Amazon’s first foray into the upfront events has seen a lot of announcements this morning. Earlier, it was announced that Nicolas Cage will be reprising his Spider-Man Noir character for the live-action show Noir. Then, one of Amazon’s biggest shows, The Boys, would get a surprising early fifth-season renewal. It was also reported that the hit show with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, will be getting a second season, only without Donald Glover and Maya Erskine.

Deadline now reports that another announcement has been made for a future project with the streamer. Amazon issued a series order for a new TV adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider video game. Jen Salke, Head of Amazon & MGM Studios, has teased that it will be an “epic” and “globe-trotting” series. The show has been developed and will be written by Fleabag and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Waller-Bridge would giddily state, “If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators. Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats ‘n all.”

Despite the announcement, there has not been anything said in terms of casting. “God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: do right by her, do right by Lara!” Phoebe Waller-Bridge said when Amazon approached her about the Tomb Raider series. “The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character…. Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this. What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe? And it’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do.“

Waller-Bridge added that she has the opportunity to “do something dangerous and exciting” with the Tomb Raider series. “I already have an audience of people who love Lara and hopefully will continue to,” Waller-Bridge said. “And that is a very unusual position to be in. It’s the old Trojan horse.” Amazon seems intent on building its very own Tomb Raider universe. In addition to the TV series, there have also been rumblings that the streaming service is developing a new Tomb Raider movie as well.

The post Tomb Raider show from Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been given a series order by Prime Video appeared first on JoBlo.

Amazon’s adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith put a twist on the original Doug Liman film and the show, which premiered earlier this year, would become one of Prime Video’s top five new series debuts ever in terms of total U.S. viewers. The series would get the greenlight for a second season at Prime Video; however, Variety is reporting that the first season’s stars, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, are not expected to return. Amazon would decline to comment on the matter and reps for both actors have not immediately responded to the news.

Despite the news of the two leads sitting out the next season, Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, has still shown her enthusiasm for the future of the series, “We are excited to announce that a second season of our groundbreaking spy series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is in the works for our global Prime Video customers. The success of the first season, with its incredibly modern, sexy reinvention of the original film, is a testament to the brilliant creators Donald Glover and Francesa Sloane. We are proud to bring you another season filled with unforgettable journeys and new adventures.”

It is being said that the ending of the first season perhaps led to the show leaning into becoming more of an anthology series with different spy couples taking up the identities of John and Jane Smith every season. Glover and Erskine’s characters would be the inaugural couple and this upcoming season would see different actors partake in a similar undercover assignment with some romantic complications. This announcement was a part of Amazon’s first-ever upfront event, which also announced an early renewal of another hit streaming title, The Boys.

While the title implies that the show is a reboot of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the show’s plot would not exactly rehash the movie’s. In the official synopsis for season one, “Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travels, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith.
Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for
each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?”

The post Mr. & Mrs. Smith gets renewed for a second season, but will not see the stars returning appeared first on JoBlo.

Amazon’s dark superhero satire The Boys has become one of Prime Video’s biggest hits. The much-anticipated fourth season is due to drop on the streamer on June 13, but you don’t have to wait for Amazon to see the numbers to decide if they will bring the show back. Spoiler alert: they will. The Hollywood Reporter has just unveiled that The Boys, which stars Karl Urban, Anthony Starr, Jack Quaid and Erin Moriarty, has already been renewed for season 5 on Prime Video. This announcement was made as a part of Amazon’s first upfront, which is an event that previews upcoming schedule announcements while show rights acquisitions are made.

The head of television for Amazon MGM Studios, Vernon Sanders, would state, “The Boys is an unabashed and bold series that continues captivating our customers all over the world by piercing the cultural fabric season after season. We are proud of this series that has grown into a global franchise, and we are thrilled that [showrunner] Eric Kripke and the creative team have more engaging stories to tell for all the loyal fans.” And Kripke added, “The Boys could be the best job I’ll ever have. What other show allows me to write about politics, capitalism, family, and exploding genitalia, though not in that order. The cast and crew are deeply grateful to Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios for the opportunity to tell this story for another season. My only problem is that since this year promises to be free of any conflict or misinformation, we’re not sure what to write about.”

Sony Pictures TV president Katherine Pope would also express her enthusiasm over this announcement, “Since its premiere, devoted fans across the globe have been down with The Boys for this unapologetically wild ride. We couldn’t be more proud of our producers, writers, cast, and crew who bring this genius insanity to life. Now, with a fifth chapter to their story, we can’t wait to see where Eric Kripke and The Boys go next.”

Season four of The Boys will see a crossover with the spin-off Gen V. The synopsis for the upcoming season reads, “The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and the rest of The Boys are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.”

The post The Boys gets an early renewal for a fifth season just ahead of the fourth season premiere appeared first on JoBlo.

One of the Spider-Man variations that stole scenes in the 2018 animated film from Sony, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, was Spider-Man Noir. The character had the impeccable pipes of Nicolas Cage to bring his character to life and, Deadline now reports that the Marvel comic property has just been given a greenlight by Prime Video and MGM+ for a live-action series, complete with Cage in the role. The series titled Noir has been in development for over a year from Oren Uziel (The Lost City, 22 Jump Street) and Steve Lightfoot (Marvel’s The Punisher, Shantaram), who will be serving as co-showrunners and executive producers.

It’s also reported that Harry Bradbeer, the Emmy-winning director of Fleabag and Killing Eve, is set to direct and executive produce the first two episodes. The show was also developed with the Academy Award-winning team who wrote and produced Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal, who will all also serve on the series as executive producers. The live-action series is set to initially stream through MGM+’s linear channel, then will be available globally on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories.

The synopsis, per Deadline, reads,
“Noir tells the story of an aging and down on his luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.”

Vernon Sanders, the head of television at Amazon MGM Studios says, “Expanding the Marvel universe with Noir is a uniquely special opportunity and we are honored to bring this series to our global Prime Video customers. The extremely talented Nicolas Cage is an ideal choice for our new superhero and the accomplished producing team with Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, and the incredible team at Sony is dedicated to expanding this franchise in the most authentic way.”

And Katherine Pope, the President Sony Pictures Television Studios, adds, “We are absolutely thrilled to have Nicolas Cage starring in this series! No one else could bring such pathos, pain, and heart to this singular character. Along with our brilliant producers and partners at Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, we couldn’t ask for a better team to explore this reimagining of such an iconic character in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.”

The post Spider-Man Noir live-action series has been greenlit by Amazon and will star Nicolas Cage appeared first on JoBlo.

Prime Video will be working with the UK production company Drama Republic on a new heist series. Drama Republic was also recently behind the 2024 romantic drama series One Day, which can be seen on Netflix. According to Deadline, the company will partner with Amazon on the heist series that currently has the working title Haven. An ensemble cast has been assembled for the team and the show will be headed up by Game of Thrones and X-Men series star Sophie Turner. Joining Turner will be Archie Madekwe, who had broken out in the dark comedy Saltburn, as well as Bodies cast member Jacob Fortune-Lloyd.

The synopsis plot synopsis from Deadline states that “Turner will play Zara, an office worker at pension fund investment company Lochmill Capital. Zara has her day upended when a gang of violent thieves burst in demanding she helps them steal billions of pounds of ordinary people’s pensions. Madekwe features as Zara’s best friend Luke, while Fortune-Lloyd will play DCI Rhys, a detective with a recently relapsed gambling problem who must keep his own money troubles at bay as he examines the Lochmill Capital crime.”

The project is written by S.A. Nikias, who is making his television writing debut. However, Nikias is no newcomer. He has written a series of crime novels in the past titled City Blues Quartet. Although he would be credited under the pseudonym of Ray Celestin. Sam Miller, the director of I May Destroy You, will be on board to helm the first three episodes of Haven. Miller is also serving as executive producer in addition to directing. Amazon MGM Studios is producing the show alongside Drama Republic. Vernon Sanders, who is the head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, professed that Haven is a “uniquely thrilling ride” and will provide a “gripping, addictive, entertaining” story for Prime Video subscribers.

This announcement is the latest to add to the string of Turner’s upcoming projects. She was recently reported to star in a psychological thriller called Trust as well as reunite with her Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington for The Dreadful. The Dreadful will be set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses, which took place from 1455 to 1487. The story follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law Morwen, who live a solitary, harsh life on the outskirts of society. But when a man (Harington) from their past returns, he will set off a sequence of events that become a turning point for Anne.

The post Sophie Turner is set to star in a new Amazon Prime Video heist series titled Haven appeared first on JoBlo.

Michelle Yeoh has come quite a long way from the days of Yes, Madam and Police Story 3: Supercop. While the Malaysian actress used to fight alongside stars like Cynthia Rothrock and Jackie Chan in some of the best martial arts movies to come out of Hong Kong, today she’s broken out into dramas and sci-fi projects in addition to action. Deadline reports that the Academy Award-winning star of Everything Everywhere All at Once is now set to star in the sequel series, Blade Runner 2099, for Prime Video.

The details have been shrouded in mystery as of now. However, the year in the title implies a significant jump in time from the last sequel, Blade Runner 2049. The Denis Villeneuve film brought in talents like Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto and Ana De Armas. It would also see Harrison Ford return to the role of Dekker. Blade Runner 2099 was originally slated to start shooting in Belfast last summer, but the Hollywood strikes put a stop to that. The push also found the series moving out of Belfast in favor of Prague. Shining Girls creator Silka Luisa is the writer, showrunner, and executive producer of the series. Original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott is also onboard as an executive producer through his Scott Free production banner.

“The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is considered one of the greatest and most influential science-fiction movies of all time, and we’re excited to introduce Blade Runner 2099 to our global Prime Video customers,” said Amazon Studios head of global television Vernon Sanders when the project was announced in 2022. “We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors.“

“We are delighted to continue our working relationship with our friends at Amazon. And we are beyond excited to continue to extend the Blade Runner canon into a new realm with the provocative storyline that Silka has created,” Alcon Entertainment co-CEOs and co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said. “Audiences first discovered Ridley Scott’s brilliant vision for Blade Runner 40 years ago, and since then, it has become one of the most influential science-fiction films of all time. Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up sequel, Blade Runner 2049, then became one of the best-reviewed sequels of all time. So, we recognize that we have a very high bar to meet with this next installment. Together with Silka and our partners at Amazon, and Scott Free Productions, we hope that we can live up to that standard and delight audiences with the next generation of Blade Runner.“

The post Michelle Yeoh has been tapped to star in Prime Video’s Blade Runner 2099 series appeared first on JoBlo.

The trailer for season four of The Boys has arrived, with our first confirmation that it will have a crossover with spinoff series Gen V and that we will see the superheroes facing their greatest challenge yet.

In the trailer, we hear Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher tell his team, “I look back on my life, and all I see are the messes I’ve made…and I ain’t got time to fix it. I can do one thing right with the time I’ve got left, but I can’t do it alone. I can’t do it without you.” From here, we see that the team will be forced to come to terms with their celebrity, particularly how it will shift as they go on their next missions and evolve into “wrathful gods.”

This is a damn good trailer that builds even more hype for season four of The Boys, which has really picked up over the last few weeks. Last month, showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed that production had wrapped, adding that it may be the best season so far, complete with a scene “that miiiiiiight be the batshit craziest thing we’ve ever done.”

As for how season four of The Boys will crossover with Gen V, the trailer gives us looks at both supes Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) and Sam Riordan (Asa Germann). With season five of The Boys already confirmed, here’s hoping we can get even more characters from both meeting up.

Here is the official synopsis of season four of The Boys, as per Amazon: “The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and the rest of The Boys are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.”

Season four of The Boys will kick off with a three-episode premiere on Amazon Prime Video on June 13th, with remaining episodes hitting the service every Thursday after.

What did you think of the trailer for season four of The Boys? How will it stack up against the first three?

The post Trailer: S4 of The Boys crosses over with Gen V appeared first on JoBlo.

While Russell Crowe has made it abundantly clear that he’s not in the upcoming Gladiator 2 that Ridley Scott is directing, Crowe is still particularly proud of an overlooked movie that he did with Scott after their Academy Award-winning film. While on social media, Crowe responded to a fan with the handle @DorothyOstra when she posted, “On @PrimeVideo, you can already watch 26 films with @RussellCrowe. And that’s truly impressive home cinema! And then someone wonders why I’ve seen some movies 13 or 16 times, … because I have the best within arm’s reach.”

Crowe would see the post and reply with an opportunity to promote the director’s cut of Robin Hood, which he made with Scott. The Oscar-winning actor replied, “One heart at a time @PrimeVideo, 26 movies ??!! What I really like: The directors cut of Robin Hood. It’s some 17 minutes longer than the theatrical release, but it’s a crucial 17 minutes. Gives the whole movie another layer of clarity, humour and emotional depth.”

It stands to reason that Crowe would want his hard work to be recognized. He did break both his legs on the movie, after all. Here’s one better — not only did he break his legs doing a stunt during the production, but he finished it and didn’t even find out his legs were broken until a decade later. Crowe explained earlier this year, “I jumped off a castle portcullis onto rock-hard uneven ground. We should have prepped the ground and buried a pad but we were in a rush to get the shot done in the fading light.” As he jumped, Crowe said that he knew it was going to hurt before he landed heel-first on the ground below. “It was like an electric shock bursting up through my body,” he said. “We were shooting a big movie, so you just struggle through, but the last month of that job was very tricky. There was a number of weeks where even walking was a challenge.“

Flash forward to ten years later, when Crowe was getting an MRI and was asked by his doctor when he broke his legs, “Apparently he could see the remnants of fractures in both shin bones,” Crowe said. “To jog my memory he said, ‘Would have been maybe 10 years ago?’” Crowe added, “Apparently I finished that movie with two broken legs. All for art. No cast, no splints, no painkillers, just kept going to work and over time they healed themselves.“

The post Russell Crowe gives a shout-out to Robin Hood director’s cut appeared first on JoBlo.

Coming our way from Blumhouse Television and set up at Amazon’s Prime Video, The Bondsman is set to star Kevin Bacon as Hub Halloran, a backwoods bounty hunter who comes back from the dead with an unexpected second chance at life, and love, and a nearly-forgotten musical career — only to find that his old job now has a demonic new twist. We’ve previously heard that Bacon is being joined in the cast by Jennifer Nettles of The Righteous Gemstones as Maryanne, Hub’s ex-wife, and now Variety reports that four more have been cast in the show. They are Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Beth Grant (Speed), Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space), and Jolene Purdy (Unseen).

Herriman will be playing Lucky, “the owner of a successful country music club, who is in a relationship with Maryanne (Nettles), Hub’s ex-wife.” Grant’s character is Kitty, the mother of Hub Halloran. Jenkins has been cast as Cade, the son of Hub and Maryanne. Purdy will be playing Midge, who is “weary with the understated gravitas of someone who’s learned the hard way how to hold her ground in a male-dominated world. Midge may look unassuming but she’s actually a secret emissary.”

The first season of The Bondsman is expected to consist of eight half-hour episodes. The series was created by Grainger David, whose short film The Chair screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Erik Oleson, who was the showrunner for the second season of the Prime Video series Carnival Row, will also serve as showrunner on this series, and is executive producing through his company CrimeThink.

Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, and Chris Dickie are also executive producing The Bondsman, alongside CrimeThink’s Paul Shapiro.

I was sold on this show as soon as I heard that Kevin Bacon would be starring in it and playing an undead bounty hunter, but it’s good to see that they’re also assembling a strong supporting cast around him.

Are you interested in The Bondsman? What do you think of the show’s cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post The Bondsman: Damon Herriman, Beth Grant, & more cast in Kevin Bacon undead bounty hunter series appeared first on JoBlo.

Jennifer Nettles, lead vocalist of the country duo Sugarland and a successful solo artist, got into acting by playing Dolly Parton’s mother in the 2015 TV movie Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors. Since then she has appeared in the sequel to that movie, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, performed in Chicago and Waitress on Broadway, had roles in the film Harriet and the TV series Underground, and appeared on multiple episodes of the HBO show The Righteous Gemstones… which happens to be executive produced by David Gordon Green, so that paved the way for her to have a role in Green’s most recent film, The Exorcist: Believer. Now Deadline reports that Nettles is following her Exorcist role by being cast in another genre project: the horror action series The Bondsman!

Coming our way from Blumhouse Television and set up at Amazon’s Prime Video, The Bondsman will star Kevin Bacon as Hub Halloran, a backwoods bounty hunter who comes back from the dead with an unexpected second chance at life, and love, and a nearly-forgotten musical career — only to find that his old job now has a demonic new twist. Nettles has been cast to play Maryanne, Hub’s ex-wife.

The first season of the series is expected to consist of eight half-hour episodes.

The Bondsman was created by Grainger David, whose short film The Chair screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Erik Oleson, who was the showrunner for the second season of the Prime Video series Carnival Row, will also serve as showrunner on this series, and is executive producing through his company CrimeThink.

Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, and Chris Dickie are also executive producing The Bondsman, alongside CrimeThink’s Paul Shapiro.

This show sounds interesting to me, and I’m totally on board to watch a horror action series that stars Kevin Bacon. Bacon’s other horror credits include Friday the 13th, They/Them, You Should Have Left, The Darkness, Hollow Man, Stir of Echoes, Tremors, and Flatliners. He also has a role in the X and Pearl sequel MaXXXine. 

Does The Bondsman sound like a show you would want to watch? What do you think of Jennifer Nettles joining Bacon in the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post The Bondsman: Jennifer Nettles joins Kevin Bacon in undead bounty hunter horror action series appeared first on JoBlo.