Let’s be honest… No movie news this week will be bigger than what broke yesterday: Bill Murray has made all our dreams come true by agreeing to appear in next summer’s Ghostbusters reboot, the first new Ghostbusters film in over twenty-five years. But if you can think of anything other than Ghostbusters today (in which case you’re a better human being than I am), we’ve got updates in today’s Movie Morsels on the next Alien, Mortal Kombat, Ice Age, and… Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters?!
Alien 5
District 9 director Neill Blomkamp appears to be working quite hard on his Alien sequel these days. Following up on the concept art Blomkamp unveiled earlier this year, he’s just shared a new image of what he’s dubbed his “Alien room” online. There’s some images and art from the Alien saga on the wall, as well as a sweet Aliens power loader model. Presumably this is all designed to inspire the filmmaker as he creates what we hope and pray will be a worthy installment of the Fox franchise. But if for some reason that should happen to fall apart, it looks like a great place for a pizza party.
Mortal Kombat
The film franchise based on Midway Games’ Mortal Kombat is hoping to get a new lease on life via the director of Furious 7. James Wan is stepping into the role of producer on the reboot, scripted by Mortal Kombat: Legacy‘s Oren Uziel and The Expendables‘ Dave Callaham. This time around the story goes back to basics by focusing on an everyman caught in the cross-dimensional battle between Earth and Outworld, who must win the Mortal Kombat tournament to save our planet.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2
What’s that? You say you didn’t even see the first Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters? Well apparently quite a few people have, because sequel plans are well underway with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton reprising their roles as demon-slaying siblings. Commercial director Bruno Aveillan will make his feature directorial debut on the film, from Gary Sanchez Productions’ Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
[Deadline]
Ice Age 5
And the title of Ice Age 5 will be… Ice Age: Collision Course! Also, Fox just moved the release date back a week to avoid Ghostbusters‘ opening day. The animated sequel will now come out July 22, 2016, opposite Guy Ritchie’s Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur. Voices will again be provided by John Leguizamo, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, and Queen Latifah, along with Keke Palmer, Wanda Sykes, and Jay Leno.
[Coming Soon]
Ghostbusters
Again, this week’s biggest news is that Bill Murray has made my life complete by agreeing to appear in director Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot. This isn’t just cool for longtime fans, but it speaks volumes about the quality of the film’s script, since Murray has always sworn he’d never appear in another Ghostbusters unless its script could compare with that of the original film. Just who Murray will play is TBD—and whether it will be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo or something more substantial is still unknown. But who would you like to see him play? A version of Peter Venkman from a parallel universe (ala Spock in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek)? Some other kind of elder Ghostbuster or mentor? A ghost, as was apparently once the plan for a third film? Your guess is as good as ours. But there are certainly less fun things to speculate about for the next twelve months… Murray’s fellow former buster Dan Aykroyd filmed his own part in the film last month. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones, the new film will light ’em up on July 15, 2016.
[Nerdist]
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