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Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Margot Robbie’s boardwalk to riches, Dwayne Johnson rescues Santa, Blair Witch and Jason Blum, Black Samurai and an Argentine cowboy.
Let’s go!
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
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Comic Con for the film industry.
Over the last few days, there have been several major project announcements at CinemaCon, which is being held in Las Vegas.
Here’s a breakdown by studio:
Amazon MGM’s new slate:
- Red One
- Starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans
- Genre: Christmas action movie
- Plot: “Fire-breathing” Santa Claus rescue
- First-look still of Johnson and Santa
- Theatrical? Release date: Nov. 15
- The Nickel Boys
- Producer: Plan B
- Starring: Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
- Plot: A spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption
- Project Hail Mary
- Starring: Ryan Gosling
- Plot: An astronaut tries to save Earth while alone in outer space
- Dir: Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street)
- Writer: Drew Goddard (The Matrix 5)
- Slated for 2026 release
Amazon discussed preserving the theatrical experience.
Warner Bros. Discovery:
- Mickey 17
- Dir: Bong Joon-Ho
- Starring: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette
- Plot: Pattinson dies over and over again in a space mission that feels a lot like Groundhog Day
- Key trailer detail: Pattinson’s voice sounds like “Joe Pesci as Tweety Bird”
- Release date: Jan 2025
- Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
- Emotional Trailer debut
Lionsgate passes Go:
- Monopoly
- Producer: Hasbro + Margot Robbie’s Lucky Chap
Zev Foreman, Head of Film for Hasbro Entertainment, said:
“As one of the most iconic games in the world, ‘Monopoly’ provides an incredible platform for storytelling opportunities. We are thrilled to have the unique vision of LuckyChap and Lionsgate alongside us to bring this historic piece of popular culture to the big screen.”
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said of Lucky Chap:
Monopoly has sold 500 million copies and is recognized by almost everyone in the world.
- John Wick Presents Ballerina
- Debuted teaser – supposedly insane
- Starring: Ana De Armas
- Cameo: Keanu Reeves
- Michael
- Dir: Antoine Fuqua
- Plot: Michael Jackson biopic
- New info: will feature 30 songs
- In theaters April 18, 2025
- First look image
- Never Let Go
- Starring: Halle Berry
- Genre: Horror
- Plot: A family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real
- In theaters Sept 17th
Lionsgate also had some fun info on Twisters (starring Glen Powell), Highlander (starring Henry Cavill) and, Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk (starring Mark Wahlberg as a psycho hitman).
Blumhouse horrors:
- Blair Witch
- Reboot in partnership with Lionsgate
Key quote from founder Jason Blum, who built his career on the success of Paranormal Activity (Budget: $215K, Gross: $194 M):
“I’m a huge admirer of The Blair Witch Project, which brought the idea of found footage horror to mainstream audiences and became a true cultural phenomenon, I don’t think there would have been a Paranormal Activity had there not first been a Blair Witch.”
- See No Evil
- Starring James McAvoy and McKenzie Davis
- Plot: A family invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, go from a dream vacation to a psychological nightmare.
- Trailer
- In theaters Sept. 13
- Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
- Announced
Plus, they showed off some creepy footage for Wolf Man.
Universal:
- Wicked
- Starring: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
- Plot: Film adaptation of the Wizard of Oz musical Wicked
- Big reveal: Peter Dinklage joins the cast
- Conclave
- Dir: Edward Berger (All’s Quiet on the Western Front)
- Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini
- Genre: Machievelan thriller
- Release date: Nov 2024
Ralph Fiennes’ trailer quote:
“There is one sin I have come to fear above all others. If there was only certain and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.”
Conclave is in partnership with Focus Features, who debuted a terrifyingly gothic first look of Rob Eggers’ Nosferatu.
Unrelated industry tidbit:
Paramount Global: Four board members step down. Redstone is looking to consolidate the board to make the potential acquisition by Skydance more “efficient.”
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
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From Desperate House Wife to Land of Women. Eva Longoria has dusted off the veneer of reality TV stardom with grace and intent. After her directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot (2023), she will produce and star in Apple TV+’s new dramedy series Land of Women.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Gala (Longoria) ‘s life is turned upside down when her husband implicates the family in financial improprieties, and she is forced to flee the city alongside her mother and daughter.
Here’s a first-look photo of the secluded Spanish wine town where the women hide.
Longoria, in discussing Flamin’ Hot passionately declared:
“My life’s purpose is uplifting other Latino creators… [to use] my influence and my spotlight, and shine it on everyone who deserves to be heard and seen.”
The Land of Women, shot in Spanish and English, has its global premiere on June 26.
Ernie Hudson, a long-time Ghostbuster, battles a magical rabbit. Hudson will star in Oswald Down the Rabbit Hole.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Art and some of his friends get transported to a place shrouded by dark Hollywood Magic. They come across Oswald’s come-to-life cartoon Rabbit and must work together to escape their magical prison before the Rabbit gets to them first.
Hudson stated:
“I am excited to work with everyone on this production. It’s an incredibly creative and smart project.”
The director, Lilton Stewart III, discussed Hudson’s character, Oswald, who is a genius animator stuck in a prison of his creation:
“I had a very specific vision for Oswald’s character and knew I wanted Ernie for this role from the start, as I’ve always admired iconic cinematic legacy. Ernie is going to bring Oswald’s unique and vengeful spirit to life in the best way possible.”
Through four Ghostbusters films, Hudson has a marvelous deadpan that allows him to be fearless in the face of certain doom.
Relive Hudson’s best moments as the iconic Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore.
Tidbits:
Anthony Hopkins plays King Herod in a new biblical thriller. Hopkins’ character will stop at nothing to stay in power, even if it means murdering an infant.
FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES
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Learn how to Schedule and Budget your film. Blair Skinner’s course on budgeting everything from 250K indies to $20M studio projects has already helped a bunch of our readers.
None more than Brandon Williams, who has production coordinated:
- Empire (2016-2020)
- Starz’s Power Book IV: Force (2022)
- Hulu’s The Cleaning Lady (2022-2024)
He discussed his experience with the course:
“Film Parliament is a fantastic intro to those who want to learn the process of budgeting and producing their own film. The tutorials will skillfully guide you through every stage of the process, from script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting, and hiring crew. You’ll also get introductions to industry standard software such as Final Draft and MovieMagic.”
He continued:
“The skills you will learn from Film Parliament would normally take years to learn in the business… I definitely feel more prepared to move up to production supervising since taking the course. I think Film Parliament would be SO helpful to anyone looking to enter the business, or those wanting to move up & produce.”
What Blair has done so beautifully is create a course that has the granular detail that allows anyone who is serious about bringing their cinematic vision to life or about becoming a producer, line producer, UPM, or production supervisor to gain mastery over these skills.
Check out the video course description here.
Sign up for the course here.
Cannes Film Festival now has an Immersive section.
Cannes stated:
Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible), marking the first immersive work ever presented as an official selection at a major film festival.”
The production of immersive content is fueled by tech companies like Apple and Oculus (owned by Meta), who must populate their hardware systems with content. In so doing, they have birthed a new medium at the vanguard of the cinematic experience.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
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Blitz Bazawule (dir: The Color Purple) will write and direct Black Samurai for Warner Bros.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Follows the historical figure Yasuke, an African warrior who served under Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period of samurai conflict in 16th century Japan.
Bazawule is coming off The Color Purple, which fared poorly at the box office. He was selected to direct the film by Steven Spielberg, who liked Bazawule’s bold modernization of the material.
The WSJ summarized Bazawule’s pitch:
“Pitched a retelling of the rural tale on a grand scale. He hit [Spielberg] with music samples, vivid color palettes, descriptions of magical realism, and storyboard sketches he had drawn himself.”
Bazawule pitched Black Samurai in a way that was a total creative reimagining akin to 300 and Mad Max.
We’re looking forward to what he comes up with for Black Samurai.
Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta has joined the new 28 Days Later Trilogy. She will be directing the 2nd film in the series, with the 1st directed by 28 Days Later (2002) original director Danny Boyle.
DaCosta has a special talent for reviving things from the past.
Her sophomore feature, Candyman (2021), is a mesmerizing retelling of the 1992 original film of the same name. What was captured so wonderfully in her 2021 version is the blood-curdling hold the past has on the present (trailer).
Even though her third feature, The Marvels (2023), was a different kind of horror show, we hope she’ll be able to do better with 28 Years Later.
Trailer for 28 Days Later (2002).
Tidbits:
Yatta! Heroes, the beloved 2006 four-season TV drama, is getting a reboot. The original series creator, Tim Fring, is back.
Here is the synopsis:
Heroes: Eclipsed is set years after the events of the original series as new evos are being awakened and discovering powers that will change their lives. Featuring familiar villains and new enemies who once again will be attempting to suppress this next step in human evolution, it will be up to this new group of heroes to save the world.
The Jinx Part 2, full trailer. The first part was, in our opinion, the best True Crime series ever made. This new trailer for Pt2 shows this wild case of real estate scion Robert Durst will only get crazier.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Sundance’s Gaucho Gaucho lands international sales agent. Gaucho Gaucho, a documentary that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, is a celebration of Argentine Gauchos, a community of cowboys and cowgirls living beyond the modern world’s boundaries (still).
The directors, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw are attracted to outsider stories. Their previous feature, The Truffle Hunters (trailer), which played at Cannes, TIFF, and Sundance, did just that.
They discussed their new approach in Gaucho Gaucho:
“It’s something that isn’t just journalistic, just observing, but there is a perspective, not just ideological, but in the storytelling, in the style of the film. We’re trying to create this new cinematic language that would merge the authenticity and immediacy of this observational vérité filmmaking with deliberate, artful filmmaking technique.”
Witness the poetic slow-motion trailer for Gaucho Gaucho.
It’s my favorite thing I’ve seen this week.
ON THIS DAY
1983. 55th Academy Awards: Gandhi wins Best Picture.
See you Friday!
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Written by Gabriel Miller. Research by Spencer Carter.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
