In-Development

SHIN KAMEN RIDER Announced With ‘Shin Godzilla’ And ‘Shin Ultraman’ Writer To Direct

Lee B. Golden III

Fresh from the beltway around the ceremonial Kamen Rider 50th Anniversary Project Unveiling on Saturday, a new feature installment of the Kamen Rider franchise was announced by way of a teaser art reveal for Shin Kamen Rider, from writer/director Hideaki Anno. The project reportedly began developing the project six years ago, in the wake of his recent collaborative success with filmmaker Shinji Higuchi on Shin Godzilla, with the only hitch thusfar being the pandemic. Anno, who is no stranger to tokusatsu and whose roots in animation have seen him behind behind properties like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cutie Honey, took to the event to say the following: “Five decades ago, almost every grade school boy was enthralled by the life-size hero Kamen Rider. I was no exception. I launched this project out of the desire to give back a little for the great gifts I received from the TV shows five […]

SEVENTEEN: ‘Kubo And The Two Strings’ Helmer’s Studio Expands Into Live Action For Adaptation Of Upcoming Novel

Lee B. Golden III

Filmmaker Travis Knight’s LAIKA, the studio behind Academy Award-nominated animated films such as Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link, is expanding into live-action with Seventeen, after securing the rights in an intense bidding war on Wednesday. The project is based on the upcoming novel by acclaimed screenwriter John Brownlow (The Minaturist, Sylvia). “For the past 15 years, LAIKA has been committed to making movies that matter,” says Knight, LAIKA President & CEO. “Across mediums and genres, our studio has fused art, craft, and technology in service of bold, distinctive, and enduring stories. With Seventeen, LAIKA is taking that philosophy in an exciting new direction.” “Seventeen is a stiff cocktail of wicked wit, exhilarating action, and raw emotion,” Knight continues. “John has such a wonderfully unique voice. He’s crafted a brilliant universe with its own powerful identity. Seventeen is a thriller with soul, a sinuous […]

‘Exiled: The Chosen Ones’ Director Revamps Crime Thriller, BERZERKER, Filming In June [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

The past fifteen months have seen misses rather than hits for director Ranjeet S. Marwa, who’s ambitious plans for crowdfunded action thriller, Blood Rush, came to a screeching halt as the Coronavirus pandemic took center stage in the UK as it did the rest of the globe. Many productions forced to stop midway or shelved altogether, although many filmmakers and industry stalwarts instead chose to work around the current pandemic to keep the biz afloat on the market and distribution fronts, with at least some ongoing productions relegated to safety protocols to avoid scrutiny. Marwa, based in Birmingham, had met up with two cast members upon visiting Jakarta last year prior to virtually shooting independent mini-doc, Covid-19: The Impact On Asian Cinema to make use of his time during the U.K. lockdown. In the time thereafter, he chose to put his focus into the virtual markets to pitch his projects, […]

GHOSTS OF TSUSHIMA Taps ‘John Wick’ Director Chad Stahelski To Adapt The Hit Video Game

Lee B. Golden III

I’m willing to bet there’s pretty much a bigger list than a lot of us are aware of, of projects that filmmaker Chad Stahelski is, or in talks to be, attached to – in some degree or another. For each of these developments, it’s never not garnered any attention for him, long since catapulting himself in fan favor with the on-going John Wick saga which commences principal photography very soon on its fourth installment. Even news of being attached to help develop a reimagining of the hit South Korean thriller, The Man From Nowhere, hasn’t fallen deaf on the crowd, or his long-intended interest in rebooting Highlander for that matter. At this stage in the game, “a full plate” is more than understating things, and speaking of games, fans of the Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive property, Ghosts Of Tsushima, can now tack the sprawling hit period adventure onto the priority list […]

MV5BZDM3Mzk3NDgtYzc4ZC00NzNiLWJhYmMtNjA4MWJmMDc3ZDUwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzU4Nzk4MDI@._V1_-1.jpg

THE SILENT FLUTE: ‘Marco Polo’ Creator Developing Script For Special Limited Series Inspired By Bruce Lee’s Original Work

Lee B. Golden III

Richard Moore’s Christopher Lee and David Carradine starrer, Circle Of Iron (1978), is now subject to a revival from former Valiant Entertainment CEO Jason Kothari. The Hong Kong-born entrepreneur has acquired the rights to the IP’s original incarnation, The Silent Flute, from Circle Of Iron producers Paul Maslansky (Police Academy) and Sasha Maslansky, and Kurt Fehtke and Arlene Howard, and will develop a new special limited series with John Fusco (Marco Polo, The Highwaymen) penning the script. This is an exciting development for fans, especially those who were let down by the recent cancellation of Warrior on Cinemax. Kothari’s The Silent Flute will be “set in a dystopian future after mankind has suffered from pandemics, fires and civil wars, where all weapons and combat arts are banned. It follows a raw fighter who overcomes grave obstacles and loss to reach enlightenment and become the best fighter in the world.” Fusco is also exec producing […]

BRZRKR: Keanu Reeves To Topline And Produce Own Live-Action Adaptation, Animated Series For Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

The internet’s ongoing love affair with Keanu Reeves continues to show longevity as of Monday, with reports from the trades announcing a live-action adaptation and forthcoming animated series expanding on Reeves’ hit comic debut, Brzrkr, for Netflix. Reeves penned the comic which campaigned on Kickstarter last year through its launch the following October, publishing then by BOOM! Studios. New York Times bestselling co-writer Matt Kindt (Folklords, Bang!) also wrote the limited 12-issue series with Alessandro Vitti (Marvel’s Secret Warriors), colorist Bill Crabtree (BRPD), and letterer Clem Robins (Hellboy) providing the illustrative and textual touch-ups for the finished product. BOOM!’s Brzrkr centers on the titular half-mortal/half-God “cursed and compelled to violence…even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the world for centuries, Berzerker may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, […]

DANCER: John Balazs’s Celebrated Action Thriller Short Now In Feature Development

Lee B. Golden III

A feature adaptation is in development based on Rage helmer John Balazs‘s multi-award winning 2017 shortfilm, Dancer. Balazs is developing the script as we speak, reteaming with Rage scribe Michael J. Kospiah on the new revisal which is currently under wraps with story and casting details. Dancer bore out of Balazs’s Prima Lux Films banner, where he and producer Marlane Ghmed have built a movie-making resumè for themselves dating back to 2014. The original fifty-minute short, about a world-weary hitman who vows to rescue an exotic dancer from the violent underworld she’s trapped in, collected nine nominations along with twenty-two awards from festivals around the world, in categories ranging from Best Actor and Supporting Actress, to Bests in Feature, Music Score and Director. Balazs would follow suit in multi-award winning fashion in 2018, earning more fanfare from action movie audiences with crowdfunder action thriller, Night Shift, prior to the development […]

KOWLOON WALLED CITY: Max Zhang Leads Trio For Soi Cheang’s 80s-Set Martial Arts Gangland Manhwa Adaptation

Lee B. Golden III

Soi Cheang will direct Kowloon Walled City, an adaptation of the popular 2010 cult manhwa, “City Of Darkness”, from creators Andy Seto and “Yuyi”. As Screen‘s own Liz Shackleton reports that actors Max Zhang (The Brink), Louis Koo (Paradox) and Richie Jen (Bodies At Rest) will star in the film which is “set in the 1980s inside Hong Kong’s infamous walled city, which was demolished in 1993”; According to 88Bar‘s Jason Li in a 2018 review of the property, the initial story “…chronicles the fall and rise of prominent gangster and martial artist 陳洛軍 (“Lok”) as he goes into hiding in the Kowloon Walled City after a bitter fight with his former boss.” Wilson Yip (Ip Man franchise, Flashpoint SPL, Dragon Tiger Gate) is producing the film next to Media Asia’s John Chong, who was hands-on during last week’s virtual EFM, with Kowloon Walled City as one of multiple titles […]

THIS BEAST: Kurt Sutter, Blumhouse Pair Up For New Netflix Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Kurt Sutter has an extensive TV writing resumè with shows like The Shield, and blistering motorcylce dramas Sons Of Anarchy and its current spin-off, Mayans M.C. for a time. Even penning Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama, Southpaw, proved to be a worthwhile feat to accomplish and now, Sutter will take the reins for his own feature debut at the helm for This Beast, inspired by The Beast of Gévaudan, billed as “a true story about a mysterious beast that terrorized a French village in the 1760s”. An 18th century English village is besieged by a mysterious and elusive beast. Dozens of innocents are slaughtered and the mayhem is driven to puritanical heights by religious fanaticism. The impossible task of killing the beast falls to a lowly trapper who promises he can stop the carnage. But for him this hunt is not a professional mission, it’s a deeply personal one. Sutter is […]

SUPERCELL: Alec Baldwin Heads Disaster Action Thriller From Highland, Short Porch At EFM

Lee B. Golden III

Alec Baldwin (The Departed, Mission: Impossible franchise) is attached to star in Supercell, a new disaster action thriller that Herbert James Winterstern (NBC’s “Siberia”) will direct from a script by Winterstern & Anna Elizabeth James (Deadly Illusions). The film will serve as the launchpad for a non-exclusive first look output deal for Highland Film Group with Ryan Winterstern (Most Wanted, Inheritance) and Nathan Klingher (Zone 414, Becky) with their new startup, Short Porch Pictures. Supercell is an epic disaster movie that tells the tale of William, a good-hearted teenager, who always lived in hope of following in his father’s footsteps, the legendary storm chaser Bill Brody, killed by a massive super tornado. His father’s legacy has now been turned into a storm-chasing tourist business, managed by the greedy and reckless Zane Rogers (Alec Baldwin), who is now using William as the main attraction to lead a group of unsuspecting adventurers […]

Screenshot_20210302-172328_Samsung Internet.jpg

WAR ARTS SAGA: SPTV, Original Film To Develop Series Based On Bestseller Wesley Chu’s Upcoming Fantasy Martial Arts Novel Series

Lee B. Golden III

Best-selling author Wesley Chu’s latest work is now the subject of a series adaptation from Sony Pictures Television according to details reported via Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva on Tuesday. The IP in question is War Arts Saga – a trilogy of novels which will be published each in one year of each other beginning in 2022 from Random House’s Del Rey shingle – of which the rights have been reportedly sold to Neal Mortiz of Original Film. This is damn good news for anyone keeping up with the state of martial arts action on the small screen, and you can believe the niche may very well be waiting with baited breath to see what lies ahead for The CW’s upcoming Kung Fu series revisal. It’s the result of a huge awakening with the successes of hit shows like Into The Badlands and Warrior, which our contributor Kyle Wong spent weeks writing […]

News Briefs: BLACK ADAM Casts Up; Netflix Takes NEW GODS; Signature Steers Toward THE ICE ROAD; CONSTANTINE Revs Up From Bad Robot; Trailers For THE YIN YANG MASTER And S.A.S.: RED NOTICE

Lee B. Golden III

Jungle Cruise helmer Jaume Collet-Serra is reteaming with actor Dwayne Johnson for New Line/DC adaptation, Black Adam, and have recently cast actor Marwan Kenzari (The Old Guard) for an undisclosed role. Cameras are slated to roll in April in Atlanta, GA with Noah Centino, Aldis Hodge and Quintessa Swindell also starring. (THR) Netflix has acquired streaming rights outside China to Zhao Ji’s New Gods: Nezha Reborn following its local Lunar New Year holiday release. Based on the classic mythological text, “The Romance of the Gods”, the animated hit stars a voice cast that includes Yang Tianxiang, Xuan Xiaoming, Ling Zhenhe, Zhu Ke’er and Li Shimeng. (Deadline) Director Jonathan Hensleigh (The Punisher) is currently filming The Ice Road, a new thriller starring Liam Neeson and Lawrence Fishburne which was just acquired by Signature Entertainment for release in the UK and Ireland. The film is set in the far northern regions of […]

PicsArt_08-30-10.52.10.jpg

‘John Wick 3’ Actors Yayan Ruhian And Cecep Rahman Pair Up With ‘Maria’ Director For Mystery Project

Lee B. Golden III

The next and virtual EFM is set to launch on March 1, wherein you can expect tons of news on film development and acquisitions to arise. Nilalang and Maria director Pedring Lopez will especially be on hand for his own projects, including one that will finally see Indonesian action stalwarts Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian of The Raid franchise and John Wick 3 fame, together on set once more. Lopez took to social media on Wednesday to celebrate, although official title and any and all details about the project are currently under wraps until the announcements are made via EFM and trade news reports. “I’ve been working on this project in secret for a while, even during the pandemic.” Lopez tells Film Combat Syndicate. “You know what it is with Cecep and Yayan [laughs], but what they’re planning is brutal and bloody!” Rahman and Ruhian (also in tow for […]

Will Yun Lee Developing Martial Arts Drama LIONS IN THE GARDEN, Crime Series OVER THE SHOULDER For Newly Launched Seoul Street

Lee B. Golden III

The Good Doctor and Altered Carbon actor Will Yun Lee is paving the way to launch two new endeavors to inaugurate newly formed production outfit Seoul Street, with Wonder Street partners Christine Holder and Mike Holder, according to Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. Going forward, Lee will pen the script for period martial arts drama feature Lions In The Garden, with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Cortney Norris (Hightown). Kalogridis is joining Seoul Street in producing the pic, based on the true story of one of the first all-Black fighting martial arts teams of the 1960s and 70s which navigated the racial and systemic injustices of Southeast Washington DC, and became one of the dominate forces in the martial arts circuit led by Lee’s father, Taekwondo Grandmaster Soo Woong Lee. “The history of Koreans and Blacks has never been good, and there has been this mutual fear of each other,” Will […]

PicsArt_02-05-04.18.24.jpg

FAST & LOOSE: Will Smith Toplines David Leitch Crime Drama Now Shopping To Major Studios

Lee B. Golden III

Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 helmer David Leitch will direct actor Will Smith in Fast & Loose, a crime drama currently being auctioned among studios and streamers. The move comes following a decision to shop the film around in the months since its initial development at STXfilms last April from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber (The Meg, Red, Red 2), no star, and with Leitch attached only as producer at the time news broke. After the leader of an upper-echelon criminal organization suffers memory loss from an attack, he reunites with his crew, only to find that things aren’t what he thinks they are. When John Riley (Smith) wakes up in Tijuana after being left for dead with absolutely no memory, he follows a string of clues to uncover his identity discovering he’s been living two different lives: one, as a super-successful crime kingpin, surrounded by beautiful women, […]

Chloé Zhao Primed For A Futuristic Sci-Fi Western Take On DRACULA At Universal

Lee B. Golden III

Chloé Zhao will take on Universal’s monster library with her own incarnation of Dracula, according to THR‘s exclusive on Thursday. Borys Kit writes, in part: Details are being kept in the coffin, but Zhao’s version is described as an original, futuristic, sci-fi Western. Themes of being on society’s fringes, something Zhao has tackled in her previous work, will course through the project’s veins. Zhao is best known for her recent work on Nomadland which earned four Golden Globe nominations, as well as Venice’s Golden Lion and the People’s Choice Award in Toronto last year – firsts, at that, and just a few among other awards in the past year. The move comes as part of Universal’s strive to boost its monster franchises having since recovered with Upgrade director Leigh Whannell’s pulsating horror revisal, The Invisible Man, which is currently streaming on HBO Max. “Chloé’s singular lens shines a light on […]

PLANET PRINCE 2021: Minoru Kawasaki To Reboot Toei’s 1958 Tokusatsu Classic

Lee B. Golden III

Classic alien superhero IP Planet Prince is getting a feature film reboot according to Sci-Fi Japan. Planet Prince 2021 is the current title for which Minoru Kawasaki, who is no stranger to out-of-this-world creature lore and zany monster spectacle with films like The World Sinks Except Japan, The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, Monster Seafood Wars and Daikaiju Mono, has been tapped to direct. Kawasaki is also penning the script with Akihiko Kikawa, based on an original screenplay by late auteur Masaru Igami whose DNA with the franchise stretches as far back as the Planet Prince films, in addition to working on the Ultraman and Kamen Rider franchises to name a few. The film is billed as a revisal of Toei company’s classic black-and-white Showa-era Nippon Gendai and Senkosha-produced tokusatsu series which lasted 49 episodes for its run from 1958 and onward; The show was created fittingly […]

LEGEND OF DARK RIDER Pitch Trailer Rides Online, Sword In Hand And Ready For Battle

Lee B. Golden III

For almost twenty years at present, filmmaker Titus Paar (The Perfect Weapon) has been minding the production of what he billed back in a 2017 interview with The Movie Elite as “a Barbarian, Dark, Fantasy in Swedish snow-landscape”. A piece of that vision finally began taking shape around 2012 when Paar took initiative to craft what would become his multi-award winning 2016 shortfilm, Legend Of Dark Rider: The Beginning. At twenty minutes, the short is currently available on YouTube as of this report, and since then, Paar has been using the momentum to try and acquire funding for Legend Of Dark Rider, a process that likely had its stops and starts with at least one webpage revealing a 2018 release. Thankfully this hasn’t at all deterred Paar from moving forward, just as he did last year putting together a pitch trailer which is now online as of Wednesday, with a […]

Ryoo Seung-Wan To Shoot SMUGGLING In Summer 2021

Lee B. Golden III

When Ryoo Seung-wan isn’t acting, he’s purely in his element where the director’s chair is, as he will be reportedly come this summer. Plot details are super thin as of late as reports arise for Smuggling, the current title of director Ryoo Seung-wan’s newest thriller set to roll cameras in June of 2021, according to a Star News exclusive. The film is now circling actresses Kim Hye-soo (The Day I Died: Unclosed Case) and Yum Jung-ah (Another Child) to star, a move that signals what will be Ryoo’s first film with a female-fronted cast since the 2002 pic, No Blood, No Tears. Ryoo, best known for helming martial arts romp, Arahan, period thriller Battleship Island, and crime actioners City Of Violence and Veteran, is currently in post-production with ripped-from-the-headlines diplomacy thriller, Escape From Mogadishu starring Kim Yoon-seok (1987: When The Day Comes), Zo In-sung (The Great Battle) and Huh Joon-ho […]

Screenshot_20201223-160221_Samsung Internet.jpg

BARBARIC: ‘Exiled: The Chosen Ones’ Director Segues Into Psych Horror Thriller For Early 2021 Shoot [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Pre-production will officially begin next week when Ranjeet S. Marwa and Djonny Chen reteam for psychological horror thriller, Barbaric. Marwa has written and will direct, in addition to producing via his Rocket Sky High Motion Pictures Ltd banner next to Chen’s Silent D Pictures. Here’s the official logline: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. When an innocent young woman is drugged and violently raped at a party, the accused believe they have gotten away with their sins. What they fail to realize is that when a person is completely broken, absolutely torn down to the core, they are incapable of being the same person ever again. The accused soon find out what it means to be accused and pay for their sins. Not even God can help them when the young woman disguises herself to be raped once more, this time she appears as a young innocent girl, […]