Films always have something exciting for their respective target audiences to enjoy, especially when they are being made by two revolutionary visionaries in the field.
From the potential resurrection of a beloved action thriller, to new actors joining a universe-sized franchise, here’s the hottest news on upcoming projects coming out of Hollywood.
“Never Say Never” Writer Derek Haas Spills Tea On “Wanted 2” Film
After 17 years, “Wanted” co-writer Derek Haas has finally returned with exciting news about the fate of the underrated action thriller! For those unfamiliar with the film, it is based on a comic of the same name by Mark Millar, where it follows Wesley Gibson, an everyday office worker-turned-assassin. Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman, the film received praise from audiences and critics alike due to its intense action scenes and revolutionary CGI. Though it had a conclusive ending, reports suggest that Universal Studios was interested in a sequel with the same team back in 2011.
In an interview about the upcoming Prime Video series, “Countdown”, ScreenRant was able to extract some news from Haas about the seemingly forgotten 2008 action film. Despite the years, the seasoned writer-director is still holding out for the possibility of his beloved film’s sequel leaving development limbo.
“I loved everything about making ‘Wanted’,” said Haas, “and if Universal decides at some point they want to do the second one, Michael Brandt and I wrote a script for it that I still think is pretty good. And James McAvoy, come on back, let’s do Wesley again. It was really fun.”
Rumours of “Wanted 2” emerged as early as 2008, when the OG received box office success, but proper plans and updates did not occur until 2011. The film had everything going for it at the time: the original director, Timur Bekmambetov, returning to the franchise with the script already deep in development by Michael Brandt and Haas. Though there were several issues along the way, Haas confirms that the script is ready to be picked up and brought to life. Even though Universal has moved on to other projects, Haas is hopeful that the company will come around, stating, “Never say never” to the possibility.
Nakoa-Wolf Momoa & Ida Brooke Join “Dune 3”
When it comes to bringing the intricately beautiful universe of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series to the big screen, director Denis Villeneuve spares no expense. It is because of this attitude that both of the recent “Dune” movies became roaring successes, something that the esteemed director wishes to continue with the upcoming and most likely last installment — “Dune: Messiah”.
That’s right, with the production of the film starting soon, Villeneuve scoured the vast roster of actors and actresses to find the perfect addition to the already star-studded cast, and has landed on Nakoa-Wolf Momoa (son of Jason Momoa) and Ida Brooke. The two new faces will be joining the cast as Leto II and Ghanima Atreides, respectively, Paul Atreides and Chani Kynes’ twin children. It is worth noting that this will be Nakoa-Wolf’s debut into the world of film, and what better way to get feet in the sand than by joining his dad on this franchise?
Naturally, being children of the main protagonists of the “Dune” series, these two characters are not to be trifled with, as they are meant to shape the fate of the universe and everyone in it. It is worth noting that, if you’ve read the novels, these two characters only appear near the end of “Dune: Messiah” as newborns. The fact that they are now adult characters does flip the script on its head and might be the result of Villeneuve playing with the source material again. We say again, as he has done this with Paul’s younger sister, Alia Atreides, who was still in the womb all the way until the end of the movie, save for a brief time skip into the future where she’s played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
With this in mind, we can potentially expect the Canadian filmmaker to once again move the story along by jumping forwards in time when the twin children take a more active role in the plot. We can also expect Villeneuve to further compress the story to something far more manageable for the moviegoers’ palate, to no fault of his own — Herbert’s books are just incredibly dense. But the director has done his best to stay as true to the source material as possible, and we can only imagine he’d do the same for this entry as well.
Though many may already know what will inevitably happen in this upcoming movie, plot-wise, many details, such as cast members both new and old alike, have been a heavily protected secret. There is also no news that disproves the previous update that Robert Pattinson will be joining the cast as Scytale. Of course, we’d rather not count our sandworms before they emerge from the dunes; we can’t wait for any updates on this awe-inspiring epic.
Sources: Empire, Screen Rant
