THR reports that Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien to set to helm Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet, a sci-fi crime thriller based on the comic series by Paul Tobin and Arjuna Susini.

The comic is “set on the planet Heist, home to billions of the worst criminals in the galaxy. The ruling pan-galactic government has no idea what to do with the planet, but a conman named Glane Breld and his band of thieves know exactly what to do with Heist: steal it. The story follows Breld on his madcap scheme to pull off the biggest heist in the history of the galaxy.” I’m not too familiar with the comic series, but that sounds like fun. Christopher Yost, best known for Thor: Ragnarok and The Mandalorian, will pen the script.

In a statement, Justin Simien said, “How To Steal Planet wowed me and I’m humbled by the challenge of bringing a genre bending dose of afro-futurism to the culture.” Tommy Oliver, who will produce the project through his Confluential Films banner, added: “How to Steal a Planet is just a good time. I can’t imagine a better duo than Justin Simien and Christopher Yost to bring this to the screen, especially as a part of Confluential’s growing slate of tentpole films from creators of color.“

Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet isn’t the first comic adaptation Justin Simien is attached to, as he’s also developing an adaptation of Geoff Jones and Gary Frank’s Geiger for Paramount. “Set in the years after a nuclear war has ravaged the planet, desperate outlaws battle for survival in a world of radioactive chaos,” reads the official description of the Geiger comic. “Out past the poisoned wasteland lives a man even the Nightcrawlers and Organ People fear. Some name him Joe Glow, others call him the Meltdown Man. But his name…is Geiger.“

Simien had also been discussing the possibility of a sequel to Haunted Mansion, but after the mixed reviews and underperforming box office, I’d wager that’s no longer in the cards.

Those of you who have read the comic, what are your thoughts on a movie adaptation of Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet?

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Jake Gyllenhaal was one of the top contenders to play Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, and although the role went to Christian Bale, director Christopher Nolan called Gyllenhaal personally to tell him he didn’t get the role.

“To [Nolan’s] credit and to Baz [Luhrmann’s] credit, both of those directors called me personally to tell me [I didn’t get the role],” Jake Gyllenhaal said on The Howard Stern Show. “And they will tell you why. When you get that far, there’s a real legitimacy to you potentially getting something. It’s not like they’re going, ‘Oh, thanks so much.’ They are going, ‘I saw these aspects of you that I really wanted in the role and are wonderful, but in the end I ended up moving this way because it matches better with this person who is opposite you or would be opposite you. The color of their hair or their height, whatever it is!! There are all these non factors that really are the inexplicable stuff that if you start to pick away at it doesn’t work, it’s not healthy.”

Gyllenhaal continued, “To me, I just go: ‘Look at how far you got! So just try and keeping going.’ That’s what I felt. I remember getting a call from Christopher Nolan and thinking, ‘I just got a call personally from Christopher Nolan. That’s pretty cool. I’ve gotten pretty far. I went from them going they aren’t sure [about me] to a call saying they’re really thinking about you for this movie. So okay, I should keep going. I should just keep going.“

The actor clearly didn’t let the loss of the role get him down, but he might get another shot at the Dark Knight. With The Brave and the Bold just over the horizon, DC Studios will be casting a new Batman, and Gyllenhaal recently said that he’d still be interested. “Oh, man. That’s a classic. It’s an honor,” Gyllenhaal said. “Speaking of playing roles that other incredible actors have played in the past, to me actually roles that other incredible actors have played in the past, which, to me, actually, when I think about it, I’m going to play Iago in Othello with Denzel Washington, and I think about like the history of actors that have played that role throughout time, and I’m intimidated by that. So that’s the first level. That’s what I’m working on right now. But of course. It would be an honor always. Those types of things and those roles are classics.“

Jake Gyllenhaal can currently be seen starring in Road House on Prime Video. Our own Chris Bumbray reviewed the film, and while it was unfortunately more of a “mixed bag” than he had hoped, he still had fun with it. “It’s pretty entertaining, even if it’s not the absolute rollercoaster ride the trailer promised. It has some good fight sequences, but it’s short of action until about halfway in,” reads the review. “When it sticks to punch-ups, the movie is great, but when it spreads out into boat chases and explosions, the streaming nature of the film becomes more apparent. You start to wonder why they didn’t study the original movie closer, which proved car chases, explosions, and gun battles are ultimately unnecessary in a film about people getting kicked in the head.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.

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Nearly two years have gone by since we heard that production had wrapped on Cuckoo, a new horror film from writer/director Tilman Singer that stars Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Dan Stevens (The Guest), Jessica Henwick (Love and Monsters), Marton Csókás (Freelance), Greta Fernández (Santo), and Jan Bluthardt (Tatort)… and we’re going to have to wait a bit longer before we’ll have a chance to see it. Neon had been planning to give Cuckoo a theatrical release on May 3rd, but now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that the release date has been pushed back to August 9th. They also got their hands on a new poster for the film, and you can check that out at the bottom of this article.

Here’s the official synopsis: Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.

A while back, Variety revealed that the film sees Schafer face off against a mysterious bird-like monster with a scream-like call who seeks to impregnate women with her evil spawn. The story, written by Singer, is based off the lore of the cuckoo bird, some of which are brood parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in the nests of other species. 

A press release notes that Dan Stevens turns in a “brilliant and terrifying” performance in the film, and he has described his role as a “delicious antagonist role.”

At one point, it was announced that Gemma Chan (Eternals), Sofia Boutella (The Mummy 2017), Zita Hanrot (Love, Death & Robots), Proschat Madani (Walking on Sunshine), and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) would be in the movie as well, but it looks like most of them had to drop out of the project before filming began.

This is the second feature for Singer, following the 2018 supernatural horror film Luz, which Bluthardt had a role in. Luz told the story of “a young cab driver fleeing from the grasp of a possessed woman, whose confession could endanger the lives of everyone who crosses her path.” Several of Singer’s Luz collaborators joined him on Cuckoo. In addition to Bluthardt, also returning from Luz were cinematographer Paul Faltz, composer Simon Waskow, and production designer Dario Mendez Acosta.

Cuckoo was financed by Neon. The film is being produced by Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer, in a cooperation between Germany’s Fiction Park and the States’ Waypoint Entertainment. It’s executive produced by Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman, Emily Thomas, and Ryan Friscia for Neon. Additional funding came from the Film und Medien Stiftung NRW, HessenFilm, and the German Federal Film Fund.

Are you looking forward to Cuckoo, and are you disappointed to hear that the release date has moved back three months? Let us know by leaving a comment below – but first, take a look at this poster:

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Deadline reports a new sports documentary is being planned for kickboxing champion and martial arts movie star Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. The names associated with the production almost seems like a bingo announcer called out randomly drawn names from my favorite childhood movies. Keanu Reeves, who himself is no stranger to the martial arts world and action genre, has partnered with Fisher Stevens, who is known for projects like Short Circuit 1 & 2 and Hackers, to produce the documentary on Urquidez, whom I’ve talked about before on my Dragons Forever retrospective.

The documentary, which is titled The Jet, is currently in production with the Emmy-nominated sports documentary editor turned filmmaker, Jennifer Tiexiera, directing the film. Tiexiera has most recently also directed a three-part series for HBO called Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo, which has also recently been nominated for an Emmy in the catagory of Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary. Chris Quintos Cathcart and Tyler Boehm are financing the film under their banner Unapologetic Projects. Maura Anderson and Zak Kilberg will be producing under the production company Fisher Stevens had recently launched, Highly Flammable. John Scalise and his FAYA Project also serve as a producer. Nancy Weisler and Brian Maya will also executive produce under the Unapologetic banner.

Urquidez fought competitively with concentrations in kickboxing and karate and he held six world titles in five different weight divisions. The Jet remained undefeated over the course of his 20+ year kickboxing career. Once he retired from the fighting circuit, his career in movies came. Benny would famously fight Jackie Chan in what is considered to be one of the best one-on-one fights of the martial arts genre in Wheels on Meals. The two would also have a rematch in the aforementioned Dragons Forever. In the 80s film Say Anything, John Cusack’s character was a kickboxer and Cusack would train in real life with Urquidez as his coach. Urquidez would remain in the film business as a stunt and fight coordinator and both Cusack and Urquidez would have a memorable fight themselves in the 1997 comedy, Grosse Pointe Blank.

Tiexiera spoke of Urquidez, saying, “Benny’s fighting career was born out of his struggles with identity, poverty, and race, but he didn’t let those things define him. The result is a story about how struggle and sacrifice evolved into one about love, spirituality and deeper meaning.” And Reeves would add, “Benny is a true mentor, and has had such a profound yet underappreciated impact on both cinema and martial arts. I’m very excited to help share his story with the world.”

The Jet is looking to release in 2025.

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Almost a year has gone by since it was announced that Theo James of The White Lotus had signed on to star in a Stephen King adaptation called The Monkey, coming from the team of producer / genre regular James Wan and director Osgood Perkins, whose credits include The Blackcoat’s Daughter (a.k.a. February), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Gretel & Hansel, and the upcoming Nicolas Cage horror film Longlegs. Longlegs won’t be reaching theatres until July 12th, but Deadline reports that filming on The Monkey has already wrapped. Their report also revealed the names of several cast members who will be sharing the screen with James: Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings), Tatiana Maslany (She–Hulk: Attorney at Law), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends), and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek).

Perkins wrote the screenplay for The Monkey, working from a King short story. The film will tell the following story: When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.

Theo James plays the twins in later years, while Christian Convery plays them in their younger days.

James Wan and Michael Clear are producing The Monkey for Atomic Monster, while Jason Cloth and Dave Caplan produce for C2 Motion Picture Group. Executive producers include Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger of Automatik, Peter Luo and Nancy Xu of Stars Collective, John Friedberg of Black Bear International, and Chris Ferguson. Atomic Monster and Stars Collective developed the project, and C2 Motion Picture Group is providing the financing. Black Bear International will be presenting the project to potential distributors at the Cannes Film Festival.

Wan provided the following statement: “Stephen King is the godfather of the horror genre. He had a huge influence on me as a child and throughout my career and it’s always been a dream to help bring one of his stories to life. The Monkey is a personal favorite, with its simple, iconic, and incredibly marketable conceit. And I can’t imagine anyone better than a visionary and lifelong genre fan like Osgood to bring this to life.“

In addition to directing the films mentioned at the top of this article, Perkins directed an episode of the recent revival of The Twilight Zone. He has also worked on the screenplays for the thriller Removal, the crime thriller Cold Comes the Night, and the horror film The Girl in the Photographs.

Are you interested in The Monkey? What do you think of the cast Osgood Perkins and James Wan assembled for this Stephen King adaptation? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Last month, it was announced that Luc Besson would be making Dracula movie called Dracula: A Love Tale, which is meant to be a “big-budget reimagining” of the Dracula concept that will feature “some epic and potentially spectacular set pieces.” When the announcement was made, Christoph Waltz, who won Oscars for his performances in the Quentin Tarantino films Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, was already on board to star in the film alongside Caleb Landry Jones, who just worked with Besson on his most recent film, Dogman. Just one month later, Besson has revealed to the folks at Collider that his Dracula is already filming in Finland, with production expected to go on until the end of July.

Besson told the site, “I’ve started already. I’m gonna make another movie with Mr. Caleb Landry Jones and Mr. Christoph Waltz — Dracula . I started a few days ago in Lapland in the north. We’ll probably finish at the end of July. [I was drawn to] the love story. When you read the book, for me the most interesting part is this man who’s gonna wait for centuries and centuries because he wants to see his wife again. So for me, it’s the ultimate love story.“

It sounds like Besson is more familiar with the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula than he is with the actual Bram Stoker novel, but it could be interesting to see what he does with the iconic bloodsucker anyway.

Caleb Landry Jones won’t be joining the production until a month into filming because he has to lose weight for his role and work on faking a Romanian accent. When you hear that Christoph Waltz is starring in a Dracula movie, you might assume he’s playing the title character, but apparently it’s Landry Jones who will be playing Dracula.

Dracula: A Love Tale follows 15th century Prince Vladimir, who cursed God following the death of his beloved wife and is turned into a vampire. Later, in 19th century London, he discovers his wife’s doppelgänger and dooms himself by pursuing her.

Are you looking forward to Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale, and are you glad to hear that it’s already filming? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

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The Mayor is back in office. Jeremy Renner has been out of commission for a year since having his unfortunate snow plow accident. As it happened at the start of the calendar year, much of his 2023 was spent rehabilitating his body after suffering blunt chest trauma and 30 broken bones. Then, earlier this January, Renner teased his return to the set, with great apprehension, when he posted a pic from the production with the caption, “Day one on set … nervous today. Hope this works out that I can ACTUALLY pull this off for our production and more importantly the fans.“ Now, the new trailer for season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown has dropped.

The logline for the season reads,
“A series of explosions rock Kingstown and its citizens, as a new face of the Russian mob sets up shop in the city, and a drug war rages inside and outside prison walls. The pressure is on Mike McLusky (Renner) to end the war, but things get complicated when a familiar face from his incarcerated past threatens to undermine the Mayor’s attempts to keep the peace among all factions.”

Renner is joined this season by Hugh Dillon, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Tobi Bamtefa, Derek Webster, Nishi Munshi, Hamish Allan-Headley and Michael Beach.

The series star recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter as he prepared his comeback after his accident, saying, “There’s a wonderful gift in that, if you can hang on that superpower of [realizing] what has real value in our lives.” Renner mentioned his focus was on season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown, but he wouldn’t rule out further Marvel projects in the future. “All I can focus on is this. Doing television is quite arduous. It’s long hours and a lot of heavy lifting. So I’m just focusing on this right now and will see how I come out at the end of it. Because my number one priority still is my recovery and strengthening and just getting better, internally and externally, every day. And it has to be, to be able to go to work and participate in life in the world again. I’m allowing my body always to dictate what I can and cannot do in my life.”

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Fresh off her role in the thriller Leave the World Behind, which quickly made its way onto Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular Movies list when it was released through the streaming service back in December, Julia Roberts has signed on to star in another thriller, and this one sees her teaming up with director Luca Guadagnino, whose credits include Call Me By Your Name, Bones and All, and the Suspiria remake. Said to be “set in the world of academia,” this thriller is called After the Hunt, and it’s set up at Amazon MGM Studios and Imagine Entertainment.

Guadagnino will be directing the film from a screenplay by Nora Garrett. The story centers on a college professor who faces a crossroads in confronting her own dark past when a standout student makes an accusation against one of her colleagues. That’s all the information we have on this one at this time, so we don’t know exactly what sort of thrilling directions the story will be going in.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Imagine Entertainment’s Allan Mandelbaum brought the script to the production company and worked with CAA to bring Roberts and Guadagnino onto the project. Guadagnino is producing the film alongside Mandelbaum and Brian Grazer.

While Guadagnino prepares to head into production on After the Hunt, Amazon MGM Studios is getting ready to give his film Challengers, a love triangle drama starring Zendaya of the recent Spider-Man and Dune films, a theatrical release on April 26th. Here’s the synopsis for that one: From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist – West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor – The Crown) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.

Are you a fan of Luca Guadagnino’s work, and are you looking forward to seeing what he and Julia Roberts do with the thriller After the Hunt? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Recently, we had the chance to sit down with Michael Keaton and chat about his new movie, Knox Goes Away, which he also directs. Keaton is still out there promoting the film and recently ran down some of his best roles with GQ, including Batman. In the interview, which is really fascinating, Keaton remembers the controversy that surrounded his casting initially by director Tim Burton, which he calls a “ballsy move.” 

He said one of the reasons he was cast was their relationship on Beetlejuice, but making it work was a long process right up until they shot, as Keaton really had no idea how to even move as Batman, with him calling the suit a “deep lonely thing.” But, in the end, Keaton said the key was just to “work the suit baby; that thing will get you three-quarters of the way there.”

One notable thing he mentioned, as far as his approach went was that he never thought about Batman. “It was ALWAYS Bruce Wayne,” he says, “you start with that.” He adds, “he witnessed the murder of his parents; that’s a lot to start with, especially if you take the Frank Miller approach, which was what we took.”

One thing he also notes is how physically challenging it was. He remembers working out to try and be fit to play the role, which he says was exactly the wrong approach. He remembers Jack Nicholson, who was playing Joker walking up to him and simply asking, “What are you doing that for?” “I didn’t have an answer for him; he just walked off,” he remembers, laughing. “I approached it totally wrong. It’s better to be real, small, little and thin inside, so there’s room to breathe. 

He also looks back at the movie fondly, remembering how much of a phenomenon it was. “I was part of something that was a friggin game changer in terms of how they make those movies. That changed everything.”

Knox Goes Away is currently out. Read my review here!

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Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released last year, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, Terrifier 3 (which is scheduled to reach theatres on October 25, 2024, courtesy of Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting) has a substantially higher budget. A “couple million” is going into this one, which is now deep into production – and earlier this morning, Leone took to social media with an update, revealing that he and his cast and crew “just filmed one of the most insanely horrific scenes of the Terrifier franchise and you’ll never believe who couldn’t handle it on set. The behind-the-scenes is hilarious. Can’t wait for you all to see!“

Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

David Howard Thornton is reprising the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve. Lauren LaVera is back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna and Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan. Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is also back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long.

Leone has said that this new sequel will be going back to the tone of the first movie, as he’s aiming to make the third film the scariest, goriest, and most depraved of the bunch. He’ll be pulling back on the mystical/fantasy element that was so prevalent in the second film, and is also aiming to make sure this one will be less than two hours long, since the second one surpassed the two hour mark. If you’re worried that Terrifier 3 might wrap the franchise up as a trilogy, have no fear. Leone knows that horror franchises always continue, and anything’s possible once the supernatural gets involved. So even if he brings a sequel to a satisfying conclusion for himself as the creator of the franchise, the door can always be opened to more sequels.

Are you looking forward to Terrifier 3 and whatever this “insanely horrific” scene is? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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