Motion Picture: Whoopi Goldberg Stars In Emmett Till Drama, Leslie Odom Jr. Leads 'The Exorcist' Branch-Off

Action: Universal and Peacock have inked a $400M deal acquiring the rights to build a new trilogy based on the foundations of Warner Brothers’ The Exorcist. With a deal negotiated by CAA, current Halloween reboot director David Gordon Green will likewise direct the first of this franchise’s revamping as well, collaborating on the script with Halloween 2018 team Danny McBride, Scott Teems, and Peter Sattler. Though plot details remain under wraps, the first film in this franchise branch-off sees the return of the original film’s Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil, sought out by a father (portrayed by Leslie Odom Jr.) who finds himself in a similar situation to hers back in 1973. The film is produced by Blumhouse and Morgan Creek with a release slated for Oct 13, 2023.

Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros have dropped the first full trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel Dune. The film stars Zendaya as Chani, a native woman of the planet Arrakis who comes to Paul (Timothée Chalamet) in his dreams and jumpstarts his journey to protect his family and his people from malicious and power-hungry forces threatening to exploit the planet’s most precious natural resource. Other cast standouts include Oscar Isaac, Dave Bautista, Chang Chen, and Javier Bardem, among others. The long-awaited sci-fi epic will finally open in theaters, Imax, and HBO Max on Oct 22.

Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page is set to star in Paramount’s The Saint film reboot, with playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah to pen the new draft. Based on the novels by Leslie Charteris and the 1962 British television series of the same name, The Saint depicts a modern-day Robin Hood, who steals to the rich and gives to the poor – while giving himself a healthy percentage. The project has been in the works since 2019 and is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Brad Krevoy, and the late Robert Evans, who will receive a posthumous credit for his work prior to his death in 2019. Specific plot details as well as confirmation of the current director attached to the project is currently unknown.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is spearheading the film adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel Fortress of Solitude set at Amazon Studios. With a script written by playwright Dave Harris, Fortress of Solitude follows two friends in 1970’s Brooklyn who, after finding a magic ring with the directive to fight evil, form a bond that is put to the test as the boys age and grow in a society that seemingly continues to divide them through racial and class lines. Gomez-Rejon is producing, with Jonathan Lethem and Joshua Malkin as executive producers.

Jenna Ortega - Michael Tran / Stringer

Drama: Top Boy breakout star Michael Ward has joined the cast of Sam Mendes’ next film Empire of Light. Ward will co-star alongside Olivia Coleman in what is described as a love story centered around a historic cinema on the south England coast in the 1980’s. The script is written by Mendes and produced through Neale Street Productions. Searchlight Pictures has projected a release date sometime in the fall of 2022.

Whoopi Goldberg and Watchmen star Danielle Deadwyler are set to star in Till, a drama focusing on the aftermath of the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 as an act of racial violence. Till will particularly focus on Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and her choice to have an open-casket at her son’s funeral to showcase the brutality of his murder, a huge galvanizing factor in the civil rights movement of the late 50’s and 60’s. Deadwyler and Goldberg will portray Mamie and Emmett’s grandmother Alma Carthan, respectively. The film is directed and written by Clemency director Chinonye Chuku, based on an initial script by Michael J P Reilly and Keith Beauchamp. Till is produced by MGM’s Orion Pictures with production set to begin this September in Atlanta.

Warner Bros has acquired global distribution rights to Megan Park’s SXSW multi-award-winner and competition darling The Fallout. The Fallout tells the story of high school girl Vada (played by Jenna Ortega) and how she works through the emotional fallout within her school and family life following the aftermath of a school shooting. Other members of the cast include Maddie Ziegler, John Ortiz, Lumi Pollack, and Julie Bowen, among others. The Fallout is written by Park and will premiere exclusively on HBO Max.

Joel Cohen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth will debut the opening night of the 2021 New York Film Festival in its world premiere. Starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand opposite each other, The Tragedy of Macbeth depicts an “anguishing” visualization of the Shakespearean play shot in stark, dramatic chiaroscuro lighting. The film also stars Ralph Ineson, Brendan Gleeson, Harry Melling, and Corey Hawkins, and will be released through Apple and A24 later this year.

PGA

Industry Update: The Producer’s Guild of America has scheduled their 33rd annual award ceremony for Feb 26, 2022. Films released between March 1 and December 31, 2021, will be considered eligible, a decrease from their extended 14-month window from the previous year as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic. PGA has also announced plans to return to in-person celebration for nominated producers on both the East and West coast.