News Shotgun 9/5
- Grizzly II coming to streaming and theaters later this year: The sequel to the Jaws inspired creature feature Grizzly was filmed in 1983 and featured George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen but it never came out, until now. Producer Suzanne C. Nagy has been the “caretaker” of the film and has worked with editors to finish a cut of the film that will be distributed by Gravitas Ventures called Grizzly II: Revenge and it will be available on streaming and in drive-in theaters later this fall.
- Jack Reacher cast for Amazon series: Amazon is bringing Jack Reacher to the small screen after two film versions with Tom Cruise but actor Alan Ritchson is taking over the role (the series also has nothing to do with the Cruise movies). Ritchson is probably best known for shows like Blue Mountain State and was the voice of Raphael in the most recent TMNT movies and plays Hawk on Titans. He’s also much closer to the description of the novel version of Jack, who was described by Lee Child as a 6′ 4″ 210-250 lbs imposing ex-Army Ranger. Ritchson is 6′ 4″ and 235 lbs.
- Chucky TV series delayed: The Chuck TV series that was to continue the original film series from creator Don Mancini has been delayed to the pandemic. Production was supposed to start soon but the start of shooting the series has been delayed until next year. The show is going to air on SyFy and, along with Mancini, Brad Dourif is back to voice Chucky.
- Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie re-teaming for a spy thriller: For the fourth time, Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are teaming up for a new spy thriller called Five Eyes. Statham plays an international espionage agent who has to track down and stop a deadly new weapon by infiltrating the world of a billionaire arms dealer. The duo has worked together previously on Cash Truck, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch and Ritchie delivered an excellent spy thriller with The Man from UNCLE recently as well.
- Silk live-action series in development: In the strange and rapidly expanding world of Sony’s Spider-Man adjacent universe, Silk has gone from a possible movie to a live-action TV series. Lauren Moon is in talks to write the series and Lord and Miller will produce the show. The character Silk was introduced in 2014 and is the alter ego of Peter Parker’s classmate Cindy Moon, who is also bit by a radioactive spider and becomes the superhero Silk with super-speed, the ability to shoot web out of her fingertips, and an enhanced version of spider-sense. The character of Cindy Moon actually appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming played by Tiffany Espensen.
- Primal returns in October: Genndy Tartakovsky’s awesomely brutal prehistoric series Primal is returning with five new episodes starting on October 4th. The series also got another season of 10 episodes ordered. The show is currently part of the Adult Swim section of HBOMax.
- Francis Ford Coppola reediting Godfather III: Godfather III is the black sheep of the series, despite still earning multiple Oscar nominations. Released almost 2 decades after Part II, Robert Duvall refused to return and Coppola’s casting of his daughter Sofia Coppola was widely panned. Coppola has recut and reinserted restored footage and created a new version of the film called “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone”. This new version will be released in theaters in December followed by a digital and physical release.
- The Mandalorian Season 2 gets a premiere date: Disney has announced that The Mandalorian is back on October 30th this fall. It’s not clear if they will release more than one episode on that day. The new season brings back Mando and The Child as they try to track down the origins of The Child and it seems like it will have some close ties to Clone Wars/Rebels with characters like Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan and Ashoka Tano, played by Rosario Dawson for the time in live-action, appearing and the reveal that the evil Moff Gideon is in possession of the Darksaber, an important Clone Wars/Rebels weapon.
- Drive with Batman in Waze: From now until Halloween, you can drive with Kevin Conroy’s Batman or Wally Wingert’s Riddler in Waze as featured GPS voices. You can also change your personal Waze mood and on-screen vehicle to Batman/Riddler versions. The promotion is to celebrate Batman Day on September 19th.
- Benioff and Weiss sign on to The Three Body Solution: Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have their first major project after signing a deal with Netflix, an adaptation Liu Cixin’s novel, The Three Body Solution. The sci-fi novel is the first part of a trilogy and is set in China during the Cultural Revolution as the nation finds out an alien race is planning to invade Earth. Factions form either ready to help the aliens or fight back against them. Rian Johnson, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, and Rosamund Pike and Robie Uniacke’s Primitive Streak are producing the series, and The Terror: Infamy’s Alexander Woo will write and executive produce along with Benioff and Weiss.
- NOS4A2 Canceled at AMC: AMC has canceled their Joe Hill adaptation after two seasons. The series did manage to wrap up the storyline of the novel, so it didn’t end on an unresolved cliffhanger if you still want to check it out. The series starred Zachary Quinto as vampire Charlie Manx, who kidnaps children and devours their souls to stay immortal. Vic McQueen, a young girl who realizes she has a special ability to find lost things, becomes involved in finding the lost children and comes face to face with Charlie.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in his first TV series: Our patron saint Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming to the small screen with his first-ever scripted television series. The show is currently untitled but is coming from Jack Ryan showrunner Nick Santora and will be another spy thriller following Arnold’s character and his daughter on a global spy adventure. Arnold will executive produce the series along with Skydance Television.