by Nathaniel R
1. Hey look, it's the first image from David O. Russell's next film Amsterdam, which the internet has been calling either Canterbury Glass or Untitled David O. Russell Film for its entire production history. But now we know its true name so we've had to adjust all the Oscar charts accordingly, not that we've predicted it for much at this juncture. Though obviously predictions can and do change throughout the year...
Our next all category update will hit when Cannes concludes in mid May. Amsterdam is set in the 1930s and involves three friends (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington) who become suspects in a murder investigation despite being actual witnesses to the murder. It's due to open on November 4th. Because it's a Russell picture it's absolutely loaded with stars. The supporting cast includes Alessandro Nivola, Robert De Niro, Michael Shannon, Andrea Riseborough, Zoe Saldana, Timothy Olyphant, Matthias Schoenaerts, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Chris Rock, and more.
2. Avatar 2 also has a new title. It's officially Avatar: The Way of the Water. Despite its history of pushing back its release year after year after year (it's been in the works sooooo long now) it looks like its December 16th, 2022 release date will actually hold. Our wise friend Katey Rich, a kindred spirit in understanding James Cameron's worth, has written a piece for Vanity Fair "It's Time to Stop Pretending We're Not Excited for a New Avatar" and we obviously concur. Footage shown at CinemaCon reportedly wowed the industry peeps that were there. The first teaser will premiere in front of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in movie theaters. The original Avatar (2009) will be rereleased in theaters on September 23rd to get people in the mood. I saw it twice in theaters but I haven't seen it since (I'm not a big "rewatcher" at home) so I'm eager to return.
3. The Fast and Furious franchise has hit a speed bump. The next film Fast X has lost its director Justin Lin less than two weeks into filming. Lin had directed 5 of the franchises 10 pictures to date (beginning with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006) and was supposed to direct the 11th and 12th pictures but that's no longer going to be the case. Yes, the title is confusing. The titling has always been confusing on these movies. But the reasons this one has an X in the title despite being the 11th film is that Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is considered a spinoff so it doesn't count in the (inconsistently) numbered films. Anyway --- Universal furiously needs to find a director and fast (sorry) since stopping production after you've already started is insanely expensive and it will also cause serious problems with the "guest star" scheduling. Brie Larson, Charlize Theron, and Jason Momoa are in this one in addition to the usual suspects.
Iñárritu on set of "Bardo" © Netflix
4. Netflix has purchased Alejandro G Iñárritu's seventh full length feature Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. It's a Mexican comedy starring the great actor Daniel Gimenez Cacho (Zama, Cronos, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Blancanieves) as a documentarian who returns home for an "epic personal journey". Though it's in Spanish that's no reason to doubt its Oscar prospects (sight unseen) since the Academy has literally nominated all six of the auteurs previous movies in at least one though usually more categories including his two previous Spanish language features Amores Perros and Biutiful. Netflix plans their usual late in the year Oscar hopeful release strategy.
5. The day after we shared the first image from Greta Gerwig's Barbie we learned that Chris Nolan's Oppenheimer has chosen the same release date, July 21st, 2023. We suspect one of them will budge since distributors are loathe to open their "big" movies against other "big" movies these days. But we'll see.