(L to R): Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith in ‘Charlie’s Angels.’ Photo: ABC.
Preview:
Sony has a new ‘Charlie’s Angels’ movie in development.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ co-writer Pete Chiarelli is on script duty.
There are no casting or director details yet.
Despite some less-than-successful attempts across the last decade or so, Sony clearly sees the upcoming 50th anniversary of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ as a reason to try to craft a new movie featuring crime-fighting women.
We’ll have to wait and see who ends up taking this one on –– will it be a totally fresh take or could the company look to reunite movie trio Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz (more on them below)?
(L to R) Kristen Stewart, Ella Balinska and Naomi Scott in 2019’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
The show, a crime drama about a trio of women working at the Townsend private detective agency, debuted in 1976 and quickly dominated the pop culture conversation. The series originally cast Kate Jackson,Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith in the leading roles — and catapulted them into TV history.
Cheryl Ladd joined the show in season 2 and starred through the rest of its 115-episode run. John Forsythe voiced their unseen boss, Charlie Townsend, who directed the operation over the telephone.
Barrymore, Liu and Diaz starred in two movie versions in 2000 and 2003, but more recent attempts, including a new TV series and director Elizabeth Banks’ 2019 film, didn’t fare as well.
There’s no word yet on what Chiarelli’s take might be.
When will the new ‘Charlie’s Angels’ movie be on screen?
Sony hasn’t announced anything yet, so with this in “early development,” we’ll have to wait and see when it might arrive.
(L to R) Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in 2000’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Movies and TV shows in the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ franchise:
(Left) Nick Jonas in ‘The Good Half’. Photo: Utopia. (Right) Paul Stanley of Kiss in ‘Kiss Rocks Vegas’. Photo: Eagle Rock Entertainment.
Preview:
Nick Jonas is boarding KISS biopic ‘Shout It Out Loud.’
McG is in the director’s chair.
Darren Lemke wrote the most recent draft of the script.
Last September, we brought the news that ‘Shout It Out Loud,’ the long-gestating music biopic of iconic rockers KISS had taken a big step forward, as ‘Charlie’s Angels’ and ‘Uglies’ director McG was making a deal to direct it.
Since then, he’s officially signed on and developed the movie further, and now Deadline brings word that singer/actor Nick Jonas will play a key role in the film, that of KISS lead singer Paul Stanley.
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With the movie really starting to come together, the aim is now to kick off shooting either late this year or early in 2026, with Jonas given the time to train to perform Stanley’s trademark power vocals.
A key further element for the movie is tracking down a star who can appear as legendary bass player Gene Simmons.
Kiss with the cast of ‘Detroit Rock City’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Should you not already be aware of the glam-rockers, here’s a little history lesson…
KISS was formed in New York City by Stanley, Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in 1973. Known for their signature kabuki-style face paint and larger-than-life, pyrotechnic-filled performances, the band broke out with the 1975 live album “Alive!” which featured the anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite” and solidified their status as one of the era’s top acts.
The band’s most successful albums include “Destroyer,” “Love Gun,” “Alive II” and “Dynasty,” which produced hits including “Beth,” “Detroit Rock City” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.”
Frehley and Criss departed KISS decades ago, leaving Simmons and Stanley as the lone original members. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, the band spent four years on the road for their farewell “End of the Road” World Tour, officially retiring after their final concert at Madison Square Garden in December.
Yet despite leaving the stage themselves, they’ve set up digital avatars which will continue to play virtual concert sets. And the group sold their music catalog, name, image and likeness to the Sweden-based Pophouse Entertainment in April last year, in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million.
We now know a little more about the movie –– it’ll focus primarily on the group’s early formation in the 1970s.
Here’s what Stanley has said about his time before joining the band:
“I was deaf in one ear and had a slight deformity that made me look different. I was this short, fat kid, and music became my salvation, a place to hide and dream. And when I played music, there were always girls around.”
And here’s Simmons on what drew him from his life as a Hasidic Orthodox Jew from Israel to rock music:
“I remember walking out onto the street, seeing this Spanish girl jumping rope across the street, and staring at her long black hair slapping against this great butt. It occurred to me this was better than religion. How could I get near that?”
Where else have we seen Nick Jonas?
Nick Jonas in ‘The Good Half’. Photo: Utopia.
Jonas grew up on the Broadway stage in numerous musicals, including starring turns in ‘Les Misérables,’ ‘Hairspray’ and ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,’ and he played singer Frankie Valli in ‘Jersey Boys Live.’
He’s best known in music circles as part of family band The Jonas Brothers. The group –– siblings Kevin and Joe among them—rose to fame in the mid-2000s. They gained popularity through the Disney Channel, starring in ‘Camp Rock’ and their own show ‘Jonas.’ Their early albums like “It’s About Time” and “A Little Bit Longer” were big commercial successes.
The band took a hiatus in 2013 to pursue solo projects but reunited in 2019 with the hit single “Sucker”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100. They released the comeback album “Happiness Begins” the same year. They’ve continued touring and releasing music since.
(Left) Director McG at the premiere of ‘Terminator Salvation’. (Right) Kiss in ‘Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park’. Photo: Hanna-Barbera Productions.
Preview:
McG is setting a deal to direct ‘Shout It Out Loud,’ a biopic of glam supergroup KISS.
Details on what the movie will exactly cover are unknown.
STX Entertainment is producing the new film.
Music biopics continue to be popular, with a handful at different stages of production or development right now, including films about Michael Jackson, Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell to name but a few.
And a movie about iconic glam rockers KISS is something that at least one company –– that would be Netflix, which had ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ and ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ director Joachim Rønning attached back in 2021, before the project fell into turnaround.
Now STX has moved to nab the rights from Polygram Entertainment, and director McG –– who has YA sci-fi thriller ‘Uglies’ hitting Netflix –– is locking down a deal to direct.
The most recent draft of the script is written by Darren Lemke, is based on a prior screenplay by Ole Sanders.
Kiss with the cast of ‘Detroit Rock City’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Should you not already be aware of the glam-rockers, here’s a little history lesson…
KISS was formed in New York City by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss in 1973. Known for their signature kabuki-style face paint and larger-than-life, pyrotechnic-filled performances, the band broke out with the 1975 live album “Alive!” which featured the anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite” and solidified their status as one of the era’s top acts.
The band’s most successful albums include “Destroyer,” “Love Gun,” “Alive II” and “Dynasty,” which produced hits including “Beth,” “Detroit Rock City” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.”
Frehley and Criss departed KISS decades ago, leaving Simmons and Stanley as the lone original members. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, the band spent four years on the road for their farewell “End of the Road” World Tour, officially retiring after their final concert at Madison Square Garden in December.
Yet despite leaving the stage themselves, they’ve set up digital avatars which will continue to play virtual concert sets. And the group sold their music catalog, name, image and likeness to the Sweden-based Pophouse Entertainment in April, in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million.
As for whether the movie will go the full story route or focus on one chunk? That remains to be seen.
What else is McG working on?
(L to R) Clayne Crawford and director McG on the set of ‘Lethal Weapon’. Photo: Richard Foreman/Fox.
Currently, the director is in production on ‘Way of the Warrior Kid’, the adaptation of Jocko Willink’s book about a self-doubting, bullied boy who learns to find his inner warrior with the help of his Navy SEAL uncle.
Chris Pratt from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.’
Preview:
Chris Pratt will star in and produce ‘Way of the Warrior Kid’.
McG is aboard to direct the movie.
The film will be looking for a distribution at the Cannes Market.
Outside of his Amazon series work, Chris Pratt may still be looking to prove that he can carry projects beyond his Marvel and other franchise gigs. ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ was certainly a big hit last year, though that was powered more by video game nostalgia than his name. And he’ll be heard rather than seen in the upcoming ‘The Garfield Movie’, which focuses on the comic strip cat brought to CG life on screens.
According to Deadline, he’s part of a new movie package that looks to find success (specifically, a buyer) at this year’s Cannes Market. Pratt is attached to star in ‘Way of the Warrior Kid’, which will adapt retired Navy SEAL Jock Willink’s book.
With McG aboard to direct, the new film looks to target audiences who want a story of youth empowerment without a fantasy angle.
What’s the story of ‘Way of the Warrior Kid’?
Chris Pratt in Prime Video’s ‘The Terminal List’
Willink drew on his experiences and training to write the book about Marc, a self-doubting kid who gets bullied and is hard pressed to complete a single pullup. That’s until his uncle Jake, an elite Navy SEAL, is injured on a mission and moves in with his sister for rehab. When he discovers his 11 year old nephew Marc is struggling academically, socially and physically, Jake takes on a new mission: using his SEAL Team training over three months of summer to help the youth find his inner warrior.
Here’s what Willink says about the book, which has since spawned various follow-ups and spin-offs, including merchandise:
“I spent my adult life in the military. I was in the SEAL Teams, deployed all over the place, went up through the chain of command, and was lucky to have had a blessed career. That whole time, I also had a wife and four kids. I wanted to read them books and I would go to the store or to the library and I just couldn’t find any that I liked. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a pirate book. And it was filled with the weakest, most pathetic pirates I’d ever heard of in my life.”
(L to R) Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu in director McG’s ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Aside from Pratt and McG, the project has ‘Without Remorse’ scribe Will Staples writing the script, which UTA Independent Film Group and FilmNation will be putting on the market in France.
This is what Pratt said of the project:
“Will Staples’ screenplay is incredible. I’ve known Jocko Willink for a couple of years, so I was eager to read the script based on his series of children’s books. I believe in the power of storytelling and felt particularly called to the material. I have faith this film will help to shape today’s youth, putting them on the right path. Our young people need this movie, and I hope this story will help bridge the growing divide and inspire the next generation to learn valuable lessons about discipline, self-reliance, strength, and compassion. This is the kind of movie that can define a generation, like ‘Karate Kid’ or ‘Rocky’. This is the kind of movie I want to show my kids. So, with the help of an incredible creative team and the right partner, we’re gonna make it.”
When will ‘Way of the Warrior Kid’ be in theaters?
With no distributor attached as of yet, there is zero information on whether this one will hit theaters, let alone a release date. But given the star power of Pratt and the confidence-building kid angle (that will appeal to a big audience), we’d expect this one to be moving forward before too long.
(L to R) Chris Pratt, Edwin Hodge and Sam Richardson star in ‘The Tomorrow War.’ Property of Amazon Prime Video.
When it first hit theaters, “Terminator Salvation” provided a grim view of humanity’s future. Now that the movie has been out for ten years, it instead showcases a past that never came to be. That’s the funny thing about this time travel-obsessed franchise. Celebrate the tenth anniversary of this reboot with some interesting facts you might not know about the making of “Terminator Salvation.”
1. While he wasn’t directly involved with the reboot, James Cameron consulted with director McG about “Salvation,” recommending both actor Sam Worthington and art director Martin Laing.
2. The plot was much different in earlier drafts of the screenplay, with John Connor himself not appearing until late in the film. Christian Bale was initially approached to play Marcus Wright, but after he expressed more interest in the John Connor role, the story was altered to focus more heavily on him.
3. “Salvation” proved to be the final film legendary special effects artist Stan Winston worked on before his death in 2008.
4. According to Bale, “The Dark Knight” co-writer Jonathan Nolan was called in to significantly rework the script. Unfortunately, because of the 2007 WGA strike, most of Nolan’s ideas never made it into the final version.
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5. This is the only “Terminator” movie not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger as the iconic T-800. Schwarzengger’s likeness was digitally recreated for the T-800’s debut scene, but Schwarzenegger himself (then serving as governor of California) declined to participate in the film.
6. Salvation is also the first “Terminator” movie to not use time travel as a plot device and the first to feature John Connor and his father Kyle Reese in the same scene together.
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7. There’s a reason Michael Ironside’s character General Ashdown never sits down in the movie. Ironside broke several vertebrae in an accident shortly before filming and was in intense pain.
8. While the audio recordings of Sarah Connor feature the same dialogue from the original “The Terminator,” the recordings themselves were done specifically for “Salvation.” Linda Hamilton re-recorded the lines in an uncredited cameo role.
9. “Salvation” was intended to serve as the start of a new trilogy of “Terminator” movies. However, those plans were cut short after The Halcyon Company filed for bankruptcy and the franchise rights were sold to Pacificor.
Warner Bros.
10. At the time of release, “Salvation” was the most expensive independently financed film ever released, with a budget of nearly $200 million.
11. A leaked early draft of the screenplay featured a very different ending. Rather than Marcus sacrificing his life and giving John his cybernetic heart, that version ended with John dying and the Resistance transplanting his skin onto Marcus’ body, allowing Marcus to trick the world into believing the leader of the Resistance is still alive.
Warner Bros.
12. In response to that leak, McG revealed an even darker alternate ending that very nearly wound up in the final version. This version of the movie ended with John’s body being taken over by Skynet after his heart transplant, forcing him to murder his fellow Resistance members.
13. Though “Salvation” never got any film sequels, its story was expanded upon in several comic books, novels and even an animated web series. Most notably, the comic book series “Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle” serves as a direct sequel to the movie.
Netflix subscribers who can’t wait for the upcoming third season of “Stranger Things” can tide themselves over with “Rim of the World,” a new film featuring a ragtag group of kids who team up to fight off some scary creatures.
It’s clear that the movie is inspired at least in part by the Duffer Brothers series (heck, the main foursome even ride bikes together), with the young protagonists bonding over a sudden alien invasion that interrupts their summer adventure camp experience. Pop culture references abound, including nods to “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Independence Day,” the latter of which gets an especially hysterical shout-out in the flick’s trailer.
Processing an alien invasion is hard enough for Alex (Jack Gore), ZhenZhen (Miya Cech), Dariush (Benjamin Flores Jr.), and Gabriel (Alessio Scalzotto), who find themselves alone at their campground. But then, they’re entrusted with a special key that may hold the answer to stopping the attack and saving the world — as long as they can survive without any adults or electronics.
The trailer looks super fun, and with McG (“Charlie’s Angels“) at the helm, we have faith that “Rim of the World” will set itself apart from its predecessors. The film hits Netflix on May 24.
