Onward with another week of filmy news!
IN THIS WEEK’S “In a theater near you – or at home” story, The Breaking Bad sequel movie, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, will receive a limited theatrical release alongside its arrival on Netflix.
The film will premiere on the streaming service October 11th, while screenings will be held between October 11th and 13th in 68 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico (where the movie and show were filmed). El Camino is also set to air on AMC — the network that broadcast Breaking Bad — early next year.
Announced last month, El Camino finds Aaron Paul reprising the role of Jesse Pinkman and picks up exactly where the show’s final episode left off: With Pinkman driving away in an El Camino after — spoiler alert — Walter White (Bryan Cranston) frees him from the meth lab where he’s been forced into work by a rival gang. Per a synopsis of the film: “In the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, Jesse must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future.”
Along with Paul returning as Jesse, El Camino will feature over 10 different characters from the original series, though creator Vince Gilligan would only name two of them in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.: Jesse’s dim witted associates and periodic coworkers, Badger (Matt L. Jones) and Skinny Pete (Charles Baker).
IN THIS WEEK’S “Feeling left out?” story, The Bayside gang is reuniting, but Zack Morris isn’t invited — for the time being, at least.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played the good-looking yet incorrigible Zack in NBC’s beloved Saved by the Bell series, said he was never approached to take part in the show’s forthcoming TV sequel, which will reprise roles from Mario Lopez and and Elizabeth Berkley.
“I read it in the trades just like everybody else this morning,” Gosselaar told Variety on the Mixed-ish premiere red carpet Monday night. “Honestly, I was never approached. I woke up to the news this morning with a kind of ‘huh’ response.”
Although he said he would definitely consider reprising the lovable character (“I’ve always been interested, of course,” he said), he does understand why NBC never reached out. Gosselaar now stars in Mixed-ish on ABC, which poses competition against NBCUniversal’s newly named streaming service Peacock. “I’m on ABC, so it doesn’t really fit into that considering Disney Plus, so I understand the business side of things,” he said. “But I had no idea it was that far along.”
Still, when Peacock announced plans for the Saved by the Bell revival, it drew on the popularity of Zack through the events that kick off the new series and certainly left the door open for Gosselaar to cameo.
I never watched Saved By the Bell. I’m only aware of it because it’s a part of pop culture.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Tango and…?” story, Sylvester Stallone may be wrapping things up with one character in Rambo: Last Blood, but he’s willing to revisit other previous characters, too.
Speaking to Fandango, Stallone minced no words and revealed that he’s really excited about the idea of continuing the Tango & Cash franchise with his co-star Kurt Russell. For those not familiar with Tango & Cash, the action film starred the two men as polar-opposite police officers wrongfully convicted of murder and sent to jail. After breaking out (because they’re badasses, of course), the two heroes must clear their names and capture the bad guys.
“I would do ‘Tango & Cash’ in a second,” Stallone said. “I know, with Kurt [Russell], it’s not about a caper… it’s just us doing our thing.”
Stallone is so serious about a new ‘Tango & Cash,’ he’s even already pitched it to Russell. Although, it appears that Russell is more on the fence about the idea than his co-star.
“[He said,] ‘I don’t know, Sly…There we were in our prime and now we’re in our unprime, I dunno,” revealed Stallone. “So I said, ‘Kurt, I’m telling you, ya gotta go in on this.’ So he said, ‘I’ll talk to you when I get back.’”
But that’s not all. Stallone is still actively involved in the upcoming Cobra series, teaming with Robert Rodriguez.
“I’m talking with Robert Rodriguez right now about ‘Cobra,’ which looks like that could happen,” Stallone said. “It’s basically his baby now.”
WOW. Stallone will dig up any past film of his and try to breathe life into it again.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Disney gets Medieval” story, Disney is developing a live-action adventure movie titled Knights that will be set in the Middle Ages, and the studio has tapped Operation Finale scribe Matt Orton to write the script, Collider has confirmed.
The story is said to follow a headstrong young woman who joins a knight in his quest to destroy a world-threatening artifact before it falls into the wrong hands.
According to Deadline, Knights is expected to be a theatrical title rather than a Disney+ release, and Disney’s live-action executives Jessica Virtue and Chaz Salembier will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
Virtue is a senior staffer at Disney who has worked on the Emma Stone movie Cruella and the live-action remakes of Mulan and The Little Mermaid, while Salembier has worked on the upcoming Disney+ movie Lady and the Tramp.
Disney is developing several projects set during the same Medieval time period, including Ridley Scott‘s The Merlin Saga as well as a Sword in the Stone remake from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Game of Thrones scribe Bryan Cogman.
Orton, oddly enough, is writing a Battle of Britain movie for Scott to produce and potentially direct, as well as a political thriller titled Reason of State for Black Bear Pictures. He’s represented by WME, Grandview and The Agency.
That’s a whole lotta Medieval shit getting made.
IN THIS WEEK’s “Keeping the Nightmare close” story, Some investigative work by Bloody-Disgusting has revealed that the U.S. rights for A Nightmare on Elm Street are seemingly back where they belong. Thanks to the Copyright Act, the Wes Craven estate has quietly reacquired the rights to the first film and its razor-gloved slasher, Freddy Krueger. This means we could end up seeing Freddy in some shape or form down the line without a fight from a third party, which has famously kept Friday the 13th in a brutal legal battle for years now.
The Copyright Act states that it “allows authors to take back the copyright they have sold or bargained away, upon the fulfillment of various requirements.” One such requirement is the passage of a 35 year period, which 2019 marks for the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, it is assumed that these rights are only reserved for the United States. It is believed that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema still control the international rights to the Elm Street franchise, which is how the rights for Friday the 13th currently stand.
What this means for the franchise is unclear. Robert Englund, Freddie himself, said he would be into one last chance to play Krueger, and even pass the torch off to a new actor to play the role.
But this is all maybes and who knows what will happen.
IN THIS WEEK’S “INCONCEIVABLE!” story, with the percentage of GOOD reboots/remakes being in the lower numbers, how ANYone would consider rebooting The Princess Bride is beyond me.
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that one of the biggest properties that is constantly flirting with a remake is none other than “The Princess Bride.”
Speaking to Variety, regarding a new deal that the studio worked out with producing legend Norman Lear, the Sony exec mentioned that his studio is constantly fielding inquiries from famous Hollywood folk looking to remake some of Lear’s classic properties, including the iconic 1987 film.
“We have so many people coming to us saying, ‘We want to remake this show or that show,’” Vinciquerra revealed. “Very famous people whose names I won’t use, but they want to redo ‘The Princess Bride.’ Some people want to do animated versions of some of the sitcoms. Not a month goes by when we don’t have an idea coming from some very big name wanting to do things with Norman.”
Now, just because Sony fields questions about The Princess Bride doesn’t mean that there’s active development on a remake, sequel, or whatever. It just means that Sony does take the calls and has listened to pitches.
Ok, it doesn’t mean anything is happening, but it also doesn’t mean things AREN’T happening with this. Far as I’m concerned, if Sony reboots/remakes this, they will be dead to me.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Crafty” story, The Craft brought out the witchy goth in a lot of people in the ’90’s, and Blumhouse knows that there’s potential to bring The Craft to a whole new generation and is doing so, with the help of writer-director Zoe Lister-Jones.
And according to Deadline, it appears that Lister-Jones and Blumhouse have the main cast all ready to go for its upcoming horror remake. Actresses Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, and Cailee Spaeny are the four ladies that will headline the upcoming film.
For those not familiar with the 1996 cult classic film, The Craft follows the story of a teen girl that finds herself at a new school and becomes friends with a group of self-proclaimed witches. However, after the foursome begins developing supernatural powers, friendships get tested and, basically, the shit hits the fan. The original film starred Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True as the four teens that get into the whole witchy business.
Andrew Fleming, the director and co-writer of the 1996 film, is on board as an executive producer alongside Jason Blum from Blumhouse. As mentioned, Lister-Jones is the person that is writing and directing the new film.
IN THIS WEEK’S ” Reprising the Cape” story, Exciting news today for Smallville fans. Tom Welling, who starred as Clark Kent on the WB/CW series for ten years from 2001 to 2011, will reprise his role as Superman’s alter ego on the upcoming Arrowverse crossover based on Crisis on Infinite Earths. Arrow co-creator and executive producer Marc Guggenheim told Deadline, “For eight years, Arrow has stood on the shoulders of Smallville. Simply put, there would be no Arrow, and no Arrowverse, without it,” he said. “So when we first started talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths, our first, second and third priorities were getting Tom to reprise his iconic role as Clark Kent. To say that we’re thrilled would be a Superman-sized understatement.”
Welling will now join other Supermen Tyler Hoechlin and Brandon Routh, who were both slightly easier gets since Hoechlin has played Superman on Supergirl while Routh is already part of the Arrowverse playing Ray Palmer/The Atom on Legends of Tomorrow (although Routh will soon be leaving Legends of Tomorrow, which he said was “not my decision.”) There’s no word yet if Welling will be suiting up as Superman for the crossover or remaining as Clark Kent, but his participation will likely bring in the Smallville contingent who have missed seeing him play the character.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover over will span five episodes across five franchises—Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman—and air three episodes in December with the remaining two in January.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Call me Nobody” story, Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk has signed on to star in the thriller Nobody.
The Universal pic follows Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk), a suburban dad, overlooked husband, nothing neighbor — a “nobody.”
When two thieves break into his home one night, Hutch’s unknown long-simmering rage is ignited and propels him on a brutal path that will uncover dark secrets he fought to leave behind.
Hardcore Henry director Ilya Naishuller will helm with “John Wick” scribe Derek Kolstad penning the script.
David Leitch and Kelly McCormick will produce through their 87North banner. Odenkirk and Marc Provissiero will join Leitch and McCormick as producers through their Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment. Braden Aftergood will also produce for Eighty Two Films.
I can see Odenkirk doing this.
Nobody is scheduled to hit theaters Aug. 14, 2020.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Where’s Wald- uh, Batman.” story, Warner Bros. has big plans for Robert Pattinson’s take on the Dark Knight. The star will join the DC universe with Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but it looks like he’ll be making many further appearances as Bruce Wayne after that.
We Got This Covered has heard from their sources – the same ones who said Tom Welling was returning for “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” that Nightwing will debut in Titans season 2 and that Viola Davis would return for The Suicide Squad, all of which were later confirmed – that Pattinson’s Batman is expected to star in the studio’s Justice League reboot. Previously We Got This Covered brought you the news that WB is considering relaunching the team of super-friends following the failure of the 2017 crossover movie and they’ve now been told by sources that, if the project goes ahead, it seems likely that Pattinson will feature in it.
Interestingly, WGTC also heard that the actor has already signed up for three movies, presumably The Batman and two more to form a trilogy. However, the option seems there for him to do further films later down the line, such as a JL reboot. Recently, WGTC shared that J.J. Abrams is currently the top pick to helm the new movie, though it’s unknown if the Star Wars filmmaker is interested. The Suicide Squad‘s James Gunn is being considered, too, but again, it’s unclear who the job will ultimately go to.
As for The Batman, that’s due to start shooting next spring. Reeves looks to be focusing more on the detective element of Batman’s crime-fighting technique and Kevin Smith has already confirmed a few months ago, saying it’ll be inspired by The Long Halloween. That certainly seems likely based on the many villains that are said to feature, including Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler and others. Not to mention that Pattinson himself has also promised that the movie will be like something from the comics.
So, this is shaping up to be intriguing.
Aaaand, IN THIS WEEK’S “Mickey’s drama” story, There aren’t many actors that you could add to the upcoming crime drama The Irishman that would be able to get fans even more excited for Martin Scorsese’s latest. The film already features the reunion between Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.
But if you were to add Mickey Rourke, well, I don’t know, is that something anyone would care about? Well, apparently Mickey would.
According to a new interview with on the Italian TV series, “Non è la D’Urso,” Rourke explained that he was approached to star in The Irishman alongside those heavyweights. Unfortunately for him, there was one actor already in the cast that didn’t want Rourke involved. And the issue between the two men stems from a feud dating back to the late-‘80s.
“Six months ago, I’m broke,” Rourke said. “The only money I had is when I went over to Russia to fight. I spent all that money. So, Marty Scorsese, the great director, wanted to meet me for a movie with Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Christopher Walken, and Robert De Niro. The casting person told my manager that Robert De Niro said he refused to work with me in a movie.”
He added, “I’m only upset because I needed the money. But the thing is, he don’t forget what happened 20 years ago because they have a saying, ‘I took him to school.’ Before that no other actor took him to school.”
Apparently, the feud between Rourke and De Niro stems from their time working together on the 1987 film Angel Heart. Rourke says that his co-star came up to him after being introduced and said, “I think it’s better if we don’t talk because of our character in the movie.” Ever since then, the two haven’t been on the best of terms. And if Rourke’s comments are any indication, it doesn’t sound like the two will be making up anytime soon.
“Now I don’t look up to him no more, I look through him,” he said. “I came up from the shit…He doesn’t know that life. I lived that fucking life. So, every time I looked him in the face I look right through his asshole. You understand?”
Obviously, we don’t have confirmation from Scorsese or De Niro about this incident or what part Rourke might have played in The Irishman. It’s unlikely we’ll hear anyone comment about this situation, honestly. It IS kinda interesting though. Or is It? DeNiro came off like a dick to Mickey Rourke. Who knows?
The Irishman hits theaters on November 1 before arriving on Netflix on November 27.
Ok gang, see you all next time! Cheers!