There’s a lot of breaking news in Hollywood happening every minute. In the age of the blockbuster, it’s easy for some smaller movie and television news to slip through the crack. Last Week in Hollywood is our new weekly series highlighting all the interesting news from the last week that we thought didn’t warrant its own post, but was still worth mentioning. It’s less personal opinions and more a hearty roundup of what you might have missed.
Clerks III Begins Production Soon
Lionsgate announced that they have bought the rights to Clerks III, with production set to begin next month. Kevin Smith wrote the script and will once again direct. Smith also confirmed the return of all major castmembers from the first two films. Jeff Anderson and Brian O’Halloran will both be returning as Randal and Dante. Jay Mewes will once again by the Jay to Smith’s Silent Bob. And somehow Smith even managed to convince Rosario Dawson to return as Becky.
The movie will be shot on location in New Jersey. The story for Clerks III will focus on “Randal, who, following a massive heart attack, enlists fellow clerks Dante, Elias, Jay, and Silent Bob to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.”
Smith revealed on his Instagram that the third instalment in the series will be based on his own life experiences:
“In the story this time, I give Randal the heart attack that almost killed me. But rather than succumb to the reality of middle age, Randal rages against the dying light by telling the story of his life in an indie film he shoots with his fellow clerks at Quick Stop! 27 years ago, I made a movie about Dante and Randal that made my dreams come true and changed my life – so now I get to return the favor!”
No word on when Clerks III might be released, but I’d wager a late 2022 release date.
Universal Pays $400+ Million for New Exorcist Trilogy
Universal Pictures and its streaming-service “cousin” Peacock have closed a $400 million-plus megadeal to buy a new Exorcist trilogy. According to sources, the price was close to the $465 million that Netflix paid for two sequels to the 2019 whodunit Knives Out. Universal had no immediate comment. Both deals were negotiated by Bryan Lourd, the Creative Artists superagent.
Ellen Burstyn will also be returning to the franchise for the first time since the original The Exorcist film. Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) has also been cast in the new films playing “the father of a possessed child who, desperate for help, tracks down Ms. Burstyn’s character.”
David Gordon Green (2018’s Halloween) will direct the new Exorcist films and serve as a screenwriter. Jason Blum (Get Out) is among the producers, along with David Robinson, whose company, the independent Morgan Creek Entertainment, holds the Exorcist movie rights.
The first film in the trilogy is expected to arrive in theaters in late 2023. Under the terms of the deal, the second and third films could debut on Peacock, according to insiders.
Live-Action Pokemon Series in Works at Netflix
According to Variety, Netflix is developing a live-action Pokemon series. Joe Henderson will be writing and executive producing the project. The project will be similar in tone and visual style to the feature-length live-action Pokemon film Detective Pikachu.
Zack Snyder Signs First-Look Deal with Netflix
The Stone Quarry, a production company run by filmmaker Zack Snyder, producing partner Deborah Snyder, and executive Wesley Coller, has signed a two-year first-look film deal with Netflix. The company previously had a deal with Warner Bros. that ended in 2019.
“For us, it was so important to find a partnership that was based on mutual respect,” Deborah Snyder says. “The creative process works best when everybody trusts each other and you can take chances and be creative. For us, we don’t usually play it safe. The content we make is a little bit edgier. And I think it’s important to have a good partnership and hear each other.”
Snyder is currently working on the science-fiction film Rebel Moon for the streamer. After, he will work with Army of the Dead co-writer Shay Hatten to develop a sequel to the hit zombie heist flick.
Waterworld Coming to TV
Waterworld producer John Davis is developing a sequel to the original 1995 movie with Dan Trachtenberg attached to direct. The sequel will come in the form of a streaming series that will take place 20 years after the events of Waterworld.
The project is currently set up at Universal Television, and the hope is for the series to be a Peacock original. The project is still in the early stages of development, so there’s no showrunner attached yet.
Bright, Yes Day Sequels Coming
Scott Stuber, the head of Netflix, recently sat down with Variety for a wide-ranging profile. He confirmed that sequels to 2017’s Bright and 2021’s Yes Day are both in development at the streamer. He also confirmed that there will be no sequel to 2019’s 6 Underground, the Michael Bay and Ryan Reynolds blockbuster. Stuber said:
“We didn’t feel like we got there on that one creatively. It was a nice hit, but at the end of the day we didn’t feel like we nailed the mark to justify coming back again. There just wasn’t that deep love for those characters or that world.”
Netflix Acquires Fast & Loose
In other Netflix news, the streamer has acquired worldwide rights to the action thriller Fast & Loose, according to Deadline.
Fast & Loose stars Will Smith as a man who wakes up in Tijuana with no memories. As he pieces together his past, he learns he’s been living two lives. In one, he’s a crime kingpin. In the other, he’s an undercover CIA agent. David Leitch will direct from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber (The Meg, Red).
Wes Tooke to Write Thomas Crown Affair Remake
Wes Tooke (Midway) is on board to pen the script for the latest Thomas Crown Affair remake. Michael B. Jordan is starring in the picture, and will produce alongside Joe Russo and Anthony Russo.
The original The Thomas Crown Affair, released in 1968, starred Steve McQueen as a billionaire who decides to treat his boredom by planning a bank robbery. The film was remade in 1999, with Pierce Brosnan in the McQueen role trying to pull off an art heist. No word yet on what type of crime Michael B. Jordan’s billionaire will get up to in the remake.
First Look & Cast Details for See How They Run
Previously known as Untitled Searchlight Pictures Mystery, See How They Run stars Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan (first look above) as Inspector Stoppard and Constable Stalker, who team up to find out who killed a crew member on a film shoot in 1950s London.
See How They Run is set in the West End of 1950s London, where “…plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard and eager rookie Constable Stalker take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.”
Tom George directs an original screenplay by Mark Chappell. The rest of the cast includes Adrien Brody as Leo Köpernick, an unscrupulous film director with a flair for drama; David Oyelowo as Mervyn Cocker-Norris, celebrated writer, charged with adapting the successful stage play into a film; Ruth Wilson as Petula Spencer, a West End theatre impresario eager for her starring role; Reece Shearsmith as John Woolf, the esteemed film producer looking to shoot magic adapting a popular stage play to film; Sian Clifford as Edana Romney, Woolf’s wife; and Shirley Henderson as a Dame known to all by name alone.
Charlie Cooper, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Paul Chahidi, Pearl Chanda, Harris Dickinson, and Pippa Bennett-Warner also star.
That’s it for last couple weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us down in the comments!
