News

The Fantasia Film Festival is in full swing in Montreal, and it kicked off in high gear with the world premiere of Bookworm. The movie – which we loved (read our review here) – stars the great Elijah Wood as an illusionist who is summoned to New Zealand to care for his estranged daughter after her mother winds up in a coma. Soon, the girl, Mildred (played by the terrific Nell Fisher), convinces her father to accompany her into the New Zealand wilderness to track down a mythical panther, only for the two to deal with danger at every turn.

Wood attended the film’s red carpet premiere and was kind enough to chat with us a bit. You can check out the interview embedded above, but Wood did give us an intriguing answer when we asked if he’d be willing to return to Middle Earth in Andy Serkis’s The Hunt for Gollum.

Almost a year has gone by since it was announced that Theo James of The White Lotus had signed on to star in a Stephen King adaptation called The Monkey, coming from the team of producer / genre regular James Wan and director Osgood Perkins, whose credits include The Blackcoat’s Daughter (a.k.a. February), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Gretel & Hansel, and the upcoming Nicolas Cage horror film Longlegs. Longlegs won’t be reaching theatres until July 12th, but Deadline reports that filming on The Monkey has already wrapped. Their report also revealed the names of several cast members who will be sharing the screen with James: Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings), Tatiana Maslany (She–Hulk: Attorney at Law), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends), and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek).

Perkins wrote the screenplay for The Monkey, working from a King short story.

Dead City Season 2 can explore what happened to Maggie during her exit from The Walking Dead, addressing unanswered questions about Georgie and her mission. A separate prequel spinoff with Elijah is unnecessary, as his story has already been resolved and many Maggie stories from that time don't fit into the franchise's current arcs. The Walking Dead: Dead City can develop Maggie's character better by incorporating flashbacks to her time with Georgie, providing much-needed character growth and exploring her relationship with her son.

One of The Walking Dead's upcoming spinoffs could answer some questions surrounding a big season 9 Maggie mystery. The Walking Dead: Dead City's Maggie, played by Lauren Cohan, has been a staple character in The Walking Dead franchise since her joining the main series in season 2. Following The Walking Dead's series finale, Maggie and Negan headed to New York for their spinoff. Much of Maggie's...

In today’s film news roundup, “Elijah” gets a director, a French fry documentary starts shooting and “Uglydolls” moves its release date forward.

Project Launch

Brett Leonard, best known for directing ”The Lawnmower Man” and “Virtuosity,” will direct the supernatural feature film “Elijah,” based on the Old Testament prophet.

The project is set up at Winter State Entertainment. Producers are Hamid and Camille Torabpour, Jhene Chase, Mark Smith and Patrick Werksma. The screenplay is by Hamid Torabpour and Andrew Kightlinger.

“The tremendous human and spiritual journey at the core of the epic Biblical story of ‘Elijah’ provides the ultimate canvas for my passion to explore the connection between cinematic and immersive storytelling,” Leonard said.

Winter State plans to kick off a biblical film universe with “Elijah,” which will be followed by “Elijah Part 2.” “The Lawnmower Man,” budgeted at $6 million, featured leading-edge technology and grossed over $150 million worldwide.

French Fries

Zero Point Zero,...