News Shotgun 1/29/22

Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week, it’s the News Shotgun

• Live-action Masters of the Universe movie has its He-Man: Along with its multiple Masters of the Universe animated series, Netflix is also developing a live-action movie version of the 80s franchise and has found its star with West Side Story’s Kyle Allen.  Allen will play Prince Adam of Eternia, who discovers he can transform into the powerful He-Man.  The movie was originally being developed at Sony but was sold to Netflix and The Nee Brothers, who directed the upcoming The Lost City, will be directing and co-writing.
• Jason Momoa joins Fast 10: The first big new casting for the upcoming Fast 10 happened this week with Jason Momoa joining the Fast Family.  Details are unknown at this time but it’s expected he’ll be a new antagonist to battle Dom and the gang.  Justin Lin is returning to direct and it’s expected to arrive in May of next year.
• A Second Suicide Squad series may be coming to HBO Max: James Gunn has teased that a second HBO Max series following a member of his Suicide Squad is being discussed, although no hints on which character might be the focus.  He also said that there’s a very good chance that Peacemaker will be renewed for a second season.
• Peacock loses $1.7 billion: Peacock is reporting losses that were around double what it lost last year.  The NBC Universal streaming service had 9 million paid subscribers at the end of 2021 but reports $1.7 billion in adjusted losses.  The main source of the losses is investing in original content and CEO Brian Roberts said they expect the losses to grow as they invest even more in Peacock original content.  They expect Peacock to break even potentially in 2025.
• Mortal Kombat writer writing System Shock series: Greg Russo, who wrote last year’s Mortal Kombat movie, will be writing and directing an adaptation of the classic PC game System Shock.  The series is one of many video game properties being adapted for the upcoming streaming service Binge, which will also feature a series based on Driver and Hunt: Showdown.
• Jake Gyllenhaal starring in speedboat heist movie Cut & Run: Jake Gyllenhaal will star in an upcoming crime/heist movie called Cut & Run.  The plot follows a group of thieves who use speedboats to rob superyachts but they steal the wrong thing from the wrong people.  John Glenn, who wrote Eagle Eye and Law Abiding Citizen, wrote the spec script for the movie and will be producing alongside Gyllenhaal.
• Mortal Kombat 2 officially in development: New Line is officially developing a sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat movie, which was one of the bigger HBO Max day and date releases.  Jeremy Slater, the head writer of the upcoming Moon Knight show, is writing the sequel.  There are currently no deals for the cast or director Simon McQuoid to return.
• The Righteous Gemstones renewed for Season 3: HBO has renewed their hilariously epic megachurch skewering comedy series for a third season in the middle of the currently airing second season.  John Goodman, Danny McBride, Adam Devine, and Edi Patterson as the titular Gemstone family, who have gained enormous wealth through their network of Christian megachurches with the series being co-created by McBride, Jody Hill, and David Gordon Green, in their third collaboration following Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals.
• Lucy Liu starring in Stephen King series Later: Lucy Liu will star in an upcoming Stephen King-based TV series produced by Blumhouse based on King’s novel Later.  Liu will star in the limited series as Tia, a literary agent trying to raise her son as a single mom.  When her star author dies before finishing the book that could put her agency back on track, she uses her son Jamie’s ability to talk to spirits, all of whom always tell him the truth, to get the rest of the book from the author’s spirit.  It’s a success but Tia’s detective girlfriend starts using Jamie’s gift to solve cases, which draws him into the darker side of the spirit world.  It’s not clear where Later will end up as no network or streamer were announced.
• Percy Jackson series greenlit for Disney+: Percy Jackson is getting a second shot with Disney as a new Disney+ series based on the novels has been greenlit.  Written by Rick Riordan, the books follow Percy Jackson, who discovers that he’s a demigod son of Poseidon and sets out on a multi-book adventure dealing with the Greek gods and various monsters from mythology.  There are five books in the main series but the movie series, starring Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario, only made it to the second novel.  The new series will be a reboot going back to the original book, The Lightning Thief, and progressing from there.
• 3 new Star Wars games coming from EA and Respawn: Respawn is developing three new games in the Star Wars universe with one being a sequel to their critically and commercially successful Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.  The other two games will be a strategy game and a first-person shooter, the latter of which Respawn has tons of experience in between the Titanfall games and Apex Legends.
• The Lost Symbol canceled by Peacock: The Lost Symbol, based on the Robert Langdon novel by Dan Brown, has been canceled after 1 season on Peacock.  Ashley Zukerman starred as Robert Langdon, who is called in to investigate the disappearance of his missing mentor and uncovers a series of clues and secrets around Washington DC tied to the Freemasons.
• Josh Duhamel starring in Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Season 2: With Emilio Estevez leaving the series over a contract dispute and issues related to Covid, Josh Duhamel has been cast to co-star with Lauren Graham for season 2 of the Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.  Duhamel will play Gavin Cole, a former NHL star turned coach who runs an intense summer hockey institute that the Ducks attend.
• Chris Evans and The Rock co-starring in Red One: Chris Evans and The Rock will team up for an Amazon action/comedy, Red One, directed by Jumanji director Jake Kasdan.  The plot details are unclear but it’s, ” a globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy imagining a whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre”.