In this Hollywood news round-up, there are updates on Justice League Dark, Gambit, Captain Marvel, Star Trek: Discovery, Doctor Who, Class, Arrow and Stranger Things. Plus, this:
MUST READ OF THE DAYIf the rest of the world loves superhero movies so much then why can't other countries just make their own superhero movies? Russia, China and India are sure trying. The Guardian has more on this story:
From Chakra the Invincible to, er, Pancake Man, meet the new global superheroes giving the US studio a run for its money
FILM
WB currently has two release dates for untitled DC movies. Maybe one of them will be Justice League Dark, which, as you might guess from the title, is basically a Justice League for DC's supernaturally-inclined heroes like Constantine, Dead Man, Zatanna, etc. Doug Liman has been tapped to direct which means Fox's Gambit movie (or Chambit, if you're nasty) is suddenly without a director...again. Seriously, Fox, maybe this Gambit thing isn't meant to be. But if Suicide Squad is proof of what happens when you rush a movie like this then, by all means, take all the time you need.
Liman, mostly known for action movies (and notorious incompetence while making Bourne Identity and World War Z), is an odd choice for Dark, a project Guillermo del Toro had championed for years before moving on to donating his film collection to museums. There's certainly a Suicide Squad vibe here. There, WB sought to adapt one of DC's lesser-known properties centered around anti-heroes, and hired someone who'd worked for the studio before but wasn't an obvious fit for the project. Moreover, from the outside looking in good luck figuring out how exactly this project will fit in with the rest of the DC movies (although I guess Superman is about to come back from the dead).
But, fuck it, I've actually read a fair deal of Justice League Dark, and have been dying to see this adapted to film for a while (Check THR's rundown of the property for comics newbies). Plus, the impulse to adapt Suicide Squad or Justice League Dark is commendable since there are only so many damn Superman and Batman movies you can make. Not coincidentally, there is a Justice League Dark animated movie on the way later this year. Here's a trailer (kind of):
Dark is not the only new DC movie in development. Lionsgate optioned The Monolith yesterday, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's story of a superhero golem who finds work in Brooklyn. It originally ran from April 2004 to March 2005. The reason this live-action adaptation ended up as Lionsgate instead of WB is because DC let the rights revert back to Gray and Palmiotti. The currently attached director and writer will be making their feature film debuts after a career in video games and on crews for other movies. To be honest, this is the first I've ever heard of The Monolith, but I at least know Palmiotti from his recent and on-going work on the Harley Quinn comics.
Captain Marvel's director's list is down to three women: Niki Caro ( Whale Rider, North Country, McFarland, USA and The Zookeeper's Wife), Lesli Linka Glatter ( Homeland, Ray Donovan, The Newsroom, True Blood, Mad Men, ER and The West Wing) and Lorene Scafaria ( Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Meddler). As per usual with Marvel Studios, they are all outside-the-box choices and would probably make a far better Captain Marvel movie than we'd ever expect.
According to Forbes, Dwayne Johnson is Hollywood's highest paid actor with annual earnings of $64 million. You have to go through four more dudes on the list before you get to the first female, Jennifer Lawrence, whose earnings ($20m) are only 72% of Johnson's. There is certainly a gender gap argument to be made here (although, to be fair, Johnson makes more movies per year than Lawrence), but when salaries for anyone in any walk of life (looking at you athletes and CEOs) rise to that level it's challenging to muster any kind of sympathy for them. Or at least that's the reaction I get whenever I mention this kind of thing to literally anyone I know. Check The Guardian to see who else made the list.
TELEVISION
Gasp! Will we all have to watch [gulp] 10-12 minutes of commercials during every episode of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access next year? Strange. I feel like the whole world is laughing at us since pretty much every other country will get the show through Netflix, where commercial advertising goes to die. Variety's Maureen Ryan has more on this story.
Doctor Who might be returning to Amelia Pond's childhood home next season. It'll be a while before we know for sure since season 10 won't air until spring 2017.
Speaking of Doctor Who, is its upcoming spin-off Class starting to sound a lot like Torchwood?
[Showrunner Patrick] Ness explains that the Doctor's former activities in and around Coal Hill has caused rifts in time and space to open all over the school, allowing aliens and beings from different times and realities to slip into our own. So you know, exactly like Torchwood, where the Doctor's former activities in and around Cardiff caused a rift in time and space to open all over the city, allowing aliens and beings from different times and realities to slip into our own. But with teens!
The Washington Post thinks the internet should give the Stranger Things-obsessed treatment to equally worthy shows like BoJack Horseman, Younger, Devious Maids, The Eric Andre Show and Power. And in the time it took me to write that sentence there were like 100 new thinkpieces written about Stranger Things. Heck, here's one from Forbes. Not saying that's a bad thing. It's more that as someone who binge-watched Stranger Things the first week it was available I'm surprised to see its popularity still growing over a month later. Time after time, Netflix shows are simply buzzy for a week or two and then forgotten until the next big streaming thing comes along. Not Stranger Things. It's got some serious legs.
There's a fairly big (and kind of unintentionally funny) spoiler involving a statue in this commercial for Arrow 's fifth season premiere:
COMIC BOOKS
So many good comics, so little time. Let io9 break it down for you with its guide to the overwhelming amount of new comics coming this fall.
