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.
Fox Orders Fantasy Island Reboot Series
Fox has given a straight-to-series order to a Fantasy Island reboot. The new series is described as “a modern semi-anthology series that delves into the “what if” questions, both big and small, that keep us awake at night. Each episode will tell stories about people who walk in with a desire, but end up reborn to themselves through the magical realism of Fantasy Island.”
Liz Craft and Sarah Fain (Angel, The Shield) will serve as writers and executive producers on the project. It is slated to debut in summer 2021. The original Fantasy Island series ran on ABC from 1978-84. Blumhouse released a horror feature take on the property earlier this year.
Tessa Thompson Back for Creed 3
Tessa Thompson has confirmed that she will return for Creed 3, reprising her role as Bianca Taylor. Additionally, she revealed that franchise star Michael B. Jordan will direct the upcoming third instalment in the Rocky spinoff series. The news came out of a recent interview she did with MTV News about her new movie Sylvie’s Love:
“I haven’t talked to him about it because I’m going to pretend it hasn’t happened. I don’t want—we’re going to make another ‘Creed’ very soon, and I don’t need this. I don’t need the Sexiest Man Alive to be, you know what I mean? I just don’t need it. I don’t need any of it. It’s a lot. It’s too much for me to shoulder. It’s too much for me to handle. No, I’m proud of him. I’m so happy for him. And I will give him a lot of crap about it in person, and I cannot wait.”
Filming is slated to begin in late 2021.
Seth MacFarlane Rebooting Revenge of the Nerds
Seth MacFarlane is producing a reboot of the 1980s comedy Revenge of the Nerds at 20th Century Studios. Keith and Kenny Lucas (22 Jump Street) are set to write and star in the film. They are co-writing the script with Alex Rubens (Rick and Morty).
The film will not be a direct remake. Instead, it will be a contemporary reimagining that will be about “today’s nerd culture and what even constitutes a geek in the 21st century.”
Ready Player Two Movie in the Works
Author Ernest Cline has confirmed that a film adaptation of Ready Player Two is in the works. The novel is a sequel Cline’s pop culture-obsessed sci-fi novel Ready Player One. Steven Spielberg directed the first novel’s adaptation back in 2018. The sequel news comes via a chat with Inverse:
“It’s in the early stages right now, especially since Hollywood is in limbo right now. But I can tell from the experience of making the first movie that everybody had a lot of fun.”
David Gordon Green Developing Exorcist Sequel
David Gordon Green, who successfully rebooted the Halloween franchise with 2018’s legacyquel Halloween, has decided to reboot another beloved horror property. Green is in talks to direct a sequel to the 1973 classic The Exorcist for Morgan Creek and Blumhouse.
Earlier this summer, Morgan Creek, the brand’s rights holder, announced that they were developing an Exorcist reboot intended for theatrical release in 2021. It seems like that reboot is actually a sequel which will ignore every other film in the franchise save for the 1973 film.
Blumhouse Adapting Cartel-Revenge True Story
Blumhouse has won a bidding war for the film rights to a recent New York Times article titled “She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One.” The article told the true story of Miriam Rodriguez, a mother who hunted cartel members who murdered her daughter and took justice into her own hands. There is no word yet about who might write or direct this project.
Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver Attached to Next Noah Baumbach Film
Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver have joined the cast of Noah Baumbach‘s upcoming third film for Netflix. The untitled movie plot is being kept under wraps for now with filming still set to begin in February 2021.
Bill Nighy Cast in Ikiru Remake
Bill Nighy is set to star in Living, an English-language remake of Kurosawa’s acclaimed 1952 film Ikiru. Lionsgate just picked up UK distribution rights to the film, which comes from director Oliver Hermanus.
Kazuo Ishiguro penned the screenplay for the remake which is set in 1952 London. It will follow “Williams (Nighy) a veteran civil servant, who has become a cog in the bureaucracy of rebuilding post-WWII England. As paperwork piles up on his desk, Williams learns he has seven months to live. Thus begins his quest to find meaning in his life before it slips away.”
Noomi Rapace Starring in Gender-Swapped Hamlet
Y’all ready for a gender-swapped adaptation of Hamlet? Noomi Rapace is set to play the titular character in a new film from director Ali Abbasi (Border). Sjón, who co-wrote the upcoming Robert Eggers film The Northman, is handling the script. Principal photography is scheduled to start in Fall 2021.
Hamlet tells “the tale of a tormented prince who returns home upon the death of his father. The father’s ghost soon appears to Hamlet and reveals that he was murdered – by his own brother. And to make things worse, that brother – Hamlet’s uncle – has married Hamlet’s mother and is the new king. From there, Hamlet goes mad – or does he?”
Universal to Adapt The Electric State
Universal Pictures has landed the rights to adapt the graphic novel The Electric State. Millie Bobby Brown is attached to star with Joe and Anthony Russo on board to direct. Production is currently aiming for a end of 2021 or the top of 2022 start.
The film will be written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain America: Winter Soldier). It will be “set in an alternative future” and “tells the story of a teenage girl (Millie Bobby Brown) who realizes that a strange but sweet robot who comes to her has actually been sent by her missing brother. She and the robot set out to find the brother in an imaginative world of humans mixing with all manner of robots, uncovering a grand conspiracy in the process.”
Channing Tatum to Co-Star in The Lost City of D
Channing Tatum will star with Sandra Bullock in Paramount Pictures’ The Lost City of D, a romance adventure film that is definitely inspired by Romancing the Stone. Tatum is in final negotiations to star opposite Bullock. The movie was originally set to reunite Bullock with her The Proposal co-star Ryan Reynolds, but it appears Reynolds has exited the project.
The Lost City of D stars Bullock as a “reclusive romance novelist who was sure nothing could be worse than getting stuck on a book tour with her cover model (Tatum), until a kidnapping attempt sweeps them both into a cutthroat jungle adventure, proving life can be so much stranger — and more romantic — than any of her paperback fictions.” Adam and Aaron Nee are on board to direct.
That’s it for last couple of weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us down in the comments!
