I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve had my fill of Captain Jack Sparrow. As such, I’m open to what new stories lie ahead as Disney opens its doors to screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for a Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise reboot.
RZA and Jerry Bruckheimer will executive produce the series which succeeds Al Adamson’s 1977 Jim Kelly-headlining adaptation of Olden’s book. The series will see Common in the role of Robert Sand, a former soldier belaguered by racism, and raised and trained in the samurai arts for seven years by the master who rescued him, only to walk the path of vengeance and self-discovery when he learns of his master’s death and that of his beloved samurai brothers.
The news, according to THR, comes a year and a half after Bruckheimer signed a first-look deal at the studio with female-centric YA novels remaining as a hot commodity. Daniele Bernfeld is overseeing the production for Paramount while Bergstrom continues onward with the book’s sequel in what could equally lead to franchise potential.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
If you’ve been to the movies at all in the past few weeks and managed to catch Antoine Fuqua‘s latest boxing underdog drama, Southpaw, there’s a good chance you’ve had a blast. So feel free to chalk that one up as another wicked addition to your theater going experience amid Fuqua‘s growing resumè what with the gems he’s brought to the fray in the last two decades, namely his critically and commerically-acclaimed 2001 cop drama, Training Day.
Indeed it was a film to take note of if you love the crime genre or anything with actor Denzel Washington in it; The 2001 film joins Washington with actor Ethan Hawke in the story of decorated LAPD narc, Alonzo Harris, whose methods are executed with peculiar shades of grey as he takes rookie cop, Jake Hoyt out on assessment, only for things to go awry when Hoyt’s life is put in danger thanks to Harris’s crooked dealings. The film earned Washington an Academy Award win with a nomination to Hawke for Best Supporting Actor, and with this, it’s obvious that the film has stood the test of time with news from Deadline that Fuqua, along with Jerry Bruckheimer, is taking measures to advance a television series that sets the film fifteen years later.
The report adds there will be twists to the characters with a script by Gangster Squad scribe Will Beall while Fuqua may executive produce as well as direct the pilot. The news comes just a day after it was confirmed that Ryan Phillippe would be leading USA Network’s small screen adaptation of Fuqua‘s 2007 film, Shooter.
It’s pretty fair to say at this point that we’ll be seeing plenty of Fuqua in the coming years. He’s gotten some amazing work done as of late with returning to Washington for The Equalizer last year and now all eyes are on the upcoming September 23, 2016 release of The Magnificent Seven while we wait to learn if he will return to direct The Equalizer 2 for its September 29, 2017 debut.
Stay tuned for more info.