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Brief News: SUPERGIRL Film in Development; HALO Update; STAR WARS TV Series will Cost $100 Million, & More

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Brief News about: A Supergirl Film, Halo, Star Wars TV Series Receives $100 Budget, and More

In brief, new movie and television show news has broken. Below you will find a brief rundown on all that news and their most significant segments, distilled down to the most salient information.

Star Wars Live-action TV show Budget Set

The ten episode first season of the Star Wars live-action TV series will have a budget of $100 Million. The show will be using high-end CGI and motion capture technology, will feature new characters, and will take place seven years after Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

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McDonald’s Monopoly Game Robbery Movie

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have acquired the right to The Daily Beast article “How An Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game And Stole Millions”. The article was written by Jeff Maysh and details how ex-cop turned head-of-security Jerome Jacobson, with a gaggle heterogeneous conspirators, stole $24 million in cash and prizes from McDonald’s Monopoly Game.

Matt Damon will play Jerome Jacobson.

Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese will write the screenplay for the Ben Affleck-directed film.

Halo TV Series will Feature the game’s Iconic Hero

Master Chief, one of the lead characters from the video game series the TV series is based on, will be one the lead character on the TV series. The Chief, and other characters, will be featured in a new storyline in the TV series that will be “incredibly respectful of the canon.”

Fox acquires script for Joe “The Animal” Barboza Movie

Fox 2000 has purchased Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz‘s screenplay Thatcher Island, based on Casey Sherman‘s book about Joe “The Animal” Barboza. Barboza was a hitman for ” the Patriarca crime family during the 1960s.”

The book’s plot synopsis:

Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia: You had to be Sicilian, and you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford–born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. If he killed enough men, if he did enough of the Mafia’s dirtiest biddings, then they would have no choice but to make him a Made Man. Barboza’s brutal rise during one of the deadliest mob wars in U.S. history became the stuff of legend, both on the bloodied streets of Boston and in the offices of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General. He took sick joy in his crimes, and it became increasingly difficult for the mob to keep the Animal on his leash.

But soon the hunter became the hunted. Betrayed by the mob and now on the run, Boston’s most notorious contract killer forged a Faustian bargain with two unscrupulous FBI agents—a pact that would transform the U.S. criminal justice system. From false testimony and manipulated evidence that sent mob leaders to death row, to the creation of the Witness Protection Program so the feds could protect their prized, cold-blooded witness, this was the horrific, dramatic first act in a story of murder and FBI corruption still being played out today in the news and the courtroom with the capture and trial of Whitey Bulger. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.

Homeland’s Eighth Season will be its Last

After eight seasons, the last two being of dubious quality, Homeland is mercifully coming to an overdue end. The series will be ending its run with its eighth season. The eighth season will begin airing on Showtime in June of 2019.

Robert Redford is Retiring

The Old Man & the Gun will be Robert Redford’s last film. He is retiring. Redford has been acting since he was 21. The actor is currently 81.

The Old Man & the Gun will released in U.S. theaters through Fox Searchlight Pictures on September 28, 2018.

Die Hard: Year One Goes Back in Time with John McClane

In the next Die Hard installment, fans will be presented a younger and present day version of NYPD Police Detective John McClane. Bruce WIllis is assisting in the casting process for the younger John McClane. The film will also feature a younger version of Holly Gennero, the future wife of John McClane. There is no word yet if the present day version of Holly McClane, played by Bonnie Bedelia in the first two films, will reprise her role.

The film will be an origin story for John McClane and a modern day action film where the past informs John McClane’s current day decisions and situations.

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Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes are currently writing the screenplay for film that Len Wiseman will direct.

Pachinko TV Series is Coming to Apple’s Streaming Service

The rights to Min Jin Lee’s book Pachinko has been acquired by Apple. Apple is going to adapt the book into a TV series for their new content streaming service. The TV series  will be written by Soo Hugh, who will also be the showrunner.

The book’s plot synopsis:

In this gorgeous, page-turning saga, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew.

“There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones.”

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant–and that her lover is married–she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan’s finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee’s complex and passionate characters–strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis–survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

New Supergirl Film in Development

A new Supergirl film is in development. Oren Uziel has been hired to write the screenplay for the film. It is unclear at this point if Melissa Benoist will reprise her small screen role as Supergirl on the big screen.

Leave your thoughts on the Brief News about: a Supergirl Film, Halo Update, Star Wars Receives $100 Budget, and everything else broached (Coming Soon, Entertainment Weekly, Slashfilm, Hollywoodreporter, Deadline, IGN, The Daily Beast, New York Times) below in the comments section. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, our Movie News Facebook Page, and our Movie News Google+ Page. Readers seeking more TV show news can visit our TV Show News Page, our TV Show News Google+ Page, and our TV Show News Facebook. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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