The Beach getting a remake: Director Alex Garland, in the lead up to Annihilation this weekend, let slip on a Reddit AMA that a new adaptation of his novel The Beach is in the works. The previous adaptation came from Danny Boyle in 2000 and starred Leonardo DiCaprio as a backpacker in Thailand who discovers the existence of an isolated community living an idyllic life on the beach and joins them.
The Dark Tower series lands at Amazon: Despite the movie bombing, Amazon is moving forward with a Dark Tower series, which was in the works at the same time as the Idris Elba starring movie version. This show would be more of a prequel and focus heavily on The Wizard and The Glass and parts of The Gunslinger, telling the story of how Roland Deschain became The Gunslinger. Idris Elba is highly unlikely to star on the series but director Nicolaj Arcel wrote the script for the pilot and is heavily involved in the series.
Goosebumps 2 adds two new cast members: Co-stars of two of last year’s most popular movies have joined Goosebumps 2 with Madison Iseman, who played Bethany in Jumanji, and Jeremy Ray Taylor, who played Ben Hanscom in IT. The movie is supposed to hit this October .
Fox developing a movie about Flamin Hot Cheetos: Fox is looking to turn the creation of Flamin Hot Cheetos into a film. The movie would focus on Richard Montanez, who was working as a janitor for Frito-Lay when he invented the spicy flavored cheese curls and is now one of the highest executives at the company.
Blair Witch TV show in the works: Lionsgate is developing a Blair Witch TV series under their new digital studio, Studio L, and it would potentially be an anthology series, although it’s unclear how many different times you can see people get lost, and then most likely killed, in the woods.
Joss Whedon leaves Batgirl movie: The DC Cinematic Universe suffered another setback this week as Joss Whedon dropped out of his announced Batgirl solo movie, stating he “didn’t really have a story”. It’s not clear if the Batgirl movie will move forward or will just join the list of potential DC films that may never happen.
Potential content for the Disney streaming service: Disney’s streaming service launches next year and some potential original content was hinted at this week, including possible remakes of movies like The Parent Trap, Father of the Bride and Honey I Shrunk the Kids. There’s also talk about attempting a new series featuring The Muppets, the most recent being the short lived but pretty great 2015 show on ABC.
Live Action Pinocchio reboot gets a director: Speaking of Disney, their quest to remake every one of their classic animated movies continues as Paddington 2 director Paul King has signed on to direct a live action Pinocchio. Skyfall and Spectre director Sam Mendes had originally signed on but had to drop out.
Sonic movie gets a release date: Sonic the Hedgehog will finally make his big screen debut on November 15th 2019, a week after the 25th Bond movie and head to head with a Melissa McCarthy holiday comedy called Margie Claus. The movie is going to be a live action/animated hybrid and will be directed by Jeff Fowler with Deadpool’s Tim Miller and Neal H. Moritz producing.
Sabrina reboot casts its Aunts: A while ago it was announced that Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka would be the new Sabrina for Netflix’s reboot from Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and now her aunts have been cast. Lucy Davis, Etta Candy in Wonder Woman, will be Aunt Hilda and Miranda Otto, most recently seen in 24: Legacy, will be Aunt Zelda. The show will have the same darker tone as Riverdale and is heavily inspired by Archie Comics’ “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” series.
Marvel Comics relaunching again: The Marvel Comic universe will be rebooting yet again for a “Fresh Start” in May of this year (just in time for Avengers: Infinity War!) and seems like it will be a line wide restart/reboot for the entire universe, with lots of characters reverting back to classic versions and getting new #1s. The various Avengers books, for example, will be condensed down to one book and will feature Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor, Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel and Black Panther, with a rotating slot for guest Avengers, kicking off with Doctor Strange.
LA Confidential TV show casts Walton Goggins: CBS’ LA Confidential reboot took a big step in the right direction by casting Walton Goggins as Jack Vincennes. Vincennes was played by Kevin Spacey in the 1997 film and is a slick but corrupt cop who moonlights as an advisor for a popular 50’s cop TV show and arrests big celebrities for a paycheck from the tabloids.
Scott Adkins going to space for upcoming movie: Action movie star Scott Adkins is going to space for one of his upcoming projects. Adkins is starring in a movie called Incoming, where Adkins will be a CIA agent sent to the ISS, which is now a space prison, and has to stop a terrorist takeover and a nuclear missile from being launched at Russia. The movie is looking to be out in December this year.
Jessica Chastain officially in talks for IT Chapter 2: After being the leading candidate in various fan casting posts around the web, Jessica Chastain is officially in talks to play adult Beverly in IT Chapter 2. Chastain starred in director Andy Muschietti’s debut movie, Mama.
