Welcome back SCR folks! It was a weekend dominated by Disney (weird how owning things does that), along with several smaller announcements. We’ll get the mouse headlines out out of the way first today, as Marvel cancels two of its Hulu animated series. Then, we’ll jump over to the kind of live-action, but not really side of things with the announcement of a Bambi remake and a look at some new Mulan posters. The remakes continue with Anaconda and Mean Girls (not the version you’re thinking of) and finally, we’ll chat about James Mangold and Matt Damon’s next project post Ford V. Ferrari before we get to a pair of trailers.
Let’s get started!
Marvel pulls the plug on Howard the Duck, Tigra & Dazzler at Hulu
Variety has confirmed that Marvel halved its Hulu adult animated slate, leaving Howard the Duck and Tigra & Dazzler on the cutting room floor. M.O.D.O.K. and Hit Monkey, will continue to be produced, though the planned crossover between the four shows, The Offenders, will likely be cancelled as a result.
In this case, the writing might have been on the wall. If you recall from an earlier SCR, Tigra & Dazzler showrunner Erica Rivinoja and her entire writing staff left the show because of creative differences, leaving production scrambling. On the live-action side of things, Hulu also lost two other Marvel shows with the Ghost Rider cancellation and Runaways hitting its finale, though Helstrom continues production.
Outside of Hulu, we also saw Legion and Cloak & Dagger take their bows from FX and Freeform respectively, while Agents of Shield has just one more season.
Expect the shakeups to continue. With Jeph Loeb’s departure still rumbling throughout Marvel’s TV slate and Disney+ seeing most of the top-dollar Marvel love, it’d come as no surprise to see all those titles drop from Hulu and become exclusive to the mouse.
Disney’s next live-action venture is a Bambi reshoot
The film that’s notoriously haunted viewers since it took Bambi’s mother from us in 1942 makes a comeback as Disney reveals its next photorealistic remake. Pulling the trigger this time around are screenwriters Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess is a Loser) and producers Chris and Paul Weitz.
If you’re not keeping up with all these real life re-hashes, Disney’s other upcoming remakes include Mulan, which premieres this year, and Cruella, premiering next year. On the back burner, we’ve also got The Little Mermaid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Pinocchio.
And, one final Disney piece: a new set of Mulan posters for your perusal
In other animal remake news; Anaconda gets a reboot
Not to be left behind on remaking beloved classics, Sony announced that the time has come for an Anaconda reboot; bringing along Evan Daugherty (Divergent) to write. The original, released in 1997, starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz and Owen Wilson with Luis Llosa directing. The plot saw Lopez as her research expedition is overrun by Voight, a snake hunter, who gets the gang into all the trouble with the titular reptilian.
Audiences adored the flick, resulting in a franchise being developed and, reportedly, Anaconda’s becoming one of Sony’s most profitable titles. THR reports that the best descriptor for the project is a reimagining in the tone of the recent The Meg.
Mean Girls is returning to the silver screen
- The Mean Girls team is back together with producers Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey, who wrote the Broadway show and is currently working on the feature script as well. To be more specific, the Broadway musical adaptation of the original movie is being adapted back into a feature film by Paramount.
Matt Reeves has yet another Batinson Twitter tease
- The Batman is officially under production as director Matt Reeves continues his all Twitter PR campaign. On Monday, he tagged director of photography Greig Fraser in a tweet, along with an image of a posh looking chair (suitable for a mansion, or perhaps an evil villain’s lair?) and a clapper marking day one of filming.
#DayOne #TheBatman cc: @GreigfraserD pic.twitter.com/kOgcsa6zX3
— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) January 27, 2020
Matt Damon and James Mangold take a victory lap following Ford V. Ferrari praise
Following Ford V. Ferrari critical praise (including some Oscar attention), lead Matt Damon and director James Mangold have announced they’re taking another lap together. This time, they’ll be adapting the 2017 Don Winslow novel, The Force, which Mangold is currently developing for 20th Century Studios.
The bestseller tells the almost ubiquitous story of an NYPD detective who blurs the law so frequently that his own morality goes with it. That cop (played by Damon) finds himself entangled in a corruption scandal in the midst of racial tensions, drug gangs, mob connections, a mayor’s office that fears him and much more. Taken to court over his actions, Damon will have to decide if he should testify against his team of corrupt cops, or take the fall himself.
Deadline reports that Mangold is working closely on the script with Logan cohort Scott Frank, following a first draft from David Mamet. The director is also working on a Bob Dylan flick starring Timothee Chalamet, tracing the musician’s decision to go rock n roll over folk music.
Along with an Oscar nom for Best Picture, Ford V. Ferrari also saw recognition at the Cinema Audio Society awards; this weekend, the film’s sound team of Paul Massey, Steven A. Morrow, David Giammarco, Tyson Lozensky, David Betancourt and Richard Duarte took home the award for outstanding achievement in sound mixing. It bodes well for Ford’s Oscar performance, too, given that winners of this competition have a tendency to win the Oscar in the same category.
Uncharted discovers its release date… pushing Masters of the Universe out of the way
- A release date is better than no release date for the erratic Uncharted movie; Sony announced the video game adaptation is set to hit theaters on March 5, 2021. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg star, with Ruben Fleischer (hopefully) directing. There is some collateral damage in the announcement, too. Sony’s Masters of the Universe movie, which has been in development since 2007, has been pushed off the boat with no release date in sight.
Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell team their Gloria Sanchez Productions with Netflix
- In a loose, multi-year first look TV deal, Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell bring their Gloria Sanchez Productions to Netflix, while inking a film deal with Paramount. Founded as a sister company to Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, the studio focuses on women in comedy. Its recent features include Hustlers, Booksmart and the upcoming Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar while TV productions include I’m Sorry and Dead to Me (currently wrapping post-pro on its second season).
Jon Stewart can’t stay out of political comedy too long. His latest project, Irresistible, stars Steve Carell as a Democratic political consultant trying to edge his party’s way into small town Wisconsin with local ex-Marine (Chris Cooper) as his candidate. Stewart directs, writes and produces the Plan B flick, with a cast also including Rose Byrne, Topher Grace, Natasha Lyonne, Mackenzie Davis, CJ Wilson and Will Sasso. Irresistible hits theaters May 29.
Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant debut a trailer for their upcoming limited series, The Undoing. They play Grace and Jonathan Fraser; a married couple trying to pick up the pieces of their lives following death and public disaster. As the world crumbles apart around her, Grace is forced to make tough decisions to give her son a better life. The series is based on the novel, You Should Have Known, by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
That’s a wrap for this week! I’ve got to go watch David Lynch interrogate a monkey, because apparently I missed that somehow.
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