Before you head home for this last weekend before Halloween, we’ve got an especially nifty treat for you — the full trailer for the online animated series Judge Dredd: Superfiend, the “bootleg” spin-off from the Dredd feature film. Plus — casting news on Ridley Scott’s next sci-fi epic The Martian and the very cool-sounding Fan Girl, the glorious international poster for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Martin Scorsese’s return to rock biographies, and more!
Judge Dredd: Superfiend
We’ve been keeping you updated on the Judge Dredd web series Dredd film producer Adi Shankar has created as a way of saying thanks to fans who’ve supported his work. Well today the full trailer for Judge Dredd: Superfiend has landed online. Says Shankar, “I wanted to do something that played up the satirical tone of the Judge Dredd comics, an anti-establishment British comic about post apocalyptic America.” Regarding the use of animation to bring Dredd’s universe to life, Shankar adds, “I personally love cartoons, so I wanted to mimic the look of 90’s MTV, Ren & Stimpy, Liquid Television, with a dash of ReBoot and juxtapose that with the trademark violence found in everything I have done. When I was younger all of your favorite comic book sci-fi anti-hero characters had an animated series, X-Men: The Animated Series, Ultraforce, WildC.A.T.s, Savage Dragon, and even Youngblood got close … so in that tradition this is Judge Dredd’s foray into ultraviolent kids animation!â€
The Martian
Ridley Scott continues his return to his science-fiction roots with his upcoming adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian, starring Matt Damon as NASA astronaut Mark Watney, who finds himself stranded on Mars when a dust storm causes his fellow crew members to flee the red planet. The film boasts an impressive supporting cast — including Jeff Daniels as Watney’s NASA boss, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara and Michael Peña — and it just got all the more impressive with the addition of actors Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sebastian Stan, and Mackenzie Davis. Ejiofor is Venkat Kapoor, “the director of the Mars mission who will no doubt be scrambling like his colleagues to find a way to save Watney’s stranded spaceman. The Martian reunites Ejiofor with his American Gangster director, and Scott’s working from a script by Drew Goddard.”
[Empire]
Fan Girl
Two of the most acclaimed young actresses in recent years — Mad Men‘s Kiernan Shipka and Moonrise Kingdom‘s Kara Hayward (pictured above) — will star alongside Meg Ryan in Fan Girl, “about a 15-year-old post-Millennial teen who lives for making movies and idolizing her favorite band. Given only a few days to complete a final film project, she comes up with an idea that could bring her two passions together.” The film marks the directorial debut of Paul Jarrett who’s working with a semi-autobiographical script by Gina O’Brien. Pop punk band All Time Low will be featured on the soundtrack and appear in the film as themselves.
[Deadline]
The 5th Wave
Filming has finally begun on the movie adaptation of Rick Yancey’s award-winning, New York Times bestselling post-apocalyptic YA novel The 5th Wave. Directed by J. Blakeson and scripted by Susannah Grant, the film stars Chloë Grace Moretz (pictured above in this year’s If I Stay), Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, and Liev Schreiber; and it’s due in theaters on January 29, 2016. “Throughout photography, fans will have unrivaled access to the production, including a wealth of behind-the-scenes photos, interaction with cast and crew, and on-set updates via social media… The second book in Yancey’s planned trilogy, The Infinite Sea, was published last month.”
The Grateful Dead Documentary
After showcasing his love of music in the concert films The Last Waltz and Shine a Light, and his documentaries on Bob Dylan and George Harrison, moviemaking legend Martin Scorsese is presenting the story of one of the most popular bands of the twentieth century — the Grateful Dead. Scorsese will serve as executive producer of an as-yet-untitled documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev (Happy Valley, The Tillman Story) spanning the group’s entire career. Says Scorsese, “The Grateful Dead were more than just a band. They were their own planet, populated by millions of devoted fans. I’m very happy that this picture is being made and proud to be involved.”
[Movieweb]
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
On December 17th, director Peter Jackson invites Tolkien fans far and wide to return one last time to his vision of Middle-earth in the final chapter of his Hobbit trilogy — The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. We’ve seen the film’s character posters roll out in recent weeks, and now we have most of the principal cast featured in the international poster. Billed as “The Defining Chapter,” Five Armies no doubt hopes to win back Lord of the Rings movie fans who lost interest in the prequel trilogy.
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What were some of your favorite movie morsels this week? Sound off in the comments below.
Images: Adi Shakar’s Bootleg Universe, Focus Features, 20th Century Fox
