In-Development

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ONE PUNCH MAN Lands At Sony Pictures With Venom Scribes Adapting The Hit Manga Franchise

It was just a little over four years ago that Viz Media, LLC ponied up its catalogue, partnering with UTA to develop its manga and anime content into live action formats. ONE and Yusuke Murata’s One Punch Man became part of the line up and as it turns out, those propsects now home to Sony Pictures Sony according to Variety. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinker (Venom) are adapting the property with Avi and Ari Arad producing. One Punch Man centers on Saitama, an unassuming young man who decides to become a hero for fun, joining the Hero Association to help defend Earth from an onslaught of monsters. His superior strength and seeming indestructibility, however, are his biggest downfall whenever he confronts enemies, as it only takes a single punch to defeat them. For Saitama, being a hero becomes more of a bore than anything, thus begging the question: Can a […]

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES: Lionsgate Brings ‘The Hunger Games’ Team Back For Prequel Development

Lee B. Golden III

Lionsgate is moving forward with an adaptation of “The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes”, as announced by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman, Joe Drake on Tuesday. Author Suzanne Collins penned the novel which is set prior to the events of her hit book series, The Hunger Games, which launched in 2008 and became a three-billion dollar success between four live-action films from 2012 through 2015. The film series also became a cornerstone for many a film franchise in service to audiences and fans around the world keen on young adult IPs, including Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and Veronica Roth’s Divergent. The prequel will focus on the role of 18 year old Coriolanus Snow, years before becoming the tyrannical President of Panem. He is handsome and charming, and though the Snow family has fallen on hard times, he sees a chance for a change in his fortunes when he is chosen to […]

Amasia’s THE GREEN HORNET AND KATO Revs Up At Universal

Lee B. Golden III

Four years since Paramount Pictures took the reins with Gavin O’Connor a likely prospect, LA-based Amasia Entertainment snagged the rights for a film all their own based on legendary pulp hero, The Green Hornet.That IP now has new life as Green Hornet and Kato, with word from the trades on Amasia’s newly-etched partnership with Universal Pictures. Both parties are reportedly eyeing a global franchise with Amasia’s Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo producing, currently in search of writers. George W. Trendle and Fran Striker first launched the character on radio in 1936 with actor Van Williams transitioning the character on screen by the 1960s – a playboy/media mogul and owner of The Daily Sentinel, Britt Reid. A wanted fugitive, he dons a trenchcoat and green mask as the gun-toting crimefighting alterego alongside his valet-turned-partner, Kato, debuted by then-burgeoning martial arts star, actor Bruce Lee. The new film marks the latest effort […]

Martial Club Confirms Team’s Feature Film Plans Are In Active Development

Lee B. Golden III

Martial Club is still proliferating their brand in the fields of martial arts, health and wellness, stunts and action cinema. To date, they’re still committed to their YouTube audience while working on their own endeavors, which no less includes their very own feature film. Team member Andy Le announced the project in November 2018, as a declaration to unilaterally grow and evolve toward making their own opportunities happen. “Martial arts action cinema was the platform that inspired me to do martial arts. And so we wanna create the same.” said Le at the time. Le says he is currently writing the project in the channel’s newest video. The team has been assembling their own content for their YouTube channel – including a Fist Of Fury-inspired short which he says is about a year or so overdue – while working on what Le says in the video were “opportunities that we […]

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ATOMIC BLONDE Sequel Gets Traction At Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

David Leitch‘s inaugural solo directing gig with 2017 Cold War spy pic, Atomic Blonde may at long last have a future if Thursday’s Discussing Film report is any hint. A follow-up is reportedly in development at Netflix with actress Charlize Theron expected to reprise her role as Lorraine Broughton, an elite MI6 agent who, in the first film, debriefs her superiors on her deadly assignment in 1989 to retrive a dossier in Berlin, containing a list of double agents. That film is based on 2012 graphic novel, “The Coldest City”. Kelly McCormick (Deadpool 2, Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw) is expected to continue onward from the original film as producer, alongside Theron who will produce at Denver And Delilah Productions with Beth Kono. Leitch and Theron previously expressed interest in a sequel prior to the 87eleven co-founder and John Wick co-director’s announcement of its development with an unnamed […]

RED: ‘Express Delivery’ And ‘The Take Down’ Creators Team Up For Action Thriller Proof Of Concept

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Beau Fowler is still in the mix these days, just completed his newest short film proof of concept, Red (working title, subject to change) last weekend from Ki Films. The actor took to social media last week on Thursday to tease fans with a mystery image, revealing himself opposite actress Jennifer Lim (A Monster Calls) in an intense scene. Fowler wrote the proof late last year and began a collaborative development soon with filmmaker David Newton (Wrath Of God, The Last), constructing a short story to serve as preamble to a hopeful feature-length endeavor later down the line. Plot details are underwraps though, but I am told the project is described as “an emotionally driven action thriller set in the world of organ harvesting”. Red rejoins Fowler with Newton, himself an industry stunt performer, independent filmmaker who made the festival rounds in 2018 with his feature debut, Amber – […]

BLOOD RUSH: ‘The Night Comes For Us’ Director Boards Ranjeet Marwa’s Indo Action Thriller As Consultant [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Director Timo Tjahjanto is officially coming aboard as production consultant on Ranjeet S. Marwa’s latest thriller, Blood Rush. The move reunites between Tjahjanto, and his Headshot and The Night Comes For Us actors Zack Lee and Sunny Pang, who have since joined the cast since the film’s announcement at the top of the year. Pic hails from Rocket Sky High Motion Pictures Ltd. Marwa will direct from his own script which centers on Lee in the role of Max Wayan, a grieving widower whose secretive new life in the occult turns out to be more than he bargained for. Also joining the cast are actors Yayan Ruhian (The Raid franchise, Hit & Run), and Nathan Jones (Jet Li’s Fearless, Mad Max: Fury Road), and stunt performer/action actor Nick Khan (Aladdin, Invincible) who also serves as fight choreographer. In addition, actor Nicholas Vince (Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II) is currently in talks […]

AMERICAN RONIN: Newcomer James Moten Black Developing Original Urban Samurai Action Drama [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and indepedent creator, newcomer James Moten Black is working to develop American Ronin, an original project that will firstly shoot a conceptual proof trailer to help gain attention from potential investors. Plot details and specifics about the film are pending, though it’s described as a contemporary martial arts piece cosigning his love for classic jidaigeki cinema and anime. Black is an accomplished martial artist since the age of eleven; He trained in Tang Soo Do under now-Grandmaster Linda Denley (Armor Of God), studied Muay Thai and scored a win in the competitive arena in sparring and forms. He moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue acting, joining the Breakin’ Through Acting Workshop headed by actor and founding instructor Choice Skinner, and eventually picked up on Iaido and Kenjutsu under Skinner’s tutelage, next to learning visual effects compositing. The two have since flourished in their creative partnership, most prolifically […]

CROSSFIRE: Sony Targets Live-Action Adaptation Of Popular First-Person Shooter With Smilegate

Lee B. Golden III

Trade sources have reported and confirmed announcements from Smilegate with word on a new live-action film adaptation in development for first-person shooter, Crossfire. The South Korean game developer will partner with Sony Pictures with Tencent Pictures co-producing and co-finance the project. The move into feature film territory with Sony marks the latest update in a previous deal made between Smilegate and Fast saga producer Neal Moritz’s Original Film. Chuck Hogan (13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi) has long since been attached to the script in its development stages with Smilegate dating back to 2017. “I am very excited to prove the wonder of CROSSFIRE IP to the world through a Hollywood major motion picture with a great partner Sony Pictures,” says Smilegate’s EVP of Marketing/IP Business Development, Paek Min-jung. “Creating and spreading a household IP has always been Smilegate’s direction and goal. We have discussed and prepared the movie […]

VIGILANTE: Action Pic In-Development From ‘Jarhead 3’ Director, Scott Adkins In Talks To Star

Lee B. Golden III

Avengement star Scott Adkins is reportedly circling a chance to reteam with director William Kaufman for action thriller, Vigilante, according to news broken at City On Fire on Friday. The film also reunites Kaufman with screenwriter Chad Law who penned the director’s 2015 dystopian zombie thriller, Daylight’s End, as well as Adkins’s Isaac Florentine actioner, Close Range. Law is co-penning the script with Josh Ridgeway, and with Andrea de Liberato (Among The Shadows) producing. Vigilante centers on a disgraced soldier who wages war against the city’s most dangerous criminals, only to end up endangering the lives of the very same people he initially set out to help protect. Kaufman and Adkins last paired up for 2016 threequel, Jarhead 3: The Siege. A seperately-gestating reboot of Kaufman’s stellar 2010 crime pic, Sinners And Saints, which the two circled with actor Johnny Strong back in 2017, still waits in the wings. Vigilante […]

THE HUNT: SAVAGE WITHIN Brings Back Z-Team Films For New Indie Sci-Fi Action Feature [Exclusive]

Lee B. Golden III

Actor, martial artist and filmmaker Fabien Garcia is developing female-centric sci-fi pic, The Hunt: Savage Within. The project has been ongoing for some years now, and also now comes with conceptual imagery and artwork that I’ve been allowed to share which you can view at the bottom of this article. Story and plot details center on the role of Sarah, a forest ranger who finds herself hunted by an extraterrestrial being until a band of spec-ops soldiers arrive to her aid while investigating the crash site of the entity’s spaceship. The film is being billed as a gritty action feature likened to a mix of classic cult thrillers such as Predator, Terminator and The Thing. Garcia is shepherding pre-production under his Z-Team Films banner with Laurent Buson (Merantau), and Christine Gorchon. The label is an upscale rebranding of his former Z-Team label which emerged in 2003 with Buson as both […]

ONE PIECE Manga Lands Ten-Episode Live-Action Series At Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

A ten-episode live-action rendition of One Piece found a new home at Netflix on Wednesday according to trade news and a press announcement from the streamer. The news comes following word that broke in July of 2017 that a live-action series was in the works from Shueisha, and Marty Adelstein’s Tomorrow Studios, the same company involved with the current serial production of Cowboy Bebop – also for the streamer. A multitude of adventures outline One Piece which took off as a hit manga beginning in 1997. The franchise expanded itself greatly into television and original video animes with its story centered on Monkey D. Luffy and his epic, action-packed and sprawling quest to find said ‘piece’ and claim the title of “King Of The Pirates”. The manga has sold over 460 million copies in its nearing 23-year history, birthed from author/creator Eiichiro Oda who took to Twitter for a statement […]

XTREMO: ‘Full-On’ Spanish Action Movie Movies Forward At Netflix With ‘Tracers’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Following his parkour exploits on Taylor Lautner crime thriller, Tracers, director Daniel Benmayor is at the helm for Xtremo for Netflix, per reports on Wednesday from Variety‘s John Hopewell and Jamie Lang. Xtremo will star Oscar Jaenada (Luis Miguel, Hernán), as well as action specialist Teo García who penned the story with Genaro Rodridguez, and with a script by Iván Ledesma. The film picks up two years after protagonist Max’s brother Lucero betrayed their family, killing Max’s father and son and leaving Max for dead. Now, hungry for revenge, Max begins a checklist-style spree of revenge killings after Lucerno’s hitmen mercilessly kill the family of Leo, Max’s new teenaged protégé. Xtremo is described as a breakout for Spain’s market following the local successes of Netflix releases like Ryan Reynolds thriller 6 Underground, crime series Money Heist and action drama Triple Frontier. The film is billed as a full-on Spanish action […]

TALITHA KUM: International Ass-Kicking Kung Fu Nuns Tackle Sex Trafficking In A New Epic Martial Arts Series

Lee B. Golden III

Variety’s John Hopewell brings word of a new Spanish action series now forthcoming in Talitha Kum. Marialy Rivas (Young & Wild) is directing the action drama from a script by Chilean playwright Manuela Infante (Invisible Heroes), and writers Enrique Videla (The Pack, Dignity, HBO’s Profugos). Talitha Kum culminates around a global covert organization of ass-kicking kung fu nuns who train in the confines of Convent of Sisters of Charity, before applying their deadly skills against Mexico’s most feared gangs to help free young girls from sex trafficking. Our story is set in Tenanchingo, Tlaxcala, South-East Mexico, where Magdalena, a young cloistered nun with fierce martial arts prowess, receives the call to infiltrate the criminal underworld of sex slavery just as war breaks out between rival gangs. As the rest of Hopewell’s report elucidates on Magdalena, though she’s “One hell of a bad ass when it comes to martial arts, Magdalena […]

BLOOD RUSH: ‘The Night Comes For Us’, ‘Headshot’, ‘John Wick 3’ Stars Reunite For Upcoming Indonesian Action Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Director Ranjeet S. Marwa is ready to take the mantle to keep Indonesian action cinema relevant with Blood Rush. As City On Fire recently brought to light, he’s brought on Headshot cohorts Zack Lee and Singaporean actor Sunny Pang, and action sensation Yayan Ruhian to lead his cast. Marwa will direct from his own script starring Lee in the role of Max, a widower who, after witnessing the death of his wife and child sets out to rebuild himself in a secretive cult underworld. The sect he’s since dedicated his life to decides they don’t want him to rest, and he’ll soon be forced to take stand against his former “family”, as well as himself. “If you loved THE RAID, if you loved JOHN WICK then you’ll LOVE our next film titled BLOOD RUSH.” said Marwa in a statment on social media on Tuesday. “Our film stars all of those […]

CRIME CITY: New Roger Corman Pic Now In Pre-Production

Lee B. Golden III

Celebrated B-movie producer Roger Corman is heading to the Bahamas for Crime City, which is currently in pre-production. Corman himself spoke about the project in a new interview at Variety in which he “cheerfully describes as a return to his B-movie roots”. There are no plot details and specifics as of yet, except Corman himself confirms the film will take place in the Bahamas in the wake of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Dorian late last summer. “I found a cameraman who had flown a drone over the areas that were hit hardest. I looked at his footage and I thought, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’ I mean, the devastation goes on and on and on.” says Corman. Corman goes on to say he licensed the footage and hired the same cameraman to use ground shots, and will look toward March to start filming before the government clears […]

POWER RANGERS Reboot Lands At Paramount, Allspark

Lee B. Golden III

I didn’t have huge expectations for Dave Green’s 2017 take on Power Rangers from Lionsgate, but I did have hopes. I reckon others did too, and mainly since took a liking to the edgier teenage appeal to the classic Ameritoku series in its return to the big screen. It did take me a bit to get used to Alpha 5’s new look, though as far as creative liberties go in Hollywood, it could’ve been way worse. The end definitely had me gripped a bit as well, hoping for a sequel that would’ve potentially introduced the Green Ranger in some form or another. Flash forward two years later and obviously that never came to pass. The cast moved onto other projects and despite falling short of any hopeful box office success, Hasbro still found potential in the property enough to acquire Saban’s Power Rangers last May, among other properties under Saban […]

ONMYOJI: Supernatural Period Thriller Adaptation In Development From ‘Tiny Times’ And ‘L.O.R.D.’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Author and novelist Guo Jingming (Tiny Times franchise), may have fallen short with his currently-stalled 2019 release of his two-part big screen epic, L.O.R.D.: Legend Of Ravaging Dynasties, but that’s not hindering him from moving forward with other projects. Chinese film magazine MTime has the latest bits of reporting on new developments for his own take on Onmyoji (a.k.a. The Yin Yang Master). Guo will develop the project at Hehe Pictures Corporation, ZUI Corporate and Thinkingdom Pictures. The story takes after period tales of Japanese legend as inspired by the work of author Baku Yumemakura, which focus on the the intrigue and danger that culminate with key focus on the spiritual advisors working in service of the Emperor to battle demons and negative energy. Yōjirō Takita directed two live action features based on the novels which starred Mansai Nomura and Hideaki Ito, and fellow Asian cinema favorite, Hiroyuki Sanada. The […]

BEST SERVED COLD: Ex-MMA Star Ann Osman Lands Feature Film Debut Role In Malaysian Supernatural Action-Noir

Lee B. Golden III

Sabah-based former MMA fighter Ann Osman will make her feature film debut in supernatural action-noir, Best Served Cold for writer/director Aaron Cowan. Singapore-based 108 Media reportedly secured the backing required to develop the project, which is inspired by Jill Girardi’s short story, “Don’t Eat The Rice”, as well as characters in her October 2018 Buku Fixi novel publication, “Hantu Macabre. As Patrick Frater at Variety reports, Osman will take on the role of “Suzanna Sim, an ex-MMA fighter turned private detective who uses her fists and her knowledge of Southeast Asian black magic, while working with a Malaysian mythical creature, to find a rich new client’s missing husband”. Osman, best known as Athena as she blazed a trail for female posterity in the sport of MMA in , announced her retirement from the ring last month, leaving a 5-4 Flyweight record in her wake since her career took off in […]

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THE FUGITIVE: ‘Alpha’ Director To Helm A ‘New Spin’ On The Classic Mystery Crime Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

It’s almost exciting to see that a property like The Fugitive still carries such viability that it’s now par for the course now with a total of three revivals – the latest coming from director Albert Hughes (Alpha, The Book Of Eli) according to Deadline. The Fugitive originally premiered on ABC TV in 1963 with actor David Janssen in the role of Richard Kimball, a physcian framed for the murder of his wife and forced on the run from the law in order to find her real killer. The series followed suit with Warner Bros. commercially successful 1993 theatrical adaptation of the series starring Harrison Ford, produced by Anne and Arnold Koepelson, and earning co-star Tommy Lee Jones, who played the dogged U.S. Marshal assigned to catch him, an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor on top of the film’s seven other nominations; Jones later reprised his role opposite Wesley Snipes […]