Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day, has teamed up with folks behind the likes of World of Warcraft for a new franchise, Space Nation.
Space Nation is designed to be a space opera that will come to life as an online game, a TV series and a series of animated shorts.
Emmerich, who is most recently behind Peacock gladiator drama series Those About to Die, has teamed up with Jerome Wu, who worked on World of Warcraft; Tony Tang, from online game Warframe; and Marco Weber, who produced Emmerich’s 1999 sci-fi film The Thirteenth Floor, on the franchise.
It will start as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in a universe inhabited by alien species and driven by three main factions with distinct ideologies and goals. It will be followed by a TV series, animated shorts and spinoff games. >>>"Tremendous Opportunity" |
|
| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
|
How Much Can 'Indy' Whip Up? - Facing the worst reviews ever for an Indiana Jones movie, the Lucasfilm franchise finale Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is hoping to gain traction with audiences and best its projected $60 million-$65 million domestic start and $140M global opening. >>>China Prospects Dim
Barbie Vs. The Bomb - Barbie will own the conversation, but Oppenheimer may be the summer’s “must-see” movie. The July 21 face-off between those unlikely rivals hints at the imminent surprises of Summer ’23. The contest pits Christopher Nolan against Greta Gerwig with her cast of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. "The world was never the same after Oppenheimer," Nolan reminds us. But insiders this week may be astonished by Ken and Barbie's strong tracking. >>> Peter Bart's Column
Booked - The Rachel Incident, the upcoming novel by Caroline O’Donoghue, is getting the TV treatment. UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, has optioned the rights to the novel, which is to be published on June 27 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. O’Donoghue is the author of YA fantasy All Our Hidden Gifts. The Rachel Incident is her first adult novel to be published in the U.S. >>> Story Of "Secrets And Compromises"
Amazon Delivery - Candle Media’s Exile Content Studios is partnering with acclaimed Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell and director Gaz Alazraki (Father of the Bride) to produce a scripted feature about the incredible recent news story of the four children, including a baby, that survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon Rainforest before being rescued by Colombian special forces. >>>Quick Turnaround |
|
Gotham Knights ended its one-season run on The CW on Tuesday, as the network bids farewell to many of its scripted series. While the finale may feel premature, it does wrap up several of the biggest loose ends of the season. Star Misha Collins spoke with Deadline about his complicated feelings on the end of Gotham Knights and how he’d hoped to continue to explore the villain in subsequent seasons. He also discusses the end of The Winchesters, which closes the Supernatural chapter of his career as well. >>> Read The Interview |
|
Following months of audition tapes and in-person screen tests, Warner Bros and DC Studios have their new Clark Kent and Lois Lane. David Corenswet has been set to play Superman while Rachel Brosnahan is on board to play Lois Lane in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy. The decision comes after the two were among the few selected to test in front of DC co-chairs Peter Safran and Gunn (who is directing) in full costume and makeup for the parts.
Exclusive
Writer-director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes has continued rounding out an impressive cast for his debut feature, the dark veteran dramedy My Dead Friend Zoe, bringing Morgan Freeman, Gloria Reuben (Mr. Robot) and Utkarsh Ambudkar ( Brittany Runs a Marathon ) aboard for roles. The film delves into the lives of military veterans to highlight both their triumphs and challenges upon returning home. The trio will star alongside the previously-announced Ed Harris, Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales.
Party Of Five alums Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf are reuniting to star in A Merry Scottish Christmas, a new original movie set to air on Hallmark Channel during the network’s annual Countdown to Christmas programming event.
Ashley Greene (The Twilight Saga) and Shawn Ashmore (X-Men series) are set to lead horror movie It Feeds, the first in a proposed ten-picture genre slate from LA-based Productivity Media Inc (PMI) and Canadian outfit Black Fawn Films. Currently in production, It Feeds will tell the story of a young girl who insists that a malevolent entity is feeding on her. Greene portrays a clairvoyant therapist.
In Brief - Eric Roberts (Babylon) has been set to star opposite Hutch Dano and Christopher Livingston in Down Below, a psychological horror film from director Spyder Dobrofsky…Masterpiece on PBS will launch seven new episodes of All Creatures Great and Small in early 2024 with new and returning cast members. |
|
More News
💔 After six months of searching, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office confirmed that the human remains found earlier this week by hikers were indeed those of actor Julian Sands. He had been missing since mid-January. The statement says his cause of death is still pending, but Sands was an experienced hiker who loved the outdoors.
💰 California’s Legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that extends the state’s film incentives program through 2030 and establishes the nation’s first safety protocols in law for television and film workers. The bill, AB/SB 132, now is headed to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is expected to sign it.
🎙️ Ryan Seacrest will take over for Pat Sajak as host of Wheel of Fortune in Season 42. Sajak recently announced his retirement from the syndicated show at the end of next season. In addition to serving as host, Seacrest also will serve as a consulting producer on the show.
🦊 Fox News again topped the June ratings, but the gap has narrowed with MSNBC, the only news network to see across-the-board viewership gains versus 2022. The exit of Tucker Carlson continued to weigh on Fox News’ primetime. The network averaged 1.49 million viewers, down 31% versus the same period a year ago, while MSNBC averaged 1.32 million, up 3% from a year earlier. CNN posted 635,000 viewers, down 3%.
📽️ Big cinema advertising platform National CineMedia said Tuesday its plan of reorganization has been confirmed by a judge in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company filed for Chapter 11 in April. It now expects to emerge in August or September.
🤝 The Only Way is Essex producer Lime Pictures has snapped up one of the highest-profile execs to have left Paramount Global’s UK unscripted arm following its closure. Joe McLusky, who was Viacom International Studios’ Vice President and General Manager, Non-Scripted, has become Lime’s Director of Production Unscripted, replacing now-Monkey MD Helen Kruger Bratt. He will oversee all UK unscripted production across Lime Pictures and its All3Media stablemates Lion Television and Wise Owl Films. |
|
Obituaries
🕯 Nicolas Coster, the British-American actor who played an evasive lawyer in All the President’s Men, a fiendish kidnapper on All My Children, zany businessman Lionel Lockridge on Santa Barbara, and the father of Lisa Whelchel’s Blair Warner on The Facts of Life, died Monday at a hospital in Florida. He was 89.🕯 Ryan Mallett , the Michigan and Arkansas collegiate quarterback who for three years was Tom Brady’s backup on the New England Patriots, has died. Officials with the White Hall School District in Arkansas, where Mallett worked as a football coach, confirmed he drowned while swimming in Florida. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
|
Trending  The entire second season of The Bear launched on Hulu Thursday. Since then, the Season 2 debut has become the most-watched premiere of any FX series on Hulu. The Bear has also posted significant gains versus last season, with a 70% increase in total hours streamed over the first season after the first four days of viewing.
🔻 Fresh Kanye West antisemitism accusations have emerged in a BBC documentary charting the recent times of the troubled artist. In The Trouble with KanYe, which launched last night on BBC Two, the rapper’s former business partner Alex Klein accuses him of anti-Jewish remarks when the two parted ways. Klein created West’s Stem Player for his Donda 2 album but the pair broke contact following West’s prior antisemitic remarks, according to Klein, who claims this led an outburst from West, which is revealed in the doc. |
|
On the Radar
Thu - The Witcher S3 premiere
Fri - SAG & DGA contracts expire; Karlovy Vary FF, Essence Festival of Culture begin; Barbie premiere
Mon - Wimbledon gets underway
Tue - 4th of July |
|
John Landis, Superstar - John Landis taught a master class in comedy on film at the Taormina Film Festival this week. Festival co-artistic director Barrett Wissman said of the decision to invite Landis, "In Italy, John is kind of a superstar, much more than he is in in America for some reason. Everybody knows the films in America, but not much about him." |
|
|
