Eddie Murphy interested in Coming To America 3

Coming 2 America ⭐️⭐️⭐️ took too many years to come to fruition, but Eddie Murphy is reportedly already interested in planning a third movie.

“Coming 2 America” the long-awaited sequel might have just been released, but star Eddie Murphy already wants a third film and he wants costume designer Ruth E. Carter to return. The two sat down for Variety’s “Dream Teams” sequel to discuss their latest collaboration, and Murphy is planning, but audiences don’t have to wait thirty years, “You have to do next time,” he tells Carter. “[Set] sixteen years from now.”

Eddie Murphy and Ruth E. Carter on “Coming 2 America” Collaboration – Variety

If they do a Coming To America 3, then it needs to focus more on Murphy’s character Akeem. Murphy should be the centerpiece of the comedy, not other, younger actors. Arsenio Hall and he are and should always be the central characters in this franchise. It’s a little like having an Indiana Jones with Indy not being the central character. That was my main beef with Coming 2 America, and hopefully we’ll get more Hall and Murphy if there is a third movie.

Do you want to see another Coming To America sequel or are you done with the franchise? While they’re at it, how about Trading Places sequel or (gasp) Another Another 48 Hours? Murphy is already working on more Axel Foley in another Beverly Hills Cop sequel.

Will Netflix, Amazon or Apple Pay $400 million plus for two Knives Out Sequels?

Knives Out ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This past week I missed this rumor from Deadline that Netflix, Amazon and Apple are in a bidding war over two Knives Out sequels, with Netflix looking to edge the competition out — to the tune of $400+ million.

Netflix is closing in on a deal to make two sequels to the 2019 hit whodunit Knives Out, which Rian Johnson will direct with Daniel Craig reprising his role as super sleuth Benoit Blanc. Johnson, who wrote the original, has written the sequels and is producing with partner Ram Bergman. Sources said the deal will be worth north of $400 million, making it one of the biggest streamer movie deals in history.

Netflix Two Knives Out Sequels $400 million plus deal; Daniel Craig Rian Johnson – Deadline

Wow. $400 million?!?! for two sequels? We’re going to the school of James Cameron budget bloated sequel mania here — for streaming channels?.

Readers already know what we think of (not all) $100 million+ budget movies (see: $100+ Million Movie Budgets Are Stupid) — and that’s for theatrical release, but $200 million for streaming reaches a new level of absurdity. Especially sequels. It’s not like we’re talking about the sequel to Star Wars, Knives Out was a fun, entertaining movie, but this deal if it goes through is more than the first movie grossed. Seriously?

Good for Rian Johnson, I suppose. Bad potentially for Netflix subscribers that almost certainly will see another increase in the monthly subscription price (see: Will Netflix Price Itself Out Of The Streaming Market?). The more they spend on content, the more we’ll pay to view it. I like Netflix, but at some point they will price themselves out of our household. Is that when they push past $20/month? $25? $30? We’re getting there….

Do you like this deal? Or do you think this is kind of crazy? It’s not a 100% done deal and for that reason maybe this is floating out there for public sentiment. No, I say. I don’t want to see Knives Out 2 and 3 so bad that Netflix overspends for it. Do you?

Please Terminate The Idea For Another Terminator Movie, A TV Show Would Be Better

Terminator: Dark Fate ⭐️⭐️½ –

We all read rumors we hope aren’t true. I’m hoping this is one that is not. No more Terminator movies — for some time, anyway — please.

Terminator needs to take the Cobra Kai and The Mandalorian route. Go to streaming, develop a smart TV series of some kind that explores perhaps another angle. I know, I know, we had the Sarah Connor Chronicles already — and that was actually pretty good, but a quality TV series can rekindle interest in a feature length film.

The Terminator IP needs a lot of work to reinvigorate interest.

Maybe we need a Miles Dyson series that focuses on the creation of Skynet? I don’t know the creative specifics to make a new show a success, but strongly believe few fans of the franchise want to see another Terminator movie any time soon. At least not anything that follows along the disastrous reboot path of Dark Fate.

There are rumors of another sequel being discussed. This one again possibly being PG-13 instead of R.

… Dark Fate was actually one of 2019’s biggest bombs, while star Mackenzie Davis even admitted that people were probably bored of the franchise by now. However, insider Daniel Richtman claims that Paramount are once again pushing for a new Terminator movie and they want it to follow in the PG-13 rated footsteps of Salvation and Genisys, while James Cameron is reportedly keen to keep things R.

Paramount Reportedly Wants Next Terminator Film To Be Rated PG-13

Have to agree with James Cameron that Terminator on the big screen needs to stay R-Rated.

Cobra Kai has made me even more receptive to TV series from movies. The right creative team working on Terminator, as stated before, could make a really good TV series from this franchise.

What do you think?

Despite Lukewarm Reception for Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Bros. Greenlights Third Movie

Regardless your feelings for Wonder Woman: 1984, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are booked to return for a third film. Or at least, that is the plan after perhaps after Jenkins finishes Rogue Squadron for Disney.

Jenkins is saying Rogue Squadron — which has a scheduled release date of December 22, 2023 — is pretty far along in the treatment process and she’ll have to work on the third Wonder Woman at the same time. Multi-tasking alert. My guess is Wonder Woman 3 will be out in 2024 or 2025, assuming the creative process doesn’t hit some kind of snag or key people — IE. Jenkins, as she did previously pull out of Thor — pull out of the project. I don’t see Jenkins bailing on Wonder Woman 3, but it wouldn’t be totally shocking if she doesn’t feel like she can do the story she wants to do.

Early speculation on what the third film will be about have Jenkins saying it won’t be another period piece.

“I’m not pining to put it in the past again, because where are you going to go? I think it would be weird,” she said in a Hollywood Reporter interview last year. “You have to go forward. It’s definitely a contemporary story. That’s all I can say. And so where we put it and how that gets figured out, I haven’t totally nailed down.” 

Here’s Everything We Know About ‘Wonder Woman 3’ | HuffPost

So, will Wonder Woman be battling something contempary like, er, a virus? That would be about as timely as anything could be in current times. There are rumors that Chris Pine might return as well, but nothing confirmed yet. I think Steve Trevor was largely wasted in WW1984, so if that’s how he’s coming back, maybe that should be cut. Another possibility is he might be flashbacks only, which is almost as bad. Time travel? Please, no.

Must admit that at this very early and much premature stage, I’m not that interested in seeing a third Wonder Woman movie. That could easily change once the story details and a teaser trailer emerge. After seeing a sequel that wasn’t great, it reduces our enthusiasm for another sequel.

It was somewhat inevitable that the trilogy would be made. And I am glad that Jenkins will get a chance to finish her vision of Wonder Woman. Maybe instead of Geoff Johns, she should spend more story writing time collaborating with Zack Snyder like was done in the first? My faith in Patty’s screenwriting skill is shaken after seeing her most recent effort.

Are you looking forward to a third Wonder Woman movie? Or are you feeling less excited, too, after seeing the current film? There were just too many delays, too many edits, too much fooling around with the film. I wonder how much that negatively impacted the finished product. We might never know.

Wonder Woman 1984 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wonder Woman 1984 – PG-13 – 2 hr 31 min
NO SPOILERS Movie Review
Watched on HBO Max Friday December 25, 2020
HBO Max – Tacoma, Washington

A long-awaited Christmas 2020 present has arrived allowing HBO Max viewers, especially those of us who can’t see this in an open theater, to see this tentpole film.

Before getting to the plot, we would have both rather seen this in a theater, but didn’t want to wait. Is that what happened with you, too? Or are you waiting for theaters to open and plan to see it there?

Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is working in the 80s as a geologist when she meets shy, goofy Barbara Minerva. They analyze this artifact that Diana decodes the wording as being a dream granter, thinking of what her wish would be, sort of like a superhero version of the monkey’s paw. Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) attempts to be an oil tycoon are failing, so he steals the artifact and wishes to become the artifact, so he can grant wishes to the world.

First, we need to talk about the excess runtime. My goodness, this movie wasn’t complex enough plot-wise to require over 2 1/2 hours. Apparently, director Patty Jenkins pared back some of the scenes, but I’d argue some scenes were completely unnecessary. The opening Amazonian sequence was cool, but not very necessary. Steve Trevor’s involvement and love story seemed to be living more off a dream sequence than reality.

Where were the 80s? Yes, I recognized the mall backdrop from Commando which has been in a lot of movies, but with a movie set in the 80s, it needed more 80s references and nostalgia. Then again, maybe Wonder Woman stories belong in a World War II setting. The Nazis make such great villains.

Strengths? Maxwell Lord was more than just a cardboard villain, which was appreciated. The scenes with Cheetah vs. Wonder Woman were excellent and those alone make this film worth watching. Beyond Cheetah and Wonder Woman’s awesome gold armor, the movie was a bit flat and even draggy in spots.

The scale of the movie is grand. It was clearly made to be seen on the biggest screen possible. The sound effects and score are good. Watching Wonder Woman fling that golden lasso around flying from here to there — riding the lightning as seen in the previews! — or roping antagonists is exciting and fulfilling. Viewers will look forward to seeing these parts.

As the credits rolled, we felt like the story wasn’t as rewarding as some of the individual scenes. Was this the amazing movie I’ve waited over a year to see? Sometimes yes, mostly no. Scenes with Wonder Woman and Cheetah are great, but the rest is just kind of there. Like we’re being forced to wait for the good parts. At one dramatic arc in the movie, I wasn’t engaged or interested, I wanted to get to a different part of the movie. Not a good sign.

Unlike the first movie where Diana taking care of Steve while fighting evil kept viewers constantly engaged, this one just checked out at times. It’s still recommended, but the first movie, like all too many sequels, was significantly better. Not a lot of rewatch value here, except battle scenes which, again, were excellent.

Rating (out of 5 stars): ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Todd) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Kara)

Can’t See A Quiet Place II yet, but A Quiet Place 3 Is Already Planned for 2022 Release

A Quiet Place is venturing further down the sequel path.

Fairly common practice for horror films. Halloween the reboot by Blumhouse already has the next two films in the new trilogy planned for release, so why not follow a similar path?

A Quiet Place 3 — a stand-in for the actual title, which has not been announced — is currently scheduled for a 2022 release date. Luckily, Nichols has a lot of options when it comes to riffing on John Krasinski’s original idea, considering the first movie introduced a desolate, frightening, post-apocalyptic version of the modern world but offered no explanations as to how it got that way. Plus, we never learned how the hearing-sensitive monsters came to be either.

A Quiet Place 3 in the Works From Jeff Nichols | Consequence of Sound

It’s a fascinating world, so who knows, but it’s kind of curious to see a release date for the third film when we won’t be able to see the first one until next year. An exception I’m reminded of Back To The Future 2 and 3 filmed at the same time, but released a year apart.

Am very much looking forward to seeing the sequel because the first was so good, but not sure how long the world will hold interest. Guess it depends on if they continue to leave the mystery. If too much is known about the creatures they’ll lose some of their scariness. The unknown is scary. Don’t tell us everything.

Are you looking forward to more sequels, beyond part 2?

FIRST LOOK: True To The Game 2

The sequel to True To The Game picks up one year after the events of the first film. To try and prevent any spoilers I’ve edited the quoted article below to remove spoilers.

If you want to see the first film like we did before seeing this sequel that opens in theaters this weekend, then head over to Vudu and check that out right now. It’s free with ads for those in the United States anyway, can’t say how it is for our international friends.

….picks up a year after [the events of the first film] Gena (Peeples) … love interest. Separating herself from Philly’s dangerous scene, Gena has reinvented herself as a journalist, living and working in New York City. Forced to take some time off of work, Gena is sent on assignment to Los Angeles for a career-changing story. Though Gena is far from home, her life in Philly seems to always make an appearance. Someone from Quadir’s circle … reigniting another war between the two crews. Jerell (Fuller) is determined to get paid by any means necessary— and he’ll start with Gena.

Imani Media Group’s ‘TRUE TO THE GAME 2,’ The Sequel To The Best-Selling Urban Novel By Teri Woods Opens In Select Theaters Nationwide On November 6th

You might also want to skip watching this trailer if you haven’t seen the first film. Spoilers could abound here as well. The trailer is for those who don’t care about what happened in the first film being spoiled:

We have our tickets reserved to watch on opening night at the local AMC theater. A review will be coming.

True To The Game 2 opens in LIMITED number of theaters in the United States on November 6, 2020.

Ridley Scott, “I still think there’s a lot of mileage in Alien”

Good, it sounds like the next Alien movie likely won’t follow Prometheus or Covenant. Felt like those movies were a little too cerebral. Not that the Alien franchinse storyline needs to fall into a cheesy horror side (like Leprechaun), either, but there has to be that trapped in the isolation of space, gut-busting gore and terror to be worthy. Alien has always been about the isolation fear, not the origins.

“I still think there’s a lot of mileage in ‘Alien,’ but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve,” Scott said. “What I always thought when I was making it, the first one, why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs. What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question — who, why, and for what purpose is the next idea, I think.”

Ridley Scott Teases New Alien Film and Future of the Franchise | IndieWire

Some stories, particularly horror, can be ruined when we destroy all the mystery. We’re siding with Ridley Scott that there are more Alien tales that can be told, but jury out on whether or not the cargo of eggs and their destination will make for a good sequel.

What do you think? Do you want to see more Alien stories?

The most prolific actor in Hollywood, James Hong, deserves a Star on the Walk of Fame

You have definitely seen James Hong in something. The actor, now age 90, holds the record for the most credited appearances in movies and TV. He’s had roles in both classic and current TV and movies as well as videogames, building quite the career along the way.

James Hong just might be the most prolific actor in Hollywood history. As of July 2020, he has a total of 672 credits, which include 469 TV shows, 149 feature films, 32 short films, and 22 video games. His career has spanned 7 decades, and in the process appeared in iconic movies and shows like BLADE RUNNER, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, CHINATOWN and SEINFELD.

Fundraiser by Daniel Dae Kim : Let’s Get James Hong a Star on the Walk of Fame!

Somehow Hong hasn’t been awarded a star on the Walk of Fame. Anybody can nominate an actor for this honor and, if selected, there is a cost of $50,000. Daniel Dae Kim wanted to right this oversight by nominating Hong. As you can see from the picture above, Kim’s GoFundMe page for Hong has surpassed that goal. Congrats, well deserved!

I remember seeing Hong in many roles, but the one that comes first to mind, strangely, is his role as Snotty, the hilarious, disgusting sage to Booger in the sequel Revenge of The Nerds: Nerds In Paradise.

Sure, the movie is stupid, but this is one of the more legendary on screen introductions to a character in comedy history.

For your own stroll down memory lane, check out Hong’s extensive filmography. Which movie and TV role do you fondly remember seeing James Hong?

James Cameron shows crew three Avatar 2 scenes with almost completed visual effects to motivate

Image from post: Even if Avatar 2 sucks, the Mercedes Vision Avtr looks amazing

Here we are talking Avatar sequels again. This time, James Cameron is teasing three nearly completed scenes with visual effects — but to the crew only. Sounds like they were stoked.

Now, Landau, who is producing all the sequels with Cameron, has posted an update on Instagram, saying that Cameron has screened three scenes from the upcoming sequel, all with close-to-completed visual effects. Landau says that the scenes re-energized the crew, and made them even keener to get back to working on the movie.

Avatar 2: James Cameron Screens Scenes From The Sequel For Crew

Fly on the wall? Have you been teased too much? We won’t see Avatar 2 until 2022, no thanks to the You Know What (see: Delayathon 2020 Continues – Avatar pushed back to 2022, Mulan, AMC theaters, Bill and Ted Face The Music, Top Gun: Maverick and more!).

With it closing in on six months since last seeing any movie in the theater (an underwhelming The Hunt ⭐️⭐️), I’d almost go watch paint dry on a giant white wall in comfy recliner seats with movie theater popcorn.

Sure, I’m joking. Not.

Is it possible to be over-marketed and teased too much for a movie?

On a more serious note for Avatar 2. Do you care? Will you care in December 2022 when it’s finally released?

My interest and excitement won’t return for this movie until we see a trailer with some amazing visual effects. Even then, there’s only so much teasing a moviegoer fan can take for a movie too far in the future. Especially with the current uncertainty that looms everywhere. You?