News of the Week: 'Dune' Overseas Opening Bodes Well For Domestic Debut

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. Movie news is once again starting to flow, with us bringing you a few hand-picked stories we think you’ll like.

Let’s hop to it.

‘The Lost Boys’ Remake In The Works

After Hollywood kicking around the idea for a while, a remake of The Lost Boys is currently underway from Warner Bros. THR reports that it’s surprisingly far along, too, with Jaeden Martell (It) and Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) having signed on to star and Jonathan Entwhistle set to direct. Randy McKinnon will pen the script. The original 1987 version of The Lost Boys was a vampire teen dramedy that centered on two brothers who move to a small seaside California town only to discover it’s being terrorized by a biker gang of vampires led by Kiefer Sutherland in one of his early career bad boy roles. It was directed by the late Joel Schumacher and was notable for its moody, New Age 80s soundtrack. Details about the remake are being kept tightly under wraps, but it will be reportedly set in the modern day. Considering Jonathan Entwhistle’s resume, which includes I Am Not Okay with This and The End of the F***ing World, we can guess it will have strong Gen Z trappings with some surreal elements.

Daniel Craig Wants More Roles For Women & People of Color, Not A Female James Bond

Daniel Craig is soon to close out his time as James Bond with the release of Cary Fukunaga’s No Time to Die, set to hit theaters on October 8. Unsurprisingly, the end of his run means speculation and debate have run hot for the past year regarding who might take up the mantle. Among that debate has been a loudly growing push for a female 007 or a James Bond of color. Craig himself recently weighed in on that conversation while speaking with Radio Times and had a thoughtful take on it all:

The answer to that is very simple … There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?

On one hand, he’s absolutely right: there should be more excellent roles in Hollywood for women and people of color. On the other hand, simply getting those roles isn’t going to fix what ails the industry. Even if given the opportunity, there are few roles of characters as well-known and long-established as James Bond. And when it comes to making movies based on original or unproven IP, the marketing and distribution budgets for female- and POC-led movies tend to be far smaller than those led by white men. So it’s not simply a matter of creating more roles for underrepresented groups; studios also have to invest the money to fully back and brand them and keep doing it even if the first movie isn’t necessarily an instant franchise-starting hit – assuming, of course, it’s a reasonably good movie. One thing is for certain: it will be nice when we no longer need to have discussions like this.

‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Gets An Official Title & Synopsis

After a high-profile swap of Mads Mikkelsen for Johnny Depp and period of controversy, Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts 3 went quiet on the news front. That changed this week, however, when the upcoming movie got a release date move, an official title, and a synopsis. Fantastic Beasts 3 will now officially be titled Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and will be hitting theaters three months earlier, now scheduled to release on April 15, 2022. A new synopsis was revealed, as well, which hints at the meaning of the new title:

Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?

The first two movies have received mixed reviews and audience interest, and the franchise continuing through the five-movie plan largely depends on how Fantastic Beasts 3 performs. Fingers crossed it can right the ship and succeed at the box office.

Ryan Reynolds Has Perfect Response To Gerard Butler Not Watching His Movies

Ryan Reynolds arguably keep his finger on the pulse of pop culture and current conversation on the internet, and his response to a silly non-story once again proves it. Gerard Butler was recently interviewed by Unilad for his upcoming movie Copshop, and during the interview, the topic of his 2009 movie Gamer came up in comparison to Ryan Reynold’s recent Free Guy, which had a similar premise and after talking about Gamer, he shared what came across as a less-than-flattering comment about Ryan Reynolds: “I actually don’t know what Free Guy is. […] Oh sh*t is it… I don’t watch Ryan Reynolds movies.“

Now, it’s entirely likely that came across on the page as far more insulting than intended, but regardless, Ryan Reynolds was unfazed by Butler’s comments. Not only did he take it in stride, the internet-savvy actor even found a way to turn it into a call to action for a good cause. On Instagram, he shared a screenshot of a story about Butler’s comments to manufacture pretend drama before immediately redirecting people’s attention to a few causes and pledging that he and Blake Lively would match the donations of up to $1 million.

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Seriously, he just seems like one of the best human beings in Hollywood, he and his wife both.

John Boyega Joins Viola Davis In ‘The Woman King’

TriStar’s The Woman King is quietly shaping up to be one of the most exciting historical dramas currently in development. Viola Davis signed on to play the titular character and The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood was tapped as director last summer. Since then, Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, No Time to Die) and Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad) have been added to the cast. Now, it adds another huge piece of the puzzle: THR reports that John Boyega has joined the project. Boyega will play King Ghezo, the historical ruler of the African kingdom of Dahomey in the 18th century. The story is based on true events of the kingdom and its elite female warriors (arguably the inspiration for Black Panther’s Dora Milaje decades ago) who fought against the invaders that enslaved their people and threatened to destroy their home. Davis will play Nanisca, the general of that all-female unit while Mbedu will play Nawi, an ambitious young recruit, and Lynch a veteran warrior. Prince-Bythewood spoke of her admiration for Boyega and her excitement to work with him in a statement, saying,

I have been enamored by John’s immense talent for years, but his speech to Black women during the protests cemented my desire to work with him. The description of King Ghezo reads, ‘He walks as if the earth were honored by its burden.’ John possesses that innate depth and swagger, and I’m so excited to put it on screen.

Dana Stevens wrote the first draft of the script with the most recent draft written by her and Prince-Bythewood.

‘Dune’ Overseas Rollout Looks Promising For Domestic Opening Weekend Box Office

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is arguably a bit of a risk for Warner Bros. As a movie, it looks absolutely eye-popping, with a stacked cast and excellent director. But it’s also based on a series of sci-fi books with a massive world and complex storyline that may leave audiences unfamiliar with the original source material lost. However, Dune has started to roll out overseas and so far, so good, with early box office returns looking promising for opening weekend in North America if domestic audiences respond the same way. It opened this past weekend on a combined 7,819 screens in 34 markets and hauled in $36.8 million, with Russia having the highest haul at $7.6 million, followed by France ($7.5 million), Germany ($4.9 million) and Italy ($2.6 million). This solid debut was arguably spurred by the very positive reviews coming out of the Venice and Toronto film festivals, and is likely allowing Warner Bros. to breathe a small sigh of relief for now, especially as it hasn’t even opened yet in the biggest overseas market of China. The production budget alone is an estimated $165 million and it only adapts the first half of the story; whether or not there’s a second half depends on how it performs. In equally great news, it just secured a release in China on the same day as its North American release on October 22. This is one of 2021’s most anticipated releases, and though it’s opening on HBO Max the same day as theaters, we can only hope it will get people out to theaters in a month.