In-Development

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DEATH STRANDING: Kojima, Hammerhouse Developing Feature Film Adaptation Of Hit Game

Lee B. Golden III

Gaming auteur Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions is partnering with Barbarian executive producer Alex Lebovici’s Hammerstone Studios to develop and produce the highly anticipated film adaptation of the wildly popular and critically acclaimed hit videogame franchise Death Stranding. The news comes hot on the heels of announcing the tentatively-titled “Death Stranding 2” at The Game Awards. The plot is being kept under wraps but will introduce new elements and characters within the Death Stranding universe. It is on the fast track with development underway. The film marks a first for Kojima Productions whose Kojima will produce alongside Lebovici under his Hammerstone Studios banner, which is also fully financing. Kojima Productions US and Allan Ungar will executive produce. “I couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership with Hammerstone Studios,” said Kojima. “This is a pivotal moment for the franchise and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them in bringing DEATH […]

An edited version of the cover of 2022 video game God of War Ragnarok. Protagonists Kratos, on viewer's left, and Atreus, viewer right, stand in front of a snowy scene from ancient Norway, including unidentified ruined buildings.

GOD OF WAR Live-Action Series Announced for Prime Video

Edward Orndorff

Where does one begin when discussing a legendary gaming series such as God of War? It’s the epic tale of Kratos, a tortured Spartan warrior, hell-bent on revenge against the Greek deities that used and wronged him. Over the course of several games, he would eventually topple Mount Olympus’ pantheon and himself claim the title of God of War. The series would receive a universally acclaimed sequel/reboot in 2018 that would find it’s hero exiling himself to the Norse realm of Midgard. This game was recently followed up by the runaway success of God of War Ragnarok, winning Best Narrative, Best Action/Adventure and more at the Game Awards 2022, and selling over 5 million units in it’s launch week; the fastest selling first-party game in Playstation history. Naturally, Playstation Productions would follow this up with a bombshell announcement: they’ll be teaming up with Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios to […]

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MY HERO ACADEMIA: Shinsuke Sato’s Live-Action Feature Adaptation Lands At Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been about four years since Legendary Entertainment acquired the rights to adapt Kohei Horikoshi’s hit manga, My Hero Academia. The animated series from the studio, Bones, was in its fifth season, while the development of the movie up-ticked a bit with the attachment of filmmaker Shinsuke Sato to direct as of last year. Sato has since taken off with the release of his most recent manga adaptation, a sequel to 2019 Warring States epic, Kingdom, as of this summer, and a second season of his hit series, Alice In Borderland, opening later this month on Netlix. As for My Hero Academia, the film has since found its new launchpad at the streaming service with Sato directing from a script by Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Army of the Dead). Mary Parent and Alex Garcia are producing for Legendary with Sato exec producing. Toho Co., Ltd. will handle the film’s theatrical […]

Credit: Slocap

SIFU Is Getting A Live-Action Adaptation From ‘John Wick’ And ‘Nobody’ Writer Derek Kolstad

Lee B. Golden III

It may have been just a matter of time before Hollywood took notice of a video game like Sloclap’s latest hit, Sifu, but now we’re seeing the evolution of that potential surface this week in new reports detailing the development of a live-action adaptation now in the works. The game centers on a martial arts master’s quest for vengeance, with the help of a magical talisman that revives him whenever he’s fatally injured, aging him faster as a result. Sloclap is partnering with Story Kitchen on the project with a script to be written by none other than one of industry’s hottest names in screenwriting today, Derek Kolstad, best credited for penning most of the John Wick film saga, including its upcoming Peacock spin-off, “The Continental.” Kolstad, who is also credited with Ilya Naishuller’s Nobody which is expected to ramp up sequel production early next year if Marco Vido Oddo’s Collider […]

Bruce Lee Biopic Gets New Life At Sony Division, Ang Lee Tapped To Direct Son In The Lead Role

Lee B. Golden III

Media mogul Shannon Lee has been pursuing a biopic about her late father, actor and martial arts sensation Bruce Lee for years but now it looks like we have a solid footing over at Sony’s 3000 Pictures. What’s more is that celebrated Life Of Pi, Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee is on deck to direct the film with none other than his son, Mason Lee (The Hangover II, Who Killed Cock Robin?) attached to play the part of the screen legend. The film had been in the works as of 2015 for Bruce Lee’s daughter who launched Bruce Lee Enterprises a year prior. One project would have seen the then-titled “Little Dragon” with Shekaur Kapur at the helm as of its announcement back in 2017 which unfortunately never came to pass, while other screen incarnations of her father would materialize through George Nolfi’s Birth Of The […]

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WARRIORS OF FUTURE: Louis Koo Teases Animated Prequel Development

Lee B. Golden III

Netflix subscribers are only days away from the launch of Ng Yuen-Fai’s hit sci-fi action adventure thriller, Warriors Of Future, and its star is now on record teasing a prequel currently in the works. The film, which is set in a future dystopia where Hong Kong’s military forces uncover a conspiracy in the wake of mankind’s increasing devastation at the hands of alien plant life ravaging Earth, became a blockbuster hit in Hong Kong as of its August release, after seven years of extensive development and subsequent production with Louis Koo starring, as well as producing the pic out of his One Cool Film banner. “…We haven’t decided whether to create a sequel to Warriors of Future , but we will be making a prequel that sheds more light on the backstory of some characters,” said Koo to Netflix in an interview statement released on Tuesday. Further research also indicates […]

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ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Reimagining Lands ‘Ready Or Not’ Directors

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been close to fifteen years since efforts began to try and revamp John Carpenter’s 1981 classic, Escape From New York. Rights have been changing hands with different directors and stars circling the film and now the latest movement sees Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella – a.k.a. Radio Silence (Ready Or Not, Scream 2022) on board to direct the film for 20th Century Studios. The trio will produce the pic alongside The Picture Company’s own Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman. Carpenter, who directed the original featuring Kurt Russell as outlaw war hero Snake Plissken, forced to infiltrate the dystopian walled prison city of New York and rescue the U.S. President or face death from an explosive device in his neck, is exec producing the title whose rights in other territories outside of the U.S. will be handled by France’s Studiocanal. Read more at Deadline.

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New BULLITT Movie In The Works

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Bradley Cooper and director Stephen Spielberg are officially teaming up to revisit Bullitt, according to the trades on Thursday. While not a remake, it is reported to be a new idea centered on the character from the 1968 original film. As Justin Kroll’s Deadline exclusive notes, Cooper and Spielberg had been working on partnering together on something for years whether it was Cooper’s American Sniper which eventually went to Clint Eastwood to direct, or the actor’s latest own acting/directing endeavor, Maestro – about the life and times of Leonard Bernstein which bows on Netflix in 2023 – which Spielberg offered to Cooper after impressing him with his work on A Star Is Born (2018). Based on author Robert L. Fish’s 1962 paperback, “Mute Witness”, Bullitt featured Steve McQueen as no-nonsense cop Frank Bullitt, forced to go to town on the criminals who murdered his informant. I managed to finally […]

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S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR Is In Sequel Development!

Lee B. Golden III

It’s quite possibly some of the best news that everyone running a film blog should jump on, because it involves famed director S.S. Rajamouli, his newest hit action epic, RRR, and a possible sequel in the works. Rajamouli, who also directed hits like the two-part Prahbas-led Baahubali in 2015 and 2017, confirmed the film’s development while attending a screening of RRR in Chicago, as reported by The Film Stage‘s Jordan Raup and confirmed by Variety on Monday. “My father is the story writer for all my films. We discussed a bit about [RRR 2] and he’s working on the story,” said Rajamouli. The hit Telugu action adventure, rejoining Rajamouli with two actors from his previous works – NT Rama Rao Jr. (Yamadonga) and Ram Charan Teja (Magadheera) – was developed as a thought experiment by Rajamouli with a script that pits together two historical figures, Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju […]

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NIGHTSHADE: Neil Marshall, 108 Media Partner For Live-Action Supernatural Thriller Series

Lee B. Golden III

London/Singapore-based international content investment studio 108 Media will finance, co-develop, and produce the upcoming premium live-action supernatural action series, Nightshade. Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Hellboy, “Games of Thrones,” “Westworld,” “Timeless,” “Hannibal,” “Lost in Space,” “Constantine”) is teaming up with Simon Uttley, who conceptualized the world-building with Marshall. The two will serve as showrunners with Marshall directing the pilot, and are exec producing next to 108 Media’s Abhi Rastogi, Justin Deimen, and Rod Smith. Per the press announcement, Nightshade is set “in a bustling 18th century English port city visited by a diverse manner of international traders, rogues, and vagabonds. We meet our heroine – the half-English and half-Indian outcast Lizzie Monroe who transforms herself into a defiant masked outlaw avenger – Nightshade – to rescue her brother James from the treacherous underworld realm of The Veil, where werewolves, demons, warlocks, and evil creatures beyond our imagination reside, after he is slain […]

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SEESAW MONSTER Pairs Salma Hayek Pinault And Anne Hathaway For New Netflix Action Comedy

Lee B. Golden III

Salma Hayek Pinault is teaming up with Anne Hathaway for Seesaw Monster over at Netflix. The streamer announced on Tuesday that it acquired the rights to the book penned by Kotaro Isaka, the man behind the original work that inspired David Leitch’s Bullet Train adaptation over at Sony this summer. Hayek Pinault and Hathaway will star in, as well as produce the pic from a script by Olivia Milch. Details are being kept under wraps but it is said that Hathaway and Hayek Pinault will play “rivals forced to work together in an action comedy two-hander.” A director tentatively remains unnamed. Akiva Goldsman and Gregory Lessans are producing for Weed Road Pictures, as is Hayek Pinault for Ventanarosa Productions and Hathaway for Somewhere Pictures, along with Ryosuke Saegusa and Yuma Terada (Bullet Train) for CTB Inc. Exec producing are Jose Tamez, Siobhan Flynn for Ventanarosa Productions and Adam Shulman, Jonathan […]

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MSR Media Touts 35-Title Production Plan In The Caribbean Along With New Action Thriller From ‘Black Noise’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

MSR Media is announcing plans to shoot up to thirty-five films in five years in the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis. The news comes following a meeting this week with the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, and MSR Media whose Philippe Martinez produced several films in the region, including One Year Off, Assailant, A Week in Paradise, Christmas in the Caribbean and Us or Them. The latest project at the top of the list for Martinez and the company will be the action thriller Fast Sea, to be directed by Leigh Scott from a script he wrote with Sean Michael Argo, with cameras set to roll in January. The move will offset a campaign that will include hiring 150 people over the next four months and finalizing the purchase of a leading hotel in Basseterre, St. Kitts, which will create 100 new jobs […]

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WARRIORS OF FUTURE Lands On Netflix In December, Leads Chinese-Language Drama Slate

Lee B. Golden III

What began as a sizzling hot proof of concept seven years ago as “Virtus”, director Ng Yuen Fai’s hit sci-fi action adventure, Warriors Of Future, has been acquired by Netflix for a December 2 release. The film stars Louis Koo, whose One Cool Film production banner led the charge in developing the project since its early inception. The film also stars Sean Lau, Carina Lau and Philip Keung, and is set in the year 2055 when Hong Kong assembles a heavily armed military unit to combat the onslaught set by a fast-growing alien vine that purifies Earth’s barren atmosphere while killing everything in its path, unraveling a deadly conspiracy. The film had been circulating teasers and trailers for several years now while on the market trail while reportedly delayed from a 2019 release to allow time for post-production. The film opened the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival back in […]

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MSR Media Announces Production Slate Including THE ISLAND, BLACK NOISE And More

Lee B. Golden III

MSR Media Producer Philippe Martinez announced today four new films in the company’s film production line-up on Monday, firstly with The Island, directed by Shaun Paul Piccinino (The Lackey, American Fighter), and is currently in post-production. Based on an original story by Philippe Martinez, and scripted by Martinez and Michael Caissie (The Hangman starring Al Pacino), The Island recounts the story of an LAPD officer (Michael Jai White) who takes down drug traffickers with his wisecracking partner Phil (Jackson Rathbone) until his brother dies under mysterious circumstances. He returns to his island home, to seek answers and ultimately vengeance, in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who has taken over the island paradise. The film also stars Gillian White (Take Back) and Edoardo Costa (Live Free and Die Hard). Martinez and Highfield Grange Studios’ Alan Latham produced the pic. Exec producers are Karinne Behr and Lee Beasley from MSR […]

OPERATION: KICKBOXER TV Series In The Works From ‘Mortal Kombat’ Producer And Kickboxer Reboot Director

Lee B. Golden III

A new series is now in development from Todd Garner (producer on last year’s Mortal Kombat) and Dimitri Logothetis with Operation: Kickboxer, according to Matt Grobar’s Deadline exclusive on Thursday. The two will join to exec produce the series with Gary Scott Thompson (Universal’s Fast Saga) serving as showrunner, and Gary Marenzi’s Marenzi & Associates overseeing global co-production and distribution duties, according to the report. The new series is described as “a martial arts-driven espionage series which finds the youngest Sloane brother, Michael, thrust into the world of international geopolitical intrigue. In order to earn his freedom, Sloane must go undercover as an MMA contender, using his clout to gain access to targets around the world, while remaining in contention for the champion title belt.” Jean-Claude Van Damme headlined the original 1989 film in the role of Kurt Sloane, an Belgian-American forced to test his mettle in the Thai arena against a […]

GYEONGSEONG CREATURE: Park Seo-Joon And Han So-Hee Head Up Cast Of New Netflix Thriller Series

Lee B. Golden III

Chung Dong-yoon (Stove League) will direct the Netflix thriller series, Gyeongseong Creature. Kang Eun K (Kang Chi: The Beginning) is penning the series with a cast led by Park Seo-jun (The Divine Fury), Han So-hee (Netflix series “My Name), Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age Of Ultron), Kim Hae-sook (Alienoid), Cho Han-cheul (Netflix series “Vincenzo”) and Wi Ha-jun (Netflix series Squid Game). In Gyeongseong Creature, the series is set in 1945 and follows several individuals going up against monstrous creatures born out of human greed and out to wreak havoc on an already troubled world. Park will play Jang Tae-sang – the head of merchant marketplace Golden Jade House, who is the wealthiest, most well-connected person in Gyeongseong. Tae-sang is someone who puts money before justice, but all that changes when he crosses paths with Yun Chae-ok while investigating a series of missing person cases; Han will star as Yun Chae-ok – […]

IRON WIDOW: Sci-Fi Mecha Franchise In The Vein Of ‘Pacific Rim’ Works At Picturestart

Lee B. Golden III

A new mecha franchise is reportedly on the horizon from Picturestart, according to Variety’s Matt Donnelly on author Xiran Jay Zhao’s 2021 New York Times bestselling Penguin Teen Canada publication, Iron Widow. The report notes that J.C. Lee (The Morning Show, Looking and Love, Victor) is set to adapt the novel with Picturestart founder and CEO, Erik Feig, producing alongside Jessica Switch and Julia Hammer with Samie Kim Falvey exec producing. Here’s how Penguin Random House describes the book: Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers. The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot […]

Keanu Reeves’ CONSTANTINE Will Finally Get Its Long-Awaited Sequel

Lee B. Golden III

Francis Lawrence’s 2005 directing debut, Constantine, is officially getting a sequel. The trades are reporting and confirming the news as it will reunite the Hunger Games director with his star, actor Keanu Reeves, who will once again reprise his role based on the DC Comics property. A sequel had long been talk of the fandom for years with the supernatural exorcist and demonologist once expected to take his place in a “Justice League Dark” film from Guillermo Del Toro a decade ago. It never panned out, all the while the character preserved a space for fans once upon a time through a short-lived series which premiered on NBC in 2014 with actor Matt Ryan in the lead. News of the new sequel’s movement also alludes to the temporary sidelining of a series previously announced for HBO Max, according to Variety. Akiva Goldsman will write and produce the new film for […]

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A New KARATE KID Movie Will Release In 2024

Lee B. Golden III

Fans riding the Cobra Kai wave of the Karate Kid fandom of late will be thrilled to know that Sony Pictures has dated a new movie to be released on June 7, 2024. The news comes through an announcement of dates listed for upcoming features from the studio, including Madame Web, Kraven The Hunter, and Garfield, to name a few. Production on the film would mark 40 years since John G. Avildsen’s inaugural 1984 award-winning martial arts drama classic, The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka as high school rivals forced to settle their differences in the All Valley Karate Tournament. The film spawned three more live action sequels featuring Macchio and late actor Pat Morita, with actress Hillary Swank headlining Christopher Cain’s The Next Karate Kid in 1994. Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan would step up for their own revival for director Harald Zwart’s The Karate Kid (2010), […]

Amazon Orders BLADE RUNNER 2099 Sequel Series

Lee B. Golden III

If you’re still riding the fandom of all things Blade Runner in the last five years since Denis Villeneuve made landfall with his Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford starrer, then you’ll be pleased to know that a sequel series at Amazon has been officially greenlit, according to trades on Thursday. As Variety’s Joe Otterson notes, Silka Luisa will serve as series showrunner for the new series, Blade Runner 2099, and will executive produce alongside Scott Free Productions’ Ridley Scott with a story set fifty years after the Warner Bros. Pictures sequel. The team also includes Blade Runner 2049 co-writer Michael Green exec producing with Alcon Entertainment’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Alcon’s head of TV Ben Roberts, David W. Zucker and Clayton Krueger of Scott Free, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, and Isa Dick Hackett, with Tom Spezialy joining the writers room and exec producing. “The original ‘Blade Runner,’ directed by […]