EPIC THURSDAY: 1ST POSTER FOR 'SAMSON' EPIC ADVENTURE WITH TAYLOR JAMES, BILLY ZANE, RUTGER HAUER! PARAMOUNT TO TURN 'THE BLACK VIKING' NOVEL INTO TV SERIES

  'SAMSON' MOVIE POSTER

WITH TAYLOR JAMES, BILLY ZANE

Samson will get a haircut for next Valentines!

Here's a project that has been out of our radar but it is supposed to hit the big screens next February! The latest movie version of famous legend on SAMSON in which the hero is played by Taylor James with Jackson Rathbone, Rutger Hauer, Billy Zane also in the cast alongside Caitlin Leahy who plays Delilah! After his youthful ambition leads to a tragic marriage, Samson's acts of revenge thrust him into direct conflict with the Philistine army. As his brother mounts a tribal rebellion, only Samson's relationship with a Philistine temptress and his final surrender - both to the Philistines and to God - turns imprisonment and blindness into final victory.

  'THE BLACK VIKING'

  TO BECOME EPIC TV SERIES

The book is currently being sold at Frankfurt Book Fair

Speaking of the news from the epic front, 'Deadline' reports today that Paramount TV and Anonymous Content have bought  the rights to 2013 novel THE BLACK VIKING by Icelandic author Bergsveinn Birgisson which they want to turn into television series directed and produced by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game, Passengers)! The author himself has led a search for traces of his forefather Geirmund Heljarskinn, one of the most powerful Viking kings in history whose saga has mysteriously disappeared. If I got it right, he got the name BLACK VIKING because he was black when he was born and was such an ugly baby that his mother, a 9th century queen, gave him away to be raised far from her.

'LEISURE SEEKER' TRAILER WITH HELEN MIRREN, DONALD SUTHERLAND! NEW SF SERIES 'STARGATE ORIGINS' WITH ELLIE GALL AND 'THE OUTPOST' FROM DEAN DEVLIN

  NEW SF SERIES

 'STARGATE ORIGINS'

Ellie Gall will lead new Stargate digital series

MGM has announced that Ellie Gall will lead their new 10 episode STARGATE ORIGINS series which will air on their new digital platform Stargate Command later this year. The show will follow young Catherine Langford as she embarks on an unexpected adventure to unlock the mystery of what lies beyond the Stargate in order to save Earth from unimaginable darkness.

  THE OUT- POST
Speaking of Stargate, Dean Devlin is preparing 10 episode sf adventure series THE OUTPOST about Talon, the lone survivor of a race called Blackbloods, as she tracks the killers of her family to a lawless fortress on the edge of the civilized world. Along the way she discovers that she possesses a mysterious supernatural power that she must learn to control in order to save herself and defend the world against a fanatical religious dictatorship.

  'THE LEISURE SEEKER' TRAILER

STARRING DONALD SUTHERLAND AND HELEN MIRREN

In the trailer department, check out the first video for THE LEISURE SEEKER which is out next year starring Helen Mirren and Donald

The film is based on a Michael Zadoorian novel

Sutherland as a  runaway couple who go on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker, travelling from Boston to The

The movie will hit cinemas in USA and parts of Europe in January

Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West. They recapture their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end. 

1ST PHOTOS FROM 'MEDICI MASTERS OF FLORENCE: THE MAGNIFICENT' WITH DANIEL SHARMAN AND BBC'S EPIC NEW MINI SERIES 'LITTLE WOMEN'!

  MEDICI: MASTERS OF FLORENCE

'THE MAGNIFICENT' 2ND SEASON

New season will also have eight episodes

As I've informed you before, the second season of Italy's English language epic saga MEDICI: MASTERS OF FLORENCE is shooting till late December and now the news is that Beta Film will co-produce it and they're releasing new photos next week (you can see first two today)!

Now titled MEDICI: MASTERS OF FLORENCE: THE MAGNIFI- CENT, the new season will be set in 15th century Florence, following the drama of the infamous Medici family, whose political and economic scheming helped shape European and world history. It will revolve this time on Lorenzo de' Medici (Daniel Sharman), a

Netflix airs the series around the world!

young son forced to take over the family business following an attempt on the life of his father, Piero de Medici (who was the son of Richard Madden's Cosimo in the first season). Lorenzo wants to abandons the cynical politics of the past and usher in a new era of political freedom and creative expression

Daniel Sharman takes over the lead role from Richard Madden

but his attempt puts him on a collision course with the head of Florence’s other powerful banking family, Jacopo Pazzi (Sean Bean)! Bradley James is Lorenzo's brother, Giuliano with Sarah Parish, Alessandra Mastronardi, Raoul Bova and Julian Sands also in the cast.

  'LITTLE WOMEN' MINI SERIES

BBC RELEASES FIRST PHOTO!

There's also the very first photo from BBC's latest mini series adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN which shows Maya Hawke as Jo, Willa Fitzgerald as Meg, Annes Elwy as Beth and Kathryn Newton as Amy. The three part

PBS Masterpiece will air the mini series in USA

saga follows their lives in the Civil War America  with Emily Watson, Angela Lansbury, Michael Gambon, Mark Stanley and our dearest Julian Morris also in the cast.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON BBC'S EPIC NEW TV SERIES 'GUNPOWDER' WITH KIT HARINGTON, TOM CULLEN, LIV TYLER! NEW TRAILER!

  'GUNPOWDER' EPIC MINI SERIES

 FIRST EPIC TRAILER RELEASED!

Your Monday delight is the first trailer released by BBC for their new three part mini series GUNPOWDER which will start airing Saturday October 21st! Kit Harington plays famous rebel Robert Catesby who, back in 1605

Kit Harington has revealed that he is actually related to Catesby

tried to blow up the king and the parliament. Guy Fawkes, another famous rebel, is played by Tom Cullen, with Liv Tyler also in the cast.

BLOW UP THE KING AND ALL HIS MEN TO HELL
England, 1603. Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland has taken the throne. With the country at war with Catholic Spain, English Catholics are

The series hits the small screens in two weeks

persecuted and priests caught saying Mass are punished with death. Several attempts have already been made on the new King’s life. All so far have failed.

Tom Cullen is famous Guy Fawkes the symbol of the rebellion

But deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside a new plot is brewing. A plot that will become legend, and leave a mark on the country that will still be felt over 400 years later. The three part historical drama follows the story of

Derek Riddell plays the infamous King James

the Gunpowder Plot, the attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I in order to help restore

The series will have a Saturday evening airing slot

a Catholic to the throne. Although to this day people mostly associate the famous Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes, the mastermind was nobleman Robert Catesby, a 30 year old committed Catholic at a time when Protestant

Liv Tyler plays Catesby's cousin who is worried about the success of the plot

England persecuted the church’s members relentlessly. He himself lost both his father and wife and is forced to raise his little himself on his own. That is when he starts recruiting help for his plot among family and supporters. Liv

Guy Fawkes is still celebrated with bonfires every November 5th!

Tyler plays his cousin Anne Vaux, who gets caught up in the plot. The cast also includes Peter Mullan, Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, Robert

The last episode will air November 4th, a day earlier than the famous date

Emms, Derek Riddell and Mark Gatiss as Robert Cecil, the chief of the king's spies whose network of informants pursued the plotters in a game of cat and mouse.

OUR VERDICT  Borderline unwatchable due to its bloodthirsty depiction of violence under the superficial guise of historical accuracy, this monotonous, dragged out piece of television programming with Kit Harington's utterly bland acting and lack of any expression, is an unnecessary, base and vulgar gorefest catering to the insatiable hunger of modern audience for savage brutality.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON KENNETH BRANAGH'S 'MURDER ON ORIENT EXPRESS' WITH CHARACTER POSTERS OF JUDI DENCH, JOHNNY DEPP, MICHELLE PFEIFFER, DEREK JACOBI, TOM BATEMAN, DAISY RIDLEY, PENELOPE CRUZ, WILLEM DAFOE

'MURDER ON ORIENT EXPRESS'

CHARACTER POSTERS ARE HERE!

The train arrives to your town this November!

Exciting new trailer has been released for Kenneth Branagh's latest big screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's most popular novel MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS along with colourful and glamorous set of more than a dozen character posters presenting all the major suspects aboard the luxurious train ride, and, boy, do they all look suspicious! Who looks most suspicious to you? Following the adventures of world's most famous detective Hercule Poirot, the murder mystery will try to solve its case November 10th when it hits cinemas around the world.

WHAT'S THE MYSTERY?
The fourth adaptation of Agatha Christie's most beloved novel written back in 1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS has the story set on a

Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench

lavish train ride which unfolds into a stylish and suspenseful mystery. It tells the story of thirteen stranded strangers and one man's race to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.

WHO ARE THE SUSPECTS?

British thespian Kenneth Branagh, who also directed the movie, plays legendary Christie’s detective Poirot stranded on the famous train during a

Johnny Depp and Tom Bateman

terrible snowstorm somewhere in old Yugoslavia. When a fellow passenger is murdered, Poirot discovers a great number of other passengers could be the

Penelope Cruz and Daisy Ridley

culprit. Johnny Depp is Mr. Ratchett, who believes his life is being threatened and attempts to hire Poirot but, due to his distaste, Poirot refuses

Derek Jacobi and Lucy Boynton

because he does not like his American face. Next morning he is killed on the train. The suspects include Judi Dench who portrays Princess Dragomiroff,

Willem Dafoe and Michelle Pfeiffer

Lucy Boynton as Countess Andrenyi, Tom Bateman as Bouc director of the train company, Derek Jacobi as Ratchett's valet Masterman, Michael

Marwan Kenzari and Sergei Polunin

Peņa as Marquez, Leslie Odom Jr. as Doctor Arbuthnot. Michelle Pfeiffer is Mrs. Hubbard and Daisy Ridley plays Mary Debenham. Josh

Manuel Garcia Rulfo and Olivia Colman

Gad is Ratchett's assistant Hector McQueen, Penelope Cruz is missionary Pilar Estravados, Willem Dafoe is undercover detective Gerhard Hardman amd Olivia Colman is Hildegarde Schmidt, a cook.

INDIA SATURDAY: 'SWORDS AND SCEPTRES' INDIAN EPIC STARRING RUPERT EVERETT, DEREK JACOBI ON QUEEN OF JHANSI! STUNNING POSTERS FOR 'PADMAVATI' 14TH CENTURY EPIC MOVIE WITH DEEPIKA PADUKONE

'SWORDS AND SCEPTRES'

STARRING RUPERT EVERETT AND DEREK JACOBI

She was only 30 when she was killed in battle against Brits

To bring some exotic warmth into the first cold days of golden Autumn, we're having an India Saturday today, people! Here's a project I haven't mentioned before: female director Swati Bhise (the producer of Dev Patel's The Man Who Knew Infinity) is currently shooting epic story SWORDS AND SCEPTRES starring Rupert Everett, Derek Jacobi, Nathaniel Parker and Jodhi May as bloodthirsty queen Victoria! A tale of women's empowerment, SWORDS AND SCEPTRES tells the true story of Lakshmibai (Devika Bhise), the historic Queen of Jhansi who fiercely led her army against the British East India Company in the infamous mutiny of 1857.

'PADMAVATI' EPIC MOVIE

The move was postponed for December

FIRST MOVIE POSTERS ARE OUT!

And here's another upcoming epic project set in the exotic regions of India: gorgeous first posters have been released for opulent period set drama PADMAVATI which should hit Indian cinemas this December bringing 14th century extravaganza to the big screens, the story of Alauddin Khilji, the second ruler of the Khilji dynasty, and his obsessive love for the queen of Mewar, Padmavati, renowned for her beauty,

Movie will feature traditional folk dance numbers

intellect and courage. We're still waiting for a trailer to be released!

THE STORY OF THE EPIC MOVIE

Starring Deepika Padukone in the title role as Rani Padmini, alongside Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, and Aditi Rao Hydari, the film is a fictionalised account of the life of Rani Padmini, a legendary Hindu Rajput queen, mentioned in Padmavat. According to Padmavat, she was the wife of Rana

Deepila Padukone as Padmini the Goddess Queen

Rawal Ratan Singh, the Rajput ruler of Mewar. In 1303, Alauddin Khalji, the Turkic ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, laid siege to the Chittor Fort in Rajputana.

Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh

According to Padmavat, Khalji led the invasion motivated by his desire to capture Rani Padmini. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the movie was jointly produced by Bhansali and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji

1ST TRAILER FOR KEANU REEVES SF MOVIE 'REPLICAS' AND AGATHA CHRISTIE'S 'CROOKED HOUSE' WITH GLENN CLOSE, MAX IRONS, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

'CROOKED HOUSE' TRAILER 

NEW AGATHA CHRISTIE MYSTERY

Two new trailers to end the week, starting with the first one for British period set thriller CROOKED HOUSE based on a novel by Agatha Christie. Set to

It was Agatha Christie's favourite book of hers

be released sometime next year it was written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes and has Glenn Close, Christina Hendricks, Max Irons, Terence Stamp, Julian Sands in the stellar cast.

Based on the novel by Agatha Christie, which she herself loved most, it follows private detective Charles Hayward (Max Irons) who is invited to solve a gruesome crime where nobody is above suspicion, including Sophia (Stefanie Martini), his client and former lover. She is an engaged woman who holds off on marriage until the identity of the person who poisoned her grandfather is found.

'REPLICAS' SF TRAILER

 IN WHICH KEANU REEVES CLONES HIS DEAD WIFE & KIDS

There is also a very exciting first trailer for Keanu Reeves sf movie REPLICAS in which he plays a  daring synthetic biologist who, after a car accident kills his family, will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it

Alice Eve plays Keanu cloned wife in the movie

means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force and the physical laws of science.In other words he clones his dead wife and kids!

BBC ANNOUNCES 19TH CENTURY POLAR ADVENTURE 'NORTH WATER', EPIC WW2 DRAMA 'WORLD ON FIRE', 'KING LEAR' WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, EMMA THOMPSON, 'BODYGUARD' WITH RICHARD MADDEN, KEELEY HAWES

BBC'S NEW PROJECTS 

ARCTIC SET 'NORTH WATER'

We're all posh British today, with BBC's announcement of a slate of their future projects! They are planning to turn Ian McGuire's novel THE

Andrew Haigh is directing the series

NORTH WATER into a five episode period set thriller series. Set in Hull and the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s it follows Patrick Sumner, a disgraced surgeon who signs up as ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic. On board he meets Henry Drax, the harpooner, a brutish killer whose amorality has been shaped to fit the harshness of his world. Hoping to escape the horrors of his past, Sumner finds himself on an ill-fated journey with a murderous psychopath. In search of redemption, his story becomes a harsh struggle for survival in the Arctic wasteland.

WW2 DRAMA 'WORLD ON FIRE'
Together with Poldark's and Victoria's Mammoth Screen, they're also working on epic WW2 landmark drama WORLD ON FIRE telling the story of WW2 through the lives of ordinary people from all sides of this global

King Lear will air on Amazon Prime too!

conflict. The 7 part saga tells the story of the first year of the war, starting with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and ending with the Battle of Britain. It follows a young translator in Warsaw, a factory worker in Manchester, a war correspondent, a family from Berlin etc.

NEW 'KING LEAR'

BBC has also officially confirmed their work on new TV movie KING LEAR. Hollywood Spy was among the first in the world to announce this project which, set in the fictional present, sees Anthony Hopkins as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Emma Thompson, Emily Watson and Florence Pugh are his daughters. Jim Broadbent is Earl of Gloucester, Andrew Scott is his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan his illegitimate son Edmund. Jim Carter is Earl of Kent, Christopher Eccleston is Oswald, Tobias Menzies is Duke of Cornwall. Karl Johnson is set to play Lear’s loyal jester the Fool.

RICHARD MADDEN'S 'BODYGUARD'
BBC has revealed the 1st photo from their 6 part drama BODYGUARD that tells the fictional story of David Budd (Richard Madden), working as a Specialist Protection Officer for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch

Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes in Bodyguard

of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious and powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), whose politics stand for everything he despises, Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, is he actually her biggest threat?

KATE WINSLET JOINS AVATAR SEQUELS, FIRST TRAILER FOR HER 'WONDER WHEEL' MOVIE WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!

KATE WINSLET 

JOINS AVATAR SEQUELS!

Kate said she'd work with Cameron again only for big bucks

It's a Kate Winslet day today! You've probably already heard the news earlier this afternoon that she has officially joined the cast of new AVATAR sequels in which she will play a character name Ronal! This reunites her with Titanic director James Cameron after twenty years. The shooting of the $1 billion worth four new instalments has begun last month and they will also star Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana alongside Sigourney Weaver. They will be released within next eight years in December 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025. Her Mountain Between Us with Idris Elba is out Friday.

'WONDER WHEEL' TRAILER

STARRING JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE AND KATE WINSLET

Meanwhile, first trailer has been released for Kate's  period set drama WONDER WHEEL which hits cinemas this December also starring pop 

The Wheel will start turning this December

superstar Justin Timberlake. It tells the story of four characters whose lives intertwine amid the hustle and bustle of the Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s: Ginny (Kate Winslet), an emotionally volatile former actress now working as a waitress in a clam house; Humpty (Jim Belushi), Ginny’s rough hewn carousel operator husband; Mickey (Justin Timberlake), a handsome young lifeguard who dreams of becoming a playwright; and Carolina (Juno Temple), Humpty’s long estranged daughter, who is now hiding out from gangsters at her father’s apartment. 

DELIGHTFUL NEW TRAILER AND POSTER FOR 'PADDINGTON 2' WITH HUGH BONNEVILLE, HUGH GRANT, JULIE WALTERS, IMELDA STAUNTON, BEN WHISHAW, JIM BROADBENT

'PADDINGTON 2'

2018 marks the 60th anniversary of the first book

A NEW TRAILER IS HERE!

Earlier this May, we've seen a delightful trailer for PADDINGTON 2  a sequel to the 2014 hit movie which now boasts an exquisitely strong thespian cast with Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, Julie Walters, Brendan Gleeson, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw, and now we have a lovely new poster and a new international trailer as well! It is out November in Europe, January

Plans for the third film have been announced too

2018 in USA which marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of the first Paddington book by Michael Bond .

IN THE SEQUEL PADDINGTON is happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, where he has become a popular member of the community, spreading joy and marmalade wherever he goes. While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy's 100th birthday, Paddington spots a unique pop-up book in Mr. Gruber's antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. But when the book is stolen, it's up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief. Enjoy the first international trailer below: