Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:
The Thing from another source: First there was Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World, then there was John Carpenter’s The Thing (plus its prequel) and now Universal and Blumhouse are teaming up for a new version of the story of an alien menace unearthed in Antarctica. Bloody-Disgusting revealed the development of an adaptation of Frozen Hell, the recently discovered expanded version of John W. Campbell Jr.’s classic sci-fi horror story that spawned the previous movies.
Seth Rogen’s killer meme: Seth Rogen is planning his own horror movie involving a permutable entity. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the comedic actor is producing an adaptation of the horror comic book Memetic, about a sloth meme that kills you. The Batman co-writer Mattson Tomlin is handling the script.
Dan Trachtenberg’s killer mom: Director Dan Trachtenberg is set to finally follow-up 10 Cloverfield Lane with MILK, which stands for “Mother I’d Like to Kill.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie will be about a former assassin who settled down into motherhood but now must fight off her ex-co-workers sent to take her out completely.
Walton Goggins to kill Santa: Speaking of assassins, Deadline reports that Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight) has joined the next dark comedy Christmas movie, Fatman, as a hitman hired to slay Santa Claus by a child who got coal in his stocking. Mel Gibson stars as the titular holiday icon while Goggins’ character is called “Skinnyman.”
Klaus and 1917 win major awards: Speaking of Santa, Netflix’s Klaus was named Best Animated Feature at this year’s Annie Awards, which tends to predict the Oscar winner in the category. Meanwhile, 1917 racked up more awards with director Sam Mendes winning at the DGAs and cinematographer Roger Deakins winning at the ASC Awards.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins The Matrix: As the long-awaited return of The Matrix heads into production, another new cast addition was announced this week. Variety reports international star Priyanka Chopra Jonas (voice of Elsa in the Hindi version of Frozen II) will appear in The Matrix 4, but nothing is known about her role just yet.
Kevin Hart is teaming up with Jason Statham: Kevin Hart, who regularly buddies up on screen with Dwayne Johnson, will now be co-starring with the other half of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (in which Hart has a cameo). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two will star in an action comedy titled Man from Toronto, to be directed by The Hitman’s Bodyguard helmer Patrick Hughes.
