In brief: ‘Jumanji 3’ booting up in 2026 and more

In brief: ‘Jumanji 3’ booting up in 2026 and more

Variety reports Columbia Pictures is gearing up for Jumanji 3, with franchise stars Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart and Jack Black all expected to return, along with director Jake Kasdan, who helmed the first two movies in the series, 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level. The series follows a group of teenagers who get sucked inside a video game and must defeat the enemy in order to survive. Welcome to the Jungle earned over $960 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2017, per the outlet. The Next Level was not far behind, grossing over $800 million globally. Jumanji 3 is slated for a December 2026 release …

Justin Long and Michael McKean have been added to the cast of the upcoming Marc Maron comedy In Memoriam, joining Lily Gladstone and Sharon Stone, according to Deadline. Maron plays a veteran Hollywood actor obsessed with securing a spot in the Oscars’ in memoriam montage following a terminal cancer diagnosis, per the outlet. His campaigning leads to a heartfelt journey of self-exploration. Long and McKean’s roles have not been revealed …

Uma Thurman, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor have been tapped to star in the romantic film The Housekeeper, according to Variety. The film, a fictionalized version of the inspiration behind Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, is set in Cornwall, England, where Thurman’s Danni, a housekeeper at the estate of a wealthy, widowed lord, played by Hopkins, falls in love with the novelist Daphne Du Maurier, portrayed by Dynevor. “For one, their affair is an all-consuming love, for the other an intoxicating realization of her secret longings,” per the outlet …

The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng will return with his third Netflix stand-up comedy special, Love to Hate It, on Dec. 17, according to Deadline. The special, taped during a sold-out five-night stand at the Hawai’i Theatre in Honolulu, “unpacks the indignities of the IVF process, the pitfalls of being a man on the internet, American politics and the place of the older generation in today’s world,” per the outlet. Love to Hate It follows his previous Netflix specials, 2022’s Speakeasy and 2019’s Asian Comedian Destroys America! …

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Johnny Depp mentions “televised soap opera” that was his life while promoting new film
Johnny Depp mentions “televised soap opera” that was his life while promoting new film
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

Johnny Depp was speaking about his latest directorial effort, Modi – Three Days On The Wing Of Madness, at the San Sebastian Film Festival and alluded to his messy court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. 

When asked if he saw parallels to his life and the life of the movie’s subject, artist Amedeo “Modi” Modigliani, Depp said he did, but claims it’s not about him.

“Sure, we can say that I’ve been through a number of things here and there, but I’m alright,” he said, according to Variety.

Depp continued, “I think we’ve all been through a number of things, ultimately. … Maybe yours didn’t turn into a soap opera, televised in fact, but we all experience and go through what we go through.”

Al Pacino also stars in the film, which Depp said was “infinitely more positive” than his last directing experience with The Brave 27 years ago — and so far, critics have been more positive about this one, as well.

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Margot Robbie + Jacob Elordi join director Emerald Fennell for ‘Wuthering Heights’
Margot Robbie + Jacob Elordi join director Emerald Fennell for ‘Wuthering Heights’
ABC – Elordi in ‘Saltburn’ – Amazon Content Serivices

Margot Robbie is teaming up with Jacob Elordi and director Emerald Fennell for an adaptation of Emily Brontë‘s classic Wuthering Heights, Variety is reporting. 

Robbie’s LuckyChap production company produced Fennell’s Saltburn, which starred Elordi, and Promising Young Woman, which netted the writer-director an Academy Award, as well as four other nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan.

Fennell, incidentally, also appeared in Robbie’s blockbuster Barbie, which was also produced by the Australian actress’s company. 

Wuthering Heights is the classic story of class, love and revenge; Robbie will play the book’s Catherine Earnshaw and Elordi, Heathcliff.

According to the trade, Saltburn producer MRC is backing the project, which is in preproduction and will shoot in the U.K. in 2025.

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Jude Law spills some tea about ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’
Jude Law spills some tea about ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’
Lucasfilm

Jude Law got to step into that galaxy far, far away with his lead role in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which debuts Dec. 3 on Disney+. 

For a fan, it left him “giddy,” he tells Variety. 

Jon Watts, who called the shots on Tom Holland‘s three standalone Spider-Man movies, created the show, which centers on four children “looking for their home planet after getting lost in the Star Wars galaxy,” the synopsis says.

Law tells the trade, “I don’t think I would have dived in willy-nilly. I wanted it to be right. I didn’t want to be the guy that dropped the ball on Star Wars.”

He says of the production, “It was a really interesting process. It’s technically complicated to get those things right — you’re dealing with animatronics and puppets and machines and huge, complicated worlds.” 

Law adds, “I’m the guy that wants to see how the wizard does it.” To that end, he talks about the “Star Wars filter” — the particularities common to the franchise. “Like, there are no buttons [on costumes] in Star Wars — only ties. Buckles? Yes. Velcro? Yes. Although, I don’t think you ever see the Velcro.”

He adds, “There are certain shots they don’t allow you to do if you’re the director. You can’t pass through the glass of the spaceship; you have to stay on the outside or inside. I love that. You see the shot and go, ‘Oh, I’m in Star Wars.'”

However, despite a scene in the trailer that shows him sending a key floating across the room, Law hedges when asked what it’s like to have the Force. “Who says I’ve got the Force?” he tells Variety with a laugh.  

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

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