News Shotgun 12/16/23
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week, it’s the News Shotgun
Michael Jai White directed and starring in Trouble Man!: An Everything Action favorite, Michael Jai White directed and is starring in a new action comedy, Trouble Man! The movie stars White as “Jaxen, a former cop turned private detective living in Atlanta. When famed R&B singer Jahari goes missing, Jaxen is hired to find and save her. As he investigates, he realizes her disappearance is tied to a much larger conspiracy of lies and deceit, which makes him question everyone around him and confront his own past” Orlando Jones, Method Man, Gillian White, Mike Epps and La La Anthony co-star and the movie will be out in the back half of 2024.
John Waters joins Chucky: Seemingly a perfect fit for the darkly campy world of Chucky, legendary cult filmmaker John Waters is joining the cast as Season 3 of Chucky goes back into production following this year’s dual strikes. Waters is playing Wendell Wilkins, the reclusive creator of the Good Guy doll who gets drawn into Chucky’s web of terror. Waters previously appeared in the Child’s Play/Chucky franchise in Seed of Chucky, playing paparazzi Pete Peters, who gets toxic acid thrown into his face.
Death Stranding movie in development: Death Stranding is the latest game to get a movie adaptation, with the news coming directly from game creator Hideo Kojima, who is directly involved in the movie. A24 will be distributing the movie and working with Kojima Productions on the movie, which Kojima will not be a direct adaptation of the game, saying, “The intention is that our audience will not only be fans of the games, but our film will be for anyone who loves cinema. We are creating a ‘Death Stranding’ universe that has never been seen before, achievable only through the medium of film, it will be born”. A sequel to the first game is currently in development at Kojima Productions.
Naomi Scott starring in Smile sequel: One of the many successful horror movies last year, Paramount’s Smile is getting a sequel with Power Rangers/Aladdin star Naomi Scott taking over from Sosie Bacon, who starred in the first movie. The plot for the sequel has not been revealed but presumably, Scott will become the latest target of the evil entity that terrorizes its victims by making people around them have horrific smiles and other hallucinations. Parker Finn, who directed the first movie, is returning to direct the sequel, which will be out on October 18th next year.
Christopher Abbott starring in new Wolf Man movie: Christopher Abbott is taking over from Ryan Gosling in Blumhouse and Universal’s new spin on The Wolf Man. Leigh Whannell, who directed the excellent update to The Invisible Man, is directing The Wolf Man, which is about a “family is being terrorized by a lethal predator”. Gosling was originally set to star before the strikes but had to back out, but will remain an executive producer. The movie is coming out on October 24th next year.
The Lost Boys musical in development: A stage musical version of Joel Schumacher’s cult classic vampire movie The Lost Boys is in development. Among the team behind the musical is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Mythic Quest’s David Hornsby, who is writing the musical, Tony award-winning director Michael Arden, Patrick Wilson as a producer, and the pop-rock band The Rescues. There aren’t any casting or production details at present.
Dwayne Johnson playing UFC’s Mark Kerr in a biopic: The Rock is teaming up with Benny Safdie for an A24 biopic about UFC champion Mark Kerr, who was previously the subject of an HBO documentary, The Smashing Machine, which will also be the title of the dramatized biopic. Kerr was a champion in multiple competitions, including UFC, Pride, and Vale Tudo but also struggled with addiction. Along with directing, Benny Safdie also wrote the script.
TV Series about Muhammed Ali Fight heist in development: Kevin Hart is starring and producing a series based on true events at a post-fight party following the Muhammed Ali vs Jerry Quarry fight in 1970 where hundreds of attendees were robbed at gunpoint. The series is based on the podcast, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, which will also be the title of the series. The series will be a Peacock original and Craig Brewer, who directed Dolemite is My Name, is producing and directing the first two episodes.
Terminator 2, Home Alone, and A Nightmare Before Christmas enter the Library of Congress: Some of our all-time favorite movies will be preserved at the Library of Congress as Terminator 2, Home Alone, and A Nightmare Before Christmas were some of the latest additions to the National Film Registry. Films are chosen “for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance” and preserved in the Library of Congress for posterity. There are currently 875 films that are being preserved in the National Film Registry.
RIP Andre Braugher: In shocking and terribly sad news, one of the greats, Andre Braugher, passed away this week after a brief battle with lung cancer. Braugher is probably best known as Captain Raymond Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine but was also a co-star on Men of a Certain Age, Last Resort and Homicide: Life on the Streets and appeared in films like Salt, The Mist, Frequency, Passengers and more. He was able to perfectly go from serious dramatic acting to hilarious comedic performances and will be greatly missed.
Marvel Studios offers up animated show updates: One of the big MCU animated series, What If?…, returns next Friday, and Marvel Studios offered up some updates on more upcoming animated projects. The studio confirmed X-Men 97, the highly anticipated continuation of Fox Kids’ 90s X-Men, is coming out in 2024, although there was not a definite release date. They also confirmed Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, previously called Spider-Man: Freshman Year, is also coming out sometime next year. That series follows Peter Parker’s high school days and early career as Spider-Man, basically everything before we first saw him in Civil War. Tom Holland won’t be back to voice Peter but Charlie Cox will appear as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. The show seems heavily inspired art-wise by Steve Ditko and the early Spider-Man comics. The studio also announced a new Black Panther animated series, Eyes of Wakanda, which will feature stories of warriors throughout the history of Wakanda.
E3 is Dead: Once the biggest event in video games, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, aka E3, is officially dead. The show began in 1995 and, for decades, was the source for massive game reveals, console debuts, and all the biggest news in the world of video games. The show started to falter before the pandemic, with efforts to do things like have certain days be open to the public after decades of press and industry-only access. Obviously, the expo was canceled during the pandemic but it failed to return, with dates set for this summer but then the show was canceled because it “didn’t generate the interest” that was anticipated. The show was officially shut down this week, in a post to the Electronic Software Association’s Twitter/X account. Geoff Keighley has taken some of the heat from E3, with The Game Awards being a source of massive gaming reveals and also hosting a rival summer gaming event, Summer of Games, in the same time frame that E3 traditionally was held.
Saw XI announced: After a welcome return to form and a strong box office performance, Lionsgate announced Saw XI will be out on September 27th next year. Details were scarce about what we can expect but hopefully, XI will keep the back-to-basics tone of X and keep delivering more of what fans want from the Saw franchise.
Fort Solis becoming a movie: Sci-fi horror game Fort Solis, which we got to check out at PAX East earlier this year, is getting movie and TV adaptations. Swedish production company Studios Extraordinaires is teaming up with the game’s developers, Fallen Leaf Studios, on the adaptations. Roger Clark, Troy Baker, and Julia Brown starred in the game, which put players in the shoes of Clarke’s engineer Jack Leary, who answers a distress call from a remote outpost on Mars and tries to figure out what happened to the crew working there.
