Comedian Ramy Youssef is set to star in his first HBO stand-up comedy special, to be taped before a live audience in New York City this spring. The exclusive hour-long presentation will be executive produced by Youssef and Jerrod Carmichael, produced by A24 and directed by Chris Storer.
“Ramy is an incredibly unique talent and we’re so excited to be presenting his first stand-up special,” said Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president, HBO Programming.
Youssef’s credits include “Mr. Robot” and his upcoming series “Ramy.”
The special will be produced for HBO by A24; executive producers, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael; directed by Chris Storer.
Kevin Hart is partnering with STXfilms to produce on a pair of comedy movies through his HartBeat Productions with an eye to star in both projects.
The announcement comes on the heels of Hart’s solid box office performance in “The Upside,” in which he co-stars with Bryan Cranston. STX’s comedic drama, co-produced with Lantern Entertainment, topped expectations by opening in first place at the North American box office and has generated $47 million in its first 11 days of release.
“STX came in to make ‘The Upside’ the success it is. Their strategy, execution and collaborative approach are perfectly aligned with HartBeat Productions’ values,” said Hart. “It was an easy ‘yes’ when they pitched us two new ideas to produce together.”
The first project is a body switching comedy titled “Black Friday” and based on a story by Doan La. The second is an untitled international romantic comedy that’s looking to attach a writer. Hart and John Cheng, HartBeat’s president of production, will produce both titles. HartBeat’s Carli Haney will oversee with STXfilms’ Drew Simon.
“It’s crystal clear audiences love Kevin and they want to see him in a variety of roles,” said Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXfilms. “This partnership allows STXfilms to take the successful collaboration we started with ‘The Upside’ and extend it to new projects that further build on our mission to work with the best in the business to grow our profitable business model.”
Cheng added, “STX has a proven ability to tell crowd-pleasing, globally appealing stories in the mid-budget sweet spot. When they approached Kevin and me with pitches that we felt we could creatively sink our teeth into, we recognized we were in good hands with an innovative partner that would help us produce two funny and original films with the potential to reach audiences around the world.”
The announcement is another signal that the busy Hart has moved beyond last month’s selection as host of this year’s Academy Awards and his bowing out following controversy surrounding past homophobic tweets. Earlier this month, Lionsgate said Hart had been in talks to star in the studio’s live-action Monopoly movie, which he will also produce through HartBeat Productions.
Hart’s collaborations with Lionsgate include the joint venture Laugh Out Loud channel, the unscripted TV series “Kevin Hart: What the Fit” for YouTube, and the concert film “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain.” His HartBeat Productions produced “Night School,” the TV series “The Next Level,” and “Hart of the City” on Comedy Central.
STXfilms’ upcoming slate of films include “Best of Enemies” “UglyDolls” and “Poms.”
Hart is represented by UTA, 3 Arts and Schreck Rose Dapello & Adams. La is represented by the Gersh Agency.
Source: Variety
Comedian Kevin Barnett, who co-created the Fox series Rel with Lil Rel Howery and Josh Rabinowitz, has died. Ben Kissel, who hosted the podcast Round Table of Gentlemen with Barnett, confirmed the news on Twitter.
“Dear Last Podcast family,” Kissel wrote. “It’s with a heavy heart we inform you of the passing of Kevin Barnett. The joy he brought to our lives is the greatest gift we have ever received. Remind your friends you love them because you never know when you’re [sic] see them again. We love you KB.”
Comedy Central also remembered Barnett, tweeting, “Kevin Barnett was an incredible comedian and writer, contributing to Broad City, the stand-up community and beyond. He’ll be greatly missed.”
A cause of death is unknown. Barnett was in his early 30s.
Barnett was a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He appeared on episodes of Rel and The Carmichael Show, both of which he also served as a writer on, in addition to a small role on the film Dumb and Dumber To.
As a writer, Barnett worked on the 2016 film The Do-Over and 2011’s Hall Pass. He also had three projects currently in production.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn. Summit Entertainment presents, a Thunder Road Films production, in association with 87Eleven Productions.
Dave Chappelle says R. Kelly and his “goons” bum-rushed him over his famous skit mocking the singer’s urination video — but Dave’s sense of humor definitely saved the day.
The comic hopped onstage at the WeHo Improv Monday night with his friend and “Chappelle’s Show” costar, Donnell Rawlings. Dave revealed Kelly and his crew approached him in Chicago — during a Common concert — and made it clear they were, umm … pissed about his “Piss on You” skit.
Dave says things never got physical, but he says Kelly grilled him about the skit and asked how he could possibly have done such a thing.
The irony of that question was not lost on Dave, who had the most awesome and hilarious response. Check out the video … classic story.
Chappelle also addressed some of the criticism he’s faced in the wake of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries — saying he wants comedians to call out things that are wrong with the world, period.
We asked Dave about the criticism this week — but he opted to let his pal, D.L. Hughley, do most of the talking that night.
Source: TMZ
DJ Khaled has rounded out the cast of Sony’s upcoming “Bad Boys” sequel “Bad Boys for Life,” joining returning stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Khaled will also join series newcomers Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Jacob Scipio, and Paola Nuñez. Joe Pantoliano is on board to return as Captain Howard.
Production is currently underway.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are on hand to direct the sequel from a script by Peter Craig (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,” “Transformers”) with Joe Carnahan also doing a rewrite. Chris Bremmer is the current writer.
Jerry Bruckheimer returns as producer. Doug Belgrad will also produce, as will Smith. Barry Waldman, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, and James Lassiter are executive producers.
The story revolves around a modern, highly specialized police unit that collides with the old school Bad Boys (Smith and Lawrence) when a new threat emerges in Miami. The pic will bow on Jan. 17, 2020.
It is currently unknown who Khaled will be playing in the movie.
The hit-making music producer has slowly started dipping his toe in acting, having already shot the Jamie Foxx film “All Star Weekend” and also recently lent his voice to the cast of the Fox Animation movie “Spies in Disguise.” He is repped by UTA.
Source: Variety
Director Tim Story is closing a deal to direct Monopoly, a live-action adaptation based on the board game of the same name. The USC alum, who has directed films such as Barbershop, Taxi and Fantastic Four, will reunite with comedian Kevin Hart, who is attached to star in the film. This marks the fourth time Hart and Story have worked on a project together. The pair previously collaborated on Think Like A Man and Ride Along, as well as their respective sequels, Think Like A Man Too and Ride Along 2.
A plot for Monopoly is being kept under wraps. While a writer and shoot date for the film has not been announced as of yet, the film is slated to be produced by Hart, Carli Henry and John Chang under Hart’s production label, HartBeat Productions. Story will executive produce Monopoly alongside Sharla Shumper.
Danny Glover has joined the cast of Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji 2. So far the sequel’s cast includes Danny DeVito and Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina. Jake Kasdan, who directed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, will return to direct.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson said how excited he is to have Glover on board. “From Awkwafina to Danny DeVito to now one of my action heroes, Danny Glover–it’s been awesome having so many actors and OG legends raise their hands wanting to come and play in our Jumanji universe,” he said. “‘Who turns into who?’ will always be the fun magic sauce for our audience.”
Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, all of whom run Seven Bucks Productions, will produce with Matt Tolmach and Kasdan.
Glover has a ton of projects that are either completed, in pre-production or are in post-production. Some of those projects include Strive, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, The Drummer, The Dead Don’t Die, Long Day Journey, Saint Pauland Dionne. His is announced to be in three other projects, The Ninja He Will Rise, Prairie Bones and The Lighthouse. Glover has recently been featured in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You.
Source: Shadow&Act
The Last O.G. starring Tracy Morgan and Tiffany Haddish will be back soon for a second season on TBS!
The series, co-created by Jordan Peele, will also see season 1 stars Ryan Gaul, Allen Maldonado, Taylor Mosby and Dante Hoagland.
In season 2, after losing his job, Tray (Morgan) goes all in on his dreams of becoming a chef. Shay (Haddish) has an intriguing business venture of her own on the horizon. Gaul plays Shay’s affable husband, Josh; Maldonado plays Tray’s goofy but well-intentioned cousin Bobby and Mosby and Hoagland play Tray and Shay’s teenage children, Shahzad and Amira.
The guest stars rounded up for the new season include Method Man, Rev Run, Talib Kweli and Rakim, as well as Bresha Webb (Marlon), Diarra Kilpatrick (American Koko), Anna Maria Horsford (The Bold and the Beautiful), Joshua Rivera (Escape at Dannemora), Dan Hedaya (The Usual Suspects), Brian Sacca (Wrecked) and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock).
Watch the trailer below. The new season premieres in April.
Source: Shadow&Act
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ivan Reitman is passing the Ghostbusters torch to his son.
Four-time Oscar nominee Jason Reitman is set to direct a new installment in the Ghostbusters series for Sony Pictures set to come out in the summer of 2020. Reitman tweeted Tuesday night that he’s “finally got the keys to the car.”
Ivan Reitman directed and produced the original “Ghostbusters,” which came out in 1984, and its sequel in 1989.
The studio says that this new Ghostbusters will be going back to its roots and will be the next chapter in the original story. Sony attempted to reboot Ghostbusters in 2016 with gender-flipped leads, but the costly film disappointed at the box office.
Entertainment Weekly first reported the news. Production begins this summer, but no word yet on the cast.