● Charlie Steed’s new action horror, Death Ranch, has since launched its official trailer from 4Digital Media ahead of an April 20 release on DVD, Digital, and VOD in the U.S.. Starring Deiondre Teagle and Faith Monique, the film is set in the 1970s where “Three African American siblings, Brandon, Angela and Clarence, on the run from the police, take refuge at an abandoned Tennessee ranch.. But as night falls, Brandon discovers their hideout is on the hunting grounds of a cannibalistic Ku Klux Klan cult, and it’s not long before the siblings themselves are attacked and captured by the demented cult. Now, it’s up to Brandon to take down the bloodthirsty Klan, and save his brother and sister so they can have their bloody vengeance and escape alive.” SCREENANARCHY
● Randy McKinnon (Disney+’s Safety) is set to pen the live-action Static Shock film adaptation based on the comic. The update marks the latest since the attachment of Michael B. Jordan and Reginald Hudlin as producer on the film last October. The film centers “on Virgil Hawkins, a teenager who transforms into a superhero who gains electromagnetic powers after being exposed to strange gas.” THR
● Brad Peyton will pen the script with Gary Graham, and direct Sniper Elite, a new character-driven action thriller in the vein of Sherlock Holmes and The Bourne Identity. Based on the Rebellion Tactical shoot-em-up game, Peyton’s film will see “an elite Allied sniper, Karl Fairburne, engage in a cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of London at the height of the Blitz during World War II, as he tries to save British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a Nazi assassin. The “Sniper Elite” movie will reveal the hidden story of Fairburne, “marrying clever, stylish action with strong characters and incredible, twisted situations,” Rebellion said. As bombs rain down on the British capital, Fairburne “will have to make a choice between the fate of the war and confronting his deepest secret.” VARIETY
● It was last November when AGC Studios optioned The Englishman, the first in a series of thriller novels from author David Gilman. This month now brings word that Kurt Johnstad (300, Atomic Blonde) will pen the adaptation that will “center on Raglan, a former soldier whose work in the French Foreign Legion taking on terrorists in sub-Saharan Africa brings him to the attention of MI6. He is soon recruited for a secret, undercover mission that takes him on a relentless search through the network of a dangerous international organized crime operation. He finds out just how dangerous the mission is when he lands in a Siberian penal colony and faces a life or death battle for survival.” DEADLINE
● Lionsgate has acquired Saw V helmer David Hackl’s new thriller, Dangerous, for a multi-platform release TBD. Starring Scott Eastwood (The Fate Of The Furious, upcoming Wrath Of Man), “the film follows a reformed sociopath who, after the death of his brother, heads to a remote island that soon falls under siege from a deadly gang of mercenaries. Forced to fend for himself, he discovers their role in his brother’s demise and sets off on a relentless quest for vengeance.” Cast also includes Mel Gibson, Kevin Durand, Famke Janssen and Tyrese Gibson, and more. VARIETY
● Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) will direct his own Transformers film from a script by Marco Ramirez (Marvel’s The Defenders). Plot details are underwraps for the film whose development has a blind commitment from Paramount aside from a forthcoming seventh installment of his pre-existing live-action saga that will have Stephen Caple Jr. (Creed 2) succeeding the helm after Michael Bay (director of Transformers all through Transformers: The Last Knight), and Travis Knight (Bumblebee). THR
● Among a slew of release date changes, Disney’s upcoming Black Widow‘s long-running Covid-induced stalemate will receive the day-and-date treatment on July 9, releasing theatrically and on Disney+. Scarlett Johansson toplines the Phase 4 action adventure continuing the Marvel saga from director Cate Shortland, as our heroine “confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.”
● Disney+ has also set the cast for its upcoming serial Star Wars offshoot centered on actor Ewan McGregor’s reprisal as Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episodes 1 through 3, alongside Hayden Christensen’s return as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) is directing the show which takes place ten years after “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith”, adding Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie.
● Chalk it up to faith as we all remain patient until the October release of the next Bond film, No Time To Die. Until then, we have Legendary’s Tokyo Ghost to add to the table with helmer Cary Fukunaga set to helm the cyberpunk manga adaptation from a script by Rick Remender (Deadly Class), “set in 2089 when humanity has become fully addicted to technology as an escape from reality. The story follows peacekeepers Debbie Decay and Led Dent, who are working in the Isles of Los Angeles and are given a job that will take them to the last tech-free country on Earth: the garden nation of Tokyo.” THR
● Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) is penning a feature adaptation for Zatanna, for Warner Bros. and DC Films. The film, which centers on the titular magician and sorceror, at long last advances the character to the big screen since her small screen debut in Smallville. VARIETY
● Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to social media over the weekend to signal the July 29, 2022 release date for the upcoming New Line/DC adaptation, Black Adam, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.