This week’s Ketchup covers ten stories from the last seven days in the realm of film development news (the stories about what future movies will get made, and who is behind them). Included in the mix this week are stories about Ant-Man and the Wasp, Dora the Explorer, and Monster High.
To some degree, the normal pace of film development news seemed to slow down considerably this week. Focus instead was shifted to first, the final Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer (and the tickets going on sale for the first time). The second big movie news event this week happened on Wednesday, as the future of Back to the Future II, October 21, 2015, became a reality. This column is focused on film development, however (stories about movies actually getting made), and if you remove Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Back to the Future from this week, you’re left with several stories that sort of got lost in people’s newsfeeds. The biggest such story has to be the news that J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise will continue with a new eighth story called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This time, however, the story will not be told in a novel, but will instead be a two-part play presented on stage in London, starting in the summer of 2016. The focus of this new story will be Harry Potter’s youngest son, Albus, who “must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.” The plays are expected to feature a cast of over 30 characters, though it’s not yet known if any of the film cast will reprise their characters on stage. And finally, since this is a column about movies, it’s also unknown if Warner Bros will be developing movies adapting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. What is known is that the first Harry Potter spinoff/prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is currently filming, and is scheduled for release on November 18, 2016.
Marvel Studios has been making the news lately about their searches for directors for such movies as Thor: Ragnarok (the job went to Taika Waititi of What We Do in the Shadows), Black Panther, and Captain Marvel (both positions are still yet unhired). Apparently, based upon how relatively quickly it has happened, the decision about who to hire to direct a sequel to Ant-Man was a lot less involved. Peyton Reed, who directed Ant-Man, is now in advanced talks with Marvel Studios to direct the sequel called Ant-Man and the Wasp. Paul Rudd is already signed to return for the sequel, and Evangeline Lilly is also expected to return. Marvel Studios has scheduled Ant-Man and the Wasp for July 6, 2018, which in Marvel’s schedule, places the film in between Avengers: Infinity War Part I (5/4/18) and Captain Marvel (3/8/19). Presuming that Phase 3 will have six films like the first two phases did, those three films may be the first films of Marvel’s (not yet announced) “Phase 4.” Paul Rudd will next appear as Ant-Man in next year’s Captain America: Civil War (5/6/16).
Sometimes, writers reporting the news from the world of film development sort of “bury the lead” by including two fairly big stories (to different audiences, usually) under the same banner. In this case, we found out that Paramount is still developing their Micronauts movie at the same time that we learned of the studio’s plans for a live-action Dora the Explorer movie. Both movies are being adapted by screenwriter Tom Wheeler, who is best known for writing the 2011 hit Puss in Boots. First introduced in 2000, Dora the Explorer has become a very successful mainstream and media-wide franchise which includes TV, books, toys, games, and even stage productions. Micronauts, on the other hand, is a 1970s/1980s science fiction toy and Marvel Comics franchise that has been in development for a “comeback/resurgence” for several years. Micronauts is being developed by Paramount and Hasbro, the same companies that have previously had success bringing back old toy properties with both Transformers and (to a lesser degree) G.I. Joe.
Under the broader umbrella of live-action adaptations of classic Disney movies, the studio has also been focusing on movies and TV shows that tell the back stories for some of their villains. Examples of this are Maleficent, Oz the Great and Powerful, and the ABC series Once Upon a Time. Of course, the inspiration for some of that arguably has been the Broadway musical Wicked, which is still waiting for its own movie, which Universal Pictures has in development. This week, we learned more about another villain-centric prequel that Universal has in development, and like Wicked, it is based upon a novel (actually, a series of YA novels). Universal Pictures has hired screenwriter Grant Pierce Myers (cowriter of The Maze Runner) to start adapting Colleen Oakes’ Queen of Hearts novels into a feature film. The title character of Queen of Hearts is the teenage princess living in Wonderland Palace who will someday meet a girl named Alice, as depicted in the books by Lewis Carroll. Colleen Oakes has thus far published two Queen of Hearts novels, with the third expected to be published in the summer of 2018 (possibly around the time this movie is released?).
When Senator John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of the core elements to his legacy and reputation was the story of his experience as the commander of the PT-109 patrol boat in the Pacific Theater of World War II. In the early morning of August 2, 1943, PT-109 collided with a much larger Japanese destroyer (the Amagiri), leading to the PT-109 being sunk. John F. Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for what happened next. Cliff Robertson starred as JFK in the 1963 movie PT 109 about the incident, but that movie is now over 50 years old. In that spirit, development has now begun on a spec script called Mayday 109, written by relative newcomers Evan Kilgore and Samuel Franco (a former producer for Howard Stern and Charlie Rose). Mayday 109 is being produced by the same producers and production companies that this year delivered Sicario and San Andreas.
Following his controversies in 2006 and 2010, Academy Award winner Mel Gibson has continued to work as an actor (The Beaver, The Expendables 3), but the road back to directing has taken longer. Nine years after Apocalypto, Mel Gibson is now back behind the camera in Sydney, Australia, filming a World War II fact-based drama called Hacksaw Ridge. The production is being funded outside the traditional Hollywood studio system (as several of Gibson’s recent projects have been). Australian actor Hugo Weaving, a familiar face and voice to fans of film franchises like The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, signed on this week in a supporting role. Hugo Weaving will play the father of Desmond T. Doss, as played by Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man). Desmond Doss was “the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored.” Doss was drafted into service during World War II, and served as a medic in the Pacific theatre.
As much as some famous figures from classic literature have been repeatedly and popularly represented in movies (such as William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, and Mark Twain), there are others who seem to have been skipped over. Consider, for example, the legacy of American poet Emily Dickinson. Although she has appeared as a character in some works, Emily Dickinson hasn’t really been the central subject of a major motion picture (to this writer’s knowledge… ever?). This week, the news broke about an independent comedy that is ostensibly aiming to correct that trend a bit. Molly Shannon, who is probably best known for her time on Saturday Night Live (1995 to 2001), recently wrapped filming on an untitled, shrouded-in-mystery “period piece comedy” in which she stars as the adult Emily Dickinson, with her younger version played by relative newcomer Dana Melanie. It’s expected that director Madeleine Olnek (The Foxy Merkins) will be submitting the mystery project to film festivals like Sundance and SXSW for an early 2016 festival premiere.
With Mad Men now done and off the air, star Jon Hamm appears to be turning his attention towards doing more film work. This week, we learned that he has joined the cast of the racing action movie Baby Driver. The movie is itself something of a “next step” project for director Edgar Wright, who previously had been working on Marvel’s Ant-Man, before his departure from that film in 2014. Edgar Wright’s last film as director was The World’s End (8/23/13), and Sony Pictures has scheduled Baby Driver for release on March 17, 2017, up against Disney’s live action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Jon Hamm joins Baby Driver in an unknown role along with Lily James, Jamie Foxx, and Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars), as the lead character, a young getaway driver who comes into conflict with a dangerous crime boss.
(Photo by Dave Kotinsky / Stringer / Getty Images)
Sometimes, it feels like film adaptations of toy/game/TV franchises finally get made long after the source material’s peak in popularity (like, say, Jem and the Holograms and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). In some cases, this is done on purpose to take advantage of nostalgia (again, like Jem and the Holograms). In other examples, the film adaptation actually feels pretty well timed, as the movie comes out while the source is still popular (example: The LEGO Movie). If you browse a toy aisle the next time you go shopping, one of the franchises you will see is Mattel’s Monster High, which features “girl doll” versions of classic Universal monsters like Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster. And Universal Pictures is taking advantage of that current popularity, with plans for a Monster High movie to be released in about a year, on October 7, 2016. This week, that movie made a crucial next step towards actually happening with the news of the film’s director. That job will go to Ari Sandel, who made his feature film debut earlier this year with The DUFF, another teen film set in a high school (71 percent Tomatometer Score). Before that, Sandel also directed the 2006 short film West Bank Story, which won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. We should start hearing about casting for the various “teenage monsters” soon. Expect lots of I Was a Teenage [INSERT MONSTER HERE] headlines in the near future.
Each week, as we pick which news stories are “rotten” (usually using RT Tomatometer scores for past films), it can sometimes feel like we keep “beating up” on the same movies, partly because film development news for movies often happen consecutively. So, the movie that was the “Rotten Idea” last week might be the “Rotten Idea” next week too. That, unfortunately, is the case with the new Power Rangers movie. The first Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, back in 1995, has a Rotten score of 50 percent. And the new movie, scheduled for 2017, will be the second film for director Dean Israelite, who made his debut this year with the 34 percent Rotten movie, Project Almanac. Anyway, Power Rangers made the news three times this week, with the casting announcements for the colors Red, Black, and Blue (who are joining the already cast Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger). The Red Ranger will be played by newcomer Dacre Montgomery, who only two short films to his credit currently. The Black Ranger will be played by Ludi Lin, whose filmography is slightly longer, with an episode of Netflix’s Marco Polo probably having the highest profile. Finally, just today (as we go to press), we have learned that the Blue Ranger will be played by the actor with the highest profile of the four announced thus far. R.J. Cyler was the “Earl” in this past summer’s indie hit, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. This leaves two more main Power Rangers yet to be cast (green and yellow, most likely), along with the film’s villains.
