Welcome back for another rendition of Studio Coffee Run as we continue to drown in Disney-related news. Despite continued issues, including hacks, the House of Mouse dropped an updated calendar with several movie premieres (yes Marvel ones). Nic Cage found himself once again in the internet spotlight this weekend, as he gears up for his biggest role – himself. Then, we’ll set your mind right with news on an Andy Weir adaptation and a look at season 4 of The Expanse.
First, some quick updates:
- Dwayne Johnson pushed the Black Adam hype forward this weekend as he made a small, albeit important announcement about the film via Twitter. As you can see below, he took a minute to shout out Larry Sher, Jungle Cruise cohort and director of photography for the upcoming production. Stay tuned for more on this movie as The Rock forces it into existence with sheer force of will.
Larry Sher is a brilliant DP and a great dude!
We just worked together on Jungle Cruise and he’ll also shoot Black Adam. Glad you spent some time with him, Frost. https://t.co/cta3UoxtAT— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 16, 2019
- Reparations, a script written by Jeff Howard (The Haunting of Hill House) and Andre Owens (The Bovine League) has been quickly snatched up by Screen Gems. The action movie gained attention, not only from Howard’s writing credit, but also from its pitch. Where lots of movies in this genre tend to forego socially conscious themes, Reparations does the opposite. The details are still a secret, but we do know that our main characters are after a lost cache of Confederate gold that they plan to use for – well it’s all in the name.
- Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show snatched up a precious season 2 confirmation late Monday night. The show is hanging out in pre-production now, but Variety reports that the full cast has yet to be assembled.
A week after Disney’s streaming debut, things are going both great and completely catching on fire:
- If you’re following the Disney+ woes, you probably saw that older episodes of The Simpsons were snipped down, turning sight gags into awkward moments. The Mouse listened to frustrated fans and announced over the weekend that, beginning in early 2020, the show will be available in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. And that’s not all! Disney also promised that subscribers will be able to pick which version they want to watch; the unfunny cropped version or the original version, humor included.
- While were bagging on Disney, it’s definitely worth nothing that thousands of subscribers have already been hacked and their accounts sold on the dark web. You can read more about it on the BBC – but it’s another reminder to avoid using the same password for multiple sites.
- In other D+ news, Sophia di Martino (Yesterday) will join Tom Hiddleston in Loki. Although Martino joins an as of yet unannounced role, we know the show will follow the trickster god/terrible roommate as he pops in an out of history, doing what he does best. Production on Loki is planned to begin early next year.
Over on Disney’s silver screen slate, a few shakeups and additions
Over the weekend, Disney provided fans with an updated calendar – the big ticket item here being release dates of five Marvel movies. We aren’t sure which ones yet, so they could be literally anything from sequels to Fantastic Four or X-Men debuts or, hey, maybe even Mahershala Ali’s first outing as Blade. Or even something we have no idea about yet. Regardless, those dates are October 7, 2022, February 17, 2023, May 5, 2023, July 28, 2023 and November 3, 2023.
As a reminder (inhales deeply) we’ve already got Black Widow set for May 1, 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021 a third Spider-Man movie on July 16, 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021 and a Black Panther sequel on May 6, 2022 (exhales).
Anyway, outside the Marvel money machine, Disney also moved back the Kingsman prequel, The King’s Man, by seven months. Thanks to that major push, it’s now set for a Valentines day 2020 release rather than the original plan for September 18, 2020.
Finally, a movie with a very honest title The Last Duel, which follows true story of the last duel to be fought legally in France. This Fox flick will see a limited release on December 25, 2020, followed by a wider release on January 8, 2021. Everyone’s favorite angry guy with a sword, Adam Driver stars alongside Jodie Comer, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who tags along in a supporting role, with Ridley Scott directing.
Nic Cage stars as Nic Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and no I am not joking
If Nic Cage plays his cards right, he’ll be headlining as himself in a movie with the best title; The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. The Hollywood Reporter had the pleasure of exclusively revealing this story over the weekend.
Cage has steered clear of major productions in recent years. Since his performance as Ghost Rider in 2011’s Spirit of Vengeance, he’s mostly stuck to small indies and let the success of his internet reputation carry him. Apparently that’s gone pretty well for him. In fact, it went so well that writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten penned Unbearable Weight as a sample script. It snowballed into what it is now after being shared in Hollywood circles and eventually fell into Cage’s lap. After some time and some nudging, he agreed to carry the burden only he could – the burden of himself.
Luckily, THR also has a pretty good idea of what goes on in Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Are you ready? Probably not.
When the movie begins, Cage has already built up massive debt and is constantly forced to deal with a ‘90s version of himself “who rides him for making too many crappy movies and for not being a star anymore.” He’s hoping a role in an upcoming Tarantino flick will help remedy that issue, as well as his relationship with his daughter. Looking for more options, Cage heads to a Mexican billionaire’s birthday party. He knows he’s a fan and is hoping he can slip a script under his eyes for potential production. Unfortunately, Cage’s plan goes off the rails. The CIA gets in touch and asks him to help bring this billionaire/cartel drug lord down. As you can guess, things only escalate from there.
With any luck, Unbearable Weight won’t end up as lost as National Treasure 3. Although there were several interested studios, Lionsgate just barely won negotiations in a battle against HBO Max and Paramount.
The Martian writer Andy Weir negotiates movie rights for the Cheshire Crossing graphic novel
In Cheshire Crossing, Wendy from Peter Pan, Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are all world hopping adventurers. This weekend, their travels bring them onto the silver screen as Amblin Partners picks up the movie rights from creators Andy Weir (The Martian) and Sarah Anderson (Herding Cats).
When Wendy, Alice and Dorothy meet in an all girls boarding school, they realize they can all travel between different worlds – the trouble is no one believes them. So, when they find themselves matched up against Captain Hook and the Wicked Witch of the West, they’re all on their own.
The story began, like so many, online as a webcomic. Its 4 issues run lasted from 2006-2008 and was eventually picked up by Penguin Random House as a full graphic novel. Sarah Anderson jumped on board to take over drawing responsibilities and now the book’s available physically as well as on Tapas.
For the big screen version, Michael de Luca Productions’ Johnny Pariseau will executive produce, while Amblin President Holly Bario VP of Creative Affaris Mia Maniscalco handle producing. Erin Cressida Wilson (Girl on a Train) will script the adaptation.
On the topic of adaptations…
Amazon dropped the season 4 trailer for The Expanse early on Monday; the series based on James S.A. Corey‘s novels of the same name. This time around, the Rocinante crew is exploring new worlds and one in particular that’s being colonized at an alarming rate. Naren Shankar continues to showrun. The Expanse returns on December 13.
And late in the day on Monday, Hulu took a minute to drop a trailer for the third – and final – season of Runaways. In this last outing, the gang faces off against not only a witch, but also aliens as they hunt for their lost friends. See how it ends when all ten episoded hit Hulu on December 13.
Before you go, if you’re wondering about Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck and Zack Snyder tweeting out the cursed hashtag this weekend, we’ve got you covered. Hopefully by the time Ed is back in the driver’s seat on Friday, we’ll have some kind of idea about what’s going on there. See ya then!
