DEVELOPMENT HELL

Your monthly glimpse into Hollywood’s hoped-for future

All that’s bubbling in the beakers in the Hollywood lab.

Mystery trip!

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Ah, the dear old Bermuda Triangle, one of the essential staples of 1970s paranormal weirdness alongside Bigfoot, suburban exorcisms and Dave Hill from Slade’s haircut. Bizarre natural phenomenon? Gateway to Atlantis? The work of space aliens? Or just an excuse to make endless documentaries with creepy-ass music? We still don’t know but the infamous, planeand-ship-swallowing patch of the Atlantic is now inspiring a new movie from Skydance Productions, the people behind the Mission: Impossible and Star Trek films. The script’s by Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time’s Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard and lined up to direct is the mighty Sam Raimi, making his first film since 2013’s Oz The Great And Powerful. There are now three competing Bermuda Triangle projects on the go in Hollywood – Universal and Warner Bros have their own takes in the works. Who will survive… and who will be sucked into the merciless, compass-spinning vortex of Development Hell? If we had some spare creepy-ass music we’d tell you.

CRY KREEDOM! CAPTAIN MARVEL

Who’d be a Hollywood superhero? Sure, there’s the money, the glory, the chance to see yourself immortalised in four inches of plastic, complete with spring-loaded quick-punch action. But the fans. The fans! “Every day I have people yelling at me on Twitter,” says Brie Larson, set to topline Marvel’s first female-led

tentpole when Captain Marvel opens 8 March 2019. “Like, you better have long hair, or you better have a mohawk, or you better wear the helmet, or you better not wear the helmet...” But Larson’s a fan herself, as she tells IGN: “Just the fact that she can be a bridge between two worlds, that she can go between Earth and space and that her own personal place is in this little area between where Earth ends and space begins and that’s only hers is so moving to me.” With a screenplay by Nicole Perman and Meg LeFauve the movie’s still hunting a director.

the sands of time! DUNE

You may need to wait a while to satisfy your craving for a Spice fix. Director Denis Villeneuve (Oscar-nominated for last year’s tale of love, time and meaningful inky squiggles Arrival – and the man helming the hotly anticipated Blade Runner 2049) says he needs to recharge before bringing Frank Herbert’s sandswept dynastic saga to the big screen. “In the past six years I have done five movies – which is not a good idea!” he tells Cinema Blend. “I would love to just digest and then come back with more energy for Dune with fresh ideas. I need that right now! And so I need distance a little bit.” The Dune remake is still in the earliest phase of development at Legendary Entertainment – those Sandworms need careful nurturing, you know – and, as Villeneuve reveals, “There’s no screenplay right now.”

dicking around! NIGHTWING

So Matt Reeves is a lock to direct The Batman. Now comes word that the other half of the Dynamic Duo is also heading to the screen. Nightwing is the adult alias of Dick Grayson aka Robin, an identity the former Boy Wonder assumed when he finally outgrew the crime-fighting tights and looked for life beyond Sidekickville. The solo adventure will be helmed by The Lego Batman Movie’s Chris McKay, graduating from bricks to flesh and blood. “Bruce Wayne in my mind came from privilege and I think that’s why he’s more dour and angry,” says McKay. “He’s self-made as far as his becoming all of these cool things we like him for. Dick Grayson didn’t come from that. He came from a circus family. They’re entertainers. They’re people who live hand-tomouth and that’s something that informs him and his attitude. He’s a fascinating guy to me, because he had all the same things happen to him [as Bruce Wayne].” Holy potential Burt Ward cameo!

I like the idea of the everyday hero stepping up to the plate

neon and on! TRON 3

Disney is looking to rev up the lightcycles and restart the Tron franchise, just in time to ride the boom in ’80s nostalgia (place your bets on whether we’ll see those neon-striped unitards alongside the Ghostbusters cosplay in the next season of Stranger Things…). Currently circling the project is none other than Jared Leto, who’s said to be eyeing the role of Ares, a new character in the franchise. No word on whether he’ll use the same deep-dive method acting process he brought to the Joker and actually reconstitute himself as particles of pure light. If Leto signs to star he’ll also nab a producer’s credit. There’s no screenwriter or director attached but the plot will, we hear, build on the existing script for proposed sequel Tron: Ascension, said to be an invasion tale that sees our world overrun by the inhabitants of the Grid.

fright Van Man! VAN HELSING

Banish all thoughts of the brazen cheese-fest that was 2004’s Van Helsing. When the serial creature-killer returns to the screen as part of Universal’s new horrorverse he’ll pack a dark, nerve-jangling tone alongside the arsenal of crucifixes and silver bullets. Yes, the screenplay by Arrival’s Eric Heisserer and Passengers’ Jon Spaihts is aiming for the jugular, it seems. “My intent stepping in was to make it as scary as possible,” Heisserer tells Collider. “Partly because I know how to do that and also because when you’re the only human surrounded by a bunch of supernatural creatures that’s got to be absolutely unnerving.” Hurling Bram Stoker’s creation into the modern day, the movie will give us a very human hero. Heisserer says he wanted to “showcase someone who has no extraordinary powers, just resourcefulness and will and kind of a stubborness, who’s able to tackle some of these bigger problems… I like the idea of the everyday hero stepping up to the plate and getting things fixed.”

phoenix Mights! X-MEN

No, it’s not called X-Men: Supernova – producer Simon Kinberg says that was just a “fake name to throw people off the scent” (well, that worked a treat, then). But there is another X-Men movie on the way, one that will give a “grounded and even gritty and dangerous” spin to the mutant saga. “We’re in the early stages of prep on it,” Kinberg tells Slashfilm, promising that the film will “do something bold and radical and expand the universe in the same way that Logan feels bold and radical and certainly Deadpool does as well.” Sophie Turner is attached to reprise her take on the young Jean Grey and while Kinberg won’t confirm they’ll take a second stab at the Dark Phoenix storyline he does say “If we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to retell that story – and certainly what we did with the end of Days Of Future Past gave us the opportunity to retell it – I think we all would want to give it the justice and the space to breathe that it deserves.” Feel the burn, X-Men: The Last Stand…