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06/24/21 @ 1:32 pm EST
Ash is back, baby... in the groovy 1970s?! Army of Darkness: 1979 debuts this September from critically acclaimed writer Rodney Barnes. The superstar creator of the hit Image Comics series Killadelphia brings his supernatural horror chops to one of the genre's most (in)famous characters. Ashley Joanna Williams finds himself this time in late 70s New York City. In a less cleaned up era, that means gangs tussle for every block in the South Bronx. And these particular gangs model themselves after zombies and vampires. Things only get even more out of control when they find the one and only Necronomicon!
    “I relished the opportunity to take on Army of Darkness," said writer Rodney Barnes. "The tone is different from everything I’ve done to date, so there’s that challenge. I loved the film and the graphic novels based on the film, so it’s an honor to add my name to the great folks that have done the books prior to this one.” Barnes is joined in this horror flashback romp by artist Tom Garcia ( Pathfinder, Hellraiser), colorist Dinei Ribero, and letterer Troy Peteri. This crew assembles together to guide Ash through his latest comedy horror adventure. But will he or even the creative team survive the journey..? With his background as a screenwriter and producer in Hollywood, Barnes has contributed to The Boondocks, My Wife and Kids, Everbody Hates Chris, Marvel's Runaways, American Gods, and is currently an executive producer/writer on HBO's untitled drama following the 1980s "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers. With his love of film and 1970s culture, Barnes is pulling from cult classics like The Warriors on this Army of Darkness tale. Within comics, Barnes is the creator of the Eisner Award-nominated Killadelphia, and has written Falcon and Lando ( Star Wars) for Marvel. Rodney's co-creator and collaborator on Killadelphia, Jason Shawn Alexander, joins on for the lead cover. Zombie maestro Arthur Suydam contributes one of course, with an homage to Escape from New York. And they're joined by Junggeun Yoon and Stuart Sayger, with their own memorable styles of Ash.
    ARMY OF DARKNESS: 1979 #1 is solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ July 2021 Previews catalog, the premier source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in September 2021. Comic book fans are encouraged to preorder copies of the issue with their local comic book retailers. It will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Dynamite Digital, ComicsPlus, and more! 05/13/24 @ 12:20 pm EST
Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) has been set to lead a new action-thriller from director Baltasar Kormákur (Everest), which Black Bear is launching this week for the Cannes market. In the currently untitled film, Statham will play Mason who lives in isolation in a remote Scottish island. When he rescues a young girl from the ocean in a terrible storm, he sets a chain of events in motion that brings a violent attack to his hideaway, forcing him back into the world to confront the ghosts of his past. Principal photography is scheduled to commence in November in the UK and Iceland with production services and filming to take place at Kormákur’s RVK Studios facility in Reykjavik. The script comes from Ward Parry. (via Deadline) 05/13/24 @ 12:15 pm EST
These apes are going to need a bigger boat for their cash! 20th Century Studios‘ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has come in over expectations with a $58.5M opening. Sunday came in at $16.5M, down 19%, a strong attributable to Mother’s Day. Who knew moms were fans of the Planet of the Apes movies? Typical Mother’s Day Saturday to Sunday drops are around the -28% range. That’s now the third highest opening for an Apes movie after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($72.6M) and Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes ($68.5M). Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes only cost $160M, which is cheaper than Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes which cost $190M before P&A. As Deadline reported yesterday, there’s hope for summer in a movie that can beat its tracking projections. Not everything is destined to become flat footed. 05/12/24 @ 2:40 pm EST
Susan Backlinie, the actress seen in one of the most terrifying cinematic moments in history, has passed away at the age of 77. Backlinie played the skinny-dipping swimmer attacked by the shark in the opening scene of the 1975 horror classic Jaws. She would later re-team with director Steven Spielberg to parody that same scene in his film 1941. From their her career moved more into stunt work for films and television including work on The Great Muppet Caper, Day of the Animals and The Fall Guy television series. No cause of death has been released. She is survived by her husband, Harvey. 
05/12/24 @ 2:10 pm EST
Recently we’ve been seeing a rise in the number of “insiders” leaking information and photos from upcoming films. And while this has been going on for years, one in particular has hit a nerve with Marvel Studios so much that they have gone to the courts to try and have their true identity revealed. Documents have been found that show that Marvel’s VP of Global Security & Content Protection has subpoenaed Instagram for the identity of who runs the account “CanWeGetSomeToast,” a scooper who is known for posting leaks and spoilers. They are doing this because of a “leaked, pre-release image” from Captain America: Brave New World. The film is already dealing with leaks due to images from the upcoming McDonald’s toy tie-in hitting the web that showed a few characters that have not been officially confirmed for the film. It’s unclear what Marvel plans to do if they are able to get the information about who runs the account.  05/12/24 @ 1:13 pm EST
B-movie legend Roger Corman passed away at the age of 98. The director and producer of hundreds of low-budget films and the man who discovered a ton of industry stars from Jack Nicholson to Martin Scorsese to Rober De Niro. Variety reported that he died on May 9th at his some surrounded by his family. Previously asked how he wished to be remembered, Corman said, “I was a filmmaker, just that.” He specialized in fast-paced, low-budget genre movies including horror, action, science fiction and the occasional family fare. His films included Little Shop of Horrors, Boxcar Bertha, Machine Gun Kelly, Fall of the House of Ushers, Masque of the Red Death, Dementia 13, Eat My Dust, Frankenstein Unbound and in 1994 he famously produced with Bernd Eichinger an unreleased Fantastic Four film that was made so Eichinger could retain the rights to the franchise. Though the film never hit theaters, bootleg copies have been sold around at conventions for years. Corman is survived by his wife, producer Julie Corman, and daughters, Catherine and Mary.  05/11/24 @ 11:56 am EST
The Guardians of the Galaxy could’ve been very different if actor Joel Edgerton could’ve figured out the right tone. The actor who played the younger version of Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen had a chance to audition for the role of Star Lord but says he just couldn’t nail down the tone writer/director James Gunn was looking for. “Star-Lord’s a good one, actually, because I, unlike Chris [Pratt], didn’t quite sort of understand the tone of it the way he did and the way that those guys did. And I wasn’t really sure how I could be a part of that tone. And I truly think that the world is a much better place that I’m not Star-Lord, even if I had the opportunity or I did a good enough audition because it is the way it’s meant to be. And there was never a real conversation that it would have definitely been me. It was just, I had the opportunity to try and audition. I just didn’t quite understand it.” It’s well known that Gunn auditioned a lot of different actors before landing on Chris Pratt who went on to also star in two sequels and two Avengers movies.  05/11/24 @ 11:37 am EST
Sigourney Weaver is in talks to head back into space. The actress who has starred in both the Aliens and Ghostbusters franchises and even hopped into the MCU with a role in The Defenders, is now in talks to be part of the upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu movie. The Jon Favreau directed film is slated to start shooting later this year and scheduled to be released on May 22nd, 2026 and while it’s unknown what character they are talking to Weaver about, its reported to be a key role. This will be the first Star Wars film to hit theaters since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 which took in $1 billion worldwide. 
05/11/24 @ 11:26 am EST
While it may have been overshadowed by the Galactus casting news, another big name was added the same day. John Malkovich has also come aboard for a role in The Fantastic Four. This goes with the recent additions of Ralph Ineson and Paul Walter Hauser, and like with Hauser, Malkovich’s role is under wraps for now, along with the plot of the film. Marvel has previously announced the lead roles which include Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). News broke last week that Hauser signed on for an undisclosed role and of course there was the announcement that Julia Garner was going to play Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer. WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman is directing from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer with the film slated to hit theaters on July 25, 2025. And while we don't know who Malkovich will be playing, he does have a look that would work for villains like Red Ghost or Puppet Master. He could also voice HERBIE the robot.  05/10/24 @ 10:20 pm EST
Jeff Bridges is set to star as classic monster Grendel in a new live-action movie from the storied Jim Henson Company and director Robert D. Krzykowsk. Palisades Park Pictures is set to launch sales at Cannes for Grendel, which is billed as the “tale of the legendary monster at the heart of the Beowulf epic poem who steps forth to tell his side of this riveting story.” Jim Henson’s Creature Shop will handle the practical creature work and design. Dave Bautista is set to play Beowulf, with Bryan Cranston set as King Hrothgar, Sam Elliott as The Dragon, Thomasin McKenzie as Queen Wealhtheow and Aidan Turner as Unferth. T Bone Burnett will also star and provide original songs for the film. Krzykowski will direct from a screenplay he adapted from John Gardner’s novel of the same name. (via THR) 05/10/24 @ 10:12 pm EST
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham is going from the Marvelverse to the Monsterverse.The scribe, known for his action acumen, has been tapped to pen the next installment of Legendary’s Godzilla/Kong monster movie series.The hiring comes in the wake of the box office success of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which has grossed close to $555 million worldwide. That is the biggest haul since 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which peaked at $568 million. Empire, which is still in theaters, may also be one of the most profitable (if not the single most profitable) of the five movies in the series, as it only cost $135 million, per sources. Thus Legendary is keen to keep the monster juice flowing.Adam Wingard directed Empire and created the story with frequent collaborator Simon Barrett as well as Terry Rossio. Legendary has signaled it would like to see Wingard return to the director’s chair after a successful run that also included the 2021 entry Godzilla vs. Kong. But Wingard has no deal at this stage. (via THR) |
