Kelly Marcel to Pen VENOM 2

Kelly Marcel Venom

Whether you enjoyed last year’s Venom or not, there’s no disputing the film’s impressive box office take. And now, the previously rumoured Venom sequel has moved to bring in a screenwriter.

Via Variety, Sony Pictures has brought in Kelly Marcel (pictured at the Venom premiere with Tom Hardy) to write and executive produce Venom 2. Marcel, of course, was a part of the first Venom effort as she put together the film’s screenplay with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg. Her other credits include the likes of Terra Nova, Saving Mr. Banks and, err, Fifty Shades of Grey.

In terms of what we know about Venom 2, the only real information is regarding some returning cast members. Tom Hardy will be back as Eddie Brock, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, and then Woody Harrelson will take centre-stage as the maniacal Cletus Kassady, aka Carnage. Due to being busy with Zombieland 2, however, director Reuben Fleischer seems unlikely to be back in the director’s chair.

As alluded to, Venom massively split opinion when it hit the big screen last year, yet it managed to bring home $855 million at the global box office.

Expect more on Venom 2 and Sony’s shared Spider-Verse as we get it.

VIKINGS to End After Sixth Season

Vikings

Since premiering back in 2013, History Channel’s Vikings has gone on to become a huge favourite of many a genre fan. If you’re one such fan, we’re afraid we’ve got some bad news for you…

Courtesy of Deadline, it’s been revealed that Vikings will come to an end after its sixth season. To soften that blow, however, creator Michael Hirst is in talks with MGM Television to develop a sequel series of sorts.

Currently, Vikings is in the midst of its fifth season, with the season finale due to air on January 30th. Right now, we’d have to imagine that the sixth and final season of the show will come to a close during early 2020. Said final year will be made up of twenty episodes.

Obviously plot details for Season 6 have yet to be revealed, with the current fifth season still with plenty of action and twists and turns to play out.

Expect more on all of this as we get it.

New JUMANJI Movie Adds Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito

Hot on the heels of Awkwafina joining Sony Pictures’ upcoming new Jumanji movie, now comes word that Danny DeVito will be a part of the Welcome to the Jungle follow-up.

Variety first broke the news, with Dwayne Johnson than taking to his Instagram page to officially confirm the addition of the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Batman Returns and Twins actor.

No plot specifics are known for this to-be-titled new Jumanji effort just yet, but DeVito and Awkwafina will join the returning Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black. Similarly, director Jake Kasdan will be back to oversee proceedings.

With Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle having brought home just shy of $1 billion for Sony, it’s no surprise that they’re once again ready to head back into the jungle this coming December.

New ALIEN Game in the Works?

Alien Isolation

Ready for more Alien something?

We don’t know exactly what is in the works just yet, but there’s definitely something in the works where the Alien franchise is concerned. 20th Century Fox has been teasing something on the Alien Twitter page, with the attention seemingly centred on Amanda Ripley.

For those not familiar with that character, Amanda is the daughter of Ellen Ripley and was the main protagonist of 2014’s fantastic Alien: Isolation game.

First and foremost, the logical school of thought would suggest that this is a new Alien video game on the way for later this year. With that said, it could also be that this may be some sort of TV series, as has been previously rumoured. But then what about that tagline of “Read. Play. Watch.”?

Interestingly, Aliens: Resistance is an upcoming comic book series centred on Amanda Ripley, so that certainly covers the “Read” element of that tagline. However, could it actually be that there will be a video game and a TV series to tie in with Resistance?

Right now, that’s merely us doing 2 + 2 and potentially ending up with 3,457. Then again, we could be getting 4.

As ever, expect more on all things Alien as we get it.

THE LONG HALLOWEEN Getting an Animated Adaptation?

Batman: The Long Halloween

Could one of the greatest stories in Batman history soon be brought to animated life? If Revenge of the Fans are correct, then yes.

The site is reporting that Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s stunning The Long Halloween arc is set to be turned in to a two-part animated effort, much like what we’ve recently seen with The Death of Superman and previously what we saw with Jay Oliva’s brilliant two-part take on Frank Miller’s iconic The Dark Knight Returns.

In addition to this, the rumoured cast for the adaptation includes Troy Baker, Jensen Ackles, Naya Rivera, Titus Welliver, David Dastmalchian, Jim Pirri, Amy Landecker, Matthew Gray Gubler, Katee Sackhoff and Fred Tatasciore.

Of course, right now this is far from officially confirmed by DC Entertainment, but the story certainly sounds extremely plausible. Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment have been developing adaptations of some of the Caped Crusader’s most famous tales in recent years – such as The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke and Hush – and so The Long Halloween most certainly fits the bill on that front.

The thirteen-issue comic book arc, which ran from 1996 into 1997, is viewed as one of the greatest Bat-tales of all time, with the story focussing on a mysterious killer who rears their head on each and every holiday of the year. The Long Halloween also happens to be the pivotal moment where Harvey Dent becomes the nefarious Two-Face.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.

Stephen King’s ‘IT’: A World-First Experiment

experiment

Pennywise needs you to take part in a world-first Stephen King experiment!

Stephen King fans, listen up! With Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter 2 hitting screens later this year, take part in a world-first scientific experiment to find out why the story of Pennywise and The Losers’ Club has its effect. STARBURST writer Dr Charlie Oughton has teamed up with world-leading tech scientists, Lumen, for a day investigating King’s original book. You don’t need to know the story or to have read the book before to join in. You just go along, read a page of IT and say what you think about IT. That’s it! Groups are more than welcome.

To take part, you must be 18+ and be able to get to the BFI’s offices in Stephen Street, Central London on the January 17th, 2019 between 9am and 6pm. Sign up via the link below to confirm your time. The results of the experiment will be published in Charlie’s forthcoming book on Stephen King’s IT, which also includes interviews with the stars!

Sign up here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FPSH8TX

We’ll all float!

About us

Dr Charlie Oughton lectures in Media and Communications at a number of universities. He has written on horror film, serial killers and gender for publishers including McFarland and has contributed essays to labels including Arrow Video, has toured public lectures at events including the British Film Institute’s Stephen King on Screen season and has appeared on broadcast media including BBC News and Sky News. He is currently working on a book about Stephen King’s IT for McFarland.

Charlie’s Instagram page (full of IT updates!): @drcharlieoughton

Lumen’s tech wizardry: http://www.lumen-research.com/

Awkwafina in Talks for New JUMANJI Movie

Awkwafina

With a follow-up to 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle currently in development, the sequel could be close to adding its first new cast member.

Courtesy of The Wrap, rapper-turned-actress Awkwafina is said to be in final negotiations for a significant role in what’s currently titled Jumanji 2. Awkwafina – real name Nora Lum – is likely best known to genre fans for her roles in Bad Neighbours 2, Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8.

For Jumanji 2, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black are said to all be returning, with 2017’s Welcome to the Jungle bringing home just shy of $1 billion for Sony Pictures. Similarly, director Jake Kasdan will be returning, and he’ll be penning the screenplay alongside Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg.

At present, Jumanji 2 (but surely, that should be Jumanji 3, right?) is tentatively booked in for a December 13th, 2019 release.

Yuki Morita to Tackle THE TERROR

Yuki Morita

As AMC’s The Terror continues to assemble its core cast for its second year, now comes word that Yuki Morita has joined the series.

Via Bloody Disgusting, the actress, likely best known to genre fans for her appearance in 2014’s Godzilla, has joined The Terror in a to-be-revealed role. Morita joins a cast the currently features George Takei, Kiki Sukezane, Miki Ishikawa, Cristina Rodlo and Shingo Usami.

The early word on The Terror’s second season reads:

Set during World War II, the second of follows a series of bizarre deaths that haunt a Japanese-American community and a young man’s journey to understand and combat the malevolent entity responsible.

The ten-episode return for The Terror is due to premiere later this year.

New Marvel Video Game in Development

Marvel Comics

While we’re still in awe at just how amazing, spectacular and superior last year’s PS4-exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man was, there’s now word of a new Marvel video game on the way.

In terms of story specifics or character focus, nothing has been revealed just yet. We do know, however, that Hamilton Chu and Ben Brode are working on the new project. That duo worked on Blizzard’s well-received Hearthstone, and now their new Second Dinner studio is to make said Marvel game its inaugural release. Variety is reporting that Second Dinner is received funding from Chinese tech company NetEase.

On the news, Chu enthused, “In all likelihood, this will be the best [Marvel] game ever made,” whilst Marvel Games’ Jay Ong added, “They and the team they’ve assembled at Second Dinner have made some of the greatest games in history. And now, working with the Marvel Games team and playing in the Marvel Universe… It’s going to be Amazing! Or maybe Spectacular! Or Incredible… or Mighty… or quite possibly all of the above!”

Here’s the official announcement trailer for all of this:

Expect more on this new Marvel effort as we get it.

The CW Officially Orders a BATWOMAN Pilot

Ruby Rose Batwoman

Many may have pretty much taken it as a given, but The CW has now officially ordered a pilot for Batwoman.

When it was announced that Ruby Rose’s Batwoman was to debut in December’s Elseworlds crossover event, many took it for granted that the heroine would then get her own CW series as part of the shared Arrowverse realm. But despite that, there was still nothing official on such a series being confirmed.

Now though, The CW has formally ordered a pilot episode for Batwoman after Rose’s Kate Kane massively impressed during the utterly stunning Elseworlds crossover. Caroline Dreis was tasked with writing Batwoman’s introduction into the Arrowverse, and she’s been handed writing and showrunner duties for the Batwoman pilot. Along for the ride as executive producers are Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Geoff Johns, with Game of Thrones’ David Nutter to direct the pilot.

In Elseworlds, Kate Kane was shown to be the protector of a truly grim and desolate Gotham City. Depicted as the cousin of Bruce Wayne, Kate was picking up the pieces after Batman has been AWOL for several years. Following the Caped Crusader’s disappearance, Gotham has gone ever further to the dogs, proving to be just as ugly as the city’s famed gargoyles.

All being well, Batwoman should debut later this year.