This week’s Ketchup brings you more headlines from the world of film development news, covering such titles as Hocus Pocus 3, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, and a new Ryan Reynolds-Kenneth Branagh film.
1. DISNEY IS CONJURING UP HOCUS POCUS 3
(Photo by Matt Kennedy/©Disney+)
Although Disney’s fantasy comedy Hocus Pocus (Rotten at 38%) was a relative box office bomb upon release in 1993, its then-young fans retained nostalgia for it, and it became a fondly remembered cult classic, so it was that Hocus Pocus 2 (Fresh at 64%) became one of 2022’s biggest streaming hits. It should come as no surprise, then, that Walt Disney Pictures is now actively developing Hocus Pocus 3, although there is no indication yet about whether it will be another Disney+ exclusive or also receive a theatrical release. The writer-directors of Hocus Pocus 2, Anne Fletcher and Jen D’Angelo, are now working on the Hocus Pocus 3 screenplay. No casting has officially been announced, but presumably, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker will return as the witchy Sanderson sisters.
2. HUGH GRANT IN TALKS FOR A24 HORROR FILM HERETIC
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Hugh Grant may have risen to fame in the 1990s in a series of romantic comedies, but lately he’s been co-starring in films that span a variety of genres — his latest was Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and this December, he’ll play an Oompa-Loompa in Wonka (12/15/2023), starring Timothée Chalamet. Speaking of genres, the next one might be horror, as Grant is now in talks with A24, the mini-studio behind arthouse horror hits like The Witch (Certified Fresh at 90%) and Hereditary (Certified Fresh at 90%), to star in a film called Heretic. Screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who collaborated with John Krasinski on A Quiet Place (Certified Fresh at 96%), wrote and will direct Heretic, which is described as being about two young missionaries who attempt to convert a mysterious stranger. Chloe East, who was one of the young co-stars in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, is also in talks to co-star in Heretic.
3. ZACK SNYDER’S REBEL MOON NOW IN TWO PARTS (AND TWO EDITIONS)
(Photo by Netflix)
After months of social media pleading, Zack Snyder’s 2017 blockbuster Justice League (Rotten at 39%) ended up getting a second version, namely 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League (Fresh at 71%). Now, Snyder’s ambitious Netflix space opera Rebel Moon, due out later this year, is similarly getting different editions, in addition to also being split into two parts. The two Rebel Moon films will each have general admission films that “anyone can enjoy,” and then they will also have editions that are “explicit and for adults only.” The first half of Rebel Moon will start streaming on Netflix on December 22, 2023.
4. RYAN REYNOLDS AND KENNETH BRANAGH SAY MAYDAY FOR APPLE
(Photo by Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBC, Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images)
The directing and screenwriting team of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley effictively rescued Dungeons & Dragons from its association with the very Rotten 2000 film with their recent revival, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Certified Fresh at 90%). Paramount has not yet officially announced plans for another installment of the franchise with Goldstein and Daley, so their next project for now will be an action film for Apple called Mayday. The premise is being kept secret right now, but the other thing we know is that the stars will be Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. Reynolds is currently filming Deadpool 3 (11/8/2024) for Marvel, and he has a fantasy comedy called IF (aka Imaginary Friends) coming out next year on May 4, while Branagh has his third Agatha Christie adaptation, A Haunting in Venice, due out September 15 of this year.
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