TAGGED AS: Marvel, Superheroes
This week’s Ketchup brings you another ten headlines from the world of film development news (those stories about what movies Hollywood is working on for you next). Included in the mix this time around are stories about such titles as 23 Jump Street, Kingsman 2, Miss Saigon, Where’s Waldo?, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, and Han Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The end credits of 22 Jump Street teased several joke concepts for sequels. One of the concepts that was revealed in the late 2014 Sony Pictures e-mail leaks, however, was that what the studio was planning on was a crossover that would see the characters played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum being recruited to leave Ice Cube’s squad, and instead become Men in Black. That’s right, the same sort of Men in Black as in the secret agents played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, who are tasked with keeping track of the various aliens who are secretly living here on Earth. This week, the spoiled secret was confirmed by the news that Sony Pictures is indeed proceeding with that crossover, and to that end, they have hired director James Bobin. Currently, James Bobin is best known for directing 2011’s The Muppets and its sequel Muppets: Most Wanted, and Bobin’s next film will be this year’s Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass (5/27/16). It is not yet known if Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will be reprising their roles in the spirit of “handing off the baton”, ala the way Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise appeared in the first 21 Jump Street movie.
As of this writing, Harry Styles is known almost exclusively as the lead singer of the British boy band One Direction, and not so much as an actor, but that’s really only because he’s never been in a movie or TV show before (as someone other than himself). Director Christopher Nolan, however, apparently wants to see what Harry Styles can do, because Nolan has cast Harry Styles in his World War II action drama Dunkirk. As the title suggests, the July 21, 2017 release will portray the Battle of Dunkirk of May and June, 1940, in which Allied forces fought to evacuate Dunkirk, France, as the Germans advanced West. Harry Styles wasn’t the only young actor cast this week, however, as he will also be joined by Fionn Whitehead (also making his feature film debut), and relative unknowns Jack Lowden and Aneurin Barnard. These four young actors join older veteran actors who have already been cast, namely, Kenneth Branagh, recent Academy Award winner Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy.
Although one of the most memorable scenes in Slumdog Millionaire was the Bollywood musical finale, to date, director Danny Boyle has not yet directed a film that is entirely a pure musical. That appears to be about to change, however, with the news this week that Danny Boyle is now attached to direct the long-in-development movie version of the hit musical Miss Saigon. As the title suggests, Miss Saigon is set in the final days of the Vietnam War as an American soldier falls in love with a Vietnamese girl. We probably, however, have a few years before we actually see Danny Boyle’s Miss Saigon, because his next film is expected to be his sequel to Trainspotting, which is scheduled to start filming in May, 2016.
Following critical and awards successes such as Birdman and Spotlight, the “comeback” of Michael Keaton continued this week with an announcement from the official website of bestselling author Vince Flynn. From Flynn comes the news that Lionsgate and CBS Films are uniting on an adaptation of his novel American Assassin, with Michael Keaton attached to star. Michael Keaton will play a Cold War veteran named Stan Hurley as a CIA trainer who is assigned to Mitch Rapp, “a black ops recruit devastated by the loss of his fiancée to a terrorist attack. As Rapp’s training progresses, the pair is dispatched on a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative from starting World War III in the Middle East.” American Assassin will be directed by Michael Cuesta, whose previous four films all received “Fresh” RT Tomatometer scores (L.I.E., Twelve and Holding, Roadie, and Kill the Messenger).
In two weeks, when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Jena Malone, who filmed scenes for the movie won’t be on the big screen (instead, she is expected to just be on the home video release). This week, however, following months of speculation, we did learn exactly who Jena Malone will be playing, and it’s Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl (and later, Oracle). This, then, was a big week for the Gordon family, because her dad also made the news. That’s because, in something of a major “get” for Warner Bros (away from Marvel), J.K. Simmons has been cast in Justice League Part One as Commissioner James Gordon . Fans of the first three Spider-Man movies will remember that J.K. Simmons rather brilliantly portrayed Peter Parker’s boss at the Daily Bugle, publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Some fans have hoped that perhaps J.K. Simmons would reprise his role in future Spider-Man movies (regardless of every one else being recast), but Simmons signing on with Marvel’s competition seems to suggest that won’t happen. Justice League Part One is scheduled for release on November 17, 2017, and Justice League Part Two is scheduled for June 14, 2019.
We’ve known for a while that the second “Star Wars anthology” movie in 2018 would be about Han Solo as a young man, but this week, we learned that Han won’t be the only major Star Wars character to get his origin in that film. The film, which might be called Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, will also reveal the back story for Han’s partner in smuggling, Chewbacca, including, presumably, how they became friends. We still don’t know yet who will play the young Han Solo, and it’s also possible that a different actors than Peter Mayhew will play the young Chewbacca. What is known is that the Han Solo prequel will be directed by the team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). Some sources still list a May, 2018 release date for this film, but it’s expected to probably be moved to December, 2018, following the December success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
This week, fans got their first look at Tom Holland as the latest actor to play Spider-Man in the second trailer for Captain America: Civil War. Concurrently, filming is also about to start on the new Spider-Man movie (which might be called Spider-Man: The New Avenger), which is scheduled for July 7, 2017. Although Sony is distributing the film, and not Marvel/Disney, for the first of Peter Parker’s new batch of friends, Marvel and Sony have recruited a teen star who is most famous for starring on The Disney Channel. That’s because Zendaya has been cast in a “key female role” which has only been described as being named “Michelle.” That, however, was just enough information to lead people to speculate that Zendaya might be playing a younger version of Michelle Gonzales. In the comics, Michelle Gonzales is an adult and Peter Parker’s roommate. In this new Spider-Man movie, Peter Parker is expected to still be in high school, but Zendaya could still be playing a younger version of the same character. Whatever it’s called, the new solo Spider-Man movie will be directed by Jon Watts, who made his debut last year with Cop Car.
The notion of a feature film based on the popular Where’s Waldo children’s books has been lingering around Hollywood since the 1990s, but it’s starting to look like such a movie might finally happen. This newest movement started in 2011, when MGM acquired the rights. This week, we learned that frequent comedy collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (This is the End, The Interview) have come aboard Where’s Waldo? as at least producers. It’s unclear if Goldberg might also direct, or if Seth Rogen could possibly sign on to star as the red-and-white guy who’s very, very hard to spot in a crowd.
We’ve known since soon after Kingsman: The Secret Service was released early last year that the sequel would involve Taron Egerton’s “Eggsy” character having further spy adventures in the USA. This news was followed by the recent casting of Julianne Moore as the main villain in Kingsman 2 (6/16/17). This week, another American actress was revealed as being in talks to play the head of the CIA, and it’s someone who has played a spy on the big screen before. That’s because Halle Berry costarred in the James Bond movie Die Another Day as Jinx, an agent of the NSA. Like the first film, Kingsman 2 will also be directed by Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass).
Traditionally, Hollywood has not had much luck in adapting video games into successful movies, but if things are ever going to turn around, it might be in 2016. This year sees the release of three major video game movies: Angry Birds (5/10/16), Warcraft (6/10/16), and Assassin’s Creed (12/21/16). There are many other game adaptations in development, and new ones have been announced over the last two years as producers attempt to get ahead of the trend (ie, before licensing fees go up). This week, producer Roy Lee (The LEGO Movie, How to Train Your Dragon) joined a few others to license the rights to the Enix video game franchise Thief. There have been to date four Thief games, and like Assassin’s Creed, they are stealth-based. Screenwriters Adam Mason and Simon Boyes have been hired to start working on adapting Thief into a feature film. Most of their work has not earned scores on their RT Tomatometer, but their latest film, Misconduct, has a score of just 16%, which this week, is enough to earn this story the “Rotten Idea” tag.
