NARUTO Live-Action Film Finds Its Director!

naruto live-action adaptation

Naruto, the one manga even your grandma will likely have heard of, is headed to the big screen with none other than Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton helming the project. The live-action adaptation of the incredibly popular series hails from Lionsgate.

Cretton will also produce alongside Jeyun Munford through his production company, Hisako. They’re joined by Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu of Arad Productions, who are also behind Lionsgate’s upcoming video game adaptation Borderlands, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ Jeremy Latcham.

Created by Masachi Kishimoto, Naruto was a coming-of-age story centred on a young and enthusiastic ninja named Naruto Uzumaki, who wants to grow up to be the leader of his ninja village, and also happens to have the spirit of a nine-tailed demon fox inside him. The story was serialised in manga format from 1999 to 2014, becoming one of the world’s most popular IPs, and launched several animated series, video games, and merchandise lines.

“When I heard of Destin’s attachment, it happened to be right after watching a blockbuster action film of his, and I thought he would be the perfect director for Naruto,” said Kishimoto in a statement. “After enjoying his other films and understanding that his forte is in creating solid dramas about people, I became convinced that there is no other director for Naturo. In actually meeting Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input, and felt strongly that we would be able to cooperate together in the production process.”

Though the adaptation has been in the works with Lionsgate since 2015, Cretton’s boarding marks a significant step forward in getting Naruto made.

THE TOXIC AVENGER Is Returning For A Limited Comics Series

the toxic avenger returning for limited comic book series run

The cover star of STARBURST’s most recent issue (which you can still purchase here), The Toxic Avenger is reportedly returning to the world of comics. Matt Bors, who founded the online political comics publication The Nib, alongside artist and caricaturist Fred Harper, are working on what will be a five-issue comic book series, reports THR.

The comic is based on the 1984 low-budget cult classic film by Lloyd Kaufman – who we speak with about the film’s history in our aforementioned print mag. In the original film, Toxie (as fans affectionately nicknamed him) was a janitor named Melvin Junko who, after falling into an oil drum of toxic waste, becomes the unexpected vigilante of his New Jersey hometown.

Toxic launched a B-movie franchise with sequels, a musical, cartoon, and a short Marvel series published in the 1990s. Most recently, Legendary produced a remake of The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage and Jacob Tremblay.

Bors also states that “this series will combine elements of the original films with the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and characters in familiar ways, updated to tell a story of environmental devastation, corporate control, and social media mutation. The Toxic Avenger is first and foremost an environmental satire, one about a small town and its unremarkable people trapped and transformed by circumstances they don’t control. The story Fred Harper and I are telling is about people frustrated by authorities telling them not to worry about their life, that things are fine, even as their dog mutates in front of their eyes. And at its core it is about a powerless boy, Melvin, who finds out he can be incredibly strong, hideously mutated, well-admired, and incredibly heroic… but still ultimately powerless over human behaviour.”

AHOY Comics is behind the revival of this comic series, with the first issue eyeing an October 9th 2024 release date.

Bill Skarsgård Faces A Killer Cereal Mascot In BOY KILLS WORLD Trailer

bill skarsgard in trailer for boy kills world

Bill Skarsgård stars as a deaf-mute assassin named Boy, out for revenge in the first trailer for the bloody dystopian actioner, Boy Kills World. In a fun storytelling quirk, the film is narrated by Boy’s inner voice (H. Jon Benjamin).

“This was never a great city, but it was ours. Until Hilda Van Der Koy took it from us,” begins the inner voice the trailer. Played by Famke Janssen, Hilda is the deranged matriarch of a corrupt post-apocalyptic dynasty that left Boy orphaned, deafened, and voiceless.

“So, I made a three-step plan,” Boy explains in the voiceover. “Step one: give myself an inner voice. I took the last one I remembered from a video game. Step two: get stronger. A lot stronger. And step three: join a team. The mission is simple. Make the Van Der Koys pay for what they have done.” Avowing revenge for his family, Boy trains with a mysterious shaman (Yayan Ruhian) to become an instrument of death and is set loose on the eve of the annual Culling of dissidents, a televised game of death sponsored by a breakfast cereal. Bedlam ensues as Boy commits bloody martial arts mayhem, inciting a wrath of carnage and blood-letting.

keeps control of the city via The Culling, a televised game of death sponsored by a breakfast cereal.

Jessica Rothe also stars as June 27, with Isaiah Mustafa as Benny, Andrew Koji as Basho, Quinn Copeland as Mina, Brett Gelman as Gideo Van Der Koy, Sharlto Copley as Glen Van Der Koy, and Michelle Dockery as Melanie Van Der Koy.

The project hails from producers Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) and Roy Lee (Barbarian, It), and director Moritz Mohr. It was announced last month that Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions had acquired Boy Kills World after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of their Midnight Madness program.

Boy Kills World releases in cinemas on April 26th. Watch the trailer below:

Christian Slater Stars In THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Teaser

christian slater in trailer and poster for the spiderwick chronicles tv series adaptation

Roku has released the first teaser trailer for their adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles, with Christian Slater starring as Mulgarath. “This town is full of stories,” Slater’s voice intones, “some are darker than others. What kind of creatures are lurking inside Spiderwick?”

Per the fantasy series’ official synopsis, Helen Grace (Joy Bryant) and her children, 15-year-old fraternal twins Jared and Simon (Lyon Daniels and Noah Cottrell, respectively) and their sister Mallory (Mychala Lee), move to their ancestral home, Spiderwick. Jared discovers a boggart and realises that magical creatures are real. The only one to believe him is his great-aunt Lucinda, who implores Jared to find the pages of her father’s field guide to magical creatures and protect them from the murderous Ogre, Mulgarath.

Roku had picked up the exclusive US rights to the television adaptation of the popular children’s fantasy book series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, after Disney+ chose not to move forward with the series. The series is showrun by Aron Eli Coleite, who also executive produces with Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg, Julie Kane-Ritsch and Kat Coiro.

All eight episodes of The Spiderwick Chronicles will premiere on the Roku Channel from April 19th. Watch the trailer below:

The First Trailer For Whacky BORDERLANDS Adaptation Is Here

borderlands trailer starring cate blanchett and kevin hart drops

The first Borderlands trailer, from Thanksgiving director Eli Roth, shows off its star-studded cast as they navigate Pandora, the most dangerous planet in the universe.

Cate Blanchett leads the video game adaptation as Lilith, the outlaw leader of a crew on a mission to retrieve a treasure from a vault on a planet described as a “weirdest, most dangerous, dumpster fire of a world”. Expect dragons, tentacled aliens, some Mad Max-looking gangs, and fountains of pee.

Per the official Lionsgate synopsis, Lilith’s mission “is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the universe’s most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits – Roland (Kevin Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the oddball scientist who’s seen it all; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora’s most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.”

Watch the Borderlands trailer below, ahead of its release in cinemas on August 9th, 2024:

Festival Hit EATING MISS CAMPBELL Heading to Blu-ray

Following its hugely successful festival run, the horror comedy Eating Miss Campbell will be available to buy on Blu-ray from March 4th.

The film focuses on a Goth, vegan high school student who gets involved with her English teacher and develops a taste for human flesh. A biting satire on the problems facing the school system in the US, it relishes every opportunity to offend and push boundaries. Naturally, we loved it.

Written and directed by Liam Regan, the movie wears its Troma influences on its sleeve and is as wild and wonderfully disgusting as anything Uncle Lloyd Kaufman has released.

The film stars a host of genre favourites, including Lyndsey Craine (How to Kill Monsters), Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence), Vito Trigo (My Bloody Banjo), and Lloyd Kaufman himself.

The limited edition release (only 2,500 available, all signed and numbered by the director) is packed with bonus features, including a documentary, commentary, outtakes, B-roll, raw behind-the-scenes footage and much more. The first pressing includes a slipcover by Tricia Zimic (Surf Nazis Must Die!  –her first cover for a Troma movie in 30 years!), and sleeve art by Mila K.

It’s only available directly from the filmmaker from March 4th via refusefilms.com

Get HoRHIFFic in Romford!

The fourth Romford Horror Festival takes place soon, and promises to be a cracker. Running from Thursday, February 28th to Sunday, March 3rd, it features a whole host of great indie features and shorts, a sprinkling of cult classics, and some brilliant genre guests.

Among the movies you shouldn’t miss are Andy Edwards’ Punch (Thurs), James Morris’ He Never Left (Thurs), Chad Ferrin’s Scalper (Fri), Dominic O’Neill’s Haunted Ulster Live (Fri), Tariq Sayed’s Issac (Sat), Tom Lee Rutter’s The Pocket Film of Superstitions (Sat), Stewart Sparke’s How to Kill Monsters (Sat), the anthology sequel Horror-Scopes: Chinese Zodiac (Sat), Alexander Churchyard and Michael Holliday’s Mosaic (Sun), Lawrie Brewster’s The Slave and the Sorcerer (Sun) Lore, an anthology from James Bushe, Patrick Ryder, Greig Johnson (Sun), and Nicholas Gyeney’s The Activated Man (Sun).

Classic films being screened include The Medusa Touch (Thurs), Cannibal Apocalypse, being shown as a tribute to Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who was a guest at last year’s festival (Fri), Possession (Fri), Who Saw Her Die? (Fri), The Beyond (Sat), Turbo Kid (Sun), and Profondo Rosso, aka Deep Red (Sun).

The short film programme is packed with great, punchy shockers, including the award-winning Pareidolia, The Cornucopia Club, The Midnight Sleepover Club, Sincopat, Knock, Knock (Knock), Caterpillar, Sleep Tight, and many more.

Guests appearing throughout the weekend include Cinzia Monreale (The Beyond), Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters), Caroline Munro (Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter), Pauline Peart (The Satanic Rites of Dracula), Marianne Morris (Vampyres), and Ross Sambridge (the body of Snoke in The Force Awakens). There will be stalls and other attractions over the weekend, too.

The Romford Horror Festival takes place at the Premiere Cinema in Romford’s Mercury Shopping Centre. You can buy full passes, day passes, and individual film tickets here.

Bong Joon-ho’s MICKEY 17 Pushed To 2025

Mickey 17 teaser starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Bong Joon Ho

In its latest bump all over the Warner Bros release calendar, Bong Joon-ho’s highly-anticipated science fiction movie Mickey 17 (and his first project since the Oscar-winning Parasite) has been pushed to January 31st, 2025. It was previously scheduled for March 29th, 2024.

Robert Pattinson stars in the thriller alongside Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, and Naomi Ackie. Mickey 17 is based on the 2022 novel by Edward Ashton, described by publisher St. Martin Press as a high-concept cerebral thriller in the vein of The Martian and Dark Matter. 

Ashton’s novel centres on a man known as an Expendable, on a mission to colonize a distant planet. Each colony features one such Expendable who takes on the most dangerous jobs on the mission – jobs that will assuredly lead to their deaths. However, their memories are backed up and they are restored to cloned bodies when they die. In the novel, Mickey 7 – the 7th version of this crewmember – is left for dead on a mission, but survives. When he returns to base, he discovers that Mickey 8, a clone of himself, has already been created – which is a problem because the idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they would likely be thrown into the recycler for protein. In the case of the film adaptation, we can assume that’s Mickey 17 finding Mickey 18 has taken his place.

THE CREATOR Filmmaker Eyes New JURASSIC WORLD Film

gareth edwards attached to direct new jurassic world film

Gareth Edwards, known for helming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the recent, John David Washington-starring sci-fi epic The Creator, is in talks to direct Universal’s latest instalment of the Jurassic World franchise. This follows news that Bullet Train filmmaker David Leitch has left the project after a very brief entanglement.

David Koepp, who was the writer of the original 1993 Jurassic Park and its sequel, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, had previously boarded the project as screenwriter. Jurassic World trilogy helmer Frank Marshall is also attached to produce alongside Patrick Crowley. Steven Spielberg is, of course, executive producing via Amblin Entertainment.

Since Gareth Edwards has also directed Legendary’s Monsterverse title Godzilla, he’s already well-versed in directing scaly creatures in big-budget movies, so can hopefully hit the ground running on the project. As reported, this next film will be launching a “new Jurassic era”, suggesting that Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard won’t be returning post-2022’s Jurassic World Dominion.

Universal has set the project for a July 2nd, 2025 release date (a very fast turnaround which contributed to Leitch dropping out of the film) so expect to hear further updates – on the title, cast, and synopsis, among others – soon. Stay tuned!

A24 Drops New Trailer For Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR

kirsten dunst in second trailer for alex garland film civil war

The A24 film from Ex Machina and 28 Days Later filmmaker Alex Garland, action-drama Civil War, depicts a new-future United States where 19 states have seceded from the Union, while much of the rest of the country is ruled by a tyrannical three-term president (played by Nick Offerman, recently seen in the acclaimed third episode of The Last of Us), who has ordered air strikes against the rebelling “Western Forces”.

It follows a team of journalists travelling across the territories during this Second American Civil War, as they struggle to survive and document this time of dystopian dictatorship and extremist militias. Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons and Sonoya Mizuno star in what’s been described as an “adrenaline-fuelled trill ride”.

“The Western forces of Texas and California are welcome back to these United States as soon as their illegal secessionist government is deposed,” Offerman’s President declares in a White House address, in the newly-released second trailer. Alex Garland both writes and directs the pic, which stands as A24’s most expensive project to date.

In an interview promoting Men, Garland previously described Civil War as a companion piece to the Jessie Buckley-starrer, and said it is “set at an indeterminate point in the future – just far enough ahead for me to add a conceit — and serves as a sci-fi allegory for our currently polarized predicament”.

Civil War releases in cinemas April 12th, 2024. Watch the second trailer below: