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Dwayne Johnson to star in another Fast and Furious spin-off
(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
In 2019, the Fast and Furious franchise expanded into a “cinematic universe” with the release of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Fresh at 68%), starring Idris Elba, Helen Mirren, and, as the title characters, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Now, as the core franchise is ending its finale with the upcoming 11th film (following this year’s Fast X, which opened just a couple of weeks ago), Universal Pictures and Dwayne Johnson have announced that he will be returning as Luke Hobbs in another spin-off film. The untitled movie will serve as a bridge, narratively, between Fast X and the 11th film in what The Hollywood Reporter is calling Fast X.5. There is no word yet about whether Jason Statham will also return as Deckard Shaw, but Johnson is already hinting that Jason Momoa will be reprising his Fast X role as Dante Reyes. There is not yet a release date for the second Hobbs movie or the also recently announced all-female Fast & Furious spin-off, but the first will probably be in 2024 or 2025.
Sony planning live-action Miles Morales movie and more
(© Columbia Pictures)
Last week, in the days before the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Certified Fresh at 96%), a few different key people were talking about possible future Spider-related movies besides next year’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (3/29/2024). First up was producer Amy Pascal, who confirmed that Sony is developing both a live-action Miles Morales movie and an animated spin-off film for Spider-Woman. Hailee Steinfeld, who voices the Gwen Stacy version of Spider-Woman, also voiced her excitement for her own movie, calling it her “dream job.” Finally, there are also plans for Tom Holland to return for a Spider-Man 4, as he said last week that he had had “meetings,” but that they are currently on hold in solidarity with the WGA strike.
Martin Scorsese to make another film about Jesus
(© Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Recently, Pope Francis made an appeal to poets and artists, and acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese replied with plans for another movie about Jesus; in 1988, Scorsese released The Last Temptation of Christ (Certified Fresh at 82%), starring Willem Dafoe, which famously courted controversy. It’s not yet clear if Scorsese’s new Jesus film will be a documentary or a dramatic feature film, but frequent collaborator Robert De Niro is already being asked about whether or not he will participate.
Insidious franchise to continue with Kumail Nanjiani and Mandy Moore
(Photos by Kate Green/Getty Images, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Although there have been more movies in The Conjuring Universe, 2010’s Insidious (Fresh at 66%) is also racking up its own franchise, with a sixth film now in the works. The film will be titled Thread: An Insidious Tale, and the two leads will be Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani, who will play a married couple who use a magic spell to travel back in time to prevent the death of their daughter.
Terrifier 3 to get a budget 10 times higher than Terrifier 2
(© Bloody Disgusting / Courtesy Everett Collection)
One of the most surprising box office hits of 2022 was the super gory Terrifier 2 (Certified Fresh at 85%), a crowdfunded sequel to the even lower budget horror film Terrifier (Rotten at 55%). Terrifier 2 earned $15 million worldwide from a budget of just $250,000, so the producers are quickly getting the pieces together to get Terrifier 3 made on a budget about 10 times larger, in the low-to-mid-seven figure range. David Howard Thornton will return as Art the Clown in Terrifier 3, which will be produced in late 2023 and will be released in late 2024.
By Greg Dean Schmitz
