Can’t wait for more? Well, Disney says this is what we have to look forward to in the “Star Wars” universe.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (takes place before Episode IV, about obtaining the plans Leia will stash in the first of the “Star Wars” films to be released)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Written by: Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz
Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Alan Tudyk
Release: Dec. 16, 2016
“Star Wars: Episode VIII” (So Rey hands Luke the lightsaber, and then….)
Written and directed by Rian Johnson (of “Brick” and “Looper”)
Starring: Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac (reportedly)
Release: May 26, 2017
“Star Wars Anthology: Han Solo” (working title) (backstory of Han Solo — maybe we’ll get to see him make that Kessel run)
Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“The LEGO Movie” guys!)
Written by: Lawrence and Jon Kasdan
Starring: Not yet announced
Release: May 25th, 2018
“Star Wars: Episode IX”
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Writer: Rian Johnson
Starring: Not yet announced
Logline: Unknown
Release: 2019
“Star Wars Anthology: Boba Fett”
Director: Not yet announced
Writer: Not yet announced
Starring: Not yet announced
Logline: Unknown
Release: 2020 (reportedly)
Happy 2016! Here’s What’s Coming to Theaters This Year
Posted on January 1, 2016 at 8:00 am
Happy new year! Here’s some of what we’re looking forward to seeing in theaters in 2016. As usual, we have sequels, remakes, superheroes, movies based on best-selling books, and movies based on real-life stories. And, as usual, what I look forward to most is knowing that a year from today I will be a fan of movies and performers and writers and directors I do not yet know anything about. Can’t wait to meet them. (All release dates subject to change)
January
Norm of the North (looks kind of like “Happy Feet” crossed with “Madagascar?”)
February
Hail Caesar! (The Coen brothers take on the golden age of Hollywood)
Zoolander 2 (Blue Steel! This time with Benedict Cumberbatch!)
Race (the story of Olympic champion and American hero Jesse Owens)
March
Knight of Cups (from Terrence Malick, so it will be beautiful and opaque)
Me Before You (based on the best-seller about a young woman who is hired to help a wealthy young man who is paralyzed following an accident)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Tina Fey and Margot Robbie star in this fact-based story of a war correspondent)
Zootopia (animated comedy about a city of animals)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (even Greekier and weddingier!)
April
Keeping Up with the Joneses (Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher, and Zach Galifianakis star in a comedy about suburbanites who suspect their neighbor might be a spy)
The Boss (Melissa McCarthy is a bad boss gone rogue)
Barbershop: The Next Cut (Ice Cube and the gang are back for more haircuts, trash talk, and potential apple juice theft)
Everybody Wants Some (“Boyhood” director Richard Linklater follows up his classic “Dazed and Confused” with some some dazed and confused 80’s jams — in both senses of the word)
The Jungle Book (live-action re-telling of the Rudyard Kipling classic story of a boy raised by animals)
Keanu (Key and Peele play “blerds” (“black nerds” who must save a kitten, with Method Man, Nia Long, and Will Forte)
Mother’s Day (from the same folks who brought you all-star dramedies about New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day)
Nine Lives (Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Garner star in a story about a man who is trapped in the body of the family’s cat)
Captain America: Civil War (Cap is back. So is the Winter Soldier.)
Going in Style (remake of the comedy heist film about an over-the-hill mob, starring Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Christopher LLoyd — and Ann-Margret)
The Free State of Jones (Matthew McConaughey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw star in this fact-based story of a farmer married to a former slave who rebelled against the Confederacy during the Civil War)
Money Monster (Jodie Foster directs George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the story of a television investing guru held hostage on the air)
Snowden (Oliver Stone directs Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the story of the notorious former NSA contractor seen by some as a traitor and some as a heroic whistleblower)
The Angry Birds Movie (ever wonder how the birds got so angry?)
X-Men: Apocalypse (more mutants!)
June
Now You See Me 2 (that rich guy is not happy about the magicians stealing his money)
Finding Dory (Nemo and Marlin must take another journey)
July
The BFG (Roald Dahl’s classic story stars Mark Rylance from “Bridge of Spies”)
The Secret Life of Pets (what do they do all day when we’re at work?)
Ghostbusters (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon probably get slimed)
Lala Land (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a musical from “Whiplash” writer/director Damien Chazelle)
August
Ben-Hur (Jack Huston and Rodrigo Santoro star in this remake of the Charlton Heston classic)
Kubo and the Two Strings (the latest from LAIKA)
September
The Magnificent Seven (remake of the classic western with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Matt Bomer)
Masterminds (Zach Galifianakis and Kristen Wiig star in this fact-based story of some very dumb criminals)
In Production: Rumors of Cate Blanchett as Lucille Ball and a “Galaxy Quest” TV Series
Posted on September 9, 2015 at 3:13 pm
Exciting news! There are rumors that Cate Blanchett will be playing red-headed comedy icon Lucille Ball in a new film produced by Ball’s children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. The screenplay will be by “West Wing’s” Aaron Sorkin, and the focus will be on the relationship between Ball and her co-star and husband, Desi Arnaz.
And one of my favorite movie comedies is set to become a television series for Amazon Prime. “Galaxy Quest” is a movie about the actors from a “Star Trek”-style television series who discover that aliens, thinking the series was real life, have replicated their spaceship. So there is a special fitness to having the fictional television series become a reality.
By Grabthar’s hammer, here’s hoping both projects become a reality and that they are everything we hope, so no one has any ‘splainin’ to do.
You Can Help Support This new Ed Asner Film on Indiegogo
Posted on August 1, 2015 at 4:18 pm
Ed Asner stars in this new film about a young man who finds a book at his grandmother’s memorial, with a series of fantastical tales that his grandfather wrote for his grandmother. Each is a different romantic fantasy about how they meet. Those stories help him find his own love.
The filming is over, and the filmmakers need some help for post-production so that it can be released. They have an Indiegogo campaign and I’ve contributed. Look for me in the credits as an associate producer, and for $100 you can be one, too!
Guess who showed up on the Valentino runway for Paris fashion week! Derek Zoolander and Hansel! And Blue Steel, of course.
Derek (Ben Stiller) wears a custom Night Butterflies brocade suit with hand-embroidered overcoat and black Creeper shoes. Hansel (Owen Wilson) wears a Silk Continent print Pajama suit with Double Cashmere overcoat and Open sneakers. Both will be back in theaters for “Zoolander 2,” coming in 2016.
