News

Supermassive’s hit video game Until Dawn is headed to the big screen with a horror movie adaptation from director David F. Sandberg, and Deadline brings us the very first round of casting news this afternoon.

Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (“Never Have I Ever”), Ji-young Yoo (“Expats”) and Odessa A’zion (Hulu’s Hellraiser) will star in the upcoming horror film.

“At PlayStation Productions, we are always looking to find creative and authentic ways to adapt our beloved games that our fans will enjoy. Alongside Screen Gems, we’ve assembled a fantastic cast of new characters that builds upon our already stellar filmmaking team and their vision for the adaptation. We’re excited to reveal more about the movie soon,” Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions, Head of Product for PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement shared by Deadline today.

Blair Butler (The Invitation) wrote the original draft,...

Sunday Am Final: Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die had a great Saturday of $19.5M, -10% against previews/first day of $21.6M, for what’s shaping up to be a $56M opening. This is the highest-grossing R-rated opening since Oppenheimer last July, and Will Smith’s sixth-highest U.S./Canada opening overall of his career and his 18th No. 1 opening as a leading man.

For Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is his 8th No. 1 domestic opening. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-directed fourthquel beats its recent round of tracking of $40M+, but is also ahead of its initial $50M+ forecast from three weeks ago, proving there’s still life in moviegoing. Really. This is just the beginning of summer. Global was even bigger on Bad Boys 4 with $104.6M.

That Friday to Saturday hold is very close to what Bad Boys for Life did,...

Bia knows that relentless optimism can come across as corny or a script for a Better Help advertisement. But with her new single “Lights Out,” she found it imperative to string together words of encouragement to bring herself out of the dark. “When the light’s out/Still can see me shining, I’m a lighthouse/Lights out, are you ready?” she asks on the chorus. As the rapper takes Rolling Stone behind the scenes of the music video shoot for record, she shows just how ready she is to embrace positivity.

Netflix announced on Wednesay that Jo Koy: Live from Brooklyn, its latest special from comedian Jo Koy, will premiere globally on the streamer on June 4. Check out a first-look still above.

In Live from Brooklyn, Koy shares his unfiltered opinions on social media, aging and moving into a new phase of his life: his zaddy phase. Taped at the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn, NY last November, the special is directed by Shannon Hartman, who also exec produced alongside Koy, Joe Meloche and Michelle Caputo.

This will be Koy’s fifth special for Netflix, on the heels of Live from the Los Angeles Forum (2022), Comin’ in Hot (2019), Live from Seattle (2017), and the variety special In His Elements (2020).

Tapped to host the 81st Golden Globes earlier this year, Koy has been working as a comic for nearly three decades. In addition to the Netflix specials, he’s shot two, 2012’s Lights Out...

Frank Grillo, who played a tough villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is asking Marvel’s co-president, Louis D’Esposito, for a favor. He wants his character, Crossbones, back in the Marvel movies before he gets too old. The 58-year-old knows time is ticking, so he’s keen to jump back into the role while he still can.

Frank Grillo as Roy Pulver in Boss Level

But hold up, he’s also gearing up to voice Rick Flag Sr. in the new Creature Commandos cartoon series. Grillo’s caught between old and new gigs, showing how actors connect with their characters. It’s a tricky balance, juggling different worlds in Hollywood.

Frank Grillo Is All In For Bringing Back His Creature Commandos Character

Frank Grillo, the action-packed movie guy, is pretty stoked about his Creature Commandos character making a comeback.

You might remember him as Crossbones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe,...

The new action film Lights Out has stepped into the ring for viewers to enjoy. Frank Grillo stars as a mysterious wanderer who is haunted by a past of seeing his comrades die in combat and now finds himself thrust into the underground world of mixed-martial arts fighting. Mekhi Phifer also stars as Grillo’s only ally with Durmot Mulroney as a crime boss and Scott Adkins making a special appearance as Grillo’s former brother-in-arms.

The movie also stars Jaime King as Ridgeway, who is a police detective who is seemingly pulling all the strings behind it all, but is there more that she’s hiding? King had starred opposite Johnny Depp in Ted Demme’s film Blow, followed by Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor starring opposite Ben Affleck. You may recognize her as Goldie in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City and the sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Netflix has revealed that Brian Simpson: Live from the Mothership, the first hour-long special from up-and-coming comedian Brian Simpson, will debut globally on the platform on March 19.

Directed by Baron Vaughn, the special is the first ever to have been shot at The Comedy Mothership, the premier Austin, TX comedy venue owned by Joe Rogan. In it, Simpson covers everything from racism and gun violence to in vitro fertilization and masculinity. He brings the special to Netflix after doing a short set for the streamer’s show The Standups, having also put in an appearance on its comedian showcase That’s My Time With David Letterman.

“Shooting this at The Comedy Mothership was an incredible experience,” Simpson said, “and I can’t wait to share it with a wider audience.”

A former foster child and Marine Corps veteran, Simpson found his calling in L.A.’s comedy scene following his period of service.

Exclusive: Actress Jaime King (Black Summer) has taken on new agents at Paradigm.

A series regular for four seasons on The CW’s Hart of Dixie, King has more recently been seen leading Netflix’s post-apocalyptic drama Black Summer, which ran for two seasons.

On the film side, she most recently wrapped a role in Lights Out, an action thriller that has her starring opposite Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney and Scott Adkins. The actress made her acting debut in Daniel Walters’ 2001 Sundance comedy Happy Campers and has since then gone on to appear in Ted Demme’s Blow opposite Johnny Depp, Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor opposite Ben Affleck, Keenan Ivory Wayans’ White Chicks, Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City opposite Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis, DJ Caruso’s Two for the Money opposite Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, Frank Miller’s The Spirit opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson,...

One of the most acclaimed movies of 2023 is coming home: A24 has announced that "The Iron Claw" will be available on Blu-ray and DVD next month. But for those who aren't committed to picking up a physical copy of the film, it is also available to rent on VOD from a variety of digital retailers right now. So there are plenty of options, with even more on the way in the coming months (we'll get to that in a moment).

A24's wrestling drama about the Von Erichs "The Iron Claw" (read /Film's review here) is currently available to rent from retailers such as Apple TV+, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube, among others. It is priced at $19.99 for a 48-hour rental, which is the standard premium VOD price that studios began running with a few years ago. That price typically drops several weeks after the initial Digital release date.

Evan Jonigkeit and Dermot Mulroney join ‘The Hunting Wives’ (Photo Credits: Tommy Agriodimas and Storm Santos / Provided by Starz)

Starz’s The Hunting Wives has added Dermot Mulroney and Evan Jonigkeit as season one series regulars. They join Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow in the eight-episode drama, based on May Cobb’s novel.

Filming’s expected to begin this spring in North Carolina. Starz hasn’t announced a target premiere date.

Hightown‘s Rebecca Cutter is adapting Cobb’s novel and will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Additional executive producers include Author Cobb and 3 Arts Entertainment’s Erwin Stoff (The Serpent Queen).

The Hunting Wives “tells the story of Sophie and her family’s move from the East Coast to deep East Texas, where she succumbs to socialite Margo Bank’s irresistible charms – and finds her life consumed by obsession, seduction, and murder,” reads Starz’s synopsis. “Mulroney will play Jed Banks,...

Jaime King has a new movie out now!

The former Hart of Dixie actress was joined by co-star Mekhi Phifer and Frank Grillo at a special screening of their film Lights Out on Tuesday (February 20) at The London in West Hollywood, Calif.

Also in attendance were co-star Amaury Nolasco, director Christian Sesma, and producer Brandon Burrows, as well as Dolph Lundgren and wife Emma Krokdal.

In Lights Out, a homeless veteran, Michael “Duffy” Duffield (Grillo), meets a talkative Ex-Con, Max Bomer (Phifer) who notices Duffy’s skills after he gets into a bar fight and offers him a well-paying “job” competing in underground fight clubs. The pair form an unlikely partnership after their first fight and decide to travel to LA so Duffy can atone for his past and Max can pay back a crime boss, Sage Parker (Dermot Mulroney). Duffy enters Sage’s fight club and eventually wins, but...

While Warner Bros. continues to sit on his adaptation of the Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot, filmmaker Gary Dauberman has gone on to sign a first-look feature deal with Sony’s Screen Gems, where he is expected to “create projects for himself while curating a slate featuring established and up-and-coming filmmakers.” One of the projects he has set up at Screen Gems is the video game adaptation Until Dawn, which will be directed by David F. Sandberg. Now Deadline has revealed that Dauberman is going to be producing a film called Ushers for Screen Gems… and we have no idea what Ushers is about, because it’s based on a short story by author Joe Hill (who happens to be a son of Stephen King) that has never been published!

Dauberman and his team at the Coin Operated production company will develop and produce Ushers, with Coin Operated’s President,...

Christian Sesma’s action-packed thriller film, Lights Out, explores the dark world of underground fighting through its protagonist, Duff, a veteran who finds himself struggling to make ends meet after retiring from the army. With limited resources at his disposal, Duff tries his luck in an underground fighting ring where he meets a shady individual, Max, who gets him involved in a world full of gangs, drug dealers, and fighters. However, Duff goes through a moment of realization as he discovers that these activities are not just underground but also sanctioned by corrupt law enforcement officials working in cahoots with gangsters to make money on the side. As Duff digs deeper, he realizes that Max and his family, who provided him with a safe haven after the traumas of war and the loss of his friends, are in danger. Determined to make things right, Duff fights not only for justice...

Last year, horror director extraordinaire Eli Roth debuted his modern remake of a lost horror film that never existed. Back in 2007, Roth contributed a trailer for a fake film named "Thanksgiving" to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" project. The trailer showcased an array of twisted kills, one particularly notorious example of which involved a cheerleader on a trampoline...

Then, in 2023, "Thanksgiving" was finally made into an actual feature, although this modern version eschewed the low-budget slasher/exploitation style that characterized the trailer from "Grindhouse." Instead, Roth attempted to evolve beyond the edgelord horror with which he made his name in the early aughts and produced a modern version of "Thanksgiving" loosely based on his "Grindhouse" contribution.

In "Thanksgiving" 2023, Plymouth, Massachusetts, finds itself menaced by a serial killer who dresses as old Jon Carver himself. The spate of killings follows a Black Friday riot the year prior that resulted...

Stars: Frank Grillo, Mekhi Phifer, Amaury Nolasco, Dermot Mulroney, Jaime King, Paul Sloan, Donald Cerrone, Erica Peeples | Written by Chad Law, Garry Charles, Brandon Burrows | Directed by Christian Sesma

Michael ‘Duffy’ Duffield was a soldier, now he’s a drifter, dealing with Ptsd and living on the move. As Lights Out begins, he gets off a bus, and it’s not even five minutes before he finds himself in a card game and accused of cheating. The ease with which he dispatches the other players and takes his money catches the eye of Max Bomer.

Max is just out of jail and looking for a way to make some money, and he sees Duffy’s skill with his fists as the way to do it. He just has to convince him to take part in some illegal underground fight clubs like the one run by Fosco. And, since Duffy could use some cash himself,...

Frank Grillo knows what he wants.

The erstwhile Crossbones of the MCU has crafted a niche for himself as a contemporary Charles Bronson over the last decade, parlaying mainstream buzz from projects like “The Purge 2” and Mma drama series “Warrior” into a string of superior indie action movies — even if he himself shies away from Bronson comparisons when speaking about his career.

“Not that I’m comparing myself to Charles Bronson, because I couldn’t,” Grillo told IndieWire during a recent interview over Zoom, adding with a laugh, “Charles Bronson never took his shirt off on a soap opera.”

With respect to Grillo, Bronson simply didn’t have the same range. Grillo emerged from a three-year run on “Guiding Light” in the late ’90s to a decade as a working actor before landing a juicy supporting role in the Liam Neeson-starring “The Grey.” Then came 2014 and his role...

Christian Sesma is a darling of the Coachella Valley. The filmmaker, known for his shoot ‘em up films such as “Shoot the Hero” and “Section 8,” shoots his films in the Palm Springs area and hires local crew members and actors from the valley such as his 18th feature titled “Lights Out” starring Mekhi

The post Inside the Making of “Lights Out” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

Production underway on LA-set cross between Roadhouse and Kickboxer.

The Exchange has added worldwide rights to EFM action sales title Lights Out starring Frank Grillo, Mekhi Phifer, Scott Adkins and Dermot Mulroney.

Christian Sesma is directing the project from a screenplay by Garry Charles and Chad Law. Production is underway with Brandon Burrows of Firebrand serving as producer.

Lights Out is described as a modern-day Roadhouse meets Kickboxer and takes place in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. Grillo’s credits include the Captain America and Purge franchises, while Phifer has starred in 8 Mile and the Divergent franchise.

Action...