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.
Olivia Colman & More Board Paddington in Peru
Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Rachel Zegler, and Emily Mortimer are in talks to join the cast of Paddington in Peru. They will join returning stars Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, and Samuel Joslin, with Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton also back as the voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy, respectively.
The third film will follow “Paddington returning to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. Paddington and the Brown Family embark on an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.” Production will commence in July, with filming locations set to include the U.K., Peru, and Colombia. | Source: Variety
Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith Join Tron: Ares
Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Greta Lee are the latest additions to Tron: Ares. They join Jared Leto. Joachim Rønning will direct the third Tron installment from a script by Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne.
Leto will play Ares, the manifestation of a program that becomes sentient and crosses over into the human world, with Lee as a video game programmer and tech company CEO who aims to protect her world-changing technology. Additional plot details are being kept under wraps. Filming will begin in August. | Source: Variety
Mortal Kombat 2 Expands Cast
New Line has rounded out its cast for Mortal Kombat 2, with Martyn Ford, Desmond Chiam, Ana Thu Nguyen, and Damon Herriman set to play the villainous Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, Edenian King Jerrod, Queen Sindel, and Netherrealm demon Quan Chi.
The returning cast for the sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat includes Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao. New additions to the franchise that were previously announced include Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, and Adeline Rudolph as Kitana. Simon McQuoid returns to direct from a script by Jeremy Slater. | Source: Deadline
Sarah Polley to Direct Bambi Remake
Sarah Polley — who recently won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Women Talking — is in talks to helm a live-action remake of Bambi for Disney. According to sources, the project will be a musical and feature music from six-time Grammy-winning country star Kacey Musgraves. Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster wrote the latest draft of the script. | Source: Deadline
Alan Ritchson to Lead The Man with the Bag
Alan Ritchson will star in The Man with the Bag, a holiday family comedy that Adam Shankman will direct from a screenplay by Allan Rice. The film is in development at Amazon Studios and picks up “following the theft of Santa’s magic bag, as he turns to his naughty list to find Vance (Ritchson), a former thief who will help him get it back. Along with his daughter, Santa and a group of misfit elves, Vance will have to pull off the greatest heist of his life to save Christmas.” | Source: Deadline
More News to Know
- Giancarlo Esposito has joined the cast of Radio Silence‘s untitled monster thriller at Universal. (Deadline)
- Vin Diesel announced that Fast & Furious 11 will open in theaters on April 4, 2025. (Instagram)
- Apple Original Films and Skydance are partnering on the action-adventure tentpole Mayday. Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh will star with Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley directing from a script they wrote. (Deadline)
- FUBAR, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been renewed for a second season by Netflix. (TVLine)
- Elizabeth Banks will topline Skincare, which wrapped production prior to the writers’ strike. Lewis Pullman, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Luis Gerardo Méndez, and Nathan Fillion also star. Skincare is described as a vanity thriller set in Hollywood. Austin Peters directed the film from a script he wrote with Deering Regan and Sam Freilich. (Deadline)
That’s it for the last few weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us in the comments!
