News
‘The Witches’ Conjures a New Adaptation From Robert Zemeckis and Guillermo Del Toro
As reported by Variety, The Witches is set for a new film adaptation from director Robert Zemeckis (known for such classics as Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and producer Guillermo Del Toro.
The Witches was written in 1973 by the iconic Roald Dahl, known for such beloved and darkly comic works as James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The novel was first adapted for the screen in 1990 starring Angelica Houston, whose witchy transformation fuelled the nightmares of an entire generation of children (absolute queen that she is).
The story follows Luke, a young boy who goes to live with his grandmother after his parents die (always a positive note to start on) and discovers that she’s a bona-fide (yet retired) witch hunter. Luke soon discovers a convention of witches (as one does) as they reveal their new monstrous plot to turn children into mice.
Zemeckis will both serve as director and write the screenplay for the new adaptation. We don’t have any details on how potentially dark the film might be, but according to Variety, “sources close to the project say Zemeckis’ version will be more rooted in the original source material, while the Huston pic was a loose adaptation”.
Nicolas Roeg’s 1990 film adaptation of The Witches has rightly earned its place in the hearts of many, but Roald Dahl was notably displeased with the film, calling it “utterly appalling”.
If this new version does stick closer to the source material, that could certainly be a good thing (though we doubt we’ll get any direct feedback from Dahl – he passed away in November of 1990); the children’s book has some surprisingly violent moments with themes of hatred and fear.
The Witches will be produced by Zemeckis with his partner Jack Rapke (through their banner ImageMovers) along with Academy Award winner/genre darling Guillermo Del Toro and Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Gravity).
Del Toro had previously been attached as the film’s director, but had to pass along the torch due to a scheduling conflict.
Zemeckis has previously worked in the horror genre as a producer on Thir13en Ghosts, What Lies Beneath, Tales from the Crypt, Bordello of Blood, The Frighteners, and House on Haunted Hill.
Again, it’s hard to predict what we can expect from this new adaptation, but the collected team sounds promising. If you’re keen to have a creepy new film to enjoy with the young’uns, this could certainly be one to watch out for.
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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