(L to R) Denzel Washington and Director Antoine Fuqua between takes while filming in the Amalfi Coast on the set of Columbia Pictures ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo by: Stefano Montesi.
Denzel Washington will shoot back to our screens next month as government assassin-turned-do-gooding crusader Robert McCall in ‘The Equalizer 3’.
And while it could end up being the final outing (though nothing has been said) for McCall in his present form, director Antoine Fuqua is already thinking of an idea for an ‘Equalizer’ prequel which would use de-aging technology so Washington can star as a younger version of the character.
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What has Fuqua said about an ‘Equalizer’ prequel?
Director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington on the set of ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo by: Stefano Cristiiano Montesi.
“I definitely thought about it a lot. Especially now with the new technology and the AI and all of that kind of stuff… Is there a story to be told about how [McCall] became this person — the younger version. I’ve had that conversation with [‘Equalizer’ screenwriter] Richard Wenk quite a bit.”
But don’t go booking your tickets to ‘The Equalizer: Young McCall’ just yet. Right now, it’s still only in Fuqua’s mind and he has yet to sound out Washington on the concept, which has been most recently deployed in the opening sequence of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, winding back the clock to show Harrison Ford looking like he did circa ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’.
As he explains:
“I haven’t talked to Denzel about that yet. It’s all so fresh and new. I’m still watching [the technology]. I’ve watched Harrison Ford’s film and I know there’s other movies coming out. I think Sony has one coming out with Tom Hanks soon [Robert Zemeckis’ ‘Here’]. And I’m hearing the technology is getting better and better and better. So, I’m kind of watching it to see where it goes.”
The notion of using AI and CG to de-age actors has been a controversial one; beyond the wider argument about AI and its impact on performers (which is a key point in the current SAG-AFTRA strike, it has been seen as a hit-and-miss idea.
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What’s the story of ‘The Equalizer 3?
Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo: Stefano Montesi.
Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed.
Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.
“The first film was about [McCall] finding a purpose. And it’s very external, right? He’s helping people. The second one is more about making peace with his past. He’s betrayed by his friends and [his colleague] dies and his wife has passed away… And then this one is more of a moral dilemma because he’s a darker character… He’s struggling with the violence and brutality.”
‘The Equalizer 3’ is in theaters on September 1.
Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo: Stefano Montesi.
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
With audiences returning to theaters properly and box office returns climbing out of the trough of COVID, it was only natural that studio bosses were going to be bullish at this year’s CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.
First out of the gate this time was Sony, whose chairman Tom Rothman was in an upbeat, triumphant mood. “For the past three years, as the punditocracy pissed on your business, we at Sony held fast,” Rothman boasted. “We are the only studio that held entirely to theatrical. We were sure that movies in theaters would not only survive but triumph. Well, whaddaya know?”
Sony remains on the theatrical train, with several big releases planned.
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‘The Equalizer 3’
Among the biggest is ‘The Equalizer 3’, which represents that unusual franchise where the star –– in this case, Denzel Washington –– is actually bigger than the property. In an age of superheroes and ‘Star Wars’ selling seats, he’s an outlier.
The studio had Washington and co-star Dakota Fanning on stage to thank cinema executives for their support and, perhaps more crucially, to highlight the fact that it represents a reunion for the ‘Man on Fire’ stars. And a trailer played, which went online today…
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‘The Equalizer 3’ catches up with Washington’s government assassin-turned-kick-ass-do-gooder Robert McCall in Italy, where he’s trying to enjoy some downtime on the picturesque Amalfi coast and not be asked to take on villains.
Sadly, for McCall, that’s not the way his life goes, and he’s soon caught up helping some locals with Mafia goons and violence. Which means McCall has to break out his particular set of skills and lay the smack down on members of the criminal clan known as the Camorra (think an even more dangerous offshoot of the Mafia).
And while there are some very wild, violent thugs looking to tackle McCall, none of them are quite ready for what he brings to the table. Literally in one case, as we witness him applying nerve pressure to one of the enforcers. “That’s level three”, he tells the anguished henchman. “If “If it goes to level four, you will shit on yourself.” Thanks Denz!
But the highlight, as mentioned above, is in the reunion between Washington and Fanning. The latter was just 10 when she shared the screen with Washington ‘Man on Fire’ in 2004. Now, for ‘The Equalizer 3’, she’s playing a young CIA agent drawn to the village because of all the reports of violence.
And the two actors’ connection was clear, since they have stayed friends all these years. “She’s like a daughter to him, he loves her,” Antoine Fuquatold Empire of the off-screen dynamic between Washington and Fanning. “It was so beautiful to watch them together on the set, just talking, laughing. And they’re both so talented, they just get into it, they didn’t skip a beat. What was weird for me looking through the lens and seeing Dakota as a grown-up! She’s fantastic and watching them together was a joy because she’s a samurai. She knows it, she’s there, she’s pleasant, she does her thing. And it was a bonus her relationship with Denzel. She’s friends with his kids. It was very easy with those two.”
‘The Equalizer 3’ will be in theaters on September 1st.
Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer 3.’ Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures.
‘Bad Boys 4’
While ‘Bad Boys for Life’ represented one of the few hits as the pandemic began to bite, Sony was naturally excited to roll out word of the next movie. The movie is now filming (with ‘For Life’ directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning) but isn’t yet at a stage where the studio can show a trailer. Still, it had stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence ebullient in a video introduction.
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‘Gran Turismo’
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
‘Gran Turismo’, adapted from the Sony racing game is much further along, though while the trailer played to the presentation audience, it has yet to head online.
The film will tell the story of Jann Mardenborough ( ‘Midsommar’s Archie Madekwe), a British teenager who in 2011 entered GT Academy, an esports tournament created to find ‘Gran Turismo’ players who were good enough at the game to be able to competitively drive real-life race cars. Mardenborough was victorious in the GT Academy competition and became a race car driver for Nissan, competing in the Dubai 24 Hour endurance race.
In the trailer, we see Jann arriving with other GT Academy contestants and being put through the wringer by racing trainer Jack Salter (David Harbour) who puts them through a rigorous boot camp to get them in shape. It’s one thing to know how to hit every corner on a world-class racetrack and to overtake in a simulation of a Nissan GT-R LM, but as Jann finds out, it’s hard to do it when the g-forces and hot temperatures of an actual race car are bearing down on you.
“If you miss a racing line in a game you can reset,” warns Jack. “If you miss it in a real race, you could die.”
‘Gran Turismo’ drives into theaters on August 11th.
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‘No Hard Feelings’
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Jennifer Lawrence and ‘No Hard Feelings’ director Gene Stupnitsky swapped onstage banter before introducing a new clip from the raunchy comedy about two helicopter parents who hire a woman to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, so he doesn’t leave for college as a virgin. The comedy hits theaters on June 23.
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
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‘Kraven The Hunter’
Also on display, Sony/Marvel Spider-adjacent superhero pic ‘Kraven The Hunter’, with star Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the title character. He introduced the first look at the movie, enthusing that it’s Rated R.
In the footage, Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven is a tactical stalker with a penchant for cropped leather vests and five-star hair. He shreds his victims viscerally, often with primitive claw-shaped weapons. Blood pours freely over the screen and, at one intense moment, Taylor-Johnson rips the flesh off a target’s neck with his teeth and spits it out. Definitely an R-rating, then.
‘Kraven the Hunter’ will be in theaters on October 26.
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‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Co-director Kemp Powers was joined by voice stars Shameik Moore (who plays Miles Morales), and Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacey), and new recruit Issa Rae (Jessica Drew) to show off 14 impressive minutes of footage from the sequel, which be followed by another movie in 2024.
“It’s been over a year since the events of first movie and he’s still trying to learn to be a superhero,” Moore added, saying that this movie shows that “how you wear the mask is what makes you a hero.”
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ will swing into theaters on June 2nd this year, with ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse’ due next year.
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
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‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Sequel
There was also a video from Jason Reitman and the team making the sequel to ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ (on which Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan have swapped jobs this time, Kenan directing while Reitman produces) confirming the story’s return to the New York haunts of the original 1984 ‘Ghostbusters’. The new film –– whatever its title –– hits theaters on December 20th.
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‘Napoleon’
While ‘The Equalizer 3’ wrapped things up, there was also room for a big get by the Sony executives, who had scored the chance to release Ridley Scott’s Joaquin Phoenix-starring ‘Napoleon’ in partnership with Apple.
“I know that he can do things cinematically that filmmakers half his age, can’t do,” Rothman said of the 85-year-old director.
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The clip shown had Joaquin Phoenix’s title character commanding the French army in a foggy, blurry wintery epic battle with the Russian and Austrian forces. Napoleon knows it’s coming; he has invited the attack. Lots of bayonets slicing and soldiers falling in the icy water.
‘Napoleon’ should be in theaters this Thanksgiving, followed by its arrival on Apple TV+ after that.
All in all, some big moves, and big movies from Sony.
Sony’s 2023 CinemaCon Presentation. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Movies Presented at Sony Pictures 2023 CinemaCon Presentation:
When Antoine Fuqua took on directing ‘Emancipation’ a couple of years ago, he probably imagined a film that could attract awards attention while sensitively but honestly tackling a difficult subject.
Jackson surely needs little introduction. Raised along with his singer siblings by domineering father Joe Jackson, the Indiana native first rose to fame performing with his family as The Jackson 5.
Even beyond the likes of sister Janet, Michael rose to become a huge star, famous for hit songs and dance moves such as the Moonwalk. His videos boasted expensive production values (and directors such as John Landis) and he amassed a huge fortune.
Yet his life was also marked by chaotic decisions, a serious injury plastic surgery on the set of a Pepsi commercial in 1984 that led to him starting to take painkillers, and pedophile accusations that dogged his later years up to his death in 2009 at age 50, from cardiac arrest caused by a cocktail of sedatives.
(L to R) Director Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith behind the scenes of ‘Emancipation,’ premiering December 9, 2022 on Apple TV+.
“The first films of my career were music videos, and I still feel that combining film and music are a deep part of who I am,” says Fuqua in a statement. “For me, there is no artist with the power, the charisma, and the sheer musical genius of Michael Jackson. I was influenced to make music videos by watching his work––the first Black artist to play in heavy rotation on MTV. His music and those images are part of my worldview, and the chance to tell his story on the screen alongside his music was irresistible.”
“Antoine’s films provide personal perspectives of larger–than–life characters that continuously captivate global audiences,” adds King. “I’m confident that Antoine will make an exceptional and compelling film that will both celebrate and give profound new insights into the life of the King of Pop.”
King and Logan have been trying to put this one together for a few years now, looking to score the same level of success that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ enjoyed, even though this promises to generate plenty of controversy, especially given the lawsuits and molestation accusations that swirled around the singer’s later life.
Given that filming is planned for later this year, the search is surely already on for an actor––or actors, if it aims to cover his life––to play Jackson. Fuqua has recruited regular collaborator, cinematographer Robert Richardson to work on this one.
Lionsgate is backing the movie, but there’s naturally no word yet on when it might arrive on screens. ‘The Equalizer 3’, meanwhile, will be in theaters on September 1st.
Michael Jackson from the ‘Bad’ music video.
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Yet following talk back in January that Sony was putting the pieces – including Washington and director Antoine Fuqua – back together for a third ‘Equalizer’ outing, we have confirmation that the plan is for them to return, since the studio handed out a release date.
“They have written the third ‘Equalizer’, so I’m scheduled to do that, Washington told Collider back then. “So I gotta get in shape and start beating people up again. I get to beat people up again. ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ and then going and beating some people up. Can’t get any better, right?”
For those who might have forgotten, the ‘Equalizer’ movies are a reboot of the classic 80s television series of the same name created by Richard Lindheim and Michael Sloan. The series followed Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a retired intelligence agent who becomes a private detective.
The first film, from 2014, saw Washington starring as McCall alongside Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Melissa Leo, and Bill Pullman as he faced off against the Russian Mafia to protect a young girl. The 2018 sequel has Washington, Leo, and Pullman all returning, joined by Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, and Orson Bean as Washington’s McCall sets out on a mission of revenge when one of his friends is murdered.
Details about the third movie have yet to be revealed, but you can reliably expect that Washington’s Robert McCall will bring his smarts and creative weapons skills to another tough mission battling criminals.
Sony is looking to release the new movie on September 1st, 2023.
This latest outing for Miles Morales and co., which has dropped the “Part One” from its title, will now bow in theaters on June 2, 2023. And the third movie in the series is also on the move: ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part II’ is due on March 29th, 2024.
That wasn’t the only Spider-news to hit from Sony – the company has also handed out a July 7, 2023 spot to ‘Madame Web’, which stars Dakota Johnson as the title character, a clairvoyant with abilities to see into the spider world. Sydney Sweeney also stars, while S.J. Clarkson will direct a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.
With ‘Across: The Spider-Verse’ vacating its original October 7 release date this year, that has left room for Sony to put live-action/CGI musical adaptation of children’s book series ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ in its place. Shawn Mendes voices the eponymous singing crocodile, while Will Speck and Josh Gordon direct and produce.
