Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:
Star Trek: the next movie: This summer marks five years since the release of the last Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Beyond, but fans can rest easy knowing there will be another movie, some day. According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures and producer J.J. Abrams have tapped Kalinda Vasquez, a writer for the CBS All Access show Star Trek Discovery, to script a new feature installment of the franchise. It’s unclear if this will be a continuation of Abrams’ own reboot or possibly related to the new TV series.
Hello Kitty greets two directors: Given the box office success of Tom & Jerry last weekend, it’s not surprising that New Line is pushing forward with their Hello Kitty movie, which will similarly be a live-action/animation hybrid. Deadline reports the studio has hired a pair of directors to bring the Japanese icon to the big screen: Jennifer Coyle, who has helmed episodes of the animated series DC Super Hero Girls and Bob’s Burgers, and Leonardo Matsuda, who made the Pixar short Inner Workings. Both will be making their feature debut.
Gore Verbinski returns to animation: Speaking of timely animation news, Collider reports that Gore Verbinski will re-team with cinematographer Roger Deakins for two animated features. Their previous single collaboration, the Oscar-winning Western pastiche Rango, was released theatrically 10 years ago this week and has remained the only animated effort for each until now. Verbinski says it’s too early to give any details on the upcoming projects, but one of them is a musical and neither will be a Western.
Clooney and Roberts together again: Speaking of exciting reunions, George Clooney and Julia Roberts will share the screen again in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, according to Deadline. The two megastars, who previously appeared together in Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Money Monster and who both acted in the Clooney-helmed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and who collaborated on the Clooney-produced August: Osage County, will play a divorced couple who team up to stop their daughter’s sudden marriage plans. Deadline also reports that Star Wars actress Billie Lourd will co-star as the daughter’s best friend.
Hugh Grant plays Dungeons & Dragons: Another favorite Roberts romantic co-star, Hugh Grant, has lined up his next big movie: Dungeons & Dragons. Deadline reports the Notting Hill actor will be the villain in the role-playing game adaptation, following a current career trend that includes his baddies in Paddington 2 and last year’s The Gentlemen. It breakout Sophia Lillis also just joined the fantasy film’s cast, which already includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith and Rege-Jean Page.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu enters Limbo: After winning back-to-back Oscars for Best Director, for Birdman and The Revenant, the latter of which was five years ago, Alejandro G. Iñárritu has finally found his next feature. According to the Los Angeles Times, the filmmaker has begun production on Limbo, which is now shooting in Mexico City with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Darius Khondji (Evita, Uncut Gems) and actor Daniel Giménez Cacho (The Promise). No plot details have been revealed, but the movie will deal with “the political and social modernity of Mexico.”
