News Round-Up: Dwayne Johnson Joins DC Universe; ‘Godzilla 2’ Release Date; and More
Hello and welcome to this week’s News Round-Up. In today’s diverse post, I have some casting that includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (in DC’s Shazam project), Bradley Cooper (in Mack Bolan), Benedict Cumberbatch (in Jungle Book: Origins), and Johnny Depp (in Yoga Hosers). I also included release dates for Godzilla 2 and Nightcrawler (which moved days). Lastly, I have a bit on Fedrik Bond’s involvement in the London Has Fallen sequel.
If you missed this week’s marketing, check out Monday’s trailers, Tuesday’s posters, and yesterday’s photos.
It’s been rumored for some time, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came out and confirmed he’ll be in DC’s Shazam adaptation that’ll undoubtedly be apart of the Justice League. The question now is who he’ll play as he’s also confirmed he can choose either the hero Shazam or his nemesis Black Adam. The Rock has been a hot commodity in Hollywood (despite how poorly Hercules did), so I’m chalking this up as a win for DC. We’ll let you know more about this adaptation, including his specific role, co-stars, director, and a release date, later. (Source: USA Today)
Bradley Cooper is set to reteam with Todd Phillips (The Hangover) in a Mack Bolan adaptation. The potential franchise is based on an anti-terrorist operative which doesn’t seem that much different than other Tom Clancy-esque franchises. However, Cooper and Phillips together is (probably) a good thing. Again, we’ll update you more on this, including co-stars and a release date, at a later time. (Source: Deadline)
We’ve gotten a lot of Jungle Book news lately, but some people don’t realize there are two adaptations in the works. The second one (which releases a year later on October 21, 2016) is directed by Andy Serkis (who helped the second unit in the The Hobbit trilogy) and titled Jungle Book: Origins. To compete with Jon Favreau’s Disney film, Origins has cast Benedict Cumberbatch to voice Shere Khan. Idris Elba will go toe-to-toe (or claw-to-claw) with Cumberbatch and I’m excited to see (/hear) which one is better. (Source: The Guardian)
It also appears Johnny Depp with be teaming up with Kevin Smith (that is quite the combination if you think about it) in Yoga Hosers. Smith (who is set to release Tusk next month) will also be employing his and Depp’s daughters in the film about using yoga to battle an ancient evil force. It sounds like a Smith film for sure but Depp still has me scratching my head. We’ll let you know a release to this bizarre pic later on. (Source: Comingsoon)
Godzilla 2, which will again be directed by the ever-popular Gareth Edwards, got an official release date. However, it’s not anytime soon, so Godzilla fans will have to do plenty of waiting. Since Edwards will be tackling the Star Wars franchise, Godzilla 2 won’t roar into theaters until June 8, 2018. No word on returners yet, but I’d expect Aaron Taylor-Johnson to return. We’ll see! (Source: MTV)
I also wanted to quickly mention the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Nightcrawler has shifted back two weeks from October 17 to October 31st. This probably has to do with the fact that Fury unexpectedly moved back to the 17th. Gyllenhaal is directed by Dan Gilroy, marking his directorial debut. (Source: THR)
Lastly, I also wanted to update you on London Has Fallen. The action sequel found its director in Fedrik Bond (Charlie Countryman). He’ll apparently direct returners Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman. This one should hit theaters October 2nd. (Source: Empire)
Come back tomorrow for this week’s Clip Mania and a full movie release schedule.
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