HIDDEN STRIKE Trailer Reveals Long-Awaited Actioner With Jackie Chan And John Cena
Would you believe it’s been FIVE (5) years since Jackie Chan and John Cena were announced for their own action adventure two-hander?…
Would you believe it’s been FIVE (5) years since Jackie Chan and John Cena were announced for their own action adventure two-hander?…
Every week for the last eight weeks has been a damn good week if you’re subbed to HBO Max or wherever you can legitimately catch the 80s rock-supercharged hit series, Peacemaker.
The title isn’t bluster and instead evokes WWE star Kurt Angle’s line: ‘It’s true, it’s true’ Yes, John Cena, the famed WWE sports entertainer and Hollywood actor, and co-star of Justin Lin’s newest theatrical release out of Universal Pictures, F9, has openly admitted his fandom for the exciting Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. And yet it is merely one of several reasons, that will prompt you to consider watching (or even reading) the legendary FIST OF THE NORTH STAR (FOTNS) The reasons are summarized below:8. FORMUALIC BUT FAVOURABLE‘FIST OF THE NORTH STAR’ (‘FOTNS’) doesn’t possess a complex story or narrative, in fact one could argue that the premise is very simplistic in that it is simply the story of a stoic martial artist seeking to locate his beloved fiancée, Yuria. Yet forgoing any complexity, enables the viewer to invest in the emotional content highly evident in the characters; in many ways this provides us the opportunity to simply enjoy the action and the set pieces – ultimately to be engaged in a mature story. The heroes like Kenshiro or Rei are determined and noble, and they go up against some incredibly powerful adversaries that often have morally ambiguous characteristics. Given its formulaic narrative, it is one of those creative works that is incredibly easy to get into at any juncture.
It’s hard following movie news given the constant regurgitations of controversy and clickbait. Universal’s Fast saga is ripe with those sorts of things what with talk of Michelle Rodriguez wanting a more equal turn of treatment for women for the longstanding franchise, as well as Neal Moritz reportedly being fired from the franchise following a lawsuit he filed with the studio over alleged breach of oral contract and allegations of promissory fraud.
Actor Jai Courtney is rejoining The Suicide Squad once more for the role of Captain Boomerang as confirmed by THR in an interview with the actor. The news came on Wednesday just after word of talks of adding actor John Cena joining the cast began circulating from Justin Kroll over at Variety (update: Kroll added via Twitter that the role Cena may play, originally offered to actor Dave Bautista, would be that of Peacemaker).
By all accounts, 2019 may very well put debate to rest on how to hold a phone while viewing video…
Stop-motion virtuoso Travis Knight may not have gotten the audience he deserved for his freshman debut, Kubo And The Two Strings. His latest stint at the helm for Paramount’s latest Hasbro work-around with Transformers prequel take, Bumblebee, however, may bode as a worthy rebound for the director in wake of its tease on Sunday.
If Tuesday’s reported Jackie Chan’s venture is any bit as thrilling and edgy as The Foreigner, there’s a good chance it’ll be something to remember. Scott Waugh, rebounding from loose 2014 game adaptation, Need For Speed, is at the helm according to Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo at The Hollywood Reporter for tentatively titled Project X with Chan headlining next to actor John Cena.
Production plans and further casting details remain pending for the film which Chan will produce as well as star; He will play a Chinese private security contractor called in to extract oil workers from China-run oil refinery in the Middle East when it is attacked. He soon teams up with a former U.S. Marine – to be played by Cena – to stop the attackers when he learns of their real plan to steal a fortune in oil.
The report marks the latest evolution of this project following news issued last May when the project was announced as Ex-Baghdad with Sylvester Stallone attached.
Also producing are Joe Tam, Esmond Ren and Hans Canosa.
Cena is currently set to appear in Travis Knight’s Bumblebee for Paramount Pictures with roles in an upcoming adaptation of Duke Nukem and the Dwayne Johnson-produced The Janson Directive.
The Transformers film series has seen its share of both good times and bad. Apart from reviews, the franchise had been a box office hit for all four Michael Bay-directed films up until last year’s Transformers: The Last Knight which saw earnings take a dip.
Nowadays, things are in a bit of flux with a sixth linear film removed from its 2019 date while Hasbro revamps its film agenda with other lucrative IP. However, the franchise, centered on alien autonomous robotic warriors now brings its focus to the center of a new prequel with Bumblebee starring Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena.
The film is directed by Travis Knight who dealt quite the serving of cake to anyone who doubted his LAIKA-produced animated adventure, Kubo And The Two Strings. Bumblebee marks his big screen rebound with the coming-of-age story of Charlie, on the eve of her 18th birthday in 1987 in a Californian junkyard beach town where she discovers this particular car is no ordinary Volkswagen.
Cena, who teased the Tuesday morning arrival of the official trailer this week, stars as Agent Burns of Sector 7, the black-ops clandestined unit previously fronted by John Turturo’s character in the initial trilogy.
The trailer definitely feels like a less-clunkier offering and a slightly more affable, character-centric tale. Bay’s films were all nothing short of showstopping spectacle tacked on with overdrawn, quirky dialogue and some pretty questionable leniencies that made them all pretty love/hate worthy while Knight’s efforts feel a little more refreshing in terms of pacing and tone.
More than ten years and five films in, as much as this film may possibly rate better among critics, this may take some getting used to. Of course, time will tell if this bodes any different but, ahead of its December 21 release from Paramount, so far so good. Yes? No?
Comment your thoughts to us on social media about the trailer.
Gather what you will regarding recent hype and hope over John Cena’s strive toward joining the Fast And Furious spin-off realm. It’s worth keeping in mind now that we have some fresh and solid news in the trades four years since news broke of what would have been Dwayne Johnson’s starring attachment to an adaptation of late Bourne author Robert Ludlum’s posthumous 2002 novel, The Janson Directive.
As of Monday, Johnson’s social media endorsement of wrestler-cum-actor John Cena (Blockers, Train Wreck) further and finally sets things in motion over at Universal Pictures with Johnson executive producing with Seven Bucks partners Dany Garcia. It’s not known yet if the studio will continue forward with its plans as announced in 2016 for a Ludlum-based cinematic universe with The Janson Directive as the launchpad.
James Vanderbilt, who co-wrote Johnson’s breakout hit film, The Rundown in 2003, is adapting the novel centered on a covert ops agency legend-turned-elite private security consultant who now teams with a sharpshooter to take assignments he believes will lead to helping those in need. Vanderbilt is also producing with Brad Fischer and William Sherak at Mythology, Ben Smith and Jeffrey Weiner of Captivate Entertainment, Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions and Akiva Goldsman of Weed Road Pictures. Mythology’s Tracey Nyberg will serve as executive producer.
Found my star! Congrats to my good bud John Cena on landing the lead role for our movie, THE JANSON DIRECTIVE. A project that myself, @sevenbucksprod, our production partners and Universal Studios have been developing for years now. Congrats man and I’m excited to go on this journey with you. Thank you for your commitment to the role and remember, as your producer if you screw up, I’m coming to set and droppin’ the People’s Elbow on ya. And you know first hand how devastating my elbow drops can be ??? Congrats my friend and let’s go make a good one. #JansonDirective #JohnCena #SevenBucksProds #CaptivateEnt #WeedRoadPics #MythologyEnt #UNIVERSALA post shared by therock (@therock) on Apr 30, 2018 at 2:07pm PDT
Like Johnson, Cena got his start in professional wrestling for the WWE/WWF prior to getting into movies with Cena debuting lead role in 2006 action thriller, The Marine and in 2009 action adventure, 12 Rounds. Cena’s next stop will be in Transformers spin-off, Bumblebee: The Movie on December 21, in addition to a possible starring role in Paramount’s video game adaptation of Duke Nukem.
It’s been a long while since any of us had seen wrestler-turned-actor John Cena hit the big screen in starring fashion for an action role. John Bonito’s The Marine was a spectacular outing for Cena in a feature lead role prior to films like 12 Rounds, Legendary and comedies like Trainwreck and coming-of-age romp, Blockers.
He’s since earned a principal role in Travis Knight’s upcoming Hasbro’s Transformers saga spin-off, Bumblebee: The Movie, potentially signaling a blockbuster return to big-scale action for one of two-titles – The other: A starring role in the long-awaited video game adaptation, Duke Nukem, heralded by fans as a mash-up of macho action hero tropes that pokes worlds of mature humor at itself with the title character, a beefed-up cigar chomping alien hunter as its central figure.
According to THR, producer Lawrence Kasanoff initially worked on bringing a film to life for about ten years until Max Payne producer, Depth Entertainment attempted his own efforts which also fell short. Last June just short of the game’s 25th anniversary, Gearbox, who owns the rights to the game franchise, confirmed in an interview with Game Slice that they were developing a film themselves with rights now at Paramount after lapsing at Dimension.
A director is still being sought for with Platinum Dunes’s Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller producing the film.
Transformers franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing along with Bay, with Steven Spielberg, Brian Goldner, Mark Vahradian and Chris Brigham executive producing.
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