News Shotgun 10/23

• Plot revealed for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play: The official continuation to the Harry Potter book series is coming to London’s West End as a play and the official plot synopsis was revealed this week:

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

• Disney making a Tower of Terror movie: Disney is turning another of their rides into a movie, this time Tower of Terror.  This new movie won’t have any ties to The Twilight Zone and will just take the ride’s setting of a haunted hotel.  Back in 1997, there was actually a TV movie version of Tower of Terror starring Steve Guttenberg.
• Connor Hawke coming to Legends of Tomorrow: Oliver Queen’s comic book son is coming to The CW with Connor Hawke appearing on Legends of Tomorrow, the crazy mid-season team up mini-series.  WB said that the CW’s version of Connor will not be Oliver’s son, even though it was hinted at during one of the flashbacks on Arrow.
• Nick Kroll and John Mulaney doing an Oh, Hello stage show: One of the best parts of Kroll Show was Too Much Tuna with it’s crotchety, mean spirited duo of Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland and the pair, played by Kroll and Mulaney, are coming off-Broadway with a three week stage show called “We’re Us, You’re You, Let’s Talk”.
• Peyton Reed coming back for Ant-Man and Wasp: Marvel announced an Ant-Man sequel during NYCC and now this week we learned that director Peyton Reed will be back to direct the sequel, which will co-star Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the shrinking superhero duo.
• Power lace Nikes coming in 2016: We didn’t get them for Back to the Future Day this week but next year, Nike has promised the fabled power lace Nike sneakers from BTTF’s version of 2015 will be available in spring 2016.
• Vincent D’Onofrio playing the Wizard in Emerald City: NBC is developing a dark, dramatic version of The Wizard of Oz and Vincent D’Onofrio has been cast as The Wizard who rules the many lands of the world and has outlawed magic.  Tarsem Singh will direct the pilot.
• Chris Rock will host the 2016 Oscars: Chris Rock hosted the Oscars in 2005 and he’ll be back next February to host the 2016 Oscars, which will be the 88th edition of the ceremonies.
• Kingsman 2 coming in 2017: One of the big surprise hits of this year is getting a sequel in 2017 as Fox announced a sequel to Kingsman.  Matthew Vaughn is currently working on a script but it has not been revealed if he will come back to direct the sequel.
• Paramount delays two of their upcoming horror movies: Rings, the third entry in The Ring series, was supposed to be out in November this year but has been pushed back to April 1, 2016.  The proposed Friday the 13th reboot/sequel has been delayed to 2017 as a new screenwriter is being looked for.
• Shout Factory producing original horror movie: Shout Factory is best known for probably the best collector’s editions of genre classics and it was revealed this week they will be developing their first original movie, a horror movie called Fender Bender that will be a throwback to 80’s horror.
• Writer hired for new Django movie: The original, mini-gun wielding western hero Django, played by Franco Nero, is returning in a new movie and Lone Star writer John Sayles has been hired to write a script.
• Annabelle 2 on the way:  Evil demonic doll Annabelle is returning in a sequel to last year’s Conjuring spin-off.  Gary Dauberman, who wrote the first Annabelle, is currently working on the script for this sequel.