News Shotgun 6/15/24
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week; it’s the News Shotgun.
Until Dawn movie finds cast: The movie adaptation of Until Dawn has found its main cast with Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-Young Yoo, and Odessa A’Zion. The game from Supermassive and Sony follows eight characters trapped at a remote mountain retreat. The player switches between multiple characters, making decisions that could lead to their survival or death. Part of the fun of Until Dawn was that you were playing an interactive horror movie, so it’s unclear how a movie version without interactivity would work or stand out from other films in the genre.
Blue Beetle animated series in development: Despite not setting the box office on fire last year and the revamp of the DC cinematic universe, Blue Beetle is returning as an animated series. Miguel Puga will showrun and direct the series, while the movie’s director and screenwriter, Angel Manuel Soto and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, will executive produce the series. Apparently, negotiations are going on with the casting, including potentially getting Xolo Maridueña back as Jamie Reyes. The show would not retell the movie’s story but instead set its own story.
Miles Teller starring in An Officer and A Gentlemen remake: Miles Teller will step into the Navy uniform of Richard Gere for a remake of the 1982 movie An Officer and A Gentlemen. Paramount is developing a modern update of the 80s movie. It was a box office smash when it came out and earned seven Oscar nominations and won two, Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actor.
Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson in talks for Kathryn Bigelow’s new film: Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson are in negotiations to co-star in the next Kathryn Bigelow movie, a currently untitled thriller for Netflix set at the White House during a national crisis. This will be the first Bigelow movie since Detroit in 2017, and she had been working on a different film for Netflix, Aurora, that was canceled.
Ben Barnes and Mary Louise Parker starring in The Institute: Ben Barnes and Mary Louise Parker will be starring in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Institute for MGM+. The story follows 12-year-old Luke Ellis, a genius who awakens at The Institute, where other children with extraordinary powers are being held against their will. Barnes will play Tim Jamieson, the broken former sheriff in the local small town whose path will intersect with Luke, and Parker will play Ms. Silby, the director of The Institute and a true believer in its mission. The adaptation will be an 8-episode series developed by Jack Bender and Benjamin Cavell.
Christina Ricci and Hamish Linklater are starring in the Chop Shop series. Christina Ricci and Hamish Linklater will co-star in a true-crime series, Chop Shop, based on the story of the Lamb Funeral Home in the 1980s. David Sconce took over the family funeral home and, desperate for cash, began to do things like harvesting human bodies for organs and valuables like gold teeth and performing mass cremations. Linklater will play Sconce, and Ricci will play a reporter inspired by Kathy Braidhill, who wrote the book Chop Shop, on which the series is based.
House of the Dragon renewed for Season 3: Before Season 2 debuts this Sunday, HBO has preemptively renewed the series for a third season. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin had said in December last year that he was working with the show’s writing team on Seasons 3 and 4 of the fantasy series.
Hijack season 2 adds cast members: The second season of the Idris Elba thriller series Hijack has added some new cast members with Toby Jones, Lisa Vicari, and Christiane Paul. Plot details are being kept hidden, so we don’t know who these actors are playing or what new scenario Elba will find himself in for Season 2.
Live-action Moana found for the remake: Along with Moana 2 hitting this fall, the live-action remake of the original movie has found its Moana with Catherine Laga’aia. Dwayne Johnson will reprise his role of Maui in live-action, and John Tui, Frankie Adams, and Rena Owen will also co-star. Thomas Kail is directing the live-action Moana, previously directing Hamilton and Grease Live along with the first and last episodes of the Hulu miniseries We Were the Lucky Ones.
Sony buys Alamo Drafthouse: Sony has purchased the theater chain Alamo Drafthouse from founder Tim League and Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group. The Drafthouse chain, which operates 35 theaters in the US, will be put under Sony Pictures Experiences, the branch of Sony Pictures that handles live entertainment like Wonderverse Chicago, a massive entertainment center that has experiences based on Sony films and the live touring Wheel of Fortune show. Current Drafthouse CEO Michael Kustermann will remain in that position and report to Sony Pictures Experiences COO Ravi Ahuja. So far, things will stay the same for Drafthouse, but there could be more focus and special events for Sony branded content shortly.
The Rivals of Amziah King announces cast members: The upcoming Matthew McConaughey starring thriller The Rivals of Amziah King announced several cast members with Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, Jake Horowitz, and Angelina LookingGlass. The movie’s plot is being kept under wraps, but it is a crime thriller set in rural Oklahoma. The movie will be the second feature from Andrew Patterson, who directed the well-regarded Amazon movie The Vast of Night.
Paul Giamatti joins Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: Along with starring in a series based on Hostel, Paul Giamatti has also signed on to be the villain of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The upcoming Paramount+ series is set on Earth at the titular academy, where recruits train to serve on starships. The latest cadets will have to band together to stop the threat that Giamatti’s character poses. Holly Hunter was previously cast as the Chancellor of the Starfleet Academy.
The Boys is ending next season: Amazon’s fan-favorite series, The Boys, is ending with the upcoming fifth season. The fourth season of the show just debuted, with the first three episodes on June 13th. The spin-off series Gen V is planning to continue past the end of The Boys, and two other shows set in the The Boys universe are in development.
Criminal adds more cast members: The Prime series based on the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips comic series has added three new cast members: Gus Halper, Aliyah Camacho, and Michael Mando. Charlie Hunnam, Adria Arjona, Richard Jenkins, Kadeem Hardison, Logan Browning, Pat Healy, Taylor Selé, and John Hawkes were previously cast in the series, which stars Hunnam as Leo, “a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence. Like a chess player, Leo thinks three moves ahead. Other crooks think he’s a coward, especially compared to his father Tommy, who went to jail for murdering the most feared man in the city, Teeg Lawless.”
Practical Magic 2 in development: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are in talks to reprise their roles in a sequel to 1998’s Practical Magic. The original movie follows Bullock and Kidman as the Owens sisters, witches who are trying to break a family curse and cover up accidentally murdering an abusive ex-boyfriend of Kidman by reanimating his corpse. The movie recently started to stream on Max, and the sequel was announced soon after. Akiva Goldsman will write the script for the sequel.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen ll starring in Man on Fire series: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is the latest actor to play John Creasy, following Scott Glenn and Denzel Washington, as he was cast to star in Netflix’s Man on Fire series. The show will be based on the first two novels by A.J. Quinnell that feature Creasy, Man on Fire, and The Perfect Kill. The show’s plotline is described as “Once a high functioning and skilled Special Forces Mercenary, known for surviving even the most desolate of situations, Creasy (Mateen) is now plagued with intense PTSD. Determined to overcome his personal demons, he sets out on a path to redemption. But, before he can adjust to this new life, he finds himself back in the fire, fighting harder than ever.” Steven Caple Jr. is directing the series’ first two episodes, and Kyle Killen, previously working on Halo and Awake, is showrunning the series.
