TEXAS CHAINSAW Franchise to be Rebooted Again?

Leatherface

In the realm of all things genre – particularly where the murky world of horror movies is concerned – it seems that barely a week goes by without rumblings of yet another remake, reimagining, reboot, relaunch, recalibration or rejig happening. And then there are those films and franchises that have more reboots than hot dinner. Yes, as the headline suggests, it appears that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series could well be set for yet another reboot.

Only this year, Leatherface was released in select cinemas and shown on the festival circuit. That film didn’t manage to get a full theatrical run here in the UK, but is available on home release from January 8th. In terms of continuity, Leatherface was a prequel to Texas Chainsaw 3D; itself a direct sequel to Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

While it was initially believed that Campbell Grobman and Millennium Films were initially planning on five Chainsaw pictures – of which Texas Chainsaw 3D and Leatherface were two of – it looks like the delays in Leatherface’s release have caused the rights on the franchise to lapse.

Responding to a fan on Twitter who asked about a Leatherface follow-up, producer Christa Campbell said, “I loved this film and I’m very proud. Unfortunately because of the time it took to release it we lost the rights sadly… so no… not from us at least.”

While that doesn’t outright say that another reboot for the franchise is happening, it basically means that if and when another Chainsaw movie does come out, it won’t be following the narrative of Leatherface. And let’s face it, it seems inconceivable that such a famed horror property won’t see another outing at some point down the line.

Of course, the continuity of the Chainsaw franchise is a muddied one. Following Hooper’s ’74 original, we’d get 1986’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, 1990’s Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and 1994’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation that all followed the canon of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The franchise was then rebooted and relaunched with Marcus Nispel’s 2003 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre redo of the ’74 film. That reboot was itself given a prequel with 2006’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. From there, continuity was again refreshed in 2013 with the aforementioned Texas Chainsaw 3D, which was a sequel to the original film that completely ignored any other pictures.

Still with us? We hope so. To cut to the chase, Campbell Grobman have lost the rights to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, meaning any films that happen in the future will seemingly ignore the most recent continuity established in Texas Chainsaw 3D and Leatherface and refresh things once again.

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

Netlix’s BRIGHT Fails To Credit 60 Artists For Their Work

bright

David Ayer’s Netflix production Bright has proven to be polarising to say the least. Along with behind the scenes criticisms, the story has been slammed by critics and has suffered from scathing reviews. However, the fantasy buddy cop film has nevertheless garnered praise for its visual presentation, to the point where it is on the shortlist for a Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar. Unfortunately, a number of those responsible for this work are notably absent from the credits.

The entire the entire studioADI team is absent from the list of crewmen who worked on Bright,. While the studio itself admits that errors are hardly uncommon, an omission on this scale is unprecedented, especially given the sheer number of films it has assisted in the creation of, from Tremors to X-Men: First Class. In response, studioADI has released an official statement stating the following:

“Bright is a big Special Makeup film with many talented people contributing to its success.  ADI had one of our largest crews in recent memory, about 60 amazing artists and technicians creating around 50 hero makeups and another 85 background masks. We hope you’ll tune in to Netflix to support the craft!

On rare occasion, unintentional credit omissions are made. When you see those never-ending lists of crew in the credits of a movie like Bright you can be guaranteed that mistakes are going to be made.

That’s what happened to us. Our entire crew was left out of the credits.

We’re having the necessary conversations about getting it rectified (it’s streaming, right? seems like a do-able fix) but until we get a resolution, we thought we’d post the complete list of the incredible folks who worked on ADI’s crew.”

The studio has listed all those who worked on the film on this page, and has urged anyone that they might have missed to come forward so they might be listed as well.

Netflix itself has yet to respond to these statements.

The Rise of NetEnt’s PLANET OF THE APES

NetEnt, a company that has been in the gaming industry for more than twenty years since it was founded in 1996 collaborated with 20th Century Fox in order to create the best video slot game. The new game, Planet of the Apes which brings together two of the greatest movies has already been a great hit since its release on October 23rd, 2017. The two movies combined in this game are Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

This is a game whose creators aimed at creating a very strong connection to these two movies. The connection is achieved through the use of ape and human symbols which create the famous characters available in both films. On top of this, in the introduction to the game, NetEnt included a real footage from the two movies.

In an attempt to create an awesome gaming experience, NetEnt included animations, real sounds, and voices.

FEATURES AVAILABLE IN THIS GAME

There are two important features that make it very exciting to play. These features are as follows:

  1. The dual feature

As a player, you will have the ability to activate this feature in a random manner and on any spin, similar to playing at online casinos. Once you trigger this, a single symbol has to be chosen for each one of the play areas available. You don’t have the ability to choose the very same symbol in your two play areas.

  1. The bonus feature

Every game player loves bonuses. With this game, you have the ability to win bonuses twice. This you can do on the Rise and the Dawn area. Remember, this game allows you to play on these two play areas at the same time.

The bonus feature on the Rise area:

You get an additional coin as a bonus while playing in this area each and every time ape and human symbols are displayed on your screen. The only exception here is when scatter symbol appears.

When you are granted a free spin on the Rise area, only this area will remain active which means that the dawn area will not be active at all. Wild symbols landing every time you spin always get collected in a wild meter that is available on your screen. Finally, before your win gets evaluated, the wild symbols get randomly placed and this happens in the play area. It is after this has happened that your win will be evaluated.

Original Michael Myers Returning for the HALLOWEEN Relaunch

Nick Castle Michael Myers

Here at Moonbase Alpha, we’re all hugely looking forward to the return of the famed Shape in next October’s Halloween relaunch. And now, adding further to making the picture feel much like John Carpenter’s iconic 1978 original picture, is that the original Michael Myers will be returning to the fold.

As per Bloody Disgusting, Nick Castle has been brought in to once more play Michael; a role he played back in the original ’78 effort. Castle’s acting career has been minimal at best, with him only making a couple of uncredited appearances in fellow Carpenter movies Dark Star and Escape from New York. He has, however, had a decent career as a screenwriter and director, most notably co-writing the beloved Escape from New York and helming 1993’s Dennis the Menace. In addition to Castle returning to play Michael Myers, stuntman James Jude Courtney has also been brought in to deal with the more physical element of the role.

In terms of a further new addition for the film, Oscar-winning VFX artists Christopher Nelson has signed on to deal with the effects work at play. Nelson’s previous credits include the likes of Kill Bill, Sin City and Deadpool.

While many were maybe a little surprised to see Pineapple Express’ David Gordon Green and Kenny F’n Powers himself, Danny McBride, picked to handle this relaunch of a legendary horror franchise, fans have been won over by how the film is promising to return the series to its roots.

Firstly, Carpenter was brought in as an executive producer and creative consultant who will also provide new music for the film. Secondly, Jamie Lee Curtis was announced as returning as Laurie Strode, the role she played in Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H20 and briefly (and tragically!) in Halloween: Resurrection. If that wasn’t enough to get fans of the original on board, it was then revealed that the picture would completely ignore anything other than Carpenter’s ’78 film. Instead, the movie would simply pick up several decades after the night he came home, wiping out anything bar the first Halloween. Joining Curtis in the picture will be Jurassic World’s Judy Greer and relative newcomer Andi Matichak; Greer playing Laurie’s daughter Karen, Matichak playing the granddaughter of Laurie.

The early word on this new Halloween effort reads:

Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Seemingly just titled Halloween, the film is currently set for an October 19th, 2018 release.

Admiring the Superheroes

Justice League Poster

Superhero movies have taken over in recent years. DC Comics and Marvel Studios have for long been the powerhouses where superhero movies are concerned and the biggest entertainment conglomerates such as Disney, Fox and Warner Bros have focused on this market. The biggest movies released this year have been superhero-based with Marvel and DC releasing sequels to their much-beloved franchises and even a few new superheroes being unveiled.

Superheroes have not been restricted to the silver screen, with comic books benefitting greatly from this resurgence. These are most definitely the golden years of superheroes.

The Biggest Thus Far

Some of the biggest superhero movies this year include Spider-man: Homecoming which was very well received by fans of the ‘friendly neighbourhood’ superhero. Others include Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor; Ragnarok, Justice League and The Lego Batman Movie which was a spin-off of the popular Lego Movie.

Fans of the popular mutant franchise, X-Men were treated to the very successful Logan which received critical acclaim thanks to its storyline that deviated from the usual X-Men storyline.

The biggest superhero movie of the year was Wonder Woman, a thrilling movie that followed the journey of Princess Diana. Diana was born in the Amazon and lived there all her life till the day she met an American pilot who told her all about the conflict and wars in the world. She decides to join a new war that seeks to end all these wars and restore peace to the world.

Why are superheroes so popular?

Superheroes are usually ordinary people who at some point discover an extraordinary ability within them. Superman, for instance, is a reporter by the name Clark Kent. These superheroes lead us to believe that we too can discover abilities that we didn’t know existed and that there’s something special in everyone.

The storylines which always revolve around the superhero defeating the villain also make superheroes popular. They convince us that good will always overcome evil and that as long as we do the right thing, all will be well. This is especially important for the younger audience who are moulding their principles and beliefs.

The merchandise industry

The rise of the superheroes led to a new mega-dollar industry of superhero based merchandise. These include clothing, accessories, toys, home and office furniture as well as online slot games. These are very well received by the legion of fans of the various franchises. Avengers has made $1 billion in merchandise sales while Spider-man has hit over $1.5 billion in merchandise sales and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon

Elvis to Tackle Aliens in BUBBA HO-TEP Prequel Comic

Bubba Ho-Tep

While it seems that the long-gestating Bubba Ho-Tep sequel isn’t happening any time soon, it’s now been confirmed that a new comic book tale is on the way for Elvis.

Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep is a huge favourite of many a genre fan, with Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis starring as nursing home-bound takes on Elvis and JFK, respectively. Not only that, but they have to battle a redneck, cowboy zombie intent on eating the souls of the elderly. A sequel to the picture was long-rumoured to be happening, with Ron Perlman reportedly taking over as Elvis for Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires.

2002’s Bubba Ho-Tep movie was actually based on Joe R. Lansdale’s story from The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem, and Lansdale released Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers just this past October. Now, that October novella is being turned in to a comic book tale.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, IDW Publishing will be serving up the Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers comic, to be co-written by Lansdale and Joshua Jabcuga. The series is eyed for a March 2018 release.

The plot for this prequel effort reads:

President Richard Nixon has uncovered a potential threat from beyond the stars, but there’s only one man who could possibly safeguard the world as we know it: Elvis Aaron Presley.

On this latest news, Lansdale told THR, “Bubba Ho-Tep was an accidental story that turned out to be my first film adaptation, and it’s still going strong in story and film. And finally, it has inspired a background story that was first a novel, and is now represented in the medium that first made me want to be a writer: Comics. Graphic novels. What we used to call Funny Books. I’m excited and looking forward to readers discovering it all in colour and looking fine.”

Lansdale added, “May more Bubba comics burst into existence and give the world the true story of how the world has been protected from evil, and for quite some time. Thank goodness these defenders are out there, working in the shadows.”

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS TV Series Gets New Title

What We Do in the Shadows

Ever since Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We Do in the Shadows hit cinemas, there’s been constant talk of a spinoff movie and TV show happening. While spinoff picture We’re Wolves is waiting for a script to be put together, now comes an update on the spinoff TV series.

Previously, that show was titled Paranormal Event Response Unit and was said to focus on Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary’s Officer Minogue and Officer O’Leary, the two cops featured in the original movie. The duo would be working with Cori Gonzalez-Macuer’s Nick to protect Wellington from all things that go bump in the night.

The premise and featured characters remain the same, but the six-episode, half-hour series has been retitled Wellington Paranormal. The current plan has the show lined up to debut on New Zealand’s TVNZ 2 at some point in 2018.

Speaking to Stuff about some of the eerie happenings in Wellington, Clement enthused, “It’s surprising how many demonic possessions there are. There was a very tense situation at the Bucket Foundation – I can tell you it involved a possible Gateway from Hell. We’re very concerned about this kind of stuff. We had an incident with some zombies which got very pretty tense there. So luckily they’re taken care of. A couple of crew members were turned into zombies – I think. It’s hard to tell sometimes. Also, some very worrying things have happened in Lower Hutt as well. There was a party in Khandallah that got a bit out of hand, too, with some undead member of the Wellington public.”

Expect more on Wellington Paranormal as it continues to develop.

VAN HELSING Renewed for Third Season

Van Helsing SyFy

This past few weeks have seen shows renewed (Marvel’s The Punisher, Mr. Robot, Z Nation) and canned (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency), and now comes an update on the future of Van Helsing.

As per Deadline, Syfy has given the all clear for Van Helsing to return for a third season. That thirteen-episode new season will start production in February ahead of airing later in 2018. Starring Kelly Overton, the series focusses on the great-great-great granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, Vanessa Van Helsing.

Speaking to the outlet, showrunner Neil LaBute enthused, “I couldn’t be happier to learn that Syfy has renewed Van Helsing for a Season 3 – it has been a wonderful journey thus far, but we have much more of the Van Helsing saga to tell before we’re through. It’s great to be working with Syfy on this project again, along with Chad and Mike at Nomadic and all the others at Dynamic and Echo Lake as well. The writing team has some amazing adventures planned for our cast and a few new surprises as well – expect blood to be spilled and characters to die screaming while the fate of humanity slips closer and closer to the edge of true chaos and utter darkness.”

Expect more on all things Van Helsing as the show’s third season continues to develop over the next few months.

Michelle Williams Confirms Her VENOM Role

Michelle Williams She-Venom

Michelle Williams has been signed on for Sony’s upcoming Tom Hardy-headlined Venom for a little while now, and now the actress has confirmed what role she’s playing in the first picture of the studio’s shared Spider-Verse.

We’d previously heard that Ann Weying could well be a part of the tale, and Williams has revealed to ScreenRant that Weying is indeed the character that she’s playing in the picture. In the comics, Weying is the ex-wife of Eddie Brock. After she’s shot by the nefarious Sin-Eater, Weying ends up bonding with the Venom symbiote in order to save her life, thus making her She-Venom, aka the Bride of Venom. Sadly, all would not turn out well, and Weying would ultimately take her own life.

Only this month, we heard how Venom would pull inspiration from the Venom: Lethal Protector and Planet of the Symbiotes comic book arcs, and now we can mark Ann Weying down as being a part of the movie, too.

In terms of ‘big bad’, Cletus Kasady – better known as the maniacal, murderous Carnage – will be the primary villain of the piece.

To be directed by Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer, the R-rated Venom is currently booked in for October 2018.

DIRK GENTLY Cancelled After Two Seasons

Dirk Gently

In some disappointing news, BBC America has moved to cancel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.

The Elijah Wood and Samuel Barnett-starring adaptation of Douglas Adams’ famed work can be found on Netflix here in the UK, and it’s a huge shame to see this genre favourite canned after just two seasons. Created by Max Landis, Robert Cooper was on showrunner duties for the series.

BBC America sent out the below statement on this news:

Dear Dirk Gently fans,

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency brought together an incredible group of talented, creative people to make something truly original that celebrates how weird and wonderful the universe can be. We are so proud to work with the writers, producers and actors who created this brilliant world. We’ve seen your passionate social campaigns for another season of Dirk Gently and we regret to say that Season 2 will be the last season on BBC America.

We have been so inspired by your rowdy imagination, your wild passion and whip-smart humor. We’ve tweeted with you every episode, watched you make incredible fan art and most importantly, build great friendships. Dirk Gently fans aren’t just great fans, they’re great friends, too. You’ll continue to find connections, overcome great obstacles, make amends, help others, and create your own family of weirdos, chosen or not.

Thank you, Dirk Gently fans, for everything.

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” -Douglas Adams.