This Week’s Ketchup covers nine days of movie development news (last week’s was published early, pre-Thanksgiving), covering such movies as the James Bond movie Spectre, the comic book adaptations Suicide Squad, Doctor Strange, and Deadpool, and sequels for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and (maybe) Frozen.
Following in the footsteps of their own star-studded Ocean’s 11 heist franchise, Warner Bros has officially announced the six stars of Suicide Squad (with a few more apparently still to come), the third film in their new DC Cinematic Universe after Man of Steel and the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Will Smith will play the assassin Deadshot, Tom Hardy will play the team’s leader Rick Flag, Cara Delevinge will play Enchantress, and Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard) will play Boomerang (Captain Boomerang in the comics). Those four characters were all founding members of the modern Suicide Squad in the comics, so they’re probably important to group together. Then, there’s Jared Leto and Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) as The Joker and Harley Quinn; they weren’t members of that original group, which suggests that they may be Suicide Squad‘s antagonists (though this is admittedly just speculation). Superhero teams in the movies often vary from the comics (Black Widow, for example, didn’t join the Avengers in the comics until issue #111, and the Guardians of the Galaxy existed for nearly 40 years without any of the members in the movie). Of course, there were seven original Suicide Squad members, and Joker and Harley Quinn might just have been added to the team to give Suicide Squad more marquee value (especially since Lex Luthor as played by Jesse Eisenberg might possibly involved as well). One of the characters still to be cast is Amanda Waller (sort of DC’s Nick Fury), for whom Oprah Winfrey is reportedly the first choice (because, well, Oprah Winfrey), with The Help stars Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis also being considered. In other WB/DC news, the studio has hired screenwriter Jason Fuchs to work on Wonder Woman for director Michelle MacLaren. Jason Fuchs previously worked on Ice Age: Continental Drift, wrote the studio’s Pan, and is already working on a potential sequel. Warner Bros has scheduled Suicide Squad for August 5, 2016, and Wonder Woman for June 23, 2017.
When the keepers of the keys to the James Bond franchise did a total reboot with the Daniel Craig movies (starting with Casino Royale), the lingering question was when some of the most classic villain elements would make their debuts. Specifically, the criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is iconic, featuring such nemeses as Ernst Blofeld, Rosa Klebb and the various numbered henchmen, and clearly influencing the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby when they created S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA for Marvel Comics. This Thursday, a big press event was held to announce the title of the 24th James Bond movie, and the answer was Spectre, complete with a poster image that references the octopus logo of the organization. New cast members revealed this week were Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded) and Andrew Scott (Moriarty from TV’s Sherlock), and the previously reported Lea Seydoux and Dave Bautista were also confirmed. The name of Christoph Waltz’s character was announced as Oberhauser (a reference to a character from Bond’s past), but it’s still possible this is a cover name (like Ernst Blofeld, as previously rumored). You can read more about various rumors and details in this piece from The Daily Express. Although not mentioned at the press conference, one returning character revealed this week is Mister White from Quantum of Solace, as played by Jesper Christensen. It’s not known how the “Quantum” organization relates to S.P.E.C.T.R.E., but his casting is probably part of that explanation. Spectre will be filmed at locations in Mexico City, Rome, Morocco, and Austria and at Pinewood Studios in London, and will be released on November 6, 2015.
Warner Bros has reportedly offered Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) the opportunity to direct their adaptation of the popular YA science fiction novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Ready Player One is set in the dystopian future of 2044 and follows a teenager obsessed with video gaming and role-playing history (especially games from the 1980s like Dungeons and Dragons) who joins in the search for the key to inheriting a huge fortune, a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or National Treasure. It’s easy to see some similarities between Ready Player One and Nolan’s previous films (especially Inception), but one would probably expect such a film to be directed by someone more recognized as a geek culture aficionado, like Edgar Wright or Matthew Vaughn. It’s somewhat logical, though, that Warner Bros would acquire the rights to Ready Player One, since they’re also developing a new Dungeons and Dragons movie franchise. The Ready Player One adaptation script was recently completed by screenwriter Zak Penn, who’s built a career on adaptation for Nolan’s comic book competition, with movies like X2, Elektra, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers. The next question is, will Christopher Nolan roll a sucessful Save Vs Rotten Idea?
There were a few different stories this week related to the idea of Walt Disney Pictures expanding on the success of their 2013 animated film Frozen. Let’s start with the firmest news, which is that Disney will be attaching an animated short film called Frozen Fever to the March 13, 2015 release of their live action Cinderella. Frozen directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee are returning for the short, which will depict Elsa and Kristoff throwing a birthday party for Anna. The short film will also feature a new song written by the first film’s composers. Disney (well, Pixar, specifically) has done these sorts of animated shorts before full sequels in the past, such as with characters from Toy Story, Monsters University, and Cars. As for a full sequel, singer/actress Idina Menzel sort of got caught playing a speculative guessing game which was initially interpreted as an actual announcement. It started with an off-hand comment that a sequel is “in the works,” which was quickly followed by a clarification from Menzel, who said, “You know, I have no idea — I just assumed that because it’s so successful that’s what they’re up to!” Of course, none of this necessarily means she was wrong; Walt Disney Pictures is very much in the sequel/franchise business.
In the movie development news business, terms like “in negotiations,” “offered,” or “circling” often imply an actor has landed a role (and sometimes that initial story is the only time a specific casting makes the news). For the savviest of studios and publicists, such language offers an opportunity to double-dip, surfacing the same headline twice in different news cycles. Two different Marvel adaptations did exactly that this week, one from Marvel Studios itself, the other from 20th Century Fox. Marvel Studios made the official announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch will indeed star as the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, which they did not do at their big Phase 3 announcement back in late October (even though the Benedict Cumberbatch news was “reported” just the day before that event). Marvel has scheduled Doctor Strange for release on November 4, 2016. Over at 20th Century Fox, something similar was done with the signing of Ryan Reynolds to star as the fast talking, fourth-wall-breaking mercenary anti-hero Deadpool, which is something most fans have basically presumed was a sure thing for a few years now. Fox has scheduled Deadpool for release on February 6, 2016 (three months before X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016). In other news about 20th Century Fox adaptations of Marvel characters, The Fantastic Four here at Rotten Tomatoes attracted a fair amount of notice because of the similarities between its recently revealed premise (their powers now come from “an alternate and dangerous universe”) and the rebooted origin story from Marvel’s “Ultimate” reboot of Fantastic Four. 20th Century Fox has scheduled The Fantastic Four for August 7, 2015.
In a week when Sony Pictures experienced a lot of bad news, including alleged insider comments about one of their stars, a promising new comedy venture was announced for one of their most successful stars, Will Ferrell. Sony Pictures has acquired a comedy pitch for Ferrell set in “the intense, competitive world inside a Shakespearean theater company.” Inappropriate flubbing of Elizabethan jargon and/or famous Shakespeare quotes? Will Ferrell not quite fitting appropriately in tights, doublet, and ruff? I probably just came up with 80% of what we’ll see in the first trailer. “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely… [INSERT WILL FERRELL IMPROV SHOUTING HERE!!!].” This project currently lacks a title, a screenwriter, a director, and certainly a release date.
There’s a very, very old and storied tradition in Hollywood in which studios compete with each other to produce films based on nearly identical properties or concepts, with the eventual movies ending up in theaters very near each other. The concept is called “Dueling Movies,” and if you ever wondered about the proximity of movies like Deep Impact/Armageddon, Olympus Has Fallen/White House Down, or Mirror Mirror/Snow White and the Huntsman, you have been wary enough to notice this unabashed trend. We’ve known for since October that Sony Pictures was developing a “cinematic universe” (a la The Avengers) based on the characters of Robin Hood and his various Merry Men (Friar Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet, etc). Well, a ticking clock just appeared for those projects this week, as Walt Disney Pictures has acquired a spec script also based on Robin Hood called Nottingham & Hood, which is reportedly in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean. The problem with both of these stories (which potentially add up to half a dozen different Robin Hood movies) is that, in the last twenty years, we’ve already had a few attempts at reviving the character. Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe both tried it, and while either movie was a flat out flop, exactly, this writer is guessing some people have forgotten either movie had even been made. Is Robin Hood a story people still care about? Can any modern Robin Hood movie ever top Errol Flynn?
A lot can change in the time it takes a film to go from concept to development to production, depending on studio politics, genre or actor popularity, or just simple scheduling reasons. For example, at Warner Bros, there is a crime/military/war comedy called Arms and the Dudes, which is based on the true story of two “stoners” who ended up becoming arms dealers for the U.S. government, providing weapons to be used in Afghanistan. At one time, not too long ago, the two stars would have been Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf. This week, we learned that the stars are now possibly going to be Jonah Hill and The Spectacular Now and Whiplash star Miles Teller. Jesse Eisenberg reportedly dropped out of the project due to the time commitment to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and (possibly) Suicide Squad, in which Eisenberg would portray Lex Luthor. Arms and the Dudes will be directed by Todd Phillips as his next comedy film after finishing up The Hangover trilogy last year. Phillips also directed Old School, Starsky & Hutch, School for Scoundrels, and Due Date, and it’s the low Tomatometer scores for his last three films which landed this story in the “Rotten Idea” category this week.
The ramifications of Hollywood’s fascination a few years ago with developing reboots and remakes is still shaking out as the projects begun in 2008 to 2012 continue to either work their way towards production or get put into turnaround. One of the studios central to that whole trend has been MGM, who you have to thank for such remakes as Red Dawn, Carrie, Fame, The Taking of Pelham 123, and the upcoming remakes of Poltergeist and Ben-Hur. On one hand, the argument could be made that one of the things MGM has going for it is their massive catalog of past successes. On the other hand, did anyone really have an overwhelming yen for retreads of Red Dawn, RoboCop, or Hercules? That’s basically the vibe we also get from MGM’s long-in-development plans to remake The Magnificent Seven (which was itself a Western genre remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai). This week, we learned that Chris Pratt, hot off Guardians of the Galaxy and the Jurassic World teaser trailer, is now in early talks to join Denzel Washington in the Magnificent Seven remake. On one hand, we have to admit that Pratt’s involvement in this remake is a second intriguing move (Denzel’s involvement was the first). But we’re still talking about a remake of a well respected remake of a pretty much certified cinematic classic. There are plenty of flawed movies just sitting out there waiting to be done right. MGM’s new Magnificent Seven will be directed by Antoine Fuqua (King Arthur, Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen).
Soon after this summer’s reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened up very strongly against Guardians of the Galaxy, Paramount and Nickelodeon announced plans for a sequel to be released on June 3, 2016. This week, we learned a few more details about that sequel. First off, we now know that Dave Green is in talks to direct, after making his debut with Earth to Echo, which received a Rotten Tomatometer score of just 48 percent. One of the franchise’s producers, Andrew Form, also dropped the news this week that for the sequel, they are hoping to include three more characters: the crime fighter Casey Jones, and the evolved animal bad guys Bebop (the pig man) and Rocksteady (the rhino man). The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles received a Rotten Tomatometer score in August of just 22 percent.
For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS via Facebook.
