Fantastic Beasts 3, King Richard & Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan going into production hiatus
Despite previous reports that Warner Bros. Pictures was planning to move ahead with the production of its major film projects amidst the ongoing COVID-19 (formerly named as Coronavirus) global outbreak, it was reported last Saturday that the studio has ultimately decided to suspend the production on their highly-anticipated DC film The Batman for at least two weeks. Now, Deadline has also confirmed that Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts 3 will also not be pushing through with its scheduled production start date in London.
In addition, the studio has also delayed the production of their Will Smith-led Serena and Vanessa Williams biopic King Richard as it was previously filming in Los Angeles. It is still undecided when will the two films resume their productions and if these delays would affect their scheduled release dates.
Meanwhile, the outlet is also reporting that MGM has officially put Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming superhero drama film Samaritan on a two-week hiatus after filming wrapped yesterday at Atlanta, Georgia (currently ranked as the state with the 7th most coronavirus cases).
RELATED: The Flash Shuts Down Production Amid Coronavirus Concerns
The previous film in the Harry Potter prequel franchise, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, earned $653 million at the worldwide box office. The first two Fantastic Beasts movies were directed by David Yates, from a screenplay by J.K. Rowling, and produced by David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram. The third film is set to debut in 2021.
Starring Will Smith and Liev Schreiber with Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men) to direct the pic, King Richard tells the story of Richard Williams, the father of tennis superstars Serena and Vanessa Williams, who had no tennis background, overcame tremendous hardship, skepticism, and his own troubled past to raise two of the game’s greatest players. The film is set to hit the theaters on November 25, 2020.
RELATED: AMC Theatres, Cineplex Reduce Seating Capacity for ‘Social Distancing’
Samaritan is a film about a young boy who is out to discover if a mythic superhero, who vanished 20 years earlier following a tragic event, is still alive. Overlord director Julius Avery will direct from a script by Escape Room writer Bragi F. Schut, while Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood will produce via Balboa Productions. The film is set to be released later this on December 11.
