News Analysis India

Tag: JJ Abrams

  • HBO drops J J Abrams’ series ‘Demimonde’ 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES:  “Demimonde”, a science-fiction drama from JJ Abrams, is not moving forward at HBO owing to budgetary issues.

    The premium-cable network had snatched the project back in 2018 after a bidding war with Apple Studios and gave it a straight-to-series order.

    Sources told The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams fought hard to keep HBO/HBO Max head Casey Bloys from axing the show.

    After a week of mulling over it, Bloys decided to part ways with the series for which Abrams had sought a budget over USD 200 million. In comparison, the budget for HBO’s upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” was less than USD 200 million.

    Abrams was also slated to direct the pilot for “Demimonde”, which had already changed showrunners since it landed at HBO four years ago.

    The series will now be shopped around by the producers from Warnermedia, HBO’s parent company, to other streaming services such as Apple and Netflix, where Abrams’ other shows are under development.

    “Star Wars” fame Abrams was also attached to the project as the writer of the pilot and an executive producer, alongside Ben Stephenson, who runs the TV division of Abrams production company Bad Robot.

    “Demimonde” was described as an epic and intimate sci-fi fantasy drama that deals with the world’s battle against a monstrous, oppressive force.

  • ‘Lost’-fame Josh Holloway, JJ Abrams reunite for HBO Max series ‘Duster’

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: “Lost” duo of actor Josh Holloway and creator JJ Abrams are reuniting for upcoming HBO Max series “Duster”. Abrams has co-written the new show with LaToya Morgan and it will feature Holloway as a getaway driver for a crime syndicate in the Southwest of the 1970s, reported Variety.

    Holloway is best known for playing James “Sawyer” Ford on ABC’s “Lost”, which Abrams co-created and executive produced. The filmmaker also directed multiple episodes of the drama, which ran for six seasons and 121 episodes.

    Warner Bros Television will produce “Duster” with Morgan and Abrams also serving as executive producers. Ben Stephenson from Abram’s banner Bad Robot is also executive producing. Rachel Rusch Rich will be co-executive producer.

    Holloway most recently featured in the third season of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone”.

    Abrams and Bad Robot are currently working on a number of projects at HBO Max, including shows based on DC’s “Constantine” and “Justice League Dark”; “Overlook”, set in the world of “The Shining”; and original series “Subject to Change”.

  • JJ Abrams to produce new ‘Star Trek’ movie

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: A new ‘Star Trek’ movie is in the works with director-producer J.J. Abrams attached to bankroll the project.

    As per Variety, ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ co-executive producer Kalinda Vazquez is set to write the script for the upcoming movie for Paramount Pictures. Once the project goes on floors, Vazquez will become the first woman to write a ‘Star Trek’ feature.

    There are no details yet on the nature of Vazquez’s approach, including whether it would include any previously established ‘Star Trek’ characters. But Vazquez is not new to ‘Star Trek’ writing. Earlier, she has written episodes for the Trek TV series that stream on Paramount Plus.

    In 2019, she wrote ‘Ask Not’, an episode of ‘Star Trek: Short Treks’ in which Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) tests a Starfleet cadet. In 2020, Vazquez wrote the teleplay for ‘Terra Firma, Part 2’, an episode of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ set almost entirely in the Mirror Universe.

    Along with her work on ‘Trek’ and ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, Vazquez has written on episodes of ‘Runaways’, ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Nikita’. She is also currently writing a Marvel comics run about America Chavez, the first Latinx LBGTQ Marvel superhero to get their own title series. She is reportedly also developing an adaptation of the sci-fi novel ‘Roadmarks’ for HBO with George R.R. Martin.

    Vazquez’s ‘Star Trek’ project is the latest in a string of ‘Trek’ features still under development at Paramount. In 2017, Quentin Tarantino partnered with Abrams and Bad Robot on a prospective feature ultimately written by Mark L. Smith though Tarantino’s commitment to direct the project appears tenuous at best.

    In August last year, Paramount also decided to pause work on a ‘Star Trek’ feature from writer-director Noah Hawley, after Emma Watts stepped in as studio president. Hawley told Variety that his project would ‘start from scratch’ with a new set of characters who have an explicit link to the established ‘Trek’ canon.