News Shotgun 1/29
- Rebecca Ferguson starring in sci-fi movie Life: MI: Rogue Nation’s breakout star Rebecca Ferguson is starring in a new sci-fi movie called Life, where the crew of a space station receive a sample from Mars that turns out to not only be alive, but intelligent.
- New Justice League cartoon coming to Cartoon Network: Justice League Action is coming to Cartoon Network with Kevin Conroy back as Batman, Mark Hamill as The Joker, James Woods as Lex Luthor and Diedrich Bader as Booster Gold, with more cast members being announced soon. The episodes will be around 11 minutes and lighter and more comedic than previous Justice League series.
- Kathryn Bigelow directing a Detroit riots movie: The untitled project is based on the deadly riots of 1967 that lasted for five days in Detroit and left 43 dead and over 1,000 injured and was only stopped when the Michigan National Guard was called in.
- Mama sequel gets a director: Actually “directors” as the team behind the horror film Starry Eyes will be directing the sequel to 2013’s Mama, Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch. It’s not clear if this will pick up with the characters of the first movie or have a new cast but Jessica Chastain is not expected to return if it’s the former.
- DC Comics rebooting Hanna-Barbera cartoons for new series: DC Comics is bringing some classic Hanna-Barbera characters back for some new comic series. The Scooby gang will probably have the biggest shake up with Scooby Apocalypse, featuring a grittier and kind of steampunky Mystery Team and there will also be a new Flintstones comic, a new Johnny Quest book, a new Space Ghost bok and Wacky Raceland, a new modern spin on Wacky Races that kind of looks like Mad Max.
- Stretch Armstrong series coming to Netflix: There have been rumors of a movie for years but Stretch Armstrong is returning now in a new series for Netflix. It’s a live action adventure show for kids that finds Jake Armstrong and his friends being exposed to an experimental chemical that gives them stretching abilities.
- Leads cast for 24: Legacy: The new team heading into the field for CTU is Corey Hawkins, of Straight Outta Compton, playing Eric Carter and Miranda Otto, of Lord of the Rings, will play Rebecca Ingram, the former head of CTU who gets drawn back into action by whatever the threat of the show is.
- Nicktoons movie confirmed: A movie combining Ren & Stimpy, Hey Arnold, Aahh Real Monsters!, Rugrats and more has been confirmed by Nickelodeon and it will be a live action/cartoon hybrid in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Jared Hess, director of Napoleon Dynamite, will direct the movie.
- Ice Cube may join Vin Diesel in xXx 3: Reports are saying that Ice Cube will return as Darius Stone to join Xander Cage in the new xXx movie, along with Tony Jaa, Samuel L. Jackson and Jet Li. Because of the success of the recent Fast & Furious movies, the new xXx is going to be more team based and feature more humor and ridiculous action.
- RIP Abe Vigoda: The legendary character actor from The Godfather, Barney Miller and, of course, Good Burger, passed away at age 94 this past week.
- Weird Al is the new bandleader and co-host of Comedy Bang Bang: Joining host Scott Aukerman on IFC’s bizarre talk show Comedy Bang Bang is Weird Al, who is the third bandleader/co-host following Reggie Watts and Kid Cudi.