In this Hollywood news round-up, there are updates on Friday the 13th, Thor: Ragnarok, Supergirl, The Flash, The Walking Dead, The Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4 as well the surprising (or not so surprising) connection between 9/11 and How I How I Met Your Mother. But, first this:
The Five Stages of Watching a Purge Movie
FILMNoted Platinum Dunes hacks Brad Fuller and Andrew Form swear a new Friday the 13th is still happening. They have a script, director and start date for filming. We've been here before. Several times. Believe it when you see it. At least they've officially abandoned the idea of doing it as found footage, although they've now also apparently moved on from the idea of making a direct sequel to the 2009 remake. Sorry, Jared Padelecki. Here's the pertinent quotes from a Collider interview:
"So, it's been eight years. It will be eight years since we made the last one. I'm here to say that we found the location. We have found the lake, we have found the camp. We found an amazing script by Aaron Guzikowski. Breck Eisner is directing the movie. That movie is shooting in early Spring."There's been a lot of mileage between the 1st one and the 13th one. What we don't want to do is alienate the audience who hasn't seen the preceding 12 Friday the 13th movies. Aaron Guzikowski's job, as challenging as it is, is to come up with a movie where if you haven't seen any go the other ones, you can still come and see this one and love it and not feel like you've missed out on anything. And if you have seen the other ones, we want this to feel fresh. That's what took the longest amount of time: coming up with a story and then executing a script that fulfills both those mandates."
Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has a unique sense of humor. So, don't read too much into the following tweet he sent out to commemorate the cast and crew's final two days on set:
As happens to just about every schlock director/producer eventually, Uwe Bowl has officially retired from filmmaking, citing the death of the home video market as the chief culprit. So, say goodbye to the modern day Ed Wood. Here's WatchMojo's picks for the 10 worst Uwe Bowl movies:
Marvel Studios executive video president Victoria Alonso is tired of being the only woman in the room, telling the audience at a recent Women in Technology luncheon:
"We have had gender inequality for some time. It wasn't always talked about .... In the past year, it bubbled up and it's no longer acceptable to women and some men. Change is needed and hopefully we can make a balanced Hollywood for the next generation. I don't want to be the only [woman] in the room. Our rooms should be 50/50. If any of you - men or women - can lift [women] up, we'll all be better for it. You are important change makers. When you wonderful men say 'balance is necessary'...you open that door and the product is going to be better [with varied perspectives]."
The X-Men movie timeline is pretty fucked. Let's agree to accept that and move on. However, if you're still need some more clarity on the situation THR recently tried to explain the timeline continuity, from the first X-Men to Logan.
The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 just swapped release dates, the former moving to June 15, 2018 and the latter to June 21, 2019. Why? Because they happen to be much further along on Incredibles 2 than Toy Story 4 right now. Plus, maybe they sense a need to get their post-modern superhero story out there before the comic book movie bubble bursts, should that ever actually happen.
Pepsi is to blame for the rise of product placement. Wait, you mean this Pepsi scene in Back to the Future 2 wasn't completely organic?
TELEVISION The reason a lot of the new TV shows this fall are high-concept (e.g., Son of Zorn, The Good Place, Frequency, Timeless, Designated Survivor) is because those types of shows binge better. Basically, the networks will try anything to get our attention, and in recent years they've gone back and forth between throwing a bunch of crazy at us and hoping it sticks and offering us up a heaping dose of tried-and-true familiar formula shows. We just happen to be in a "whole bunch of crazy" phase right now. Not so much CBS, though. I mean, have you seen Man with a Plan? No one you know probably has, and yet it will probably run for 8 seasons.
How I Met Your Mother was inspired by 9/11, according to show co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas during a New York Television Festival keynote address earlier this week. At the time of 9/11, they were young twenty-somethings living in New York and writing for David Letterman. They would soon thereafter move to Los Angeles and pitch How I Met Your Mother to CBS, where it ran for 9 seasons:
"It really was a 'do it now or never do it' moment. Life is short - this is something we want to do eventually, we should do it," recalled Bays of choosing to move to Los Angeles to pitch the CBS sitcom.
The tragedy also informed the tone of the pilot. "We have to write something bigger and with emotion, and [that] talks about twists and turns in life," said Thomas. Bays added, "It informed HIMYM in very subtle ways. For two 29-year-olds to be writing something so nostalgic ... [Because we learned:] Wow, life really is about chapters closing and things coming to an end, and things pivoting on an axis that will never pivot back."
Supergirl's sister is gay or at least bisexual. Huh. Good for her. I shouldn't be so glib. I no longer watch Supergirl, but Alex Danvers coming out as gay or bisexual (or at least being on the verge of coming out) is a big deal to a lot of people.
Danielle Panabaker hopes Caitlin stays single on The Flash for a while, although if Robbie Amell ever becomes available again she'd love to see a Caitlin-Ronnie reunion.
Are you a part of The Walking Dead quitters club? I sure am, although I quit way back halfway through season 2.
