THE MERCILESS Sets Up English Remake Plans With France’s Pathé And Vendôme
Lead pic: Fantastic Fest
In-Development
UNDISPUTED To Continue Boyka’s Story On Television, Production Begins Next Year
The award-winning Undisputed franchise is coming to television as of Thursday’s exclusive out of Cannes from Alex Ritman at THR. The martial arts action franchise is currently selling at the market for London-based Empire Films, the company now behind its small-screen reboot alongside Millenium Films. Walter Hill’s inaugural 2002 film, Undisputed, had Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames starring as Munroe Hutchen and George Chambers, boxing champions in their own worlds who find themselves rivaling behind bars. Though the film bombed, further franchise fruition grew under the auspices of Nu Image and Millenium Films with famed action director Isaac Florentine taking the mantle for the next two installments, Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing and Undisputed 3: Redemption. Actor and martial arts star Michael Jai White took on the Chambers role opposite Scott Adkins for part two, segueing from the original film’s boxing millieu into a more popular and suited MMA format. […]
KUNG FURY 2: THE MOVIE Knuckles-Up For A July Production Start
Production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie will go forward on July 29 in Germany and Bulgaria according to The Hollywood Reporter. Creasun Media’s L.A.-based financing and production arm, Creasun Entertainment USA will provide major investment on the film in time for production four years after the explosively successful crowdfunded production of Swedish filmmaker David Sanberg’s superbly-received OTT half-hour fantasy short. The project saw Sandberg in the role of a Los Angeles cop who, following the death of his partner at the hands of a ninja, became the titular kung fu longfist of the law after being hit by lighting and bitten by a cobra. The adventure continued with our hero accidentally landing in the Viking ages after trying to use Hackerman’s rad time-traveling machine to travel back to Nazi Germany and kill time-hopping murderer, Adolf Hitler, once and for all. Sandberg’s Kung Fury garned upwards of 40 million views […]
THE MAGIC ORDER Conjures Live-Action Netflix Series Development
It’s a good week if you’ve had your eye on James Wan as word now has it that he’ll be joining efforts to adapt Mark Millar’s The Magic Order for Netflix series development, executive producing with Lindsey Beer. We live in a world where we’ve never seen a monster and these people are the reason we sleep safely in our beds. Magic meets the mob in The Magic Order, as five families of magicians sworn to protect our world for generations must battle an enemy who’s picking them off one by one. By day they live among us as our neighbors, friends and co-workers, but by night they are the sorcerers, magicians and wizards that protect us from the forces of darkness…unless the darkness gets them first. Wan also will direct the debut episode with Beer serving as writer/showrunner. The move comes several years since Millar began spending a great […]
DEN OF THIEVES: PANTERA To Shoot Later This Year
At long last, director Christian Gudegast’s highly anticipated Den Of Thieves sequel has an official with Den Of Thieves: Pantera, currently making the sales rounds at Cannes for eOne’s Sierra/Affinity. The sequel was announced last February in the weeks that followed the first film’s January rollout from STXfilms, firstly developing in 2003 between a few studios. Den Of Thieves overperformed up to $57 million dollars by its third week and ultimately grossed upwards of $80 million dollars by the end of its run. That film saw a sprawling battle of words, wits and bullets amid high drama and suspense with Butler playing Big Nick O’Brien, a Los Angeles detective who despite his unraveling personal life is bent on nabbing a gang of vicious bankrobbers hiding in plain sight led by Marine veteran-turned-career criminal Ray Merrimen, played by Pablo Schrieber. O’Shea Jackson Jr. also headlined the cast as Donnie Wilson, a […]
ATLAS COMICS: Steven Paul, Weed Road Partner To Mine Bygone Superhero Banner For Paramount
A new comic book universe is potentially on the horizon with the trades all reporting that Steven Paul acquired a majority stake in Atlas Comics. Paul’s SP Media Group will finance, co-produce and with Paramount Pictures in a first look development and distribution deal with Paramount Pictures announced out of Cannes on Thursday, along with word that the Ghost In The Shell producer has tapped Akiva Goldsman to oversee a writers’ room through his Weed Road Pictures banner. Paul reportedly acquired the stake from owner Nemesis Group and principal Jason Goodman, in a deal that took years to iron out according to Variety. Goodman’s grandfather, Martin Goodman, firstly founded Timely Publications in 1939 whose Atlas Comics emerged in 1950. Then-Atlas creative hive member Stan Lieber (a.k.a. Stan Lee) was promoted to editor for Marvel Comics a few years after Atlas went defunct; Goodman and son Charles attempted to relaunch Atlas […]
SYLVIA: ‘Closer’ Duo To Tackle Mossad Agent Story With WestEnd’s WeLove
If you enjoyed the latest actress/director pairing on Netflix for Vicky Jewson’s Closer featuring Noomi Rapace, fret not. The two will be back together for Sylvia, which Jewson will pen with Close writer Rupert Whitaker tackling the 2010 biography, “Sylvia Rafael: The Life and Death of a Mossad Spy”, from author duo Ram Oren and Rafael’s former trainer, ex-Mossad agent Moti Kfir. Sylvia is based on the life of the Mossad’s most famous female agent, Sylvia Raphael Schjødt, following her rise to prominence within the Mossad and her intelligence work locating Ali Hassan Salameh — the leader of Palestine’s Black September organisation and the figure behind the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. This mission would eventually lead to her involvement in the infamous Lillehammer affair. As Variety‘s Stewart Clarke reports, the “Lillehammer affair”, bookmarks the incident involving the death of an innocent Moroccan mistakenly […]
ASSASSIN’S CLUB In Development For ‘Lockout’ Co-Helmer
Assassin’s Club reads like one heck of a name we’re getting for an action title hailing from the latest deal inked between Film Bridge International and Dublin-based Merlin Films. Steve Saint Leger, credited for TV series Vikings and co-directing James Mather’s Guy Pearce thriller, Lockout, has boarded the project to direct MORGAN GAINES is the world’s most elite assassin. While on the final mission of his career, he suddenly finds himself fighting for his own life when another mystery assassin targets him. He soon discovers that several of the world’s top assassins—including himself—have all been contracted to kill each other in a deadly game orchestrated by an unknown mastermind. Morgan races to pick off the other assassins, and he must defend not only his own life, but also the lives of those he holds most dear: his girlfriend SOPHIE and their unborn child. Merlin’s Kieran Corrigan and Film Bridge founder […]
BOKURANO: Kitoh Mohiro’s Hit Sci-Fi Mecha Tale To Get The Live-Action TV Treatment With ‘The 100’ Writer
There are a few good friends I have to thank for getting me active into anime consumption in the last few years; It was in 2016 when Kimmy, a Hollywood stuntwoman, put me onto an anime titled Bokurano, the coming-of-sage sci-fi epic about a group of fifteen unwitting teenagers contractually swindled by a so-called “game designer” into test-playing a unique new video game. As the story goes, that game turned out to be in the form of Zearth, a giant black mecha they would each take turns piloting against hordes of monsters that would attack Earth. Here, with the consultation of a floating creature named Koyemshi, each battle would be fought using Zearth, which not only operates on life force, but also asserts the cost of victory would be the pilot’s death following each insane battle. The 2007 anime arose from Kitoh Mohiro’s 2003 manga publication, and includes what remains […]
MORTAL KOMBAT: Pre-Production To Commence This Month In South Australia
Patrick Frater over at Variety is confirming the start of pre-production this month in Australia for award-winning commercial director Simon McQuoid‘s long-awaited adaptation of the hit game franchse, Mortal Kombat. According to the report, Steven Marshall, premier of South Australia confirmed the news in a press post alongside David Pisoni, South Australia’s minister for innovation and skills, and production consultan former Village Roadshow executive Greg Basser (The Whistleblower, Passengers). Greg Russo (The Highwaymen) penned the script which takes its cues from the hit game about a select handful of warriors competing in an epic tournanent for the fate of mankind against a ruthless warlord. Cast, crew and official story details remain pending apart from what’s been circulating the Twitterverse as there have also been tons of rumors and speculative reports on what could arise from this particular reboot – including rumors that this film was dead in the water. The […]
VIOLENCE OF ACTION Casts Chris Pine For Fall Action Thriller Shoot
The title itself is as apt for an action thriller feature as one could be with actor Chris Pine’s newest role in Violence Of Action. Heading to Cannes for sales courtesy of STXinternational with CAA Media Finance repping the U.S., cameras roll this Fall with The Nile Hilton Incident helmer Tarik Saleh directing from J.P. Davis. According to Brian Welk at The Wrap, Pine plays ex-marine James Reed, discharged unwillingly and resolved to join a paramilitary organization to support his family. On a mission in Poland with an elite black ops unit, Reed soon finds himself betrayed, alone and marked for death and must fight to survive along enough to uncover the conspiracy that now threatens his chances of getting home. STXinternational will release the film in the UK and Ireland. The Outlaw King and Star Trek trilogy star will next be seen following up his performance in Patty Jenkins’s […]
Argent To Rev Up Olympic Coming-Of-Age Boxing Doc, THEY FIGHT, As Narrative Feature
Fox Sports’ boxing doc, They Fight, is well on the way to a narrative feature adaptation according to Deadline‘s Andreas Wiseman. Argent Pictures’ Jill and Ryan Ahrens, and Ben Renzo, and Jason Michael Berman of Mandalay Pictures are producing the new movie inspired by Andrew Renzi’s 2017 doc and Michael Minahan’s 2016 WaPo article on which its based. Renzi is penning the screenplay for the new feature which, like Renzi’s They Fight, will center on a group of adolescent boxers and their formerly incarcerated coach in Southeast Washington DC on the road to defend their national titles – according to Wiseman. Argent’s own Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, and retirees – NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks, and NBA all-star Michael Finley will serve as exec producers. Producer Ryan Ahrens said, “We really felt compelled to make a bigger cinematic […]
CLIFFHANGER: Sales Art Reveals ‘The Bad Batch’ Director’s Remake Plans For 1993 Action Classic
Filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour could be on the way to directing a female fronted version of Renny Harlin’s 1993 action blockbuster, Cliffhanger, after spending a year preparing for the project. Indeed, the buzz is real including over at Deadline which also has fresh key art front and center as it will show once it hits the sales floor next week at Cannes. Check it out below! The original film had actor Sylvester Stallone leaping far and hitting hard as a mountain ranger forced to go toe-to-toe with a gang of mercenaries over a stash of $100 million dollars in missing cash. The film also starred Michael Rooker and John Lithgow and earned upwards of $255 million dollars upon releasing from TriStar, and reportedly tried/failed to undergo remakes and reboots thereafter. Amirpour reportedly spent a year in preparation, and also took a ten-day hiking tour in the French, Swiss and Italian […]
LONG GONE HEROES: Guy Pearce And Ben Kingsley Headline Santiago Manes Moreno’s Directing Debut
Santiago Manes Moreno has reportedly set a feature directing debut with DDI repping international sales this month at Cannes. Long Gone Heroes in the name and has Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley set to star about a discouraged ex-military operative hunted by former comrades while on a mission to track down a reporter in a combat zone who’s found herself embroiled in a political conspiracy. Moreno penned the project and will produce through 7One7 Films with Ines Mongil-Echandi and Noli Mollakuqe. Also producing are Jason Moring, Stanley Preschutti and Mark Padilla of Double Dutch International (DDI) with Jay Fragus serving as exec producer. (THR)
TAU CETI 4: McTiernan Lines Up Thurman, Fimmel For Intergalactic Action Sci-Fi
Notable blockbuster director John McTiernan may finally get back into his element this year rounding up new sci-fi in Tau Ceti 4. This might find itself retitled to something more commericially viable unless he finds a way to make Tau Ceti 4 work, but that’s the title he and his current company at IMR are going with as Cannes sales approaches next week. Set to star Uma Thurman (Kill Bill saga) and Travis Fimmel (Vikings, Warcraft), Tau Ceti 4 is the titular planet of the Tau Ceti solar system – it’s a war-torn planet where three heavily-armed strangers have landed with the goal of targeting and killing off all the various oligarchs and militant terrorists. McTiernan, best known for delivering 80s and 90s hallmark action cinema glory with Die Hard and Predator, penned the script and will produce with Thurman, and with Gail Sistrunk and Anthony Katagas. CAA and Paradigm […]
Dystopian Sci-Fi NUMBER 13, Monster Hunt Epic BITTER ROOT Outline Feature Film Agenda From Big Machine
These two updates flew under the radar for me in the last few months but it’s worth taking a look at what’s arisen from Burbank-based Big Machine. The company is currently associated with several parties on at least two forthcoming adaptations of exciting comic book and sci-fi properties, first of which dates back to a Geoff Boucher’s Deadline exclusive back in March for 2018 Image Comics publication, Bitter Root. In the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance is in full swing, and only the Sangerye Family can save New York—and the world—from the supernatural forces threatening to destroy humanity. But the once-great family of monster hunters has been torn apart by tragedies and conflicting moral codes. The Sangerye Family must heal the wounds of the past and move beyond their differences… or sit back and watch a force of unimaginable evil ravage the human race. Legendary Pictures reportedly acquired the project for […]
THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL: Don Lee To Star In Sylvester Stallone’s Remake Of The Upcoming Korean Crime Thriller
Serial killer thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil is only a week from its South Korean release with actor Don Lee – billed locally as Ma Dong-Seok – starring in a key role. Nevertheless, that’s not putting the breaks on the film’s prospects anytime soon it seems as word now brings us news of its upcoming remake thanks to Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and BA Entertainment. According to THR‘s Lee Hyo-won, Stallone will direct the film reinterpreting director Lee Won-Tae’s original which stars Lee as a gangster who, after becoming the sole survivor among a raft of murdered crimebosses, reluctantly pairs up with a dogmatic cop who despises gangsters, to take the serial killer down. BA produced the film starring Lee along with Forgotten star Kim Moo-Yul who plays the cop opposite the titular ‘Devil’ serial killer portrayed by Kim Seong-Gyu. The film lends to actor Lee’s credit having […]
MASTER Z: IP MAN LEGACY To Continue With A Sequel
A sequel to Yuen Woo-Ping’s Master Z: Ip Man Legacy, is reportedly in the works according to the latest observations of the operator of Twitter handle, @AsianFilmStrike. Supposedly, the sequel’s budget will be substantially less than half that of the first film which stood at around $28 million; The film’s current global box office gross stands around $20 million according to Box Office Mojo. Also featuring Michelle Yeoh and co-star/exec producer Dave Bautista with guest star Tony Jaa, Master Z: Ip Man Legacy headlines actor Max Zhang in spin-off capacity following up his pivotal character opposite Donnie Yen in the Wilson Yip’s thrice-over hit folkloric franchise take on iconic Wing Chun grandmaster, Ip Man, which is soon due for a fourth outing in July. Zhang will reportedly reprise the title Master Z role while it is yet be confirmed if Yuen will return to the helm. Zhang will soon return […]
RISE OF THE LAST DRAGON Reignites The Glow For Hopeful New ‘Fanimated’ Series
It was in 2008 when /Film’s Peter Sciretta followed up from a now-deleted THR post over plans from Columbia Pictures to remake The Last Dragon with Samuel L. Jackson carrying the torch from the late Julius Carry as notorious kung fu supervillain, Sho’Nuff. That report stood as one among any number of rumors since then and I can assure you this: bring this subject up with any genre fan with a serious conversational approach and you’re more likely to get dunked on and told by your peers to kiss their sneakers before long. That’s the tone of the fandom these days. 34 years after the film’s release starring Taimak and also-late actress and singer Vanity, Michael Schultz’s low-budget cinematic labor, made and allocated at the lasting height of popularity in all of kung fu cinema, remains aged amply well and celebrated to this day. That’s not to say that the […]
THE RAID: Carnahan Confirms Grillo, Character And Plot Details
Collider reports with confirmation that actor Frank Grillo (Donnybrook, Beyond Skyline) will star in director Joe Carnahan‘s upcoming redo of Gareth Huw Evans’ 2011 crime hit, The Raid. It’s worth noting since the IMDb page for the project has seen the actor’s name come and go while development on the project remained underwraps for the last four years. The report also cites new and specific details on the role Grillo will play in leading the cast under the stewardship of WarParty Films where he also produces the film next to filmmaker Joe Carnahan who will direct the movie. “You meet Frank’s character having just rotated back from a really, really, brutal special forces operation.” says Carnahan. “He’s got soft tissue damage in his hands, and his rotator cuff is blown out, and they take fluid off his knees, and the doctors basically tell him, ‘Listen you’re at the razor’s edge […]
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