News Shotgun 3/16
- Park Chan-Wook directing violent western Brigands of Rattlecreek: Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook is going to be directing a violent western for Amazon called Brigands of Rattlecreek. The screenplay was actually written by Bone Tomahawk director S. Craig Zahler but it got stuck in development hell in 2006 until now. Matthew McConaughey is apparently in talks for one of the lead roles and the movie follows a small posse trying to get revenge on a group of outlaws who are using the cover of a torrential thunderstorm to rob and terrorize a small town.
- American Gods renewed for Season 3: It’s only been back for 1 episode but American Gods has already been renewed for Season 3. The show is getting yet another new showrunner, Charles “Chic” Eglee, who worked on shows like The Walking Dead, The Shield, and Dexter. Starz reported the Season 2 premiere was the second highest rated original series for the year.
- Button Man comic being adapted for Netflix: Netflix is getting a 2000 AD comic adapted into a movie, Button Man. A Knight’s Tale director Brian Helgeland is directing and The Batman director Matt Reeves is producing. The comic follows Harry Exton, an ex-military contractor who is a modern gladiator being paid to fight by the super-rich. He decides he’s had enough and seeks to take down the system.
- James Gunn re-hired at Disney for Guardians 3: In probably the biggest and most surprising news of the week, Disney has reversed course and re-hired James Gunn to return to the MCU and direct Guardians 3. Gunn was fired when extremely old but still offensive tweets were unearthed by alt-right trolls, of which he had already apologized. Apparently the decision to bring Gunn back was settled months ago and Gunn will be back after he completes The Suicide Squad for WB/DC.
- Denzel Washington starring in serial killer thriller Little Things: Denzel will be playing a deputy sheriff who teams with a detective to track down a serial killer in the upcoming thriller Little Things. The Founder and The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock wrote the script and may direct the movie as well.
- Shang-Chi movie gets a director: Marvel’s upcoming movie featuring their Asian martial arts expert Shang-Chi has gotten a director with Destin Daniel Cretton signing on. Cretton directed Short Term 12 with Brie Larson and is currently directing a film called Just Mercy that also features Larson and Michael B. Jordan. There’s no release date for Shang-Chi but it will be featured sometime in the next phase of the MCU after Endgame.
- Deathstroke cast for Titans Season 2: The Titans arch-enemy will face off against them in Season 2 with Esai Morales cast as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Morales has appeared in shows like Ozark, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series and NYPD Blue, Dora the Explorer, Caprica, and Jericho.
- ABC bringing back more classic game shows: ABC had some hits in recent years with a revival of The $100,000 Pyramid and a primetime celebrity version of Family Feud but now they are bringing back Press Your Luck and Card Sharks. Both shows got revivals in the early 2000s, with Press Your Luck becoming Whammy!. There’s no word on who would host either of the new shows or when the shows would debut.
- WB remaking Victory: One of the forgotten entries in Stallone’s canon, Victory co-starred Stallone, Michael Caine, and Pele and was about a group of POWs in a German camp in World War II who also happen to be talented soccer players. The head of the camp, played by Max Von Sydow, organizes a game in Paris between the POWs and a German team to prove the superiority of the Third Reich. Stallone’s character plans a way for the team to escape at the conclusion of the game. Jaume Collet-Sera, director of Non-Stop and the upcoming Jungle Cruise movie, has signed on to direct a remake of Victory for Warner Brothers.
- The Last Kids animated series assembles all-star cast: Netflix is adapting The Last Kids graphic novel series from Max Brallier for a new animated series and has assembled an all-star cast. Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson, Catherine O’Hara, Bruce Campbell, Keith David and more are all signed on to lend their voices and the series follows a group of teens who are battling zombies in the aftermath of the apocalypse.
- The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard adds more cast members: The upcoming sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, has added Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas to the cast. Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek and Samuel L. Jackson are all returning and Frank Grillo was also just recently cast as an Interpol agent. Director Patrick Hughes will return to direct as well.
- Alan Tudyk voicing Iago for Aladdin: Along with the release of the full trailer this week, it was revealed that Alan Tudyk will be voicing Iago for this summer’s live-action remake of Aladdin. Gilbert Gottfried memorably voiced Iago in the original animated classic and he was apparently not happy about being replaced.
- Dragon’s Dogma anime series coming to Netflix: Capcom’s cult favorite RPG franchise, Dragon’s Dogma, will be adapted into an anime series in the vein of Castlevania for Netflix. The games followed a character whose heart was stolen by a dragon and he comes back to life as an “Arisen” and seeks to reclaim his heart and battle demons along the way.
- Gods & Heroes anime-inspired series coming to Netflix: Speaking of Netflix anime series, the streaming service also announced this week that they are developing an original series called Gods & Heroes that will be set in the world of Greek Mythology. Powerhouse Animation, the same studio that animated Castlevania, is working on the series and is about a young hero who discovers he’s the illegitimate son of Zeus and has to set out on a quest to save both Earth and Olympus. Jason O’Mara, Jessica Henwick, Claudia Christian, and Elias Toufexis will be the main stars of the voice cast.
- The Talisman movie gets a director: Stephen King’s The Talisman has been trying to get adapted basically since it was published when Steven Spielberg bought the rights but things may be moving forward as The Handmaid’s Tale director Mike Barker has signed on to direct the movie for Amblin and Buried/ATM writer Chris Sparling writing a new script. The book follows Jack Sawyer, who has to seek out the titular artifact, as it’s the only thing that can save his dying mother, but he not only has to travel across our world but the parallel world of The Territories, where “twinners” or doubles of people he knows exist and it’s tied, like most King stories, to The Dark Tower series.
- Marvel What If? becoming a Disney+ series: Marvel is developing an animated version of their alternate history comic What If? for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. The show will tell stories of different paths that the MCU could have taken, like maybe “What If Captain America Hadn’t Been Lost in World War II?” and the series will apparently try to get the MCU actors to voice their animated counterparts. Each episode would focus on a different spin on the MCU.
- The Blacklist renewed for Season 7: NBC’s The Blacklist will be back for another season as it was renewed for Season 7. Standard TV contracts are for six years, so NBC had to re-negotiate with Megan Boone, Diego Klatenhoff and Harry Lennix for new contracts. Star James Spader had previously re-negotiated his contract, adding the additional year to his original contract. The show has fallen precipitously since its first season where it was one of the biggest shows on TV but it’s remained a steady performer and benefits from strong DVR viewing.
- Taika Waititi remaking Time Bandits: Taika Waititi will be putting his New Zealand spin on Terry Gilliam’s bizarre cult classic Time Bandits for an original series on Apple’s upcoming streaming service. Waititi will write and direct the pilot episode and then remain on the series as an executive producer along with Gilliam. The original movie followed a young boy who joins a team of dwarves who have been given a map by The Supreme Being that allows them to slip through cracks in space and time and steal artifacts from across history.
- Battlebots renewed by Discovery Channel: Last year Battlebots jumped from ABC to Discovery Channel and it will return for a second season on the network, and it’s sister network Science Channel. 2018 champ Bite Force will return to take on new bots and returning favorites like Tombstone, Minotaur, Witch Doctor, Bronco, Bombshell, and Yeti. Chris Rose, Kenny Florian, and Faruq Tauheed will be back as the on-air crew and the new season will air sometime this summer.