Retreat! Warner Bros. Shuts Down DC’s 'Sgt. Rock' Movie, Proving It’s Not So Easy (Company) to Start a Universe

Happy Thursday, folks!

I’ve been a busy boy the last couple of days, so forgive me for not writing more, but you have to watch movies and TV shows to have things to write about, and that takes time.

Over the past few days, I’ve seen the Josh Hartnett action flick Fight or Flight, the Netflix documentary Untold: The Liver King, a documentary about Broken Social Scene, the Toby Kebbell-Shia LaBeouf boxing movie Salvable, two upcoming episodes of MobLand, and the first four episodes of Apple’s Smoke starring Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett.

The latter series is under strict embargo, but it did send me down an arsonist rabbit hole on Tuesday night that led to me surfing Amazon and buying Joseph Wambaugh’s book Fire Lover as well as a DVD copy of Newton Thomas Sigel’s 2002 HBO movie Point of Origin. What’s interesting is that Point of Origin starred Ray Liotta, who worked with Egerton and series creator Dennis Lehane on Black Bird, and it also stars John Leguizamo… who co-stars in Smoke! Weird coincidence, huh?

After dinner with a top-secret source last night, I made it home just in time to see the Lakers lose to the T-Wolves. Which means that, like the 1972 Dolphins, I can pop the champagne knowing that the Celtics’ NBA record 18 championships will stand for at least one more season. L.A.’s superstar Luka Doncic got burned time and again, so as it turns out, Mavs GM Nico Harrison may have been right — defense does win championships!

Before we begin, a little update on the Michael Jackson movie Michael. I was the first person to report on the possibility of Lionsgate and director Antoine Fuqua splitting Michael into two films, and sure enough, I’m hearing that crew members have been contacted about returning to work this summer, lending credence to that theory. Stay tuned for an official announcement from Lionsgate, which has a lot of money tied up in this project. That’s why the studio is eager to split the film into two parts — theoretically, Lionsgate and its partners would double their box office haul.

Oh, and just before going to print, Warner Bros. announced that Ryan Coogler’s Sinners will be re-released in nine IMAX 70mm theaters from May 15-21. The vampire musical is surrendering IMAX screens to Marvel’s Thunderbolts* tonight, even though it has been selling out weekday screenings. WB cited high demand as the reason for the re-release, and it wouldn’t shock me to see the film re-released in theaters again later this year or early next year, as the studio is already planning an awards campaign for the acclaimed film, which posted a remarkable hold in its second weekend at the box office.

Tonight, I read between the lines of the trade coverage surrounding the (temporary?) cancellation of DC’s Sgt. Rock movie starring Colin Farrell, and I also offer up a few outside-the-box pairings for Universal’s new Miami Vice movie from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski.

There are also items about Chris Hemsworth’s new Amazon MGM movie and the release date for his next Amazon MGM movie, Rachel Zegler teaming up with an Oscar winner, WB’s curious date for its Dune double feature, the dramatic debut of WWE star Liv Morgan, and the trailer for A24’s UFC movie The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson like you’ve never seen him before.

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