Warner Bros. recently landed the rights to Ryan Coogler’s next film starring Michael B. Jordan. It was a heated bidding that, as requested by Coogler and Jordan, would not include streamers.
THR is now reporting that the film has landed a March 7, 2025 release date, including IMAX. It’s supposed to start production in the coming weeks. So, Warner Bros wants to avoid the summer and fall with this one. Hopefully it pans out for them.
The report also describes a rumor, I had posted about a few weeks ago, that Coogler’s film would be set in the ‘30s South, centering on vampires, with dual twin roles for Jordan and that it would be heavy in “anime influences.”
The ‘30s Jim Crow South setting is not an accident. There’s been word that the plot would center on Vampires going to war against the Ku Klux Klan. That actually makes total sense given the setting of the film which is smack dab in the middle, and during, the height of the Klan.
I gather this’ll be as close to plot as we’re likely going to be getting for this film. It was previously reported that secrecy was so tight on the project, to be produced by Coogler’s own Proximity Media, that execs had to trek to the offices of WME just to read the script.
Coogler, the filmmaker behind “Creed,” “Fruitvale Station,” and “Black Panther,” is said to have franchise aspirations for the film, the goal is to turn it into an IP — which is part of the reason why studios seemed keenly interested in acquiring it before Warner Bros. finally prevailed.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.