News

Yo ho ho, Jason Momoa may have a swashbuckling new film. After unleashing his Apple TV+ series Chief of War to rave reviews earlier this month and starring in the box-office-busting A Minecraft Movie earlier this year, he's coming on board to produce The Pirate at Amazon MGM Studios, alongside The Fall Guy director David Leitch. The project stems from a script penned by Will Dunn and, if deals go through, it will be designed around Momoa as the star with Leitch in line to potentially direct. Talks are still ongoing at this time, though, with Momoa negotiating to produce through his On the Roam banner and Leitch joining Kelly McCormick through their 87North Productions.

Aquaman and Chief of War star Jason Momoa is working on a new project with Bullet Train director and John Wick co-director David Leitch: screenwriter Will Dunn's The Pirate.The movie's script was recently acquired by Amazon MGM studios; Leitch is looking to direct, while Momoa would potentially star, as well as produce.

In addition to the Dceu and his brand new historical TV show, Momoa is known for projects including Game of Thrones, Fast X, and Dune. He will be reprising two of these roles in the upcoming movies Fast 11 and Dune: Part Three. Dunn is a relatively new writer, but recently saw success with Ms. Marvel, and is credited as the story editor for all six episodes of the miniseries.

Though Chad Stahelski was solely credited, he and Leitch co-directed John Wick, coming from the same background as stunt coordinators. Leitch then brought his stunt work...

Jason Momoa is circling a new swashbuckling action vehicle as Amazon MGM Studios snaps up a hot spec titled The Pirate, with filmmaker David Leitch attached to shepherd the project. According to materials circulating to buyers, Momoa and Leitch are in negotiations to produce, with the film being developed as a potential star turn for the Aquaman and Dune actor. The script comes from Will Dunn, whose credits include the finale of Marvel’s Ms. Marvel.

Early loglines describe the movie as a contained, close-quarters thriller pitched as “The Raid on a pirate ship,” indicating a focus on brutal, tactical combat rather than high-seas spectacle. Leitch’s action pedigree and his 87North banner are part of the package now moving through development, aligning with his ongoing work with Amazon MGM on the heist film How to Rob a Bank, dated for Labor Day weekend 2026.

Deal points remain fluid, but the...

Jason Momoa is now in talks to join forces with John Wick director David Leitch for a wild new action thriller. It has been revealed that the Aquaman and A Minecraft Movie star will both take the lead and produce the action thriller, which boasts the kind of elevator pitch that action movie dreams are often made of.

Coming via Deadline, Momoa and Leitch will team-up for The Pirate, which has been described as “The Raid set on a pirate ship.” In case you’ve been living on Mars in a cave with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears, The Raid is nothing less than one of...

Jason Momoa and David Leitch are joining forces to produce The Pirate, a project already stirring excitement as Amazon MGM Studios recently acquired the hot spec script penned by Will Dunn. According to Deadline, Leitch and Kelly McCormick are in talks to produce under their 87North banner, while Momoa is negotiating to come aboard with his On the Roam production company.

If these deals come to fruition, the film is likely to become a starring vehicle for Momoa himself. While plot details remain shrouded in mystery, insiders describe The Pirate as The Raid transported onto a pirate ship. Momoa, fresh off his role in Warner Bros.’ hit Minecraft movie and currently starring in Apple TV+’s Chief of War, is also gearing up to reprise his role as Duncan Idaho in Dune: Part Three and begin filming the Street Fighter reboot for Legendary Pictures.

Meanwhile, Leitch recently produced Nobody 2,...

The first quarter is done. Wheeee. We didn't escape the post-Oscar malaise that hits every year just after all that golden hoopla so we spent most of the month obsessing over Feud and Big Little Lies but hopefully we'll be roaring back to creative life in April. Here are a dozen highlights from March in case you missed any of them.

Grease 2 (1982) random thoughts on a bad movie we love

RuPaul's Drag Race goes Gaga

Three Billboards Frances McDormand slays in the trailer

The Glass Menagerie the classic reinvented, new Broadway run

Animated Tease will it be a rough year for Animated Features?

Interview: Melissa Leo on playing 'the most hated woman' 

Beauty & The Beast (1991) ranking the songs

Buffy's 20th Manuel's instagram project 

Three Fittings: The Pirate (1948) a hallucinatory musical

Interview: Celine Sciamma on her rich coming-of-age screenplays

The Furniture: The Love Witch (2016) a cohesive vision 

Barry Jenkins...

Keeping up with his career plan of paying homage to every film genre going, Quentin Tarantino has moved onto the spaghetti western with Django Unchained (2012). It’s not a remake of the pasta classic Django (1966), or indeed a spaghetti western, but it has clearly taken its inspiration from those violent Italian productions that swamped the late sixties.

Hollywood may have dominated the field since the beginning of motion pictures but European westerns are not exactly new; the earliest known one was filmed in 1910. Sixties German cinema made good use of Kay May’s western heroes Shatterhand and Winnetou, and the British produced The Savage Guns (1961), Hannie Caulder (1971), A Town Called Bastard (1971), Catlow (1971), Chato’s Land (1972) and Eagle’s Wing (1979). When the genre showed signs of flagging in the mid-sixties, a clever Italian director named Sergio Leone took it upon himself to reinvent the western – spaghetti style!

What made the spaghettis...

Watch the official music video “The Pirate That Should Not Be” by Rodrigo y Gabriela. The film “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” by director Rob Marshall (Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago) stars Johnny Depp (Sin City 3, Public Enemies), Ian McShane (Kung Fu Panda, Deadwood), Penelope Cruz and Geoffrey Rush. Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Synopsis: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” captures the fun, adventure and humor that ignited the hit franchise –this time in Disney Digital 3D(Tm). In this action-packed tale of truth, betrayal, youth and demise, Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman...

I'm just one loud movie geek, but I call this some pretty rock-solid casting. According to THR's Heat Vision blog, the studio is looking at the great British actor Ian McShane to play the villainous Blackbeard in the next Pirates of the Carribean flick. Johnny Depp will, of course, be returning as Jack Sparrow -- but there'll be no Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann to coo over. Taking over the director's reins from Gore Verbinski is Rob Marshall, whom you all know from Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, and last year's Nine. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are back as well.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has already laid claim to the release date of May 11 of next year.

Film fans will no doubt remember Mr. McShane from flicks like Death Race, The Golden Compass, and Sexy Beast -- whereas HBO subscribers will always remember the actor...