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03/17/16 @ 2:21 pm EST
Writers Ben Acker and Heath Corson talk about Kings Quest #1 (of 5), on sale in May from Dynamite. Cover is by Marc Laming.  BYRON BREWER: Ben and Heath, this is the BIG ONE fans of these characters have been waiting for! What’s it like to handle all these classic characters?HEATH CORSON: Oh, man, right?! All these characters with all of this history in one place can be slightly overwhelming…Which is why I very much recommend doing it in pairs. My PIK (that’s partner-in-King for those of you playing at home), Mister Ben Acker (he makes me call him Mister) is a fantastic writer, generous collaborator, versed in the world and always ALWAYS has three ways to solve any story problem (even the ones we didn’t know were problems yet… Like my use of parentheticals. I feel like it’s my way of whispering to you, the reader. He feels like it’s overdone. Since this is my third one in a single sentence, I might have to agree…THAT’S HOW GOOD HE IS. He even helps when he’s not here!). BEN ACKER: Hi. It’s me. I just got here. How’s it all going, you guys? You’ve met Heath. He’s great. Too many parentheticals sometimes. Otherwise, the best guy. I bet he was about to answer a question about handling classic characters. HC: For me, I love ensemble pieces. So getting to play with all these classic characters is an incredibly exciting honor. BA: I was totally right. He’s answering that question. Keep it up, Heath. HC: I love cracking the relationships and dynamics between each hero. Figuring out who gets along with who, who doesn’t and who just wants to punch the other in the face. BA: Oh man, I love that too, Heath. We probably get along great working on this book together. I mean, I know I dig it. The thing about Heath is, he’s a guy who, when you have three solutions to any problem, he’s just got one because it’s the right one and that’s all you need. Uses too many parentheticals sometimes, though (but who doesn’t?). BB: I know there has been some tweaking of the characters. Can you guys kind of re-introduce the cast please?HC: Okay. FLASH GORDON, the two-fisted space-adventurer. MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN, the rakish stage magician/actual magician. TWO PHANTOMS, LOTHAR, the imposing, experienced former sidekick who is keeping the mantle warm for JEN, former science reporter now unwilling heir of the Phantom name. PRINCE VALIANT, the fierce sword-swinging royal, out for blood and glory. JUNGLE JIM, the formerly-human, now-elemental force merged with nature. DR. HANS ZARKOV, the brilliant and drunk scientist. BA: And of course … DALE ARDEN, science journalist turned space adventurer. She’s so cool. BB: I HAVE to ask: Is Ming in this miniseries, and are there any more big-bads we should be on the lookout for (non-spoilery, of course).HC: You will see some real good, real merciless Ming and a couple of other big -bads too. BA: I want to tell you so many big-bad spoilers. BB: Now, Ben! … Any interesting new characters herein you can tell us about?HC: Ha. Nope. Spoilers. BA: Well. Kind of. Heath. Kind of. I mean. Darya is relatively new. She’s the warrior queen of the ocean planet Coralia. And we’ll have appearances by Kala and Klytus, who are old Flash Gordon characters, but new to this run of comics. BB: Why is Dan McDaid the right artist for this thrilling and highly anticipated property?HC: Um… Have you SEEN the man’s art? His thrilling, powerful, amazing art? Dan’s layouts really tell an already action-packed and dramatic story with even more action-packery and dramaticking. That’s a fact. BA: Yeah, for serious. He’s amazing. He’s making us better and Heath and I are really super great already. It’s a privilege to write for him. He’s just astoundingly terrific. Wait’ll you see.And you should also know that we’ve got another artist, Bob Q, doing flashback work for us and he is absolutely fantastic as well. He nails action and character through body language and expression in ways that writers dream of. Keep an eye on Bob Q — he’s going places. 05/03/24 @ 10:02 pm EST
Daytime Emmy-winner Mike Manning (This is Us, Days of Our Lives) and Olivia Blue (Theater is Dead, Animal Kingdom) will star in alien adventure film Unexpected Treasures, directed by John Paul Ungaretti, and written by Ungaretti and Christina Heller. The film’s cast is rounded out with AnnaMaria DeMara (Lost in Space, Lucifer), Jay Whittaker (The Orville, Let’s Go to Prison), Michael Dunn (Bosch, NCIS), Lauren Han (Beef, Extracurricular), and Rex Edhlund. Production for the film recently wrapped in Joshua Tree, CA. The script was inspired by the many extra-terrestrial-related stories and folklore of the Joshua Tree community and desert area. In the film, a wild alien encounter restores a local resident’s faith in humanity. Blue stars as the local resident, while Manning stars as the alien. (via Deadline) 05/03/24 @ 10:03 pm EST
Ali Afshar’s ESX Entertainment is entering into the horror space with the feature The Necklace starring sisters Madeleine & Violet McGraw, each of whom have garnered widespread acclaim for gripping performances in M3GAN and 2021’s The Black Phone respectively. Cameras will roll this summer. The screenplay was written specifically with the McGraw sisters in mind by Afshar collaborator John Ducey (A Hollywood Christmas, That’s Amor). The pic is being directed by Chilean filmmaker Juan Pablo Arias Muñoz, who helmed Pumpkinhole and HBO’s Perry Mason. Said Afshar, “Madeleine and Violet are among the brightest lights of this generation of young actors, and an absolute joy to work with. Each brings a unique energy to the screen and, together, they are absolutely electrifying to watch. I couldn’t be more thrilled to team up with these enormously gifted young actors to bring this fresh and terrifying story to the big screen and plunge audiences into the dark and chilling world of The Necklace.” (via Deadline) 05/03/24 @ 10:03 pm EST
The Maze Runner is back at the starting line. 20th Century Studios is rebooting the sci-fi action adventure franchise, which ran as a trilogy from 2014 to 2018. The Disney arm is in negotiations to tap Jack Paglen, perhaps best known for writing the Johnny Depp-starring sci-fi movie Transcendence, to pen the script for a new installment. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lee Stollman of Gotham Group and Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill, who produced the original trilogy, are back to produce this one. Wes Ball, who directed the original trilogy, will also be involved as a producer. THR is reporting that the reboot is not a redo of the story nor is it a direct sequel to the original trilogy, which starred Dylan O’Brien and Kaya Scodelario. The hope is to make a sort of continuation of the story yet also return to the elements that made the first movie connect with its audience. (The original movie, made by 20th Century Fox in the years leading up to its acquisition by Disney, also proved to be an unexpected moneymaker, generating $348 million worldwide but costing only $35 million to make.) 05/03/24 @ 2:09 pm EST
Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables) and Emmy winner Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) are attached to star in a new movie, The Death Of Robin Hood. Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One director Michael Sarnoski is writer-director on the project, which will be among the hot titles on sale at this month’s Cannes market via WME Independent. Arrival and The Prestige producer Aaron Ryder is among the producing team. The film is a darker reimagining of the classic Robin Hood tale. Set of its time, the film will see the title character grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, a battleworn loner who finds himself gravely injured and in the hands of a mysterious woman who offers him a chance at salvation. Production is due to begin in February 2025. (via Deadline) 05/03/24 @ 2:03 pm EST
Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy will lead the film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s children’s classic The Magic Faraway Tree. The story from the author, based on her The Faraway Tree series of novels for children, follows Polly and Tim and their children Beth, Joe and Fran — a modern family who find themselves forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. Two-time Academy Award-nominee Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick…BOOM!, Hacksaw Ridge) will play Tim and two-time Emmy Award-winner Claire Foy (All of Us Strangers, The Crown) will take on the role of Polly. Screenwriter Simon Farnaby, British star of Wonka and Paddington 2, said: “To have two actors of the quality of Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy is a dream for any screenwriter.” (via The Hollywood Reporter) 05/02/24 @ 10:59 pm EST
Jennifer Zhang (Fetish, Charon) is set to direct sci-fi feature length anthology, Trüebadour. Also written by Zhang, the film stars Gina Su (Autopilot, Blue, Transpo), and Daphne Qin Wu (The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, Beacon) serves as cinematographer. Based on the sci-fi short Autopilot, Trüebadour follows an enigmatic engineering prodigy who introduces the bombastic founder of a tech start-up to an innovative “storytelling” device that scans its wearer to generate an original work of fiction. No one at the company is prepared for the unsettling stories their minds inspire, nor the disturbing consequences of using the device. (via Deadline) 05/02/24 @ 10:51 pm EST
Louis Leterrier, director of Fast X and several Transporter action movies, has been tapped to direct and produce the sci-fi horror film 11817, based on a script by Matthew Robinson. The genre pic produced by Leterrier’s Carrousel Studios, Rocket Science, Thank You Studios, Chernin Entertainment and 3 Arts Entertainment is now casting. Rocket Science will fully finance, handle foreign sales and introduce the film in Cannes, while CAA Media Finance will handle a North American sale. In 11817, inexplicable forces trap a family of four inside their house indefinitely. As both modern luxuries and life-or-death essentials begin to run out, the family must learn how to be resourceful to survive and outsmart who – or what – is keeping them trapped. (via THR) 05/02/24 @ 10:39 pm EST
Paul Walter Hauser will be making his Marvel debut with a role in The Fantastic Four, The Hollywood Reporter is confirming. No character details are available, but he joins a cast that includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer. The feature has a July 25, 2025 release date and hails from WandaVision director Matt Shakman, with Eric Pearson writing the latest draft of the script. It centers on the characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the comic book that launched the Marvel Comics universe in 1961. 05/02/24 @ 11:25 am EST
Todd McFarlane Productions and Image Comics will bring fan-favorite "Baby-Spawn" character 'Spawny' back to shelves in an action-packed, five-issue miniseries, Spawn Kills Every Spawn launching in July. Written by John Layman (Chew) and illustrated by Rob “Sketchcraft” Duenas, with colors by Robert Nugent, this bold story brings a hilarious-yet-deadly twist to the world of Spawn. In Spawn Kills Every Spawn, the character baby of ‘Spawny’ attends Spawn-Con, a convention filled with various Spawns from across the Spawn Universe. Unfortunately for Spawny, he discovers that he’s not even close to being the most popular Hellspawn. Instead, he’s the least liked among that group. To battle his identity crisis, Spawny decides to take drastic action: KILL THEM ALL! What follows is a darkly comedic, action-packed adventure that explores the insanity of a convention full of Hellspawn, and the lengths one very sensitive Spawn will go to in his quest to gain fame and recognition. “From the very outset of our first miniseries starring our adorable little maniac, fans have been bugging me to bring him back once again for another series of mayhem," said Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and President at Image Comics. "This time around, the wonderful art by Rob puts so much detail into the pages, I think readers will be going back through each book to find all the visual Easter Eggs he has planted within the story. And Jon Layman has brought his own sense of absurd cuteness to this story so that you are both shocked and smiling at what is unfolding in front of you. The overwhelming support for this tiny, little character has been quite surprising to me.” This new addition to the Spawn Universe is perfect for the life-long SPAWN fan, as well as new readers—make sure to grab your copy and join Spawny as he goes on a killing spree like no other! Spawn Kills Every Spawn #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 24, for the retail price of $2.99. The Final Order Cutoff deadline for comic shop retailers is Monday, July 1: Cover A by Duenas - Lunar Code 0524IM237 Cover B by McFarlane - Lunar Code 0524IM801 Spawn Kills Every Spawn is also available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.    
... 05/02/24 @ 11:26 am EST
The final season of Netflix’s Cobra Kai will be released in three parts with the first premiering on July 18 followed by Part 2 on November 28. The final installment is more of a mystery as the streamer is only teasing it will drop in 2025. The season picks up with Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley as senseis and students decide if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai — the world championships of karate, according to the official description. (via Deadline) Check out the date announcement and teaser: https://youtu.be/WPUGgxf3tx8 |
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