Paramount is shaking up the release calendar, and with it a couple of major properties have fallen away completely while an intriguing new one has been set in stone. The studio has given the mysterious new film from Darren Aronofsky and star Jennifer Lawrence, now titled mother!, an October 13th date, the same one that belonged to the forever-developing Friday the 13th reboot. That film has now been pulled, along with the equally troubled World War Z sequel.
We don't know a ton about Aronofsky's latest, except that it will apparently follow a couple whose relationship is tested by the arrival of some unwelcome guests. Lawrence will be joined by Javier Bardem, Domhnall Gleeson, Brian Gleeson, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Friday the 13th has had problems ever since Paramount acquired the rights from Warner Bros. a few years ago. Breck Eisner (The Crazies), Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners), and David Bruckner (The Signal) have all been attached at various points, but no approach has ever stuck. It's unclear if this is just a blip on the radar or if the studio has finally thrown up their hands and given up returning to Camp Crystal Lake.
As for World War Z 2...I don't know. This seems like a worse situation. The previous hit film also went through a legendarily awful production, but producer and star Brad Pitt managed to pull things together. But this time nothing is going right at all. J.A. Bayona had been on board to direct the zombie action flick, however he left in order to finish up on A Monster Calls and then to take over Jurassic World 2. Remember, it had originally been set to open this coming June, and obviously that's not going to happen. There doesn't appear to be a completed script, either, as we haven't heard much since Utopia's Dennis Kelly gave it a rewrite over a year ago. With no script and no director, this is going nowhere fast, and who knows if it'll ever get off the ground. I haven't heard a ton of buzz for a sequel, anyway.
