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BGN News Beat: Last Week’s Biggest Headlines

BGN News Beat: Last Week’s Biggest Headlines

BGN News Beat
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What’s going on in the TV world?

Larry Wilmore, formerly of the The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, is teaming up with comedian Bassem Youssef to create a comedy series about a family of Middle Eastern Superheroes. The show follows the Sharif family, both parents are superheroes in a time when it is illegal to be one, forcing them to keep their actions a secret. According to Deadline, the show will also address issues concerning immigration and living in a society that hates you. “At its heart, it is a family show about assimilation and the difficulties and the problems and the conflicts with assimilation,” Wilmore said about the show. “There are so many issues immigrant families face becoming Americans To combine this with a fantasy adventure show seemed like an interesting approach to a family show.” Wilmore and Youssef will serve as writers and execute producers for the series which will air on ABC Studios.

ABC/CBS

Syfy from Universal Cable Productions is teaming up with Blumhouse, the company behind Get Out and Paranormal Activity, for a reboot of Tremors. Andrew Miller will write the pilot for the series which will see Kevin Bacon, who starred in the original 1990 film, return to fight the new Graboids in the town of Perfection. Ebonée Noel and Brandon Jay McLaren were just added to the cast. According to Shadow and Act, “Noel will portray Zoe, a truth-seeker possessed with deep, sensual intuition and mystic power, Zoe’s connection to Mother Earth is aided by Perfection’s unique energy and provides her with visions of events to come. McLaren is Toby, a likable guy who nobody likes; he’s the public liaison to a data storage company in Perfection that failed to create any local jobs. He’s hanging around to facilitate the company’s transition from staffed to unmanned operation.” Ebonée Noel was recently in ABC’s Still Star-Crossed, while Brandon Jay McLaren was in CBS’ Ransom.

Speaking of reboots, Bad Boys is coming to the small screen. The series will be a spinoff focusing a character played by Gabrielle Union. In Bad Boys II, Union played Special Agent Sydney Burnett, sister of Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett. In addition to being an undercover DEA agent, she was also romantically involved with Detective Lieutenant Mike Lowrey played by Will Smith.  Written by The Blacklist writers-producers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier, the series is currently being pitched to networks.

Getty/DAW/Penguin Books

Lin-Manuel Miranda and John Rogers are adapting Patrick Rothfuss’s The Kingkiller Chronicles for Showtime. “Showtime has always championed bold storytelling. Pat Rothruss’ Kingkiller series is some of the most exciting storytelling I have ever read. I could not be more thrilled to help bring the sights and sounds of his wondrous world of Temerant to the screen,” Miranda said in his announcement. The Kingkiller Chronicles follows the adventures of two wandering performers through a fictional kingdom. John Rogers will serve as showrunner while Miranda will be an executive producer and compose original music for the series.

Finally, in an interview with FandangoThor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi confirmed that he’s trying to get an American version of What We Do in the Shadows made. Instead of a film, it will be a tv series. In New Zealand, he’s planning a spin-off starring the cops from the film “as a sort of mockumentary X-Files [that takes place in] a certain small New Zealand town where they investigate paranormal activity,” he told Fandango.

In Movie News…

JB Lacroix/WireImage

Tiffany Haddish is on fire this year. Launching from the success of Girls Trip, she is currently shooting Night School which is also directed by Malcolm D. Lee. She is also set to star opposite Tracy Morgan in TBS’ The Last O.G. Now according to Deadline, Paramount has just obtained a pitch for a female-driven comedy starring Haddish. Sam Pitman & Adam Cole-Kelly are writing the script. The film will be produced by Peter Principato, Itay Reiss and Joel Zadak.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the director of Logan, James Mangold, talked about the film’s prospects for earning award nominations. Patrick Stewart’s role was highlighted as one that could be an Oscar contender. Shockingly this would be Stewart’s first Oscar nomination. Mangold also commented on the possibility of a film about Laura, Logan’s break out star, “Patty’s success with that film only solidifies more for studios that there’s less to fear with a female protagonist. The more that keeps getting hit home, that ends up giving me more space turning around and going, ‘Well, here we are with a female protagonist. That’s incredible. And what are we going to do with her?’ And that’s where we are with that [the Laura script] right now, dreaming.” Laura was played by Dafne Keen in the film. Currently, Mangold is working with Craig Kyle, the creator of Laura/X-23, on a treatment for the movie. Kyle is also one of the writers behind Thor: Ragnarok.

Ben Mendelsohn, who recently played the villain in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is now in talks to play a different villain, this time for the Captain Marvel movie. According to Variety, he is currently in talks with directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The Skrulls are set to the be antagonists in the film so it follows that Mendelsohn might be their leader. The most recent iteration of the script was written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet.

Getty/DC Comics

Zachary Levi, best known for his starring roles on Chuck and Disney’s Tangled, has been cast to play the titular character in DC Entertainment’s Shazam!. This is the second time Levi has appeared in a comic book moving, having played Fandral in the Thor: The Dark WorldShazam! is about a young boy named Billy Batson who has the power to transform into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Each letter of the name, Shazam! stands for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Each god or historical figure bestows attributes on Bastion when he transforms.

Justin Lin is currently in talks to return to the Fast and Furious franchise. Vin Diesel teased the announcement that the Lin might be directing Fast 9. During the same broadcast, he said Jordana Brewster might also return after being absent from The Fate of the Furious. Lin has previously directed 4 of the 8 films in the franchise: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. The 2019 release date for Fast 9 was pushed back after it was announced that Dwayne Johnson’s and Jason Statham’s characters would get their own spin-off.

In two bits of final news, it looks like an old franchise might be getting a new lease on life. Deadline is reporting rumors that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover might be teaming up for another installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise. Richard Donner would be returning as the director and Channing Gibson, the writer of Lethal Weapon 4, on the screenplay. Also in the realm of possible movies, in an interview with io9 Thor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi said he wouldn’t mind tackling a Black Widow movie. “[I’d like to see] Black Widow as something crazy and a bit funnier than we expect it to be,” he told them. “Because we know her story and it’s very sullen and very dark and her history is very dark. But! What’s the funny version of that? What’s the more entertaining version of that?” What do you think of either of these ideas? Let us know.

If you have anything I missed, email me at mel@blackgirlnerds.com or tweet me at @jane_anon. Check back in next Monday for all the exciting news happening next week.


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