Motion Picture: Denzel Washington To Join 'Gladiator' Sequel; Inaugural Fellows For 'Screamwriting' Program Announced
Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s Lana Condor has been cast alongside Toni Collette and Jane Fonda in the upcoming Dreamworks Animated film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. The actresses will voice a family of sea monster queens; Condor will play Ruby, a timid teenager who finds out that she is descended from a line of royal sea krakens; Colette will play her overprotective mother, while Fonda will play her grandmother, the kraken queen. Additional cast includes Colman Domingo, Sam Richardson, Blue Chapman, Will Forte, Nicole Byer, Liza Koshy, Ramona Young, Eduardo Franco, and Echo Kellum. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken will hit theaters on June 30th, 2023.
Denzel Washington is in talks to join the cast of the Gladiator sequel, which takes place after Ridley Scott’s 2000 film of the same name. The project will mark the second collaboration between Washington and Scott, the first being American Gangster. The film will follow Lucius, “the son of Connie Nielson’s Lucilla and the nephew of Phoenix’s Commodus,” with Paul Mescal leading the cast with Barry Keoghan. Produced by Paramount and Universal, the Gladiator sequel currently has a release date of November 22nd, 2024.
Keke Palmer - NBC
Comedy: Fate: The Winx Saga’s Paulina Chávez and The Exorcist II’s Rose Portillo have joined the cast of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The women will join the previously announced cast for the Disney+ film, including Eva Longoria, George Lopez, and Jesse Garcia. Chávez is set to play Mia Garcia, the sassy, independent 16-year-old-sister to Alexander (Thom Nemer), while Portillo will play the grandmother of the Garcia family. Longoria and Garcia will play the parents of Mia, Alexander, and David. The film, based on Judith Viorst’s book of the same name, will follow eleven-year-old Alexander who, during a family vacation to California, believes he has the worst luck in the world. Production will begin this spring, although a release date is currently unknown.
Keke Palmer will collaborate with Kevin Hart for a feature comedy for Universal. The Backup, starring and produced by Palmer, will also be produced by Hart under his company Hartbeat. Other producers include Bryan Smiley, Sharon Palmer, and Autumn Bailey-Ford. The film, written by Chris Brew and Jordan Gouveia, will follow Ben, a womanizing man who finally decides he’s ready to settle down with Alyssa (Palmer), his childhood best friend. This plan goes awry when Alyssa tells him she’s engaged to a billionaire and asks Ben to be her best man instead. Although there is no director currently attached to the project, The Backup is currently in development. The release date is unknown.
Barbie Ferreria - LISA O'CONNOR
Drama: Creed III’s Jonathan Majors will reteam with Spike Lee for Da Understudy, where he will play a Broadway actor who“finds a role he’s willing to kill for.” Although unconfirmed, Lee is in talks to direct and executive produce Da Understudy, with Majors acting as a producer under his Tall Street Productions label. Other producers include Will Smith, Jon Mone, Mike Soccio, and Tyler Cole. Not much else is known about the plot, cast, and release date.
Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira and Stranger Things’s Dacre Montgomery will star together in Faces of Death. The film, a thriller, will be a retelling of Legendary Productions’ 1978 cult horror movie of the same name. While the exact plot is unknown, it will likely follow closely with the original film. Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber, the writer and director (respectively), commented: “Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping-off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.” Faces of Death’s release date has not been announced.
Charles D. King - Rodin Eckenroth / GA
Industry Updates: Macro, Charles D. King’s media company focused on bringing attention to underrepresented voices, has raised a “$90 million minority investment from BlackRock Alternatives, HarbourView Partners, and funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.” The money will be used to expand the company’s production capabilities and will “diversify its revenue streams.” The CIO of BlackRock’s Alternative Solutions Group, Pam Chan, comments:
“Macro has an established track record of producing premium, award-winning TV and film content focused on people of color, which has historically been short in supply but high in demand. We are pleased to make this investment on behalf of our clients, and look forward to partnering with Charles and Marcro’s management team to further the company’s mission of increasing representation of persons of color across its media verticals.”
J.B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois, has signed a 10-year extension of Illinois’ film tax incentive, which allows productions to earn 30% back on expenses through January 1, 2033. It now includes nine new positions eligible for tax breaks for non-residents, including director, writer, DP, production designer, costume designer, production accountant, visual-effects supervisor, editor, and composer. There is no limit on how many films can receive these tax benefits. Illinois’ incentive is aimed at making “it as easy as possible for productions to come, have a good experience and return in the future.”
“Screamwriting,” a program by Blumhouse and K Period Media with the goal of supporting film and TV writers from underrepresented groups, has found its inaugural fellows. The fellows will receive mentorship from top industry members, including Ryan Murphy, Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy, Mike Flanagan, and Crystal Liu. Nine participants, including Geo Bradley, Chelsea Gonzalez, Julien Magnat, Kaushik Sampath, Mai and Kim Spurlock, Meg Swertlow, Myung Joh Wesner, and Neil Creque Williams will be working on eight projects in partnership with the Sundance Institute.
