Motion Picture: 'Emancipation' Trailer Showcases Will Smith; James Wan Considers A Merger
Ramon Rodriguez - Albert L. Ortega
Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Mo McRae’s (The First Purge) thriller and directorial debut, A Lot of Nothing, has been picked up by RLJE Films. The film stars Y’Ian Noel, Cleopatra Coleman, Lex Scott Davis, Shamier Anderson, and Justin Hartley. A Lot of Nothing follows a seemingly perfect couple, James (Noel) and Vanessa (Coleman), who realize after tuning into the evening news that their neighbor was involved in a tragedy. James and Vanessa insert themselves into the issue, feeling that they need to “do something about it.” The film was written by McRae and Sarah Kelly Kaplan, and produced by Scalable Content, Secret Society Films, and Traction and Anonymous Content along with McRae, Inny Clemons, Jason Tamasco, Zak Kristofek, and DeAnna Gravillis, with executive producers David Oyelowo, Kim Hodgert, and Nina Soriano. The film will be released in theatres and on-demand through AMC on February 3rd, 2023.
John R. Leonetti and Alcon Entertainment’s upcoming horror film Lullaby has cast Ramon Rodriguez (Need for Speed). Rodriguez will join Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones) in the folklore-inspired film that follows a mother who discovers an old book that contains a lullaby that summons Lilith, an ancient demon. Lullaby will start filming in Toronto at the end of November. Producers include Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, Lee Nelson, David Tish, with executive producers Markus Goerg, Mikhail Nayfeld, Dick Hillenbrand, Jeff Bowler, John Lewis, Bret Saxon, and Mark Holder. It is unclear what role Rodriguez will take on. Lullaby’s release date has not yet been announced.
Comedy: The trailer for Something From Tiffany’s, Prime Video’s holiday rom-com featuring Kendrick Sampson and Zoey Deutch as the leads, has been released. The rest of the cast includes Rose Abdoo, Shay Mitchell, Ray Nicholson, Javicia Leslie, and Jojo T. Gibbs, with Daryl Wein serving as director and Tamara Chestna writing the script inspired by Melissa Hill’s novel of the same name. The holiday flick follows the couple Rachel (Deutch) and Gary (Nicholson), who aren’t yet ready to commit to an engagement, and Ethan (Sampson) and Vanessa (Mitchell), who are the opposite. When a Tiffany & Co. box gets switched around with another present, a “romantic twist” forces the couples to reconsider who their soulmates really are. The film will be released on Prime Video on December 9th, 2022.
Rachel True is reprising her role as Mary Jane in the sequel to Half Baked, Half Baked 2. Joining True is Dexter Darden (The Maze Runner), Moses Storm (Everything’s Trash), Ramona Young (Never Have I Ever), Ash Santos (Heart of Champions), Joel Courtney (The Kissing Booth), and David Koechner (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy). The film will follow JR (Darden), Miles (Storm), and Cori (Young) as they try to come up with enough money to bury their friend, Bruce (Courtney), after he died from “smoking the most powerful joint in the world.” Half Baked 2 is directed by Michael Tiddes, produced by Griff Furst, and written by Justin Hires. Glenn Ross, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Universal 1440 Entertainment, comments that the “new characters and a hilarious story” will certainly “satisfy followers of the original film while attracting a whole new generation of fans…We can’t wait to show audiences where the story goes from here.” The comedy will be released by Universal 1440 Entertainment sometime next year on streaming platforms.
Drama: Oyin Oladejo (Star Trek: Discovery) has been cast as the lead in the upcoming indie film Orah. Orah will follow the character of the same name, who killed a man in Nigeria at aged 15 before leaving Africa with her baby; almost two decades later, Orah, an illegal immigrant living in Canada, works as a taxi driver for an attorney and his well-known Nigerian client, Bami Hazar, both of whom are involved in a high profile international money laundering scheme. When Hazar murders Orah’s son, she seeks violent revenge. Lonzo Nzekwe, who has been working on the project for 11 years, will write and direct. The film has wrapped its first stage of production and will shoot in Nigeria in December. Oladejo will star alongside Agape Mngomezulu, Lucky Onyekachi Ejim, Morgan Bedard, Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, Oris Erhuero, O.C. Ukeje, Femi Lawson, and Christopher Seivright. The film will be financed by Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, and will be produced by Circle Blue Entertainment, Freddie Films, and IronFlix Inc.
The first trailer for Emancipation, Apple Original’s drama depicting slavery in the United States in the 1860s, has dropped. Will Smith plays Peter, a man who escapes slavery and a character inspired by the photos taken during a Union Army medical examination of “Whipped Peter” in 1863. The photos became evidence of the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery after they appeared in Harper’s Weekly. The trailer features Peter as he runs from bloodhounds, slave hunters, and alligators in the Louisiana swamps. Smith acts as a producer alongside Jon Mone, Joey McFarland, and Todd Black and works under director Antione Fuqua. Smith will also star alongside Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, 2016), Charmaine Bingwa (Black Box), Gilbert Owuor (Montana Story), and Mustafa Shakir (Cowboy Bebop). The film will be released in theatres on December 2nd, with its global release on Apple TV+ following the next week on December 9th, 2022.
Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, and Dominique Thorne have been cast in Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales. Pascal, Ellis, and Thorne join their co-stars Ben Mendelsohn, Jack Champion, and Angus Cloud to tell the story of the interconnected lives of Oakland natives in 1987. eOne will finance the film while Jillian Share, Jen Gorton, Chanel Vidal, Jelani Johnson, and Poppy Hanksa will produce. Executive producers include Share, Gorton, Charles D. King, and James F. Lopez. Raphael Saadiq will oversee Freaky Tales’ music. It is unclear what roles Pascal, Ellis, Thorne, Mendelsohn, Champion, and Cloud will play. The film’s release date has not been set.
Travis Scott and Isaac Yowman have signed on as executive producers for Columbia Picture’s DJ Screw biopic. Scott became involved with the film after meeting Yowman in LA and talking about their mutual admiration for Screw, who died over two decades ago on November 16th, 2000. Columbia Pictures, Scott, and Yowman have met with writers to “[identify] the best way to tell this story on paper.” Screw’s sister, Michelle Wheeler, comments that “nearly a dozen film directors and producers have approached us over the years, but this was the first time I actually felt fully comfortable. I’m very thankful for Sony and Travis being on this journey with us, keeping my brother Screw’s legacy going.” It appears that the film is in the early stages of production and the release date and cast have not yet been announced.
Production has wrapped on Searchlight Pictures’ The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, a film based on Edward Kelsey Moore’s 2013 novel of the same name. The newly-announced cast includes Dijon Means (P-Valley), Xavier Mills (Grief), Cleveland Berto (Terminator: Dark Fate), and Ryan Paynter (Spoken). The film is directed by Tina Mabry and follows the interconnected lives of three best friends spanning decades. Means, Mills, Berto, and Paynter’s roles have not been announced, but they join fellow cast members Russell Hornsby, Mekhi Phifer, Kyanna Simone, Tati Gabrielle, Abigail Achiri, Julian McMahon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Tony Winters. The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat’s release date has not been announced.
Documentary: A trailer for Loudmouth, Greenwich Entertainment’s documentary about civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, has been released. Loudmouth is directed by Josh Alexander and executive produced by John Legend. A synopsis of the documentary reads:
“Chronicling Rev. Al Sharpton’s work for social change from the streets of 1980s Brooklyn to 2020 Minneapolis, Loudmouth presents never-before-seen footage on the frontlines, in the media and in the corridors of power, to paint an intimate and revealing portrait of this tireless activist.”
The documentary will hit theatres on December 9th and will stream on VOD (Amazon Prime) and Apple TV on January 13th, 2023. The documentary features appearances from Barack Obama, Rev. Jesse Jackson, James Brown, and New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Rev. Sharpton hopes his documentary “will inspire the next generation of loudmouths to stand up and call out injustice in their communities.”
The inaugural cohort and mentors for The Gotham Film and Media Institute and HBO Documentary Films have been announced as Zeshawn Ali, Brit Fryer, Juan Pablo González, Melanie Ho, Crystal Kayiza, Jasmín Mara López, Amber Love, Khaula Malik, Habiba Nosheen, and Mobolaji Olambiwonnu. The mentors have been announced as Cecilia Aldarondo, Geeta Gandbhir, TJ Martin, Smriti Mundhra, Matt O’Neil, Sam Pollard, Alex Stapleton, Jennifer Tiexiera, Rudy Valdez, and Matt Wolf. The Documentary Development Initiative was created to support “storytellers who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and/or storytellers with disabilities, by providing them with the resources necessary to develop thought-provoking, character-driven, contemporary ideas for documentary films and limited series.” Each of the winning filmmakers will receive a $50,000 grant for new documentary projects, the opportunity to receive additional funding, as well as individual mentoring. The program spans from November 2022 through fall 2023.
Jame Wan’s - Steve Granitz
Industry Updates: There is talk of a merger between James Wan’s Atomic Monster Productions and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. This comes after Wan and Blum collaborated as producers for the upcoming horror film M3GAN. Under the merger, both production companies would “operate under separate labels, with each maintaining its own creative autonomy and brand identity.” If the two companies merge, Atomic Monster “would have a first-look deal with Universal Pictures.” Both companies are interested in expanding into video games, live experiences, and audio.
