THE HIT LIST: November 26, 2018
It’s been a hell of a year. There are definitely a few things I want to share in that regard and will do in another post going into December.
adi shankar
CASTLEVANIA: Monsters, Magic And Majesty In The Official Season Two Trailer
Last year’s first season of executive producer Adi Shankar’s animated Konami game franchise-inspired anime adaptation of Castlevania was a hit. Eight more episodes are now in tow premiering October 26 and continuing the saga of the last son of the Belmont household, joined by a young mage and a vengeful half-human vampire on a quest to stop Dracula from reigning in armageddon on mankind.
ESPIONAGE TONIGHT Trailer: Love Your Country Or Die In The Official Trailer!
Rob Gordon Bralver is tapping into a world of crazy for his directorial debut and indeed, there is an air of eeriness to the reality show nature of the narrative we’re being offered. Bravler is tackling it all for his new film, Espionage Tonight, one that invites moviegoers to a grimey, off-road, fully-loaded adventure ripe and exploding heads and jingoism covered in more red than white or blue.
IN A TIME OF WIDESPREAD DISILLUSIONMENT AND DISTRUST OF OUR GOVERNMENT, A REALITY TV SHOW ABOUT SPIES IS CREATED TO WIN BACK THE FAITH OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.
Audiences go undercover on missions around the globe and see real world effects from the narrative the showrunners create. As the first season unfolds, we wonder – how much is real and how much is propaganda? Our charismatic host leads us down the rabbit hole and it becomes impossible to distinguish fact from fiction as the lines blur between reality, television, and movies in an age when everything is on camera.
Joe Hursley, Greg Davis Jr., Ganna Bogdan, Saïd Taghmaoui, Alexie Gilmore, Joseph Gatt, Alberto Jorrin, Fernanda Romero, Chasty Ballesteros, Masami Kosaka, introducing Adi Shankar, with Lynn Whitfield, and Sean Astin comprise the film’s complete cast. The Orchard is unleashing the gonzo and brutal political satire thriller on Digital HD and On-Demand beginning October 24.
Check out the trailer as exclusively revealed by JoBlo.
Blow Your Nintendo Cartridges And Watch The New CASTLEVANIA Series Teaser!
While it wasn’t too clear what we would be in for when Adi Shankar announced there would be a Castlevania series airing on Netflix this year, we learned what we could – that it was based on the classic 1986 Konami game, that it was animated and that it was coming this year.
We also knew it was a Season 1 endeavor as it was initially stated – otherwise hopefully hinting at a second season should season one bode well enough for viewers and depending on where the studio goes in its application. Well, the first official teaser arrived on Wednesday announcing a July 7 premiere date on Netflix, and in ceremonial, nostalgic fashion.
Check it out!
Adi Shankar’s Dark Superhero Drama GODS AND SECRETS Adds Five To Its Cast!
Bootleg Universe made quite a bit of noise earlier this year with filmmaker Joseph Kahn’s Power/Ranger one-shot shortfilm. The short continued to gain virility with its release amid its controversy with producer Adi Shankar handling all PR on the matter and for what it’s worth, it was a worthwhile attention getter, so it bring to mind the question as to what lies ahead for Shankar in the process.
[UPDATE] Joseph Kahn's POWER/RANGERS One-Shot Is A Deboot Of R-Rated War-Torn Epicness
Look anywhere on YouTube and you’ll find any number of independently conceived concepts attributed to the Ameritoku crossover series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. There are a few in the works on smaller scales as well as a feature film from Lionsgate and Saban, and while many of these could likely hit all the similar tones of a kid-friendly show, there’s at least one vision that’s taken a life of its own which completely undoes it all.
That said, Detention helmer Joseph Kahn and Dirty Laundry one-shot producer, Bootleg Universe’s own Adi Shankar have a hell of a way of interpreting Ameritoku, and their latest contribution to the fandom with their own one-shot, Power/Rangers, is a distinct example of this. Written by Kahn, Dutch Southern and lead actor James Van Der Beek, Kahn‘s is a version which removes the kid-friendly appeal and replaces it with all the trimmings of a big-scale epic, now host to an alternative look into a dark, tragic future where the Machine Empire has taken over, our heroes have fallen and virtually nothing is what it seems, showcasing a newer perspective on the shortfalls of being young and granted supernatural abilities to take on larger-than-life enemies, seen or otherwise. Essentially, its Ender’s Game by way of Tokusatsu with a shit-ton of NSFW storytelling and action with a level of violence and imagery, and character delivery almost perfectly suited for an R-rated concept. It’s what you can expect from the guy who also helped put together Dredd and the newly-released Gangs Of Wasseypur, and so by all means, I have no complaints.
Director’s Statement:
Deboot of the Power Rangers. My take on the FAN FILM. Not a pilot, not a series, not for profit, strictly for exhibition. This is a bootleg experiment not affiliated or endorsed by Saban Entertainment or Lionsgate nor is it selling any product. I claim no rights to any of the characters (don’t send me any money, not kickstarted, this film is free). This is the NSFW version. An alternate safe version is on youtube.
You can watch the safe version by clicking HERE, and while this may not be a pitch video for a bigger project, it damn well proves just how amazing a pairing Kahn and Shankar are, and just how worth it they are as artists. I’m keen to this.
Power/Rangers also stars Katie Sackhoff, Gichi Gamba, Russ Bain and Will Yun Lee with fight choreography by Don Thai Theerathada and the team over at 87Eleven. Watch below and click here to read more about it at Drew McWeeny’s exclusive article at HitFix.
Update (2:00pm EST): Yes, the video does exist. Although it appears that our dear director may have been told to impede its availability from the public for the time being by someone higher-up. Upsetting, I know. But the SFW version is still viewable. Watch it now!
You may also read another version of this article at HJU.
Indian Crime Epic, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR Gets A Two-Part U.S. Theatrical And VOD Release
From Guneet Monga, the producer of THE LUNCHBOX, the most successful foreign-language movie of 2014 to date in the U.S., GANGS OF WASSEYPUR is director/writer/producer Anurag Kashyap’s ambitious and extraordinary blood-and-bullets fueled crime saga that charts seventy years in the lives – and spectacular deaths – of two mafia-like families fighting for control of the coal-mining town of Wasseypur, India. Inspired by the real-life exploits of local gangs and beginning with the bandit-like career of Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat) in the 1940s, the film follows the ruthless rise of his son Sardar (a brilliant Manoj Bajpayee) and his offspring, the surreally-named Danish, Perpendicular and Definitive Khans and their numerous wives and girlfriends.
'Dredd' Exec Producer Adi Shankar Announces Unofficial Webseries Based On The Film!
With the chances of an ever-hopeful sequel or a prequel to the 2012 cult hit, Dredd, still awaiting results, one of the film’s executive producers, Adi Shankar, particularly remained the most tight-lipped regarding that topic. So back when he administered a Reddit AMA session last year, at least one mention of a Dredd-related project gave way to the potential for a new shortfilm in the same vein of his two Bootleg Universe projects, Dirty Laundry and Venom: Truth In Journalism.
On Monday, The Wrap has since expanded on those updates with word that Shankar himself has been busy for the last two years, working on an unofficial off-the-grid Dredd series that will mainly focus on the Dark Judges. It will air online, possibly on YouTube in the form of a seven-part miniseries, as a thank you to fans everywhere who have spent the last two years keeping hopes for a Dredd 2 installation alive.
A premiere date and first-look promo content are still pending, so stay tuned for more info. In the meantime, hopefully you got your tickets to the Dredd screening at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City this weekend. If not, click here to get the lowdown!
Stay tuned for more info!
DREDD 2 Is "Dead", But The Shortfilms Live On
And now, hammering the last nail in the coffin is news we can pretty much file in the “No s#!+” category is the word from Charles Webb at MTV Geek according to producer Adi Shankar that the sequel to the 2012 cult fan favorite smash, Dredd 3D is invariably dead. The news comes as several independent filmmakers are making efforts to perform their own take on the vision from Alex Garland and Pete Travis shared in their film released last year from independent company, DNA, and distributed by Lionsgate, starring actor Karl Urban in the title role of the futuristic law enforcer alongside actress Olivia Thirby and the film’s villainous femme fatale played by Lena Heady.
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