Any hope of a Wonder Woman vs. Jedi showdown is going to have to wait for another year. Warner Bros. has done the smart thing and moved Wonder Woman 2 up from its December 13th 2019 date a whole six weeks to November 1st. That will take it nice and far away from Star Wars: Episode IX which would have opened on the same day.
Also, Deadline‘s report confirms that Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins are locked to return, despite rumors stating that Gadot wouldn’t agree if Brett Ratner’s RatPac-Dune Entertainment label was involved as they were in the first movie. But Warner Bros. has already cut ties from Ratner, and the last film with them that he’ll have anything to do with is Rampage starring Dwayne Johnson.
This is, obviously, a brilliant move and shouldn’t be seen as Warner Bros. lacking faith in the sequel. Wonder Woman is one of the brightest lights they’ve had this year, and should give them hope for the future of the DCEU, along with Justice League. But nothing stands up to Star Wars and wins, so why not give Diana of Themyscira enough room to lasso an even bigger audience this time.
To get a sense of how committed Jeff Bezos and Amazon Studios are to the Lord of the Rings TV series first reported on a few days ago, just look at how swiftly they are issuing press releases. Because today sees them drop a few concrete details about the series, its scope, and which era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy will be explored.
First of all, Amazon paid the Tolkien estate what Deadline says is roughly $200M+ just for the adaptation rights, and for that price they are giving it a multi-season commitment, with estimates that each season could cost between $100M-$150M. As for when it will take place, it will be some time before The Fellowship of the Ring. Here’s the official statement:
Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The deal includes a potential additional spin-off series.
I’m not fluent enough in Tolkien to know exactly what that could mean, but I can guess at the potential of it. Doubtful this means we’ll be seeing more Bilbo Baggins stories since Peter Jackson ran through enough of those with The Hobbit trilogy, and audiences probably would rather forget those happened. Surely the Tolkien estate would, since they were never huge fans of Jackson’s adaptations, anyway. They never had any trouble cashing those Hobbiton checks, but they seem to be taking a more active role in this TV series and it’ll be interesting to see how that manifests creatively.
Kinda considered a joke at first, Sony’s non-Spidey Spiderverse is actually looking pretty good. Venom will be the first film out of the gate and it has Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate, and Riz Ahmed on board, followed by a Silver Sable/Black Cat crossover flick with Gina Prince-Bythewood directing. And now another prominent Spidey character is getting his own movie; Morbius, the Living Vampire.
Penned and already submitted to Sony by Burk Sharples and Matt Sazama, co-writers of Power Rangers and the more apt Dracula Untold, the film will center on Morbius, a man with vampire abilities gained through a scientific experiment. He debuted in 1971 as a villain in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, but would eventually grow in popularity and become a tragic antihero.
With the script already completed the search is on now for a director. Morbius could, and probably should, be conceived as a straight-up horror movie since that is how the character has best been portrayed. His ties to Venom are tenuous, though, so we may see this be a completely standalone effort, or a franchise that’s a little off the beaten path. [THR]
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free advance screening of Roman J. Israel Esq. starring Denzel Washington.
SYNOPSIS: Roman J. Israel, Esq. is set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as a driven, idealistic defense attorney whose life is upended when his mentor, a civil rights icon, dies. When he is recruited to join a firm led by one of the legendary man’s former students – the ambitious lawyer George Pierce (Colin Farrell) – and begins a friendship with a young champion of equal rights (Carmen Ejogo), a turbulent series of events ensue that will put the activism that has defined Roman’s career to the test.
The screening takes place on Monday, November 20th at 7:00pm at Regal Majestic in Silver Spring. If you’d like to enter, simply complete the Rafflecopter contest form below. Winners will be selected on Friday, November 17th and notified by email. Good luck!
“Let me be very clear, I am the luckiest guy in the world. Batman is the coolest part in the universe. I’m thrilled to do it. It’s fucking amazing….“I know there’s this misconception that because I didn’t direct it I wasn’t enthusiastic about it; it’s f*cking amazing… and with Matt Reeves doing it, it’s like I’d be a f*cking ape on the ground for Matt Reeves – nevermind being Batman! It’s incredible! So I’m really blown away and excited and it’s a great time in the DC Universe. You’re going to see some stuff from Justice League that we’re really really proud of, and I’ll think you’ll see why I’m really excited to be Batman.”
That was Ben Affleck at last summer’s Comic-Con, and look, you either believed his enthusiasm or you didn’t. The fact of the matter is that stories have continued to emerge that he’s looking for an exit strategy from his role as Batman, and that Justice League is likely to be the last time he suits up. This all started when Matt Reeves replaced Affleck as director of The Batman, then threw his script out completely to start over from scratch. Rumors swirled that Reeves’ film would star a different actor, and now today in comments to USA Today, Affleck says his involvement is “something I’m contemplating.”
Elaborating a little bit, Affleck confirms that he is indeed looking towards an exit from playing Batman…
“You don’t do it forever, so I want to find a graceful and cool way to segue out of it, “, Affleck said.
So does that mean The Batman is his way of saying goodbye to the Dark Knight? And is it even up to him? What if Reeves actually wants to go in a different direction with a new star?
It’s not as if Affleck has been mired in playing Batman for years. Justice League would only mark the second feature-length performance he has as the Caped Crusader, but it’s undeniably come with a price. The distraction definitely hurt his ability to focus on Live by Night, and the poor response noticeably shook him.
I think Affleck’s decision will depend on the fan reaction to Justice League, which opens this week on November 17th. If they love it, he’ll be jazzed to stick around. But if has to go on another “Sad Affleck” press tour then you might as well start fitting other actors into the Bat-suit.
The war continues, this time around focusing solely on the group from The Kingdom. When we last saw the group they were surprised by machine gun fire and scattering in a field. This episode picks up right where that left off showing the complete carnage left in the wake of just one browning .50 caliber machine gun. Wounded and beaten both physically and mentally the survivors, which are limited to just Ezekial, Carol, and Jerry (thank God!) fight their way from the danger left by so many dead bodies. While Carol goes full Jane Bond to complete their mission and capture the guns.
The Good
–Ezekial proves why he is King with a VERY theatrical “Still I Smile” speech that we all caught in the trailers. This episode his star making turn with a good 60% of his character development happening right here. He comes to terms with the silliness of his King persona and at the same time comes to understand it’s importance to the people who follow him
–Carol also gets a BIG push in this episode finally earning that ‘Bad-ass Soccer Mom’ title she’s been holding for some time now. Yes she’s always presented as cold as ice, at least since about season 3, but what have you really seen her do that was above and beyond the level of a regular foot soldier? This time around we see her just annihilate the competition. Even as she’s pinned down with no hope of survival you see her pull out an amazing okey-doke and gaining the advantage on 4 grown as soldiers. Of course, the merc with a heart of gold ends up succumbing to those motherly instincts when she opts to save Ezekiel and Jerry instead of securing the guns. Which brings me to….
–JERRY! A fan favorite since his hilarious debut the big guy really earns his place as Ezekiel’s right hand. He doesn’t show up until half way through the episode but damn does he make an entrance, cutting Ezekiel’s captor in twain (hmm..guess we all can’t pull of the Shakespeare speak). His loyalty and honesty are what keeps the King going, and what makes him realize the importance of his regal charade. More than just a funny presence Jerry just cemented himself on the list of ‘Please don’t kill them I’ll go into a deep depression!” characters.
–Daryl and Rick, or Dick….err…Raryl? We’ll just stick with Daryl and Rick. The gruesome twosome is making strides in their badass bromance as of late. Never so awesomely as in this episode. A perfect hero entrance, just when all hope is lost and you see the truck carrying the machine guns, and Negan’s surefire victory, on its way down the road a familiar sound comes to greet us…Daryl’s motorcycle. The two chase down the Saviors and a pretty awesome chase/gun battle ensues. Obviously, the good guys win, but not before Rick goes over an embankment in the hummer carrying the guns. Their banter on Rick’s emergence from the brush is perfect and something I want to see a lot more of to bring some light to this bleak world they’ve created.
The Bad:
–You’ll notice I didn’t mention much about the first half of the episode. Aside from Carol’s Jane Bond segments the first half left a lot to be desired. It was cool seeing the damage caused by the .50 cal guns, which really hammered home why obtaining them was so important, but outside of that…meh. Ezekiel is captured by some wanna-be David Koresch looking punk who just over does the whole creepy bad guy thing. The best thing that character does all episode is allow himself to be cleaved in half by Jerry.
–The series jumped back to a, mostly, single story episode format. It just feels like it’s slowing down the entire war story arc for something that could have been handled in half an episode. This isn’t such a big deal if it only happens this one time, if it becomes a regular thing we could fall right back into a show that feels like it’s stalling the whole season just for that finale episode.
–This last thing is more of a quibble than anything else, but I really can’t stand when TV/Filmmakers are inconsistent in the damage caused by firearms and explosives. I mentioned how great the gore was in that opening massacre, and it really was, showing the capabilities of these guns is paramount for having us understand why it was worth risking most of the fighting force of the kingdom. They falter in the end for the sake of an action beat. When Rick and Daryl are chasing down the Saviors one drops the tailgate and, in true 80’s action movie fashion, has a .50 cal machine gun setup and ready to fire. Now these guns literally RIPPED apart 60 people earlier in the episode, however when they’re fired into Rick’s jeep they just plink off the hood with little more than a spark. Just for arguments sake, these are the bullets that are fired from fighter jets (at least the ones that have guns), it would do to say that one quick burst would rip that Jeep to shreds.
The Dead:
–This was an especially painful episode for loss, and no not because of the 60+ humans massacred, and not because of the flashbacks that showed their last moments with their families. No, this pain is caused by a CGI tiger. Sheva, we hardly knew ya! Ezekiel’s tiger, in a moment the comic fans knew was coming, goes down in a horde of Zombies while protecting her human and allowing him to escape. It was truly heartbreaking.
–The zombie’s this episode were top notch. As I mentioned earlier the gore effects from those ripped up by the machine guns were gnarly to a new level. If that wasn’t enough, while Ezekiel, Carol, and Jerry make their escape they have to do so by crossing a toxic waste dump area. Let me tell you, toxic waste and sewage zombies are the worst zombie. Greg Nicotero’s crew proved that hands down. Say what you will about the consistency of the show’s quality but one area where they have yet to stumble is the effects department.
We may all take a certain amount of glee at mocking Brett Ratner as a terrible director, but the truth is he’s extremely powerful. Through his Ratpac-Dune Entertainment production banner, he’s had a hand in producing some of this year’s biggest hits, including Dunkirk, It, and…yep, Wonder Woman. So removing Ratner out of the equation following allegations of sexual misconduct may be tougher than it looks, but if Warner Bros. wants a Wonder Woman sequel they’ll need to make it happen.
According to a report from Page Six (judge accordingly), Gal Gadot is refusing to sign on for Wonder Woman 2 until Ratner is completely taken off the movie. Ratner’s label made a healthy profit on the first film, but Gadot wasn’t the sequel, which again will have female empowerment as a core theme, to be tarnished by having a sexual harasser making key decisions.
Makes sense, and Gadot is reportedly sticking to her guns on this one. Warner Bros. should have no problem finding another funding source, but if they dawdle on this it could look really bad. Best to nip this thing in the bud now before it becomes a bigger story than it needs to be.
In the works for years, The Greatest Showman has long been a passion project for star Hugh Jackman. An entertainer himself who relishes the art of showbiz, Jackman has been eager to play P.T. Barnum, the man who invented show business as we know it. Now that he doesn’t have one Wolverine or X-Men movie to distract him, Jackman will finally get to play the famous ringleader this holiday season.
Directed by Michael Gracey, who has been on board practically since the beginning, the film should let Jackman sing and dance to his heart’s content. Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya co-star as side acts, but it’s Jackman who is the main event as Barnum, who found a way to combine entertainment with business savvy. Here’s the synopsis:
The Greatest Showman” is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, “The Greatest Showman” tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. “The Greatest Showman” is directed by exciting new filmmaker, Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award® winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land”) and starring Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Zac Efron, Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya.
Imagine Office Space meets The Purge and you’ve got a pretty good idea what the aims are for the appropriately-titled Mayhem, the latest film from Joe Lynch, a purveyor of over-the-top madness. Lynch is best known for directing the goofy LARP comedy Knights of Badassdom (geeks still routinely complain about its lack of wide release) and the single-location battle royale Everly, which featured Salma Hayek dispatching wave after wave of enemies. An excess of violence and minimum of plot is generally Lynch’s sweet spot, but as a gory satire of corporate corruption Mayhem isn’t going to get off quite so easy.
Steven Yeun, who played the beloved Glenn on The Walking Dead, is altruistic corporate peon Derek. The film begins showing us his rise to mid-level importance in a corporate law office, meaning he’s a nice guy who just does his job, even when it means hurting those who need help. He just feels really bad about it, and occasionally he paints. After being framed for a 7-figure screwup, Derek tries to plead his case but winds up fired, anyway. Good thing a pandemic has broken out in the building, a rage virus of sorts, similar to 28 Days Later. Even better? Court precedent has shown that those under the influence of this virus can commit any act of violence they want and get off on a technicality.
It’s about to get downright prehistoric around the water cooler.
Office Depot never needed advertising quite like this, as staplers, nail guns, scissors, and all sorts of cubicle goodies are driven through skulls and used to slice off tongues. Derek, joined by the equally-vengeful Melanie (Samara Weaving), a client recently screwed by the company, cuts a path through his co-workers in an effort get up to the top floor and go overtime on the big boss (Steven Brand), who is too busy brandishing his golf clubs to care. “Do you have any idea how many man hours I’m gonna lose until he’s replaced?”, the boss screams at the loss of a trusted assistant. Yeah, he’s one of those bosses; the kind of arrogant prick we’ve all had and secretly wished would get his comeuppance.
Why is it so tough to cheer Derek on in this bloody mission, then? A big part of the reason is the script by Matias Caruso, which fails to make much of a statement about amorality in the “Corporations are people, my friend” era. Or at least it seems to coast on the simple hope that we all just hate our bosses and despise those greedy corporate crooks. Yeah, we do, but a satirical splatter flick needs to have a little something more to say than that. By contrast there was considerably more insight in James Gunn’s similar The Belko Experiment. At some point there is so much violence that, stylish though it may be, it becomes tiresome without something to back it up.
Yeun is and will always be a likable star as long as he keeps playing the underdog, and Weaving gives the film a welcome dose of blue collar fury. Together they’re a fun pair to watch, especially since Weaving correctly approaches her role like a Looney Tunes cartoon. While there are buckets of blood spilled it’s shot in such a hyperbolic way that it’s impossible to take seriously. And that may ultimately be the problem with Mayhem, and why it lacks real-world resonance at a time when corporations are as popular as pond scum. This should have been an easy home run, but instead it’s like the boss made you stay late and miss half the game.
Holy spirits of vengeance, might The Crow Reborn actually be happening?? No film has been in deeper pits of development Hell than the reboot of The Crow, but could Jason Momoa and Corin Hardy be the ones who could see it take flight?
Momoa, who just completed shooting on Aquaman, took to Instagram to show his excitement for The Crow Reborn, although he doesn’t specifically state that it’s happening.
A post shared by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Nov 12, 2017 at 7:51am PST
Everybody and their granddaddy has been attached to play Eric Draven, the vengeful hero of James O’Barr’s comic book. Mark Wahlberg, Bradley Cooper, Luke Evans, and Tom Hiddleston are only a few, with just as many directors attached before Hardy took over a couple of years ago. The film would then get swallowed up in a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, although right now Sony holds the rights.
It’s hard to believe Sony or anybody would want to move forward on this since it’s such a risky gamble. There’s a lot of love out there for Brandon Lee’s iconic take on the character in Alex Proyas’ film, but even that is little more than a cult favorite. Is there really enough passion out there to see The Crow remade? I don’t think so, and it seems to me it falls into the same general area as Momoa’s Conan the Barbarian which tanked badly. We’ll see what happens!
