‘Floyd,’ Action Film Concept Described as ‘John Wick’ Meets ‘Big Lebowski,’ Underway From Writer Erik Olsen (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Phillippe (American Murderer), Emile Hirsch (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Mena Suvari (American Horror Story) will topline Kalahari, a new action thriller from Vertical, which has wrapped production.

EXCLUSIVE: Ashley Judd (She Said) has wrapped production in Oregon on Lazareth, a new thriller written and directed by Alec Tibaldi that she stars in for Vertical, TPC and SSS Entertainment. Others rounding out the cast include Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things), Asher Angel (Shazam!) and newcomer Edward Balaban.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Last December, Leonardo DiCaprio and Baz Luhrmann shared a quiet moment at a private residence in Los Angeles. They were gathered at an after-party for a fashion show held that night by luxury brand Celine. Iggy Pop gave a surprise performance at the show, and Cindy Crawford’s daughter Kaia Gerber strutted the runway, all before DiCaprio and Luhrmann sat gazing into an elaborate outdoor fire pit. Seated on the stone edge and facing the famous pair was another guest, Michael Braun. He promptly burst into flames.  A lick of fire sparked what one partygoer described as a mohair sweater. Braun’s entire torso ablaze, DiCaprio recoiled in shock as Luhrmann sprang into action. Braun yanked the sweater off, extinguishing the flames in one lucky swoop. Shirtless and charred, clad in only leather shorts and Doc Martens, Braun was instantly the subject of an outpouring of text messages and social media DMs, sharing a video that captured the freak accident. It was a breakthrough moment for a man whom insiders have become more curious about as he has grown enmeshed in the closed-off social circle of the most famous people in the world.

Sylvester Stallone is, without a doubt, one of the biggest action film icons in the history of the medium. The number of major action films he’s been a part of is unbelievable.

For wearisome reasons, the World War II cinema canon focuses mostly on the same handful of European nations — Germany, France, Italy, and England — and spares little room for others. This is a mildly annoying habit that the movies will inevitably self-correct; the world happens to be pretty big and the war was fought across all its corners, so we’ll never run out of stories to tell about it.

Priya Kansara has her eyes set on her next action film co-star.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to star in “Expendables 4” filmmaker Scott Waugh’s upcoming action thriller “Breakout,” which Anton will sell at the upcoming market in Cannes.  Schwarzenegger will lead “Breakout” in the role of Terry Reynolds. After Terry’s stepson is framed and sentenced to serve 25 years in a foreign country, he makes it his mission to break him out of jail. Terry will have to dodge prison wardens and the race of time if he wants to aid his stepsons flee from the country.  “Breakout” serves as Schwarzenegger’s return to action films since the blockbuster franchise installment “Terminator: Dark Fate” and ahead of his Netflix series “Fubar,” which is set to release in May. 

Ana de Armas is continuing to cement her status as a bona fide action superstar. She's starring as a secret agent in the forthcoming film , then she's entering the gun-blazing world of the universe in the forthcoming spin-off, Ballerina.The Oscar-nominated actress walked the red carpet at the premiere at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City on Tuesday and spoke with ET about her hotly anticipated role in «That is gonna be really another level,» de Armas teased.

Kadokawa has picked up all rights to “Kubi,” the upcoming film by Kitano Takeshi which will have its premiere out of competition in Cannes. Kadokawa will handle both the international sales and the Japanese commercial release. The film depicts the historical ‘Honno-ji Incident’ from 1582, when a key vassal of Oda Nobunaga rose in revolt and caused his master to commit hara-kiri in Kyoto. The reasons for the revolt and whether Akechi Mitsuhide was really the ringleader have been debated ever since.

Trying to keep up with this week’s new music? Every Friday, we collect new albums available on streaming services on one page.

stars Mel Gibson — though he is absent from the 45-second trailer — Colin Woodell, Mishel Prada, but not John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves. Woodell portrays Winston Scott in “The Continental” who is a young version of the Continental Hotel owner played by Ian McShane in the Reeves films.

John Wick spin-off prequel series The Continental has arrived – check it out below.The series was first teased in 2017, and was confirmed to be a prequel to the Keanu Reeves-starring movie series, with set “way back in terms of timing of the movies.”Ahead of its September 2023 release date on the Peacock streaming service, the first trailer has arrived for the show.A synopsis for The Continental reads: “The three-part event series will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.“Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.”Watch the trailer below.Speaking about the show’s premise, Lionsgate chairman Kevin Beggs explained: “What we’re exploring in The Continental is the young Winston and how it came to be that he and his team of confederates found their way into this hotel which we have met for the first time in the movie franchise 40 years later. That’s the arena.“I won’t give away more than that, but Starz really leaned into this take also, and they have been great collaborators.

Mel Gibson and Colin Woodell lead the cast for the three-part prequel series, , which will premiere in September on Peacock, it was announced Wednesday. The upcoming series explores the origins behind the hotel for assassins at the center of the franchise and is told through the eyes of young Winston Scott (Woodell) as he's dragged into the hell-scape of 1970s New York City to face a past he thought he left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel's mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.Woodell plays a younger version of the character portrayed by Ian McShane in the  movies, and he's not the only cast member taking on a familiar role to fans of the franchise.

As “John Wick: Chapter 4” continues its run in theaters, with over $306.6 million made at the box office, it’s time to start considering the franchise’s future. Will Keanu Reeves ever return to Chad Stahelski‘s series? Both actor and director are cagey in answering that question.

McKinley Franklin author It’s time to check into “The Continental.” The world of “John Wick” is expanding with the upcoming prequel series “The Continental” — which doesn’t include Keanu Reeves’ staple character, but after seeing the first trailer, it looks like the action-packed show may not need him anyway. “The Continental” is a prequel miniseries based on the four main “John Wick” movies. The original set of films, including last month’s “John Wick 4,” follows Reeves’ ex-hitman character, John Wick, who comes out of retirement on a quest for bloody vengeance. “The Continental” will give audiences a glimpse into the early “John Wick” universe before the timeline of the first film with its three episodes. The show will premiere on Peacock in September. 

Melissa McCarthy looked to her origins performing in New York City under the drag name Miss Y as her inspiration for her Ursula on The Little Mermaid.

K.J. Yossman As negotiations between the WGA and the studios and streamers gather steam, the reverberations are being felt well beyond the confines of Sherman Oaks where the sides are sitting down to wrangle over complicated issues at stake. Thousands of miles away, on the other side of the Atlantic, questions are already being asked about what impact a WGA strike may have in the U.K. – and whether British writers, who harbor many of the same concerns as their American counterparts, could ever stage a strike. “The problems that U.K. writers and U.S. writers face are basically the same,” says Robert Taylor, a lawyer and screenwriter who also acts as a legal advisor to the Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB). “The things in the U.S. strike about not getting paid enough by the streaming services, the things about mini [writers’] rooms and the writers being expected to contribute for small amounts of money and then being dropped, not being taken forward into the series, it’s exactly the same in the U.K.”

EXCLUSIVE: Joseph Baena (Chariot) will star alongside Luke Hemsworth and Morgan Freeman in the action film Gunner, directed by Dimitri Logothetis (Jiu Jitsu), which is now in production in Alabama.

TMZ reports.According to the death certificate obtained by the outlet, the “John Wick” actor, who passed last month at 60 years old, was diagnosed with Ischemic Heart Disease and Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease. The death certificate also states Reddick will be cremated.Atherosclerosis, a type of arteriosclerosis per Mayo Clinic, is a condition where the arteries become narrow due to plaque build-up, resulting in coronary artery disease.“The Wire” star died March 17 after collapsing in his Studio City home that morning.

The live-action Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King will have some of the songs updated to modern times, composer Alan Menken recently shared.