Writer/director James DeMonaco is prepping The Purge 3 following the box office success of The Purge: Anarchy this summer as the first two films in the franchise have made nearly $200 million worldwide on a combined budget of only $12 million. No word on the direction the story will take though Michael K. Williams is expected to return as resistance leader Carmelo Johns, which should give some idea as to what the story will entail. Not like these have been necessarily deep movies to begin with. [Deadline]
Jeff Daniels is preparing to join Ridley Scott‘s sci-fi The Martian while names such as Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig and Kate Mara are also circling the project, which currently only Matt Damon is confirmed among the cast. Based on the self-published Andy Weir novel, the story centers on an astronaut (Damon) who is stranded in a Martian colony and struggles to survive. Back on Earth, NASA tries to launch a rescue mission. Daniels would play the director of NASA dealing with the crisis. [THR]
Casey Affleck is set to star in Boston Strong, the story of the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon attack that left three dead and scores wounded. The project is based on Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge‘s book of the same name. [THR]
[amz asin=”B002JCJ6S4″ size=”small”]Bryan Cranston is attached to star in The Infiltrator for director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer, Runner Runner). Based on Robert Mazur’s autobiography of the same name, the investigative-thriller will find Cranston playing customs and excise agent Robert Mazur, and his undercover alias, Bob Musella as he spends five years undercover as a money launderer to the international underworld (including Pablo Escobar), gaining access to the zenith of a criminal hierarchy safeguarded by a circle of dirty bankers and businessmen who quietly shape power across the globe. [Variety]
Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns, Everest) is sticking with Universal for his next project titled Vikingr. Kormakur wrote the story and the script, along with Olafur Egill Egilsson, and it’s based on the classic tales deriving from the legendary Icelandic Sagas, which document larger than life heroes, adventures and battles of early Nordic settlers, as well as daily life in the Viking age.
