What’s going on in the TV world?
Mr. Robot has just been renewed for a fourth season. The show stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson and Christian Slater as the titular character. Christian Slater was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the show. It just wrapped up a successful and tension filled third season.
Fox’s Star just signed Chris Robinson as a director and co-executive producer. Chris Robinson previously directed all the episodes of BET’s The New Edition Story. His credits also include ATL and several episodes of Real Husbands of Hollywood. He is also a prolific music video director, working with artists such as Nas, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Alicia Keys. Previously, he directed two episodes of Star — “Insecure” and “Ghetto Symphony.”
We were all disappointed by Fox’s cancellation of Pitch. Thankfully that wasn’t the last we would see of its star, Kylie Bunbury. She has just been cast as the titular character, Christie Love, in ABC’s Get Christie Love. The show is a remake of a 1974 blaxploitation series and is being brought to us by Lionsgate and Universal Televisions. The show is being written by Power creator and showrunner Courtney Kemp. Vin Diesel, Debra Martin Chase, and Shana C. Waterman will serve as producers. The show is described as “an action-packed, music-driven drama that centers on Christie Love (Bunbury), an African American, female CIA agent who leads a highly trained elite ops unit. Beautiful and charismatic, Christie transforms into whoever she needs to be in order to get the job done especially when it’s down to the wire and the stakes are life and death.”
This week, Netflix announced a new comedy series entitled On My Block. The 30-minute comedy series is from Awkward creator Lauren Iungerich along with Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft. The show is described as “as a coming-of-age comedy that follows the life of four street-smart friends who experience the highs and lows of going to high school while living in the tough inner city.” It stars Diego Tinoco (Teen Wolf) as Cesar Diaz. Joining him are Jason Genao (The Get Down, Logan) as Ruby Martinez, Jessica Marie Garcia (Liv and Maddie) as Jasmin and newcomers Sierra Capri as Monse Finnie and Brett Gray as Jamal Turner.
Netflix is also bringing back She-Ra. The original series premiered in 1985 and followed Princess Adora, the twin sister of He-Man. The new series is being executive produced by Noelle Stevenson, the Eisner Award-winning author of Nimona and Lumberjanes. She will also serve as showrunner. The new series will be “an epic and timely tale that celebrates female friendship and empowerment, led by a warrior princess tailor-made for today”. It will premiere on Netflix in 2018.
Speaking of reboots. NBC is trying to make an American version of the British show, The IT Crowd. This marks NBC’s third attempt at a reboot. They tried in 2007 and again in 2014. This time original series creator, Graham Linehan, will be writing and executive producing the new series. The original series starred Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Chris O’Dowd as workers in the IT department of a large company.
In Arrow news, an old character is set to come back. Colton Haynes is reprising his role as Roy Harper aka Arsenal for a short arc. Starting as a recurring role in season 1 of Arrow, Haynes moved to a series regular in season 2, finally bowing out at the end of season 3. Executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle said of the return: “We’re thrilled to announce that Colton Haynes will be reprising his role as Roy Harper for a short arc on Arrow this year. Roy is called back to Star City to help resolve an urgent matter with high stakes for the team. His short visit turns into something surprising when he reunites with Thea and sparks a change in both of their lives that will have long-lasting consequences…”
You can now watch the first episode of Showtime’s The Chi for a limited time for free on YouTube.
Finally, the Golden Globes nominations were announced this week. Game of Thrones, This is Us, Black-ish and Master of None all received nominations. Sterling K. Brown was nominated for his role in This is Us as were Anthony Anderson for Black-ish and
Aziz Ansari for Master of None. For a full listing of nominees, look here.
In Movie News…
The #BlackPanther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. Watch the brand new TV spot and see Marvel Studios' "Black Panther" in theaters February 16! pic.twitter.com/FjFOydRN3F
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) December 14, 2017
Is it February yet? Not quite. As the clock counts down to the release of Black Panther, we’ve been getting more footage. This week Marvel released a new TV spot for it. There was also a new International trailer with new scenes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=3EVt3vfaFNY
Last week, we had a new image from Ocean’s 8. This week we finally have a poster. This is the latest installment in the Ocean’s franchise. The film stars Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean. After being released from jail, she recruits 7 women to pull off a heist at the Met Gala. Her team includes Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, and Helena Bonham Carter.
News of this buy out has been brewing for weeks but now we finally have confirmation that Disney has purchased Fox’s television and film assets for 52.4 billion dollars. This deal gives Disney control over Fox’s properties including the Avatar films, X-Men, Fantastic Four, X-Files, all of FX and FXX and Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu. The deal is expected to take 12 to 18 months to close so don’t expect any big changes just yet. What does this deal mean for the future of the Fox franchises, especially the comic book ones? “We’re also looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool and reuniting all of the Star Wars movies ever made under one roof, which opens new opportunities for that franchise,” said Bob Iger, CEO of Disney.
Paramount released a new trailer for Annihilation. Based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer, the film follows a team of women explorers and scientists led by Natalie Portman’s character. The movie also stars Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez. The film is directed by Ex Machina‘s Alex Garland who also wrote the screenplay. The movie comes out February 23, 2018.
Creed 2 has found it’s director and it isn’t Sylvester Stallone. After discussing it with Michael B. Jordan, who stars as the titular character, and executives, Stallone decided to pass on directing. Instead, he and Jordan specifically chose Steven Caple Jr. to direct the film. “We could not be more fortunate and excited for the collaboration of Steven, Sly, Michael and the producers, to build upon the success of Creed. The combination of Steven’s talent and unique vision makes him the perfect director to continue the Rocky franchise’s storied lineage,” said MGM’s president Jonathan Glickman. In addition to Jordan, Tessa Thompson is also reprising her role as Bianca. The sequel will follow Adonis Creed as he tries to navigate his fame, family issues and his quest to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a champion.
I feel like every week I talk about a new project with Tiffany Haddish. Now she’s joined the cast of The Oath. The film is written, directed by and starring Ike Barinholtz. It’s described as “set in a politically divided America where citizens have to take an oath of loyalty… a man has to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.” Haddish is joined by John Cho, Meredith Hagner (Search Party), Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia), Jon Barinholtz (Superstore), Billy Magnussen (Ingrid Goes West), Nora Dunn (The Guilt Trip) and Chris Ellis (Murder in the First). Haddish will also serve as an executive producer on the film.
Kevin Hart and Girls Trip producer Will Packer are teaming up again for a new project. They are currently working on Night School together. Next up will be the action-comedy On the Run. Hart will play a hitman on a job gone wrong after he finds out his victim is someone unexpected. Aeysha Carr, who is a producer and writer for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, will write the script.
A reboot of 48 Hours is in the works over at Paramount. The original 1982 comedy starred Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. It started the buddy copy genre and jump-started Murphy’s career. The remake is being made by Joshua and Ben Safdie who are best known for their thriller Good Time. Jerrod Carmichael from The Carmichael Show will star in it in Murphy’s role. He will also co-write the script with Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein.
The cast of the Shaft reboot, Son of Shaft, has grown with the addition of Regina Hall. According to Variety, she will play a former love interest of John Shaft, who will once again be played by Richard Roundtree. She will also be the mother of the younger Shaft played by Jessie T. Usher. The movie follows “a nerdy FBI agent who, after his friend dies under suspicious circumstances, launches his own investigation, reluctantly enlisting help from his estranged father — the legendary, stuck-in-the-’80s-but-still-cool John Shaft.” X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Alexandra Shipp will also be part of the cast.
Oscar Isaac has been a favorite in fancasting an Addams Family reboot. He would, of course, be playing the patriarch of the family, Gomez Addams. In my personal casting, he would be acting against Ruth Negga as his wife, Morticia. It looks like part of that casting might become reality. Isaac is currently in talks to be the voice of Gomez in the animated Addams Family movie. The film will be directed by Sausage Party‘s Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Corpse Bride‘s Pamela Pettler.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out this week. It earned a whopping $45 million at the box office Thursday night. This is the second highest Thursday box office showing after Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If this keeps on track, The Last Jedi will probably be the top grossing film of 2017. This will also give Disney three films in the top 5 grossing of the year, The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. You can read our review of The Last Jedi here.
Finally, I mentioned the Golden Globes nominations earlier. After the announcement, Jada Pinkett Smith took to Twitter to talk about Tiffany Haddish being snubbed for a nomination because the Academy failed to screen Girls Trip. Shadow and Act has the entire thread. In addition to the Golden Globe nominations, the SAG nominations were also released this week. The casts of This is Us and Black-ish both received nominations as did Stranger Things and Game of Thrones. Daniel Kaluuya was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Get Out. Get Out also received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Mary J. Blige was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Mudbound. For a full list of nominations, you can look here.
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.
