Motion Picture: ‘The Fantastic Four' Cast Unveiled, Wanda Sykes To Star in ‘Undercard’
MICHELLE YEOH - ARTURO HOLMES/MG22
Action/Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Caleeb Pinkett (Cobra Kai) are set to produce a live-action feature adaptation of Dallas Jackson and Joe Casey’s comic book The Storm Clan. The comic follows an ex-military weapons engineer who trains his adopted children to become thieves with bionic-body armor. The children soon use the armor to protect themselves and form a sense of familial belonging. Jackson (Thriller) and Casey (Ben 10) will write the feature’s script. The comic is the first for Jackson’s company DJ Classicz Comix.
Rita Moreno (80 for Brady, The Prank) and Roselyn Sanchez (Fantasy Island, Grand Hotel) are set to star in the indie horror film Theirs. Directed by Sonja O’Hara (Mid-Century) and written by Juan Pablo Reinoso, the film is also set to star Harvey Keitel (The Irishman, Lansky) and Udo Kier (Swan Song, Hunters). The film follows a mother and her teenage daughter facing hostile secrets held within the walls of their new home. The film will go into production this summer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Titan, an upcoming action-adventure-horror film, is set to have Kiana Madeira (Fear Street trilogy, After franchise) and Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day franchise, Boy Kills World) in its cast. Set in Brazil, the film follows the clash between a group of doctors in the Amazon rainforest and a predator, the “Boiúna,” who wants to take back the environment. The film will be directed by Mike P. Nelson (V/H/S/85, Wrong Turn), who will co-write the film with Alan B. McElroy (Star Trek: Discovery). Titan is being produced by Constantin Film and JB Pictures, with Robert Kulzer and Jeremy Bolt, both of the Resident Evil franchise, producing for each, respectively.
Pedro Pascal will portray Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four. The casting of the Fantastic Four was announced on Feb. 14; joining Pascal is Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing. While the comics’ lore involves the four becoming superheroes after exposure to cosmic rays in space, the plot of the Marvel Studios film, and its antagonist, are currently unknown. Directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and written by Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer, The Fantastic Four will release on July 25, 2025.
Will Smith is set to star in Sugar Bandits. An action-thriller film based on Chuck Hogan’s novel Devils in Exile, the film follows a group of war veterans (Smith will play an Iraq War veteran) combating Boston’s drug trade. Hogan wrote the film’s script; Smith is also producing Sugar Bandits through Westbrook Studios. The film was first announced at Universal in 2013, and is now being shopped at the European Film Market by AGC International and CAA Media Finance, which represent Sugar Bandits’ worldwide distribution rights.
Melanie Laurent’s The Mother is set to star Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh will play an immigrant mother in America who takes on a Boston crime ring after her two sons get into trouble with it. Written by P.G. Cuschieri, the film will be offered to buyers at the European Film Market by AGC International and CAA Media Finance. The Mother is set to begin production this summer.
Danielle Deadwyler (Till, The Harder They Fall) is set to star in The Woman in the Yard. The thriller is to be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Black Adam) and comes from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse. Both Deadwyler and Collet-Serra will executive produce the film. The Woman in the Yard is set to be theatrically released on Jan. 10, 2025.
Raúl Castillo (Cassandro, Army of the Dead) and Miles Gutierrez-Riley (The Wilds, On The Come Up) have joined the cast of the sequel to Paramount’s Smile. The horror sequel is set to release on Oct. 18, 2024. The rest of the cast includes Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, and Dylan Gelula. Details about the film’s plot and characters are currently unknown.
The U.S. rights to the sci-fi thriller Slingshot have been acquired by Bleecker Street. From director Mikael Håfström, the film follows an astronaut who begins to lose touch with reality after a mission to Titan, Saturn’s moon, is compromised - potentially fatally. Slingshot’s cast features Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Emily Beecham. Bleecker Street plans to theatrically release the film in the U.S. in 2024.
Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz have joined the cast of Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. Set to begin filming later in 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa, the film follows a man from the future recruiting a group of diner patrons to join him in a world-saving quest against artificial intelligence. Additional members to have joined the cast include Sam Rockwell (who will play the man from the future), Haley Lu Richardson, and Juno Temple (Richardson, Temple, Peña, and Beetz will play the diner patrons). Verbinski will also produce.
Bassem Youssef claims his role in Superman: Legacy was lost due to Pro-Palestinian comments he made in an interview on Piers Morgan: Uncensored. According to Deadline, Youssef taped an audition for a role in the film before 2023’s actor’s strike. However, the script that James Gunn turned in after 2023’s writer’s strike had Youssef’s character cut. According to a production source that Deadline mentions, the role was never offered to Youssef. Additionally, a Twitter post from Gunn, according to Deadline, confirms that Youssef’s role was cut before his appearance on Piers Morgan: Uncensored.
The domestic rights to the feature Greedy People have been acquired by Lionsgate. The film follows a peaceful town being upended after a murder and the discovery of $1 million with the body. Greedy People stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lily James, Himesh Patel, Uzo Aduba, Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Gaffigan, and Simon Rex. The film will be directed by Potsy Ponciroli; Ponciroli previously collaborated with Blake Nelson on the Western Old Henry.
The feature The Memory Police, starring Lily Gladstone, is coming. The film is a Reed Morano-directed and Charlie Kaufman-written adaptation of the novel by Yōko Ogawa, which follows a writer on an island where people collectively forget because of a concealed force. The film is to be executive produced by Martin Scorsese; The Memory Police will be the latest collaboration between Scorsese and Gladstone after Killers of the Flower Moon. For her role as Mollie Kyle in that film, Gladstone became the first Native American woman to be nominated for an Oscar.
Comedy/Dramedy/Musical: A trailer for Martin Amini’s debut comedy special, I’m Transcending, was released. The full special, taped in Washington, D.C., was also released on YouTube. Executive produced by Amini, among others, the special’s topics include Amini’s upbringing with immigrant parents and his contending with dual cultural influences in a divorced household. The comedian is currently on his “Martin Had a Dream” theater tour.
Elizabeth Olsen (WandaVision) and Charles Melton (May December) are set to star in Todd Solondz’s Love Child. The dark comedy follows an 11-year-old who sets out to get rid of his brutish father so his mother can marry a newcomer, which eventually leads to another disastrous plan. The film comes from Killer Films, 2AM, Volition Media, Gramercy Park Media, and Rocket Science. Volition Media and Gramercy Park Media are fully financing the film, while Rocket Science is orchestrating international sales. WME and Cinetic Media co-represent Love Child’s U.S. rights.
Jennifer Lopez financed her film This is Me…Now: A Love Story, which was released on Prime Video, after financiers backed out. Inspired by Lopez’s album This is Me…Now, the musical was co-written by Lopez from a story she also co-developed. The film features multiple celebrities in its 65-minute runtime, including Jane Fonda, Ben Affleck, Trevor Noah, Post Malone, Keke Palmer, Sofía Vergara, Jay Shetty, Fat Joe, Kim Petras, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Drama: The trailer for the Shirley Chisholm biopic Shirley has been released. Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, will be played by Regina King, who will also produce the film. Following Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign, Shirley also stars Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Terrence Howard, and Christina Jackson, among many others. The film will be written, directed, and produced by John Ridley. Netflix will release the film on Mar. 22.
Jaafar Jackson’s portrayal of his uncle, Michael Jackson, has been showcased in a first look image of the biopic Michael. In the image, the King of Pop’s “Man in the Mirror” look is recreated from his 1992-93 Dangerous Tour. The photo of Jaafar Jackson was taken by Kevin Mazur, who photographed Michael Jackson. In addition to Jackson, the film stars Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Juliano Krue Valdi, and Miles Teller. Currently in production, Michael - directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Graham King, John Branca, and John McClain - is set for a theatrical release of April 18, 2025.
The martial arts drama film Strawweight is set to include Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, 12 Years a Slave) and Chloe Grace Moretz (The Peripheral, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) in its cast. The two will star as opposing Octagon fighters: one discovers her passion for the UFC (Moretz), while the other, a champion, wants to reclaim her title (Nyong’o). The film will be directed by James M. Johnston in his feature directorial debut; he also co-wrote the film’s story. Among Strawweight’s producers is Lars Knudsen of Square Peg (Hereditary, Dream Scenario).
The 23rd film from Mike Leigh, Hard Truths, has unveiled its cast and a first-look image. The project, currently only known to be a study of family life and to have been shot in London in 2023 in regards to plot details, has reunited the director with multiple past collaborators. These include actors Marianne Jean-Baptistse (The Book of Clarence, Secrets & Lies) and Michele Austin, producer Georgina Lowe, costume designer Jacqueline Dion, production designer Suzie Davis, cinematographer Dick Pope, casting director Nina Gold, and composer Gary Yershon. The film will be theatrically released in the U.S. by Bleecker Street in 2024.
Wanda Sykes (History Of The World: Part II, The Upshaws) is set to star in the boxing drama film Undercard in her first dramatic film role. In the film, Sykes will play a boxing trainer who, after abandoning her son, rises and coaches him to a boxing championship title. The film is being co-written and directed by Tamika Miller (Honor Student), with Anita M. Cal co-writing. Catalyst Studios is producing the film and beginning its sales at the European Film Market. Undercard is in pre-production.
Jazzy, the follow-up/companion piece to the indie drama The Unknown Country, is reuniting much of the creatives on The Unknown Country, including Lily Gladstone and Morrisa Maltz. The film will star Gladstone (who will also executive produce the film with Duplass Brothers Productions) and Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux, who portrays the titular character. The film follows Jazzy and her peers embarking into adulthood, and will merge real-life characters and textures into a fictional narrative. Wrapping production in 2023, Jazzy was one of the first films allowed to complete filming during the strikes after receiving the SAG Waiver Agreement.
Iqbal Theba is set to star in Hurricanna, the Anna Nicole Smith biopic directed by Francesca Gregorini. While Theba’s role is under wraps, the film will follow the celebrity’s final days. Written by Rachel and Matt Sarnoff, who are also executive producing, the film will also star Sylvia Hoeks, Mark Duplass, Holly Hunter, and Nicholas Hamilton.
Documentary: The trailer for Paramount+’s documentary Becoming King was released; the documentary was released on Feb. 19. The documentary follows actor David Oyelowo’s journey of portraying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film Selma. The project was produced and directed, in her directorial debut, by actress, singer, songwriter, and producer Jessica Oyelowo, who is also David Oyelowo’s wife. Becoming King marks the latest collaboration between David Oyelowo and Paramount+ after the actor’s work in the first season of Lawmen: Bass Reeves.
Jean-Cosme Delaloye’s (Harley) documentary on Detroit techno music producer Carl Craig has wrapped production. Focusing on the life of Craig, the documentary - Desire: The Carl Craig Story - globe-trots, with locations including Detroit, the Montreux Jazz Festival, London, Bristol, Chicago, and Ciudad Juarez, among others. The documentary also features other artists who worked with Craig and were instrumental in techno and electronic music being brought to the masses. Such artists include Gilles Petersen, DJ Minx, and Moritz von Oswald, among others. Desire: The Carl Craig Story marks another collaboration between Switzerland’s Bord Cadre films and the U.K.’s Sovereign Films after 2022’s Triangle of Sadness.
Dawn Porter (Luther: Never Too Much) will direct a documentary on the relationship between Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Based on Jonny Steinberg’s book, Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage, the documentary will follow the Mandelas’ bond and marriage. Porter will produce the film through her Trilogy Films, along with the Schultz Family Foundation. Porter’s documentary marks the Schultz Family Foundation’s first foray into storytelling projects relating to the foundation’s mission of creating greater, universally-accessible opportunity.
Joanna Lombardi’s (In House, How to Get Over a Breakup) first documentary, Stay Still, has been selected to screen at March’s Málaga Festival. The documentary focuses on three individuals trying to make spaces for themselves. The three individuals are Hilton, a gravedigger in an illegal cemetery, and Cristina and Hilda, who come to a plot of land nearby. Selected for San Sebastian’s Co-Production Forum in 2021, the film is produced by Lombardi, Cimarrón Cine, and Enid “Pinky” Campos.
PBS series Independent Lens released the documentary Breaking the News on Feb. 19. The documentary focuses on The 19th, a nonprofit news startup created to disrupt the white-male dominated U.S. news industry. The 19th’s newsroom centers women, nonbinary, and LGBTQ journalists. Premiering at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, the documentary won the David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking at the Montclair Film Festival. Directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston, and Chelsea Hernandez, Breaking the News premiered on PBS stations and is available to view on the PBS App and PBS’ flagship YouTube channel.
Lily Gladstone will narrate Bring Them Home, a documentary about a Blackfeet initiative towards buffalo conservation. The film, directed by Ivan and Ivy MacDonald (a Blackfeet brother and sister duo), follows members of the “Blackfoot Confederacy” attempting to return buffalo to the Blackfeet Reservation. For the Blackfeet, buffalo (iinnii) are seen as spiritual relatives. The documentary will premiere at Big Sky Documentary Festival on Feb. 24.
An untitled Roger Federer feature documentary that was originally developed as a home movie is coming to Prime Video. The documentary will be directed by Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia, who will also produce; Joe Sabia will serve as co-director. Focusing on the final twelve days of Federer’s tennis career, the footage was originally orchestrated by Federer to be shown to family and friends. According to him, it captured “powerful moments” and a “personal journey.”
Industry Update: At the 25th anniversary gala of nonprofit Mercy for Animals, Kate Mara (House of Cards, A Teacher), Travon Free (Two Distant Strangers, 38 at the Garden), and Tabitha Brown will be honored. At the Los Angeles red carpet event, Mara and Free will receive the Community Changemaker Award for executive producing the documentary The Smell of Money, which investigates the pork industry and focuses on a North Carolina community’s fight for clean air, pure water, and to rid their community of the smell of pig feces. Brown will receive the Love & Light Award for her promotions of plant-based living, as well as for her collaboration with the nonprofit since 2018.
IATSE and low budget film producers are forming a subcommittee to prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The subcommittee will employ the Hollywood Commission’s Respect on Set program; the program’s services are aimed to be included in IATSE’s 2025 LBA as extended provisions. Among other members, the subcommittee will include Hollywood Commission executive director Malia Arrington as chair, IATSE vice presidents Michael Miller and Vanessa Holtgrewe, and producers Bart Rosenblatt, Monica Levinson, and Jeanette Volturno.
