Tom Holland Is New Spidey

It's official--Tom Holland will play Spider-Man as a result of the deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel to have him integrate as a part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 Charlie Plummer "Ender's Game" and "Hugo" star Asa Butterfield Matthew Lintz Judah Lewis (Demolition)  "The Walking Dead" star Chandler Riggs and Charlie Rowe (Red Band Society) were also on the latest list of hopefuls.

 The other contenders along the way included Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars),Timothee Chalamet ("Interstellar," "The Adderall Diaries") and Liam James (The Way Way Back). There were reports that Lab Rats star Billy Unger had been added to the list--Unger denied the chatter on Instagram.=

When the deal first came down two names were quickly mentioned as potentials to take over the role- Teen Wolf series co-star and NJ native Dylan O'Brien and  Fury co-star Logan Lerman. Both are 23 years old, both have scored good notices for their work and both could still play high school age. Bad Ass Digest reported in March that 16 -year-old actor Mateus Ward ("Murder in the First") auditioned for the role.

The plan is to stick with Peter Parker rather than introduce the more recent 13-year-old, half black, half Hispanic Miles Morales who became Spider-Man in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" storyline. It would also confirm rumors that the studio is going much younger than previous incarnations, and looking at true teenagers for the role.

 Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies), Ted Melfi (St. Vincent), Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect), John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein (Vacation remake) and Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) were all reportedly in contention to direct the Untitled Reboot of the film series. Now Jon Watts will helm the pic. Watts directed the upcoming indie thriller "Cop Car" which debuted at this year's Sundance, he also helmed the 2014 horror film "Clown".

 Drew Goddard, who was originally slated to write and direct the Spidey spin-off "The Sinister Six," was considered the frontrunner to call the shots--but is moving on.

The film is reportedly a coming of age tale that is targeting a John Hughes-style blend of emotion and humor amid the superhero stuff . There's also said to be plans to tell the story over several films with each covering a year of high school for Peter Parker who is already been bitten by that radioactive spider.

Parker is expected to make his first appearance in the MCU in "Captain America: Civil War" which has started filming. Parker's scenes were expected to be shot in June.

 Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal are set to produce the pic.`

El Mayimbe says that the title for the solo film--set for a July 28th 2017 release--may be "Spider-Man: The New Avenger". This would certainly clue audiences in on the direction the series is now headed.

David Beckham Reaches For "King Arthur" Sword

FilmDivider reports that David Beckham has scored a cameo in director Guy Ritchie's "Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur" for Warner Bros.

The film is the first in a proposed 3-movie fantasy re-telling of the King Arthur legend--with Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim star Charlie Hunnam in the title role.

 The sports star is said to show up during the key scene of Excalibur getting drawn from the stone by Arthur. In the film, his character is a disgruntled knight who "gets a little ticked off when this other fellow, this upstart, is the one who can free the sword." The site claims that that the scene even features some football/soccer jokes which suggests the film will boast a pop culture-vibe for this version of the Arthurian legend absent in the other film adaptations.

In the classic tale, Guinevere (“I Origins” actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey) is the young lover of King Arthur before she later betrays him for the knight Lancelot. Ritchie’s film is expected to focus on Arthur’s earliest days. Jude Law is in tipped to play the villain in the project.

Eric Bana is set to play Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur, Bana's  role ''isn't the biggest'' but the director and studio suits wanted to get a big name for the part and initially went after Liam Neeson for the role but he passed on it.

Djimon Hounsou's role of Bedivere is described as a "Merlin-esque figure" who trains and mentors Arthur in the film. Hounsou takes over for Ritchie's "RocknRolla" star Idris Elba who was also reportedly up for the role but couldn't do it due to scheduling issues.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" and "The Fall" star Jamie Dornan was previously suggested as a potential candidate, but his commitment to the steamy sex franchise may have blocked him from doing the role There's bit of irony here considering Dornan replaced Hunnam in the lead role in Grey after he suddenly left the film.

 Joby Harold penned the script for the first part.

 Akiva Goldsman, Lionel Wigram Harold and Tory Tunnell will produce.

Ritchie and Wigram developed a version that fell apart when David Dobkin's "Arthur & Lancelot" got much closer to production. Ultimately that project never came to be either due to budget issues.

Production is underway. The film is currently slated for a July 22nd 2016 release.

Will Tom Holland Wear The Spidey Suit?

Despite reports that "Ender's Game" and "Hugo" star Asa Butterfield was all but set to play Spider-Man as a result of the deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel to have him integrate as a part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, TheWrap's Jeff Sneider tells Meet The Movie Press podcast that Butterfield is out--as is "The Walking Dead" star Chandler Riggs sending out a tweet wishing the actor that wins the role luck .

Sneider says there are three actors still in the running - Tom Holland, Charlie Plummer and Matthew Lintz.. Marvel is keen on Plummer, Sony wants Holland, explaining why the casting decision hasn't been announced yet--the studios are still at odds over which actor is the best fit. As previously reported Judah Lewis (Demolition) and Charlie Rowe (Red Band Society) were also on the latest list of hopefuls.

Plummer is a minor, and therefore could only work in stages and would not be allowed by law to put in a full day. As a result Sneider believes Holland will be the likely choice.

 The other contenders along the way included Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars),Timothee Chalamet ("Interstellar," "The Adderall Diaries") and Liam James (The Way Way Back). There were reports that Lab Rats star Billy Unger had been added to the list--Unger has since denied the chatter on Instagram.=

When the deal first came down two names were quickly mentioned as potentials to take over the role- Teen Wolf series co-star and NJ native Dylan O'Brien and  Fury co-star Logan Lerman. Both are 23 years old, both have scored good notices for their work and both could still play high school age. Bad Ass Digest reported in March that 16 -year-old actor Mateus Ward ("Murder in the First") auditioned for the role.

The plan is to stick with Peter Parker rather than introduce the more recent 13-year-old, half black, half Hispanic Miles Morales who became Spider-Man in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" storyline. It would also confirm rumors that the studio is going much younger than previous incarnations, and looking at true teenagers for the role.

 Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies), Ted Melfi (St. Vincent), Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect), John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein (Vacation remake) and Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) are all reportedly in contention to direct the Untitled Reboot of the film series--Drew Goddard, who was originally slated to write and direct the Spidey spin-off "The Sinister Six," was considered the frontrunner to call the shots--but is seemingly moving on.

The film is reportedly a coming of age tale that is targeting a John Hughes-style blend of emotion and humor amid the superhero stuff . There's also said to be plans to tell the story over several films with each covering a year of high school for Peter Parker who is already been bitten by that radioactive spider.

Parker is expected to make his first appearance in the MCU in "Captain America: Civil War" which has started filming. Parker's scenes were expected to be shot in June.

 Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal are set to produce the pic.`

El Mayimbe says that the title for the solo film--set for a July 28th 2017 release--may be "Spider-Man: The New Avenger". This would certainly clue audiences in on the direction the series is now headed.

JGL Talks "Sandman" Flick

The big screen version of author Neil Gaiman's popular comic book series Sandman is still in the pipeline over at Warner Bros

At last report, Jack Thorne ("A Long Way Down") had signed on to write the adapted screenplay with Gaiman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David S. Goyer are producing the project.

The 75-issue comic follows Dream (aka. Morpheus), the Lord of the dream world who is held captive for seven decades by an occult ritual. Having escaped, his kingdom has fallen into disrepair in his absence and he sets about changing his old ways - hard for a being who has been around for billions of years.

DC Entertainment's film guru Geoff Johns was said to be high on Goyer's take.

Both big and small screen adaptations of Gaiman's comic have been in development, but none of them have ever really gotten anywhere despite some major names being mentioned. The story format would also be tricky to adapt - the elaborate story arcs too complicated and lengthy to play out on film, while the dense and rich visual world is too expensive to produce as a TV series.

The series features various elements of mythology, horror, historical events and absurdist humor. Characters include Dream's siblings such as his gothic punk rocker looking sister Death, his talking animal assistants, and The Corinthian who has two mouths for eyes and who is immortal

There's still no word as to who might play the lead here.

Appearing at the Guys Choice Awards over the weekend, Gordon-Levitt offered up a status update to MTV saying that progress is happening but taking time:

"It's really good, man. It's slow but steady. It's a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they're brilliant. But they're not written as a whole. It's not like 'Watchmen,' which is a graphic novel that has a beginning, middle, and end. 'Sandman' was written over the course of whatever - I forget exactly, six or seven years. One at a time. One little 20-page issue at a time. And to try to take that and make it into something that's a feature film - a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end - is complicated."

JGL says that those who go in expecting something akin to the big action-packed blockbusters that the genre mostly consists of these days--will be disappointed:

"Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing sh-t up. This has nothing to do with that. And it was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said 'Don't have any punching.' Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn't punch anybody. That's not what he does. It's going to be like a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches. So, that's why it's taking a lot time to write, but it's going to be really good."

When the film will go into production is anyone's guess. We do know that the film is NOT part of the DC Cinematic Universe.

James Wan Charts "Aquaman" & "Robotech"

THR confirms that James Wan has inked a deal to direct the solo superhero "Aquaman" film after weeks of negotiations.

Jason Momoa is set to star as the seven seas master--He will make his debut as the character in Zack Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice".

 Latino Review reported a while ago that Noam Murro (300: Rise of an Empire) is also a directorial candidate for the Aquaman  movie. He seemingly joins "Take Shelter" and "Mud" helmer Jeff Nichols on the shortlist for the job

 LR also broke the news that "Star Trek" reboot star Karl Urban is eyed for a supporting role in the film that may be the villain (Ocean Master perhaps?)

Last August we found out that 300 scribe Kurt Johnstad and "Gangster Squad" writer Will Beall have been hired to pen separate scripts for the solo "Aquaman" movie. The studio wants to then combine them getting the best version from the two works.

 Momoa's contract is for just four movies--this would likely include  Snyder's "Dawn of Justice" the "Aquaman" film, The Justice League Part One and "Justice League Part Two" which suggests that you're highly unlikely to see him cameo as Arthur Curry in any other DC Entertainment films.

Momoa has been linked to Warner Bros' upcoming DC Entertainment plans for a long time but he's been suggested for numerous other roles like Doomsday or Metallo alien hero Martian Manhunter who also happens to like Oreo Cookies. The imposing actor has been asked about the talk several times but always denied that he's up for a role. Momoa has said if he hadn't landed the Aquaman role he wanted to play Lobo

Created in the 1940s, Aquaman is a founding member of the Justice League who can control the sea and is the king of Atlantis. Alan Ritchson played the character in several episodes of Smallville while Justin Hartley played the seven seas hero in a 2006 TV pilot that never aired.

The DOJ release was delayed a full 10 months for a number of reasons. As a result, the original release date of July 17th 2015 was no longer. The studio then targeted a May 6th 2016 release. They quickly inserted the fantasy Pan into that original slot. The sequel was to go head to head with "Captain America 3" ...Nobody thought that the comic book pics would ultimately share the date--Sure enough DOJ blinked--and will now open on March 25th 2016.

The solo Aquaman comes to theaters July 27th, 2018.

Wan will also call the shots on the big-budget film adaptation of the 1980s anime franchise "Robotech"
 
Of the two, films "Aquaman" is likely to go first since it is further along. Wan will oversee the script process .

Studio suit Greg Silverman says  of Wan: "The Aquaman film will be a major tentpole picture for us and James' span of work has proven him able to take on any manner of project, bringing his incredible creative talent and unique voice to the material."