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.
Scanners TV Series in the Works
HBO is developing a television series based on David Cronenberg‘s 1981 science-fiction horror film Scanners. William Bridges (Black Mirror) will write and serve as showrunner on the series while Yann Demange (Lovecraft Country) is on board to direct.
The series is set in the “mind-bending world” of Cronenberg’s film and will follow two women living on the fringes of modern society who are pursued by relentless agents with unimaginable powers. The duo must learn to work together to topple a vast conspiracy determined to bring them to heel. | Source: Deadline
Sony Acquires Rights to Tarzan
Sony Pictures has picked up the screen rights to the classic literary character Tarzan from Edgar Rice Buroughs’ estate and is planning on doing a “total reinvention” of the character and intellectual property. No writer, filmmaker, or producer are attached at this time.
For those who somehow don’t know Tarzan, “he was an orphaned boy raised in the jungle by great apes, who falls in love with a young woman named Jane, eventually leaving the jungle for her, marrying her and moving to England where his eyes are open to how barbaric so-called civilization really is, before returning to Africa.”
The last attempt at bringing Tarzan to the big screen was in 2016 with Warner Bros.’ The Legend of Tarzan, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie. That film failed to blow up at the box office or win over critics and plans for a sequel were quickly and quietly shelved. | Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Community Fulfills Its #SixSeasonsAndAMovie Prophecy
Peacock has announced that it has greenlit Community the Movie, which is derived “from the TV series that predicted its own movie,” making it “the least predictable movie of a TV series that referenced a lot of movies and TV.” Series creator Dan Harmon is writing the film’s screenplay with former series scribe Andrew Guest. Plot details for the movie, which will be released on the streaming service in 2023, are being kept under wraps for now.
Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong will reprise their respective roles from the original NBC series. At this time, original cast members Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Chevy Chase are not attached. | Source: TVLine
Ruben Fleischer to Direct Now You See Me 3
Lionsgate has tapped Venom and Zombieland filmmaker Ruben Fleischer to direct the third film in the Now You See Me franchise, which follows a group of thieving illusionists known as the Four Horseman. Seth Grahame-Smith will write the threequel’s screenplay.
Fleischer commented on the announcement by saying that there “are three things in this world I absolutely love… Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and magic.” | Source: Deadline
New Cloverfield Film in the Works
Paramount Pictures has hired Babak Anvari and Joe Barton to direct and write a new outing in the Cloverfield universe, respectively. J.J. Abrams will produce from Bad Robot, along with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard will executive produce.
As with any Cloverfield film, plot details are being kept under wraps. It also is unknown how this new installment will link to its predecessors. | Source: Deadline
Paul Greengrass to Adapt Stephen King’s Fairy Tale
Paul Greengrass will adapt, direct, and produce a feature adaptation of Fairy Tale, Stephen King‘s latest bestselling novel, which follows “a 17-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a terrifying world where good and evil are at war. The stakes could not be higher, for that world and ours, as he journeys into the mythic roots of human storytelling.” | Source: Deadline
John McTiernan to Direct First Film in 20 Years
John McTiernan is about to direct his first feature film in 20 years. The man responsible for Die Hard and Predator has signed on to helm Taut Ceci Foxtrot, an upcoming science-fiction film that will star Uma Thurman and Laurence Fishburne.
Taut Ceci Foxtrot will follow “a group of rebels who set out to kill the oligarchs and military thugs that terrorized a war-torn planet in the remote Tau Ceti solar system.” The film is set to start production in Paris this fall. | Source: World of Reel
Other News Updates
- Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) has been hired by Marvel Studios to write the screenplay for Avengers: Secret Wars. | (Deadline)
- HBO Max has scrapped its John Constantine standalone series that would have featured a diverse lead. It has also chosen to not move forward with its Madame Xanadu series. Both projects hailed from J.J. Abrams’ Warner Bros.-based Bad Robot. | (TVLine)
- Disney has announced that Barry Jenkins‘ prequel to the 2019 live-action film The Lion King will be titled Mufasa: The Lion King. The upcoming movie will tell the story of how Simba’s father, Mufasa, rose from humble beginnings to become the ruler of all the Pridelands. | (D23 Expo)
- The second season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch will consist of 16 episodes. Season 2 will premiere its first two episodes on January 14, 2022 on Disney+. | (D23 Expo)
- Apple Original Films has announced that it will release its upcoming holiday musical comedy Spirited in theaters on November 11, 2022. The film will then be made available globally on Apple TV+ on November 18, 2022. Spirited is a modern musical rendition of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday story A Christmas Carol and stars Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. | (Deadline)
- Marvel Studios has redeveloped its Armor Wars project from a six-episode Disney+ limited series into a feature film. Don Cheadle remains on board to star, reprising his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as James Rhodes / War Machine. Yassir Lester, who was acting as head writer on the series, will remain as its feature scribe. | (THR)
- Bassam Tariq has parted ways with Marvel Studios’ upcoming Blade film over scheduling conflicts. No replacement director has been announced at this time. | (Deadline)
That’s it for the last few weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us down in the comments!
