At the start of the season, head critic Jeff Stockton generated some headlines by teasing multiple masterpieces this season. Given the season’s releases thus far, you’d have to imagine that there are some good things to come in the second half of the season. At this point, two John Malone collaborations (Haven and The House of Romanov) appear to be on the tongues of awards journalists. One thin worth pointing out in regards to both of those is their large ensemble casts, meaning there could be plenty of competition for the acting awards this year.
The season’s box office has been a bit of a rollercoaster and appears to be in a wait-and-see mode at the moment. After the most successful release of the season in Task Force X: Chaos and Madness, there were three straight flops before Uncharted 4 bounced things back a bit. Luckily Round 6 starts off with a bang with the return of Lucas Hedges as Spider-Man and there are some other big name properties in the remaining five rounds, as we will get to shortly. Round 6 will also see the debut of a new writer at LRF in Jimmy Ellis’s sister Sammy-Jo. Since his debut in Season 10, Ellis has been one of the most prolific writers at the studio so it will be fascinating to see if his sister’s career shares a similar path.
One trend that is worth keeping an eye out for in the back half of the season is “surprise sequels”. LRF will be making its first adventure into Jurassic Park after 23 seasons. While the details are scarce at the moment, writer Ben Collins has been teasing the film on his blog. If anyone to trust with a franchise such as this, it comes as no surprise that Mr. Dolan has given the keys to LRF’s resident fantastical horror/monster expert.
Roy Horne’s Poison Ivy remake remains to be one of the surprise breakout hits in LRF history, garnering 9 GRA nominations and winning 4 of those. However, an inside source has informed me that Poison Ivy was not submitted on the Most Wanted Sequel ballot in Season 19. If anything, this probably tells that Horne was surprised as any with the film’s smashing success. And unlike the sequels to 1992’s Poison Ivy, the biggest piece of news for Poison Ivy: Mind Games is the return of Sydney Sweeney. Her contract to return has been turning heads in Hollywood for two reasons. One, it solidifies her already rising status as the It Girl of LRF at the moment. And second, it has other actors now reconsidering reviving old roles that they thought to be one-offs or long dead — but that is only if the money is right.
It has been eleven seasons since Booster Gold: Lost in Time, a film Chad Taylor often talked about as the end of a trilogy and the closing of that book. But never say never, I suppose, as LRF made the major announcement at this season’s Comic Con that Billy Magnussen would be making his return to the blue and gold. Information on the film is still being kept tightly under wraps, as all we have now is a poster, teaser trailer, and a song from the film’s soundtrack. Because of the long break in between, this will be another interesting situation to monitor. How does Booster Gold fit into the current LRF landscape? There have been over 30 DC Comics films since his last appearance, although Batman: In the Shadows showed last season that some names are big enough to negate any long absence.
Perhaps the most intriguing element to me is whether or not Dan Stevens will return as Rip Hunter. In the time since Lost in Time, Stevens has become LRF’s James Bond, won a Golden Reel Award, and had a scene-stealing performance in Justice League Unlimited (with some critics pointing out how he aptly filled his father’s shoes). So that brings some natural questions about how that dynamic would now work if they are brought back together on screen. I have scoured the gossip rags and have yet to find any hint of bad blood between Magnussen and Stevens. But surely you have to wonder about whether or not there is any resentment between master and apprentice.
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