Academy Award winning screen writer Philippa Boyens will pen the screenplay for an adaption of The Merlin Saga, a fantasy series of novels about young wizard Merlin’s adventures in Camelot. Not much is known about the upcoming film, but Boyens is certainly a quality addition. Since she’s written the screenplays for all of Peter Jackson’s films since 2001, Boyens’ most notable screenplay is for Return of the King, winning her the aforementioned Oscar.
While on the topic of Middle Earth films, Peter Jackson made an embarrassing admission on a behind the scenes featurette of the recent DVD release of the third Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies.
“I didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” Jackson commented. After the series was supposed to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, who dropped out of the series during preproduction, production was fast-tracked when Jackson came in. Many of the shots were supposedly rushed with very little preproduction. Crew members rant about how stressful the entire production was, as they were given tasks, such as designing armor, with only a week’s notice.
Honestly, given the accounts, it’s a miracle that the Hobbit films came out as good as they did, seeing as these special features shed light on the chaotic production. However, these flaws still show through, as Jackson comments how his previous LOTR trilogy was given far more attention to detail. While the Hobbit films are very good, they do not hold a torch to the Lord of the Rings, arguably the best trilogy of all time.
The sequel/spin-off to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman comes out April 22, 2016. Titled The Huntsman: Winter’s War, the film’s first trailer dropped last week. What appears to be a Tolkien-esque high fantasy, The Huntsman stars Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, and Charlize Theron.
While the predecessor was panned critically—and because the director of this new film is the special effects director of the first film, who has never directed before—it’s hard to see this much talent make a bad movie.
The first trailer for Gods of Egypt was released as well. Also a high fantasy of sorts, Gods of Egypt seems to be more in line with an Egyptian version of Clash of the Titans. Starring Gerard Butler, it should be some mindless fun with some cool monsters. Gods of Egypt comes out Feb. 26, 2016, right after Deadpool.
Yet another trailer was released, this one the trailer for the sequel to the much acclaimed and beloved romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, picks up in real time 15 years after the first film, as Tula and Ian have to deal with Tula’s overbearing Greek family still trying to influence her life. Throw in Tula’s daughter going to college, and this admittedly seems like it will be a very predictable mediocre comedy that repeats the same stuff as the first film without the new factor. Hopefully it surprises. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 comes out March 25, 2016. At least no other big films are coming out that date, save for a small art house film known as Batman v. Superman.