Joe Taslim is MORTAL KOMBAT’s Sub-Zero

Mortal Kombat Joe Taslim Sub-Zero

As the long-gestating Mortal Kombat movie reboot gets set for its 2021 release, the film has found its first cast member.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Joe Taslim has signed on to play Sub-Zero in the picture. After getting his start in The Raid, Taslim has gone on to have roles in Star Trek Beyond, Fast & Furious 6 and The Night Comes For Us. In addition to his acting career, Taslim is a real-life badass with a martial arts background and he has also represented the Indonesian Judo squad.

Sub-Zero, of course, is one of the poster boys of the Mortal Kombat franchise, with the Lin Kuei icon able to manipulate ice in all kinds of cool ways. There have, however, been two different versions of Sub-Zero. First, we had Bi-Han as the original Sub-Zero. That character would be killed by Scorpion, although death isn’t exactly a permanent move in the realm of Mortal Kombat. After that death, Bi-Han’s brother Kuai Liang has taken on the moniker of Sub-Zero.

Having been in serious development since 2015, Halo’s Simon McQuoid is on directing duties for Mortal Kombat. The movie has already begun pre-production ahead of shooting in Australia later this year.

The Mortal Kombat video game franchise sprung to bloody and brutal life back in 1992, forever changing the landscape of fighting games. With elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, gamers were given an experience that was full of the sort of bloodshed and brutality never before seen.

Of course, not just a hugely successful video game series, Mortal Kombat fans have since been, err, treated to two Mortal Kombat movies and the genuinely impressive Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries.

At this stage, Mortal Kombat is set for a March 5th, 2021 release.

FrightFest Looking for New Blood Again

frightfest 2019

With FrightFest entering its 20th year, the search is set to resume for new writers in the horror genre. For the third year running, New Blood reunites FrightFest with Giles Edwards of Queensbury Pictures with its mission to find emerging UK-based writers dedicated to the genre and nurture their projects from script to screen. Queensbury is ultimately interested in buying the finished script rather than the idea, and so, this year all successful final candidates if selected should be able to send even a rough draft of the first ten pages of their script through with their acceptance.

Already the scheme has delivered one new project Broadcast Signal Intrusion. Written by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall, it’s directed by Jacob Gentry (The Signal) and goes into production in early autumn.

The successful shortlisted applicants will workshop their ideas in a group setting under the guidance of top industry professionals and genre experts. Among this year’s panel are two-for-the-price-of-one directors The Soska Sisters, producer Jen Handorff (Prevenge, The Chamber), novelist and critic Kim Newman, and Queensbury Pictures’ Giles Edwards.

Giles Edwards of Queensbury Pictures said, “Having already achieved the initial aim of New Blood, with the discovery of the phenomenal script Broadcast Signal Intrusion from Phil and Tim that’s going into production in Chicago in September, we’re more adamant than ever that the cream of UK genre writing talent is out there, just waiting for the opportunity to wrench our collective gut with their visions of true terror.”

Greg Day, co-director of FrightFest added, “For FrightFest to help and enable aspiring scriptwriters to have this opportunity is very gratifying, especially as Giles and Queensbury Pictures have proved that they really mean business and are not just playing industry lip-service.”

The New Blood networking and workshop event will be held on Thursday August 22nd the opening day of this year’s festival, in a Central London venue

Applications are open from Wednesday July 10th with potential participants asked to submit a 400 word proposal through the dedicated New Blood page on the FrightFest website and if selected, each writer is expected to submit the first ten pages of their script idea. The deadline is Wednesday July 31st. All successful applicants will be notified by early August and then will be requested to send over their sample script pages. All participants are expected to pay for their own travel and accommodation.

For full application requirements and to apply: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/newblood.html

Arrow Video FrightFest runs August 22nd to 26th.

Sarah Paulson Not Returning for AHS: 1984

Sarah Paulson

With American Horror Story: 1984 set to premiere this September, it now appears that one of the genre favourite’s mainstays won’t be returning for this ninth season of the show.

Courtesy of Variety, it’s being reported that Sarah Paulson will not be a part of AHS: 1984. Paulson, of course, is one of only two people to appear in every single season of American Horror Story to date. That other person? That’d be Evan Peters, who’s also not going to be involved in 1984.

The outlet does add that Paulson may possibly make a cameo appearance at some point in AHS: 1984, yet that is very much a maybe at this stage.

In terms of what we know about American Horror Story: 1984, the only real information on the new season is that Emma Roberts will star in it and that the latest AHS offering will be influenced by the slasher subgenre.

American Horror Story: 1984 will premiere on September 18th.

GHOSTBUSTERS 2020 Adds Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim

Ghostbusters

Fresh off the news that Paul Rudd has joined Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters 2020, two further names have been added to the movie.

Via Variety, Irreplaceable You’s Celeste O’Connor and newcomer Logan Kim have joined GB2020. At this stage, no details are known on just what roles the duo have landed in the film. They join a cast that includes Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, with the majority of the original two Ghostbusters films’ surviving cast expected to reprise their famed roles.

Ignoring the female-fronted 2016 Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2020 will pick things up decades down the line with the world and characters of Ivan Reitman’s legendary pictures. Plot-wise, Coon and Wolfhard will be playing a single mother and son who become terrorised by things that go bump in the night.

At this stage, Ghostbusters 2020 is booked in for a July 2020 release.

Jon Watts Wants Kraven for the MCU

Kraven the Hunter

With Spider-Man: Far From Home now in cinemas and impressing any and all who have seen it, the attention has turned to which villain(s) may be next in line to face off with Tom Holland’s Web-head. And if director Jon Watts gets his way, we may see Kraven the Hunter sooner rather than later.

Speaking to Uproxx about that very topic, Watts enthused, “I would love Kraven. It’s just the trick of how do you do Kraven in a movie? But no, I don’t know who’s next. I always like to think about in terms of what’s going to be the most difficult thing for Peter. So that’s going to be the trick.”

Many savvy Spidey fans were half-expecting Kraven to turn up in Far From Home once Numan Acar was cast in the movie. Despite striking a massive resemblance to Sergei Kravinoff, Acar instead ended up playing a character called Dimitri who worked alongside Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

As a character, Kraven is one of Spider-Man’s most long-standing foes. The character’s roots go back to 1946’s The Amazing Spider-Man #15 and the master huntsman was even a part of the original Sinister Six.

Whether we get Kraven in the inevitable Far From Home follow-up, we’ll have to wait and see. What we do know, though, is that many fans would absolutely to see Sergei make it to the silver screen.

Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson to Star in New SAW Movie

Samuel L. Jackson Chris Rock

With Chris Rock on to board to produce a new Saw movie, we now have some new casting news on the film.

Via Bloody Disgusting, Samuel L. Jackson and Rock himself will be starring in the reboot. This story originally began as a rumour on Reddit, before BD reached out to a source to get confirmation on the Jackson and Rock news.

Darren Lynn Bousman – director of Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV – is on directing duties for this ninth Saw offering, and Jigsaw’s Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg put the script together based on a story from Chris Rock.

Plot specifics on this to-be-titled new Saw effort are being kept hush-hush right now, although the film is being pegged as looking to expand the world of Saw rather than serve as any sort of remake.

At present, this next Saw picture is booked in for an October 2020 release – which, if the rumours are true, will see it being going up against the next installment in the Halloween franchise.

BRIGHTBURN Sequel Talks Have Already Happened

Brightburn

This May, Sony Pictures carved up a different spin on the played-out superhero formula with David Yarovesky’s Brightburn. And now, we have word that there have at least been talks of getting to work on a sequel.

In case you missed Brightburn, the horror offering took the cliched story of Superman and put a dark and sinister twist on it. As in, young superpowered Brandon Brever decides to use his god-like powers to cause all kinds of chaos.

While Yarovesky directed the picture, genre fave James Gunn was on board as a producer – and it was Gunn who updated on the chance of a sequel. Replying to a comment on his Instagram, Gunn explained, “I think I’m tied up for the next few years with Suicide Squad and then Guardians, but we’re talking about the sequel.”

So, could we get a sequel? Most certainly. Would it be any time soon? Not likely.

As Gunn alluded to, he’s currently working on Warner Brothers’ Suicide Squad sequel – still strangely titled The Suicide Squad – for an August 2021 release, before then returning to Marvel Studios for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Expect more on a possible Brightburn sequel if and when we hear more.

HALLOWEEN Getting Back-to-Back Sequels?

Halloween Michael Myers

Last year’s return for the Halloween franchise was a largely well received one, and now those rumblings of a follow-up outing for Laurie and the Shape have been amped up a notch.

We’ve previously heard how the majority of the cast and crew of David Gordon Green’s Halloween are believed to be returning for a sequel, yet now there’s speculation that we may actually have two Halloween offerings being shot back-to-back.

Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, there’s even talk that these sequels may well both be released in October 2020. Yes, two more Halloween movies, both released in the same month as each other.

To be fair, BD is usually an extremely reliable outlet, although even they themselves are reiterating to take this with a pinch of salt until anything becomes official.

It certainly looks like there’s plenty more left lift in Michael Myers, at least. Which is great news for the fans of this utterly iconic horror franchise.

Expect more on all things Halloween as we get it.

Help Crowdfund The Redemption of Harry Day

harry day

Here at STARBURST we like to point you in the direction of some good films currently crowdfunding, and one such project is The Redemption of Harry Day. The brainchild of Chris Sanders, it is currently doing well on Kickstarter.

As well as supporting an exciting artistic project, you’ve the chance of getting some cool perks that range from a credit on the movie to a chance to appear on screen as an extra or in a speaking role!

Sanders’ previous short, She Summoned Him, has done well around the world (you can watch it on the Kickstarter page) and this next venture promises to be just as thrilling.

Set to star are Frank Jakeman, who appeared as Lord Vale in the final episode of Game of Thrones, and Helena Mankoweska, who was Mila Jovovich’s stunt double in Paradise Hills.

The official synopsis is:
The Redemption of Harry Day is a dark and haunting tale about a retired British spy who is tracked down by the daughter of a double agent he killed during the cold war. After years of searching for him, the daughter is now determined to confront Harry and look deep into the eyes of the man who killed her Mother!

For more information, head over to the Kickstarter page and help get a great project on the screen.

Check Out Guillermo del Toro Talking Pan’s Labyrinth

del pans

Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun is a new book by Cornelia Funke based on the film by Guillermo del Toro is in bookstores now.
To give you a taste of what you can expect, check out this video of the great director himself talking about the book.

You can read our review here, and check out the next issue of STARBURST for an exclusive interview with author Cornelia Funke. Buy the book at Amazon and all good bookstores.