News Shotgun 2/1
- The Lost Boys gets pilot order at The CW: Veronica Mars and iZombie creator Rob Thomas has gotten his spin on The Lost Boys in at The CW, as the network officially ordered a pilot for a new take on the 80s classic. Thomas was working on the show for 4 years and The CW passed on a pilot last season but offered to relook at the series if there were changes and recasting. We’ll probably find out at this year’s Upfronts if the full series is ordered.
- Owen Wilson joins Loki series: Owen Wilson will join Tom Hiddleston on the upcoming Disney+ series following Loki, presumably the one who escaped with the Tessaract in Avengers: Endgame. Wilson’s role is being kept under wraps and the series will debut sometime in 2021.
- Taron Egerton and Scarlett Johansson in talks for a new Little Shop of Horrors: A new version of the cult musical classic Little Shop of Horrors is in the works and Taron Egerton and Scarlett Johansson are in talks to star. Egerton would play nerdy florist Seymour, who finds a strange, intelligent plant that turns into a bloodthirsty monster named Audrey II. Johansson is in talks to play Audrey, the object of Seymour’s affection. Billy Porter is apparently in talks to voice Audrey II as well.
- NBC orders Da Vinci Code series pilot Langdon: Even though the last movie was kind of a disaster, NBC is developing a pilot based around Dan Brown’s globe-trotting symbologist, Robert Langdon. Langdon would be based on the novel The Lost Symbol, where a younger Langdon worked to unravel a mystery in Washington DC and rescue his kidnapped mentor.
- Life-size animatronic Spider-Man will debut at Disneyland: If you watched the excellent series The Imagineering Story on Disney+, you probably saw a tease of a radical new animatronic at the end of the final episode. That animatronic is now officially going to make its debut as a live-action Spider-Man at Disneyland, which will be an artificial stuntman that will fly through the air and perform at the Avengers Campus section of the park.
- MoviePass is finally dead: The dumpster fire that was MoviePass is finally over, as the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy that fully dissolved the company and the CEO and board members all resigned. The MoviePass app had been down “temporarily” for a few months before this bankruptcy announcement and before that was all manner of bizarre and disastrous moments as the company struggled for any way to make money after it went mainstream with an untenable business plan to offer users unlimited movie tickets for $10 a month while paying the movie theaters full price for every ticket “purchased” via the MoviePass app.
- Walton Goggins cast in dark comedy Fatman: Walton Goggins has been cast opposite Mel Gibson in a new dark Christmas comedy called Fatman. Goggins is playing a hitman who is hired by a young boy who got coal for Christmas to kill Santa, who will be played by Gibson.
- Netflix developing live-action One Piece series: The same team that is working on the live-action Cowboy Bebop series is getting another beloved anime to adapt, One Piece. The show follows Monkey D. Luffy, who along with a wacky crew of pirates is determined to find the legendary “One Piece” treasure and become the new Pirate King. The live-action series has gotten a 10 episode first season order from Netflix.
- Green Hornet reboot in development: A company called Amasia Entertainment has gotten the rights to Green Hornet and is working on a new film version of the 30’s radio hero. The last time we saw Green Hornet on the big screen was the 2011 Michel Gondry version starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. It’s not clear what the plan is for this take, if it will be modern or set in the 30s and no word on casting yet.
- Lethal Weapon 5 in development: After the Fox series flamed out, the original crew is potentially coming back as Lethal Weapon 5 is apparently in development with Danny Glover, Mel Gibson and Richard Donner are all ready to come back. Producer Dan Lin confirmed the news and said they are working on a script based on an idea from Richard Donner.
- Matthew McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto are re-teaming for FX series: After the universal acclaim for True Detective Season 1, Matthew McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto are re-teaming for a new FX series called Redeemer. The show is based on a novel called “The Churchgoer” by Patrick Coleman and the series would star McConaughey as a former minister turned security guard who is searching for a missing woman in Texas and gets drawn into a criminal conspiracy.
- Atari Hotels are in development: A series of hotels are in development that is looking to play on your nostalgia for classic video games by being themed around Atari. The company has licensed the Atari name to GSD group, who are planning to build Atari themed hotels in several US cities, starting with Phoenix, AZ. The hotels will have theming based on Atari games and will feature several entertainment options, including VR and AR experiences and some of the hotels will have esports venues.
- Two new Transformers movies in development: Paramount is working on two different Transformers projects, one some sort of follow-up to Bumblebee and the other based on Beast Wars. There are very little details on either project but, after Bumblebee, there is hope again in the Transformers film world.
- Dave Filoni and Chris Yost may rewrite Obi-Wan series: With the recent news that the Obi-Wan Disney+ series was delayed for script rewrites, Disney is apparently looking to some Star Wars vets to do the job. Clone Wars/Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni, who also wrote and directed episodes of The Mandalorian, and Chris Yost, who was written for multiple Star Wars and Marvel projects, are apparently in talks to do the new screenplays for the Obi-Wan series, which is now four episodes as opposed to the originally announced six.
- The Thing reboot in the works at Universal/Blumhouse: Universal and Blumhouse are apparently working on a new version of The Thing, supposedly based more on the original novella and newly discovered full novel version of the story called Frozen Hell. The novella came out in the 30s and The Thing from Another World movie by Howard Hawks came out in the 50s and John Carpenter’s definitive version, The Thing, came out in 1982. Despite the claim to be based more on the original story, it will be almost impossible to escape the shadow of Carpenter’s version, especially if they do the same sort of shapeshifting ability of The Thing, but hopefully, it will be better than the terrible 2011 prequel to the 1982 version.