William Sadler Returning for BILL & TED 3; Rufus Update

Bill & Ted Death

With Bill and Ted officially set to make a most triumphant return for Bill & Ted Face the Music, now comes word on another familiar face who’ll be joining the duo in their third big-screen outing.

After many fans have asked the question, the official Bill & Ted Twitter account has revealed that William Sadler will indeed be back as Death:

As a character, Sadler’s Grim Reaper appeared in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey when the Wyld Stallyns duo end up killed off by their evil robot doppelgangers. From there, a brilliant set of sequences play out as Bill and Ted engage in a slew of games with Death in order to be brought back to life so that they can save their princesses and put a stop to Chuck De Nomolos’ plans to rewrite history. Of course, by this point Death is helping out with the mission to save the day.

Now while Death was a key part of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, one character who was key to both Bogus Journey and its predecessor, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, is Rufus. Played by George Carlin, Rufus became the mentor to Bill and Ted as he helped to make sure that the all was well with the duo and their path to rock superstardom (and a utopian future for the planet) runs smoothly. Sadly, the brilliant Carlin passed away in 2008.

When asked whether Rufus may be recast for the threequel, it was revealed that Rufus’ absence will play a key part in the picture:

Currently, the plan is to start shooting Bill & Ted Face the Music this summer ahead of an August 2020 release. Galaxy Quest’s Dean Parisot is on directing duties, with a script in place from the first two movies’ scribes Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon.

Blumhouse Remaking THE CRAFT

The Craft

It was only earlier this month that we saw the core cast of The Craft reunite at Monster Mania – their four’s first time together since 1996 – and now comes word that the movie itself is to get the remake treatment.

Courtesy of Production Weekly, those rumours of Blumhouse remaking The Craft are indeed said to be true. At this stage, it’s being reported that Blumhouse is currently in talks with a director, although it’s yet to be revealed just who said director is.

If you remember, a new Craft movie has been being talked about for several years now, with Honeymoon’s Leigh Janiak working on a sequel three years ago. Janiak has long since left the project, but it appears that the notion of a new Craft picture is something that’s been kept gestating.

For those not familiar with the original ’96 movie, the Andrew Fleming-helmed effort centred on Robin Tunney as she makes friends with a trio of young witches played by Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell and Rachel True.

As ever, expect more on this Craft remake as we get it.

Zac Efron and Amanda Seyfried Join Animated SCOOBY-DOO Movie

Zac Efron Amanda Seyfried Scooby-Doo

With Warners currently at work on a new big-screen animated Scooby-Doo movie, now comes word on who’ll be lending their vocals to Fred Jones and Daphne Blake.

Courtesy of Variety, Zac Efron has signed on to voice Fred and Amanda Seyfried will be voicing Daphne. The duo join a cast that currently includes Will Forte as Shaggy, Gina Rodriguez as Velma Dinkley and Tracy Morgan as Dick Dastardly.

Titled Scoob, the animated offering will focus on the famed Mystery Machine guys, gals and hound as they team with other Hanna-Barbera characters to save the universe from the nefarious Dick Dastardly. Space Jam’s Tony Cervone is on directing duties, with a script from The Addams Family’s Matt Lieberman.

At this stage, Scoob is booked in for a May 2020 release.

Chelsea T. Zhang is TITANS’ Ravager

Chelsea T. Zhang Ravager Titans

Following on from the recent castings of Deathstroke and Jericho, now comes word on Titans adding another member of the infamous Wilson family.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Andi Mack’s Chelsea T. Zhang has signed on to play Rose Wilson in the show’s upcoming second season. Better known as Ravager, Rose is the daughter of Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke.

The official character description for Rose reads:

Daughter of the deadly assassin Deathstroke, Rose Wilson was forced to undergo the same procedure that granted her father nearly superhuman abilities, becoming a weapon known as Ravager. Ever resentful, she seeks out the Titans not only for their protection but to get back at her father. Knowing how dangerous it is to be the offspring of their deadliest foe, the Titans take her in but that doesn’t necessarily mean they trust her.

As alluded to, the last couple of weeks have seen Esai Morales brought in to play Deathstroke and Chella Man to play Slade’s son Joseph Wilson/Jericho. And now, we know that Slade’s daughter and Joseph’s sister will be a part of Titans’ second year.

Season 2 of Titans is expected to arrive at a to-be-confirmed date towards the end of the year.

SUPERNATURAL to End Next Season

Supernatural

Yes, you read that right. The ridiculously long-running urban fantasy TV series Supernatural will be coming to a final conclusion at the end of its next and fifteenth season, as has been announced via a pair of videos posted to series star Jensen Ackles’ Instagram page.

 

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Well, it’s official. One more round for the Winchester brothers. Though nothing ever really ends in Supernatural…does it? ?

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The rest of the vid. #spnfamily for life.

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The series follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester as they battle monsters from myth and legend, angels, demons, gods, and primordial entities as old as the universe, all the while gaining and losing family members both biological and chosen, and engaging in a great deal of angst and brooding. Although it often felt as though the series could survive nuclear war along with the cockroaches, it seems that all things must eventually come to an end, and by the ultimate finale it will have aired over 320 episodes.

Although an air date for the final season’s premiere hasn’t been announced, it will almost certainly be in later this year in September or October.

Taika Waititi Voicing THE MANDALORIAN’s IG-88

IG-88

While public details are being kept to a minimum where Jon Favreau’s in-development The Mandalorian is concerned, one thing we do know is that the live-action show will feature robot bounty hunter IG-88. And now, well now we know who’ll be providing the voice for the Empire Strikes Back alum.

Favreau himself has taken to Instagram to confirm that genre fave Taika Waititi will be lending his vocal chords to IG-88:

 

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Sure, Waititi may be on the crest of a wave after directing hugely popular recent efforts such as Thor: Ragnarok and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but this ridiculously talented New Zealander is just as impressive in front of the camera or behind it. Up next for Waititi in terms of acting is World War II-set comedy drama Jojo Rabbit, where he’ll be playing Adolf Hitler.

For his role as IG-88 in The Madalorian, this won’t be the first time that Waititi has carried out voice work; the Eagle vs. Shark helmer famously voicing Korg in his own Thor: Ragnarok. And if you remember, Waititi is also on board to direct an episode of the Disney+-exclusive The Mandalorian.

The Mandalorian will be headlined by Game of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal, with the series expected to arrive on the Disney+ streaming service later this year.

EVE: Aether Wars Has Groundbreaking 14,000-Ship Battle Live At GDC

Aether

More than 3,850 players have accomplished an astounding achievement in large-scale multiplayer gaming. London-based tech start-up Hadean and CCP Games, the creators of the in-depth and uniquely player-driven spaceship MMO game EVE Online, have successfully hosted a battle with 10,000 ships taking part, through their EVE: Aether Wars tech demo.

Taking place live on the first morning of Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, 3,852 players from across the globe battled each other for an hour in EVE: Aether Wars, with AI-connected clients joining the clash and pushing overall ships total to 14,274. Concurrent combatants peaked at 10,412, but it wouldn’t be a battle worthy of EVE Online without an epic list of casualties and EVE: Aether Wars didn’t disappoint, with 88,988 ships destroyed.

It’s a huge milestone in the EVE: Aether Wars project between Hadean and CCP Games, as part of the continued drive to explore the future of large-scale multiplayer simulation.

EVE: Aether Wars was created to showcase the power of Hadean’s Aether Engine, the world’s first distributed simulation engine. Powered by Microsoft Azure, the Aether Engine allows developers to seamlessly scale their applications at increased speed and ease across the cloud.

CCP Games provided Hadean with EVE Online and EVE: Valkyrie assets for use in the EVE: Aether Wars tech demo, along with its own industry-leading games development expertise. This allowed Hadean to focus on solving the technical challenges faced by developers within large-scale online multiplayer environments. The ongoing collaboration between the two companies will seek to explore the potential for substantial changes to the technical infrastructure of EVE Online.

The EVE Online community currently holds the Guinness World Record for ‘most concurrent players simultaneously involved in a single multiplayer PvP videogame battle’ with 6,142 players on 23rd January 2018.

“We are thrilled to have successfully debuted the Aether Engine with EVE: Aether Wars,” said Craig Beddis, Hadean’s CEO. “A deathmatch of this magnitude couldn’t have been achieved without the support of CCP and EVE Online’s amazing community. After such an incredible showing at GDC, we’re even more excited about the possibilities our partnership presents to push the technological boundaries of what’s possible in the MMO space.”

“We knew that Hadean’s tech held massive potential, and I’m ecstatic to see that potential realised for the first time with EVE: Aether Wars,” said Hilmar V. Pétursson, CCP Games’ CEO. “I remain convinced that our partnership will continue break new ground in virtual worlds, and we will continue to explore creative and exciting opportunities that ensure EVE will outlive us all!”

Hadean will host an ‘offline’ version of EVE: Aether Wars at its stand, S366 in South Hall, for the remainder of GDC. This will enable players to get a feel for how the technology works as they battle against hundreds of AI-controlled clients and against the other EVE: Aether Wars station at Hadean’s stand. Attendees will also have the opportunity to chat with the engineering team behind the Aether Engine, who will be on-hand to answer questions about the project and Hadean’s technology.

For further details on Hadean and the Aether Engine, visit www.hadean.com and  www.aetherengine.io.

For more information about CCP Games and the EVE Universe, visit www.ccpgames.com/products.

Amazon’s DARK TOWER TV Series Finds its Headline Stars

Jasper Pääkkönen Sam Strike The Dark Tower

Following the so-so 2017 movie, it’s hard to remember that Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is also getting adapted for TV. And now, said small-screen adaptation has found its main two characters.

Courtesy of Variety, Vikings’ Jasper Pääkkönen is playing Randall Flagg/The Man in Black and Nightflyers’ Sam Strike is to play Roland Deschain/The Gunslinger. In the movie take on The Dark Tower, those roles were played by Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, respectively, of course.

Originally, this Dark Tower TV show was to be tied to the aforementioned film. That was until, frankly, the feature disappointed on plentiful levels. As such, Amazon decided to change gears and instead make this TV offering a more faithful adaptation of King’s famed books.

The Walking Dead and Damien’s Glen Mazzara is acting as showrunner and executive producer on the series.

Macon Blair to Handle Legendary’s TOXIC AVENGER Remake

The Toxic Avenger

One of the true standout highlights of this past weekend’s STARBURST International Film Festival was handing out our Hall of Fame honour to Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman. And now, we’ve got an update on the long-gestating remake of Troma’s most famous property, The Toxic Avenger.

Courtesy of Variety, it’s now been confirmed that Legendary Pictures – who have a one-year option on giving Toxie a new lick of paint – has brought in Macon Blair to write and direct the redo. Now while this news is finally official, let’s just say we may have been given a heads-up on all of this from a certain Uncle Lloydie over the weekend…

As for Macon Blair, he’s actually best known for acting in the likes of Green Room and Logan Lucky, although his directorial debut I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore wowed audiences at Sundance back in 2017.

For those not familiar with The Toxic Avenger, the basic premise saw nerdy janitor Melvin Junko end up transforming into the hulking, deformed Toxic Avenger after one too many run-ins with local bullies (and some conveniently-placed chemicals). With enhanced strength, Melvin uses his trusty mop to brutally clean up the local streets. From there, there’d be three sequels, a ’90s cartoon series, and even a musical in recent years.

That last we’d heard on all things Toxie was that Troma and Kaufman were working on a fifth film, while Sausage Party’s Conrad Vernon was also putting together a big-budget remake effort. Unless Vernon is somehow involved in Legendary’s remake, it looks like his take on Toxie is now in limbo.

For this new Toxic Avenger effort, Lloyd Kaufman and longtime partner Michael Herz will be serving as producers, with the plan being for this to be the launching point for a new cinematic superhero franchise.

Elizabeth Debicki and Robert Pattinson Board Secret Nolan Project

Elizabeth Debicki Robert Pattinson

Variety has learned that Elizabeth Debicki and Robert Pattinson will be starring alongside John David Washington in Christopher Nolan’s next film.

So top secret is the project that practically nothing is known about it, not even the title of the movie. Rumoured to be a massive action blockbuster, the only thing that Warner Bros. has confirmed is the release date of July 17th, 2020.

Debicki has recently completed production on the intriguing HBO horror series Lovecraft Country.

Pattinson, whom clearly doesn’t believe in taking things easy, can be seen in High Life, The Lighthouse, Waiting for the Barbarians and Netflix’s The King at various points this year.

As usual expect more news on this mystery project as we get it.