As Los Angeles hosts its first NBA All-Star shindig in seven years, LeBron James is prepping a Hollywood bash of his own.
The megastar and his SpringHill Entertainment partner, Maverick Carter, are producing a new House Party, which will revive the Kid ’n Play–fronted New Line comedy franchise that started in 1990 and was followed by sequels in 1991 and 1994. Atlanta’s Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori will pen the screenplay.
“This is definitely not a reboot. It’s an entirely new look for a classic movie,” James tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Everyone I grew up with loved House Party. To partner with this creative team to bring a new House Party to a new generation is unbelievable.”
Fans can expect a star-studded soundtrack, perhaps even James’ good pal Drake, with whom SpringHill is collaborating on Netflix’s crime drama, Top Boy, and Vince Carter doc The Carter Effect.
“We’re trying out some ideas for musicians to be cast in and to be a part of the project,” says Carter, who adds that a cameo by James, in high demand since his well-received performance in Universal’s Trainwreck, also remains a possibility. “There’s no plan for it now, but he’s a fantastic actor, and if he wants a role, Stephen will find a great role to put him in,” adds Carter.
Warner Bros.–based SpringHill is eyeing House Party as the Survivor’s Remorse banner’s first narrative feature, with its Space Jam remake “a ways off,” says Carter. The films join a SpringHill slate that also includes Netflix’s limited series about entrepreneur and activist Madam C.J. Walker, starring and executive produced by Octavia Spencer; Starz’s docuseries Warriors of Liberty City, about a Florida youth football team that has produced more than 40 NFL players; and NBC game show The Wall, which just wrapped its second season.
James, 33, is leading the pack among a group of hoops stars leveraging their appeal in Hollywood. Kobe Bryant is an Oscar nominee for doc short Dear Basketball, while Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Jason Samuels are producing an authorized doc about Stephon Marbury’s surprising second act as a basketball god in China (Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah are directing). Even less expected: Steve Nash is producing an untitled feature about the rise of ecstasy and the rave culture in Reagan-era Texas. Says the film’s producer, Braxton Pope: “Steve has great taste and is serious in a sustained way about film and creative content. He’s been an ideal partner.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Why is the new season of Atlanta being called Atlanta Robbin Season?
“Everybody gotta eat,” as a character in this new trailer puts it (watch it above to see who). So, yes, there will be robbery.
The series returns to FX next month, and the logline is as short on spoilers as the trailer: Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.
But here’s what Deadline learned in January at TCA: Exec producer Donald Glover said the title’s subhead “Robbin Season” was added because the show’s creatives “didn’t want to come at the second season in terms of how do we beat last season, rather how do we make this another season of a show I want to watch.”
In the series, Glover plays a college dropout-turned-manager to his cousin, a burgeoning rapper played by Brian Tyree Henry. Season 2 takes place during the holiday season, a time when robberies spike as people both have more money and need more money. “It’s a tense and desperate time,” said EP/writer Stephen Glover, “we wanted it to be a metaphor for our characters.”
Donald Glover serves as executive producer along with Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle and Stephen Glover. The series is produced by FX Productions.
Atlanta Robbin Season premieres on March 1 at 10 PM.
Take a look at the trailer above.
Netflix has slotted February 14 for the premiere of Chris Rock: Tamborine, the first stand-up special from the Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian in ten years.
In the special, Rock, one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the last two decades, covers of gamut of contemporary issues, with his trademark laser-like observations. Chris Rock: Tamborine is directed by Bo Burnham and filmed at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Chris Rock: Tamborine is the first of two comedy specials from Rock that landed at Netflix in an extremely competitive situation in a deal that sources pegged to be in the neighborhood of $40 million, a record for comedy specials.
Rock has won four Emmy Awards for his standup specials at his previous home at HBO and his Chris Rock Show on the pay cable network.
Rock posted the news on Instagram.
Source: Deadline
Comedy Central is developing Re-Established, a half-hour single comedy starring The Daily Show with Trevor Noah correspondent Roy Wood Jr., with Noah and Aaron McGruder (Boondocks, Black Jesus) executive producing.
Based on an idea by Wood, Re-Established stars Wood as a parole officer willing to bend the rules to help the parolees on his watch, much to the chagrin of his partner and everyone else in his life.
Wood executive produces under his South Park and Princeton Productions banner with McGruder, who also will showrun, via 5 Mutts. Noah executive produces through Ark Angel, along with Norman Aladjem and Derek Van Pelt through Mainstay Entertainment.
Wood is a regular correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and hosts the series This is Not Happening at Comedy Central.
McGruder currently has Black America in development at Amazon Studios and Hooligan Squad at Adult Swim, as well as several feature projects in the works.
Source: Deadline
Regina Hall (Girls Trip) and Paul Scheer (The Disaster Artist, The League) are set to join the cast of the SHOWTIME half-hour comedy pilot BALL STREET. Starring Emmy® nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor Don Cheadle (Avengers: Infinity War) and two-time Tony Award nominee and Grammy® winner Andrew Rannells (Girls, The Intern), BALL STREET is directed and executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The pilot, which has also added Kurt Braunohler (The Big Sick) and Eugene Cordero (Kong: Skull Island), is created by David Caspe (Happy Endings) and Jordan Cahan (My Best Friend’s Girl), who also serve as executive producers and showrunners. Casey Wilson (Happy Endings) will guest star as Tiff, Blair’s (Rannells) girlfriend who appreciates the finer things in life that Blair’s new job may not provide. Reuniting with Happy Endings and Marry Me producers Caspe and Cahan, Wilson will recur if the show goes to series. Production is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles this week. The pilot is a co-production of SHOWTIME and Sony Pictures Television Studios.
BALL STREET takes us back to October 19, 1987 – aka Black Monday – one of the worst stock market crashes in the history of Wall Street. To this day, no one knows who or what caused it. BALL STREET is the story of how a bunch of fearless underdogs took on the blue-blood, old-boys club of Wall Street. Among the intrepid traders who make up the group led by Cheadle’s character are Dawn (Hall), the no-nonsense head of trading and the only woman on the team, along with Keith (Scheer) and Ronnie (Cordero). Braunohler appears as Ty Daverman, a vice president at Morgan Stanley.
In addition to the blockbuster film Girls Trip, Hall’s credits include The Best Man and Think Like a Man. Scheer starred in Human Giant (which he co-created) and has recurred on Veep, Fresh Off the Boat, Wet Hot American Summer and Children’s Hospital, among others. In addition to his stand-up work, Braunohler’s credits include Bunk, Lady Dynamite, Deadbeat and Horrible People. Cordero has recurred on HOUSE OF LIES with Cheadle, along with Grace & Frankie, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Good Place. Wilson’s television credits include Happy Endings, Marry Me, The Hotwives and One Mississippi, with film roles including Gone Girl and Julie & Julia.
After surviving a near-fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.
Yvonne Orji has been cast in the upcoming film, Spontaneous, from Awesomeness Films.
Piper Perabo and Rob Rob Huebel were also announced Wednesday.
They join the previously-announced cast members including Riverdale actress Hayley Law, Charlie Plummer and Katherine Langford, who toplines the film.
The film’s description: Mara Carlye (Langford), whose life is forever changed when students in her senior class literally explode for no discernible reason. As students continue to pop like blood-filled balloons and the town descends into both chaos and apathy, Mara and her friends stay close together as they await possible combustion – wondering what part of life is worth living if it might end suddenly.
Orji will play Special Agent Rosetti, “who is investigating the combustions taking place.”
The actress, who stars in Insecure, will also appear in Night School with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish.
THR first reported the casting.
Could there be a sequel to Get Out. Maybe so, according to the film’s director, Jordan Peele.
He spoke about it with The Hollywood Reporter at their Nominees Night for the Oscar candidates. “I can tell you I will definitely, seriously consider it. I love that universe and I feel like there is more story to tell. I don’t know what it is now, but there are some loose ends,” he said.
He also explained, “When you create something like that, it’s very personal and meaningful, but to hear that people kind of related to that feeling and needed it to be named has been very touching for me.”
Get Out is nominated for several awards at the Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Lead Actor for Daniel Kaluuya.
The film has made nearly $176 million just at the U.S. box office.
On this day in comedy on February 7, 1965, Comedian, Actor, Writer, Producer, Director, Christopher Julius “Chris” Rock III was born in Andrews, South Carolina
Known universally as one of the premier comedians of his generation and voted #5 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 Greatest Standup Comedians of All Time, Chris Rock’s road in comedy was paved with boulders. After putting up with enough bullying he dropped out of high school, got his GED and hit the work force in the lucrative fast food industry. He found that not to be a good fit. There had to be something better and because he now prized education he applied its principles in his future vocation. One of Chris Rock’s methods of developing an act is to bring his jokes on stage written down in a legal pad and try out each one before an unsuspecting and involuntary Guinea pig audience. It’s that kind of brashness, perseverance and hard work that established him in the many mediums of comedy: film, television, animation, documentaries and theater, but no matter where he used his comedic skills, standup was always the cornerstone of what made Rock so popular. His brand was unapologetic, insightful, bold, opinionated and above all – the unabashed truth.
The career of Chris Rock began in 1984 when he took the stage at New York’s Catch a Rising Star. It wasn’t long before he got his big break in 1985. It was in his first film – Crush Groove, playing “Person Standing Next to Phone during Fight in Club”. That didn’t do much for his career (nor did a Miami Vice guest starring role or a stand up set on Uptown Comedy Express), but when Eddie Murphy caught his act one night Rock got his real big break. Murphy took Rock under his wing and got him a credited part in Beverly Hills Cop II. Rock did his first concert film (Comedy’s Dirtiest Dozen), some more films (I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, New Jack City, Boomerang) a documentary (Who is Chris Rock?)and his first comedy album (Born Suspect). He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, but he didn’t find that to be a great fit so he moved from NBC to Fox to be a player on In Living Color, but then it got cancelled. So Rock made his own vehicle, CB4, a parody of the rap scene. It was not a success with the critics and Rock fell into a slump. Hollywood obviously didn’t know what to do with him during this period (The Immortals, Panther, Beverly Hills Ninja, Sgt. Bilko). He’d even considered quitting. Then he stopped agonizing over what he wasn’t getting and went back to his first love – stand-up.
In 1996 Chris Rock was a commentator of the Presidential campaign for Comedy Central’s Politically Correct. He was nominated for an Emmy for that coverage. It blended man on the street inquisitiveness with current event savvy. Rock was a hit and what happened next catapulted him into another league. Bring the Pain on HBO was one of their top comedy specials winning Rock two Emmys and putting him in the fast lane. You know you’re hot when you get animated (he played Lil Penny, Penny Hardaway’s alter ego for a Nike campaign). After the year of Rock he did more HBO specials and albums (Bigger & Blacker, Roll With The New, Never Scared, Big Ass Jokes, Kill the Messenger), hosted award shows (MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards), wrote a book (Rock This), did films (Dogma, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, Grown Ups, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, Death at a Funeral), television (The Chris Rock Show), animation (Madagascar series, Osmosis Jones, King of the Hill, Bee Movie) music videos (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Big Daddy Kane, Johnny Cash) and more Chris Rock films (Down to Earth, Pootie Tang, Head of State, I Think I Love My Wife, Good Hair (his doc about hair) Top Five).
Rock defied odds. In 2005 when he hosted the 77th Academy Awards he lambasted the hallowed ceremony, the stars and the entire notion of the presentation. Despite this and the fact many members of the Academy were supremely offended he was invited to host again in 2016. His high school experiences were adapted into the successful sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris (he executive produced and narrated). Rock produced Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and The Hughleys. In 2011 he was nominated for a Drama League Award for his acting on Broadway in the play, The Motherfucker with the Hat. Rock has done the documentaries of others (Comedian, Torrance Rises, The N-Word, The Aristocrats), guest starred on sitcoms (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Martin, The Bernie Mac Show), popped up in cameos in multiple motion pictures (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Paparazzi, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan) and directed, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.
Chris Rock has been nominated for 19 major awards and won 8, including 3 Grammys, 2 Primetime Emmys. A Kid’s Choice Award and a Black Reel Award.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on February 6, 1957, Comedian, Director, Actor, Writer, Producer, Robert Townsend was born in Chicago, Illinois
After honing his skills at Chicago’s X Bag Theatre; The Experimental Black Actors Guild and at Second City, Townsend got his start in comedy at The Improv. He moved to New York to further his education with the Negro Ensemble Company. Then following a string of small stereotypical parts (Cooley High, Monkey Hustle, American Flyers, Streets of Fire, Ratboy) and finding rare fulfillment as an actor (he did A Soldier’s Story with a predominantly black cast and was chest-fallen when he discovered that might be the only one he would make in his entire career) Townsend co-wrote (with Keenen Ivory Wayans) and directed Hollywood Shuffle. This parody of how it is for minority talent in Tinsel Town put the struggling entertainer on the map. The film, financed with Townsend’s own funds from acting and his credit cards, was a low budget risk and major box office success. A star was born.
Robert Townsend’s initial success allowed him to pursue an aggressive agenda of black projects. He directed Eddie Murphy’s Raw. He did Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime for HBO featuring unsung comedians at the time such as Paul Mooney, Franklyn Ajaye, Robin Harris and Damon Wayans, to name a few. Townsend co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Mighty Quinn. His next theatrical release was The Five Heartbeats, an enduring musical focusing on the trials and tribulations of a fictional 60s R&B singing group. He made Meteor Man; about a black super hero with limited powers. He returned to television with his own variety show on Fox, Townsend Television and a few seasons later he created his own sitcom for the WB; The Parent ‘Hood. He directed B*A*P*S with Halle Berry, Carmen: A Hip Hopera with Beyoncé and 10,000 Black Men Named George; also Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy; a documentary on the history of black comedy, Livin’ for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, Holiday Heart, Bill Cosby 77 and others.
Robert Townsend won the Cable ACE Award for Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime and he was the Programming Director for the now defunct Black Family Channel.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip: