Motion Picture: Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin Displayed In New Trailer, Gold House And NALIP Team Up For #LatinxGoldOpen
John Boyega - StudioCanal
Action: John Boyega is returning as Moses to the sequel of the 2011 sci-fi urban cult horror Attack the Block. While plot details are currently being kept under wraps, Joe Cornish will return to write and direct the London-centered alien thriller. Attack the Block 2 will be produced by Cornish and Nira Park of Complete Fiction Pictures, the production company formed through the partnership of Cornish and fellow director Edgar Wright.
Idris Elba will prove who’s the real King of the Jungle in Baltasar Kormákur’s upcoming thriller Beast. Slated for a summer 2022 release, Beast tells the story of a South African game reserve trip gone horribly wrong as a recently widowed father (Elba) must protect his two daughters from a prowling lion. Written by Ryan Engle (of Rampage, Non-Stop) and directed by Kormákur (Everest, Contraband), the film is produced by Will Packer and James Lopez of Will Packer Productions and distributed by Universal.
Leslie Odem Jr. - Rich Fury
Comedy: Leslie Odom Jr. has joined the ever-growing cast of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel. This casting news comes months after Johnson inked a $400M deal with Netflix to write and direct two sequels to the Agatha Christie-inspired mystery. Johnson will produce with business partner Ram Bergman with production set for this summer in Greece.
Drama: Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) is set to star as the iconic voice of soul Aretha Franklin in Liesl Tommy’s upcoming biopic Respect. Following the songstress’s life from childhood to stardom, Respect reveals a wealth of black talent in its latest trailer, featuring performances by Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Mary J. Blige, and Audra McDonald, among others. The film is produced by Scott Bernstein and Harvey Mason Jr. The film is scheduled for release on August 21st, 2021.
nalip.org
Industry Update: A recent study has found that Asian and Pacific Islander characters were absent from nearly 39% of top-grossing films dating back to 2007, with only 44 out of 1300 films featuring an AAPI lead or co-lead. In a reveal almost comically unfortunate, 14 out of the 44 films that featured AAPI leads were thanks entirely to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starring. This data comes from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, stating in a recent poll that “White male actors named Ben, Chris, Daniel, James, Jason, John, Josh, Michael, Robert, Sean or Tom were far more likely to be hired as the top actor in a film than an API woman actor with any name auditioning in all of Hollywood.”
AAPI nonprofit Gold House is partnering with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers for #LatinxGoldOpen, a campaign moving to buyout theaters and ticket drives in preparation for In The Heights opening on June 11th. Over 80 high-profile individuals and businesses have extended support to #LatinxGoldOpen, including Gemma Chan, Eva Longoria, the African American Film Critics Association, Define America, and many others. In a statement released by Zoe Saldana, “We encourage everyone to join the #LatinxGoldOpen movement to celebrate our beautiful Latinx community so we can ensure more projects like In the Heights are made.”
The HFPA adopted a new Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct last Thursday with over 90% approval, one of many efforts made in recent days by the Golden Globes host to counteract its soured reputation. This pushback came as a result of the February Los Angeles Times exposé revealing that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association currently holds zero black members, as well as unethical business dealings. Beyond vowing that HFPA members will act “respectfully and professionally at all HFPA and other industry events, such as press conferences and screenings,” little tangible change has been presented as a result of this “New Code” at present.
Amazon has bought MGM Holdings in a speculated $9B megadeal earlier this week. Not only will Amazon now have access to one of the largest Hollywood film and television libraries – including the James Bond franchise – but marks the company’s biggest move to date since the tech giant entered the world of entertainment.
Executive VP and CFO of ViacomCBS, Naveen Chopra, has stated that shortened windows between theatrical releases and streaming availability are likely here to stay, and not simply a pandemic work-around. This means that films such as John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II, which will be released on Paramount+ 45 days after it opens over Memorial Weekend, will continue this release schedule. “Our strategy of continuing to pivot our assets and resources to streaming is working and that’s evidenced by the early returns we’ve seen from Paramount+,” stated Chopra.
