Get this movie on your radar

And Amazon is making its own Pooh

Jun 21, 2024

Piranesi is becoming a stop-motion animated film at Laika… Yes! OK, I need to put this upcoming movie on your radar. On Thursday, animation studio Laika announced that it would be adapting Susanna Clarke’s best-selling novel Piranesi
into a stop-motion animated film. And if you’ve read the book you are either as excited as I am right now, or at the very least you’re highly intrigued by how they’re going to pull this off. Piranesi is easily one of my favorite novels in recent years and I am intentionally not going to tell you anything about the plot because if you read it or wait to see the movie without any prior knowledge, you will have your mind completely blown. And if you have read the book, you know that animation might be the only way to give it the scale Susanna Clarke implies in her writing. Laika president/CEO Travis Knight is going to direct the film. He made Kubo and the Two Strings and the under appreciated Transformers Bumblebee movie, so I’m optimistic about that. In a press release he said “Piranesi is a treasure, and very dear to me,” while Clarke said she’s “thrilled that Piranesi has found a home with Laika,” and “can’t wait to see what they do.” Same.
Amazon to release new and different Winnie the Pooh movies and series… As you’ll recall, Pooh is now in the public domain, meaning anyone can do their own version. While there’s already a weird horror film Pooh, this is the first major direct adaptation of the original books — aimed at children and meant to directly compete with Disney’s Thousand Acre Woods characters. 🧸
Taika Waititi in talks to direct Percival Everett’s spin on Huckleberry Finn James… Everett wrote the book that gave us American Fiction and this book “reframes the classic story of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim.” Steven Spielberg’s Amblin is producing. Waititi has a lot of projects in the works, so let’s wait and see if this actually happens. 👍
Mark Walhberg and Paul Walter Hauser to star in Amazon-MGM action comedy Balls Up… For director Peter Farrelly. Nice to see Farrelly doing another straight up comedy — as his last, Ricky Stanicky, was quite good for what it was. Meanwhile, Paul Walter Hauser continues to be the busiest man in Hollywood. 🎥
Five men convicted of operating massive illegal streaming service… It was called Jetflicks and for $10 a month gave you access to a bigger library than Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Vudu combined. Of course all of it was stolen and in breach of copyright law. Hence the conviction. 🏴‍☠️
Jennifer Lawrence to star in mystery film inspired by the Real Housewives for A24 and Apple… I do like this new version of Jennifer Lawrence who is looking for mainstream, crowd pleasing projects rather than award season fare. 💍
Riz Ahmed to write and star in Amazon comedy series… Doesn’t it feel like Riz Ahmed should have a bigger career right now? 📦
Max shares trailer for The Penguin… With Colin Farrell still doing the most. 🐧
Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac eyed for Beef season 2… Nice! 🥩
Donald Sutherland has died at 88