Movie/TV News (1 Viewer)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8

SACRIFICE---trailer released for the horror movie starring Barbara Crampton.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWXeD2imeJw



BORN A CHAMPION--trailer released for the martiqal arts movie starring Sean Patrick Flanery.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylvzlQwEan8



SAMARITAN---photo from the Sylvester Stallone movie about a boy who searches for long-lost superhero.





STAR WARS---Michael Waldron (RICK AND MORTY, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS) will write the script for the STAR WARS movie being developed by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige.

EVENT HORIZON---Jason Issacs doubts the rumored Paul WS Anderson "directors cut " of the sci fi.horror movie exists because the deleted scenes were too gory and violent, "He was doing things that were, I've no doubt, against the law. Certainly against every ethical and professional guild code. There were porn stars. There were amputees. There were people recruited from S&M clubs. There was some stuff going on in there. Every now and again, he would walk over to our set with a kind of Vietnam [War], thousand year old stare and go, 'You would not believe what I've been seeing this morning.' So, they shot lots of that stuff."
The deleted scenes were, "used subliminally in the film to flash...Maybe Paul did in a cut, or not. Any more of it, I think, would not have made the film better. I don't know that he was asked to trim it down by the studio. I don't remember those discussions at the time. I'm pretty sure it didn't happen, but I might be wrong."
Isaacs commented on deleted scenes of his character's death, "I know there was a shot cut, a slightly gorier shot of my body. When you discover my dead body, I'm naked, flayed, hung up by hooks, gutted from neck to navel with all my organs hanging out over the operating table. I think there was a shot inside my stomach cavity, that came out, panned around, showed you all the gore, swirled around, and then found Sam Neill walking in. It was so disgusting, but also, it was a much bigger death than the more important deaths that were coming, that it kind of upended things priority wise. So, they started it with the wide shot. I think first of all, audiences might have been gagging. I don't know."
It is not known if the upcoming Shout Factory Collectors Edition release has the director's cut.





GAME OF THRONES---HBO ratings in the 18-49 age group dropped by over 50% after the tv series ended.

BAD BLOOM---Vera Farmiga will star in this Bryce McGuire horror movie about a family living on a remote island who must keep a monster at bay, until one of the children discovers something new about the monster.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN---IMDB TV is developing a tv series based on the skateboarding documentary.

TRIVIA---Gregory Hines had his first movie role in HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART 1. Hines replaced Richard Pryor, who was burned in a well-publicized freebasing incident, two days before filming started. Co-star Madeline Kahn recommended Hines to Mel Brooks.

MONDAY, JANUARY 11

CLARICE---trailer released for the CBS/CBS All Access tv sequel to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfMHiNFOAis



THE EQUALIZER---trailer released for the CBS reboot series starring Queen Latifah.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqySpdSdlbw



DEADPOOL 3---Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said The Molyneux Sisters (BOB'S BURGERS) will write the sequel script and added, “It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan’s overseeing a script right now. It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan [Reynolds]is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”

GODZILLA vs KONG---Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment announced the sequel movie will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max on May 21.

DOCTOR WHO---Whoopi Goldberg said she once pitched a US spinoff series to Tom Baker with her starring as Doctor Who, "(It could be) the American version of Doctor Who ends up in New York - and it's me. We don't have a Doctor Who. We don't have that character who is traveling through dimension and time, and being an observer... The idea of that just so made me happy. But they (TV executives) were like, 'Um, no!' So I was like, 'OK, I'm cool. I understand.' "
She added, "I always hope, when I come to England, the BBC will say, 'Hey, we want you to do something (on DOCTOR WHO)'. I would love that... I'm still dying to do DOCTOR WHO...I wanted to be the first female Doctor, but they have one..."





SEX AND THE CITY---10-episode revival miniseries underway on HBO Max with the original stars returning except Kim Cattrall.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER---Netflix tv series underway based on the Matthew McConaughey movie. The tv series will be based on THE BRASS VERDICT novel.

AUGUST SNOW---Keegan-Michael Key will star in the ABC tv series based on the crime novels. Snow is described as, "He is a biracial former detective who grew up in Detroit’s Mexicantown. After a distinguished military career, he joined the force like his father, only to be drummed out by a conspiracy led by corrupt cops and politicians. August hit back, winning an $18 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit, then packed his bags to travel the world.”

THE SEX PISTOLS---Danny Boyle will direct this FX six-part miniseries about the British punk rock group.

GREEN ARROW AND THE CANARIES---CW will not proceed with the ARROW spinoff tv series.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
In THUNDERBALL, SPECTRE Number 2 Emilio Largo's house, Palmyra, was located near Nassau in the Bahamas. In reality, the estate belonged to Huntington Hartford, A&P supermarket heir and one of the world's richest men. Hartford's wife, Diane, had a cameo as the woman James Bond danced with in the Kiss Kiss Club as he tried to elude SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe and her henchmen. She also appeared in the remake of CASINO ROYALE.

In THUNDERBALL, SPECTRE Number 2 Emilio Largo's house, Palmyra, was located near Nassau in the Bahamas.




In reality, the estate belonged to Huntington Hartford, A&P supermarket heir and one of the world's richest men. Hartford's wife, Diane, had a cameo as the woman James Bond danced with in the Kiss Kiss Club as he tried to elude SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe and her henchmen.




Diane Hartford also appeared in the remake of CASINO ROYALE.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12

STAR WARS---rumors claim that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige will not only develop a STAR WARS movie, but he will succeed Kathleen Kennedy as head of Lucasfilm. Feige was asked if his Lucasfilm deal involves more than the STAR WARS movie. Feige replied, “Not at all.”





BEING THE RICARDOS---Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman are in negotiations to star in this Aaron Sorkin/Amazon movie about I LOVE LUCY stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.





SECRET INVASION---Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige commented on the Disney+ tv series based on the comic book, “I mean, we’re interested in the political paranoia aspect of SECRET INVASION and really showcasing the stars with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn, two amazing actors that you want to have in any series, and we’re very lucky to have them for that. That’s the sort of primary focus of that and, of course, it will tie into other things and the Skrulls in ways you haven’t seen before, but yes, anything could be anything. Wise words… But we wanted to do that as a series because it would allow us to do something different than we’ve done before.”





DEXTER---the Showtime 10-part miniseries sequel is set in upstate New York. Julia Jones (THE MANDALORIAN) will co-star as Angela Bishop, the first Native American police chief in her town.





KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES---Ben Affleck will direct this Walt Disney movie based on the novel series.

THE WHALE---Brendan Fraser will star in this Darren Aronofsky movie based on the play whose synopsis is, "In a run-down apartment in rural Idaho, surrounded by screens and food containers, a six-hundred pound recluse doggedly and determinedly eats himself to death. As he inches closer and closer the inevitable, his friend Liz, a cynical atheist nurse, and Elder Thomas, a young, hopeful Mormon missionary both attempt to find in Charlie the will to be saved, physically and spiritually. However, it is only Charlie’s estranged teenage daughter, the acerbic and bitter Ellie, who can make him see any kind of future beyond his current despair..."

RISK---Beau Willimon (HOUSE OF CARDS) is developing a tv series based on the Hasbro game.

WILLOW---director Jon M. Chu has left the Disney+ tv series sequel due to a schedule problem.

BATWOMAN---Season 2's main villain will be Black Mask.

TRIVIA---Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson headed an all-star cast in the 1967 hit World War II movie THE DIRTY DOZEN. However, Marvin and Bronson had their very first movie roles in 1951 in another World War II movie, YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW starring Gary Cooper which was set on a Navy sub chaser.

Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson headed an all-star cast of Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavetes, Donald Sutherland, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Clint Walker, Jim Brown, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Webber and Trini Lopez in the hit World War II movie THE DIRTY DOZEN.




Marvin and Bronson had their very first movie roles in 1951 in another World War II movie, YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW starring Gary Cooper which was set on a Navy sub chaser.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13

BLISS---trailer released for the Amazon sci fi movie starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mG8wJwIRCE


THE WALKING DEAD---trailer released for the Season 10 Extension.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGCNJINU5YQ



THE LORD OF THE RINGS---Amazon Studios released the synopsis for the tv series set during the Second Age, “Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”





OBI-WAN KENOBI---Liam Neeson commented on if he would like to return as Qui-Gon Jinn for the Disney+ miniseries, "Sure, I'd be up for that, yeah".




MOST-STREAMED TV---AC Nielsen released the top 10 most-streamed tv shows of 2020 in minutes.

1. THE OFFICE--57 billion
2. GREY'S ANATOMY--39.4 billion
3. CRIMINAL MINDS--35.4 billion
4. OZARK--30.5 billion
5. NCIS--28.1 billion
6. SCHITT'S CREEK--23.8 billion
7. SUPERNATURAL--20.3 billion
8. LUCIFER--19 billion
9. SHAMELESS--18.2 billion
10.THE CROWN--16.3 billion


JURASSIC WORLD: CAMP CRETACEOUS---Season 2 synopsis released, "Now stranded on an abandoned Isla Nublar, the campers struggle to survive among the wreckage of Jurassic World. As the T.Rex takes over Main Street, forcing the kids deeper into the jungle, the discovery that they may not be alone not only threatens their rescue but may uncover something more sinister."

REDEEMER---Matthew McConaughey departed the FX tv series so FX has decided to cancel its development.

ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE---Harry Lennix confirmed he is playing Martian Manhunter in the HBO Max four-part miniseries.

1984---tv miniseries underway based on the Broadway play and not George Orwell's novel.

TRIVIA---in DIE HARD,the shocked look on Alan Rickman's face during Hans Gruber's fatal fall from Nakatomi Plaza was real.
Stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni said Rickman was on a platform 40 feet high with a rope attached to him. Picerni said Rickman was told he would be dropped on the count of three to a crash pad below, "But I told the stunt guys, let him go on one." This led to the shocked look on Rickman's face as he fell before he was expected to, which is what Picerni wanted.
Rickman does not remember the countdown, but he joked, "I look at the sight of some slightly incredulous producers when I said I would do it myself...They were very careful to make it my very last shot on the film."

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

JURASSIC WORLD: CAMP CRETACEOUS---trailer released for Season 2.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4xBen7X0HY



ENDLINGS---trailer released for Season 2.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQZq4V39OE



THE ROCKETEER---on its 30th anniversary, Jennifer Connelly commented on the sequel to her 1991 movie that also starred Billy Campbell, “I had no idea they were doing a sequel, and I can’t believe it’s also been 30 years, that’s crazy! I thought that movie was a lot of fun and I had a lot of fun doing it, I won’t speak to what’s happening with the sequel, as I haven’t heard anything about it.”
Last year, it was reported that the sequel is being written by Azia Squire and is set six years after the original movie. The plot has a black female pilot searching for missing Cliff Secord and the rocketpack. She must prevent a corrupt scientist from using the rocketpack for nefarious purposes.





CAPTAIN AMERICA---Chris Evans is in negotiations to return as Captain America. Sources say Captain America will probably return as a supporting character in a future Marvel movie.





SHOTGUN WEDDING---Armie Hammer has left the Jennifer Lopez movie after alleged social media messages containing kinky sex he sent to women were leaked. The messages included Hammer's fantasies of rape and cannibalism. He supposedly said to one woman that he is, “100% a cannibal” and wanted to “drink your blood.”
Hammer replied, “I’m not responding to these bull***** claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for 4 months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that."

DAVID O. RUSSELL---Rami Malek and Zoe Saldana will co-star with Christian Bale and Margot Robbie in this untitled David O. Russell movie. The plot reportedly involves a doctor and lawyer who team up.

AMERICAN UNDERDOG: THE KURT WARNER STORY---Anna Paquin will co-star with Zachary Levi in the movie based on the NFL Hall of Fame quarterback's memoir. Paquin will play Warner's wife, Brenda.

WHITE NOISE---Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig will star in this Noah Baumbach movie based on the novel about a Hitler studies professor and his family who become paranoid after a black noxious cloud surrounds their house.

THE FLASH---Jon Cor will play villain Chillblaine in Season 7.

ASSISTED LIVING---Cardi B will star in this Paramount Pictures comedy movie about a female bank robber who disguises herself as an elderly woman in her estranged grandmother's senior citizens home after a heist goes awry.

TRIVIA---in a 1976 interview, Michael Caine said he accepted the starring role in THE EAGLE HAS LANDED because he had turned down the starring role in WHERE EAGLES DARE, which was a big hit, and he was not going to make another "Eagle" movie mistake again. Reportedly, Marlon Brando was also considered for the WHERE EAGLES DARE role of Maj. John Smith that went to Richard Burton.

Michael Caine said he accepted the starring role in THE EAGLE HAS LANDED because he had turned down the starring role in WHERE EAGLES DARE, which was a big hit, and he was not going to make another "Eagle" movie mistake again. Caine played Col. Kurt Steiner in THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.




Caine turned down the role of Maj. John Smith in WHERE EAGLES DARE which went to Richard Burton.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15

WILLY'S WONDERLAND---trailer released for the Nicholas Cage horror movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRPua5U1f7g



FOR ALL MANKIND---trailer released for Season 2.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzmrmjlESjQ



THE CREW---trailer released for the Netflix comedy tv series starring Kevin James.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAj4FnUhGWE



DAVID O. RUSSELL---Robert De Niro, Michael Shannon, Chris Rock, Timothy Olyphant, Mike Myers and Anya Taylor-Joy have joined the all-star cast for the untitled David O. Russell movie which includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek and Zoe Saldana.





MORTAL KOMBAT---photo released from the movie based on the video game.





THE SPARROW---FX miniseries underway based on the sci fi novel about a failed mission by scientists, the Vatican and aliens to prove God exists and the investigation of a priest who was part of the mission. Johan Renck (CHERNOBYL) is the writer. Scott Frank (THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT) is the director.

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING---Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez and Nathan Lane will star in this Hulu comedy series about three strangers who team up to investigate a murder.

DISENCHANTED---Patrick Dempsey confirmed he wlil co-star with Amy Adams in the sequel to ENCHANTED.

HIGH MAINTENANCE---HBO cancelled the series.

DOOGIE KAMEALOHA, M.D.---Peyton Elizabeth Lee will star in the DOOGIE HOWSER, M.D. reboot series.

TRIVIA---in the original OUTER LIMITS episode "The Probe", the final episode of the series, the big alien microbe that attacks the airplane survivors was designed and acted by stuntman Janos Prohaska. Later, STAR TREK producers asked Prohaska to design an alien suit that might be used on the series. Prohaska designed an alien suit similar to THE OUTER LIMITS microbe and showed it to STAR TREK writer Gene L. Coon. Coon said, "That's great! What is it?" Prohaska replied, "I don't know. It can be whatever you want." Coon said, "I'll write a script around it." Coon's script became "The Devil in the Dark". Prohaska's alien suit became the Horta, the alien creature that is killing miners on the Janus VI mining colony.

In the original OUTER LIMITS episode "The Probe", the final episode of the series, the big alien microbe that attacks the airplane survivors was designed and acted by stuntman Janos Prohaska.




Prohaska's THE OUTER LIMITS microbe suit inspired his Horta suit in the STAR TREK episode "The Devil in the Dark".

MONDAY, JANUARY 18

SPIDER-MAN 3---photo of Tom Holland on the Atlanta film set shows the sequel is set during Christmas. Also, Charlie Cox was seen on the film set at a different time.





GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE---new sequel photo shows Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and Logan Kim.





GALAXY QUEST---Tim Allen commented on the proposed sequel to the 1999 STAR TREK parody movie, “It’s a fabulous script, but it had a hiccup because the wonderful Alan Rickman passed. So it all got very sad and dark because [the script] was all about [Lazrus] and Taggart. It was all about their story. It doesn’t mean they can’t reboot the idea, and the underlying story was hysterical and fun.
I haven’t reached out to anybody in the last week, but we talk about it all the time. There is constantly a little flicker of a butane torch that we could reboot it with. Without giving too much away, a member of Alan [Rickman]’s GALAXY QUEST family could step in and the idea would still work.”
He added, “[The sequel] could happen now or in five years and it doesn’t matter at all because when you travel at light speed when you come back it can be like only 20 minutes, but 20 years have passed, right? That part is wonderful for the sci-fi freak in me. But right now it’s in a holding pattern.”





MOON KNIGHT---Ethan Hawke will play the unidentified main villain in the Disney+/Marvel tv series starring Oscar Isaac.

THE MATRIX 4---Gina Torres, who starred in the original trilogy, wondered how characters killed off, like Neo and Trinity, are returning for the sequel, "Not to be bitter or anything, but the people that are actually in the movie, I believe, died. And the people that aren't didn't. So that's all I have to say about that. I'm so curious about where they're going with this. And what's their jumping off point and what story they want because it just felt like they told it."





THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER---Matt Damon is in Sydney, Australia to join the sequel cast.

MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD---a Twitter comment said the 2003 Russell Crowe movie is boring drew a rebuke from Crowe. The original tweet said, "Lots of folk complaining about lack of sleep during the Pandemic. May I recommend Master And Commander starring the usually captivating, attention-grabbing Russell Crowe. I've never made it past the ten minute mark. You're welcome. And thanks Russell."
Crowe responded, "That's the problem with kids these days. No focus. Peter Weirs film is brilliant. An exacting, detail oriented, epic tale of fidelity to Empire & service, regardless of the cost. Incredible cinematography by Russell Boyd & a majestic soundtrack. Definitely an adults movie."




MORTAL KOMBAT---synopsis released for the movie's main character, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), “MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?”

BLADE RUNNER 2049---Jared Leto said he would like to return as Niander Wallace, "...it would be kind of nice to go back and explore other [characters]. Like Niander Wallace in BLADE RUNNER, I would love to play that part again as a prequel or something."

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS---Hasbro is developing a tv series based on the game with Derek Kolstad (JOHN WICK) as the writer. The tv series might be in the same universe as the Paramount Pictures movie.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
The theme for YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was written by John Barry with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. It was originally recorded by British singing star Julie Rogers, "This came at the height of my recording career in 1967. I just had three number one hit records worldwide. I recorded the song at Universal Studios with a 50-piece orchestra and John Barry. And to me, that was it, I'd done the theme."
However, the producers were unhappy with her version, and the song was rewritten by Barry and Bricusse with Nancy Sinatra replacing Rogers. Barry said, "It was usually the producers that said 'this isn't working, there's a certain something that it needed'. If that energy wasn't there, if that mysterioso kind of thing wasn't there, then it wasn't going to work for the movie...Cubby Broccoli was a friend of Frank Sinatra's. So he phoned him up and said we'd love you to sing the song in the movie. But Frank said no, he didn't want to do it, but my daughter is really good! Have Nancy do it."
Rogers said about her version being rejected in favor of Nancy Sinatra's, "I saw the movie and sat there and cried. Anybody would! It was such a wonderful opportunity that just fizzled away for me."

British singing star Julie Rogers recorded the first version of "You Only Live Twice".


JULIE ROGERS LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNHH6pf3xyE






After the Julie Rogers version was rejected, the song was rewritten by John Barry and recorded by Nancy Sinatra.


NANCY SINATRA LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs8uYxTJ530

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19

THE EQUALIZER---trailer released for the CBS reboot series starring Queen Latifah.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCBbz_hlkc



JOHN WICK 4---Ian McShane commented on the status of the upcoming sequel, "Keanu [Reeves] and I exchanged New Year's greetings and said, 'Hope to see you this year'. I know the script is being written and they're hoping to do it this year."
He added, "I know they announced they were gonna do [JOHN WICK 4] and [JOHN WICK 5] together, but who knows. The studios announce all sorts of things. No doubt, at some point this year, we're gonna do JOHN WICK 4."





THE NAKED GUN---Liam Neeson said he and Seth MacFarlane have talked about rebooting the spoof movie franchise that starred Leslie Nielsen, "I've been approached by Seth MacFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the NAKED GUN films. It'll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don't know."
Paramount announced in 2013 that a reboot was underway with Ed Helms has Frank Drebin, but there was no news of that reboot since.





DAY OF THE DEAD---director Steven Kostanski commented on the Syfy miniseries based on the 1985 George A. Romero zombie movie, "So it’s a ten-episode series; it does have ties to the original movie. I can’t go into too many specifics, unfortunately. I’m not really allowed to say much of anything...It was a very scrappy, low budget affair, and I had a ton of fun making it. We got Masters FX to once again provide creature effects for it. So I can say that, at the very least, the zombies are super awesome. It’s a very weird, interesting show, that I don’t think is what people are going to be expecting. I had a ton of fun making it, and really utilized all my low-budget sensibilities to pull it off. It was another case of like, a very ambitious premise, with the bare minimum of resources. And I think that yielded a lot of great creativity from the team.”

THE SANDMAN---Gwendoline Christie (GAME OF THRONES) will co-star with Tom Sturridge in the Netflix tv series.

PEAKY BLINDERS---the BBC announced that Season 6 will be the last season. Creator Steven Knight said a theatrical movie will begin after Season 6.

MASTER OF NONE---the Aziz Ansari series is returning to Netflix with Season 3 after a three-year hiatus. It reportedly is set in London with Naomie Ackie as the new love interest.

GWYNETH PALTROW---a Goop/Gwyneth Poltrow scented candle sold as "This Smells Like My Vagina" caught fire and exploded in a London media consultant's house. Jody Thompson said, "The candle exploded and emitted huge flames, with bits flying everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. The whole thing was ablaze and it was too hot to touch. There was an inferno in the room."
Thompson said she, "eventually got it under control and threw it out the front door. It could have burned the place down. It was scary at the time, but funny looking back that Gwyneth's vagina candle exploded in my living room."
The Goop website says, "This candle started as a joke between perfumer Douglas Little and GP-the two were working on a fragrance, and she blurted out, 'Uhhh..this smells like a vagina'--but evolved into a funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent." The scent contains, "geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed."

POWER MAGE---tv series is underway based on the fantasy novels. Joseph Mallozzi (STARGATE) is the writer.

SAVED BY THE BELL---Peacock renewed the series for Season 2.

TRIVIA---in the classic THE AFRICAN QUEEN, two actors, Theodore Bikel and Walter Gotell, who played German naval officers on the gunboat Konigin Luise, also played German naval officers in two World War II movies.
In THE AFRICAN QUEEN, Theodore Bikel played the Konigin Luise's First Officer. Bikel played Lt. Heinie Schwaffer in THE ENEMY BELOW.
In THE AFRICAN QUEEN, Walter Gotell played the Konigin Luise's Second officer. Gotell played Signals Officer Miller in SINK THE BISMARCK!


In THE AFRICAN QUEEN, two actors, Theodore Bikel (left) and Walter Gotell (right), who played German naval officers on the gunboat Konigin Luise, also played German naval officers in two World War II movies.






In THE AFRICAN QUEEN, Theodore Bikel played the Konigin Luise's First Officer. Bikel played Lt. Heinie Schwaffer in THE ENEMY BELOW.






In THE AFRICAN QUEEN, Walter Gotell played the Konigin Luise's Second officer. Gotell played Signals Officer Miller in SINK THE BISMARCK!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20

BOSS LEVEL---trailer released for the sci fi movie starring Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mkiY-37OG4



THE COURIER---photo of Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan in the movie about British intelligence agent Greville Wynne and Soviet asset Oleg Penkovsky during the Cuban Missile Crisis.





SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW---sequel photo shows Chris Rock starring as police detective Zeke Banks, who is investigating the Jigsaw killer.





JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION---Colin Trevorrow commented on DOMINION, “To me, [DOMINION] is a culmination of one story that’s been told. When you got to the end of the JURASSIC PARK trilogy, it may not have been as clear in what the complete story of those three movies was because they were a bit more episodic in the way that they were approached. But this trilogy is not that way. It’s very much a serialized story. What was important for me was, when you watch DOMINION, you really feel like you are learning how much of a story that first set of movies was and how everything that happened in those movies actually informs what ultimately is able to happen in this. If kids who are born today are going to be presented with six JURASSIC PARK movies — you hope the parents will buy them the box set — you hope they are going to get to feel like they watch one long story.”
He also talked about the animated JURASSIC WORLD: CAMP CRETACEOUS, “It’s important to me, out of respect for the writers who are continuing to expand and create, to recognize [CAMP CREATACEOUS] as clearly its own story and its own show. But this season — and if we’re granted further opportunities to tell the story that we have [in Season 3] — will keep weaving in to the larger story and really inform some things, even in DOMINION that will connect to discoveries made that I’m really excited about.”

STAR WARS---Jason Isaacs, the voice of the Inquisitor in STAR WARS REBELS, commented on possibly playing a live-action Inquisitor after Katee Sackhoff, voice of Bo-Katan, played a live-action Bo-Katan on THE MANDALORIAN, “I’m open to anything. It’s always about the script. I don’t want to just turn up so that I can take some photographs and go to conventions. I’d like to play parts. The Inquisitor was a great part when I played it and if the Inquisitor was a great part again, I’d be up for it. I’m not sure I’ve got the patience of Doug Jones who plays Saru in DISCOVERY, who was the creature in THE SHAPE OF WATER and stuff. I don’t now how many hours I’d like to spend in prosthetics. But yeah, Katee had a very good time. I know Katee and I’ll say, I’ve loved being part of the STAR WARS world. They’ve invited me in although I’ve only ever been an animated character before.”

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES---there are rumors that HBO Max is developing a BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES sequel according to FATMAN BEYOND co-host Marc Bernadin, "The rumor is that HBO Max is looking at making a BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES sequel, that they want to continue that forward." Kevin Smith added, “I think that’s real. I don’t think that’s a rumor, I wouldn’t say ‘Set your watch to it,’ but it’s an idea whose time is not only coming, I think it came, and it’s smoking a cigarette. I think that’s gonna happen. How f*cking amazing would that be because you can just literally pick up and keep going. It’s not like, ‘oh we gotta explain why everyone’s older,’ it’s f*cking animation man so you can go right back to those amazing f*cking stories.”

WONKA---Tom Holland and Timothee Chalamet are the two candidates to star in the Warner Bros. prequel to CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

AGAINST THE ICE-----Nikolaj-Coster Waldau and Charles Dance will star in this Netflix survival movie about a Danish expedition to disprove the US claim on north-eastern Greenland which goes awry.
Also, Netflix announced it now has over 200 million subscribers and has a market value of $250 billion.

TITANS---Savannah Welch will play Barbara Gordon in Season 3

TNT---TNT renewed SNOWPIERCER for Season 3. It is also developing a tv series based on the John Grisham novel THE WHISTLER and another tv series based on the DC comic book DEATHBED.

TRIVIA---character actor Khigh Dhiegh is best known for playing Communist Chinese villains in Frank Sinatra's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and Jack Lord's HAWAII FIVE-O. In reality, Dhiegh is of Anglo-Egyptian-Sudanese ancestry and was born Kenneth Dickerson in Spring Lake, New Jersey.

Khigh Dhiegh played Communist Chinese brainwashing expert Dr. Yen Lo in Frank Sinatra's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE which focuses on a Communist assassination plot to take over the US government.





Dhiegh also played Communist Chinese agent Wo Fat on Jack Lord's HAWAII FIVE-O.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21


HALLOWEEN KILLS---new sequel photo shows Michael Meyers leaving Laurie Strode's burning cabin.





THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD---photo released from the sequel starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas.





CASINO ROYALE---director Doug Liman said the CASINO ROYALE remake borrow from his Jason Bourne movies, "I always wanted to make a James Bond movie, but they don’t hire American directors. By the way, you’ve made two little indie movies. You’re never going to direct James Bond. I went and made BOURNE IDENTITY, and then after THE BOURNE IDENTITY came out, the next James Bond to come out was CASINO ROYALE, which totally copied the tone of BOURNE. I had a very surreal thing where I was sort of making BOURNE because I really wanted to make Bond, and then Bond copied BOURNE."
He added, "I didn’t quite know how to process that. I still don’t know how to process that. I don’t know if I got what I wanted or didn’t get what I wanted. It’s beyond my computing power to know how to feel about that. It’s probably an unsatisfying answer. To say I’m annoyed or flattered would be easy, but I’m still confused about how should I feel this."





STAR WARS: ANDOR---Alan Tudyk (K-2SO) said he is not in Season 1 of the new Disney+ ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS spinoff tv series, “They’re shooting it right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there. I’m going to be in the show. It’s just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn’t involve K-2SO until later on. I can’t be too specific, but I can definitely say that I’m not going to be in the first season.”

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN---Robert Rodriguez said he is working on an animated tv series based on his 1996 vampire movie.

CAPTAIN AMERICA---Anthony Mackie commented on reports that Chris Evans is returning as Captain America, “You know, I’ve heard that. Like, I’ve seen that, and, look, Chris is my boy, so if they’re getting the band back together, I’ll be very happy with that."

SHOTGUN WEDDING---Josh Duhamel is in negotiations to replace Armie Hammer in the Jennifer Lopez movie after Hammer left due to reported social message that contained comments about sex and cannibalism.

BRIDGERTON---Netflix renewed the series for Season 2.

STAR TREK---in the original series, the starship Enterprise crew wore gold uniforms for Command, red for Engineering and Security and blue for Science and Medical. In reality, the gold uniforms worn by Kirk, Sulu and Chekov were lime green. Due to the velour fabric, studio lightning and film stock, the lime green appeared to be gold. When Kirk wore the wrap-around tunic, it appeared as lime green because it was made of a different material.




When Kirk wore the wrap-around tunic, it appeared as lime green because it was made of a different material.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22

THE WALKING DEAD---trailer released for the Extended Season 10.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUgLxr3KKtI



SUPERMAN & LOIS---trailer released for the CW superhero series

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97oUvUeyO0



TALES OF DUNK AND EGG---HBO is developing a prequel to GAME OF THRONES based on George RR Martin's novels that will focus on Ser Duncan the Tall and young Aegon V. Targaryen that is set 90 years before GAME OF THRONES.





REAGAN--photo released of Dennis Quaid starring in the Ronald Reagan biomovie.





BATTLESTAR GALACTICA---Sam Esmail commented on the new reboot tv series, “We’re still working on the pilot. Look, it’s a big universe, it’s a big world, I want to respect the Ronald Moore BATTLESTAR. I spoke to him before I even took on the project to make sure that it’s all kosher with him, because the last thing I want to do is step on his toes, and the one thing we both agreed on is that it won’t be a reboot of what he did. Which I think we both wanted.
It’s still in the early phases of trying to figure out the world via the pilot. I think we’ve got the basic construction of the type of story we want to tell, the part of mythology that we’re gonna explore – because BATTLESTAR does have a rich mythology and again I have to give Ron a lot of credit for that – and so now we’re sort of closing in on what that pilot’s gonna look like.”

FIVE EYES---Hugh Grant is in negotiations to co-star with Jason Statham in the Guy Ritchie spy movie.

EMBERS OF WAR---tv series underway based on the first book of the sci fi novels.

THE FIRST LADY---Michelle Pfeiffer will play Betty Ford in the Showtime anthology series about presidential wives.

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY---Brie Larson will star in the Apple TV+ tv series based on the upcoming novel about a woman who hosts a tv cooking show, but she wants to be a scientist in a male-dominated society.

TRIVIA---Steven Spielberg's least-profitable movie was SUGARLAND EXPRESS which earned $7.5 million in 1974 which would be about $41 million in current dollars.

MONDAY, JANUARY 25

GODZILLA VS. KONG---trailer released for the sequel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odM92ap8_c0



THE MANDALORIAN---Gina Carano's controversial tweets on subjects which are seen by some as being ant-mask, anti-urban riots, ant-voter fraud and anti-transgender has led to many demanding she be fired. One insider source said Lucasfilm executives want Carano fired, but Jon Favreau refused, “I’m told that the feeling inside Lucasfilm is generally disdain for Carano as well. The problem for all of those who hate Carano based on her worldview and political positions is that Jon Favreau isn’t publicly political… and word on the street is he doesn’t care one iota for the divisiveness. If Carano was employed in any other part of Lucasfilm, she’d be gone, and she would have been let go long ago.” Carano's co-stars, including Ming-Na Wen and Temuera Morrison have tweeted their support for her.





GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE---photo shows the movie's blue, six-armed creature known as Muncher.
Also, Ernie Hudson said he liked the controversial all-female reboot movie, but he added. " [A] reboot, to me, means you’re trying to do the movie over. Another version of what we already did. And I think that was a mistake. It wasn’t a continuation or an extension of. It was somehow a different universe there. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like us, but it’s us but not us."





ALIEN NATION---Jeff Nichols (TAKE SHELTER) is developing a 10-part tv miniseries based on the 1988 sci fi movie that starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin after his reboot movie was canceled, “[We] spent three years building up an entire alien civilization and this set-up and all the characters. We were set to make it as our next big challenge, a $100 million studio film. Then Disney bought Fox and killed it, which was a little soul-crushing, to say the least.
They came in and asked if I would be interested in turning it into a series, potentially. So I have taken the script and broken it into ten episodes, and it’s under consideration right now. Who knows, the powers that be are deciding that.”




DISNEY+---Disney+ has blocked several movies from being watched by children under seven because they contain "harmful stereotypes". The movies include PETER PAN, DUMBO, LADY AND THE TRAMP, and THE ARISTOCATS.





X-MEN---Patrick Stewart commented on returning as Charles Xavier in a future Marvel Studios project, “I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations. And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier. Here’s the problem… If we had not made LOGAN, then yes. I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier. But LOGAN changed all that.”

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY---the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN actress said she will no longer do nude scenes in movies with male directors, “I don’t have an absolute ban [on filming nude scenes], but I kind of do with men. It’s partly vanity and also it’s the male gaze. [I don’t] want it to be those horrible sex scenes where you’re all greased up and everybody is grunting. I’m not interested in doing that.
Saying that, there’s times where I go, ‘Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot,’ so, therefore, you can use somebody else. Because I’m too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked… I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze.”

THE WITCHER: BLOOD ORIGIN---Netflix prequel series underway set 1.200 years before THE WITCHER. Jodie-Turner Smith will star as female warrior Elie.

THIS SCEPTERED ISLAND---Kenneth Branagh will play British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in this Sky five-part miniseries about the coronavirus pandemic in England.

WALKER---the CW reboot premiere episode drew an impressive 2.4 million viewers.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
Gemma Arterton, who played Bond Girl Strawberry Fields in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, said the movie role opened many doors for her, but she now regrets playing a Bond Girl, "At the beginning of my career, I was poor as a church mouse and I was happy just to be able to work and earn a living. I still get criticism for accepting QUANTUM OF SOLACE,but I was 21, I had a student loan, and you, know, it was a Bond film...But as I got older I realized there was so much wrong with Bond women. Strawberry should have just said no, really, and worn flat shoes."
She added, "You know, I haven't seen it for about 15 years either, so I can't really remember what's in it or what I did, but I know I wouldn't choose a role like that now. Because she was funny and she was sweet, but she didn't really have anything to do – or a backstory."

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL---trailer released for the Netflix crime documentary series about the notorious Los Angeles hotel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkoboFsY9_g



ROD SERLING---Richard Kelly commented on his biomovie about the creator of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, "...we’ve been working on that for several years. We’ve been working closely with Anne Serling, Rod’s daughter. I’ve adapted her memoir that she published about her father and his life and it’s a very ambitious approach to a biopic and it involves a lot of fantasy elements. There is a big fantasy science fiction concept in the sort of approach that we’re taking to try and tell the story of his life. So, that’s a really complicated, difficult needle to thread, we are definitely working on it and hopefully at some point, we’ll get that project off the ground..."
He also commented on a sequel to his DONNIE DARKO, "...I’m probably not allowed to say anything more than there has been an enormous amount of work completed. I’m hopeful that we might get to explore that world in a very big and exciting way. But we’ll see what happens. But there has been a lot of work done. A lot of work has been done."





IN WITH THE DEVIL---Taron Egerton and Walter Paul Hauser will star in this Apple TV+ miniseries based on James Keene's memoir in which he is in prison and the district attorney offers to free him early if he can get serial killer Larry Hall to confess to two more murders. Dennis Lehane (MYSTIC RIVER) is the writer.

HARRY POTTER---rumors claim a HARRY POTTER tv series is underway, but Warner Bros and HBO Max released a joint denial, “There are no Harry Potter series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform.”

BLACK SITE---Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney and Michelle Monaghan will star in this movie about a team of officers in a top secret CIA black site who play a deadly cat-and-mouse game with escaped detainee Hatchet.

THE FORMULA---Robert De Niro and John Boyega will star in this Netflix movie about a Formula One driver who is forced to be a heist getaway driver to save his family.

MONSTERS AT WORK---Billy Crystal commented on the Disney+ sequel to MONSTERS, INC., “It’s a series. John Goodman and I are Sully and Mike. The show, time-wise, starts six months after MONSTERS, INC. ended. So now, we’re on the Laugh Floor. We’ve created all of the new, young, great characters with some great voice actors, and John and I are reprising our parts. I tell ya, it’s [been] 20 years and that movie looked amazing 20 years ago. It’s coming up to the 20th anniversary, I believe in September [November]. It’s fantastic looking, it’s hilarious, and we’re having a lot of fun doing it.”

INVINCIBLE---Robert Kirkman said his live-action movie based on the comic book will be separate from the Amazon animated tv series, “But we’ve been fortunate enough to have a two-track plan with INVINCIBLE. Right now we’ve got the animated series at Amazon, which is now on the cusp of launching, and then we’re also still developing it as a film series with Universal, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached. So, those two things are still very much happening concurrently..."

VIKINGS: VALHALLA---Sam Corlett will play Leif Eriksson in the Netflix VIKINGS spinoff series.

TOMB RAIDER 2---Misha Green (LOVECRAFT COUNTRY) has replaced Ben Wheatley as the director of the sequel starring Alicia Vikander.

LIZ---Samara Weaving will star in this biomovie about socialite Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Jerome.

TRIVIA---January 22nd was the 142nd anniversary of the Battle of Rorke's Drift which was portrayed in the movie ZULU. The movie made Michael Caine a star. Caine and Nigel Green co-starred in ZULU, and they co-starred in two more movies, THE IPCRESS FILE and PLAY DIRTY.
In ZULU, Caine played Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Green played Colour Sergeant Bourne. In THE IPCRESS FILE, Caine played Harry Palmer and Green played Major Dalby. In PLAY DIRTY, Caine played Captain Douglas and Green played Colonel Masters.
Both Caine and Green were veterans of the Korean War. Green received a head wound which led to a metal plate being inserted in his skull which caused severe headaches and depression. Green died of a sleeping pill overdose in 1972 at the age of 47. Peter O'Toole said Green was very depressed while they filmed THE RULING CLASS, and Green was also depressed because he was separated from his wife when he died. His family believed his death was accidental.

In ZULU, Caine played Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Green played Colour Sergeant Bourne.






In THE IPCRESS FILE, Caine played Harry Palmer and Green played Major Dalby.




In PLAY DIRTY, Caine played Captain Douglas and Green played Colonel Masters.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27

THE COURIER---trailer released for the spy movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeo8qs9xohM



THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK---photo of James Gandolfino's son, Michael, playing young Tony Soprano in THE SOPRANOS prequel movie. Jon Bernthal, Ray Liotta and Vera Farmiga also star.





SPIDER-MAN 3---Zendaya hinted that aliens are in the sequel, “These things go by so fast. We still have a lot left to do. It’s like running from aliens and things you can’t see. Part of that is kind of fun. A lot of what we do is escapism, just being able to play a teenager again.”

PINOCCHIO---Luke Evans will play villain The Coachman in the Robert Zemeckis live-action movie starring Tom Hanks.

THE TOURIST---Jamie Dornan and Hugo Weaving will star in this HBO Max/BBC One tv miniseries about a British tourist in the Australian Outback who is driven off the road by a tank truck. He wakes up in a hospital with amnesia and is being pursued by sinister characters.

OUTLAWED---Western tv miniseries underway based on the novel about a midwife who teams up with The Hole in the Wall Gang to find a safe haven for outcast women. Amy Adams is the producer.

BORDERLANDS---Kevin Hart will play mercenary Roland in the movie based on the video game.

SKULL ISLAND---Netflix anime series underway based on KONG: SKULL ISLAND which focuses on a group of shipwreck survivors on Skull Island where they face King Kong and prehistoric beasts.

THE GREAT GATSBY---A&E/Michael Hirst (VIKINGS) tv miniseries underway based on the novel.

THE PISCES--Claire Foy will star in this movie based on the novel about a female PhD student who falls in love with a merman.

THE BLACK LIST---NBC renewed the series for Season 9.

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING---movie underway based on the novel set in 1969 North Carolina where a young homeless girl is the suspect in the murder of a popular boy.

ISS---movie underway about six astronauts on the International Space Station whose lives are in danger after receiving dire messages from Earth.

SPY KIDS---Robert Rodriguez is developing a reboot of the movie.

TRIVIA---Ray Harryhausen's classic EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS was an inspiration for the hit alien invasion movie INDEPENDENCE DAY. In the EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS scene where the flying saucers shoot down US military aircraft, the actual film footage is from a 1944 airshow near Spokane Washington in which two of three US Army Air Force RA-25 Shrike dive bombers collided and killed four crewmen.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0h3XCZ32io

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28

CRISIS---trailer released for the opioid crisis movie staring Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer and Evangeline Lilly.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36ACqc0OHGQ



DEBRIS---trailer released for the NBC sci fi series about government agents investigating mysterious debris from a wrecked alien spaceship.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32sA_i1kzCc



JURASSIC WORLD: CAMP CRETACEOUS---a professional baker shows how she made a cake of the T-Rex from the animated tv series.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-8XebWDew



THE MIGHTY DUCKS: GAME CHANGERS---trailer released for the Disney+ sequel series.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLoSmXtkXl0




GAME OF THRONES----sources claim HBO Max is developing an animated adult spinoff tv series and is working with George RR Martin on it. HBO Max did not comment on the rumor. Two live-action spinoff series are HOUSE OF THE DRAGON and TALES OF DUNK AND EGG.





ADRIFT---Jared Leto will star in this Darren Aronofsky movie based on the Koji Suzuki (RING) short story in which a fishing boat receives a strange distress call from an abandoned yacht. As the fishing boat tows the yacht in, one of its crewmen boards the yacht and discovers why the crewmen call it a "ghost ship".

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY---Season 4 will have the first all-female starship bridge crew in franchise history.

ORGANIZED CRIME---Christopher Meloni and Dylan McDermott will star in the latest NBC LAW & ORDER spinoff series about the NYPD organized crime task force.

SHRILL---Hulu announced that the upcoming Season 3 will be the last season.

TRIVIA---in THE PRESIDIO, Sean Connery played Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell and Jack Warden played Sgt. Maj. Ross McClure, who were paratroopers with the 101st Airborne Division in the Vietnam War. McClure was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving Caldwell's life in Vietnam. In reality, Warden was a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne in World War II. While on a practice night jump just before D-Day, Warden broke his leg and missed the Normandy invasion. Warden was invited to 101st Airborne reunions, but he respectfully declined because he never saw combat and felt he did not earn the right to attend the reunions with combat veterans who were real heroes.

In THE PRESIDIO, Sean Connery played Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell and Jack Warden played Sgt. Maj. Ross McClure, who were paratroopers with the 101st Airborne Division in the Vietnam War (the 101st "Screaming Eagles" patch is visible on Connery's uniform in the lower photo).






In reality, Warden (right) was a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne in World War II. While on a practice night jump just before D-Day, Warden broke his leg and missed the Normandy invasion.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29

INDIANA JONES 5---director James Mangold may have hinted the last Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford is set in the 1960s when he tweeted, "(Note -- I'm mentally living in 60's NYC right now cause that's where all the movies I'm working on take place.)"





BUCK ROGERS---George Clooney will produce and possibly star in a Legendary tv miniseries based on the superhero which will also be a theatrical movie and a “prestige television series, as well as an anime series”. The original 1979 NBC tv series starred Gil Gerard and Erin Gray.





GODZILLA VS KONG---a leaked toy photo shows another monster from the sequel called Hell Hawk.





ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE---the movie will premiere on HBO Max on March 18. It will reportedly be a four-hour movie and not a four-part miniseries as reported earlier.

THE OFFER---Armie Hammer has left the starring role in the Paramount+ tv miniseries about the making of THE GODFATHER due his scandal involving kinky sex and cannibalism.

BONES AND ALL---Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell are in talks to star in this Luca Guadagnino cannibal movie based on the novel about a girl searching for her father and wanting to know why she kills and eats the people she loves.

THE BLACK PHONE---Ethan Hawke will star in the Scott Derrickson movie based on the Joe Hill short story whose synopsis says, "Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She’s also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945. Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn’t easy to make friends when you’re the only inflatable boy in town. Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he’s an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. John Finney is locked in a basement that’s stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead."

THE WALKING DEAD---Andrew Lincoln said the Rick Grimes movie will start filming in the spring of 2021.

THE POWER---Tim Robbins has replaced Rainn Wilson in the movie based on the novel about teenage girls who have the power to electrocute people. Wilson left due to a schedule problem.

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN---Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union will star in the Disney+ remake of the 2003 movie. Braff will play the father of a 12-member multiracial family.

TRIVIA---John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE starred John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin. The controversy surrounding the movie was the the hit theme song, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Gene Pitney, which was not in the movie.
Some claim Ford did not like the song and refused to include in the movie. Others claim it was never even even written for the movie in the first place.
Pitney said the movie was absolutely written for the movie and commented on the recording session, "I got a call saying that John Ford was directing John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin in a new Western, and that Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written the title song. The movie, and the song, were called THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. And they wanted me to sing it."
Pitney commented on the recording session, "This was in the days when you did records live, with the orchestra playing at the same time you sang. There must have been 25 musicians in the orchestra. We had a lead concert violinist, and his pitch for some reason was very bad. It was off key. But it was exactly the sound we wanted for the country fiddle, so we wouldn't play it back for him, because he would have wanted to do it over...The drums kept coming in. The man who shot BOOM! Liberty Valance BOOM!, he shot BOOM! Liberty Valance BOOM! . . .' "
Then a member of the orchestra said to Pitney, "'Hey, that film just came out.' Pitney added, "I knew he had to be mistaken. How could the film have come out? We were recording the song for the movie. There was no question about that -- Paramount Pictures was paying for the recording session. But the musician insisted he had seen the movie playing at a theater down the street. And we went outside and looked, and sure enough, it was already in theaters."
Pitney thought the song was excluded due to a financial dispute. "I was young. It was some nuts and bolts business thing I knew nothing about."
Some fans claim the song was in the movie, but Pitney said, "It wasn't. Believe me."


LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FFJ0COEw_k

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1

CLOVERFIELD---Paramount Pictures is developing a "true dedicated" sequel to the 2008 JJ Abrams monster movie that will not use the found footage format from the original movie. Joe Barton is the writer. Abrams is not involved with the sequel.





THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER---photo from the Sydney, Australia film set shows Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt. Also, Sam Neill said he might return for the sequel, “I think the odds are reasonably high. I think Taika’s got something up his sleeve. We will see what happens. Travel between [New Zealand] and Australia is problematic at the moment, but we will see if something can be worked out.”





THE ADAM PROJECT---photo from the Netflix/Shawn Levy sci fi movie shows Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo in which a man travels back in time to reunite with his 13 year-old self to find his physicist father.





ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE---Zack Snyder posted a new photo from the HBO Max movie.





STAR WARS---Jennifer Connelly said her superhero movie fantasy is to appear in a STAR WARS movie, "They’re making great movies. They’re making really imaginative, good films and shows. I got a sneak peek of WANDAVISION, which my husband [Paul Bettany] happens to be in, and it’s so creative and imaginative. I love those kinds of movies. And STAR WARS. If I could ever be in a STAR WARS movie, my kids would love me a lot more."

LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER---Corey Hawkins will star in the Andre Ovredal vampire movie based on "The Captain's Log" chapter from Bram Stoker's DRACULA.

HANNIBAL---Mads Mikkelsen commented on a possible Season 4, “[HANNIBAL] has found a new home on Netflix, the talks have been revitalized…I don’t think you’d find a member of the cast that is still alive that would say, ‘No, thanks.’ We all enjoyed it tremendously.”

TRICKSTER---the CBC/CW series was cancelled after a CBC News investigation found that Canadian co-creator Michelle Latimer is not Indigenous as she had claimed.

SONIC---Netflix animated 3D tv series underway based on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
In GOLDENEYE, the climatic fight scene between 007 James Bond and 006 Alec Trevelyan occurred on the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The 1,000-foot telescope was the world's largest largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years. After two cable breaks, the telescope was scheduled for decommissioning, but it collapsed on December 1. 2020 before the demolition was to occur.

The Arecibo Observatory's 1,000-foot telescope was the world's largest largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years.





In GOLDENEYE, the climatic fight scene between 007 James Bond and 006 Alec Trevelyan occurred on the Arecibo Observatory.






After two cable breaks, the telescope was scheduled for decommissioning, but it collapsed on December 1. 2020 before the demolition was to occur.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2

THE NEVERS---trailer released for the HBO tv series about women with super powers.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWdpBQFgdxQ



THE WALKING DEAD---new trailer released for the Extended Season 10.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu8Q4ouK1zQ



ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE---Zack Snyder posted a photo of Jared Leto as The Joker from the HBO Max movie.





FRASIER---Paramount+ (CBS All Access) is in negotiations for the revival of the Kelsey Grammer tv series. It is hoped the rest of the surviving original cast will return.





HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON---Zachary Levi will star in the Sony Pictures live-action movie based on the children's book.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB---Heather Langenkamp will star in this Netflix tv series about a group of terminally ill teens in a hospice who make a pact that the first to die will communicate with the others.

THE MOTHER---Jennifer Lopez will star in this Netflix movie about a female assassin who tries to rescue the daughter she abandoned when she was being pursued years earlier.

SOLOS---Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Anne Hathaway will star in this Amazon anthology tv series about the "deeper meaning of human connection".

THE LINCOLN LAWYER---Neve Campbell will co-star in the Netflix tv series based on the novel and Matthew McConaughey movie.

TRIVIA---Groundhog Day trivia: two famous radio clocks that appeared in classic movies were both Panasonic clock radios. In GROUNDHOG DAY, Phil Connors constantly awakens to his Panasonic RC-6025 playing "I Got you Babe" every morning at 6:00 am.
GROUNDHOG DAY RC-6025s sell for hundreds of dollars on ebay. One ebay seller sold his RC-6025 for $599.99 and found out the buyer was a Hollywood ad agency who was going to use it in the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Super Bowl commercial that was a parody of GROUNDHOG DAY with Bill Murray returning as Phil Connors.
In BACK TO THE FUTURE, Marty McFly's clock radio is a Panasonic RC-6015.

In GROUNDHOG DAY, Phil Connors constantly awakens to his Panasonic RC-6025 playing "I Got you Babe" every morning at 6:00 am.







GROUNDHOG DAY RC-6025s sell for hundreds of dollars on ebay. One ebay seller sold his RC-6025 for $599.99 and found out the buyer was a Hollywood ad agency who was going to use it in the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Super Bowl commercial that was a parody of GROUNDHOG DAY with Bill Murray returning as Phil Connors.




In BACK TO THE FUTURE, Marty McFly's clock radio is a Panasonic RC-6015.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3

ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE---the HBO Max movie has received an R-rating.
Also, Snyder defended his fans who have received criticism for being too loyal to him, "I just think that’s sour grapes. There’s really no other way to say it. We know the people who were the architects of that narrative, and it’s pretty obvious what their agenda is. Those are people that I’ve been held back from confronting, by wiser people in the room. Because I’d love to get at some of these characters. Some direct conversation would be nice. Just to say, one, you don’t know ***** about what you’re talking about. And we can break down everything they’ve ever [said]. I can make a list. There’s a few of these guys where I could just get a list of everything they’ve ever said, that they thought was right, and [I could tell them] every single thing they’ve said is wrong."
He added, "And so, in what world do you have any credibility anywhere, to any- one? I would love the opportunity to just say to the world, and to fandom in general, who these fakers are and what should be done to them, or with them. It’s just a bunch of BS. In regards to that toxic fandom, or it’s ‘a win for toxic fandom,’ again, in what world does this ‘toxic fandom’ raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for suicide prevention? How is that toxic fandom? They’ve probably achieved more than any other fan base, [and done more] good than any other group. So I don’t understand."





THE SUICIDE SQUAD---synopsis released for the James Gunn movie, “Welcome to hell — a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.
Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and- destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them."

POOR THINGS---Emma Stone will star in this Yorgos Lanthimos horror movie based on the novel that was inspired by Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN. The movie synopsis is, "Ostensibly the memoirs of late-19th-century Glasgow physician Archibald McCandless, the narrative follows the bizarre life of oversexed, volatile Bella Baxter, an emancipated woman, and a female Frankenstein. Bella is not her real name; as Victorian Blessington, she drowned herself to escape her abusive husband, but a surgeon removed the brain from the fetus she was carrying and placed it in her skull, resuscitating her. The revived Bella has the mental age of a child. Engaged to marry McCandless, she chloroforms him and runs off with a shady lawyer who takes her on a whirlwind adventure, hopping from Alexandria to Odessa to a Parisian brothel. As her brain matures, Bella develops a social conscience, but her rescheduled nuptials to Archie are cut short when she is recognized as Victoria by her lawful husband, Gen. Sir Aubrey Blessington.”

AMERICAN DREAMER---Peter Dinklage and Shirley MacLaine star in this movie about a low-level Harvard professor whose dream of owning a home seems unreachable until a wealthy, near-death widow offers him her vast estate for pennies, and he discovers things are not what they appear to be.

BUCK ROGERS---the Philip Francis Nowlan estate, creator of Buck Rogers, has sent a cease-and-desist order to Legendary Entertainment after it announced it and George Clooney are developing a Buck Rogers tv project. The Nowlan estate and Skydance Pictures are developing their own Buck Rogers project and claims it owns the copyright to the Buck Rogers name. Legendary replied, “We have secured the rights we need to proceed with our project and the company will not comment any further on these baseless claims. This same party has been claiming for years that they have rights which they do not have and have been trying to inhibit projects based on rights they do not legally control.”

GIVE "EM HELL, MALONE---Thomas Jane is returning for the sequel to the 2009 private detective movie, The sequel has Malone coming out of hiding to find out who is trying to kill him.

CREEPSHOW---Marilyn Manson has been dropped from the Shudder horror series cast and his scenes will not be aired after charges of sexual assault by Evan Rachel Wood and four other women.

SAVE YOURSELVES!---tv series underway based on the sci fi comedy movie about a Brooklyn couple in a remote cabin trying to ween themselves from high tech when an aliens invades Earth.

TRIVIA---stuntwoman Sandra Gimpel's first jobs were in sci fi television. She made her first appearance as Bill Mumy's stunt double in the original LOST IN SPACE. She then appeared in the original STAR TREK pilot, "The Cage" where she played a Talosian. This led to Gimpel playing the M-113 salt vampire in the first episode of STAR TREK to air, "The Man Trap".
However, Gimpel may be best known for playing one of the battling Girl Scouts in the hilarious "Stayin' Alive" bar fight in AIRPLANE!


Stuntwoman Sandra Gimpel's first job was Bill Mumy's stunt double in LOST IN SPACE.




Gimpel (right) played a Talosian in the STAR TREK pilot, "The Cage" (which later aired as "The Menagerie").




Gimpel played the M-113 salt vampire in the first STAR TREK episode to air, "The Man Trap".





Gimpel may be best known for playing one of the battling Girl Scouts in the hilarious "Stayin' Alive" bar fight in AIRPLANE!

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar3wkC8U6LA



Gimpel (right) and Paula Marie Moody (stuntwoman in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN) are battling Girl Scouts in AIRPLANE!




Gimpel shoves Moody down the bar and into the jukebox which then plays "Stayin' Alive".