Brad Pitt to Headline David Leitch’s BULLET TRAIN

Brad Pitt

David Leitch’s upcoming action-thriller Bullet Train has now found its lead in the shape of Hollywood A-lister Brad Pitt.

Deadline was first to break the news, with this to mark the eighth collaboration between Leitch and two-time Academy Award winner Pitt.

In addition to directing Pitt’s Vanisher cameo in Deadpool 2, Leitch actually served as Pitt’s stunt double and/or fight coordinator in Fight Club, The Mexican, Ocean’s Eleven, Spy Game, Troy, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

As for Leitch’s directing career, he’s also known for helming Atomic Blonde and Hobbs & Shaw.

For Bullet Train, the Sony production will be based on Kotaro Isaka’s Maria Beetle.

The synopsis of that book reads:

Five assassins find themselves on a fast-moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka, with only a few stops in between. They discover their missions are not unrelated to each other. The question becomes who will make it off the train alive and what awaits them at the terminal station?

Expect more on Bullet Train as it continues to develop.

STARGIRL Renewed for Second Season

Stargirl

Having impressed with its first few episodes, Stargirl has already been renewed for a second season.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, The CW has opted to renew the Geoff Johns-developed series centred on Brec Bassinger’s titular heroine. For this second year, Stargirl will be moving from the DC Universe streaming service to The CW, with episodes also still being available on HBO Max.

The 13-episodes debut season of Stargirl is due to conclude in North America on August 10, and the series has recently found a UK home.

For those unaware of Stargirl, the synopsis for the series reads:

Stargirl follows the story of Courtney Whitmore (Bassinger) who is a smart, athletic and above all else kind girl. This high school teenager’s seemingly perfect life hits a major speedbump when her mother gets married and her new family moves from Los Angeles, California to Blue Valley, Nebraska. Struggling to adapt to a new school, make new friends and deal with a new step-family, Courtney discovers her step-father has a secret; he used to be the sidekick to a superhero. “Borrowing” the long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, Courtney becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

For those of us in the UK, Stargirl will hit Amazon Prime on August 21.

CONSTANTINE and ZATANNA Movies in Development?

John Constantine Zatanna

Take this with a pinch of salt for now, but two of the Justice League Dark crew could be heading to the silver screen.

Via ComicBook.com, a new live-action movie for John Constantine is in early development at Warner Bros. And not just that, but the studio is said to be developing a big-screen offering for the magical, mystical Zatanna.

In recent months, J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot banner have signed a deal with The WB to develop a slew of various Justice League Dark projects, with one being a JL Dark series for the HBO Max streaming service. For these Constantine and Zatanna movies, Bad Robot would act as a producers in order to keep the tone of these films in line with what’s planned for the HBO Max offering.

Additionally, there’s even a rumour that the possibility of Keanu Reeves returning to play Constantine isn’t complete out of the question. The John Wick star, of course, played the role Hellraiser back in 2005’s Constantine.

Then, there’s always going to be talk of Matt Ryan playing the Constantine role he currently plays in the Arrowverse as part of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and also in recent animated DC movies.

As mentioned, treat all of this as a giant rumour for now, but solo pictures for Constantine and Zatanna would certainly fit in with Warners’ tentative plans to recalibrate their silver screen output with The Flash – with the Ezra Miller-fronted picture believed to be introducing the concept of the multiverse.

Expect more on all of this if and when we get it.

Ennio Morricone 1928 – 2020

Ennio Morricone

In some awful news to start the week, legendary composer Ennio Morricone has died. He was 91 years of age.

This tragic news broke first thing this morning, with the iconic Italian having fallen and fractured his femur several days ago. He subsequently passed away in hospital.

Known affectionately as Maestro, Morricone was responsible for scoring the likes of The Thing, Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso, The Hateful Eight, Days of Heaven, Bugsy, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Few composers have impacted the world of film as much as Ennio Morricone, with his musical notes bringing so much to the films which they graced.

The thoughts of all here at STARBURST go out to the family, friends, and fans of Ennio. Rest in peace, good sir.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Talks for THE BOYS

The Walking Dead

While it’s far from official, there’s chance that Jeffrey Dean Morgan may join The Boys for the show’s third season.

In an interview with Collider, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke revealed that loose discussions have already begun to have the Watchmen and The Walking Dead favourite join the series.

Kripke explained how at the moment they’re trying to work out whether Morgan joining The Boys would actually be possible, largely due to his commitments to The Walking Dead.

It was actually Morgan who first showed an interest in joining The Boys, with him declaring his admiration for the show earlier this year. As per Kripke, text messages have been flying back and forth between him and the Negan star, and there’s already a particular role in mind for Morgan should things be able to work themselves out.

At present, The Boys’ second season is due to premiere September 4 on Amazon. On that date, the first three episodes of the new season will be available, with a new episode then released each subsequent week.

FALLOUT TV Series in Development at Amazon

Fallout 4

In some fantastic news, a Fallout TV series is on the way.

Making this news even more exciting, Deadline reports that Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are developing Fallout for Amazon.

For those not aware, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic video game franchise that began life back in 1997. Since then, there have been three standard sequels, plentiful spin-offs, tabletop games, and various other Fallout projects.

On this news, Nolan and Joy enthused, “Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time. Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios.”

Nolan and Joy’s Kilter Films will be working with Amazon Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, and Bethesda Softworks on Fallout.

Expect more on this Fallout TV series as it continues to develop further.

Jason Momoa to Play FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

Frosty the Snowman Jason Momoa

Wait, what?!?! Jason Momoa to play Frosty the Snowman?!?! Apparently so.

Courtesy of Deadline, Game of Thrones and Aquaman fave Momoa has signed on to voice Frosty in a new live-action/CGI movie from Warner Bros.

Elf’s David Berenbaum has written Frosty the Snowman, and Stampede’s Jon Berg and Greg Silverman will produce alongside Momoa and Geoff Johns. Momoa has previously worked with both Berg and Johns on WB’s Aquaman, of course.

Frosty the Snowman was originally a 1950’s Christmas song from Gene Autry & The Cass County Boys. That song was developed as a three-minute short film later that year, before getting a full animated TV special in 1969. That ’69 offering would be followed up in 1976 with Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, 1979’s Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July, and 2005’s The Legend of Frosty the Snowman.

Expect more on this new Frosty the Snowman movie as it continues to develop.

BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD Returning to Action

Beavis and Butt-Head

Well, this is news we didn’t expect to be seeing today. Yes, as the title suggests, Beavis and Butt-Head are returning!

In an official announcement from Comedy Central, it’s been confirmed that Beavis and Butt-Head is being brought back for two seasons and several spin-offs. Series creator Mike Judge will be overseeing all of this as part of his shiny new deal with the network.

The early word on Beavis and Butt-Head’s return to action reads:

The reimagined Beavis and Butt-Head will be entering a whole new Gen Z world and is set to feature meta-themes that will be relatable to both new and old fans – Gen X parents and their Gen Z kids. Original series creator Mike Judge returns to recreate a cultural dialogue for a new generation, giving familiar fans and new audiences alike the chance to experience and laugh with America’s favourite animated duo.

Judge will be writing and producing this return, with him also providing the vocals for both Beavis and Butt-Head.

Beavis and Butt-Head originally ran for seven seasons between 1993 and 1997, and the titular twosome also got their own movie adventure.

All of this comes hot on the heels on Comedy Central announcing a Dario spin-off, Jodie.

THE CONJURING 3 Likely to be Pushed Back

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

With the entertainment industry having ran into all kinds of delays and outright cancellations as the ongoing global pandemic continues to run wild, now comes word on yet another big-screen delay.

Via Deadline, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It is the latest film that’s set to be affected by COVID-19.

The plan was for The Conjuring 3 to hit the silver screen this September 11, but New Line Cinema is weighing up pushing the movie back from that date. While nothing has been made official by New Line just yet, it’s expected that The Devil Made Me Do It will be shunted to 2021.

Deadline believes that several studios will be making decisions on their upcoming movie slate on Friday, July 4.

The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It is directed by The Curse of La Llorona’s Michael Chaves, and the movie will be the eighth in the greater Conjuring universe of films that has already taken in two main The Conjuring pictures, three Annabelle offerings, The Nun, and the aforementioned La Llorona.

In The Conjuring 3, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as Ed and Lorraine Warren for “a chilling story of terror, murder, and unknown evil” that “starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in US history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.”

Already this year, a slew of major movies have ran into delays due to the pandemic – and now, it looks like The Conjuring 3 could well be the next project to join that list.

Seth Rogen Producing New CGI Animated TMNT Movie

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In some fun news for fans of those Heroes in a Half-Shell, a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is on the way.

Courtesy of Deadline, Point Grey Pictures is to develop a CGI animated Turtles film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. Point Grey is the production banner of Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver.

This will be the first time that Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo have seen big-screen action in since 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. There was initially plans for that film to get its own follow-up, but those plans were shelved after Out of the Shadows underperformed at the box office.

As ever, expect more on this CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles offering as we get it.