Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios are building The Twisted Childhood Universe, which will consist of horror movies inspired by children’s stories. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 got the universe started, paving the way for Bambi: The Reckoning, Pinocchio: Unstrung, and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (not to mention Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3), building up to the crossover movie Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. Written and directed by Scott Chambers, who is also producing all of these Twisted Childhood movies, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is currently in production – and Variety got their hands on an image of the film’s horror version of Peter Pan! You can check it out at the bottom of this article.
ITN Studios is presenting Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare to potential distributors at the Cannes Film Market. The film follows Wendy Darling as she strikes out in an attempt to rescue her brother Michael from “the clutches of the evil Peter Pan.” Along the way she meets Tinkerbell, who in this twisted version of the story will be seen taking heroine, convinced that it’s pixie dust.
Martin Portlock (Scream of the Wolf) plays Peter Pan and is joined in the cast by Megan Placito (Doctors) as Wendy Darling. Also in the cast are Peter Desouza-Feighoney (The Popes Exorcist), Kit Green (The Blazing Cannons), Nicholas Woodeson (Skyfall), Kierston Wareing (Fish Tank), Olumide Olorunfemi (Venom: Let There Be Carnage), Teresa Banham (No One Gets Out Alive), Charity Kase (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK), and Campbell Wallace (Anne). It has already been confirmed that Placito will be reprising the role of Wendy Darling in Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, which also feature the likes of Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Piglet, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, The Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell.
Chambers is producing Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare alongside Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the director of the Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films.
Are you looking forward to Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare? Will you be following along with all of the The Twisted Childhood Universe movies? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at this image while you’re scrolling down:
The first two Deadpool movies were proudly R-rated, but when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, fans were concerned that any future appearances from the character would be stuck in the realm of PG-13. Thankfully, Deadpool & Wolverine will be arriving in theaters with its R-rating intact, and no one was more surprised than Ryan Reynolds himself.
While speaking with Fandango, Reynolds admitted he was “surprised” Disney allowed them to be the first R-rated movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I hope it doesn’t sound condescending, I’m really proud of them for doing this. I think it’s a huge step for them,” Reynolds said. “I mean, it adds a whole other color to this kaleidoscopic wheel that is that company and the different people that they have been entertaining forever.“
Reynolds continued, “I was surprised though, that they let us go as hard R, but very grateful. I mean there’s no other way to do it.” The actor added that the R rating allowed them “to do anything and everything in a world where anything and everything is possible.” With Deadpool & Wolverine paving the way, we could see more R-rated Marvel movies with the upcoming Blade reboot also said to be aiming for an R-rating, provided it actually gets off the ground.
Although the R-rating may keep some of the youngest fans of the MCU franchise away, I doubt it will hurt Deadpool & Wolverine in any way. Not only is the film the only Marvel movie hitting theaters this year, but it also features the triumphant return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine; Hell, the film could even save the MCU as we know it.
Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter. Deadpool 3 will also star Emma Corrin as the villain and Matthew Macfadyen as a TVA agent. The film is also expected to feature cameos from characters throughout the history of 20th Century Fox’s Marvel movies, with a few already being revealed in the trailer, including Aaron Stanford as Pyro. Deadpool & Wolverine will hit theaters on July 26th,
Each season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and free-to-play battle royale Warzone includes crossovers with other pop-culture franchises. The games have seen King Kong, Dune, and more in past seasons. None of them have been that enticing to me, but then again I’m not the audience since I don’t play CoD. Hold on,…
Each season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and free-to-play battle royale Warzone includes crossovers with other pop-culture franchises. The games have seen King Kong, Dune, and more in past seasons. None of them have been that enticing to me, but then again I’m not the audience since I don’t play CoD. Hold on,…
Theaters will need wider screens because two action icons built like trucks, Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV, Creed III) and Michael Jai White (Black Dynamite, Blood and Bone), are teaming up for Fight or Flight, an upcoming action thriller. Shane Dax Taylor directs the assassins-in-action film project, and Charlotte Kirk (The Lair, The Reckoning) joins the lead cast. Fight or Flight is going to Cannes. Archstone represents international sales, while Saban holds the North American rights.
According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Fight or Flight has the following synopsis:
“Sam Hayden as an assassin of assassins, completing every assignment – no matter how dangerous with ruthless precision. Sam’s next assignment is to take out his legendarily ruthless predecessor, Charles Managold (Dolph Lundgren), who has fallen for his beautiful exotic mark and is now on the run with her. Sam is cold, professional and there is nothing that could sway him from his missing, not even the love of his life, Nona Messenger (Alexis Knapp) that is until Sam comes face to face, fist to fist with his legendary target and shocks himself by not taking out Managold. Now pursued by the world’/s number one hitman, Isaac (Michael Jai White), along with his own people, Sam must team up with Managold to take them on and stay alive.”
Dolph Lundgren has two post-production projects, including the Isaac Florentine-directed thriller Hellfire and The Witcher Rats, a spinoff of the original Netflix fantasy action series. While details about Hellfire remain a mystery, Lundgren’s Witcher spinoff follows a group of thieves as they plan the biggest heist of their lives against the most dangerous crime ring in the kingdom.
White’s next comedic thriller, Sunset Superman, is in post-production. In the film, White plays JT, a man who must fix his grandmother’s leaky sink while keeping her oblivious to a deadly home invasion. White also stars as Jaxen in Trouble Man! Directed and co-written by White, Jaxen is a former cop turned Atlanta PI hired to find the missing R&B star Jahari. His investigation uncovers her disappearance, which is connected to a larger conspiracy, forcing him to question his past and those around him.
Finally, Charlotte Kirk recently completed work on Neil Marshall’s action film Duchess. Kirk plays Scarlett Monaghan in the movie, which follows a brutal, working-class, petty criminal who morphs into an anti-heroine to be reckoned with in a murky underworld in the treacherous world of diamond smuggling.
Fight or Flight looks to make a splash at Cannes despite the film industry’s challenging market conditions.
Made on a budget of less than $100,000, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s movie Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (watch it HERE) earned more than $6 million during its global release in early 2023, so not only did the sequel Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 have a substantially higher budget, that success opened the door to an entire cinematic universe that will consist of at least one more Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey sequel and other horror movies inspired by children’s stories, like Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Bambi: The Reckoning, and Pinocchio: Unstrung. Premiere Entertainment is currently presenting Pinocchio: Unstrung to potential buyers at the Cannes Film Market – and Variety was able to learn more information on the project, including the fact that the movie will be made with “little reliance on VFX and feature the character of Pinocchio as a practical doll. Todd Masters of MastersFx, creator of the version of Chucky seen in the 2019 Child’s Play remake, will be heading up the animatronics and puppetry. The Prosthetics Studio, which has worked on the Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises, will be providing the practical gore.
Frake-Waterfield is set to direct Pinocchio: Unstrung, with filming expected to begin in September. The plan is to release the finished film into the world sometime in January 2025.
Frake-Waterfield told Variety, “This will be an extremely unique and R-rated depiction of Pinocchio. Featuring a high kill count, a subversion of the original story, and lots of practical gore. I’m going to welcome Pinocchio into the Poohniverse with a bang.” He also gave away that one scene will involve Pinnochio wearing the skin of a victim so he can feel like a real boy.
Although this cinematic universe is officially called The Twisted Childhood Universe, it’s building up to a crossover movie called Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, which will show the likes of Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Piglet, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, The Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell sharing the screen. That movie is also aiming for a 2025 release.
Pinocchio: Unstrung and the rest of the Twisted Childhood movies are coming our way from Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios.
Are you interested in Pinocchio: Unstrung? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller would be developing a Friday the 13th series called Crystal Lake for A24 and the Peacock streaming service. The lengthy writers strike slowed down the progress of the show – but now that the strike is over, Crystal Lake is probably getting back on track, and since Friday the 13th has come back around on the calendar, we thought this would be a good time for us to share Everything We Know About Crystal Lake!
May 2024 Update: Well, we’re back to the drawing board, because A24 has decided to “go a different way” with the material, moving ahead with Crystal Lake without the involvement of Bryan Fuller. The search for a new showrunner is underway. So for right now, it could be said that we don’t know anything about what Crystal Lake will be. We only have an idea of what the Fuller version would have been. That information follows…
RIGHTS SITUATION
While the Friday the 13th franchise has been at a standstill in recent years due to a copyright lawsuit between original Friday the 13th producer/director Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller, that lawsuit has come to an end. Miller has been awarded the copyright to the 1980 classic within the United States (as well as non-exclusive foreign rights), and to get this TV show rolling he has teamed up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff and Rob Barsamian – an investor in the original Friday the 13th who has a stake in the rest of the franchise. Due to the involvement of both Miller and Barsamian, Fuller will be able to use anything he wants from the existing Friday the 13th franchise as he makes Crystal Lake. From Mrs. Voorhees to every variation of Jason Voorhees, it’s all fair game.
Fuller himself told Fangoria, “We can use everything. We can go to Hell, we can go to space. That’s not to say that we will do those things … although if we do go 10 seasons, I will be lobbying hard to go to space. (laughs) A24 and Marc Toberoff, have beautifully and excruciatingly assembled all of the Friday the 13th rights. As a streaming series, we have the rights to do everything underneath the Friday the 13th umbrella. The movie rights are a completely different thing. They are tied up at New Line and are super, super messy and probably won’t be untangled anytime soon, but as far as us chickens in the television industry, uh, roost, we have access to anything and everything that Friday the 13th has done up until this point.“
CAST
Only one cast member has been announced, but it’s a name Friday the 13th fans will be familiar with. Adrienne King, who played heroine Alice Hardy in the original film (and returned for the opening sequence of Friday the 13th Part 2, where she was killed off) will have a recurring role on Crystal Lake. It has not been revealed who King will be playing on the show, but she is the one who has said the show will be “coming 2024“.
Fridaythe13thFranchise has teased that there will be “big surprises coming for actors involved as well as who will be portraying certain characters“. We do know that Fuller has met up with Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter FX artist Tom Savini, but we don’t know what was discussed during that meeting.
WRITERS
Obviously, Fuller is going to be writing episodes of the show. He has also revealed that Scream writer Kevin Williamson will be scripting an episode. (Which Williamson later described as an hour-long chase episode.) Earlier this year, Fuller gathered a group of writers for what would usually be called a “writers room”, but for some reason it couldn’t legally be called that in this situation. Instead, it was called a “think tank” and these writers were brought together to brainstorm ideas for the show over the course of six weeks. In this think tank were Fuller’s “three lieutenants”, who have worked with him on previous shows like Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, and American Gods, as well as Tommy Pico, who is on the Reservation Dogs staff; Tananarive Due, who has written multiple novels over the last thirty years and executive produced Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror; and Steven Barnes, who is also an author and has also contributed scripts to shows like Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits, and the ’80s version of The Twilight Zone. There were others in the think tank, but their names haven’t been revealed.
Just finished daily brainstorming sessions with this brilliant and wonderful group of humans, led by @BryanFuller, on the 1st season of the upcoming CRYSTAL LAKE Friday the 13th prequel series (A24/Peacock). This photo was taken the day Adrienne King (Alice) visited. What a ride! pic.twitter.com/u25SbsHvPT
— Tananarive Due – The Reformatory (@TananariveDue) March 13, 2023
On Barnes and Due’s podcast Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!, Barnes said the work they did in the “think tank” was “The weaving together of a dozen different threads, the epitome of the plotter technique“… that being used to describe the approach of completely plotting out a story before writing it. “To write without any sense of an outline is diametrically opposed to what was happening in that room.” Every idea was broken down with meticulous detail.
Due was awed that “an entire room of very, very high level and smart storytellers can swim in the same direction and do so peacefully, and then if the showrunner says, ‘Eh, I don’t like that direction,’ then bam! They’re all swimming in another direction.” The goal in the room was to “integrate with the mastermind”, the mastermind being Fuller in this case. “You’re not in charge, it’s not your story, you are in service to the mastermind, in service to the showrunner.”
Barnes pointed out that the showrunner is then “in service to the money people who are actually paying for all of this, so he needs to able to communicate to the writers and keep a group of people on track, but also be able to understand how they would be able to produce this and comfort the money people that their money is being spent well.“
Apparently traditional writers rooms last for much longer, something like thirteen weeks. But Due and her collaborators were told “this room was moving very, very fast. That we broke the number of episodes we had in six weeks, whereas some rooms would have only broken one episode in six weeks.” They said they were able to work at that speed and figure out the episodes so quickly because of the “extraordinary leadership” of Fuller.
Williamson said the script Fuller wrote for the pilot episode “was so beautifully realized. A gorgeous portait of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific!” Cube director Vincenzo Natali, who worked with Fuller on Hannibal, added that Fuller’s Crystal Lake would be “another Hannibal-level reinvention that was simultaneously beautiful, sad, poetic, funny and horrifying.“
MUSIC
Harry Manfredini created the memorable scores for most of the Friday the 13th films – including the iconic “Ki ki ki ma ma ma” sound effect. Other composers took over for Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood,Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Freddy vs. Jason, and the 2009 Friday the 13th. Fuller has said there will be two musical options to choose from when fans watch Crystal Lake on Peacock: a classic Harry Manfredini score and a modern score.
“PRE-REMAKE-UEL”
When Crystal Lake was first announced, it was described in news reports as a “prequel” to the films. That’s not a term Fuller would use, and when asked about it he said it’s a “pre-remake-uel”… whatever that may mean. During a later public appearance, he said, “We’re honestly going to be covering it all. The series is covering the life and times of these two characters” (presumably he’s referring to Pamela and Jason there!) The plan is that we will see “many familiar manifestations of Jason” throughout the series.
Fuller has also said the Crystal Lake series will be appropriately murderous, probably “dropping bodies every episode”. Much like Hannibal, the show will have a distinctive look – and they’ll also have roughly five times the per-episode budget Hannibal had.
MULTIPLE SEASONS
Peacock has given Crystal Lake a full-season commitment with a penalty if they don’t do a season 2, so it’s basically a two season commitment. Thinking ahead, Fuller has already mapped out four seasons of the show.
When the show was announced, Fuller provided the following statement: “I discovered Friday the 13th in the pages of Famous Monsters magazine when I was 10 years old and I have been thinking about this story ever since. When it comes to horror, A24 raises the bar and pushes the envelope and I’m thrilled to be exploring the camp grounds of Crystal Lake under their banner.“
That’s everything we know about Crystal Lake at this point – but as more details are revealed, we’ll be sharing the news with you here on JoBlo and Arrow in the Head!
It’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates for Mission: Impossible 8. Still, Ted Lasso and The Garfield Movie star Hannah Waddingham is ready to offer audiences some encouraging words about the film’s progress. While walking the orange carpet at the world premiere of The Garfield Movie, in which Waddingham stars as the voice of Jinx, the cat show diva and villain of the film, Waddingham said Mission: Impossible 8 is nearly ready to resume filming.
“We’re just about to start shooting again on Mission, yes,” Waddingham confirmed to Entertainment Tonight. While she couldn’t reveal any plot details, Waddingham says her Mission character is a “powerful woman” and is “quite functional” in the face of dangerous missions, massive explosions, and death-defying stuntwork.
Waddingham also re-upped her comments about her Mission: Impossible co-star, Tom Cruise, saying he’s a “gorgeous and inspirational” person who goes above and beyond to bring something unique to his films.
Details about Mission: Impossible 8 are scarce. The film was originally supposed to be released on June 28, 2024, but delays caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes pushed the project into a May 23, 2025, release.
Mission: Impossible 8 likely sees Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt continuing his struggle with The Entity, an advanced, self-aware rogue AI capable of penetrating cyber security and predicting probable futures.
Early on, it was said that the two-part Dead Reckoning would be a “culmination” of the entire series and serve as a “send-off” to the Ethan Hunt character. That’s not the case. When he saw 80-year-old Harrison Ford reprising the role of Indiana Jones in Dial of Destiny, 61-year-old Cruise said he hopes to be making Mission: Impossible movies until he reaches Ford’s Dial of Destiny age. McQuarrie has said these films won’t be the end for the franchise, and he and Cruise even already have ideas for what comes next. So, if the next movie succeeds, we can expect Ethan Hunt to return for more adventures.
Are you excited to learn more about Mission: Impossible 8? How long do you think Tom Cruise can keep playing Ethan Hunt in this action-packed franchise? Let us know in the comments section below.
One of the problems with wanting to finally jump into enjoying a franchise is the homework. You have to know how this guy met that dude, why this fight has more emotional heft over another and on and on. And if the timeline itself jumps around and you’re trapped in different multiverses, it just adds to the complications. This is certainly the case with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has 30+ films and more than a dozen TV series in or planned for Phases Four and Five alone, making it quite the daunting task to try to catch up and understand everything that’s going on. But now Marvel is looking to make that a bit easier for viewers, ensuring they can make the leap into the franchise wherever they want.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming and Animation, said that part of the rebranding will introduce an active initiative to let viewers start on any panel they wish. “We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore. On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they’re designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences. So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, ‘You can jump in anywhere. They’re interconnected but they’re not. You don’t have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.’”
That’s going to be a bit of an adjustment for a lot of Marvel fans, as they’re used to having an idea of how they want to watch the movies and TV shows. And they – like Star Wars fans – have found numerous ways to get through the franchise. So we do wonder just how they’ll take to this sort of freedom.
What do you think of Marvel’s initiative to let viewers jump into the movies and TV shows at any point? Do you think it will work or is continuing backstory necessary for total enjoyment?
On May 15, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for Drag Her!, an indie fighting game set to feature famous drag performers, shared a sad update: After three years of development, and around $75,000 in funding via Kickstarter, the game was shutting down and the dev team was disbanding. The reason? “A simple lack…
