Peacock to Premiere Anya Taylor-Joy’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in August

Anya Taylor-Joy will be bringing peachy vibes to Peacock later this summer.

The streamer will premiere The Super Mario Bros. Movie, starring the 27-year-old Argentine American Golden Globe-winning actress as Princess Peach, on August 3rd.

Anya Taylor-Joy, Princess Peach, Super Mario Bros MovieFollowing a hugely successful run in theaters, the Universal and Illumination film will stream exclusively on the platform.

It will be joined on the streamer by behind-the-scenes cast interviews, as well as an immersive “Field Guide” expanding the film through bonus features, and a lyric video for a song sung by Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy).

The highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time, as well as the third-highest grossing animated film in history, and the top-grossing title of the year to date, The Super Mario Bros. Movie racked up over $1.3B upon its April debut in theaters, also scoring $75M+ on PVOD as of early last month, as Universal disclosed to the New York Times.

The film based on Shigeru Miyamoto’s beloved Nintendo games tells the story of two Brooklyn plumbers who are brothers and best friends: Mario (Chris Pratt), the brave one with the “let’s-a go” attitude, and the perpetually anxious Luigi (Charlie Day), who would prefer to go nowhere. We open with the Super Mario Brothers reckoning with their struggling plumbing business, and wind up in a whirlwind adventure through Mushroom Kingdom. Through their journey, we meet a cast of familiar, lovable characters, ultimately uniting together to defeat the power-hungry villain, Bowser (Jack Black).

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, from a script by Matthew Fogel, the film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kevin Michael Richardson, Khary Payton and Charles Martinet. Illumination’s Chris Meledandri produced alongside Miyamoto.

Pedro Pascal in Final Negotiations to Star in Paramount’s Untitled “Gladiator” Sequel

Pedro Pascal is ready to Rome

The 48-year-old Chilean actor is thisclose to joining the cast of the untitled Gladiator sequel for Paramount.

Pascal would join Paul Mescal, who will star as Lucius, as well as Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington.

Ridley Scott is returning to direct.

Pascal’s role is unknown.

The new film follows the 2000 blockbuster Gladiator, which earned more than $460 million in worldwide box office and was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning five including Best Picture.

The role of Maximus, the Roman general-turned-gladiator, was a career-changer for Russell Crowe, not only delivering him the Best Actor Oscar but also launching him to the top of every leading-man list. Once it was made clear last year that the sequel would be Scott’s next movie, every male actor in town that fit the profile began chasing the part.

David Scarpa penned the script.

Also returning from the original film are John Mathieson (director of photography), Arthur Max (production designer) and Janty Yates (costume designer).

Paramount Pictures has dated the film for November 22, 2024.

The first film was co-production between Universal and DreamWorks, and while DreamWorks will not be involved in the sequel, Universal has the right to partner again when the project is packaged.

Pascal has been a major player following his scene-stealing role in his one season on Game of Thronesbut his star has blasted off following The Last of Uswhich has become one of the most popular shows in HBO’s history. While HBO is looking to get the show up and going next year, Pascal had been weighing a number of options to shoot before jumping back in to that and the opportunity on this film was too hard to pass up.

Besides The Last of Us, which will certainly have him in award season chatter this Emmy season, he also reprised his role on the Disney+ series The Mandalorianwhich just had its Season 3 finale last week.

Pascal can next be seen starring alongside Ethan Hawke in Pedro Almodovar’s short film Strange Way of Life, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics this fall.

Additionally, Pascal is in Ethan Coen’s film Drive-Away Dolls, distributed by Focus Features and releasing in September. Pascal also stars in Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales, which is likely to come out later this year.

He also hosted Saturday Night Live earlier this year, earning rave reviews, and is also in contention for some Emmy love this awards season.

Melissa Barrera to Star in Radio Silence’s Untitled Monster Thriller

Melissa Barrera has reportedly landed a monster role…

The 32-year-old Mexican actress has been cast in Radio Silence’s Untitled Monster Thriller at Universal.

Melissa BarreraRadio Silence’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, who directed the recent Scream films that Barrera has starred in, will helm the project with Scream producer Chad Villella serving as producer alongside William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and James Vanderbilt at Project X Entertainment.

The script was written by Stephen Shields, with revisions by Guy Busick.

Universal Monster films are rooted in the horror genre, with no restrictions on budget, rating or genre. They are not part of a shared interconnected universe, which allows each film to stand on its own. This new direction is filmmaker-driven, inviting innovative filmmakers with original, bold ideas for these characters to develop the stories and pitch them.

Radio Silence has been loosely developing the project since last year following the success of their first Scream pic, but given the success of that film, Paramount moved fast to get Scream VI up and running. While they began meeting with other talent, it became evident pretty quickly that Barrera was the perfect fit for the role following two successful shoots with the rising star and offered her the part.

Barrera is in theaters as the lead of Scream VI, which is the highest-grossing film of the franchise. She next will be seen this spring in the modern musical reimagining of Carmen, opposite Paul Mescal for Sony Pictures Classics.

Also upcoming for Barrera is God’s Country, directed by Egor Abramenko as his American directorial debut; Your Monster from Merman Productions; and The Collaboration written by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody), based off the acclaimed play.

She most recently was seen in the independent film All the World Is Sleeping as well as Netflix’s global hit Keep Breathing and STX’s supernatural thriller Bed Rest, which was also Barrera’s producorial debut.

Colman Domingo Among Voice Cast of DreamWorks Animation’s Animated Feature “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”

Colman Domingo is getting animated…

The 53-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and social justice activist, an Emmy and Tony Award winner, will form part of the voice cast of DreamWorks Animation’s animated feature, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.

Colman DomingoThe film is set for wide release via Universal on June 30th.

Domingo joins a voice cast that includes Lana Condor in the title role, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Blue Chapman and Jaboukie Young-White.

Directed by Kirk De Micco, with Faryn Pearl as co-director, the film is an action-comedy about a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed.

Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman (Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush (Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom (Collette) has forbade her from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother (Fonda), the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas.

The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. But there’s one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school’s beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea (Murphy) just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most.

Rounding out the cast of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken are Will Forte and Nicole Byer, Liza Koshy, Ramona Young, Eduardo Franco and Echo Kellum. While it’s not yet clear who wrote the script, Kelly Cooney Cilella served as the film’s producer, with Grammy-winning composer and Universal Composers Initiative alum Stephanie Economou penning the score.

Eva Longoria Named to Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” List for 2023

Eva Longoria is earning attention for her skills behind the camera…

The 47-year-old Mexican American actress, producer and activist has earned a spot on Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2023 list.

Eva LongoriaFor more than a quarter-century, Variety has canvassed the field of emerging filmmaking talents for the artists whose voices set them apart: directors with an original point of view and the chops to go the distance. The idea: to identify talent before they “pop,” although in some cases, they’ve already started racking up awards — like Charlotte Wells, who won the Gothams’ Breakthrough Director prize shortly after being selected for the list.

Six of these filmmakers have yet to unveil their latest work to the world, and we’re grateful to them for giving us an early look. Three — Elijah Bynum, Laurel Parmet and Niza Mansoor — will debut their films later this month at the Sundance Film Festival.

Others, such as Longoria and Jingyi Shao, have made crowd-pleasers that will be released later in the year.

Eva Longoria
Flamin’ Hot
How long has the Desperate Housewives star wanted to direct?
“I’ve always been a director who fell into acting,” insists Longoria, adding, “I feel like I’m more comfortable behind the camera. I’ve really touched every rung of the ladder: I started with short films, I did a documentary, I did half-hour TV, I did multi-cam, I’ve done one-hours and pilots.” But starring on the hit series gave Longoria a special understanding of how the process works, a chance to learn at a budget far bigger than she would have to make her debut. “I used ‘Desperate Housewives’ as my film school. I paid attention to where the lights go, cameras, lenses. That was a decade of my life,” says Longoria, who found mentors along the way, including Ron Howard, who produced her second short film.

“My first feature was supposed to be this comedy at Universal with me and Kerry Washington.” But another project she was preparing came first, one rooted in a side of Los Angeles she insisted on showing authentically: “Flamin’ Hot,” about Richard Montañez, the former gangbanger turned Frito-Lay janitor who came up with the idea for the company’s super-spicy (and ultra-profitable) line of snacks.

“I like to produce with purpose,” she says. “Contributing to the world, to our art form, to societal and cultural change. This is a really important film because we Latinos don’t get a lot of bites at the apple.”

Technically, the Searchlight-backed comedy is a biopic — a genre with a tendency to be boring. “Flamin’ Hot” is never dull, but that took work. “When I read the original script, it had no point of view. It was like a documentary,” Longoria recalls. So she said, “This should be in his voice. He’s the smartest uneducated guy you’ll ever meet. It’s Scorsese meets Adam McKay.”
A twist on the American Dream shot in just 35 days, the result is inspirational and engaging, but also authentic, owing to the care Longoria took in representing a community she knew well. “Opportunity is not distributed equally. Talent is. All his life he was told, ‘No, ideas don’t come from people like you.’”

Influences: Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese
Reps: Agency: WME; Management: Brillstein Ent.; Legal: Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein

The 10 directors were honored in person on January 6 at the Palm Springs Film Festival, where a couple of last year’s alumni (Aitch Alberto and Goran Stolevski) will also be screening their films.

Click here for the complete list.

Peacock Releases Teaser Trailer for Melissa De Sousa’s New Limited Series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters”

It’s the final chapter(s) for Melissa De Sousa.

Peacock has released the teaser trailer for its upcoming series The Best Man: The Final Chapters, starring the 55-year-old Panamanian American actress.

Melissa De SousaThe limited series will premiere all eight episodes on December 22.

Based upon the eponymous Universal film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the series will catch up with Harper, Robyn, Jordan, Lance, Quentin, Shelby, Candace, and Murch as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.

In addition to De Sousa, the cast of The Best Man: The Final Chapters includes Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long and Harold Perrineau.

The Peacock original was filmed on locations like New York City, New Jersey and Dominican Republic. Malcom D. Lee of Blackmaled Productions is the creator of the Best Man franchise, which he co-developed, wrote, executive-produced, directed and served as a co-showrunner. Dayna Lynne North of Loud Sis Productions also co-developed, wrote, executive-produced and served as co-showrunner.

Directors for the series include Malcom D. Lee for four episodes, Charles Stone III, Robert Townsend and Stacey Muhammad.

Diego Calva’s Ensemble Film “Babylon” to Open in Wide Release Christmas Weekend

Diego Calva will be spending the Christmas holiday in Babylon

The 30-year-old Mexican actor’s latest ensemble project Babylon, starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, will open in wide release in U.S. theaters on December 23.

Diego Calva, Babylon

The film was originally scheduled to open in limited release during the Christmas holiday, with its wide release on January 6.

Babylon will open in the wake of 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water on December 16 and will share the marquee nationwide with movies like Sony’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and the expansion of United Artists Releasing’s drama Women Talking.

Set in the 1920s, during Hollywood‘s transition from silent films to sound films, the film follows Manny Torres (Calva) as he pursues a career within the industry, starting as a film assistant.

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the film was shot in Santa Clarita, CA, where many silent and early sound movies were made, like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.

In addition to Calva, Robbie and Pitt, the ensemble cast also includes Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Max Minghella and Jean Smart.

Anya Taylor-Joy to Star in Skydance’s “The Gorge”

Anya Taylor-Joy is preparing for a Gorge-ous role…

The 26-year-old Argentine American actress will star opposite Miles Teller in Skydance’s The Gorge.

Anya Taylor-JoyIn addition, Apple Original Films has boarded the genre-bending love story.

Scott Derrickson will direct with Zach Dean penning the script, which he sold on spec to Skydance last year.

In addition to starring, Teller will serve as executive producer on the film.

Plot details are being kept under wraps other then it being described as a high-action, genre-bending love story.

The project gained some serious momentum this summer when Teller began eyeing it as his next film following the global success of his summer tentpole Top Gun: Maverick. Derrickson had been previously attached but was also weighing other projects following the success of one of the years biggest horror films The Black Phone but once Teller committed to the film, Derrickson was quick to name it his next directing job and the project was fast-tracked by Skydance.

Given Apple and Skydance’s first-look partnership, the studio looked to be in pole position to land the film and once Taylor-Joy signed on, Apple was quick to make it official.

Taylor-Joy, a SAG Award and Golden Globe winner, currently appears in David O. Russell’s Amsterdam

The Queen’s Gambit star will next appear in the dark comedy The Menuwhich also stars Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult.

She recently wrapped production on the highly-anticipated Furiosa, a spin-off film from George Miller, which is based on the character from Mad Max: Fury Road. She is also set to voice Princess Peach in Universal and Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. movie.

Eugenio Derbez Developing Workplace Comedy Series “They Came At Night” with ViX+

It’s Night time for Eugenio Derbez.

The 61-year-old Mexican actor/producer is developing the workplace comedy series They Came At Night with ViX+ under the first-look deal between 3Pas Studios and TelevisaUnivision.

Eugenio DerbezThey Came At Night is inspired by true events and offers a behind-the-scenes look at a group of underdogs who went on to create the critically acclaimed Spanish version of the 1930 horror classic, Dracula.

While Bela Lugosi filmed Dracula during the day on the Universal lot, at the end of each day another cast and crew arrived to make the same exact movie… only in Spanish.

Using the same sets, costumes, and a translated version of the script, the cast and crew of the Spanish Dracula filmed from dusk to dawn, and, against all odds, the critical consensus is that the Spanish version turned out to be the better film.

Derbez is set to star in the comedy created and written by Rob Greenberg and Bob Fisher.

Production services on They Came At Night will be handled by 3pas Studios’ Mexican production services company, Visceral.

“I have not worked in scripted Spanish language TV comedy for well over ten years and was looking for something really special to come back,” Derbez said in a statement. “This story really jumped out at me because it tells the story of Latinos always having to accomplish more with fewer resources and harder conditions. It’s also a world we’ve never explored in Spanish language TV, Hollywood in the 30s but like every moment in US history, the Latinos were there and doing their part even if history forgot them. And of course, it’s ripe for so much humor…”

Alejandro Edda to Star in Kevin Costner’s Epic Western Film Saga “Horizon”

Alejandro Edda is just beyond the horizon

The 38-year-old Mexican–American actor has joined the ensemble cast of Kevin Costner’s epic Western film saga Horizon at Warner Bros/New Line.

Alejandro EddaEdda is among a list of new cast additions that includes Jena Malone, Tatanka Means and Michael Rooker.

The foursome join an expanding roster that includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jamie Campbell Bower, Luke Wilson and Thomas Haden Church.

Costner will produce through his Territory Pictures, and direct and star in the period film, which he co-wrote with Jon Baird.

Horizon chronicles a multi-faceted 15-year span of pre- and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West. Experienced through the eyes of many, the epic journey is fraught with peril and intrigue from the constant onslaught of natural elements, to the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land, and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it.

Costner returns to directing for the first time since his 2003 box office hit Open Range. With Horizon, Costner revisits Civil War-era America, the setting for his 1990 blockbuster and multi-Oscar winner Dances with Wolves, which he also directed, produced and starred in. That film won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner.

Edda was last seen on the FX series Snowfall and is returning to Season 6 as a regular. He stars as El Chapo in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico and starred opposite Tom Cruise in American Made and in Universal/Blumhouse’s The Forever Purge.