Hello ladies and gentlemen, here is some movie news with some of my thoughts and opinions (which will be in BOLD print). So without further ado...
Sam Mendes confirmed today that he will not direct the next James Bond film, according to the Associated Press. Speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales, the Skyfall and SPECTRE director said: “It was an incredible adventure, I loved every second of it, but I think it’s time for somebody else.” Mendes added that he hoped the next James Bond director would come from an “unexpected direction,” just as he had. “I’m a storyteller. And at the end of the day, I want to make stories with new characters,” he said about his departure from the franchise. Mendes’ first James Bond movie was Skyfall, which earned an impressive $1.108 billion worldwide in 2012. His second film in the franchise was last year’s SPECTRE, which grossed over $880 million globally. Both films starred Daniel Craig, who is reportedly not returning for the next film. Rumored names to replace Daniel Craig are Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Bell and Idris Elba, though no official word has come from MGM, Sony Pictures or franchise producer Barbara Broccoli. Mendes commented on the rumors, saying that “it’s not a democracy… Barbara Broccoli decides who is going to be the next Bond, end of story.”
I'm not surprised at all by the news. Sam Mendes is a phenomenal director and he has a lot of talent so if he wants to step away from the Bond franchise, I'm ok with it. He's done two films in a 24 film franchise and that's more than half of the directors who've directed a film in the past have done. I loved the way he built on films like Casino Royale and Quantom of Solace and just bringing the whole storyline to a great conclusion. I honestly don't know who I would want for the next director of Bond 25, but one name that's always been rumored for the film is Christopher Nolan, but I don't know if he wants to get back into a big budget film again and he wants to do more original material. I would like to see someone like David Fincher or possibly Tom Hopper take on the challenge if Nolan were to turn it down.
Walt Disney Pictures has officially announced that Golden Globe Award winner Emily Blunt (Into the Woods, the upcoming Girl on the Train)is set to star in Mary Poppins Returns, a sequel to the studio’s 1964 classic, Mary Poppins, which will be released on December 25, 2018. Reuniting the director and producing team behind Disney’s hit film musical Into the Woods, the film will be directed by Oscar nominee, Emmy and DGA Award winner Rob Marshall and produced by Marshall, Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee John DeLuca and Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Marc Platt. The screenplay will be written by Oscar nominee David Magee based on The Mary Poppins Stories by P.L. Travers, with Oscar nominee and Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman composing an all-new score and Shaiman and Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Scott Wittman writing original songs. Blunt has been cast as Mary Poppins. Drawing from the wealth of material in P.L. Travers’ seven additional novels, the story will take place in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written) and follows a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. “I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by Disney to bring P.L. Travers’ further adventures to the screen. The iconic original film means so much to me personally, and I look forward to creating an original movie musical that can bring Mary Poppins, and her message that childlike wonder can be found in even the most challenging of times, to a whole new generation,” says Marshall. P.L. Travers introduced the world to the no-nonsense nanny in her 1934 book “Mary Poppins,” which Disney adapted for the screen and released in August, 1964. The film, which was directed by Robert Stevenson and starred Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Andrews. However, the subsequent adventures of Mary Poppins remained only on the pages of P.L. Travers’ seven additional books, which she published between 1935 and 1988.
I'm glad this is finally confirmed. Although it was sorta confirmed awhile back, it's always nice to get firm conformation from the studio before really running with a story that's fact. I said before I think Emily Blunt is a perfect choice to play Mary Poppins, but I am kinda surprised they didn't go with someone like Meryl Streep, especially with Rob Marshall directing. Blunt will be great, but it's gonna be hard to top someone like Julie Andrews in such an iconic role. One thing I'm not excited about is the release date simply because there's a possibility that Star Wars will be taking over December with every new film and the Han Solo Anthology film is coming out in May of 2018 and it gets moved to December, then Disney is going to have to move Mary Poppins to maybe the Amy release date although nothing has been confirmed.
Following a cryptic warning video last week, the Transformers 5 villain has revealed himself in a new teaser for Transformers: The Last Knight. There’s no footage quite yet as production is only just gearing up, but Michael Bay has also posted a set video that you can check out in the second player below. It even reveals the automotive form of a new robot character! According to Michael Bay’s Instagram post, the Transformers 5 villain in the teaser appears to be the new face of Megatron. Megatron, as Transformers fans are well aware, has been a consistent big bad throughout the film franchise. The Transformers: The Last Knight cast is confirmed to include the return of Transformers: Age of Extinction star Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Josh Duhamel as Lieutenant Colonel Lennox, as well as a new role for Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School, Growing Up Fisher) as the film’s female lead, Izabella. Jerrod Carmichael (The Carmichael Show, Neighbors) is also set to play an unspecified leading role. Production on Transformers: The Last Knight is set to begin June 6 in Detroit with production planned to take place at various locations around the world. Michael Bay returns to the director’s chair for the film, which is set to be written by Iron Man scribes Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down). Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto will produce the sequel. Combined, the previous four Transformers films have brought in over $3.7 billion at the global box office with 2014’s Age of Extinction the second-highest grossing in the series. Current plans call for Transformers: The Last Knight to be followed by a Bumblebee spin-off film in 2018 before Transformers 6 arrives in 2019.
I honestly don't know what to say about this. Megatron has been in every film thus far and basically anytime he dies in one of the films, you know that he's actually not dead at all. It makes the franchise feel really cartoonish that the villain keeps showing up constantly throughout the entire franchise. You all know my feelings towards the franchise and just re-introducing the same villain just doesn't get me excited. I mean for crying out loud we've had just about every other villain in the Transformers universe EXCEPT FOR UNICRON!!!!!!! Why has it taken so long to introduce something like him. I hope that Unicron is in the film and that he is "The Last Knight". I have no hope for the film, but I can dream can't I?
Although the Pitch Perfect 3 release date was originally scheduled for July 21, 2017, The Pitch Perfect 3 release date has moved a few months later with the musical comedy sequel scheduled to debut in theaters December 22, 2017. Anna Kendrick, Britanny Snow and Rebel Wilson have already been confirmed to headline the returning cast of Pitch Perfect 3, which also has Elizabeth Banks returning to direct. Additional talent expected to be confirmed in the near future. Pitch Perfect 2 also stars Hailee Steinfeld, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp, Adam DeVine, Katey Sagal, Ester Dean, Kelley Jakle and Hana Mae Lee. Kay Cannon, who scripted the first two franchise entries, is working on the script for the third film. An Emmy-nominated writer and actress with a heavy improv background, Cannon is also known for her work on NBC‘s 30 Rock and FOX‘s New Girl. Pitch Perfect 3 will be produced by series fixtures Paul Brooks of Gold Circle Entertainment and Max Handelman & Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions. The new Pitch Perfect 3 release date will see the film open opposite The Croods 2, The Six Billion Dollar Man and an Untitled Warner Bros. Comedy.
This is going to be an eventful weekend at the box office. It feels as if this is going to be a repeat of December 2015, where everyone stayed away from Star wars and came out the following weekend. Star Wars Episode VIII comes out December 15th, 2017 and this comes out a week later. I think this film would've done better in July going up against the likes of Dunkirk. I understand the move in the sense that it is going to let the film capitalize on the second weekend of Star Wars for those who don't want to see the film again, but the weekend is going to be pretty crowded and more films could be added later.
While director Shane Black (Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys) has stated in the past that he was hoping to garner superstar Dwayne Johnson to play the titular pulp hero Doc Savage, a post on The Rock’s Facebook page has now made his casting official! Thor actor Chris Hemsworth had previously been considered to play Doc Savage (real name Clark Savage, Jr.) for Shane Black back in 2014. Earlier this year the filmmaker broke the news to Thrillist about who his real choice for the role was. “Doc Savage is sort of in the ether now,” Black stated in March. “We’re hoping to make it sometime next year. I would very much like to do Doc with a fellow named Dwayne Johnson if we can make that work. I made a decision that Dwayne is the guy. It’s on the back burner while he’s busy.” Pulp publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L. Nanovic created “Doc Savage” in 1933 with a run of 181 individual stories, later reissued as paperbacks. Trained from birth by his scientist father to have superhuman abilities, Savage is a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and musician with incredible strength, endurance, a photographic memory, martial arts mastery as well as a master of disguise. A much-maligned movie Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze was released by Warner Bros. in 1975, produced by George Pal and starring Ron Ely. Black will direct Doc Savage for Sony Pictures from a script he has co-written with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Neal H. Moritz is producing the project with Ori Marmur through his Original Film banner alongside Johnson and Hiram Garcia through their Seven Bucks Productions. Michael Uslan will also serve as a producer on the film. No release date is set. Black is currently preparing to shoot The Predator for 20th Century Fox this fall for a February 9, 2018 release. The ever-busy Johnson has Central Intelligence coming out on June 17, and just completed filming on the Baywatch movie. He’ll also team with comedians Jack Black and Kevin Hart for Jake Kasdan’s Jumanji reboot and is signed to play supervillain Black Adam in New Line’s Shazam! movie.
I really love this casting. Now I to be perfectly honest, I know nothing about Doc Savage whatsoever, but from what I've heard about him, he seems like an awesome character. If you've seen newer photos of Doc Savage, then you can clearly see the comparisons between him and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He's got the charisma and his acting has improved tremendously and this could be the perfect role for him.
Jonah Sparks
(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)
I'm not surprised at all by the news. Sam Mendes is a phenomenal director and he has a lot of talent so if he wants to step away from the Bond franchise, I'm ok with it. He's done two films in a 24 film franchise and that's more than half of the directors who've directed a film in the past have done. I loved the way he built on films like Casino Royale and Quantom of Solace and just bringing the whole storyline to a great conclusion. I honestly don't know who I would want for the next director of Bond 25, but one name that's always been rumored for the film is Christopher Nolan, but I don't know if he wants to get back into a big budget film again and he wants to do more original material. I would like to see someone like David Fincher or possibly Tom Hopper take on the challenge if Nolan were to turn it down.
I'm glad this is finally confirmed. Although it was sorta confirmed awhile back, it's always nice to get firm conformation from the studio before really running with a story that's fact. I said before I think Emily Blunt is a perfect choice to play Mary Poppins, but I am kinda surprised they didn't go with someone like Meryl Streep, especially with Rob Marshall directing. Blunt will be great, but it's gonna be hard to top someone like Julie Andrews in such an iconic role. One thing I'm not excited about is the release date simply because there's a possibility that Star Wars will be taking over December with every new film and the Han Solo Anthology film is coming out in May of 2018 and it gets moved to December, then Disney is going to have to move Mary Poppins to maybe the Amy release date although nothing has been confirmed.
I honestly don't know what to say about this. Megatron has been in every film thus far and basically anytime he dies in one of the films, you know that he's actually not dead at all. It makes the franchise feel really cartoonish that the villain keeps showing up constantly throughout the entire franchise. You all know my feelings towards the franchise and just re-introducing the same villain just doesn't get me excited. I mean for crying out loud we've had just about every other villain in the Transformers universe EXCEPT FOR UNICRON!!!!!!! Why has it taken so long to introduce something like him. I hope that Unicron is in the film and that he is "The Last Knight". I have no hope for the film, but I can dream can't I?
This is going to be an eventful weekend at the box office. It feels as if this is going to be a repeat of December 2015, where everyone stayed away from Star wars and came out the following weekend. Star Wars Episode VIII comes out December 15th, 2017 and this comes out a week later. I think this film would've done better in July going up against the likes of Dunkirk. I understand the move in the sense that it is going to let the film capitalize on the second weekend of Star Wars for those who don't want to see the film again, but the weekend is going to be pretty crowded and more films could be added later.
I really love this casting. Now I to be perfectly honest, I know nothing about Doc Savage whatsoever, but from what I've heard about him, he seems like an awesome character. If you've seen newer photos of Doc Savage, then you can clearly see the comparisons between him and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He's got the charisma and his acting has improved tremendously and this could be the perfect role for him.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
