Comic book adaptations! Comic book adaptations everywhere! And if you ask us, that’s definitely not a bad thing. Now, there’s an update on the upcoming adaptation of Image Comics’ Analog.
As per Variety, the John Wick franchise’s Chad Stahelski has been brought in to direct Lionsgate’s big-screen take on this fan favourite sci-fi story. Stahelski will also produce alongside John Wick and Deadpool 2’s David Leitch through their 87eleven banner, and Colony’s Ryan J. Condall is currently developing the screenplay.
For those not familiar with Analog, Gerry Duggan and David O’Sullivan created the future-set tale. Set in 2024, we have a landscape where the online world has been vastly changed and is only used for pornography purposes. Due to online privacy issues, armed couriers are used to deliver messages and important information, replacing the now-unsafe method of emails.
As Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter 2 continues to flesh out its core cast, the sequel has added another name to its adult Losers Club.
Courtesy of Deadline, Mary Kills People’s Jay Ryan has been brought in to play the older version of Ben Hanscom; the character played by Jeremy Ray Taylor in last year’s IT.
Ryan joins a cast that includes Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak, and Andy Bean as Stanley Uris.
To be set 27 years after the events of IT, the follow-up will see the adult Losers Club returning home to Derry to tackle Pennywise for one final time.
IT: Chapter 2 is currently set for a September 2019 release.
We’ve known since earlier this year that Mike Flanagan was the person tasked with adapting Stephen King’s The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. And now, the movie has finally been given a set release date.
As revealed by Warner Brothers, Doctor Sleep has been booked in for a January 24th, 2020 release. At present, Flanagan is rewriting a screenplay initially put together by Akiva Goldsman, and Trevor Macy and Vertigo’s Jon Berg Goldsman are on board as executive producers.
To many genre fans, Flanagan is as good a fit as any to oversee Doctor Sleep, with him having impressed many with the likes of Oculus, Hush, Before I Wake and Ouija: Origin of Evil, not to mention having already directed an adaptation of King’s Gerald’s Game.
The synopsis for Doctor Sleep reads:
Doctor Sleep takes place years after the events at the Overlook Hotel and focuses on the now middle-aged Danny who is still traumatized. He’s followed in his father’s footsteps and has problems with anger management and alcoholism. He soon gives up drinking and settles in a small town in New Hampshire. While there, his psychic abilities start to resurface and he develops a psychic link with a 12-year-old girl named Abra Stone who he must save after he discovers her life is being threatened by a tribe of paranormals led by a man named Rose the Hat.
It’s not known just yet whether the big screen take on Doctor Sleep will actually acknowledge any of the previous adaptations of The Shining, but be sure that we’ll bring you more on all of this as we get it.
Earlier this week, we saw showrunner and creator Damon Lindelof address the concerns of fans over his small-screen Watchmen adaptation. And now, that series has assembled the core cast of its pilot episode.
As per Variety, The Leftovers’ Regina King, Django Unchained’s Don Johnson, Lincoln’s Tim Blake Nelson, An Officer and a Gentleman’s Louis Gossett Jr., The Brave’s Andrew Howard, and Rectify’s Adelaide Clemens has been cast in the show.
No details are known on just which characters any of these names are playing, although Regina King is believed to be the lead role of the series.
If you remember back to Lindelof’s open letter, he explained how the series will introduce new characters into the world of Watchmen, with the show said to not be a direct adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ source material; instead being more of a new tale that will run concurrently with what we already know about Watchmen.
Watchmen began life back in 1986 as a 12-issue miniseries from Moore and Gibbons, soon going on to become a hugely acclaimed classic and a tale regularly cited as one of the greatest comic book/graphic novel stories of all time. A big screen adaptation finally happened in 2009, with Zack Snyder directing a huge blockbuster starring the likes of Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
A few months ago, in STARBURST Issue 446, we interviewed director Tony Newton for the Independents Day column. We’re pleased to announce that a project he spoke about then, VHS Lives: A Schlockumentary will be released on DVD and iTunes in the US on May 29th.
From the press release:
The new VHS documentary brought to you by Vestra Pictures Directed and Produced by Tony Newton Producer of Grindsploitation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 666, 60 Seconds to Die, Virus of the Dead, and Trashsploitation.
Stars include Troma’s own Lloyd Kaufman, plus David DeCoteau, James Cullen Bressack, Jörg Buttgereit, Mark Polonia, Phil Anselmo, Tim Ritter, Dustin Ferguson, Billy ‘Bloody Bill’ Pon, David ‘The Rock’ Nelson, Shawn Burkett and more!
This new VHS documentary goes deep into the psyche of VHS fans and collectors, SOV filmmakers and shows just why the old VHS tapes you have rotting away in your loft are becoming antiques collectors pieces!
The documentary shows just why VHS is coming back into the public eye and why VHS is the hottest thing in 2018 since the full beard and the boom in vinyl record sales. You may think you’re hip but unless you own cult horror big box video nasty with the faint whiff of mould and the smell of old video stores you are very wrong!
People love nostalgia and VHS is a big part of that, we may have access 24/7 to unlimited movies at the click of a button, but nothing replaces that feeling of going into your local Mom and Pop video store and holding that huge big box VHS tape, anticipating the movie and all the horror’s it held!
VHS Lives! It’s pretty cool to be saying that in 2018, VHS is having a resurgence in a big way, there have always been collectors of VHS since the early days, there have been collectors that got rid of VHS when DVD and Blu-ray hit and then went back to collecting most of the films they once owned on VHS. People are starting to collect VHS cassettes now due to nostalgia, people collect because VHS is a part of our childhood and these are like antiques they are not only holding their money but they are growing in value by the day as there are a limited amount of these VHS tapes in circulation, most charity shops stopped taking VHS tapes around ten years ago, here in the UK and most of the VHS cassettes end up in the skip.
Holding a big box ex-rental VHS tape is pure heaven, it sends you back to the VHS heyday, when you would walk around the mom and pop video store and stand for hours just looking at the cover art full of blood, babes, chainsaws and serial killers!
VHS is the best format there ever was for watching old horror movies, when you play a cult horror movie you get crackles, tracking issues, flickering it’s like you are watching a film in a drive in theatre in the comfort of your own home!
VHS lives focuses on VHS, horror films, and shot on video films.
VHS will always be king, it’s what we grew up on, there was something magical about the huge tomb like box and the thrill of inserting the cassette in the VCR player with excitement of what you were about to watch, today everything is so easily accessible, it’s just there in those days we had to wait around two years to rent the video from its initial theatre run. Scrolling through video on demand services just doesn’t cut the mustard!
After much anticipation and plenty of teasing on Twitter, director Tom Six has unveiled the poster for his next film The Onania Club.
The genius behind the controversial (and frankly, brilliant) Human Centipede trilogy, who refers to himself as a ‘filmdictator’ revealed that the movie “is a psychological thriller with mostly strong female characters. (It will definitely pass the Bechdel test with flying colours). The plot is still kept under wraps, but takes place in Hollywood, LA and it will be one of the most vile, inhumane movie experiences of all time.” It’s expected to hit screens in autumn. Although we may have a little bit longer to wait, going off Tom’s previous experiences with the UK censors BBFC.
The Onania Club stars Jessica Morris, Darcy DeMoss, Deborah Twiss, Karen Strassman, and Flo Lawrence.
Horror Channel has a treat this June as Saturday nights are to be dedicated to the legendary John Carpenter with a host of classic movies being screened.
Starting on June 2nd, there’s The Fog (1980), the atmospheric chiller that reunited the Horror Master with Jamie Lee Curtis and brought in her mother Janet Leigh as well as the ever-popular Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Atkins. A possessed Plymouth Fury takes centre stage in Christine (1983), adapted from the Stephen King novel on June 9th, while June 16th sees the return of Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
They Live (2001), the remarkably apt story of aliens using subliminal messages to control the world. Late wrestler ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper stars in this unmissable classic. The season is capped off with the Network Premiere of John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998), which stars James Woods as a church-sanctioned hunter of the undead.
If that’s not enough, there are premieres for the brilliant Iron Sky, Lake Placid 3, Wind Chill, the massive hit Insidious, and the remake Thir13teen Ghosts.
For more information, head on over to the Horror Channel website. You can tune in on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freesat 138, Freeview 70.
With a TV take on the iconic Watchmen currently being developed for pilot over at HBO, series creator Damon Lindelof has made the unique move of taking to Instagram to quell any fears that fans of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ legendary tale have.
After all, these days we live in a world where there are arguably more people waiting to jump on board the hate train before something ever comes to be, than there are those who are willing to give something a chance. We mean, sure, you could easily go down the route of questioning why such a sacred property is getting rehashed for the small screen, particularly following the silver screen take from Zack Snyder. But Lindelof is someone who has impressed many with his writing work on the likes of Lost, The Leftovers, Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk, Prometheus, and Star Trek into Darkness. And, it turns out, he’s quite the huge fan of the Watchmen source material.
Deciding to address those with concerns over HBO’s plans for a Watchmen series, the candid and passionate Lindelof took to his social media with the below letter:
In fairness, the majority of us here at Moonbase Alpha were quite keen to see what could be done with Watchmen on the small screen, with the more elongated form of television seemingly a natural fit for the rich depth of the source material. And now, we’re even more excited and intrigued by what lies ahead as Damon Lindelof looks to create something new that simultaneously runs concurrently with what we’ve come to know and love about Watchmen.
With the upcoming Men in Black spinoff/reboot already having Thor: Ragnarok duo Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson leading the charge, now comes word on a potential new addition for the return of the MiB franchise.
As per Variety, Liam Neeson is in talks to join the picture, with the one-time Qui-Gon Jinn lined up to play the head of the London branch of the Men in Black.
Right now, known plot details are minimal on this latest Men in Black effort bar the fact that it will reportedly be set in London, will feature a new batch of characters to what we’ve seen in the franchise so far, and it seemingly will be more of an ensemble piece this time out rather than largely just focussing on a headlining duo. Neither Will Smith nor Tommy Lee Jones will be returning.
To be directed by Straight Outta Compton and The Fate of the Furious’ F. Gary Gray, this to-be-titled MiB movie is currently booked in for a June 2019 release.
Sometimes, you can’t help but scratch your head a little. For instance, the absolutely stunning The Exorcist and the sleek, suave Lucifer have recently been cancelled, yet here we are reporting news that Krypton has been renewed for a new season.
You can’t particularly blame the powers-that-be for these moves, with The Exorcist getting some pretty dire viewing figures for FOX and Lucifer having started to decline in numbers for the same network. And as it happens, Krypton has actually been a record-breaking series for Syfy, averaging 1.8 million viewers per episode in the United States. That marks it as the most-watched scripted show that Syfy has had since Defiance back in 2015. Point being, you can understand why Krypton’s been renewed even if, let’s face it, it’s not really all that good. In fact, some would say it was awful, although we’d say that, if anything, it’s actually a little better than we’d expected even if it’s not exactly must-watch TV.
In case you’ve yet to check out Krypton, the official blurb for this prequel series of sorts reads:
Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, Krypton follows Superman’s grandfather – whose House of El was ostracized and shamed – as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos.
The season finale of Krypton airs tonight in the US. In the UK, the show has been picked up by E4 and will debut on the channel this summer.
