They say “…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, invariably, in the case of Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie, it appears they’re not fixing shit after totaling near $1.5 billion dollars between the last two Mission: Impossible films.
I mean it when I say it: Spend your money on Deadpool 2 like nothing else matters.
Also, feast your eyes on this latest prospect signaling courtesy of Skydance Media, announcing a new partnership with Netflix to co-produce and release Six Undergroud. Plot details are nil but the presser highlights it as an original concept from Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, in which Ryan Reynolds will star with notable Transformers franchise helmer Michael Bay being tapped to direct.
I’m suddenly reminded all of Bay’s films and the often lingering comedy and quips throughout between breif moments of dialogue and explosions and considering Reynolds’ acumen for deadpan humor, characteristic of his on-pointe delivery as the R-rated merc with a mouth, I’m surprised Reynolds hasn’t starred in a Bay film yet. Welp, I guess that’s about to change and it could be a winning combination too.
Six Underground is reportedly gearing up for a summer start ahead of a 2019 release with Bay, and Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger producing. It’s the first collaboration between Skydance Media and Netflix for an event level feature film and the first Netflix project for both Bay and Reynolds.
(If it fits the narrative, I can only hope Ryan trolls this film with a Deadpool appearance. That shit would be just lovely forever).
The manga led to two hit anime shows from director Ito Tomohiko, as well as feature film follow-up, Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale which Aniplex U.S. released back in February.
20 years in the making, it appears a new and long-awaited high-concept action thriller may finally see the light of day at Skydance. Titled Gemini Man, Ang Lee (Billy Long’s Halftime Walk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is reported to be in talks to direct the film once housed at Disney as a pitch from Darren Lemke until Skydance scooped it up last October.
The plot, according to THR‘s exclusive, would follow an aging assassin on his way out of the game until he finds himself fighting a clone 25 years younger and stronger than him. The film reportedly stayed stagnant over the years due to the lack of technology required to replicate actors’ faces as we now see exemplifed with Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy, Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Robert Downey Jr. as seen in Captain America: Civil War, and even to some degree in James Mangold’s Logan, for example.
Development still pressed on, however, circling between directors like Tony Scott and Curtis Hanson, and writers like Brian Helgeland, Andrew Niccol and David Benioff, the latter who was paid $2 million for his treatment. Lee will be joined by Jerry Bruckheimer who will produce with Don Murphy, once attached to produce Scott’s film of yesteryear, now executive producing.
