News Shotgun 8/29
- RIP Chadwick Boseman: In tragic, shocking news, it was announced by his family that Chadwick Boseman had passed away yesterday (8/28) at the age of 43. Boseman had been battling stage 3 colon cancer since 2016 and was quietly getting surgery and chemotherapy between films. Boseman is obviously best known as T’Challa aka Black Panther in the MCU but also starred in the biopics 42, Get On Up, and Marshall, action thriller 21 Bridges and most recently Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods on Netflix.
- Nicolas Cage starring in Highfire Amazon TV series: Nicolas Cage has signed on to star in and executive produce a new Amazon Prime series called Highfire, where the beloved and eccentric actor will be voicing a washed-up dragon. Based on a novel by Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, the show will follow Cage’s dragon, named Wyvern but who just goes by Vern now, who was once a formidable dragon but now hides in the Louisianna bayou drinking vodka and watching Netflix. He is discovered by a boy named Squib, who is in trouble with the local mob, and the two form an unlikely friendship.
- New Haunted Mansion movie in development: With Pirates of the Caribbean getting a full reboot, it seems like Disney is also going to try another Haunted Mansion movie. Ghostbusters: Answer the Call screenwriter Katie Dippold is writing the script and the movie is going to be live-action. This unfortunately will have nothing to do with Guillermo Del Toro, who has been pushing to make his version of a Haunted Mansion movie for years. The original Haunted Mansion movie with Eddie Murphy came out 17 years ago in 2003.
- X-Files Animated Series in development: Fox is developing an animated X-Files spin-off called The X-Files: Albuquerque which seems like it will be in the vein of the currently airing Star Trek: Lower Decks, with a comedic take on the mysterious X-Files world. The show will follow an office of misfit FBI agents in the Albuquerque branch who take on X-Files cases that are too wacky or ridiculous for Mulder & Scully. Bento Box, who animates Bob’s Burgers, will be animating this new series and X-Files creator Chris Carter is on as an executive producer.
- Sam & Max return in a VR Game: After a decade since the last Sam & Max game, the beloved cult comedy duo is coming back in 2021 with a new VR game called Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual. The game is the 20th official game to feature the Freelance Police and creator Steve Purcell is back to game design and story. David Nowlin and David Boat, who voiced the characters in the Telltale games, will return to star as the titular duo as well. No word yet on which specific headsets the game will come to.
- Sphere becoming an HBO series: Michael Crichton’s novel Sphere is becoming HBO series with Westworld’s Denise Thé as showrunner and Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan, and Perry Mason’s Team Downey executive producing. The novel got a movie adaptation in 1998 starring Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharon Stone but the movie was a flop at the box office despite the star power. The book follows a group of scientists who are brought to a site in the Pacific Ocean to investigate a mysterious spacecraft of unknown origin, which has the titular mysterious “sphere” on-board.
- The King’s Man delayed until 2021: Disney/Fox has moved The King’s Man from its September 18th release to February 26th next year. The movie has been shuffled between multiple release dates, first in the wake of the Fox purchase by Disney and then because of the pandemic.
- Netflix confirms Resident Evil series in development: Netflix confirmed this week that a Resident Evil series in development for the streaming platform but its probably not what a lot of fans were hoping for. The show will not be based on any specific game but instead, a new story focusing on 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker, presumably the daughters of Albert Wesker, who move the manufactured town of New Raccoon City. The show will follow two different timelines with one focusing on the teenagers and then a flash-forward timeline 30 years in the future where the T-Virus has wiped out a majority of humanity and Jade struggles to survive. The first season will be 8 episodes and has Supernatural writer Andrew Dabb and Walking Dead/Breaking Bad producer Bronwen Hughes behind it.
- Cobra Kai getting a video game: Officially available on its new home of Netflix, Cobra Kai is getting a video game adaptation called Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues, which will be an old-school style brawler where players can choose between 8 characters across 28 levels. Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence will be voiced by Ralph Macchio and William Zabka and will be playable along with characters from the show like Miguel, Hawk, Robby, Sam, and Tory. You’ll interact with both dojos and gain skills and upgrade the facilities to level up. The game is out on PS4, Xbox Box One, and Switch on October 27th this year.
- Altered Carbon canceled at Netflix: After two seasons, Netflix has canceled the body-swapping sci-fi show Altered Carbon. Based on the novels by Richard K. Morgan, the show followed criminal/soldier Takashi Kovacs who becomes involved in some sort of murder mystery/conspiracy in each season and because of the concept of “sleeves”, was played by Joel Kinnaman in the first season and Anthony Mackie in the second season, as human consciousness can be transferred between empty human body shells.
- The Kaiju Score movie in development: Based on a graphic novel that isn’t even released yet, The Kaiju Score will be a heist movie set during a Godzillaesque kaiju attack. While a giant monster attacks the city, a crew of criminal attempts to pull off a perfect heist while everyone is distracted. A somewhat similar premise is coming to Netflix sometime in the near future with Zack Synder’s Army of the Dead, where a group of mercenaries attempt to pull a heist on a Las Vegas casino during a zombie outbreak.
- Joe Exotic limited series coming to three different networks: One of the two rival Joe Exotic shows is coming to three different NBC platforms. Joe Exotic starring Kate McKinnon as Carol Baskin and based on the original podcast that started Tiger King mania. The limited series will air on NBC proper, their streaming service Peacock and USA Network. There is another Tiger King/Joe Exotic project in the works with Nicolas Cage starring as Joe.
- Powerpuff Girls getting a live-action reboot at The CW: Expanding outside the world of DC, The CW is bringing in Cartoon Network superheroes The Powerpuff Girls to their network with a live-action reboot of the beloved cartoon. Diablo Cody is one of the producers behind the reboot, which finds the Powerpuff Girls now grown up 20 somethings who resent having spent all their childhood fighting crime but have to reunite when a new threat faces the world. The animated series returned for a revival season in 2019 and all the episodes are currently streaming on Hulu.
- The Thing reboot in early development: There were recent rumors but its now official that Blumhouse is working on a reboot of The Thing with director John Carpenter involved in some capacity. Carpenter’s The Thing was itself a remake of a 1951 classic called The Thing From Another World and there was a terrible prequel/remake in 2011.
- The Stand reboot gets a premiere date: The new adaptation of The Stand from director Josh Boone now has a premiere date of December 17th on CBS All Access. The new series stars Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, and Amber Heard and follows the survivors of a deadly plague as they are caught between a battle of good and evil and must choose what side they are on. Goldberg is the leader of the good side, Mother Abigail, while Skarsgard is the embodiment of evil, Randall Flagg.