Shooting is underway on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and honestly, there’s still so much that we don’t know. That’s a good thing. But beyond story details, which should be kept a secret, we haven’t heard much about new casting. That changes now with Michaela Coel’s addition to the cast, known for her Emmy-nominated HBO series I May Destroy You.
Coel joins a lineup that will sadly be without late star Chadwick Boseman, but will feature returning stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, Letitia Wright, and Martin Freeman. Rumors are that Tenoch Huerta (The Forever Purge) has joined to play the role of Namor, but that is unconfirmed. It’s also a mystery what Coel’s role would be, so let the speculation begin that she’ll be playing Storm of the X-Men. It’s highly doubtful, but y’never know.
My guess? She’s playing Nakia aka Malice, a former member of the Dora Milaje and a lover of T’Challa’s before becoming one of his deadliest foes.
Ryan Coogler is back to direct Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which opens on July 8th 2022. [Variety]
It has only been a few years since Denis Villeneuve’s last big-budget sci-fi effort, Blade Runner 2049, and now he’s back with Dune, a film that will almost certainly hit a similar audience. The anticipation to see what the filmmaker can do with Frank Herbert’s epic tale has been building steadily, with Warner Bros. recently dropping a bunch of detailed character posters to keep fans buzzing. And now today comes a brand new trailer that offers the best look yet at Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, and more in the story of love, war, power, and spice.
Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides, who will meet his destiny as savior of the galaxy and of the maligned Freman. He’s joined by Rebecca Ferguson as his mother Lady Jessica, and Isaac as his noble father Duke Leto. But perhaps Paul’s closest ally is Chani, played by Zendaya, the native Freman who will eventually become his lover.
Others in the cast include Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, and The Suicide Squad’s David Dastmalchian. Incredible group.
There are all sorts of political maneuverings but also plenty of spectacle that could draw audiences to see Dune in theaters rather than HBO Max, where it will be released simultaneously on October 22nd.
How pissed are you that in Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins not only do we see the ninja commando’s face, but here him speak…a lot? If that’s a thing for you, hello, my fellow GI Joe nerd. I feel you. It takes some getting used to, but with the casting of Malaysian cutie Henry Golding he was never going to stay hidden under a mask. A prequel of sorts to the previous GI Joe films, The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation, it’s hard to see how this version of Snake Eyes could ever become the silent warrior we know, and that becomes a recurring issue even as the ninja action is sharp as a katana blade.
Sending the popular character into Japan and the world of yakuza and secret ninja clans, Snake Eyes might feel very familiar to fans of Marvel’s fan-favorite Canadian, Wolverine. There’s a reason for that. Writer Larry Hama, himself a military man with an extensive knowledge of Japanese culture, wrote the bulk of stories for both characters in the 1980s. Snake Eyes pulls heavily from this influence, relishing in its tale of honor, loyalty, and flashy displays of martial arts.
Much like the Snake Eyes in the comics and beloved cartoon, we never know his actual birth name. But we do see the pivotal moment of his childhood, when his father is assassinated by bad guys for mysterious reasons. Snake Eyes managed to escape, and vanished off the grid for years, only to turn up two decades later kicking ass in an underground fight pit. It’s there that he’s approached by Kenta (Takehiro Hira), who offers him a job in exchange for helping to find the man who murdered Snake Eyes’ father. Turns out, that job is gutting fish and using them to smuggle guns. Clever.
Snake Eyes might be a lethal fighter, but he’s no murderer, and when asked to murder Tommy (Andrew Koji), one of the few who has actually been nice, he declines. Nobody says “no” to Kenta, and a slick chase/fight sequence on the docks emerges, with a cool highlight being a getaway truck literally pin-cushioned with enemy katana swords. For his help, Tommy brings Snake Eyes home to Tokyo to become part of the Arashikage clan, a powerful order devoted to justice and fighting evil. To prove his worth, Snake Eyes will have to pass three deadly challenges to prove his strenth, honor, and loyalty, but most importantly they offer us the chance to see The Raid badass Iko Uwais in combat as mentor Hard Master. Every time he’s in action it’s an absolute thrill that Golding, try as he might, can never match.
If Snake Eyes had settled on these three tests as meat for the story, it would’ve been a problem. Only one is particularly exciting, and the film slows to a crawl whenever these labors are put front and center. More intriguing is the conflict within Snake Eyes himself, as we learn his motivations for being within the Arashikage are a ruse. Still aligned with Kenta, who wants possession of a powerful jewel the clan is guarding, Snake Eyes is torn between his loyalto to the newfound family that took him in and his need for vengeance. That the Arashikage’s head of security Akiko (Haruka Abe) senses his duplicity is another concern.
So for much of Snake Eyes we’re not fully aware of where his allegiances truly are. While this is interesting on paper, it becomes a problem when taken in full context. Tommy, who will eventually become Snake Eyes’ greatest rival, Storm Shadow, is a far more compelling figure as he works to bring the Arashikage into the modern era. His duty to the clan and to doing the honorable thing paints him as the hero to root for, while Snake Eyes lies and betrays at comical levels. Every time Snake Eyes gets caught skulking around the grounds it’s laughable they don’t just execute his ass on the spot.
Those who follow GI Joe know that, after a certain amount of time, it grew to include some bizarre elements of sci-fi and fantasy that didn’t fully mesh with the militaristic brand. I mean, Cobra Commander was literally turned into a snake at one point and dont’ even get me started on Serpentor. Snake Eyes, oddly, incorporates some of this weirdness into a plot that should’ve been much tighter. At one point the hero is forced to challenge a trio of giant telepathic snakes, big enough to make Voldemort jealous. The sought-after Jewel of the Sun isn’t just some rock, but an item capable of incredible magic powers. Say what?
This being GI Joe, a wider franchise has to be teased and Snake Eyes does so effectively with the arrival of Scarlett, played by the always-awesome Samara Weaving. While I dug having her brought in now, because the character will be very important to Snake Eyes in the future, Weaving could’ve had a lot more to do. She’s too good in the action realm to use so sparingly. Ursula Corbero plays Baroness, a devious agent for COBRA, the worldwide terrorist organization we know will be a constant thorn in GI Joe’s side.
Golding is fine in capturing the ambiguity that Snake Eyes usually hides under a mask, and he performs well against more seasoned martial artists. However, it’s Koji as Tommy/Storm Shadow who commands your attention most, revealing complexities to the brash, brooding, impatient heir that you can almost buy into a final act swerve that goes against everything he had been up until that moment. This might be a Snake Eyes movie but it’s Storm Shadow you want to follow when it’s all over.
Directed by Robert Schwentke, best known for the forgettable geriatric actioner Red, and from Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Snake Eyes is a throwback to the time when cartoons existed mainly to sell toys, only in this case it’s a movie trying to sell a franchise. As brazen as that might be, it’s also an entertaining (and mostly bloodless) way to introduce Snake Eyes and GI Joe to a new audience. It may not be everything Snake Eyes’ diehard fans are looking for, but they know this is only the beginning and “knowing is half the battle.”
Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins opens in theaters on July 23rd.
Netherrealm Studios, the crew behind Mortal Kombat knocked it out of the park with their fighting video game based on DC’s A-List superhero’s with Injustice: Gods Among Us. It may be tough to remember, but there was a long time where the PvP fighting game using comic heroes was something that simply couldn’t be done right. The Marvel V Capcom series did it best, but Injustice managed to change the game in the standard fighting game by adding a fun and compelling narrative piece. The story wasn’t just good for framing the fights, it was legitimately good. Following a storyline where Superman kills the Joker after the clown prince murders Lois Lane with everything going to hell after that. If it sounds familiar, the “Knightmare” sequence from Zack Snyder’s Justice League hinted at going that route, or at least the Superman goes crazy part.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“The story takes place in on an alternate Earth in which the Joker has tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane, sending the hero on a rampage. This unhinged Superman decides to take control of Earth for its own good, leading Batman and his allies to attempt to stop him.”
While DC’s live action film universe has been hit or miss, their animated adventures have long been top notch. Here’s hoping this is another in the win column, the first look we got today certainly looks like it will be in that vein of quality that we’ve seen thus far. The other thing about creating a film in an environment that’s known for quality is that you can draw a HELL of a cast. Check out this list.
Justin Hartley as Superman
Anson Mount as Batman
Laura Bailey as Lois Lane and Rama Kushna
Zach Callison as Damian and Jimmy Olsen
Brian T. Delaney as Green Lantern
Brandon Michael Hall as Cyborg
Edwin Hodge as Mr. Terrific and Killer Croc
Oliver Hudson as Plastic Man
Gillian Jacobs as Harley Quinn
Yuri Lowenthal as Mirror Master, Flash and Shazam
Derek Phillips as Nightwing and Aquaman
Kevin Pollak as Joker and Jonathan Kent
Anika Noni Rose as Catwoman
Reid Scott as Green Arrow and Victor Zsasz
Faran Tahir as Ra’s al Ghul
Fred Tatasciore as Captain Atom
Janet Varney as Wonder Woman
Andrew Morgado as Mirror Master Soldier
No word yet on the film’s release date but make sure to follow us here for all the info as it becomes available.
I’m just going to say this about the new trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming supernatural horror, Demonic: this shit looks fucking wild. Or at least, the plot is so bizarre that I can’t wait to see how he pulls it all off. Perhaps he doesn’t? I don’t know but damned if I don’t want to see him try.
The film stars Carly Pope as a woman reconnecting with her mother (Nathalie Boltt) after a medical emergency. The mom goes on a homicidal rampage and is put under sedation in a virtual reality world where the daughter goes to speak with her about what happened. Only when she returns to the real world she’s followed by demons? And the Vatican steps in with their own Black Ops hit squad or something? Dude. I’m in.
This marks Blomkamp’s first movie since the heavily ridiculed Chappie in 2015. He also directed Elysium in 2013, but made waves with his Best Picture-nominated debut, District 9. He set the bar pretty damn high with that one. Demonic might not reach those heights, either, but it looks like Hell of a lot of fun. The film opens on August 20th.
When news broke that Zack Snyder would followup his hit Army of the Dead with another Netflix joint, Rebel Moon, we speculated this as the start of a long working relationship. And that has become a reality as Snyder’s Stone Quarry Productions has inked a first-look deal with the streamer that should keep him there for quite a while.
THR has the news on Snyder and Netflix making their partnership official. The news to emerge from this is that Snyder is officially moving forward on Army of the Dead 2, which he’ll start with writer Shay Hatten once Rebel Moon is completed. Rebel Moon, which is expected to shoot in 2022, is the sci-fi samurai flick based on one of his old Star Wars ideas.
Meanwhile, Snyder’s presence on Netflix is growing. Not only is an Army of the Dead sequel on the way, but there’s the prequel film Army of Thieves, as well as an animated prequel series Lost Vegas. Also, the plan for Rebel Moon is for that to have multiple projects attached to it, as well.
So where does an Army of the Dead sequel go? Perhaps to Area 51 as teased in the first movie?
Well, that didn’t take long, did it? It was just a day or two ago we learned that casting for the upcoming Batgirl movie had been narrowed down. Isabella Merced, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Grace and Haley Lu Richardson were all up for suiting up as the DC Comics hero, but now THR reports it is Grace who actually won the part. I hope she’s got her batarangs ready.
This is a big step up for Grace, who had her biggest role as part of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights. She’s also an accomplished singer with three Latin Grammy award nominations to her credit. I don’t know if there will be a scene where Barbara Gordon breaks into song, but if so Grace can handle it.
Batgirl has Bad Boys for Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directing from a script by Birds of Prey and Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson. The film is seen as a mid-sized effort that will open exclusively on HBO Max and not in theaters.
It’s expected that Barbara’s father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, will be part of the story but there’s been no casting. In the DCEU, that role was played by JK Simmons, while in Matt Reeves’ The Batman he’s played by Jeffrey Wright. Could we see either of them reprise the role? Let’s hope.
Batgirl isn’t expected to open until 2023 at the earliest.
Marvel is plucking from a rival team to fill a role for their upcoming She-Hulk series on Disney+. Deadline reports Arrow actor Josh Segarra has joined the cast in an unknown role.
Segarra is probably best known to most folks for playing Adrian Chase/Prometheus on The CW’s Arrow series. He’s also appeared in the films Overboard and Trainwreck, along with recurring roles on Orange is the New Black, FBI, and Katy Keene.
She-Hulk stars Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters in what is being described as a legal comedy. Others in the cast include Mark Ruffalo, reprising his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Ginger Gonzaga, Jameela Jamil, and Tim Roth.
That final season of American Gods was a bit of a mess, and thankfully led to the series’ cancellation. But TV isn’t done with the works of Neil Gaiman, as Amazon has greenlit an adaptation of Anansi Boys, which ties into one of American Gods’ key characters.
THR reports Gaiman and Amazon Studios have teamed up for a six-episode adaptation of Anansi Boys. While not a sequel to American Gods, the story does center on twin siblings Charlie and Spider Nancy, who discover one another in the wake of the death of their father, Mr. Nancy, who happens to be the trickster god Anansi. The character was played by Orlando Jones for two seasons on the Starz series American Gods.
Gaiman will be joined by writers Lenny Henry, Arvind Ethan David, Kara Smith, and Racheal Ofori, with Good Omens director Douglas Mackinnon acting as co-showrunner. Hanelle M. Culpepper (Star Trek: Picard), Jermain Julien (Grantchester), and Azhur Saleem (Doctor Who) will all direct episodes.
Considering that Jones says he was fired by Starz due to behind-the-scenes issues, what are the chances he reprises the role for a rival network? Probably slim, but one never knows!
I need this beef between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson to NEVER end. I know, they had supposedly squashed it, but I think Diesel may have put that beef back on the burner with his recent comments, taking credit for Johnson’s performances in the Fast & Furious franchise.
THR caught up with Johnson who is out there promoting Jungle Cruise, and the interviewer asked him about what Diesel said. I love this response, too, because it almost certainly will keep things heated between the two. It also informs his decision not to return for Fast & Furious 10 & 11…
“I laughed and I laughed hard. I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that. And that I’ve wished them well. I wish them well on ‘Fast 9.’ And I wish them the best of luck on ‘Fast 10’ and ‘Fast 11’ and the rest of the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies they do that will be without me.”
Even Emily Blunt jumped in at Diesel’s expense, assuring that we’ll never see her behind the wheel at any point…
“Just thank God [Diesel] was there. Thank God. He carried you through that”, Blunt said.
I love it. Keep this shit going forever.
Watch Johnson and Blunt in Jungle Cruise on July 30th.
