This week in movie news:
10 spoilers hidden at the start of popular films (see above); The Little Mermaid finds a new director; Tina Fey comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot gets a trailer; sci-fi drama High-Rise receives a trailer; The Snowman lands a release date; Chadwick Boseman will play Thurgood Marshall; the Charlie's Angels reboot lands a screenwriter; Mama director developing a film about Harry Houdini; The First Wives Club cast to reunite for Netflix film Divanation; the Fifty Shades of Grey director may helm a thriller about Ted Kennedy; and Herbie Hancock joins the cast of Valerian.
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The Little Mermaid finds a new director
Rebecca Thomas -- who previously directed the 2012 indie Electrick Children -- is in early talks to direct Universal's upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. The film will star Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) and is based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who falls in love with a human man.
Richard Curtis is writing the script for The Little Mermaid, which has not quite yet received a green light from the studio. In addition to that project, Thomas is slated to direct Looking for Alaska, the film adaptation of John Green's best-selling novel. Elle Fanning is eyed to headline that release.
Source: The Wrap
Tina Fey comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot gets a trailer
Paramount has released a new trailer for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the new comedy starring Tina Fey. The film -- which centers on a journalist working as a war correspondent abroad -- is based on the Kim Barker book The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The film marks the third directorial effort for filmmaking team Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love).
In addition to Fey (who also serves as producer, alongside Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels), the film features an ensemble cast that also includes Martin Freeman, Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina and Billy Bob Thornton. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is set for theatrical release on March 4, 2016.
Source: Paramount
Sci-fi drama High-Rise receives a trailer
StudioCanal has released a new trailer for High-Rise, the new sci-fi drama from director Ben Wheatley. Tom Hiddleston stars as a young doctor seduced into the lifestyle of an isolated community and its enigmatic creator (played by Jeremy Irons). When he befriends a documentary filmmaker attuned to the social unrest occurring within the high-rise, he finds himself in grave danger.
The film -- based on the 1975 novel by J.G. Ballard -- also stars Luke Evans, Sienna Miller and Elizabeth Moss. It is set to hit theaters in the UK on March 18, 2016 and has yet to secure a domestic release date.
Source: StudioCanal
The Snowman lands a release date
Universal's The Snowman -- based on Jo Nesbø's best-selling novel -- has received an official release date of October 13, 2017. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) and Charlotte Gainsbourg and is the latest project from director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).
The film -- which begins filming in January 2016 -- centers on the leader of an elite crime squad as he investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter. Before long, the case begins to indicate that a mysterious serial killer may be behind the murder, stringing together decades of cold cases.
Source: ComingSoon.net
Chadwick Boseman will play Thurgood Marshall
Chadwick Boseman -- who will debut as Marvel's Black Panther in next year's Captain America: Civil War -- will play legendary attorney Thurgood Marshall in a new film from director Reginald Hudlin. Titled Marshall, the film is a courtroom thriller centering on a provocative case early in his career.
Hudlin previously produced Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, and Marshall -- which has the full support of the Thurgood Marshall and Samuel Friedman estates, including their children -- serves as his first theatrical release since 2002 comedy Serving Sara. His career also includes hit 1990s hits House Party and Boomerang.
Source: THR
Charlie's Angels reboot lands a screenwriter
The Charlie's Angels reboot has brought on screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos (Hercules) to script the project, which will again adapt the original 1970s television series for the big screen. The show -- centering on a trio of female detectives -- was previously adapted into a pair of films starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu and released in 2000 and 2003.
Elizabeth Banks is attached to direct and produce the new film, which will likely serve as her third directorial feature following this year's Pitch Perfect 2 and the in-development Pitch Perfect 3. She can currently be seen onscreen as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2.
Source: THR
Mama director developing a film about Harry Houdini
STX Entertainment -- the production house behind this year's thrillers The Gift and Secret in Their Eyes -- has acquired the rights to David Jaher book The Witch of Lime Street: Seance, Seduction and Houdini in the Spirit World. Andres Muschietti -- who previously directed the 2013 horror film Mama -- is developing a film adaptation to produce and direct the project
Based on a screenplay be Jaher, the film is a true story inspired by real events in the 1920s centering on Houdini's efforts to debunk Margery Crandon, known as "The Witch of Lime Street". Crandon was said to be the most gifted and accurate psychic and spirit medium of the era, and her accomplishments lead a team of investigators -- Houdini chief among them -- to disprove her abilities.
Source: STX Entertainment
The First Wives Club cast to reunite for Netflix film Divanation
Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler -- who shared the screen in the hit 1996 comedy The First Wives Club -- will reunite for a Netflix original film titled Divanation. In the film, the iconic actresses will star as members of a once-popular singing group forced to reconnect 30 years after their breakup.
The project marks the latest step in Netflix's expansion into developing original content. This year, the streaming service released awards contender Beasts of No Nation and Adam Sandler comedy The Ridiculous Six. Lisa Addario and Joey Syracuse wrote the Divanation script, and no details have been revealed regarding a director or release date.
Source: Deadline
Fifty Shades of Grey director may helm a thriller about Ted Kennedy
Sam Taylor-Johnson -- who directed Universal's mega-hit Fifty Shades of Grey -- is in talks to direct Chappaquiddick, a political thriller centering on a dramatic period in the life of Senator Ted Kennedy. The project was previously named to the 2015 Black List, which selects the best unproduced screenplays.
Written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, the film chronicles the controversy surrounding a tragic car accident that results in the death of former Robert Kennedy campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne, placing Ted Kennedy in the position of protecting his family's legacy. Chappaquiddick is currently casting and will begin filming in spring 2016.
Source: THR
Herbie Hancock joins the cast of Valerian
Director Luc Besson -- who previously directed The Fifth Element and Lucy -- has announced that legendary musician Herbie Hancock will appear in his upcoming sci-fi epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. However, the director has not revealed any details surrounding Hancock's role.
The film features an ensemble cast that already includes Dane DeHaan (as the title character), Cara Delevingne, John Goodman, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke and Rihanna. Based on the Pierre Christin/Jean-Claude Mezieres comic book series that debuted in 1967, the film reportedly has a budget as high as $180 million.
Source: Luc Besson