News Shotgun 11/11/23
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from this past week, it’s the News Shotgun
Starz greenlights Spartacus: House of Ashur: The Spartacus universe is coming back on Starz with a unique continuation, Spartacus: House of Ashur. Sounding like a What If? scenario, the new show brings back Nick Tarabay as the treacherous Ashur and imagines that instead of *SPOILERS* being killed in Spartacus: Vengeance, Ashur survives and helps the Roman forces crush Spartacus’ slave rebellion. As a reward for his betrayal, the Romans make Ashur the owner of the Batiatus ludus and he begins to train his own group of gladiators. Original show creator Steven S. DeKnight is back to showrun and executive produce the new series.
Arcane Season 2 gets a release date: Fans of the League of Legends animated series Arcane have been waiting a while for season 2 and they’ll have to wait a bit longer, as Netflix revealed the second season is on the way but it won’t arrive until November 2024. Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, and Katie Leung are set to return to star and the first season won the Emmy for Best Animated Program last year.
WB Discovery Cancels Coyote vs ACME: Joining Batgirl and Scoob Holiday Haunt! in the cinema graveyard is Coyote vs ACME, which WB Discovery canceled this week despite the film being 100% completed and ready to go. The company decided the $30 million write-off they would get on taxes would make more financial sense than the cost of releasing and promoting the film or selling it to another platform, like Amazon, who were apparently extremely interested in buying it. The movie was going to be a live-action/animated hybrid and followed Wile E. Coyote as he brings a lawsuit against the ACME Corporation for all the faulty products he bought from them. John Cena, Will Forte, and Lana Condor starred in the movie. Because of the nature of the write-off, the movie can never be released, on streaming or physical media and cannot be sold to another company.
SAG-AFTRA Strike Over: After 118 days, the SAG-AFTRA strike has finally ended, with the guild and the producers finally reaching a new three-year contract. Details are still coming out but the main points are a big increase in wages for all members of the guild and a new program to pay out bonuses for actors involved in streaming projects, with the bonus coming from a movie or series hitting certain viewership ratings. There were also changes to the audition process along with gender and race equality measures and sexual harassment protection.
New A24 horror movie adds cast members: A24 has become one of the most critically acclaimed distributors of horror movies and several cast members were added to the upcoming horror movie, Opus. Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami, Young Mazino, Tatanka Means, and Juliette Lewis will star in the movie, which will be about “an iconic pop star’s return following his decades-long disappearance” and the movie will feature original songs from The-Dream and Nile Rodgers, who most recently worked on Beyonce’s “Cuff It”. The movie is being directed by Mark Anthony Green.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Confirmed: Although it seems like they could just continue forever coasting on the success of GTA 5 and GTA: Online, Rockstar announced this week that Grand Theft Auto 6 is officially on the way and the first trailer for the game will arrive in early December. The game is rumored to return players to Vice City, the GTA universe’s equivalent of Miami, which was last seen in the 80s set PS2 title GTA: Vice City and Vice City Stories. GTA6 will be a modern setting and feature a “Bonnie & Clyde” story following characters Jason and Lucia, with Lucia being the series’ first playable female protagonist.
Chucky coming to Dead by Daylight: Charles Lee Ray is the latest killer coming to the popular a-symmetrical horror game Dead by Daylight. Chucky will be a playable killer, available on November 28th, with Brad Dourif recording dialogue for the game. There will also be an alternate costume that will let players play as Tiffany in a “Good Gal” costume, with Jennifer Tilly voicing lines. Chucky/Tiffany will have a “Slice & Dice” ability that will let them lunge across the level to attack human survivors and the ghostly spirit of Charles Lee Ray will also assist them with hanging survivors on hooks or interrupting their objectives.
Sony and Nintendo working on live-action Zelda movie: Following the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo is working with Sony to bring The Legend of Zelda to theaters with a live-action movie. Nintendo worked with Universal for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Wes Ball, who directed the Maze Runner trilogy and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be directing the movie. There’s no word on casting or if the movie will be based on a specific game in the franchise.
New Peanuts movie coming from Apple: Along with being the current home of the beloved holiday specials and a wealth of other Peanuts content, Apple is producing a new Peanuts movie with WildBrain and Peanuts Worldwide. The untitled movie will be an animated feature that will send the Peanuts gang on an adventure to the “Big City”. Steve Martino, who directed 2015’s The Peanuts Movie is directing this new movie and a promo picture looks like this new movie will have a similar art style. The movie will go into production next year.
The Bear renewed for season 3: FX’s critically beloved series The Bear will be back for another season, with a third season renewal announced this week. The show follows Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto, a fine dining chef who returned home to his family’s sandwich shop in Chicago after his brother’s suicide. The second season found Carmy and his restaurant staff stripping the shop to the bones and rebuilding it into a next-level eating experience. The show streams on FX on Hulu and the new season will arrive sometime next year.