Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:
Tiffany Haddish enters The Haunted Mansion: While Jungle Cruise brings one Disney theme park attraction to the big screen this week, another thrill ride adaptation is in the news. Variety reports that Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and recent Oscar-nominee LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) are in talks to star in The Haunted Mansion, based on the popular dark ride at Disney’s amusement parks. Unrelated to the 2003 adaptation starring Eddie Murphy, this movie will be directed by Dear White People and Bad Hair filmmaker Justin Simien from a script by Katie Dippold, who co-wrote the 2016 Ghostbusters.
Ellen Burstyn returns to The Exorcist: Last week, we shared an update on David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist sequel, which will be a follow-up to the 1973 original but not a retcon of what’s come since. Now, according to The New York Times, Ellen Burstyn is expected to reprise her Oscar-nominated role from the first movie with Oscar-nominated actor Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) joining her. He will play the father of a possessed girl who seeks out the experienced assistance of her character, Chris MacNeil. The movie will be the first of a trilogy, kicking things off in theaters in October 2023.
The next Predator is a prequel: Speaking of franchise continuations, another installment of the Predator movie series is on its way, and Collider reported some updates this week. Titled Skull and helmed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), this one is a prequel set long ago when the first Predator arrived on Earth. Also, the feature will involve a woman in the lead role, aims to be more like the one-on-one action of the 1987 original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and is being compared to Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant. Disney has not set a release date for the origin story yet but is expected to release it sometime in 2022.
Judd Hirsch to play Steven Spielberg’s relative: In casting news, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age movie has added some more names to its ensemble. Variety reports that Oscar-nominated actor Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People, Independence Day) has joined The Fabelmans, as it’s currently being called, as one of the characters based on Spielberg’s own relatives. Other newcomers to the cast playing relatives include Oscar-nominated actress Jeannie Berlin (The Heartbreak Kid, Inherent Vice), Robin Bartlett (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Jonathan Hadary (Intolerable Cruelty). The movie is due out in 2022.
Sam Rockwell and Awkwafina are Bad Guys: In voice acting ensemble news, the DreamWorks Animation feature The Bad Guys has announced some big names on its roster. According to Variety, Sam Rockwell and Anthony Ramos, both of whom can be heard in Trolls World Tour, will be joined by Awkwafina (Raya and the Last Dragon), Craig Robinson (Shrek Forever After), Lilly Singh (Ice Age: Collision Course), Alex Borstein (The Angry Birds Movie), Richard Ayoade (Soul) and Joker co-stars Zazie Beetz and Marc Maron. The graphic novel adaptation follows a crew of criminal animals attempting to go straight and join regular society.
Garrett Bradley to direct Parable of the Sower: Speaking of New York Times bestsellers, Octavia E. Butler’s sci-fi novel Parable of the Sower is being turned into a movie for prestige distributor A24. Deadline reports the adaptation will be directed by Garrett Bradley, who received an Oscar nomination this year for her highly acclaimed documentary feature Time. Butler’s book, which is one installment of a two-part series, is set in an apocalyptic near-future and follows a teenager with a special gift who is humanity’s only hope for survival. Parable of the Sower has previously been turned into an opera and a graphic novel.
Annie Murphy is in Witness Protection: Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek actress Annie Murphy, who now leads the acclaimed TV series Kevin Can F**k Himself, is getting her first major feature film role. According to Deadline, Murphy will star in the comedy Witness Protection as a co-dependent woman trying to find independence and evade deadly criminals while navigating her new false identity under government cover in the titular program. The actress will also serve as an executive producer alongside Rupinder Gill and David West Read, who wrote the script for this and were also writers and producers for Schitt’s Creek.
