Production has begun on the as-yet-to-be-titled sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and some plot details were revealed yesterday. “J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald,” the press release reads. “However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world. The film expands the wizarding world, moving from New York to London and on to Paris.” Read more here.
THE WAR IS COMING
Yesterday Flickering Myth posted an exclusive poster for the live-action adaptation of The Dark Tower, which you can check out here.
If you’re heading to San Diego Comic Con later this month, you may be sad to hear that there might not be anything from a galaxy far, far away. According to an unofficial SDCC blog, a Lucasfilm representative has said that while they will be on the floor to sell Star Wars toys, books and other merchandise, there will be no presentations or press interviews. Instead, Lucasfilm will bring Star Wars: The Last Jedi to D23 on July 15th. Read more here.
The box office success of Wonder Woman continues, as it has now passed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad domestically, and $700 million worldwide. Read more here.
Edgar Wright did have a stint in the comic book movie world while working on Ant-Man for Marvel, but the Baby Driver director hasn’t shut down the possibility of jumping over to the DCEU. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m really not too familiar with their heroes, so I couldn’t say which one I would do.” Read more here.
The US adaptation of Death Note hits Netflix in August (and will premiere at FrightFest in the UK), and director Adam Wingard has been talking about the changes he made when moving the story from Japan to America. “In the early stages of the film I was reading all of the manga, really just looking at how does any of this translate to the United States,” said Wingard. “Ultimately, Death Note is such a Japanese thing. You can’t just say let’s port this over and it’s all going to add up. They’re two different worlds completely. It’s one of those things where the harder I tried to stay 100% true to the source material, the more it just kind of fell apart… You’re in a different country, you’re in a different kind of environment, and you’re trying to also summarize a sprawling series into a two-hour long film. Ultimately, whenever I say it’s about America, I’m looking at it like, what are the main kind of core issues going on in America, what are the things that people chalk up to conspiracy theories? What kind of weird underground programs does the government have? How do these work in the world of Death Note?” Read more here.
Flickering Myth’s resident film grump Anghus Houvouras did like Baby Driver, but not as much as everyone else. As such, he asked who are the contemporary Masters of Cinema? Read the article here.
Originally published July 4, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
