Jon Bernthal has played the Marvel Comics character Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, in season 2 of the Netflix Daredevil series and two seasons of his own The Punisher series, and he’s reprising the role in the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again. Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum recently let it slip that Bernthal is also set to star in a The Punisher Special Presentation for Disney+ – and now, Bernthal has let it be known that he’s aiming to give the audience the version of Frank Castle they’re hungry for.

Winderbaum told Entertainment Weekly that Bernthal is writing The Punisher Special Presentation with Reinaldo Marcus Green, who directed Bernthal in the 2022 mini-series We Own This City. Green, whose other credits include Bob Marley: One Love, King Richard, Joe Bell, and Monsters and Men, will also be directing the special. This will mark Bernthal’s first official writing credit.

Winderbaum previously said, “It’s like a shotgun blast of a story, but also has all the pathos and emotion that you want out of a Frank Castle story. It’s so exciting.“

Speaking with Collider, Bernthal said, “I’ve said it a million times: Frank is in my bones, is in my heart. I care about him. In discussing what this thing could be and this sort of version of Frank that I really felt that the audience was hungry for, that the military community was hungry for it, the first responder community, the comic book fans, they were really hungry for it. I presented that version to them, and they encouraged me. They encouraged me to keep coming to the table. As we were talking with different writers, the ideas that we were coming up with started to resonate, and I think they saw how much they resonated with me. I got a great group of vets that I work with. One in particular, my friend Nick, he’s just been incredible. I hope that it goes alright. I don’t like talking about these things because it’s a little bit of bark before there’s a bite, you know? I’m honored and I’m grateful. It’s an incredible group of people that we’re assembling.“

What’s the version of Frank Castle that you’re hungry for and hoping to see in The Punisher Special Presentation? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

When Marvel Studios held its chair-tastic cast reveal event for the upcoming event film Avengers: Doomsday, fans were surprised to see Channing Tatum’s name among the bunch. Tatum plays the kinetic card-dealing Cajun Gambit in Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine, and the thought of him returning for Doomsday is an exciting prospect. However, while speaking with ExtraTV, Tatum said something that has fans thinking he could play another character in the ambitious superhero saga.

“Personally, all I was guaranteed was a chair,” Tatum told the outlet. “They said that I have a chair, and I can at least watch the movie from the chair. You know, and it was just my name, it wasn’t exactly Gambit. So, I work in the world of just like, of binary yes or no’s, and I’ve only been guaranteed so far a chair to watch the movie in, so that’s where I’m at.”

What? A chair to watch the movie in? Who are you trying to kid, Channing? Marvel left a lot of names out of the first round of casting announcements, and your name was there, so you’d have a good vantage point to watch the film. I don’t think so. Then again, what the hell do I know? It’s not like Marvel is blowing my inbox with casting secrets for their upcoming movie.

Paramount brought Tatum’s upcoming film, Roofman, to CinemaCon, where the crowd saw footage of the Derek Cianfrance-directed crime drama. Roofman focuses on a rooftop robber, Jeffrey Manchester, and his time on the lam to avoid capture. Tatum’s Manchester is a polite thief who goes to jail, escapes, and hides in a Toys R Us where Peter Dinklage plays a manager. Dinklage’s character is a jerk, and Kirsten Dunst also works there. Manchester develops a crush on her, all while trying to hide from the cops.

Let’s pretend for a moment that Channing Tatum isn’t playing Gambit. Who do you think he should play in Avengers: Doomsday? What did you think about his Gambit performance? Is his version an excellent gag for Deadpool and Wolverine, or can he play the character for the long haul in a Marvel event film as massive as Avengers: Doomsday? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Jake Gyllenhaal returns as Elwood Dalton for Road House 2, and Guy Ritchie is in talks to direct the sequel for Amazon MGM.

In recent years, Guy Ritchie has become one hell of a prolific filmmaker, and he’s set to add yet another project to his upcoming slate. According to Puck and World of Reel, Guy Ritchie is in talks to helm Road House 2 for Amazon MGM.

The Road House remake was a huge hit for Prime Video, attracting over 50 million global viewers in its first two weeks of release. Despite the mixed reviews, it was a no-brainer to get the ball rolling on a sequel. It’s clear why Doug Liman isn’t returning for the sequel, as the director was particularly vocal about his battles with Amazon over the company’s choice not to release the film in theaters.

Liman even decided to boycott Road House’s premiere at SXSW. “When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won’t be attending. The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there,” Liman said. “My plan had been to silently protest Amazon’s decision to stream a movie so clearly made for the big screen. But Amazon is hurting way more than just me and my film. If I don’t speak up about Amazon, who will? So here we go.“ However, at the end of the day, Liman did attend the premiere.

Ritchie’s next film is Fountain of Youth, which stars John Krasinski and Natalie Portman as “two estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives … and possibly lead to immortality.” The film will be released on Apple TV+ on May 23rd.

Ritchie also directed the first episode of Mobland, which recently premiered on Paramount+. According to the streamer, MobLand broke the record for the streamer’s biggest global series launch ever on its premiere day with 2.2M subscribers, generating 9.7M views. “Power is up for grabs as the Harrigans and Stevensons, two warring London crime families, clash in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives,” reads the official synopsis. “Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza, the street-smart ‘fixer’ as dangerous as he is handsome, who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom goes up against kingdom, lines will be crossed – and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family above everything.“

Our own Alex Maidy enjoyed the series but confesses that it’s not really all that different from any other gangster or crime-based TV show. “Still, it rises above the formula thanks to the fixer plot structure inherited from Ray Donovan and the great cast led by Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren,” Maidy wrote. “MobLand is violent and intense, with the right amount of humor to brighten the story.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.

Do you think Guy Ritchie is the right choice to direct Road House 2?

Uwe Boll has decided to change the title of The Dark Knight after speaking with Warner Bros. The thriller stars Armie Hammer.

The upcoming Uwe Boll thriller starring Armie Hammer shares its title with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, or at least it did until somewhat recently. According to Variety, Boll had a “friendly” chat with Warner Bros. and has decided to change the name of his film from The Dark Knight to Citizen Vigilante.

“We had a very friendly conversation with Warner Bros. and decided to change our title to ‘Citizen Vigilante’ to avoid any confusion with Warners’ famous character,” Boll explained.

Executive producer Michael Roesch added, “We also got a lot of feedback from fans, who asked us to change the title because of its similarity with Chris Nolan’s movie, so this was another factor in changing the title. Warner Bros. contacted us and asked us to change the title. It was a very amicable discussion.“

Boll confirmed earlier this year that Warner Bros. had sent him a cease-and-desist letter regarding the title. “DC and Warner already contacted and said I can’t use the title,” Boll said. “I understand that, but I told them, ‘Guys, remember Rampage, the Rock movie? You used my title.’ The fact that they did that and called me for permission, they could show gratefulness and say, ‘listen, it’s not a Batman movie, and you can use the title.’” While it initially felt like Boll would be holding firm in his choice, it really was only a matter of time before he made the switch.

Armie Hammer in Citizen Vigilante as Sanders, a vigilante “who takes justice into his own hands as he sets out to hunt down criminals. While his crusade transforms him into a social media sensation and a hero in the eyes of the public, the local police chief sees him as a menace to society and aims to take him down.” Boll has said that the film is a “very dark and violent movie” which features “rapes and knife attacks” as it examines the “landscape in Europe.“

Uwe Boll plans to present Citizen Vigilante at this year’s Cannes Film Market, but it may just be a promo reel. “Although we are ahead of schedule, the full movie will most likely not be finished by then,” Roesch said.

Will Forte and Val Kilmer really wanted to appear on The Amazing Race together, but their agents put an end to it.

Will Forte and Val Kilmer worked together on MacGruber, where they became good friends. In fact, when Kilmer needed a place to stay after “having a dispute with his landlord,” he moved in with Forte for nearly three months. Forte wrote a lovely remembrance of this time for Vulture and mentioned that one of his biggest regrets is not appearing on The Amazing Race with Kilmer. Pardon?

“I used to watch ‘The Amazing Race,’ and he came back home at some point when I was watching it and was like, ‘What are you watching that garbage for? Come on, that stuff’s going to rot your mind.’ I said, ‘It’s pretty good. You should sit down and watch it. Give it a try before you s—t on it,’” Forte explained. “So he sat down and he started watching it, and he got really into it. Then, at a certain point, he said, ‘Will, you and I have to go do ‘The Amazing Race.’ We have to. Let’s do ‘The Amazing Race.’” I’m like, ‘I am so fully in.’“

Forte continued, “We got really excited about it, and then we called our respective agents and managers, and they were like, ‘There’s no way you guys are doing that.’ That is, maybe to this day, the biggest regret of my whole career — that I never did ‘The Amazing Race’ with Val. I think we would’ve gotten out very quickly, but it just would’ve been the experience of a lifetime.” It would have been something, that’s for sure.

When Forte was preparing to film MacGruber, he was really nervous about being around Kilmer for fear that he’d leave the movie, but he quickly found out that Kilmer was the type of man who would literally give you the shirt off his back.

“I remember one time, I got to set, and he was wearing this red plaid shirt. I said, ‘Oh man, that’s my kind of shirt! That is right up my alley!’ And he just took the shirt off and said, ‘This is yours now,’” Forte said. “Then he was just sitting there with his shirt off, fully exposed to the world, while we continued to talk. Without even thinking, he literally gave me the shirt off his back. He was the most interesting person in the world, because there were so many elements to his personality. He was incredibly funny and incredibly smart. He could be super-silly and then turn around and be a little frickin’ devil — but a sweet little devil. Life is more vivid when you’re hanging out with Val.“

The loss of Val Kilmer, who was just 65, is a tough one. The man gave us such incredible performances in so many fantastic movies. Although throat cancer had robbed him of his voice, it was such a delight to see him return in Top Gun: Maverick as Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.

On tonight’s episode of JoBlo Originals’ Live Stream, Friday Night Flicks with Kier Gomes, we’re talking Val Kilmer and CinemaCon

The OFFICIAL JoBlo Originals’ Live Stream, Friday Night Flicks with Kier Gomes, is back! You can watch the show on our JoBlo Originals channel (or via the embed above) – TONIGHT at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.

Just a few days ago, we received the devastating news that the legendary Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of just 65. We’ve paid tribute to Kilmer here on JoBlo by putting together a list of his 10 greatest roles and pointing out that he deserved more credit and accolades for his performance in The Doors – and on tonight’s live stream, Kier will be taking a look back over Kilmer’s career.

As you might have noticed, entertainment news this week was dominated by reports from the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray and Lance Vlcek were at the event, sending in reports daily, letting us know about everything Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Universal, Amazon MGM, Paramount, and Disney showed off during their panels. Kier will be digging into the information we received, with a special focus on the new Superman footage that was unveiled during the Warner Bros. panel.

If you want to pay tribute to Val Kilmer along with Kier and hear about some of the CinemaCon highlights, make sure to WATCH LIVE and participate in the chat!

What else would you like to hear Kier weigh in on during the Live Stream tonight? Let us know in the comments, and tune in TONIGHT at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT right HERE!

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he’s a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.

Charlie Brooker says he considered giving fan-favourite episode USS Callister its own spinoff series or even a feature film.

USS Callister consistently ranks among the best episodes of Black Mirror. The episode proved so popular that it’s actually getting a sequel in the upcoming seventh season, but creator Charlie Brooker told Deadline that he once considered expanding it into a limited TV series or even a feature film.

“Of all the stories we’ve done, this one ended as though we were setting it up for the sequel,” Brooker said. “It went through various guises but in the end we made it feature length within the season. It took so long getting it together — we had the pandemic, writers’ strike and then had to get everyone’s schedules lined up, and that was its own Rubik’s cube on a unicycle.“

A USS Callister spinoff series could have been too much of a good thing, but it’s safe to say that the sequel, titled USS Callister: Into Infinity, is the most highly anticipated episode of the new season. The synopsis reads: “Robert Daly is dead, but now the crew of the USS Callister – led by Captain Nanette Cole – are stranded in an infinite virtual universe, fighting for survival against 30 million players.“

While speaking with THR last year, Brooker said that he knew he wanted to return to USS Callister as soon as the filming had wrapped. “This has been brewing for actually quite a long time. And it’s partly because of the way that it ends. The first one ends like you could just carry that story on and follow where they go now. So it was always like, ‘Hmm, I’m going to do that,’” Brooker said. “It was something we were looking at for quite a long time. There were various iterations it went through, various versions we wanted to do and were discussing on and off for several years.“

Brooker continued: “But there are a lot of schedules to sort out, and then the pandemic got in the way. It was something that looked like it wasn’t going to happen, and so I was delighted when it did. So, it’s been a minute. But even writing the characters is a luxury I don’t often get. I’ve never had it before on Black Mirror, to have a character that survives beyond one episode! So that’s been a lot of fun, and then seeing them all on set has been fantastic.“

Will there be more USS Callister on Black Mirror? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see where the episode leaves us when the entire season debuts on Netflix on April 10th.