New paranormal History show greenlit: History is digging deeper into the paranormal side of things with a new documentary reality series, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (which is a working title). Skinwalker Ranch has been a nexus of bizarre activity for over 200 years with everything from UFO and alien sightings to animal mutilations and cryptids like the Native American skinwalker. This new series is getting unprecedented access to the 512-acre property and a team of experts and scientists will head to the area and try to uncover the truth of what is going on.
Vertigo imprint is no more: DC Comics has shuttered it’s legendary Vertigo imprint, which brought comic fans books like Sandman, Preacher, Y the Last Man and many more. DC is creating three tiers of comics in 2020 with DC Kids, DC Comics and DC Black Label, the latter of which will be the replacement for Vertigo and aimed at mature audiences 17 and older. It’s not clear if the Vertigo back catalog will be rebranded as DC Black Label or remain Vertigo.
The Stand cast may be starting to come together: A new adaptation of The Stand is coming to CBS All Access and the cast may be starting to come together. James Marsden is apparently in “advanced negotiations” to play the lead of Stu Redman, who was played by Gary Sinise in the 90s miniseries. Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, and Henry Zaga are also in talks. Josh Boone, who directed The Fault in Our Stars and the clinically delayed New Mutants, is directing the series.
Creepshow reboot full details: Shudder is getting a TV reboot of the classic horror anthology Creepshow and full details about the episodes and directors were revealed. Hit the link for all of them but Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero will direct episodes along with Rob Schrab, Dave Bruckner (who directed The Ritual) and Roxanne Brighton (who directed The Body at Brighton Rock). Kid Cudi, Big Boi, DJ Qualls, Adrienne Barbeau, Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Davison, Giancarlo Esposito, David Arquette, Tobin Bell, Tricia Helfer, Dana Gould and more are starring in the various episodes. There will be six episodes of the series with two stories in each episode but there’s still no official release date yet.
Halloween sequel planned for 2020: A follow-up to 2018’s Halloween is getting ready to get underway with David Gordon Green returning to direct and Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer and Andi Matichak returning to star. The movie will start shooting around Labor Day this year and looking at an October 16th, 2020 release date, which was previously for an “untitled Blumhouse film”.
Spider-Man/Venom movie “Likely”: MCU guiding force Kevin Feige said that he believes a Spider-Man/Venom MCU crossover is “likely” but it all depends on whether Sony is willing to continue to work with Disney/Marvel. Sony still has the Spider-Man movie rights but made a deal with Marvel FIlms to allow Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to debut in the MCU and they would share in the profits of any film he appeared in. Meanwhile, Sony is trying to create their own, unrelated side universe which kicked off with last year’s shockingly successful Venom with Tom Hardy.
Anthony Carrigan joins Bill and Ted 3: As production got underway for Bill and Ted 3 this week, Gotham and Barry co-star Anthony Carrigan joined the cast as the movie’s villain. It’s not clear who the character is but there are some theories already that maybe he’s related to William Sadler’s Death, who is returning from Bogus Journey. Perhaps Carrigan is another, rival Reaper or Death’s son but hopefully, he brings the same energy he brings to Noho Hank on Barry.
New cut of Avengers: Endgame arriving in theaters next week: If you check out Avengers: Endgame starting on the 28th next week, there will be some new footage after the credits, including a deleted scene, some sort of special tribute and more. It seems like mostly a ploy to eke out the remaining money it needs to take away the all-time box office record from Avatar, which Endgame is currently around $40 million behind on.
Back to School turning into a reality show: The Rodney Dangerfield classic Back to School is getting a reboot in the weirdest possible way as a new reality show inspired by it is coming soon. The series will follow a group of parents who have taken the movie’s lead and are attending the same college as their kids. MGM is behind the series and is shopping it to networks but it’s not clear if it would end up on traditional TV or on a streaming service.
Hunger Games prequel announced: Suzanne Collins is writing a prequel to The Hunger Games according to a press release from Scholastic this week. The new book will be set 64 years before the events of the first Hunger Games book and will take place in the “Dark Days” following the apocalyptic war that wiped out our present-day civilization and the building of the new civilization of Panem. Lionsgate is already anticipating adapting the new novel into a movie.
Netflix getting documentary series Age of Samurai: Netflix announced this week a new series that will tell the story of feudal Japan, that is being described as a “real-life Game of Thrones”. The series is called Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan and each episode will focus on specific historical characters, specifically Date Masamune aka the One-Eyed Dragon.
Cast revealed for Netflix crime drama Criminal: Speaking of Netflix, the cast for their upcoming crime drama Criminal was announced with David Tennant, Hayley Atwell, and Nicholas Pinnock starring. The series was created by Kay and Field Smith and will be 12, 45-minute episodes and every episode is set fully in a police interrogation room and the series will jump between the UK, Germany, France, and Spain, each country getting three of the 12 episodes and featuring a unique cast at each location. The series will debut sometime in the fall.
