There are plenty of set photos from Shazam out there that show star Zachary Levi as the DC Comics hero, but this one comes from the actor himself. Levi posted an Instagram image of himself in costume as part of a promotional campaign at the Licensing Show in Las Vegas.
A post shared by Zachary Levi (@zacharylevi) on May 21, 2018 at 2:55pm PDT
If Warner Bros. is letting Levi put this image on blast we may see something more official soon. The Chuck star plays Shazam, the powerful superhero who emerges magically when young Billy Batson (Asher Angel) says the magic word, SHAZAM! Levi and Angel are joined in the cast by Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, and more.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam opens April 5th 2019.
When Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigned in 2016 after allegations of sexual misconduct by numerous employees, it sent a shockwave throughout the TV news business. It also probably sent a cold chill throughout Fox News which has been engulfed by scandals involving its host. Ailes’ humiliating fall from grace is about to get the big screen treatment in a new film, and it will have Charlize Theron as his most high-profile target, TV host Megyn Kelly.
Theron will star in the untitled film from Game Change director Jay Roach, based on a script by Charles Randolph, one of the Oscar-winning writers of The Big Short. The women who worked at Fox News during Ailes’ tenure will be the focus of the story, so expect depictions of Kelly, Gretchen Carlson, Greta van Susteren, and more. Bill O’Reilly, who was also exposed for his misconduct, will be a character in the film as well as media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Ailes, who died in 2017, was just the tip of the iceberg for Fox. The top-rated “news” network has shelled out millions in legal fees fighting allegations long after his resignation. Kelly rose through the ranks there, eventually becoming host of the popular show, The Kelly File. She and other women were reportedly pressured to come out on support of Ailes but she refused. She would eventually leave and join NBC as part of The Today Show.
This makes for the second overtly political project being backed and produced by Annapurna Pictures. They are also working on a Dick Cheney biopic from Adam McKay. [THR]
Hey, I knock That Hashtag Show a lot for their sketch rumors, but when one hits I gotta give them props. As previously rumored last month, Halle Berry has been confirmed as part of the John Wick: Chapter 3 cast, joining star Keanu Reeves. However, she won’t be coming alone.
Reeves is digging into his martial arts background to cast The Raid‘s awesome Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, along with Tiger Chen who starred in Reeves’ underrated directorial debut film Man of Tai Chi. He also happens to be Reeves’s martial arts teacher. The rest of the newcomers include Anjelica Huston (The Royal Tenenbaums), Asia Kate Dillon (Orange is the New Black), Mark Dacascos (Brotherhood of the Wolf), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine), and Jason Mantzoukas (The League). Ian McShane, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick and Ruby Rose are all coming back, as well. All of the new characters have colorful names which suggest they are part of some league of assassins. Huston plays The Director, Dillon will play The Adjudicator of the High Table, Dacascos is an assassin known as Zero, and Mantzoukas is the Tick Tock Man.
This film finds Wick on the run with a massive $14M contract out on his life for breaking The Continental’s central rule, which is to never kill anyone on hotel grounds. Unfortunately for him, the person he killed was a member of the powerful High Table, who opened the contract that has killers circling to finish him once and for all.
John Wick: Chapter 3 opens May 17th 2019 directed by Chad Stahelski. [THR]
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio won’t be the only villain in the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. There will be another baddie and he’ll be quite the familiar face. Variety reports Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as Adrian Toomes aka Vulture.
This isn’t all that surprising. While Peter Parker defeated Toomes and sent him away to prison, the mid-credits scene teased that his story wasn’t quite finished. In that scene he rejected another villain, Mac Gargan aka Scorpion, who wanted to know Spider-Man’s secret identity. So how does this tie in to Mysterio? Well, Vulture and Mysterio do happen to be charter members of the Sinister Six…
Plus, Keaton is just a terrific actor and who wouldn’t want to keep him around as long as possible? There aren’t very many great villains in Marvel movies but Vulture is one of the better ones. Keaton was able to give him depth and purpose (His beef was legit, Tony Stark is a douche.) and there are a lot of avenues the character can go down.
This is good news for another reason. You may recall Sony tried to fast forward into production a Sinister Six movie back during the Andrew Garfield days. It was one of their major screwups, plotting multiple franchises before firmly establishing Spidey’s own. Bringing back Vulture for a second movie now at least suggests they are taking it slow in introducing one of Spidey’s toughest collections of foes.
Sony is also on the lookout for an actress in her 20s to play another female lead (let the speculation begin!), and of course Marisa Tomei, whose Aunt May survived the snap of Thanos’ fingers, will be back along with Zendaya as MJ.
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free early screening of the new comedy, Action Point, starring Johnny Knoxville in a role that takes him back to his Jackass roots.
SYNOPSIS: Everyone’s favorite daredevil Johnny Knoxville is back to his hilariously painful antics in the upcoming comedy ACTION POINT. Knoxville stars as D.C., the crackpot owner of a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park where the rides are designed with minimum safety for maximum fun. Just as D.C.’s estranged teenage daughter Boogie comes to visit, a corporate mega-park opens nearby and jeopardizes the future of Action Point. To save his beloved theme park and his relationship with his daughter, D.C. and his loony crew of misfits risk everything to pull out all the stops – and stunts – making for another wild ride from the star of BAD GRANDPA and JACKASS.
The screening takes place on Thursday, May 31st at 7:00pm at AMC Tysons Corner. If you’d like to attend, simply register at the Gofobo ticketing site here and download one pass good for you and a guest. Please remember that having passes does not guarantee entry and you’ll need to arrive early to ensure receiving a seat. Enjoy the show!
It’s taken four years and a few delays, but The Lego Movie 2 is a real thing and it now has an official title. The film’s official Twitter account has revealed the title to be…wait for it…The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. I guess that’s a pun but…eh, whatever. It’s a title and it works.
The original movie opened in 2014 and at the time nobody thought it would matter much. Actually, we all thought it would suck for obvious reasons. However, Phil Lord and Chris Miller gave us one of the most inventive and joyful animated movie experiences in a long time, earning over $460M and numerous accolades. Warner Bros. knew they had something special on their hands and almost immediately confirmed a sequel, while launch an entire franchise of Lego films. We’ve already seen two of them, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie, with differing degrees of success.
The sequel has been tough to piece together, though, and details are few. Lord and Miller wrote the first script draft, with Matt Fogel doing the most recent screenplay. Mike Mitchell (Trolls) is set to direct, with Lord and Miller helping out as producers. Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks are back as Emmet and Wyldstyle, while Tiffany Haddish has joined in an unspecified role. Expect to see a ton of comic book and movie cameos, just as in the first movie. Maybe they can get Haddish to voice one of DC Comics’ prominent African-American female heroes? Like….ummmmm…..just gimme a sec…..wow this is hard…
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part opens February 9th 2019.
Here’s one thing I know; when I think of the one man who can finally solve the murders of Tupac and Biggie the first name that comes to mind is Johnny Depp. It almost sounds like a piece from The Onion, but Depp really is starring in a movie that delves into the hip-hop legends’ deaths, titled City of Lies, and the trailer for it has arrived. Try to take it seriously because it might be pretty good despite how it looks.
First of all, the film is directed by Brad Furman who was behind The Lincoln Lawyer aka the film that kicked off the McConnaissance. Um, he also directed Runner Runner so don’t get too excited he can jumpstart Depp’s flagging career. Depp plays real-life former LAPD detective Russell Poole who teamed up with a journalist to investigate the long-unsolved murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. The case has been open for more than two decades and while there are many suspects nobody has been charged or convicted.
Somehow the trailer looks of a lesser quality than the USA Network series Unsolved which is exploring the same territory and even features Poole as a character played by Jimmi Simpson. In some respects the grittiness works, especially when backed by the sounds of the Norious B.I.G., but it’s less effective when the dour Grindelwald-looking Depp is on screen alongside Forest Whitaker. Here’s the official synopsis:
Based on the true story of one of the most notorious and unsolved cases in recent time, CITY OF LIES is a provocative thriller revealing a never-before-seen look at the infamous murder of The Notorious B.I.G. shortly following the death of Tupac. L.A.P.D. detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) has spent years trying to solve his biggest case, but after two decades, the investigation remains open. “Jack” Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies. Relentless in their hunt, these two determined men threaten to uncover the conspiracy and crack the foundation of the L.A.P.D. and an entire city.
City of Lies opens September 7th and co-stars Neil Brown Jr., Rockmond Dunbar, and Shea Whigham.
When two movies on the same subject, especially based on something as familiar as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the one that opens first has a huge advantage. Especially in this case when Jon Favreau’s 2016 movie earned Disney nearly $1B and great reviews across the board. That makes it difficult for Andy Serkis’ long-developing version, now titled Mowgli, which is why Warner Bros. pushed it back to get some breathing room. Will any of it matter, though? Are audiences open to the idea of two versions of the same story so close together?
The new trailer for Mowgli suggests a much darker experience completely separate from what we’ve seen before. The story will stick closer to Kipling’s book, which focuses on Mowgli’s outsider status growing up among the animals in the jungle. Here’s the synopsis:
The story follows the upbringing of the human child Mowgli raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India. As he learns the often-harsh rules of the jungle, under the tutelage of a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera, Mowgli becomes accepted by the animals of the jungle as one of their own, except by one; the fearsome tiger Shere Khan. But there may be greater dangers lurking in the jungle, as Mowgli comes face to face with his human origins.
Serkis is best known for his mo-cap performances and the humanity he brings to them. He’ll try to do the same here, joined by Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Peter Mullan, Naomie Harris, Eddie Marsan, and Jack Reynor. The live-action roles are led by newcomer Rohan Chand as Mowgli, Matthew Rhys as John Lockwood, and Freida Pinto as Messua.
Forget about Jake Gyllenhaal as Batman, the prospect of that happening is long dead. And if it wasn’t, this news surely puts the nail in the coffin. Deadline reports Gyllenhaal is in talks to join Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, not as a hero, but as Sinister Six villain Mysterio.
Gyllenhaal would be joining Tom Holland in the sequel, once again to be directed by Jon Watts. Not much else is known about the film but its position as the launch of Marvel Phase 4 means it should be crucial to the MCU.
Mysterio is one of the most recognizable characters in Spidey’s rogues gallery. He’s pretty hard to forget since he wears a giant fishbowl (or a bio dome) on his head. Real name Quinten Beck, he’s a mastery of illusion, special effects, and hypnotism who has used deception to create havoc in Peter Parker’s life since he was first appeared in 1964.
Some consider Mysterio a joke, and to some extent its true. But to be fair virtually all of Spidey’s villains have been considered a joke at some point. Mysterio is actually quite effective and deadly under the right circumstances, and he has ties to the criminal underworld. I can see Gyllenhaal finding the dark crevasses in Mysterio’s personality and really running with them. Maybe something creepy along the lines of his performance in Enemy?
Hopefully this becomes a reality soon. Gyllenhaal has a ton on his plate already with Cary Fukunaga’s Leonard Bernstein biopic The American, and video game adaptation The Divsion alongside Jessica Chastain.
In Samuel L. Jackson voice: I’m sick of that muthafuckin’ Ms. Scarlet killin’ muthafuckas with the muthafuckin’ rope in the fuckin’ kitchen! If Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have their way, the Clue remake they’re working on may sound like that and have an R-rating.
Speaking with MTV, the duo teased their approach to their remake of the 1985 ensemble comedy, which was based on the classic murder mystery board game…
“Don’t be surprised if ‘Clue’ is R-rated… Potentially,” Wernick said.
“It will have elements of [the original movie], but it’s important that we don’t try and just rehash it,” Reese said. “We want to build on it. We want to take some of what makes it fun and funny, but then we want to do our own thing. It’s about finding that balance. Hopefully we don’t upset the Clue-hounds because there are a lot of them, apparently. We didn’t realize this until we signed up.”
I don’t really mind if the movie is R-rated as long as it’s done for the right reasons Reese and Wernick have found their greatest success when working without restrictions, so it makes sense for Fox to give them a lot of leeway. When I think of Clue it seems like it should be an all-ages thing, though. We’re still talking about a board game that was largely played by families. But I also understand that Reynolds is identified with the super vulgar Deadpool and audiences will be looking for more of that from him, even in a Clue movie.
