Carl Roberts 
Carl rounds up the latest news on Venom 2, the Knives Out sequel, The Matrix 4, Mad Max 2 and more…
Welcome once again to the FOTF News Burst, reporting to you, our readers, all the latest news and gossip flowing from the towers of Tinseltown. It is here where you’ll find out what’s hot and what’s not from inside Hollywood. Without further delay, let us run down what’s been hitting the wires Stateside.
Coming off the back of a terrific box office success, Lionsgate has confirmed the rumours finally and has given the sequel to last year’s hit ‘Knives Out‘ the green light. The film, written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as the main character, Detective Benoit Blanc was on virtually every critic’s best films of 2019 lists and deservedly so. Johnson himself revealed in an interview last month that he was working on a sequel to a film alongside his producing partner, Ram Bergman and revealed that Craig was extremely keen to return once again. Now we have the news from Lionsgate CEO, Jon Feltheimer that the film is officially a go. The film, a completely enjoyable and brilliant murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie boasted a rather nice all-star cast but, as we have no word yet on who is up for consideration to co-star this time around, we can only speculate exactly who will jump on board for the sequel. But whoever decides to join in the fun should make the film a blast like its predecessor.
Andy Serkis has confirmed that not only has filming started on the Sony/Marvel comic-book sequel ‘Venom 2‘ but the film has been shooting now for 40 days and is almost finished filming. Serkis has said the film is ‘Really thrilling’ and has teased the audience by saying:
“Well, you know, I can’t really talk too much about it-I know, boring-but we’re 40 days into the shoot and it’s really thrilling. We’ve got the magnificent Tom Hardy, who’s obviously at the centre of it, and we sort of see a deepening of the relationship between him and obviously, there’s a nemesis character and…that’s all I can say”
Tom Hardy is once again playing Eddie Brock/Venom alongside the returning Michelle Williams as Anne and Woody Harrelson, seen in a mid-credits scene as Cletus Kasady/Carnage. Also joining the film is Naomie Harris as Shriek, The film is due for release towards the back end of the year, presumably October again and is highly anticipated by Marvel fans around the world.
Speaking of Tom Hardy and sequels, this rumour has to be taken with a grain of salt the size of Australia at the moment but it’s been doing the rounds. The rumour suggests that Creator and director George Miller and Warner Bros. have healed their rift and as such, a fifth film in the ‘Mad Max‘ franchise is on the way. The last film ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘ hit the screen back in 2015 and was a moderate success at the box office but managed to snag itself six technical Oscars. Talk of a sequel started almost immediately afterwards but, due to a dispute between Miller and Warners, the franchise has stalled somewhat. However, if the rift is over, it could possibly mean that the sequel, tentatively titled ‘Mad Max: The Wasteland‘ could be hitting screens shortly.
I would love this to be true and for the film to be incoming but we have to consider some key factors here. First, there’s the bad blood between Hardy and co-star Charlize Theron to take into account. Then we have the director’s age ( Miller is approaching seventy-five now) and of course, Hardy is busy filming ‘Venom 2‘ and will then be moving on to play the war photographer Don McCullen in a yet un-named biopic based on McCullen’s best selling biography, Theron is producing and starring in the action film ‘The Old Guard‘ and Miller is helming ‘Three Thousand Years Of Longing‘ with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba shortly so any talk of a later this year start date is seemingly impractical.
The news that Sam Raimi is being courted to helm Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness‘ is, to be honest, a bit of a surprise. I, like many other people, thought that Raimi was done making comic-book movies after the disappointment of ‘Spider-Man 3‘ and Sony not being interested in his pitch for a considered fourth film in the franchise so this news has come out of the left-field a bit. However, it would be interesting to see how Raimi would present the horror-filled movie that we have been promised by the studio. Fans have already speculated on what Raimi would bring to the table and, of course, the inevitable desire for Spider-Man himself to make an appearance in the film has been raised. To be honest, if Raimi was to bring the character into his film IF he is to direct it, then I think it would be a nice little touch to have Tobey Maguire make a cameo as Spidey in a dream or hallucination sequence. But to be fair, I think the character shouldn’t show up in the film at all. That time has passed and everyone including Raimi and Maguire knows it.
Warner Bros’ ‘The Matrix 4‘ or whatever it ends up being called has started filming this week in San Francisco. Once again, the film stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss (Exactly how I couldn’t tell you) alongside Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra, Neil Patrick Harris, Toby Onwumere, Jessica Henwick and the rumoured return of Lambert Wilson as ‘The Merovingian‘. The film is once again directed by Lana Wachowski who has co-written the new film alongside Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell and is expected sometime next year.
And finally, on a rather sombre and sad note, we all say goodbye this week to one of the last members of the Golden age of Hollywood as the news came out regarding the death of the legendary Kirk Douglas. It seems so long ago now that one of the first films I saw at the movies was Douglas starring alongside another acting great, James Mason in Disney’s adaptation of ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea‘. The film is still one of my all-time favourites and I regularly watch it and am still amazed at the acting prowess of Douglas and Mason and the complete thrill and enjoyment I get from the film. ‘Spartacus’ will always be possibly the greatest role Douglas played on the screen and rightfully so in my opinion but we must not ever forget his acting and presence in films like ‘The Vikings‘ and ‘The Champion‘ and the films he made alongside the late Tony Curtis. And we, of course, can never forget his movies alongside Burt Lancaster, ones that we can fondly look back on now and enjoy. We can look back now at their last film together ‘Tough Guys’ where they played ageing train robbers in a funny but touching tale. We can easily overlook misfires such as ‘Cactus Jack’ alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and the science fiction failure of ‘Saturn 3’ that, to be fair,wasn’t his or the casts fault but the distributor who cut the film from an R that it was aiming for to a PG that flopped massively.
However, these were small bumps in the road in the career of a true legend and all-time great. We at The Future Of The Force send our heartfelt condolences to Mr Douglas’ wife, children, grandchildren and extended family but can take solace in the legacy that Kirk Douglas has left us and the whole world with. May he rest in peace with our thanks for the films and the memories he gave us.
And that ends this edition of the FOTF News Burst. Keep checking back here each and every day to get the latest news and gossip burning the wires direct from Hollywood. We are here, as fans for all of you, THE fans.
The Future of the Force. The future of pop culture writing.
Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
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Carl Roberts is the News Editor for The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter where he uses the force frequently!
