Welcome to Development Hell, the fiery pit into which we fling recent developments in casting, distribution, and everything else that’s new and mildly interesting in the Boschian phantasmagoria of the entertainment industry.
Well, Nintendo finally went ahead and killed Luigi, a shocking turn of events that has the world wondering why Mario didn’t just give his brother some extra mans and bring him back for the next level. Either way, Luigi died in the latest trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and all we can do to honor his memory is to try and reflect on the many wonderful adventures we had together while still writing about pop culture news like we normally do. Maybe this’ll have a more melancholic tone than it usually does, but it probably won’t. It’s not like Mario or Samus died. Anyway, here’s the news.
- We’re not getting Friends revival just yet, but David Schwimmer is jumping into the TV revival world with a recurring role on the next season of Will & Grace. He’ll be a new love interest for Debra Messing’s character in what’s being planned as a five-episode arc, but we just hope the writers find a way to work in a classic Ross catchphrase like “we were on a break,” “you’re moving the couch wrong,” or “dinosaurs are fun.” [via Deadline]
- LeBron James has put his name on Million Dollar Mile, a 10-episode CBS show about a dramatic obstacle course that will be built on closed city streets. It sounds like American Ninja Warrior, but with evil athletes trying to stop the contestants from making it to the end of the course. [via Deadline]
- Fangoria’s Satanic pizza movie, Satanic Panic, will be directed by Chelsea Stardust. As we’ve previously reported, the movie is about a girl who delivers a pizza to rich Satanists and must try to escape before being sacrificed in a ritual. It’s going to be a comedy, in case that wasn’t clear. [via Deadline]
- Guy Pearce is set to replace Michael Sheen in Bloodshot, an adaptation of the Valiant comic book of the same name. Vin Diesel is starring as a man who gets brought back to life by a tech company so he can be a super-soldier. [via Deadline]
- Roland Emmerich likes to make stuff blow up real good, and he’s tapped Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Mandy Moore to star in Midway, a movie about the World War II battle of the same name. [via Deadline]
- Cystic Fibrosis survivor and TV writer Travis Flores is developing a comedy show called (Sorta)supportive that will focus on teens with chronic conditions and disabilities. The show will feature the music of former The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie and it will employ people with chronic illnesses who “may not otherwise be hired for television.” [via Deadline]
- Adult Swim has ordered two new shows: The Shivering Truth and Tigtone. The former comes from Vernon Chatman, and it’s a stop-motion anthology about the same sort of crazy shit you usually see on Adult Swim (just callin’ it like we see it). The other is a parody of fantasy stories that focuses on a “quest-addicted hero” who doesn’t care about how his adventures harm the people around him. [via Deadline]
- For the first time ever, Canada has topped the list of production locations for movies—meaning more films were filmed up there last year than in Georgia, California, or the United Kingdom. This is all because of a good exchange rate between Canadian money and American money and the incentives in place for film productions, and it might mean we’ll soon be seeing that Georgia peach in fewer and fewer end credits as time goes on. Also, America kind of really sucks right now, so we don’t blame any movies for getting out while they can. [Everything came from Deadline today, so thanks for that, Deadline.]