News Shotgun 5/27
- Sausage Party director developing Jetsons movie: Conrad Vernon, co-director of Sausage Party, has been tasked by WB to develop a new animated movie based on The Jetsons. The last update was over a year ago when a screenwriter was hired and there’s not really any other details about the project.
- TJ Miller leaving Silicon Valley: Silicon Valley has been renewed for a fifth season on HBO but TJ Miller’s Erlich Bachman won’t be returning. Miller wants to focus more on his film career.
- Black Cat/Silver Sable movie has a director: Along with Venom, Sony is also developing a movie for two of Spider-Man’s big female supporting characters and have hired Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of Beyond the Lights and Love & Basketball, to direct the Black Cat/Silver Sable movie, now officially called “Silver and Black”.
- Deadpool 2 villain cast: Jack Kesy, of The Strain, has been cast as the main villain of Deadpool 2 but his role was not disclosed. The rumor is that he will be playing Black Tom, a classic X-Men/Deadpool villain with the bizarre powers to project energy blasts out of wooden objects and can transfer his life energy into plants to regrow himself and cheat death.
- Tom Cruise confirms Top Gun 2 is happening: It’s been talked about for years, even after the death of Tony Scott a few years ago, but Tom Cruise confirmed this week that Top Gun 2 is on the way in the near future. The movie may be focused on drone warfare and it effectively ending the era of the fighter pilot.
- Doug Liman leaves Justice League Dark: Justice League Dark has lost it’s director as Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman has left the project for “scheduling reasons” as his movie Chaos Walking, starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, was greenlit at Lionsgate.
- New Charlie’s Angels movie in development: Elizabeth Banks is directing a new take on Charlie’s Angels for Sony that will hit in Summer 2019. None of the Angels are cast yet and it’s not clear if it will be a serious take or a more 21 Jump St. style parody of the 70’s show. The last attempt at the Angels was ABC’s quickly cancelled TV reboot in 2011.
- Chicago Justice cancelled by NBC: NBC confirmed late after all the upfronts madness last week that Chicago Justice was cancelled after one season. It was the fourth entry in Dick Wolf’s “Chicago” franchise that includes Med, Fire and PD, all of which are coming back for another season.
- Amazon orders Hanna series: Amazon is developing a TV version of Joe Wright’s Hanna and has ordered it straight to series. The show will basically be a straight adaptation of the movie, with Hanna dodging the CIA and trying to uncover the truth of who she is. David Farr, the writer of the movie, is writing for the series as well.
- RIP Roger Moore: Sir Roger Moore passed away at age 89 this past week from cancer. Moore has the longest tenure as James Bond, playing the character for 12 years across seven movies and bringing a wacky playfulness after the more serious take of Sean Connery. He also starred in the TV versions of Maverick and The Saint and co-starred with JCVD in The Quest and was an active ambassador for UNICEF.
- Joss Whedon finishing Justice League for Zack Snyder: Zack Snyder had to step down from completing Justice League due to a family tragedy and Joss Whedon is stepping in to finish production. Whedon actually wrote scenes that were filmed during reshoots of Justice League and is directing the Batgirl movie for DC.
- James Wan producing new Resident Evil film series: The original Resident Evil film series only just concluded but rights holders Constantin Pictures are already planning a reboot of the series that they are hoping will span another six movies. James Wan has signed on to produce the first movie of this new rebooted series.
- Arnold confirms he will be back for new Terminator: Arnold confirmed at Cannes this week that he will be back to star in the new Terminator sequel that will be developed by James Cameron, as Cameron gets the rights back in 2019. Deadpool director Tim Miller is supposed to direct this new Terminator and it could potentially put an end to the entire franchise.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 delayed to 2018: In completely unshocking news, Rockstar has delayed Red Dead Redemption 2 until “Spring 2018”. The game was announced in October of last year.
- Universal’s monster universe is now officially the Dark Universe: Universal officially announced this week that their cinematic universe that is kicking off with The Mummy is officially called the Dark Universe and each movie will be preceded by a logo and Danny Elfman theme. They also confirmed that Bill Condon will be directing Bride of Frankenstein and Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp are officially signed on as Frankenstein’s Monster and the Invisible Man respectively.