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 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.
Lionsgate Moving Forward With Highlander Reboot
Lionsgate will be launching sales at the AFM on their long-gestating Highlander reboot. Henry Cavill is still attached to star as the eponymous Scottish swordsman with John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski set to direct. The budget will be north of $100 million. A 2024 production start is being eyed.
Mike Finch wrote the current draft of the screenplay, which is based on the 1986 original, which starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown as immortal beings, hunting down one another and collecting more power. | Source: Deadline
Gen V Renewed for Season 2
Ahead of its Season 1 finale, The Boys spinoff series Gen V has been renewed for Season 2 at Amazon Prime Video. The series is set at Godolkin University, a college for superheroes within the world of The Boys.
“We couldn’t be happier to make a second season of Gen V,” said showrunner Michele Fazekas and executive producer Eric Kripke. “These are characters and stories we’ve grown to love, and we are thrilled to know people feel the same! The writers are already working on the new season—sophomore year is gonna be wild, with all the twists, heart, satire, and exploding genitalia you’ve come to expect from the show.” | Source: Variety
New Daredevil: Born Again Creative Team Revealed
Daredevil: Born Again‘s new creative team has been revealed. Dario Scardapane (Jack Ryan, The Punisher) has been tapped to act as the new showrunner for the Disney+ series. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the co-directing team who have helmed episodes of Moon Knight and Loki Season 2, have also been hired. They will direct the remaining episodes of the Marvel Studios-produced series’ first season. | Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Halloween Cinematic Universe Being Planned
After a heated bidding war, Miramax Television has scored the television rights to the Halloween franchise, which is controlled by Trancas International Films, run by Malek Akkad. Miramax already shares the film rights to the horror franchise with Trancas. The new Halloween series is envisioned to potentially launch a cinematic universe spanning film and television.
Miramax’s Head of Global TV Marc Helwig will be overseeing the franchise creatively in close collaboration with Akkad. “We couldn’t be more excited to bring Halloween to television,” Helwig said. “We are thrilled to expand our long and successful partnership with Trancas and the brilliant Malek Akkad in introducing this iconic franchise to a new form of storytelling and a new generation of fans.” | Source: Deadline
Samaritan 2 in the Works
Amazon MGM Studios is developing a sequel to Samaritan, with Sylvester Stallone returning as producer and lead star. Bragi F. Schut, who wrote the first movie, is also returning to pen the sequel.
Samaritan, directed by Julius Avery, follows a young boy who is saved from a beating by a sanitation worker. The boy comes to believe that the older man is a superhero who disappeared 20 years earlier, after an epic battle with his archenemies. | Source: The Hollywood Reporter
More News to Know
- Skydance Animation has signed a multi-year agreement with Netflix to develop and produce animated movies to be released directly on the streamer. This deal comes as a multi-year pact with Apple comes to an end. The first film to be released on Netflix will be Spellbound in 2024, followed by Pookoo in 2025. (Deadline)
- Prime Video has announced that Fallout, an upcoming series based on the worldwide best-selling video game franchise, will premiere on April 12, 2024. (Deadline)
- Corin Hardy is set to direct the horror movie Whistle, which will star Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Percy Hynes White, and Nick Frost. The synopsis reads as follows: “In Whistle, a misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down. As the body count rises, the friends investigate the origins of the deadly artifact in a desperate effort to stop the horrifying chain of events that they have set in motion.” (Deadline)
- Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard, Harvey Guillén, David Dastmalchian, Kate Siegel, Mia Sara Carl Lumbly, Rahul Kohli, Molly Quinn, Heather Langenkamp, and Jacob Tremblay have joined the cast of The Life of Chuck, the latest of many Stephen King adaptations from filmmaker Mike Flanagan, which kicked off production in Alabama earlier this month. (Deadline)
- Lionsgate International is working on Now You See Me 3 with Ruben Fleischer directing and Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Morgan Freeman reprising their roles. (Screen Daily)
That’s it for the last few weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us in the comments!
