DEVELOPMENT HELL
If they’d made all the films they never made your shelves would collapse.
Mutt put down! INDIANA JONES 5
The exact nature of Indiana Jones’s next archaeological quest remains a mystery – the Spear of Destiny? The ruins of Atlantis? Hugh Hefner’s posing pouch? – But one thing’s certain: Shia
LaBeouf won’t be along for the raiding. Screenwriter David
Koepp confirms that the next
screenplay has no place for Mutt Williams, Indy’s greaser son introduced in 2008’s Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal
Shrug. “We’re plugging away at it,” he tells Entertainment Weekly. “In terms of when we would start, I think that’s up to Mr Spielberg and Mr Ford. Work will be endless and Steven just finished shooting
The Post… If the stars align, hopefully it’ll be his next film.”
Indy 5 has lashed a whip to 10 July 2020. Asked what the film needs to be to ensure he’s on board,
Harrison Ford gives a trademark half-scowl and tells GQ “funded”.
Knife to see you again! HALLOWEEN
This Final Girl is still standing…
Jamie Lee Curtis will reprise her iconic role as Laurie Strode in the next Halloween movie, a staggering 40 years after she first faced the slashy, Shatner-faced menace of Michael Myers. Curtis came back for Halloween 2 in 1981 then encored in 1998’s Halloween: H20 before cameoing in 2002’s
Halloween Resurrection, only to meet a faintly depressing fate in
It’s a huge statement to have this seasoned warrior return
the opening minutes. The new Halloween isn’t a reboot, co-writer Danny McBride insists – it simply ignores the later movies, like a fear-struck victim standing in a pitch-black house, telling themselves “They’re not there… They’re not there…” David Gordon Green directs while original Halloween helmer John Carpenter is onboard as producer, and may even contribute some of his spine-rattling synth stabs.
CriMe havoC! THE PURGE: THE ISLAND
As the world continues its descent into a death-spiral of madness and horror, isn’t it good to know we’ll always have the simple, old-fashioned feel-good of the Purge franchise? Kinda like a 21st century Waltons. Series creator James DeMonaco reveals that the next chapter will actually be a prequel, returning to the night of the very first Purge. Set on New York’s Staten Island, it’ll answer one of the big questions of the premise: why don’t people just leave the cities during the annual jamboree of state-sanctioned lawlessness? “They start monetising it,” DeMonaco tells Vulture. “It becomes a monetisation of murder and violence, incentivising killing and keeping people around them to be victims. So you see the inception of how grotesque the idea of the Purge is, and the manipulation upon the society.” Directed by Gerard McMurray, The Purge: The Island reveals its folksy charms 4 July 2018.
the vaughn supreMaCy? MAN OF STEEL 2
Matthew Vaughn may be about to add a little truth and justice to his resume. The Kingsman and Kick-Ass helmer’s confirmed that he’s talked to Warner Bros about potentially helming the sequel to 2013’s Man Of Steel. And if Vaughn does take on the Kryptonian, he’ll return Kal-El to first principles. “I think my main take would be – it’s really boring – but make a Superman film,” he tells Collider. “I think [Richard] Donner did it to perfection for that time. I want to do a modern version of the Donner [film]. Go back to the source material. For me Superman is colour, feel-good, heroic. He’s a beacon of light in darkness. And that’s what I think Superman should be.” There’s currently no word on a production schedule or release date for the proposed Super-sequel, and given the insane amount of DC superhero movies on the Warner slate we may be waiting a while for this one.
return of the JJ! STAR WARS: EPISODE IX
Sometimes you suspect there’s a Lucasfilm equivalent of Order 66, one that targets directors instead of Jedi… Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow is the latest highprofile casualty of a creative skirmish in a galaxy far, far away. “Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ,” declares the official statement (it helps if you read that in a James Earl Jones voice and add the sound of a disigniting lightsaber). Replacing him at the helm of Episode IX is some guy by the name of JJ Abrams. We’ll look him up later. The behind-thescenes shake-up has shifted the film’s release orbit – previously set for 24 May 2019, it’ll now open 20 December 2019, which keeps this new trilogy consistently Christmassy, at least.
she’ll be baCK! THE TERMINATOR
The unknown future rolls toward us… but hey, at least there’s a familiar face up ahead. Twentysix years after kicking endoskeletal ass in T2: Judgment Day, Linda Hamilton is returning to the undying Terminator franchise as Sarah Connor. “As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then, it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return,” says James Cameron, who’s also back to produce the next instalment. “There are 50-year-old, 60-yearold guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women.” Hamilton will be reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the movie. “We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the centrepiece of the new story,” says Cameron. “We still fold time. We will have characters from the future and the present. There will be mostly new characters, but we’ll have Arnold and Linda’s characters to anchor it.”
sister aCt 2! WONDER WOMAN 2
It’s official. Official and inevitable. Patty Jenkins is signed to direct the Wonder Woman sequel after the first film made a whopping $800 million at the box office. It’s a deal reported to be worth $7-9 million upfront, with a share of the backend, making her the highest-paid female filmmaker in movie history. We hear Warner Bros may also have thrown in an invisible Lear jet as a sweetener. “The most exciting thing about [the sequel] is literally seeing her loose in the world now, living those classic stories,” Jenkins tells ET Online. “Here’s Wonder Woman, and what can she do? It should be a totally different movie, but a grand and now full-blown Wonder Woman in the world.” She’s been collaborating with DC supremo Geoff Johns on a story treatment and now The Expendables co-writer Dave Callaham has come aboard to nail down the screenplay. One rumour claims the encore will have a fashionably ’80s setting, pitting Diana against the Soviets during the sockless espadrille phase of the Cold War. There’s a 13 December 2019 release date already locked.