Andy Serkis to Direct VENOM 2

Andy Serkis

Following on from last week’s speculation, it’s now been confirmed that Andy Serkis is indeed to direct Venom 2 for Sony Pictures.

Variety broke the news, with Serkis reportedly beating out competition from Bumblebee’s Travis Knight and Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt to land the gig.

Since trying his hand at directing, Serkis has helmed Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle Book, Breathe and served as a second unit director on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.

Currently, Sony has tentative plans to start filming Venom 2 this November ahead of an October 2020 release.

Jennifer Cheon Garcia is SUPERGIRL’s Midnight

Jennifer Cheon Garcia

As the Maid of Might gets set to return for her fifth season, The CW’s Supergirl has added another villain to its ranks.

Via Variety, Lucifer’s Jennifer Cheon Garcia has signed on to play the nefarious Midnight in the Melissa Benoist-starrer. This take on the rogue is pegged as “the physical manifestation of darkness” and will be on a mission to take down the person responsible for putting them in an otherworldly prison.

Supergirl’s fifth season will premiere October 6th.

Core Cast Confirmed for CBS’ THE STAND

James Marsden

With CBS All Access developing a new take on Stephen King’s The Stand, now comes confirmation of the core cast for the show.

Courtesy of Deadline, the ten-episode series will feature Westworld’s James Marsden as lead character Stu Redman, Aquaman’s Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Assassination Nation’s Odessa Young as traveller Frannie Goldsmith, and The New Mutants’ Henry Zaga as deaf-mute Nick Andros.

The Fault in Our Stars’ Josh Boone and SEAL Team’s Ben Cavell are on writing duties for the ten-episode take on King’s 1978 novel.

The Stand, of course, was previously given the TV treatment back in 1994. Then, Mick Garris helmed a miniseries that clocked in at just over the six-hour mark in total, with names such as Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, and Ossie Davis starring.

For those not familiar with The Stand, the loose plot centres on a decimated post-apocalyptic world in which a deadly plague has wiped out a huge chunk of the population. Two rival groups form, with the vastly differing views of the leaders of these groups putting both sides on a collision course as good battles evil.

Expect more on The Stand as it continues to develop.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS to Feature Kevin Conroy

Kevin Conroy Bruce Wayne

Seriously, The CW’s upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths is the gift that keeps on giving.

With it recently confirmed that the crossover event will see Brandon Routh as an older Superman, former Robin Burt Ward make an appearance, and talks ongoing to see Tom Welling and Lynda Carter join the action, now comes the fantastic news that Kevin Conroy is to be a part of the action.

Courtesy of TV Line, Conroy will be playing a version of Bruce Wayne from the future. The iconic voice actor is best known, of course, for lending his dulcet tones to the Caped Crusader in the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond – in which he did invoiced voice an older version of Bruce – and a whole host of other animated and video game offerings.

In addition to Conroy finally getting to play the Dark Knight in live-action, this latest report also suggests that several unspecified Black Lightning characters will be appearing Crisis, too. While Black Lightning is a Warner Bros./CW production, that show has yet to be acknowledged in the Arrowverse.

The five-episode, multi-show Crisis on Infinite Earths begins December 8th and will span across Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Olivia Wilde to Direct Psychological Thriller DON’T WORRY DARLING

Olivia Wilde

Having impressed with her directorial debut, Booksmart, earlier this year, now comes word on the second film in Olivia Wilde’s burgeoning directing career.

Via Deadline, Wilde will direct and star in a picture titled Don’t Worry Darling. The early word on the movie has it pegged as a “time’s up era” psychological thriller.

No other details are available at this early juncture, although the initial script for the film was put together by The Silence’s Shane and Carey Van Dyke. Booksmart’s Katie Silberman is now reworking that screenplay.

Expect more on Don’t Worry Darling as we get it.

Creative Team Revealed for New STAR TREK Animated Series

Star Trek: The Animated Series

With Nickelodeon at work on a new Star Trek animated series, we now know who will be handling creative duties on the show.

Producers Dan and Kevin Hageman have taken to Twitter to reveal that Green Arrow and Batgirl’s Julie and Shawna Benson will be joining Trollhunters’ Chad Quandt and Aaron Waltka, with Keith Sweet, Erin McNamara, Lisa Boyd, Nikhil Jayaram and Diandra Pendle-Thompson making up the writing room.

 

With Star Trek: Picard and Lower Decks also in development – not to mention Discovery – it’s a fantastic time to be a Star Trek fan.

Expect more on all of these projects as they continue to develop.

Darkseid and The Furies Confirmed for NEW GODS Movie

Darkseid

With Ava DuVernay to direct Warner Brothers’ New Gods movie, the writer/director has now given an update on some of the DC Comics characters who will be appearing in the film.

DuVernay – who is also co-writing the film with Tom King – took to Twitter to reveal that The Furies and Darkseid will be a part of the picture.

For those not familiar with the New Gods, the legendary Jack Kirby created those otherworldly sorts back in 1971. The general crux of the New Gods title revolves around New Genesis and Apokolips. These twin planets were formerly joined together as Urgrund, but a cataclysmic split saw two very different worlds created. Initially, New Genesis was full of fresh forests, rivers, and stunning territory. Then there was Apokolips, a horrendous, polluted planet ruled by the nefarious Darkseid. A trade of sons between leaders Highfather and Darkseid led to an initial peace treaty of sorts between the pair, but, as ever in comics, trouble was around the corner. Being the no-good megalomaniac that he was and still is, Darkseid eventually got fed up of all this peace and so got to work on his Anti-Life Equation. What’s that, you say? Why, it’s a weapon that could destroy the entire universe.

Given the current uncertainly of the DC Extended Universe, right now it’s not known for sure whether The New Gods will exist within the confines of the DCEU. That said, Justice League’s use of Steppenwolf and the Motherboxes are all tied to the realms of the New Gods, so who knows.

At this early juncture, The New Gods has yet to be given an official release date, but expect more on the movie as we get it.

SHIN GODZILLA Team Developing SHIN ULTRAMAN

Ultraman

After giving us the completely awesome Shin Godzilla, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi are now set to tackle Ultraman.

Via io9, the pair will be teaming with Tsuburaya Productions and Toho to develop Shin Ultraman. Higuchi will be on directing duties, while Anno is putting together the film’s script.

This comes on the heels of Netflix premiering a new animated Ultraman series earlier this year, as this famed property once again gets revisited for new audiences.

Ultraman began life back in 1966 as a Japanese live-action TV series centred on the all-powerful character and a bunch of other Ultra-heroes – and since then there has been a slew of spin-offs, new incarnations, and branches out to different mediums for the property.

At present, Shin Ultraman is planned for a 2021 release.

James Wan to Direct New Horror Movie for New Line

James Wan

While he’s forever got plentiful plates continuously spinning, we now have word on yet another new project for modern horror fave James Wan.

Courtesy of Deadline, Wan is directing a to-be-titled horror effort for New Line Cinema. Details are scarce on exactly what the focus of the film will be, although the picture will start shooting in Los Angeles this Autumn.

The screenplay for this movie will be developing by Wan and Ingrid Bisu. Wan and Michael Clear will be producing for Atomic Monster.

As alluded to, James Wan is one busy, busy fella. At this point in time, The Conjuring 3, Aquaman 2, a Mortal Kombat, and Amazon’s I Know What You Did Last Summer TV series are just some of the projects currently lined up for the Saw and Insidious director.

Expect more on all of these projects as we get it.

Joss Whedon’s THE NEVERS Announces its Core Cast

Joss Whedon

For the past year, Joss Whedon has been working away on a new TV series titled The Nevers. Now, that show has revealed its core cast.

Courtesy of Variety, it’s been confirmed that the previously announced Laura Donnelly and Amalia True will be joined by Dollhouse’s Olivia Williams, Happy Valley’s James Norton, Vikings’ Ann Skelly, Da Vinci’s Demons’ Tom Riley, Torchwood’s Amy Manson, Terminator: Dark Fate’s Rochelle Neil, The Thin Red Line’s Ben Chaplin, Preacher’s Pip Torrens, Camping’s Zackary Momoh, American Horror Story’s Denis O’Hare, Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson, and Shaun of the Dead’s Nick Frost.

That’s quite the impressive ensemble, right?

From what we’ve heard about The Nevers, the show will centre on a group of women with special abilities in the landscape of Victorian England.

Expect more on The Nevers as it continues to develop.