Vin Diesel already has one billion-dollar baby in the Fast & Furious franchise, but Lionsgate is hoping that he can make room for one more multi-movie commitment in his busy schedule. Ahead of The Last Witch Hunter hitting theaters this fall, Diesel has taken to Facebook to reveal that the studio is so hot on the property that it wants the actor to sign on for and block out time to shoot a sequel.
James Wan may have moved from blood-curdling frighteners to studio blockbusters with the runaway success of Furious 7, but he's still keeping his fingers on the pulse with the genre, producing another supernatural home-invasion horror in the spirit of Insidious and The Conjuring. Now, young up-and-comer Gabriel Bateman has landed a lead role in said pic, which is titled Lights Out.
Everyone always talks about the first season of HBO's True Detective as part of the McConaissance, marking star Matthew McConaughey's ascension to the top of the A-list, so it's easy to forget that the series also featured a stunning performance from co-lead Woody Harrelson. Luckily, enough people have their heads screwed on straight that Harrelson is still landing lead roles, and today brings news that the actor boarded a project that could potentially bring him awards attention: biopic LBJ.
All hail Liam Neeson. If anyone should be allowed to rest on his laurels, it's this veteran actor, who has earned accolades for prestige dramas and made a near-seamless transition over to leading-man action hero at this late stage in his career. But in the unexpectedly excellent Run All Night, the star isn't content to play another Taken-style hero with "a very particular set of skills." Instead, he subverts that image, playing former mob assassin Jimmy as a boozy bad seed, put out to pasture by his associates and scorned by all, especially his estranged son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman).
After escorting Disney's lavish Cinderella to the ball (and a box office haul of $532.7 million), Kenneth Branagh may have found his next project. The helmer is in talks to direct Fox's remake of Murder on the Orient Express, for which the studio is hoping to enlist an A-list cast.
Paul Feig's all-female Ghostbusters reboot starts filming in Boston this week, and The Boston Herald says it's spoken to someone (unnamed) who has had eyes on the most recent script for the anticipated franchise revival. As such, the publication just revealed a few new details about the pic that are sure to get fans of the original even more excited for its latest big screen outing, including some exciting news about one way in which Feig plans to tip his hat to the original.
The new trailer for The Peanuts Movie is here, and to my great relief, it's actually pretty good. When the project was first announced, I was really concerned that it would be an Alvin and the Chipmunks-style cash-grab, devoid of any of the original cartoon's warmth. But the new trailer is charming beyond measure, centering on the arrival of a cute, new girl in town who immediately steals Charlie Brown's heart.
The Demimonde will continue to emerge over at Showtime, now that the premium network has picked up its critically acclaimed horror fantasy series Penny Dreadful for a third season, to be comprised of nine episodes.
At long last, Neil Gaiman's seminal American Gods has completed its lengthy journey to the small screen. Starz has given a straight-to-series order for a drama adaptation of the award-winning contemporary fantasy novel, considered to be one of the most influential works of fiction this century in its genre.
