- Andrew Lynch
REEL NEWS: MAY 4TH-MAY 11TH
This week; Star Wars news in celebration of Star Wars day, Tom Cruise may have finally lost his mind, Cyberpunk 2077 is sexier than we thought and Into The Spider-Verse could have been even better.
Taika Waititi Confirmed to Direct Star Wars movie
Thor: Ragnarök director Taika Waititi has confirmed to be directing a standalone Star Wars film.
Announced in a string of May the Fourth announcements, Waititi will also write the project along with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, co-writer of 1917.
In the announcement, it was also officially confirmed that Russian Doll co-creator, Leslye Headland’s show will be going ahead.
No story details were announced, but based on his episode in The Mandalorian we might see a workplace comedy about two Stormtroopers trying to survive working for Darth Vader.
Ralph Fiennes as Miss Trunchbull
Allllll righty then.
Netflix is eyeing Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes to play Miss Trunchbull in their Matilda film.
Played by Pam Ferris in the 1996 version, the vile headmistress was played by a man for the Tony winning musical Matilda The Musical.
So maybe this casting gives a hint towards Netflix adapting the musical more than the book, and distancing itself from the classic ’96 film.
Tom Cruise…IN SPACE
He’s held onto the side of a plane during take-off; performed a HALO jump; flown military aircraft; corkscrewed a helicopter in the air; leapt over the London rooftops and broken his ankle.
Now, human test dummy Tom Cruise will go where no actor has gone before.
Teaming up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the International Space Station, Cruise will be the first person to film a narrative film in space.
Documentaries have done so, but nothing close to a million-dollar, A-list starring film.
This will not be the next crazy stunt Cruise performs for Mission: Impossible 7 or 8 but a separate project, although no studio or director or anything has been attached.
Cate Blanchett as Lilith in Borderlands from Eli Roth
Eli Roth’s Borderlands adaptation may have cast its first character in Cate Blanchett.
Reported by Variety, Blanchett is in talks to play Lilith, one of six Sirens that is a mercenary-turned-freedom fighter in the Borderlands games
Craig Mazin, writer on Chernobyl and the upcoming The Last of Us TV series, has written the screenplay for the film.
The film has been in the works nearly 5 years, with Roth attached to directing since February.
Extraction 2
Weeks after debuting on Netflix, another Extraction project is in the works.
After attracting 90 million viewers in under a month, the highest for any Netflix original movies, the writer, Joe Russo finalised the deal for another one.
Joe Russo, one half of the Avengers: Endgame directing duo, is hopeful for Sam Hargrave to return to direct and for Hemsworth to return as Australia’s John Wick, Tyler Rake.
SPOILERS FOR EXTRACTION
It’s early stages but with Hemsworth being considered to return, this may be a prequel but of course no one ever stays dead in action movies unless you see the life leave their eyes.
Russo said, “We’re not committing yet to whether that story goes forward, or backward in time. We left a big loose ending that leaves question marks for the audience.”
Demolition Man 2
90s cult action film Demolition Man will be receiving a sequel, according to the star of the original Sylvester Stallone.
Sure.
Demolition Man saw Stallone play LAPD Sgt. John Spartan (cause of course that’s his name) who is cryogenically frozen in 1993, as part of the Cryo-Penitentiary before being thawed out to hunt down his nemesis, Simon Phoenix in 2032.
A relic of 90s action, the film is remembered for its prediction of a Fast Food War that Taco Bell wins and the mystery of how seashells are used in replacement of toilet paper.
After mining the 80s dry for content, Hollywood have now moved to the 90s to exploit the next wave 30 year-olds.
Cyberpunk 2077 Rating & Customisation
One of the most ambitious looking games of the year, Cyberpunk 2077 has been classified by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) in the US.
The developers behind The Witcher series, CD Porjekt Red’s next game has been classified as Mature, the equivalent of an R18+ in Australia.
Unsurprisingly, the game will contain; Blood and Gore, Intense Violent (there’s a difference), Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol and Nudity.
Anyone who has played The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt wouldn’t be surprised by this but what has been revealed is the depth of the character customization options.
The ESRB’s report said, “Players can select a gender and customize their character; customization can include depictions of breasts, buttocks, and genitalia, as well as various sizes and combinations of genitals.”
Nothing kills the mood more than a factual report about genitals, but if there is this level of detail on the character customisation, imagine what the rest of the game will entail.
Cyberpunk 2077 is set to be released September 17 this year.
Fallen Order Sequel
EA CEO Andrew Wilson has confirmed that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will receive a sequel, as a result of the unexpected support behind the game.
EA expected to sell 10 million copies of the game, but that was significantly beaten according to CFO Blake Jorgensen.
Respawn, the studio behind the game, also put up listings looking to fill positions on their Star Wars team, hinting at more than just a Fallen Order sequel.
The first game saw Jedi wet fish, Cal Kestis survive Order 66 and live in hiding from the Jedi hunter Inquisitors, and was given a free update with added cosmetic features, new game plus and challenge mode.
Spike Lee Netflix Film
Spike Lee’s next film will be heading to Netflix on June 12, and will be eligible for the Oscars.
Da 5 Bloods stars Chadwick Boseman and follows Vietnam veterans who return to Vietnam in search of their squad leader’s remains.
Posited as Netflix’s awards contender for the year, it will most likely receive a brief theatrical run (once they are open) to apply for the Oscar’s rules of eligibility.
Black Mirror Season 6
Ever feel like this is all just some Black Mirror episode? Don’t worry, the creator of the show does as well.
Charlie Brooker has revealed to Radio Times that he is not working on Season 6 of the dystopia, sci-fi anthology series for Netflix.
“At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on any of those”
Much like after 2016 and political satires, it’s hard to come up with something better than reality.
Spider-Verse Alternate Cameos
The future of Sony’s Marvel Universe, or Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (yep, SPUMC) as it’s officially know, might have been teased by the creators of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
In a Twitter commentary for the movie, producer and writer Chris Miller revealed that there were plans to have Tom Holland’s Spider-Man cameo…and Tobey Maguire’s…and Andrew Garfield’s.
Miller's choice use of the quote "too soon" might indicate that Sony have been holding back the long-awaited crossover of the Spiders for a future film in the universe, or sequel to the beloved animated film.
The Rock & Emily Blunt Team-Up for Ball & Chain
The Rock & Emily Blunt have already signed on to work together again, this time as superheroes (since they’re so hot right now).
The duo has signed on to Netflix’s adaptation of Scott Lobdell’s Ball & Chain comic, with Emily V. Gordon, co-writer of The Big Sick, adapting it.
Ball & Chain sees two married superheroes deal with their failing marriage and the world ending threats. So basically, a live action The Incredibles then.
Blunt and Rock (great duo name) will star opposite one another first in Disney’s Jungle Cruise, on July 24th 2021.
National Treasure Series Disney+
Disney+ are now developing a TV series spin-off based on the National Treasure franchise.
Series producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed in an interview with Collider, “It’s the same concept but a younger cast”
Disney and Bruckheimer are also working on a third film in the series, with the intention of the same cast returning.
Bruckheimer is hopeful “they’ll both come together” at some point in the future.
LEGO Star Wars Release Date Announced (?)
The latest LEGO game from Traveller’s Tales has been given a release date, perhaps pre-emptively.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will see all 9 of the Star Wars movies be adapted brick-by-brick into 1 game.
Instead of remastering the original LEGO Star Wars games, TT Studios have built a new design not only for the Star Wars series but for all of their LEGO games.
A trailer was released on the Star Wars YouTube channel that revealed the game would be released on October 20.
However, that video was quickly taken down and made private, which means they either jumped the gun in announcing it, or are unsure if October will be the right release date.
The Mandalorian Season 2 Casting and Directors Revealed
Finally, after decades of fan speculation, non-canonical stories, fan films, constant debating and a brief tease in Season 1 of The Mandalorian, Boba Fett is alive.
Maybe.
The Hollywood Reporter believes that Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett, has been cast in Season 2 of The Mandalorian with Morrison playing Boba, the cloned song of Jango, in a minor role.
The Worst Bounty Hunter (don't @ me) was last seen flying headfirst into the Sarlaac to be digested over a thousand years.
But, fan boys being fan boys, numerous theories and stories have been twisted so that he survives the process to do cool badass things that he is never seen doing in the films.
Now this could all be a red-herring and Morrison could be playing a different clone of Jango Fett, but a glimpse of a mysterious character at the end of Episode 5 in Season 1 says otherwise.
Morrison would join Rosario Dawson and Michael Biehn as new additions to the series cast.
Along with this, Robert Rodriguez, director of Spy Kids and Alita: Battle Angel, and Peyton Reed, director of Ant-Man 1 and 2, have confirmed they are directing episodes of Season 2.