News Shotgun 7/13/24
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week; it’s the News Shotgun.
Presumed Innocent Renewed for Season 2: The Jake Gyllenhaal-starring legal drama Presumed Innocent has been renewed for a second season at Apple TV+. Apple says the show was the most watched drama in the streaming service’s history. It follows Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor who is accused of murdering a colleague. The show’s first season wraps up on July 24th.
Sam Claflin and Patrick Stewart starring in Barbaric comic adaptation: Sam Claflin and Patrick Stewart have signed on to star in an adaptation of Barbaric, the comic published by Vault Comics and created by co-creator and writer Michael Moreci and co-creator and artist Nathan Gooden. The adaptation will be a TV series for Netflix, and Michael Bay is apparently in talks to direct, which would be his first ever TV show directing gig. Claflin will play Owen, a barbarian in a medieval fantasy world who is always cursed to do the right thing, and Stewart will voice Owen’s magical talking axe.
Martin prequel series in development: With the success of the recent Bad Boys movies, Martin Lawrence is returning to another of his famous projects, Martin, and he’s producing a dramatic prequel series called Young Martin. Similar in tone to Peacock’s reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Young Martin will be “a contemporary origin story centering on Martin Payne, a charismatic teenager navigating the complexities of transitioning from youth to adulthood.” A network or streaming service has not yet been signed to the project.
Muhammad Ali dramatic series in development: A dramatic scripted series based on the life of Muhammad Ali is coming to Prime Video entitled The Greatest. Jaalen Best plays Ali, and Ben Watkins, the showrunner of the upcoming Alex Cross Prime series, is showrunning The Greatest. The logline of the series is, “The amazing victories and defeats that made Ali a legend, both in and out of the ring, have been well documented, and while those landmark events will live in ‘The Greatest,’ the heartbeat of the story is fueled by all the moments that took place outside of the spotlight. The world remembers an icon, but ‘The Greatest’ is about a man, a husband, a father, a brother, and a son.”
RIP Shelley Duvall: The iconic actress Shelley Duvall passed away this week at age 75 due to complications from diabetes. Duvall was best known for her role in The Shining and seven films directed by her mentor, Robert Altman, including his adaptation of Popeye. She also appeared in Annie Hall, Roxanne, Time Bandits, and Suburban Commando.
Redbox is no more: Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the parent company of video rental kiosk company Redbox, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this week, meaning the entire company is being liquidated. All 24,000 of the company’s kiosks and streaming service will be shut down, ending the last mainstream way to rent physical media. All 1,033 Redbox employees will be laid off as well. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment also owns Crackle, which will be sold to another company or shuttered along with Redbox.
Horizon Chapter 2 pulled from release date: The upcoming release of Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 has been removed from the calendar following the somewhat disastrous performance of Chapter 1, currently in theaters. Horizon Chapter 1 has only made $26 million worldwide after two weeks of release, and it’s believed that both Chapters 1 and 2 combined cost around $100 million to make, with millions coming personally from star, writer, and director Kevin Costner. Chapter 2 was supposed to come out on August 16th, but now the release is TBD, with New Line Cinema stating that they want to give audiences “more time” to find Chapter 1, whether in theaters or on PVOD and eventually Max, where the movie will stream. Costner has plans for at least four chapters of the Horizon saga, with Chapter 3 already shooting and planned to resume in August, and a script for Chapter 4 is completed.
Spider-Man Noir series adds cast members: Joining Nicolas Cage in the live-action version of Spider-Man Noir on MGM+ and Prime Video are Brendan Gleeson, whose role was not revealed, and Lamorne Morris, who was cast as the Noir version of Robbie Robertson. The series is a spin-off of the Spider-Verse, taking place in the 1930s with Cage playing Spider-Man Noir, an aging and down-on-his-luck private investigator.
A Fistful of Dollars remake in development: The Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars is getting a remake from a combination of Hollywood and Italian film veterans. At this point, there are no details about directing, casting, or whether it will be a contemporary take on the movie or a period piece set in the Old West. A TV series based on the movie was in development a few years ago, but that project fell through.
Sam Raimi directing new horror movie Send Help: Sam Raimi has signed on with 20th Century Films to write and direct a new horror thriller called Send Help. The plot is not fully revealed, but it concerns two people trapped on an island, described as a cross between Misery and Castaway.
Warner Bros. Shifts Release Dates: Warner Bros. has shifted around some release dates, pushing The Bride!, a new spin on The Bride of Frankenstein, up to September 26th, 2025, up from October 3rd. It will be head-to-head with Saw XI and Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. The studio also set a date for the final mainline Conjuring movie, September 5th, 2025. There are no title or plot details yet, but Michael Chaves, who directed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, is returning to direct the final movie.
Shrek 5 gets a release date: Shrek and the gang are returning to theaters in 2026, with the fifth entry in the series getting a July 1st, 2026 release date. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz will all return to reprise their roles, although there are no plot details now. Walt Dohrn, who has worked on the Trolls franchise and Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After, will direct Shrek 5.
Skydance buys Paramount: After months of negotiations, Skydance has bought Paramount for $8 billion. Skydance head David Ellison will be the CEO of the new company, and former NBCUniversal president Jeff Shell will be president. Stockholders will get $23 a share if they are “Class A” and $15 for “Class B” stockholders. The deal is expected to close in early 2025, putting properties like CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures, and Nickelodeon into Skydance’s control. Ellison said one of their key plans is to use technology from his father, Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, to revamp and upgrade the Paramount+ app.
