Angel Hasn’t Fallen… Yet!
Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer blockbuster season. This year, action movie Angel Has Fallen and the R-rated comedy The Good Boys dominated the cinemas throughout the Labor Day weekend. In its second week, Angel Has Fallen successfully remained at the top of the box office, grossing $14,5 million and increasing its domestic total to $43,6 million. According to the good folks at the Box Office Mojo, Gene Stupnitsky’s raunchy comedy The Good Boys stayed in the second place, earning $11,5 million with a total domestic gross of almost 59,6 million.
But The Lion King remained the true king of the box office. Sure, it only reached the third place last weekend, but Disney’s remake of its 1994 animated classic has been playing in cinemas for seven weeks! Even so, it grossed $9,2 million. As for its total earnings, both Angel Has Fallen and The Good Boys together won’t ever reach The Lion King‘s domestic gross of $523,5 million. Fourth place belonged to Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw with $8 million. And finally, in the fifth place at the last weekend’s box office is the Christian drama Overcomer with $7,8 million.
Capaldi, Davidson and Waititi Join the Cast of The Suicide Squad
James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel – creatively titled The Suicide Squad – is filling out its cast with a series of notable guest stars. Last week AVClub reported that the actor, screenwriter and director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows) has joined the movie’s cast. Now Deadline reveals that the Scottish actor Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, The Thick of It) and the comedian Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live) have also joined the movie. Currently, no details are known about what characters they will play in the film.
The cast of The Suicide Squad already includes Steve Agee (The Sarah Silverman Program), Flula Borg (Counterpart), David Dastmalchian (Blade Runner 2049), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly). The sequel will also feature return by Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, and Margot Robbie who will all reprise their performances from the first film. Despite its killer premise in which a group of DC super-villains is forced to work for the CIA as covert operations team, David Ayer’s 2016 movie received less-than-stellar reviews upon its release.
A table reading for the sequel will be held this September with production starting just two weeks later at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta. The Suicide Squad will hit the cinemas on August 6, 2021.
Earthsea TV series in the works
A24 and Fox have joined forces to develop a TV series based on critically acclaimed Earthsea novels and short stories written by the renowned writer Ursula K. Le Guin (The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness). While no networks are onboard yet, Deadline reports that the project will be pitched to them soon. Last year, Le Guin granted rights for adaptation to an Academy Award-nominated producer Jennifer Fox (Nightcrawler, Michael Clayton). While originally pitched as a film or even a series of movies, producers ultimately decided to turn novels into a TV show instead. While A24 will finance the project, Fox is producing.
First attempt to adapt Le Guin’s fantasy epic came in 2004 with Sci Fi Channel’s less-than-stellar three-hour miniseries. In 2006 Gorō Miyazaki, son of venerable animator Hayao Miyazaki, co-wrote and directed an animated adaptation of the books titled Tales from Earthsea. While that animated film suffers from pacing problems, it is undeniably beautiful to look at. Le Guin began her introspective and allegorical fantasy series by publishing novel A Wizard of Earthsea in 1968. Last story — Firelight — was published in 2018, the same year in which Le Guin passed away. Most of the stories follow Geb, a wizard from a destitute family who navigates the countless islands of Earthsea while struggling to restore the balance and harmony between nature, humanity, life, and death.
