News Shotgun 2/20/21
- Mena Massoud rumored to be in talks to play Ezra Bridger: For the upcoming Ashoka series on Disney+ starring Rosario Dawson, a rumor this week that live-action Aladdin, Mena Massoud, may be playing Ezra Bridger on that series. It was hinted at during her appearance on The Mandalorian this past season that she was looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn and he and Ezra disappeared at the end of Star Wars Rebels so the Ashoka series seems like it might be a live-action continuation of that series. Nothing is official from Disney or Lucasfilm yet.
- Edgar Wright directing a new adaptation of The Running Man: Edgar Wright has signed on to direct a new version of The Running Man but it won’t be a remake of the beloved Arnold classic but instead be much more faithful to the original novel by Richard Bachman aka Stephen King. The Arnold movie deviated heavily from the source material and this new version will follow the novel’s story more closely, which puts The Running Man contest across the entirety of the world. The contestant earns $100 a day each day he survives and earns $1 billion if he survives for 30 days but he also has to record and send two video messages a day back to the studio. Hunters stalk the contestant and the TV viewers can earn prizes for reporting sightings of the Running Man.
- Supergirl cast for The Flash movie: A new Supergirl is debuting in the upcoming Flash movie from IT’s Andy Muschietti as Sasha Calle was cast as Kara Zor-El. Calle is best known for her role on The Young and The Restless and it’s expected that after debuting in The Flash, she’ll get her own movie or continue to appear in other DCEU movies. The Flash is expected to explore the Multiverse of the DC Universe and both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck are appearing as Batman along with Ezra Miller starring as Barry Allen.
- Gareth Evans signs an exclusive deal with Netflix: The Raid director Gareth Evans has signed an exclusive deal with Netflix to produce and direct films for the streaming service. Evans previously directed Apostle starring Dan Stevens for Netflix and his first project under the new deal is Havoc, a crime thriller starring Tom Hardy and is about a detective who, after a drug deal gone wrong, has to fight his way through the criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son.
- Moviepass docuseries in development: Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas, his production company that brought us McMillions on HBO, is working on a new docuseries following the rise and fall of Moviepass, which collapsed in spectacular fashion in 2019 after originally offering a $10 a month subscription that let you see as many movies as you wanted in theaters. The company couldn’t sustain its absurd business plan and started to enact desperate measures to remain solvent but the whole thing eventually fell apart. The company’s original founders, Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watt, seem like they will factor heavily in the series and they founded it originally with a more sustainable business before other executives implemented the $10 a month plan.
- Creepshow renewed for Season 3: Shortly before Season 2 debuts on Shudder, the horror streamer has renewed Creepshow for a third season. The second season will debut on April 1st on the streaming platform and will feature Anna Camp, Keith David, Ashley Laurence, Josh McDermitt, Adam Pally, Barbara Crampton, Denise Crosby, Ted Raimi, and more.
- Danny Elfman scoring Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: With Sam Raimi behind the camera for the second Doctor Strange movie, he’s brought back his Spider-Man composer Danny Elfman to do the score for the film. Elfman has obviously contributed iconic scores for movies like the aforementioned Spider-Man films along with Batman, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Men in Black, and has worked with the MCU before with the Age of Ultron score.
- Marwan Kenzari battling The Rock in Black Adam: Along with facing off against the Justice Society of America, The Rock’s Black Adam will face Aladdin and The Old Guard star Marwan Kenzari, who was cast in a mysterious role in the movie this week. Doctor Fate was still left to cast for the Justice Society but it doesn’t seem like Kenzari will be playing him and instead some other character who will oppose Black Adam.
- Wednesday Addams getting a Netflix series: Netflix is developing a live-action spin-off to The Addams Family that will follow an older Wednesday Addams at Nevermore Academy. She starts to develop psychic powers and investigate and stop a mysterious killing spree. It sounds very much in the vein of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and/or Riverdale/Nancy Drew on The CW. Tim Burton will be executive producing and directing the series.
- Superman 78 and Batman 89 comic continuations coming: Speaking of Tim Burton, his Batman along with Richard Donner’s Superman are getting comic-book sequels from DC later this year. The two new miniseries will continue the stories from the movies, with Batman 89 picking up after Batman Returns and Superman presumably picking up after Superman II. Both series will be released digitally first in July and then get a physical 6 issue miniseries before finally being collected later in the year in hardcover collections.
- Truth Seekers canceled by Prime Video: Amazon has canceled Truth Seekers after one season. The series reunited Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, with Frost’s character as the head of a part-time paranormal research time that investigated ghost sightings across the UK. Frost and Pegg co-wrote the series as well as starring.