I don’t particularly stand in the majority here at Film Combat Syndicate amidst the reviews for Simon McQuoid’s feature directing debut, Mortal Kombat. With this, I can earnestly say I appreciate the dissent with regard to its merits as well as its flaws – the latter which ought to draw further conversations on how a sequel could be better improved.
The year is 1992 and it’s a Saturday. I’m thirteen years old and, like most weekends during that time in my life, I’m at the mall. When I wasn’t at the food court horsing around with my friends, or rummaging through the shelves of movies at the music store, I was at the arcade. The arcade was typical of the time period- dimly lit with only the glow from the various machines adding any real illumination to the darken amusement-filled space. It was always crowded and noisy, electronic boops and beeps mixing with loud laugher and even louder conversations as people crowded around the various arcade cabinets. On this particular day the crowd seemed denser, the laughter and excited chatter even louder. Something was happening.
A little over a few years after New Line landed the rights, the long-brewing remake of Yeon Sang-ho’s hit 2016 zombie survival thriller, Train To Busan, officially landed a director in Timo Tjahjanto.A fitting choice in the horror arena, Tjahjanto is best known for his work as one-half of the ‘Mo’ Brothers working alongside filmmaker Kimo Stamboel for hits such as Macabre and Killers, and back-to-back Chelsea Islan-led May The Devil Take You and its 2020 sequel. Tjahjanto eventually got bit by the action bug in time to arouse audiences with brutal and increasingly bloody action showcases like Headshot (2016) and the highly celebrated The Night Comes For Us (2018).Timo is directing the new incarnation from a script by Gary Dauberman, who is producing via Coin Operated; Also producing are Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear (Mortal Kombat) and Gaumont’s Nicolas Atlan and Terry Kalagian, with Judson Scott, Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee and Johanna Byer exec producing.I have a strong feeling this won’t be the last we hear of Tjahjanto in terms of prospective directing gigs. Keep him on radar.More at Deadline.Image source
(l) Wikimedia Commons, (r) Netherrealm Studios
Patrick Frater over at Variety is confirming the start of pre-production this month in Australia for award-winning commercial director Simon McQuoid‘s long-awaited adaptation of the hit game franchse, Mortal Kombat. According to the report, Steven Marshall, premier of South Australia confirmed the news in a press post alongside David Pisoni, South Australia’s minister for innovation and skills, and production consultan former Village Roadshow executive Greg Basser (The Whistleblower, Passengers).
This is gonna feel like such a tease, but the folks over at Discussing Film were able to get in touch with Greg Russo on his progress with the screenplay for the upcoming Mortal Kombat film. The script is complete according to the report, and for which Simon McQuoid remains attached to direct as he’s been since November 2016.
No BS here. I really would need to see some footage or other at this point to be convinced that it’s absolutely gonna rock, but I could care less about an animated Mortal Kombat movie – even less so that it may only be allocated to an exclusive streaming platform as the latest report from Revenge Of The Fans so suggests.
Vertigo/DC
Today in news for folks ever roused by living in The Big Apple, principal photography is officially underway as of Friday in New York City’s famed Manhattan subsect, Hell’s Kitchen, for New Line Cinema’s gritty drama, The Kitchen. Oscar nominated Straight Outta Compton scribe Andrea Berloff is directing from her own script based on the Vertigo/DC Entertainment comic book series from creators Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle, and with a September 20, 2019 date stamped from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), The Kitchen centers on three 1978 Hell’s Kitchen housewives whose mobster husbands are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia’s matters into their own hands—proving unexpectedly adept at everything from running the rackets to taking out the competition…literally.
Also starring are Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), James Badge Dale (Only the Brave), Brian d’Arcy James (Spotlight), Margo Martindale (The Americans TV series), Oscar winner Common along with fellow Marshall actor Jeremy Bobb, Bill Camp (TV series The Night Of), Alicia Coppola (Showtime series Shameless), John Sharian (True Story) and Myk Watford (Earth to Echo).
Multiple Oscar nominee Michael De Luca (Captain Phillips, Moneyball and The Social Network) and Marcus Viscidi (Rampage) are producing with Maryse Alberti (Creed) serving as director of photography, and with Shane Valentino (Straight Outta Compton) as production designer. Also on board are Oscar-nominated editor Christopher Tellefsen (Moneyball, A Quiet Place) and costume designer Sarah Edwards (upcoming Ocean’s 8, Showtime series Billions).
The Boss scribe Steve Mallory is penning the script.
Comedienne and actress Melissa McCarthy (Tammy, Spy) is taking her craft to a darker, grittier toned setting in The Kitchen, for New Line Cinema and DC Entertainment. As Mike Fleming Jr. over at Deadline notes, Straight Outta Compton scribe Andrea Berloff is setting forth her directorial debut here from her own script based on the 2014 limited series from author Ollie Masters.
Here’s how Vertigo details the narrative:
New York City, late 1970s. Times Square is a haven for sex and drugs. The city teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, while blackouts can strike at any moment. This is the world of THE KITCHEN.
The Irish gangs of Hell’s Kitchen rule the neighborhood, bringing terror to the streets and doing the dirty work for the Italian Mafia. Jimmy Brennan and his crew were the hardest bastards in the Kitchen, but after they’re all put in prison, their wives – Kath, Raven and Angie – decide to keep running their rackets. And once they get a taste of the fast life and easy money, it won’t be easy to stop.
THE KITCHEN takes one of the most popular genres in entertainment and, like The Sopranos, reimagines it for a new generation to present a classic gangster story told from a fresh point of view.
Written by talented newcomer Ollie Masters with stunning art by Ming Doyle (Mara) and killer covers by Becky Cloonan (GOTHAM ACADEMY, Killjoys, DEMO), THE KITCHEN is not to be missed.
The news comes just roughly a year following Berloff’s attachement.
Fellow actress Tiffany Haddish, who broke out in Malcolm D. Lee’s summer road hit, Girls Trip, prior to making history as the first black female stand-up comic to host NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” last November, has already signed onto star. Michael De Luca Productions is producing.
Also starring is Jack Dylan Grazer as Billy’s best friend and ultimate superhero enthusiast, Freddy, part of the foster family that includes Mary, played by Grace Fulton, Darla, played by Faithe Herman, Eugene, played by Ian Chen and Pedro, played by Jovan Armand. Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans play foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez, with Ron Cephas Jones as the Wizard.
New Line Cinema is reportedly close to a major game-changing deal with Netflix over the forthcoming production of Tim Story’s new Shaft installation. The film was announced with the addition of Independence Day: Resurgence actor Jesse T. Usher leading the cast with Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree, all back and reprising their roles based on Gordon Parks’s inaugural 1971 action classic and John Singleton’s subsequent 2000 reboot.
Provided the closure of the deal according to Deadline, Netflix is pony up more than half of the film’s $30 million-dollar budget in exchange for international streaming rights outside the U.S. two weeks after its U.S. theatrical release from New Line. The maneuver will then follow through on SVoD and DVD plans with Warner Bros to further stave off clashing interests with theatrical exhibitors in lieu of 90-day wait for ancillary home releases.
According to the report, the deal also stems from a general appeal to movies with a black or diverse cast of actors “urban” titles like the $115 million dollar-grossing female comedy line-up, Girls Trip which Black-ish creator Kenya Barris co-scribed for director Malcolm D. Lee.
Davis Entertainment’s own John Davis is producing the film along with Barris whose script will see Usher as the once estranged son of Jackson’s character, an FBI agent and a cyber expert forced to reluctantly pair up with his father, ensuing a clash between the old school and new school ways of crimefighting. Park’s original film, heralded by its popular title track from award-winning recording artist Isaac Hayes, was a phenomenon with Roundtree starring in the title role – a badass New York detective who infiltrates the criminal underworld to rescue a mob boss’s daughter.
Cameras are expected to roll in December.
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