Month: November 2024

Sister Act 3, Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith

Whoopi Goldberg’s long-gestating Sister Act 3 is steadily coming together, but only after some necessary adjustments. During an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The View host and Academy Award-winning actress said the death of her Sister Act co-star, Maggie Smith, has led to some changes for the film. Smith played Mother Superior in 1992’s Sister Act and its sequel, Sister Act: Back in the Habit. Smith’s performance as the no-nonsense nun is one of the highlights of the series, and filming a sequel won’t be the same without her.

“We’re having to make some readjustments because we just lost Maggie Smith, as you know,” Goldberg said. “And so, we will get it done. We will get it done. It’s a shift.”

In Sister Act, Goldberg plays a lounge singer named Deloris Van Cartier, who, after witnessing a murder, is brought to Saint Katherine’s Convent in Saint Katherine’s Parish as part of an elaborate witness protection plan. While there, Deloris, as Sister Mary Clarence, soon becomes the church’s new choir director, and hilarity ensues. Sister Act prayed at the altar of $231M at the box office against a $31M budget.

Goldberg has been holding the role of Mother Superior for Smith while working out the details of Sister Act 3. Goldberg wanted Smith to film when a spot opened up in her busy schedule. Sadly, Maggie Smith died in September after battling breast cancer. She was 89.

Speaking about Sister Act 3 on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2020, Goldberg said she wanted to get original members of the cast together for another film.

“For a long time, they kept saying no one wanted to see it. And then quite recently, it turns out, that that may not be true,” Goldberg explained to Corden. “People may want to see it. So we’re working diligently to try to figure out how to get the gang together and come back.”

Should they recast Smith’s Mother Superior for the third film in the franchise or introduce someone new? We’ll keep watching the project’s progress to find out. Are you excited about Sister Act 3? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The latest film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise – a movie simply titled Texas Chainsaw Massacre – was released through the Netflix streaming service back in February of 2022, and it appeared to do well at the time. It was the second most viewed movie on the service during the February 14 to February 20 time period – which only covered its first three days of release. In those three days, Netflix subscribers streamed the film for a total of 29.18 million hours. Texas Chainsaw Massacre also ranked in the top 10 in 94 countries, reaching #1 on the daily lists in the United States, Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Oman, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia. We’re still waiting to hear how and when the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is going to follow up that success – but while we wait to hear what Leatherface is going to do next, the film’s director David Blue Garcia has signed on to direct a killer dog movie called Zeus.

According to Variety, Zeus is being fast-tracked for production and will be financed by HarbourView Equity Partners. Mucho Mas Media’s Javier Chapa is producing the film, while HarbourView’s Sherrese Clarke Soares serves as an executive producer alongside Phillip Braun, Robert Muñoz, Morgan Cano-Long, Simon Wise, Vincent Cordero, and Bruce Barshop, plus Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier of Highland Film Group. Highland handles worldwide rights and is presenting the project to potential buyers at the American Film Market.

Scripted by Tate Hanyok (The Pet-Nup) and Shane McKenzie (Bingo Hell), Zeus will show us what happens when a group of friends are terrorized by a Cane Corso mastiff dog during a lakeside holiday celebration.

Chapa provided the following statement: “The horror genre continues to thrive, ushering in a new era of exciting films. We couldn’t imagine a better filmmaker than David Blue Garcia to bring Zeus to life—a character destined to become an iconic figure in the world of horror.” Fraser had this to say: “With the undeniable talent of genre aficionado David Blue Garcia at the helm, we cannot wait to unleash Zeus and introduce the carnivorous canine to horror fans around the world.” Perrier added, “It’s great to be teaming up again with Mucho Mas’ Javier Chapa and Phillip Braun following the success of our maiden creature collaboration, The Black Demon.

Zeus sounds interesting to me and I enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so I look forward to seeing what David Blue Garcia is going to do with this killer dog movie. Are you interested Zeus? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

As for Leatherface; back in February, we heard that a new sequel called Texas Chainsaw Legacy was in the works, but there hasn’t been any more said about that project in the last nine months.

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Happy N7 Day, everybody! Bioware asked Mass Effect fans to temper their expectations for this year’s celebration of the beloved science-fiction action RPG franchise, knowing details about the next chapter of the video game series remain secret. However, it’s not N7 Day without a surprise or two, and today, Amazon MGM Studios shared that a Mass Effect TV series is finally in the works.

Daniel Casey (F9: The Fast Saga) will write and executive produce the series alongside Karim Zreik for Cedar Tree Productions, with Avi Arad and EA’s Michael Gamble also executive producing. Studios tried multiple times to launch a Mass Effect TV series but failed. Plot details for Amazon’s version are kept under lock and key, letting imaginations run wild concerning the show’s tone, direction, and story.

Mass Effect took the video gaming community by storm in 2007. The game promised to carry player decisions across multiple series installments, directly affecting the story’s outcome. Despite the game’s best efforts, the cause-and-effect elements needed to be improved. Still, the game offered players a unique landscape, compelling characters, tight gameplay (after a few patches), and the chance to have limited creative control of the journey. Mass Effect quickly became a critical darling, amassing great reviews and fandom as tenacious Kingdom Hearts and Elder Scrolls enthusiasts. Mass Effect 2 followed in 2010, with Mass Effect 3 in 2012. Unfortunately, Mass Effect 3 underwhelmed players, forcing Bioware to course-correct with 2017 Mass Effect: Andromeda. The franchise also has multiple mobile titles, including Mass Effect Galaxy, Mass Effect Infiltrator, and Mass Effect Datapad.

The first three installments of the Mass Effect series revolve around Commander Shepard, a human soldier in the 22nd century trying to save humanity from a race of aliens known as the Reapers. Players choose the lead character’s sex at the start of the first game, so both male and female versions of the character exist. Bioware is developing a new game in the Mass Effect series, with players climbing the walls for any details about its release. Not today, my friends. Not today.

Are you excited about Amazon MGM Studios developing a Mass Effect TV series? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Two days after announcing he’s reuniting with Daisy Ridley for the tactical action-thriller Dedication, Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Goldeneye), Lionsgate is proud to present a poster and trailer for Dirty Angels, an intense action thriller starring Eva Green (Dark Shadows, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) as the leader of an elite team of soldiers tasked with rescuing a group of women from the clutches of ISIS. Campbell directs from a script by Alissa Sullivan and Jonas McCord, with Moshe Diamant, Yariv Lerner, and Robert Van Norton producing.

“From Martin Campbell, director of Casino Royale, comes this tense action-thriller,” reads Lionsgate’s official synopsis for Dirty Angels. “When a group of schoolgirls is taken hostage in Afghanistan, an American soldier named Jake (Eva Green) joins a unit of all-women commandos to liberate them. The plan: Gain the trust of the terrorists by posing as members of a relief organization. But double-crosses, tragedies, and the ghosts of Jake’s past complicate the rescue in this do-or-die mission.”

Going behind enemy lines and into theaters, Digital, and On Demand on December 13, 2024, Dirty Angels also stars Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, No Way Off), Ruby Rose (Batwoman, John Wick: Chapter 2), and Jojo T. Gibbs (Civil War, Fresh) as members of Green’s team of combat and intelligence specialists.

Dirty Angels, Lionsgate, Eva Green

In Lionsgate’s Dirty Angels trailer, Eva Green gathers a team of badass women soldiers to rescue a group of hostages taken by ISIS. The lion’s den teems with enemies, insurmountable danger, and warm guns. Each team member is armed with special skills to help complete the mission, but they’ll need to work together if there’s any hope of crossing into enemy territory unscathed. As the trailer continues, Martin Campbell treats audiences to impressive pyrotechnics, sassy banter, bone-crunching maneuvers, and lightning-quick hand-to-hand combat. The Dirty Angels trailer explodes with action, intrigue, and tense character dynamics. What more could you ask for?

As for Martin Campbell’s Dedication, the Daisy Ridley-led action thriller “follows Major Billie Jean Parker (Ridley), a decorated Marine Corps commander who is relieved of duty after a high-stakes mission in the Philippines results in civilian casualties, despite capturing anarchist leader Omar Romatas. Facing the loss of her career, she visits her dying father, Clyde, a former Marine, who asks her to attend a dedication ceremony for a school building named in his honor. The event takes a deadly turn when Omar Romatas’s vengeful son, Bento, launches an assault, taking hostages. Forced back into combat, Billie Jean sets traps and executes precise strikes to outwit the attackers. Her tactical instincts and ruthless efficiency shift the fight, as she confronts her past and proves her worth in a relentless battle that will define her legacy.”

What do you think of Lionsgate’s Dirty Angels trailer? Let us know in the comments section below.

Dirty Angels, poster, Eva Green, Lionsgate

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Regina Hall Scary Movie

Eleven years have gone by since the release of a new entry in the Scary Movie horror parody series – but the franchise isn’t going to remain dormant for much longer. Back in April, it was announced that the Miramax label at Paramount, which is now operating under new boss Jonathan Glickman, had given the greenlight to a new Scary Movie sequel (which would be Scary Movie 6, if they continue putting numbers in the titles), with the plan being to get the film into theatres sometime in 2025. We recently learned that the series is being revived with the help of the people who got it started in the first place: the Wayans Brothers – and now Regina Hall, who played the character Brenda Meeks in the first four movies, has said she thinks it would be fun to come back and work on the new sequel with the Wayans.

Directed by In Living Color creator Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay written by a bunch of people (Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg, and Aaron Seltzer), the first Scary Movie was released by Dimension Films back in 2000. Scary Movie 2 was released in 2001, and the Wayans remained at the head of the creative team for that one. Keenen Ivory Wayans directed it from a screenplay credited to Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Alyson Fouse, Greg Grabianski, Dave Polsky, Michael Anthony Snowden, and Craig Wayans. There was a shake-up behind the scenes on 2003’s Scary Movie 3, as Dimension hired Airplane and The Naked Gun director David Zucker to take the helm. Zucker directed that film from a screenplay by Craig Mazin and Pat Proft. That trio returned for Scary Movie 4 in 2006, with Jim Abrahams also receiving a writing credit. Seven years later, Pat Proft and David Zucker came back to write Scary Movie 5, which was directed by Undercover Brother‘s Malcolm D. Lee.

The first Scary Movie was made on a budget of $19 million and earned $278 million at the box office, so the budgets increased for most of the sequels. Scary Movie 2 cost $45 million and made $141 million, Scary Movie 3 cost $48 million and made almost $221 million, and Scary Movie 4 was made for $40 million and earned $178 million at the box office. After the lengthy break between movies, Scary Movie 5 got a lower budget, dropping back down to $20 million. That was a good decision, because the film only made $78 million at the box office.

Scary Movie 5 was the only film in the franchise not to feature Anna Faris and Regina Hall as their characters Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks. In a 2022 interview, Faris said she would be willing to return for another sequel if the price was right (and she thought Hall would, too). Earlier this year, Faris said she would come back for money and the chance to work with Hall again. When TV Insider asked Hall about Faris’s comments, she replied, “Anna is great. I’m just very excited to know that the Wayans, who actually started the project out of their idea, are back on board and at the helm again. I’m excited for them. We’ll see if Brenda is in this new world. I’m thrilled at the possibility that the band could get back together again. That would be fun.

Would you like to Regina Hall (and Anna Faris) reunite with the Wayans Brothers for Scary Movie 6? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

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