it certainly isn’t through legitimate sources.” Gunn goes on to rebuke the tendency these days for writers, journalists, and fans, to seek out every detail about a high-profile genre film months or years before release, saying, “I got in this business because I love movies, and I think most film journalists are the same way. And spoiling plot details doesn’t add to the enjoyment of the film-going experience. So bravo to those folks out there who don’t partake in this sort of thing.” If the lid can indeed be kept on the mystery of Star-Lord’s parentage, fans will still have lots of possible suspects to consider. The list of potential dads for Star-Lord includes Adam Warlock, The Collector, Starfox, Starhawk, Thanos, or Yondu, plus plenty of Marvel’s other cosmic characters. We’ll find out when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is released on May 5, 2017.
In what might be the sort of non-news that happens as most of Hollywood is out of town pre-Thanksgiving, there’s this little bit of film schedule shifting. What particularly makes this a possible “this-is-news?” story is that some people might have thought this happened already. We’re speaking here of the notion of 20th Century Fox seriously planning a sequel to this past summer’s phenomenally disastrous flop, Fantastic Four. The film’s Tomatometer score has now “risen” to 10 percent, but that’s still really, really, low (and for Top Critics, the score is only 5 percent!). Even so, 20th Century Fox had kept Fantastic Four 2 on their schedule for June 9, 2017, but as of this week, the film has been completely removed from their schedule. Movies are frequently moved around on the schedule, or shifted back to TBA dates like “Summer 2017” or “TBA 2018,” but removals are less common. Although 20th Century Fox may be giving up on another Fantastic Four, that doesn’t automatically mean that the film rights to the characters will revert back to Marvel (as many fans might hope). Instead, the possibility is still out there that 20th Century Fox could still introduce them, with the same actors or recastings, in any of their upcoming X-Men franchise films. Since this is ostensibly news about a potentially Rotten movie not being produced, we’re calling this a “Fresh Development.”
Universal Pictures has been known to be working on a new “cinematic universe” tying together all of their Universal Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man, etc.) for quite some time (pretty much since it worked for Marvel). The first movie in that new franchise will be The Mummy, which is already scheduled for March 24, 2017, and will start filming in just three months (February, 2016). What has been missing until this week is a star for The Mummy, and Universal was reportedly searching for a very major star for exactly that role. The answer appears to be Tom Cruise, whom multiple sources* report is now in talks to star in Universal’s next remake of The Mummy. This version will be set in the present day (unlike the Brendan Fraser movies). It’s unknown which character Tom Cruise will play, but news that The Mummy may be female in this film suggests that Cruise may be playing one of the non-immortal humans who discovers The Mummy (or something like that). The Mummy will be directed by screenwriter Alex Kurtzman (cowriter of Star Trek, Transformers), who made his directorial debut with 2012’s People Like Us. This is one of the week’s Rotten Ideas based on the number of Rotten scores on Alex Kurtzman’s Tomatometer, not specifically because of Tom Cruise’s possible involvement. (* We should also note that Deadline is reporting that “no deal with Cruise is in the works” for The Mummy, though they don’t address which star might take the role if Cruise doesn’t.)
Director Neill Blomkamp (Chappie, District 9) is moving on from his plans for Alien 5, as Ridley Scott prepares for his Prometheus sequel and Alien prequel, now called Alien: Covenant (10/6/17). As that happens, we are now learning more details about what Blomkamp’s film would have involved. Our information this week is coming from actor Michael Biehn, who, along with Newt, appeared to have died in Alien 3 (sorry for the 23 year old spoiler!). In something of an alternate reality pickup, Blomkamp’s film would have been a direct sequel to Aliens, and disregarded the events of both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. Instead, both Hicks and Newt are still alive (though there is a precedent for this, as Hicks is depicted as surviving Alien 3 in various Alien videogames). One reason for these changes is that the franchise focus would then switch from the obviously aging Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to a 27-year-old Newt, to be played by a young new female actress. Michael Biehn seems to believe that this Alien 5 will still happen at some point after Alien: Covenant. Although the two Alien movies that this plan “retcons” out of existence both received Rotten Tomatometer scores (44 percent for Alien 3 and 54% for Alien: Resurrection), this approach still seems problematic. We can’t help but remember the last time a 1980s sci-fi franchise involving Michael Biehn tried to rewrite continuity, because it wasn’t that long ago.
