News Of The Week: Patrick Wilson To Direct ‘Insidious 5’ & ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ VFX Breakdown

Hollywood was on temporary pause but productions are gearing back up, release dates continue to be tweaked in preparation for theaters reopening, and things are slowly starting to return to normal – or at least, our temporary new normal. With the entertainment industry turning its attention to television and a number of movie productions either being in pre-production or production, major headline-worthy news has been scarce in the past week. Still, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been interesting news to share.

Let’s hop to it.

‘Insidious 5’ Officially On The Way With Star Patrick Wilson Set To Direct

It was assumed it was coming, but it was finally made official: Insidious 5 is on the way. What’s even more exciting, longtime franchise star Patrick Wilson is set to make his directorial debut and step behind the camera along with reprising his role as Josh Lambert. The story, which is set 10 years after the events of 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key, will reportedly find Dalton (Ty Simpkins), the son of Josh and Renai (Rose Byrne), heading off to college. The script was written by Scott Teems from a story by franchise co-creator and original writer Leigh Whannell. At the time of the announcement, producer Jason Blum nodded to the fact there’s been a continuity of cast and crew that has made the franchise so beloved and lent it longevity. And now it’s set to be even more in the family with Wilson behind the camera.

1990 ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Writer Says Reboot Talk Has Been Happening

Thirty years ago, the first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out and won over an entire generation of fans who still think about the movie with nostalgic fondness three decades later. And if we get lucky, we ’90s kids just might get a third TMNT movie with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop behind it. Sure, we got the 2014 live-action movie and a sequel a few years later, but those were unaffiliated with the original team and left little cultural footprint. But OG writer Bobby Herbeck has said in a recent interview that he’s been having discussions with original director Steve Barron, Brian Henson, who took over Creature Shop after his dad’s passing, and others about doing a reboot of the franchise. The time is right, he said, asking us to envision what could be possible for Team Henson to pull off with the technology we have now, saying, “Imagine if Brian Henson had access to the technology he does today to make these costumes and all that. I think it would be amazing. A reboot like that I think would really get people’s juices flowing.” Here’s hoping he’s right!

Check Out These Awesome Videos Breaking Down ‘Alita: Battle Angel’s’ VFX

With Alita: Battle Angel back in theaters this weekend for a limited run, the Alita Army has gotten another treat on top of that. World-renowned visual effects company Weta Digital released a batch of behind-the-scenes videos breaking down the stunning VFX work for Alita and the world of Iron City. Of the four videos, one focuses on the work of getting Alita’s humanlike face and movements right, one focuses on the compositing necessary for Alita to fit naturally into the world, one is all about how they built the world of Iron City to be a secondary character itself, and the last is about the strategic cinematography and lighting they chose in order to make her fight scenes look like something ripped out of a manga story. They’re a fascinating look at how a technically groundbreaking movie gets made and well worth a watch for any filmmaking nerds out there.

Last but not least, check out our Quick Hits column that rounds up all the bits and bobs of news that don’t quite make the cut for a full article but are still interesting updates: