Roseanne is coming back: It seems like every old TV show is coming back and now it looks like there will be a revival of Roseanne with Roseanne, John Goodman and Sara Gilbert signed on to return and multiple studios are looking to pick up the 8 episode limited series, including ABC and Netflix.
The Great Outdoors getting remade: The John Candy/Dan Aykroyd classic from John Hughes is getting remade with Kevin Hart, although it’s not clear if he’ll take over the Candy or Aykroyd role. In the original, John Candy was a family man just trying to relax in a cabin the country but his wife’s annoying brother-in-law, played by Aykroyd, shows up and hi-jinks ensue.
Blumhouse remaking Firestarter: Blumhouse will be remaking the Drew Barrymore starring horror movie Firestarter with Akiva Goldsman directing. The original 1984 movie, based on a story by Stephen King, followed a young girl who developed pyrokinesis and was hunted by the government, who wanted to turn her powers into a weapon.
Powerless pulled from NBC: Although not officially confirmed, Powerless was essentially cancelled this week at NBC as the show was pulled from their schedule with 2 episodes left to air. The episodes might get burned off later or dumped onto Hulu.
The Boondocks Saints returning as a TV show: Director Troy Duffy announced that he’s going to bring back the McManus brothers for a new TV show called The Boondock Saints: Origins but he also announced a bizarre set of “fan packages” that could be purchased for between $600-$10,000 that includes seeing this hypothetical show before it airs on any network, a bunch of swag and, at the highest level, attending the “green carpet” premiere of the show next year on St. Patrick’s Day in Boston and having dinner with Duffy beforehand. It seems like a crowd sourcing campaign without going to an actual crowd sourcing site. No word on what the show would be about or who is starring.
David Fincher may direct World War Z 2: The delayed Brad Pitt zombie sequel may be getting a huge boost as director David Fincher is apparently in final talks to direct World War Z 2. Fincher and Pitt obviously have a great history together with Fight Club and Se7en and Fincher has proven chops at adapting books with movies like The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. Hopefully this sequel will get into a bit more of what was in the book and actually have some “war” in World War Z.
RIP Jonathan Demme: Director Jonathan Demme passed away at age 73 this past week due to esophageal cancer. Demme directed Silence of the Lambs, which earned him Best Director and won Best Picture at the Oscars, and he also directed Philadelphia, Beloved, Married to the Mob, the remake of The Manchurian Candidate and, most recently, Ricki and the Flash.
Unbreakable/Split sequel officially confirmed: M. Night Shyamalan announced this week that he will be directing Glass, the sequel to Unbreakable and Split that will bring together Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy. It will arrive in January 2019 with Blumhouse putting it out.
Jeff Goldblum joins Jurassic World 2: Jeff Goldblum will return as Dr. Ian Malcolm for the upcoming Jurassic World 2. It’s not clear what Malcolm’s role will be but hopefully he’s more like the cackling, slightly manic Jurassic Park Malcolm and not the dour Malcolm of The Lost World.
Vince McMahon biopic in the works: A biopic about the one and only Mr. Vince McMahon, called Pandemonium, is in the works with WWE Films signed on to co-produce. The movie will be directed by Glenn Ficarra, who directed Crazy, Stupid, Love, but it’s not clear if it will be an all encompassing biopic or focus on a specific time or event and it’s not clear who will star as Mr. McMahon.
Into the Badlands rewnewed: Into the Badlands, AMC’s post-post apocalypse kung fu show, is returning for another season next year that will be an expanded 16 episodes, as opposed to the current season’s 10.
Timon & Pumbaa cast for The Lion King: Jon Favreau has found his Timon & Pumbaa for his upcoming “live action” remake of The Lion King. Billy Eichner will voice Timon and Seth Rogen will voice Pumbaa.
Night Trap getting remastered: The cult and controversial 90’s FMV game Night Trap, originally for the Sega CD, is getting an HD remaster and coming to PS4 and Xbox One sometime this spring. Boutique publisher Limited Run will be a making a limited number of collectible physical copies.
Tons of Disney Release Dates: Disney revealed a ton of release dates for some of their upcoming blockbusters and some of the big ones are the aforementioned Lion King hitting July 19, 2019, Frozen 2 arriving November 27, 2019, Star Wars Episode IX arriving May 24, 2019 and Indiana Jones 5 arriving July 20th, 2020.
DC launching their own streaming service: DC is getting into the subscription streaming service game sometime next year and they’ve announced two exclusives: Young Justice: Outsiders, the next season of cult favorite animated show Young Justice, and Titans, the live action Teen Titans show that was being developed by TNT. Greg Berlanti, the mastermind of the Arrowverse, will be producing Titans.
Taissa Farmiga starring in The Nun: Taissa joins her big sister Vera in The Conjuring universe, starring in the upcoming Conjuring 2 spin-off, The Nun. Farmiga is apparently playing the younger version of the demonic nun that haunts Lorraine’s visions in Conjuring 2 and the movie will most likely follow her descent into evil, demonic spirit.
Triple the X-Men coming next year: Fox announced three X-Men movie universe films are coming next year with Deadpool 2 hitting in peak summer blockbuster season on June 1, New Mutants arriving on April 13th and X-Men: Dark Phoenix arriving on November 2nd, the latter of which will feature the new team established in Apocalypse and Sophie Turner’s Jean Gray having to deal with the Pheonix Force inside of her..
Hell or High Water team reuniting on Netflix: The team behind the excellent and Oscar nominated Hell or High Water is reuniting on Netflix for a new movie called Outlaw King that will star Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce, who took up the fight for Scottish independence after William Wallace was executed and successfully freed the country from British rule. Ben Foster will play Pine’s right hand man James Douglas and director David Mackenzie will direct.
Michael Man producing Vietnam War TV show: Mann will be adapting the book Hue 1968, from Black Hawk Down author Michael Bowden, for TV series. Mann will direct some of the episodes and the show will detail the Tet Offensive.
