October has arrived, and a gust of Hollywood news has blown in. Time for a round-up!
Joker: Folie à Deux, the musical sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga (see “’Joker: Folie a Deux’ Trailer“), tanked with only $40 million in domestic box office, compared to $96.2 million for the first film in the franchise, according to Variety. The budget had ballooned to $200 million on the sequel, meaning the film is going to have difficulty hitting break even based on box office. Critics and audiences that saw the film weren’t kind, with only 33% of critics giving the film a positive review, according to Rotten Tomatoes, better than the 30% of attendees that gave it a positive rating.
DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation have greenlit Dynamic Duo, according to Deadline. This animated movie, penned by Matthew Aldrich and directed by Arthur Mintz, follows two of the Robins (see “Preview: ‘Robins’ #1“), Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, in their early years. This storyline is not connected with the Matt Reeve Batman canon (see “‘The Batman’“).
The pilot/first episode of HBO’s The Penguin drew 10.4 million viewers in 11 days, which ranks it third among current HBO series (behind House of Dragon and The Last of Us). The second episode of Warner Bros. Discovery’s was up 17% over the first episode in its debut, according to Variety, with 1.6 million viewers on the day of its premiere, vs. the first episode, which hit on September 19, 2024 (see “‘Penguin’ Trailer“), with about 1.3 million viewers, indicating positive momentum for the series.
HBO has revealed casting notes for its Lanterns series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Kyle Chandler will assume the role of Hal Jordan, and Aaron Pierre and Stephan James are vying for the role of John Stewart. They have also tapped James Hawes (Slow Horses) to direct the first few episodes of this series, which was greenlit back in July (see “‘Green Lantern’ Series Greenlit“).
Paramount Pictures is developing a live-action Rugrats movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They have already attached Jason Moore to helm the project, and Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell have written the script. Paramount released a Rugrats animated series in 2021 (see “‘Rugrats’ Trailer“).
Amazon MGM Studios has a live-action She-Ra series in the works, according to Variety. Heidi Schreck has been attached to the project as a writer and executive producer alongside Nicole Kassell, who will direct and also be an executive producer. She-Ra was last rebooted as an animated series in 2018 (see “She-Ra“).
Hasbro has launched a new division to produce unscripted television programming, according to Variety. New series based on Trivial Pursuit, hosted by LeVar Burton, and Scrabble, hosted by Raven-Symone, premiered on the CW last week. Hasbro is also developing programming based on Monopoly, Nerf, and Clue.
For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2’s Best in Shows Index page. Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.
Source: ICv2
