Quick Hitters - Van Tatum vs The Dark Universe, Tales From The Crypt Is Back In the Vault & Same Kitchen, No Devil?
Van Tatum vs The Dark Universe
Per a report from THR, Universal moving forward with their seemingly doomed reboot of their classic monster movies. In an even more surprising bit of news, the studio is looking at filling the role of Van Helsing in the Dark Universe, with none other than Channing Tatum. Yeah, no shit.
“Despite the film’s lackluster performance ($389.6 million worldwide to date), Universal is moving forward with its monster-filled Dark Universe, but slowly, to allow for more script development. The stories will be tied together by Russell Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll.
Convinced Tom Cruise saved Mummy from being a bigger flop, the studio is betting on names, prepping an offer to Angelina Jolie for Bride of Frankenstein (slated for release on Feb. 14, 2019) and polishing the script for Van Helsing, aimed for Channing Tatum. Johnny Depp is attached to star in The Invisible Man.”
Those that listen to the podcast know that I'm a fan of Channing Tatum's films, at least those that I've seen, so his casting as Van Helsing is not as bad as what it initially seems. Keep in mind that Tatum could be joining two, yes two, genuine Academy Award winners in Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's Monster with a potential third Academy Award winner, Angelina Jolie, rumored to be playing the Bride of Frankenstein so he'll literally be surrounded on all sides by talent.
In ensemble movies like this, Tatum steps his game up, so in no way will he be the weak link of the Universal Monster reboot. That honor currently lies with six time Razzie winner Tom Cruise, who is rumored to return as Nick Morton and Cruise's reign will be challenged by mega-wine lover Johnny Depp, who will be playing the Invisible Man.
Let's face it, Tatum playing Van Helsing is a win-win situation for him. He'll make a ton of money in an already failing franchise, so he'll likely escape blame free if it completely tanks and if the franchise rebounds, he'll look like a diamond. $5 says he signs on the dotted line. I mean, it's not like he'll be playing Gambit anytime soon.
Tales From The Crypt Is Back In the Vault
Looking forward to the M. Night Shyamalan led Tales From The Crypt reboot on TNT? Well, you'd be the only one besides Shyamalan and Turner chief creative officer Kevin Reilly and from the sounds of it, one of them is starting to lose patience.
Reilly recently offered an update on the current status of project, and he sounds less than enthused about the whole legal process of obtaining the rights required for the show to see the light of day.
“It’s been fun with lawyers, it’s been really fun.
We did not know from the get-go or else we would not have announced it and made a big deal out of it. But in fact there were rights. It is among the most — if not the most — complicated rights structure I’ve ever seen in my career, and we had no idea as we got into it. It became a nightmare. So we said, ‘Fine.’ If and when this gets cleaned up, we’ll revisit.”
All lawyers can't be as rad as our beloved announcer, right? Godspeed Crypt Keeper, we'll remember you fondly. Or we can watch every episode of the better version of Tales on every platform and media imaginable.
Same Kitchen, No Devil?
The Man Without Fear is no more.
At The Defenders roundtable at SDCC, Daredevil star Charlie Cox revealed this surprising detail to CinemaBlend, and then he talked about Matt Murdock's decision to hang up the cowl as the masked vigilante is the result of failing miserably while wearing it.
“At the end of Daredevil Season 2, everyone failed. Matt failed, and the consequences were devastating. Six or so months have passed, and he’s had to completely reevaluate everything that he believes, everything that he does. And he’s decided to hang up the suit, as it were. He’s focusing all of his energies on being a pro bono lawyer. And I don’t think he has any interest, really, in being Daredevil anymore.”
Thanks to all of the Defenders footage, and common sense, Matt suiting back up as Daredevil alongside Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist has always been a foregone conclusion. However, it will be interesting to see how dire circumstances must get to force The Devil of Hell's Kitchen to suit back up and join the fight against The Hand. Only a couple of more weeks until we can binge The Defenders and find out for yourselves.
Marvel's The Defenders will be available on Netflix on August 18.
