Motion Picture: Spinoffs, Princes', and Hollywood Stars
Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Amid the beginning of Halloween season, the thrillers and scary flicks are coming back full force with studios and streaming services picking up all their creepy bests. Director James Wan (Saw) will be directing a new indie horror project. Returning to his roots, Wan has yet to release any further details other than he created the idea of the film with his fiancé Ingrid Bisu, star of The Nun and Toni Erdmann. This will add to his already busy schedule which includes producing the upcoming Mortal Kombat remake, directing Aquaman 2 and Amazon’s TV remake of the cult classic teen slasher “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
Warner Bros announced back in March that they will be releasing a Tom and Jerry hybrid, live-action film in April of 2021. The film will be directed by Tim Story (Think Like A Man) and join the ever-growing trend studios are following of bringing their classic cartoons to real-life.
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Comedy: The Coming 2 America cast is slowly forming as Wesley Snipes joins Eddy Murphy and original cast member Arsenio Hall. Snipes is the first new member to join, playing a ruler of a neighboring nation to the African country Akeem (Murphy) comes from. There hasn’t been a set production or release date but the excitement is rising as Snipes addition to the cast brings the trio of Director Craig Brewer, Murphy and Snipes together again after they collaborated on the Rudy Ray Moore biopic set to be released next month.
The Fast and The Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw has earned a break out $181 million globally its opening weekend, leading the box office and kicking The Lion King out of the number one spot. Even though there doesn’t seem to be much competition for a few weeks in theaters, the film would have to make upwards of $700 million to be a success as its budget was $200 before marketing. With A few of the overseas markets not yet hit, including China, there could still be a chance of obtaining that goal and beating the spinoff flop history which includes Bumblebee and Fantastic Beasts.
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Drama: Guiliermo Del Torro’s film Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark will be making its theatrical release this weekend. The trailer features iconic Del Torro creatures, as seen in his previous works such as Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, the director does not shy away from letting his imagination run wild. The film adaptation of the best-selling children’s book is his way of “trying to keep physical effects alive.” The Mexican director recently was given his star on The Hollywood walk of fame and repped his country proudly, waving the Mexican flag at the ceremony.
Quintin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is doing more than just becoming the highest-grossing open of the director’s career. It is also building up quite a bit of criticism for its portrayal of legend Bruce Lee. The scene in question pits the icon against Brad Pitt’s character in a fistfight on a studio lot. The backlash started with Bruce Lee’s daughter stating the person represented on the screen was a “caricature” of her father.
Sony Pictures released its first trailer for the Antonio Banderas starring film Pain and Glory directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The fully Spanish-language film follows Banderas’ character, a director in the decline of his career, as he travels down memory road. The cast includes names like Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Penelope Cruz, Julieta Serrano, Raúl Arévalo and Asier Flores. Banderas won the Best Actor award when the film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The film will be hitting select theaters in NY and LA on October 4th.
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Industry Update: James Murdoch’s firm purchases a large stake of the Tribeca Film Festival company. Through multiple investor’s, Lupa Systems, led by former 21st Century Fox CEO, has taken over a majority of the company which holds the annual Tribeca Film Festival. Founded by Robert De Niro back in 2003, the company has played a tremendous role in the indie circuits voice, uplifting films such as this year’s Yesterday to a larger audience. As much of Murdoch’s Fox-owned media empire was acquired by Disney, the creation of Lupa Systems was said to allow the mogul to focus on media and tech investments. Little has been disclosed for the future plans of Tribeca, but in a statement released by the company’s Enterprise CEO Jane Rosenthal, growth is the main focus on the agenda.
