Supernatural Mystery Series LOCKWOOD & CO Reveals Leads

Lockwood & Co book series adapted by Netflix

Netflix’s Lockwood & Co, a television adaptation of Jonathan Stroud’s supernatural thriller book series, has revealed its lead cast via Deadline. A Banquet and Bridgerton‘s Ruby Stokes has been tapped to star as Lucy Carlyle, a supremely psychically gifted girl who, together with Anthony Lockwood and George Karim (newcomers Cameron Chapman and Ali Hadji-Heshmati, respectively), run a psychic detection agency in London.

As the synopsis reads, the most gifted teenage ghost-hunters venture nightly into perilous combat with deadly spirits. Amidst the many corporate and adult-staffed agencies, one stands apart: free of financial motives or adult supervision, Lockwood & Co. is a small start-up run by a renegade trio. Together, they are destined to unravel a mystery that will chance the course of history.

Ruby Stokes and Jessica Alexander in A Banquet horror by Ruth Paxton

Lockwood & Co’s cast also includes Ivanno Jeremiah as Inspector Banes, Luke Treadaway as The Golden Blade, Morven Christie as Penelope Fittes, Jack Bandeira as Quill Kipps, Ben Crompton as Julius Winkman, Hayley Konadu as Flo Bones, Rhianna Dorris as Kat Godwin and Paddy Holland as Bobby Vernon.

Though at the time of writing, the series’ IMDb page cites Danny DeVito, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld and Ed Sheeran among the lead cast, we’re fairly certain that that’s not accurate.

The eight-part series adaptation comes from Attack the Block director and Ant-Man co-writer Joe Cornish. Lockwood & Co is produced by Complete Fiction, a company founded by Edgar Wright, Cornish, Nira Park and Rachael Prior.

 

 

Anjali Bhimani Joins MS. MARVEL

Ms. Marvel title card

Anjali Bhimani has joined the cast of Ms. Marvel in a recurring role. Deadline reports that details of her character are under wraps, but we can’t help but think (and this may be a reach) that Bhimani might reprise her small Runaways role as WIZARD employee Mita Nansari.

After all, Marvel’s Runaways is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having established continuity with the films and series of the franchise.

Anjali Bhimani as Mita Nansari in Runaways, Actress joins Ms. Marvel cast

Either way, there isn’t too long to wait until we find out: the upcoming Disney+ series is due to premiere later this year.

Ms. Marvel centres on 16-year-old Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), a Muslim Pakistani-American teen living in New Jersey – the character is also confirmed to appear in Captain Marvel 2 alongside Monica Rambeau.

Aramis Knight, Matt Lintz, Laurel Marsden, Rish Shah, and Saagar Shaikh also star in the upcoming series. Bisha K. Ali serves as head writer, while Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah direct alongside Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Meera Menon.

Ms. Marvel is scheduled to debut on Disney+ on June 8, 2022, and will consist of six episodes.

 

Dianne Wiest Joins Julia Garner For Psychological Horror APARTMENT 7A

The Assistant star Julia Garner to star opposite Dianne Weist in Apartment 7A

Two-time Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest (Edward Scissorhands, The Lost Boys) has signed on to star opposite Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna) for Apartment 7A, a psychological horror from Paramount Players.

John Krasinski and Allyson Seeger are producing via Sunday Night while Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are aboard via Platinum Dunes – the team previously produced the A Quiet Place films.

Relic director Natalie Erika James to helm Apartment 7A

Natalie Erika James, the writer-director of 2020’s psychological horror film Relic, has been tapped to helm Apartment 7A. She also co-wrote the latest script with Christian White (also James’ co-writer on Relic), based off a draft by Skylar James.

Plot details are being kept locked down, but THR relay that sources described Wiest’s role as “instrumental and meaty”. Still, there’s no official word on who Garner and Wiest might play.

Filming is set to begin within the next three weeks in London, so it’s fair to anticipate further information on the production soon.

 

Horror Channel Showers April with Movie Premieres

horror april premieres

There’s a slew of UK TV premieres on Horror Channel this April, with a new film every Saturday. As well as being great films, there are some well-known faces such as Nicolas Cage, Ray Wise, and genre legends Barbara Steele and Camille Keaton.

The films screening for the first time are:

Saturday, April 2nd – The Butterfly Room (2012)

Saturday, April 9th – Alive (2018)

Saturday, April 16th – Mercy Black (2019)

horror april premieres

Saturday, April 23rd – Open 24 Hours (2018) (channel premiere)

Saturday, April 30th – The Humanity Bureau (2017)

For more information, head over to http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk

Tune in on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 69, Freesat 138.

 

Shawn Levy Will Direct DEADPOOL 3

Shawn Levy signs on to direct Deadpool 3

Shawn Levy is in negotiations to direct Ryan Reynolds (again!) in Deadpool 3. This news comes on the heels of two very successful collaborations, the pandemic-era hit Free Guy and the recently released sci-fi adventure film The Adam Project. 

The announcement – first released via The Hollywood Reporter – might come as a surprise to fans of the Merc with a Mouth, given that Levy has rarely strayed beyond family-friendly territory in his directorial ventures.

Deadpool 2

Fear not though, as Marvel Big Man Kevin Feige confirmed last year that the wisecracking, Wolverine-hating killer would  be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of Phase Five AND that Deadpool 3 would keep its R-rating (that’s a 15 in the UK).

Tim Miller directed the first Deadpool film in 2016, followed by David Leitch in the 2018 sequel. Co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who penned the scripts on the first two films, are back now working on Deadpool 3 alongside sisters Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin.

 

 

Teaser Promises Mind-Blowing Third Season For THE BOYS (Literally)

Official poster for The Boys season 3 featuring Billy Butcher with laser eyes

The Boys are back in town this year, with season 3 headed to Prime on June 3rd, 2022. In anticipation, Amazon has released the first official teaser for its blood-soaked,  foul-mouthed and creatively horny superhero satire – rated D for “Diabolical“, naturally.

There’s a lot to discuss here, so watch the trailer below first, and then we can get started with the unpacking.

Welcome back (presumably)!

First things first: Let’s address the elephant in the room, aka Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) laser eyes. It seems that season 3 will see Butcher – and potentially some other members of the Boys – take a version of Vought’s Compound V that gives them superhuman abilities. From the brief glimpses in the teaser, he appears to gain the same powers as Big Bad Homelander (Antony Starr).

Karl Urban as Billy Butcher with laser eyes in teaser trailer for The Boys season 3

In the comics, Butcher injects the entire team with the compound (bar Kimiko, who doesn’t need the extra juice) and each develop their own set of powers. However, Butcher’s powers then were limited to super strength, so the Amazon series looks to be going a lot bigger with the on-screen action. Not that we’d expect anything less.

The Boys season 3’s teaser also takes the opportunity to showcase some of its new characters. As expected, most prominently featured is Jensen Ackles’ much-publicised turn as “original supe” Soldier Boy: a parody of Marvel’s Captain America, Soldier Boy is supposedly a World War II veteran with enhanced strength and speed. In the comics, he leads a group of supes called Payback, which just so happens to be the title of season 3’s first episode.

Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy in The Boys Season 3 Teaser Trailer

Another new character introduced in the trailer is Laurie Holden’s Crimson Countess, a spoof of Marvel’s Scarlet Witch with an apparent distaste for Homelander. We also see Gunpowder (Sean Patrick Flanery), who is The Boys‘ answer to The Punisher.

For more details on which characters will and might appear in The Boys’ season 3, as well as storylines we expect will be explored, we recommend you check out our more detailed article here on everything we know about season 3.

 

 

Will Forte & Lana Condor Join John Cena For COYOTE VS ACME

MacGruber and SNL star Will Forte boards Looney Tunes flick Coyote vs Acme

MacGruber’s Will Forte and Lana Condor have signed on to star opposite John Cena in Coyote vs Acme, a live-action/CG animation hybrid film centred on Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote.

Dave Green (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) is directing for Warner Bros. from a screenplay by Samy Burch, based on the New Yorker humour article “Coyote v. Acme” by Ian Frazier.

Coyote vs Acme film in the works starring John Cena, Will Forte, Lana Condor

Coyote vs Acme will tell the story of a down-on-his-luck lawyer (the human kind) who takes on the hapless coyote as a client in his lawsuit against Acme Corporation over its defective products. To make matters more complicated, the attorney soon finds out that Acme is being represented by his former boss.

That ex-boss will be played by Cena, with Will Forte tackling the role of the coyote’s lawyer. Forte is best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, and recently starred in television series The Last Man on Earth and The Afterparty. Condor (Moonshot, X-Men: Apocalypse) will also star in an as yet undisclosed role.

Chris DeFaria and James Gunn are producing the feature, which is scheduled to begin filming later this month. Coyote vs Acme is slated for release on July 21st, 2023.

 

Austin Butler In Talks To Play Feyd Rautha In DUNE: PART 2

Austin Butler, star of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic, in talks for role in Dune: Part 2

Following news that Florence Pugh may be boarding Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction sequel, Dune: Part II, Deadline reports that Austin Butler is in talks to become the latest casting addition to an already packed line-up.

Austin Butler is due for a big-screen breakout role this year with the release of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, in which he plays the King of Rock and Roll himself. The actor previously appeared in supporting roles in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and The Dead Don’t Die. 

Should the deal be made, Butler would star as villain Feyd-Rautha, the cunning nephew of the Baron of House Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård). It is one of three major roles being cast right now, alongside the role of Emperor Shaddam IV – the ruler who sent the Atreides family to Arrakis in Dune – and his daughter, Princess Irulan. Pugh is in talks for the latter; the role of the Emperor is presumably still being cast. If all goes to plan, shooting is slated to begin this summer.

Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Josh Brolin are all reprising their roles from Dune. Villeneuve’s sequel will pick up where the first film left off, with Paul Atreides (Chalamet) fighting alongside the native Fremen to rid the desert planet of Arrakis from the Harkonnens’ brutal rule.

Warner Bros. has set Dune: Part II for release on October 20th, 2023.  

 

 

THE PENGUIN Is Officially Happening

Colin Farrell to return as the penguin in HBO Max series

A spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman has officially been picked up at HBO Max, who committed to a straight-to-limited-series order for The Penguin. Colin Farrell and his prosthetics will reprise their big-screen role as underworld kingpin Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin.

“The world that Matt Reeves created for The Batman is one that warrants a deeper gaze through the eyes of Oswald Cobblepot,” Farrell stated. “I couldn’t be more excited about continuing this exploration of Oz as he rises through the darkened ranks to become the Penguin. Will be good to get him back on the streets of Gotham for a little madness and a little mayhem.”

Shot of Colin Farrell as The Penguin in Matt Reeves' The Batman

Reeves added that “Colin exploded off the screen as the Penguin in The Batman, and having the chance to thoroughly explore the inner life of that character on HBO Max is an absolute thrill.” Reeves will serve as executive producer on the series, with Lauren LeFranc (producer and writer on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) on board as showrunner.

The Penguin was one of two The Batman spinoff ideas that were in active development for HBO Max. The second was going to be centred on the Gotham City Police Department and take place during ‘Year One’ of Bruce Wayne’s career as the vigilante; however, Reeves has recently said the project would not be moving forward. In its stead, a series set in Arkham Asylum is now being developed.

 

Warner Bros. Shakes Up Releases Calendar

Get ready to rearrange your social calendars, friends! Warner Bros.’ blockbusters release slate has just undergone a major reshuffle, with the majority of their titles being pushed back by at least a few months.

Deadline reports that this is due to a logjam that many post-production effects houses are facing right now, a knock-on effect from productions being ramped up as soon as COVID restrictions were loosened. From superheroes to underwater cities and giant sharks, many of Warner Bros.’ titles are pretty VFX heavy, and are therefore even more susceptible to post-prod effects delays.

Warner Bros. Aquaman sequel, Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom

Warner Bros. revealed a new premiere dates for many of their major projects over 2022 and 2023:

Not all titles have been subject to delays, however.

  • Shazam! Fury of the Gods moves up from June 2nd, 2023, to December 16th, 2022! It sets the Zachary Levi-fronted DC sequel up against Disney/20th Century Fox’s long-gestating Avatar 2 over the 2022 Christmas period.
  • Meg 2: The Trench has been set for August 4th, 2023. It did not previously have a release date.