Now You See Me, Space Jam, Hercules: Weekly Round Up

4th May 2020

I never bothered to watch Now You See Me when it was first released to cinemas back in 2013. It looked kind of naff, despite the impressive cast, and to be honest it just sort of passed me by without so much as a second thought. It was only when the sequel, Now You See Me 2, was released, that I bothered to check out the first. Not because I was excited by the new installment and wanted to be up to date, but rather because I was baffled that any sequel to a film called Now You See Me wasn’t called Now You Don’t. Like… in terms of missed opportunities that’s up there with Peter Capaldi’s stint as the Doctor and Alien vs Predator.

Both Now You See Me films are rubbish. I don’t mean to be blunt, but they are. They’re bloody awful. Still, apparently audiences turned up because, despite their awfulness, studio Lionsgate are pressing ahead with a threequel (I’ll go out on a limb and say this one will be titled Now You 3 Me, because that’s just the kind of dumb shit I’d expect from this franchise).

Apparently, the new film will be a “fresh take” on the material, and will be written by Eric Warren Singer, the man behind The International, American Hustle, and Top Gun: Maverick. According to Singer, the script will reportedly see key returning cast members such as Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine return, along with several new additions to the cast. No one has actually officially signed on yet though, so this could possibly change.

And while we’re on the subject of stupid names for sequels, NBA star and producer of the new Space Jam movie, LeBron James, took to twitter this week to reveal the title for the Looney Tunes starring follow-up.

The film will be called Space Jam: A New Legacy, which… fine. Although in this instance Space Jam 2 would have been alright (although I’d have preferred something like Space Jams or Space Jam 2: Space Jammer). Not much else is known about the new movie, other than that as well as producing, James will star in the film alongside Sonequa Martin-Green and Don Cheadle, who will be playing the film’s villain. It is currently scheduled for a July 2021 release, although given current circumstances whether or not that remains the release date is anyone’s guess.

Despite the continued lockdown, however, we are still getting news about new projects ready to go as soon as they can.

One such project comes in the form of satirical sci-fi thriller Dual, about a woman with a deadly condition who decides to be cloned in an effort to spare her family the emotional grief of her death. However, when she miraculously survives, she is forced to confront her clone. It all sounds a little Sixth Day, if you ask me, but I’m up for anything that openly presents itself as satirical sci-fi, and this has a cast list I must admit has me intrigued.

Directed by Riley Stearns, Dual will star Karen Gillan in the lead role, while supporting cast members include Jesse Eisenberg (presumably taking time out from all his busy Now You See Me/Now You 3 Me goofing off) and Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul.

Dual isn’t the only new project to gain some traction this week, however. We also learned that the folks behind last year’s absolutely fantastic comedy horror Ready or Not (which starred Samara Weaving and was great fun) are busy prepping their next project. The Ice Beneath Her is an adaptation of the 2015 novel of the same name by Swedish author Camilla Grebe. The book has been compared to both Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

But if that’s not enough to whet your appetite then this week’s news that Daisy Ridley, fresh off her final outing in the Star Wars universe, is currently in talks to star in the thriller surely must be?

I’ll be honest with you, on the basis on the directors alone I’m all up for this one.

It’s not all intriguing new concepts though. Fear not, people, the COVID-19 lockdown hasn’t forced Hollywood to lose their desire to eschew creativity in favor of a guaranteed box office haul, and our dark overlords at Disney are leading the way there.

In the last few years Disney have started remaking what seems to be their entire back catalogue of animated classics, and they’re still at. This week we got conformation that Disney Pictures are now in the process of developing a live-action remake of Hercules. Normally I’d be totally uninterested in this (Hercules isn’t even among my favorites of the original animated movies, and very much suffers from Aladdin-itis in that it tries to hit all the beats that made that film a success), but the involvement of Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo as producers certainly makes this a slightly more interesting prospect.

Who will direct the project remains unknown at this point (although there are plenty of rumors flying around), or whether or not it will forgo the musical aspect, much like this year’s Mulan.

Whatever the case, I’ll be sure to try and keep you guys posted. As always, stay safe!

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