universal pictures

BOND 25: Universal Partners For Worldwide Theatrical 2019 Release

Lee B. Golden III

Well it took a few years and a small compromise to make happen but we now have another James Bond film in the mix for release next year with cameras now set to roll this December 3. Actor Daniel Craig, following a slight controversial stint, is at long last returning to star as 007 for a fifth outing since rebooting it with Casino Royale onward through the action-packed Spectre. As the latest announcement reads, EON and MGM have made it official with Universal Pictures partnering to release Bond 25 next year with Universal’s UK open on October 25, followed by MGM’s U.S. rollout on November 8 through its new joint domestic venture with Annapurna Pictures. Slumdog Millionaire helmer Danny Boyle is finally confirmed to direct from an original screenplay by Academy Award nominee, Trainspotting scribe John Hodge. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli commented, “We are delighted to announce […]

Brian De Palma’s SCARFACE To Celebrate 35 Years Of Saying Hello To His Little Friend In Select Cities Next Month!

Brian De Palma’s SCARFACE To Celebrate 35 Years Of Saying Hello To His Little Friend In Select Cities Next Month!

Lee B. Golden III

Apart from any and all progress with Universal Pictures’s treatment of the 1983 hit pic, Scarface, attendees at last month’s 17th Tribeca Film Festival were able to catch an exclusive screening of Brian De Palma’s classic crime drama, as well as a post-screening panel with the director and select stars Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Steven Bauer to celebrate the film’s 35th anniversary. Going forward, if you weren’t able to attend to even so much as see the film on the big screen then don’t fret. The Tribeca Film Festival pushed a new announcement on Monday going forward, signaling a new endeavor with a delightful first for the festival itself, teaming up with Universal Pictures and Screenvision Media to showcase both the film and the discussion in select cities and theaters next month throughout North America. Ticket pre-orders are now available by clicking here. Read onward and get yours today! […]

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THE JANSON DIRECTIVE: John Cena Replaces The Rock To Star

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

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Hong Kong Action Classic Redo, THE KILLER, Circles Lupita Nyong’o To Star

Lee B. Golden III

John Woo’s latest international thriller novel re-adaptation, Manhunt, opens in North America on Netflix this Friday. It’s a noteworthy mention considering the film is one of two that the celebrated director had been kicking around in the last several years – specifically at least one other title being his Hong Kong action classic, The Killer. The film opened in 1989 and became a heroic bloodshed hit with actor Chow Yun-Fat in the role of a hitman who accidentally blinds a club singer during a shootout. The romance that ensues finds itself endangered when the exit job he takes to pay for her corneal transplant lands him in a deadly double-cross, forcing him to protect her with the help of the cop already hunting him down. Chow, already a rising star following the John Woo/Tsui Hark-shepherded A Better Tomorrow, became synonymous with the bullet ballet genre for many a film thereafter. […]

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The Rock Pays Tribute To The Classics With A New Motion Poster For SKYSCRAPER

Lee B. Golden III

Something tells me that a new trailer is on the horizon for Dwayne Johnson’s new action thriller, Skyscraper. I’m not certain, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled and until then, we now have a new poster online courtesy of our star who was more than willing to share his own declaration along with it via social media. Rawson Marshall Thurber helms for its July 13 release from Universal Pictures. Check out the animated art below! New SKYSCRAPER poster. Nice to feel everyone’s excitement building for this one. Inspired by films The Fugitive, Die Hard & Towering Inferno. I can’t guarantee I’ll save my wife and kid’s lives, but I can guarantee I’ll do everything I can for the rest of mine. This JULY. pic.twitter.com/PRV2kKTk2s — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 22, 2018

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Creature Thriller TREMORS: A COLD DAY IN HELL Arrives For Home Release In May!

Since the end of Tremors 5: Bloodlines, a very thrilling installment in South Africa pairing up Michael Gross as the eponymous survivalist Burt Gummer with Jamie Kennedy who portrays Travis Welker, Gummer’s son from an indiscretion with a 1960s liberated woman, people could not get enough of this fairly successful franchise and were looking out for a sixth movie in the works. According to Michael Gross from his official Facebook page, he had announced that there was going to be a sixth straight-to-DVD release of Tremors 6 back in late 2016. This time, Graboids are being used as weapons in the Arctic and it’s up to Burt and Travis to take care of this new threat at a remote research station. Originally with a January 2018 release date, Mr. Gross keeps fans updated on his Facebook page with the film’s progress while Syfy works on a new Tremors TV series […]

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THE FIRST PURGE Ignites War And Unrest In The First Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Director Gerard McMurray brought viewers a darkly scintilating, brutal perspective with fraternity hazing drama, Burning Sands. He’s now back in the fray having offered up his craft at the helm once more in what looks to be an even more exciting follow-up to his work now in the good graces of Universal Pictures, Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes for the fourth and next installment of The Purge franchise with the July 4 release of The First Purge. Writer and creator James DeMonaco pens the chilling narrative once more that now peers into the backstory exploring the inaugural 12 hours of the annual Purge initiative following the establishment of the New Founding Fathers Of America, turning a page into a gruesome, violent and hellish, and thankfully fictional, page in American history. The principal cast is led by Y’Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Luna Lauren Velez and the venerable Marisa Tomei. […]

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Craig Zobel To Helm Politically Charged Action Thriller THE HUNT For Blumhouse And Universal

Lee B. Golden III

Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse have reportedly penned a project now being housed in the auspices of Blumhouse and Universal Pictures following a competitive situation. The film in question is titled The Hunt, which is being described over at the The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog as a politically charged action thriller that “…takes its cues from the current political climate in America and aggressive nature of right versus the left — taking it to a more extreme, and violent, level.” The project marks the latest for the duo since working on HBO drama, The Leftovers with Craig Zobel who is set to direct the new action thriller. Wednesday’s THR exclusive concludes that Zobel will executive produce as will Cuse, and with Lindelof producing through his White Rabbit banner with Jason Blum over at Blumhouse, the same company that grew its recent successes from such poltically and socially toned thrillers […]

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RED NOTICE: Dwayne Johnson Action Thriller Sets 2019 Start For 2020 Release From Universal/Legendary

Lee B. Golden III

Universal and Legendary have reportedly bested some of the biggest studios in Hollywood in a major bidding contest for the new action pic Red Notice, which made headlines late Wednesday with actor Dwayne Johnson attached to star. As Deadline notes in its exclusive on Friday, the studio is fast tracking the film as a potential tentpole for Johnson who has reorganized his schedule to begin rolling cameras for Red Notice next Spring for a 2020 release. The news comes just days after the spectacular Super Bowl LII trailer involving for the July 13 3D release of Central Intelligence helmer Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Skyscraper in which Johnson stars. Red Notice reteams Johnson once again with Thurber who starts writing next week per the deal, earning him an eight-figure payday with Johnson getting $20 million. Plot details are scant while general information at Deadline (apart from The Hollywood Reporter‘s exclusive on Wednesday) […]

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Michelle MacLaren To Direct COWBOY NINJA VIKING For Universal

Lee B. Golden III

There’s plenty to be thankful for in continued efforts to adapt Image Comics property, Cowboy Ninja Viking. That one is still moving forward at Universal and Deadline has the latest word on it that award-winning Breaking Bad EP, Michelle MacLaren has reportedly been ironing her own deal out with the studio to direct, and so it is. Craig Mazin’s updated draft from that of Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Everett David Reese is based on the 2009 publication from Image Comics via Shadowline; Created by writer A.J. Lieberman and artist Riley Rossmo, the new film will center on Pratt in the role of Duncan, the product of a government program that transforms people with multiple personality disorders into highly trained agents known as “Triplets”, who is forced to hunt down others like himself using his unique skillset highlit by his three distinct personalities: a cowboy, a ninja, and a viking. Pratt, who reunites […]

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Universal’s FAST Spinoff Starring Johnson, Statham, Dated For July 2019

Lee B. Golden III

Universal The addition of a long-anticipated spin-off certainly threw things in a refreshing gear for Universal’s Fast saga. Following a date change for the ninth installation from April 19, 2019 to April 10, 2020, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are set to reunite for their own film when it hits theaters on July 26, 2019. Johnson, who voiced his interest for a spin-off back in 2013 while doing press for Justin Lin’s Furious 6, has been with the franchise since debuting the role of D.S.S. Agent Luke Hobbs in Lin’s Fast Five in 2011. Its predecessor, Fast And Furious, was bolstered by franchise star Vin Diesel’s return to the fray in a starring and producing role with Lin succeeding his work on The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift. As the hit film series pivoted from street racing to heist adventures and high speed action, Statham emerged in the post-credits of the sixth […]

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Universal, Skybound To Develop KILL THE MINOTAUR Comic Book Adaptation

Lee B. Golden III

More comic book adaptations are abound as of Thursday with word on Kill The Minotaur from creators Christian Cantamessa and Chris Pasetto, following its launch in June. The two scribes are attached to pen a script for the latest big screen adaptation from Universal Pictures and Skybound Entertainment, the same company behind AMC hit televison series, The Walking Dead. Kill the Minotaur is a modern and fantastical take on the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Theseus must enter King Minos’s bizarre Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur, a creature which feeds on human sacrifices, before the monster can escape its prison to threaten the world. The film marks the latest move to proceed since Skybound’s first look deal with Universal back in April of 2015 upon Cantamessa’s own directorial debut, Air, starring Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou. Skybound’s Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst are […]

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BLOODLINES: Universal Sets Adaptation With Channing Tatum To Star

Lee B. Golden III

I’m still holding out for a Gambit movie… Yes, I will beat that dead horse until kingdom come…but, I digress. Upcoming Logan Lucky and Kingsman: The Golden Circle actor Channing Tatum still has a career to tend to and he’ll be doing so moreover with his latest attachment to star in upcoming crime thriller, Bloodlines. A rookie FBI agent named Scott Lawson is assigned to the border town of Laredo, Texas, where he writes reports about the drug war but doesn’t get to do much else. Until he’s asked to check out an anonymous tip that a horse sold for a record price at an Oklahoma auction house. The buyer: Miguel Trevino, one of the leaders of the Zetas, a brutal Mexican drug cartel. Teaming up with a more experienced agent named Alma Perez, the FBI agent discovers an opportunity to infiltrate a cartel that has taken to launder its […]

Dwayne Johnson Sets Genghis Khan Tomb Hunt Pic To Produce; Writer Attached

Dwayne Johnson Sets Genghis Khan Tomb Hunt Pic To Produce; Writer Attached

Lee B. Golden III

Whether or not his Presidential run remains a thing from here on, actor Dwayne Johnson is sure to keep abreast of possibilities in film be it in front of the camera, or behind. His latest regards the latter with The Huntsman: Winter’s War and Beauty And The Beast co-scribe Evan Spiliotopolous’s latest penning assignment centered on the epic hunt for Genghis Khan’s tomb. Further story details and casting remain pending. Johnson and partner Dany Garcia are executive producing the film via their Seven Bucks Productions banner whose president of production, Hiram Garcia will produce. Robert Zemeckis is also executive producing at ImageMovers with Jack Rapke and Jackie Levine producing and Universal Pictures’s Jay Polidoro and Lexi Barta overseeing. The move is just the latest for Johnson in the wake of a raft of films still forthcoming, including 2018 arrivals, Brad Peyton’s Rampage and Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Skyscraper. Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle […]

COWBOY NINJA VIKING: Chris Pratt Starrer Lands A June 2019 Release

Lee B. Golden III

There’s no official word yet on who will direct the long-brewing adaptation of comic book property, Cowboy Ninja Viking just yet. What IS official, however, is the June 28, 2019 release date now being stamped for the project which has Marvel franchise favorite, actor Chris Pratt still attached following his addition in 2014. The film is inspired by the 2009 publication from Image Comics via Shadowline. Created by writer A.J. Lieberman and artist Riley Rossmo, the film will center on Pratt in the role of Duncan, the product of a government program that transforms people with multiple personality disorders into highly trained agents known as “Triplets”, who is forced to hunt down others like himself using his unique skillset highlit by his three distinct personalities: a cowboy, a ninja, and a viking. The project has moved from place to place since 2010 before ultimately landing at Universal Pictures. Pratt is […]

DARK UNIVERSE: Welcome To A New World Of Gods And Monsters

Lee B. Golden III

The June 9 release of Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy isn’t coming light this summer. The film, as per the efforts of past several years is just one in several forthcoming steps toward what Universal Pictures, on Monday, branded as the Dark Universe, spearheaded by Kurtzman and The Fate Of The Furious scribe Chris Morgan in a sequential effort to adapt classic cinematic icons of the studio for the big screen. The official Dark Universe logo as shown above and unveiled at the official website will make its debut preceding The Mummy starring Tom Cruise along with title actress Sofia Boutella and actor Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll, and featuring a new musical theme by Academy Award® nominee Danny Elfman’s Danny Elfman. The new theme will also accomodate the DU’s remaining properties, including the February 14, 2019 release of Bride Of Frankenstein, written by David Koepp and for which actor Javier […]

Review: THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS Runs High On Big-Scale Action, Stalls Its Way To The Finish

Lee B. Golden III

I’ve spent my fair share of time fawning over Universal Pictures’s Fast franchise. However, in the wake of having seen its newest installation, F. Gary Gray’s The Fate Of The Furious, I think I’ve grown past the fandom a bit. That’s not to suggest that I’m exhausted from the franchise – I’m excited to see how it proceeded after Furious Seven, and I can’t wait to see what lies for the final two titles. I do feel left a little short on a the film’s ending on top of other things. I know it sounds nitpicky, but I did stay for the entirety of the end credits and sadly, there’s nothing after all of the explosive action and thrills and compelling plot twists. That said, the rest of the movie doesn’t disappoint in terms of said explosive action, thrills and twists and especially if you’ve been following the franchise since […]

Universal, Will Packer Set Historic African Period Epic, WARRIOR QUEEN, In Development

Lee B. Golden III

Moviegoers pining for more diversity in film will be pleased to see Universal Pictures stepping in with their latest acquisition, Warrior Queen. As Deadline reports, Will Packer will produce the film through his Will Packer Productions banner with James Lopez producing and Universal Pictures VP Sara Scott overseeing. Mighty Joe Young (1998) and Planet Of The Apes (2001) scribe Mark Rosenthal’s script takes its cues from the noted historic tale of Amanirenas, the legendary Meroitic era Nubian queen of the Kingdom of Kush who successfully led her army against the Roman empire and forced them to withdraw and negotiate peace. The film will mark the latets pairing for Packer and Rosenthal following their work on the Roots remake for the History Channel. Packer’s credits further include thrillers such as No Good Deed and upcoming titles such as Malcolm D. Lee’s Girls Trip and a remake of Jacob’s Ladder starring Michael […]

Spy Thriller NEED TO KNOW Casts Charlize Theron

Lee B. Golden III

Universal Word is that F. Gary Gray’s April 14 release of The Fate Of The Furious from Universal Pictures is being given a 160-minute run time. I’d say that’s pretty sizable and appropriate for a saga that has lasted seven epic action movie installments and there’s no doubt that actress Charlize Theron’s role will be pivotal in the film given the approach being hinted in the trailers so far. We await that one in addition to the forthcoming summer release of David Leitch’s The Coldest City from Focus Features while it is now being reported via Deadline that the prospective Mad Max: Fury Road star has been lined up for Universal’s latest spy novel acquisition, Need To Know. The novel is pending release, written by former CIA analyst-turned-author Karen Cleveland and tells of CIA analyst, wife and mother who makes a shocking discovery that threatens her job after digitally sifting […]

Universal’s SCARFACE Lands A Release Date, MacKenzie And Berg Being Circled To Helm

Lee B. Golden III

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story co-star Diego Luna officially starring in Universal Pictures’s upcoming Scarface reboot, it’s been a day of brewing developments. The film had been in search for a director since Antoine Fuqua left the film in late January to focus his attention on The Equalizer sequel and now there has been movement on multiple fronts. According to THR, No Country For Old Men directing duo Joel and Ethan Coen have polished the script for a reboot inspired by the 1983 Brian De Palma classic, now focusing on a modern tale of the rise and fall of an ambitious Latino gangster in Los Angeles. Moreover, Hell Or High Water director David MacKenzie and Battleship and Deepwater Horizon helmer Peter Berg are both circling the director’s chair for the film’s newly set date for August 10, 2018. The word is that it was MacKenzie who was initially […]