Universal Pictures’ “Distant,” a sci-fi drama directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, wrapped shooting in November 2020. Sadly, it still hasn’t been released. Universal has been sitting on this film now for almost four years.

Nikyatu Jusu—who directed the overcooked 2022 folk-horror tale “Nanny”—is working on a new version of David Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” via Deadline. Jusu’s film will be “set in the universe of [Cronenberg’s] film,” and won’t be a straight remake. Jusu will direct and pen the script.

I predicted this would happen. It’s obvious that, after Greta Gerwig seemingly convinced Netflix to release her “Narnia” theatrically, Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson are now pushing for ‘Knives Out 3’ to get the same treatment.

Hidden deep inside a recent THR report was how The Weeknd’s upcoming film, loosely inspired by “Misery,” and directed by Trey Edward Shults (“Krisha”), couldn’t find a buyer. It’s been sitting in post-production for well over a year now with “no one biting.”

Legendary Hollywood producer Jon Peters, 79, is telling THR that he’s working with Oliver Stone on a film about the Trump assassination attempt. What’s odd about Peters’ assertion, which he swears will happen, is that Stone quickly denied any such project exists.

Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End” screened at Telluride and TIFF this fall. It had originally been snubbed by Cannes and Venice. The film, which currently stands at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, now has as trailer, via Neon.

Produced by Amazon/MGM, “A Simple Favor 2,” starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, was greenlit as a streaming original; The film recently screened and, according to Feig, test scores were so high that there’s now a decent chance the sequel might hit theaters.

The piece, written by Alexander Larman, has the headline, “Why Hollywood liberals are punishing Clint Eastwood for his politics.” Some of it reads like pure speculation, insinuating that Eastwood is being treated poorly by Warner Bros because of his conservative-leaning tendencies.

It looks like Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” will not have any sort of “extended” or “director’s” cut released. Scott is denying that any such version, with additional material, exists of the film and that the theatrical print, released on November 22, is his final cut (via Collider).

The much delayed, and severely reshot, “Captain America: Brave New World” is being released on February 14, 2025. Now, Giancarlo Esposito, one of the actors in the movie, is saying that he’s headed back for more reshoots next week …

Speaking with Variety, Bonello confirms that he’s eyeing to shoot his next film in fall 2025 but refuses to divulge what it’s going to be about, just that it’ll be very different to “The Beast.”

Now that the ice has broken, expect more creatives to come out of the woodworks and start to reappraise ‘Folie à Deux’ — whether that will be enough to raise this film’s reputation from the gutter remains to be seen.

Despite Warner Bros refusing to report box office numbers for Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2,” Deadline is reporting that the film, being dubbed as Eastwood’s “final” one, is set to earn a 3-day total of around $275K in just 35 screens. Impressive.

Just an update on a production grid that was sent over to me last night. It reads, “UNTITLED POTC MOVIE,” and has a “late 2025” production being eyed. in St. Vincent. No word yet on the cast for the film, but I wouldn’t expect Johnny Depp to return as Captain Jack Sparrow.

What was being dubbed as Romero’s “final” Zombie film, titled “Twilight of the Dead,” now has a planned 2025 start date in Puerto Rico. Romero had written the script for “Twilight of the Dead” before he passed away and regarded it as the conclusion to his “Living Dead” saga.

Do you blame Universal for not wanting to give Zemeckis the go ahead on this one? It would have been a terrible idea to bring back Marty McFly for song and dance numbers.

Gray is set to direct “Paper Tiger,” which will star Adam Driver, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway, and is headed to AFM next week for sales. Five of Gray’s films have competed for the Palme d’Or, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this one ends up at Cannes 2026.

THR is confirming my previous reporting that ‘Mission: Impossible 8,’ has a budget that is close to $400M — an absolutely insane figure. The good news out of all this is that the film finally wrapped production last month.

A sequel to 1990’s “Days of Thunder” is now officially in development at Paramount. Tom Cruise is set to return in the lead role. For obvious reasons, Nicole Kidman won’t be back (via THR).

No doubt, Warner Bros must have noticed the reviews the film has been getting — 92% on RT/73 on MC — and decided to give it a go. There are a lot of people — industry and press — who are pulling for Clint when it comes to this one.