Quick News: War, Milk, Chevalier, Virus, Willys

By
Garth Franklin
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War with Grandpa
101 Studios has announced a new September 18th theatrical release date for the Robert De Niro family comedy “The War With Grandpa”. Tim Hill helms the film based on the children’s book by Robert Kimmel Smith. Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman, Eugene Levy and Rob Riggle also star.

The story follows Peter (Oakes Fegley) and his Grandpa Jack (De Niro). When Jack moves in with the family, Peter is forced to give up his most prized possession: his bedroom. Peter will stop at nothing to get it back, scheming with friends to devise a series of pranks to drive him out. But Grandpa doesn’t give up easily, and it turns into an all-out war between the two. [Source: PR Newswire]

Cookies & Milk
Jesse James Films has picked up the rights to Shawn Amos’s soon-to-be-released children’s novel “Cookies & Milk”. Shawn is the son of Famous Amos founder Wally Amos and the novel also shines a positive light on black fatherhood and breaks the walls of gender stereotypes.

The story follows a young Black boy named Ellis who begrudgingly is tasked with helping his optimistic father open a cookie shop on Sunset Blvd with an iconic Hollywood backdrop. The title is a nod to the memories Amos fostered with his father inside their “A” frame shop that would make his last name a household one. [Source: Deadline]

Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Searchlight Pictures is developing a feature about the true story of Chevalier de Saint-Georges (aka. ‘Black Mozart’) which Emmy-nominated writer Stefani Robinson (“Atlanta,”What We Do in the Shadows”) penned and DGA Award nominee Stephen Williams (“Watchmen,” “Westworld”) will direct.

Born in 1745 in the French Caribbean, the musical prodigy was the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner. He rose to improbable heights in French society, dazzling as both a violinist and composer, and a champion fencer. An ill-fated love affair with a French noblewoman, and a falling out with Marie Antoinette and her court led to his untimely downfall. [Source: Variety]

Untitled Virus Project
SK Global will finance and produce a currently untitled feature from Oscar winning writer Charles Randolph (“The Big Short,” “Bombshell”) which examines the dramatic weeks in China as the heroic medical community confronts a mysterious virus, soon to become a global pandemic.

Randolph will make his directing debut on the film. The project is slated to be filmed in China, utilizing Chinese and international talent and crew, as well in as other international locations. [Source: India Times]

Willy’s Wonderland
A new poster has been released for the newly titled “Willy’s Wonderland,” the upcoming horror film that will see Nicolas Cage battling animatronic characters at a Chuck E. Cheese-style family entertainment center.

Boasting the tagline”Let playtime begin,” Kevin Lewis helms the film which has some obvious “Five Nights at Freddy’s” vibes. Cage plays a janitor stranded in a remote town who works off a debt to pay for his car repairs by cleaning an abandoned theme park full of animatronic characters which come to life at night.