Some very intriguing projects were announced this week, including director Colin Trevorrow heading up Jurassic World 3 and James Wan doing another (and hopefully) better version of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers. Here’s a project roundup for the week:
Colin Trevorrow Returns to Jurassic World
I guess Jurassic World’s original director Colin Trevorrow didn’t want to miss out on the fun again after skipping Jurassic World 2, and so has signed up for the third installment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he is currently working with Pacific Rim: Uprising scribe Emily Carmichael on the script for the feature, which was announced last month by Universal and given a June 11, 2021 release.
Trevorrow stepped down last year as director of the next Star Wars installment (J.J. Abrams has taken up the mantle) amid reports he and Lucasfilm header Kathleen Kennedy couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the script. It’s like the fourth time a Star Wars movie switched directors, and my feeling is that there is something about that Star Wars brand that must be maintained. There can be no venturing off the path, and if a director or directors do so, they’re gone. No matter. Trevorrow is good at the dinosaur thing.
James Wan Delves into The Tommyknockers
Being a huge Stephen King fan – and knowing how the original attempt at adapting this wasn’t the best – I’m really excited about The Conjuring director James Wan teaming up with It producer Roy Lee to do another pass on King’s The Tommyknockers.
The story is about a town in Maine (where else?), whose denizens become affected by a gas emitting from a UFO buried beneath the town. It slowly turns them into mutants of sorts with an alien hive mentality. One man, thanks to a steel plate in his head, is immune to the effects and tries to stop the townspeople.
I was disappointed with the 1993 miniseries starring Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger, but with these guys involved, this Tommyknockers just sounds so promising – and of course, Stephen King properties are doing gangbusters right now, thanks to the success of It, which grossed $700 million worldwide. So yeah, this should be good. (via THR)
Frank Miller’s Take on King Arthur Coming to Netflix
Comic and graphic novel guru Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler’s Cursed is being adapted for a new series on Netflix. It’s a re-imagining of the King Arthur legend, in which the story is told from the perspective of a teen girl destined to become the Lady in the Lake.
Here’s how Netflix describes it (via THR): “A re-imagining of the Arthurian legend, told through the eyes of Nimue, a teenage heroine with a mysterious gift who is destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake. After her mother’s death, she finds an unexpected partner in Arthur, a young mercenary, in a quest to find Merlin and deliver an ancient sword. Over the course of her journey, Nimue will become a symbol of courage and rebellion against the terrifying Red Paladins, and their complicit King Uther.” Color me all kinds of intrigued.
Now while a few of the King Arthur movies of late haven’t done so well (including the most recent attempt King Arthur: Legend of the Sword from director Guy Ritchie), it’s still a mythology steeped in rich storytelling, so shifting perspectives like this might work magic.
Damon Lindelof and Jason Blum Are Teaming Up
Love me some Damon Lindelof! He has created two of my favorite shows, Lost and The Leftovers, so the idea he and horror film master producer Jason Blum are putting their heads together for a project is very exciting.
That project is the politically tinged action-thriller The Hunt, says THR, with Craig Zobel on board to direct, who also directed several episodes of The Leftovers. As for the premise, The Hunt reportedly follows the current political division in this country that is taken to a more extreme, violent level. Hmmm.
A League of Their Own Is Going to Be a TV Series
This seems like something they would have thought of long ago, but now it’s happening. Amazon Studios is developing a show based on the hit 1992 A League of Their Own, which starred Geena Davis and Tom Hanks.
Here’s the official logline (via THR): “A League of Their Own is a half-hour comedy infusing the warmth, humor and DNA of the classic film while taking a contemporary spin on the stories of the women surrounding the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The show will begin with the formation of the league in 1943 and follows the Rockford Peaches, season to season as they struggle to keep the team alive through close games, injuries, late night bar crawls, sexual awakenings, not crying and road trips across a rapidly changing United States. The series dives deeper into the issues facing the country while following a ragtag team of women figuring themselves out while fighting to realize their dreams of playing professional baseball.” Should be interesting.
