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Thread: Blade of the 47 Ronin

  1. #1
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    Blade of the 47 Ronin

    47 Ronin Sequel, a Future-Set Cyberpunk Film, Lands Director Ron Yuan
    Keanu Reeves samurai movie 47 Ronin is getting a conceptual sequel, which is now set to be directed by Mulan actor Ron Yuan.
    By Joseph Baxter
    |
    August 13, 2020


    Photo: Universal Pictures

    47 Ronin may not have made an impact as an action flick—released in 2013 headlined by a post-Matrix, pre-John Wick comeback Keanu Reeves—but someone over at studio Universal apparently has enough love for the medieval-Japan samurai film to greenlight a sequel—specifically a cyberpunk sequel set in the far-future. Now, said sequel has a director.

    Ron Yuan, an actor who moonlights as a director, has been hired to helm the untitled 47 Ronin sequel movie, according to Deadline. The film, set up at Universal Pictures Home Entertainment subsidiary Universal 1440 Entertainment, will contrast starkly from its historically-based, Reeves-starring predecessor, touted as a genre-hybrid cyberpunk story set 300 years in the future. It is also reportedly set to be directly distributed by Netflix, although that notion doesn’t seem to be reflected in the source report (at least in its current form). As appointed Yuan expresses in a statement:
    “I’m incredibly excited to be working with Universal and the producing team on this genre-blending, martial arts, action, horror and cyber-punk film. This will be a fun, intense, supercharged thrill ride for viewers globally.”
    2013’s 47 Ronin, directed by Carl Rinsh off a script by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini, put the often-adapted feudal-era Japanese historical tale through the lens of a supernatural fantasy actioner, centered on Keanu Reeves’s Kai, a half-Japanese, half-English adopted son of historically-based Lord Asano Naganori. A classic story of vengeance and undying loyalty commences against imperious power seeker Lord Kira (Thor’s Tadanobu Asano) after his machinations—carried out by shapeshifting witch Mizuki (Pacific Rim’s Rinko Kikuchi)—leads to Naganori’s execution. Consequently, Kai joins the rest of Naganori’s subsequently-exiled devotees—branded ronin (privilege-stripped samurai left without a master)—to embark on a low-odds militaristic endeavor to see their force of 47 overthrow Kira and his overwhelming armies.

    47 Ronin, however, was a box office dud with a $151.8 million worldwide gross; a financial loss for the Universal-distributed picture against its $175 million budget. Thus, the sequel will initially come across as a surprising and vexing notion. However, the injected concept of a timeline leap to the far future, prospectively brandishing the kind of futuristic Japanese aesthetic famously displayed in anime such as Akira, does somewhat clarify the intent of the project, especially if it is Netflix-bound. Yet, it still leaves the question about why a project—a spiritual sequel at best—would even need to attach itself to the franchise of a failed film unless it will bear some substantive connection such as the return of Keanu Reeves, presumably as a descendant of Kai; a move that could be complementary to his upcoming starring video game role in Cyberpunk 2077. However, no cast members have been confirmed as of yet.

    Appointed director Ron Yuan’s work as an actor will soon see him in Disney’s upcoming (streaming-shifted) Mulan live-action movie, also known from his recurring roles on Freeform’s Siren and Netflix’s Marco Polo. He has directed Asia-aimed features such as 2019 dance franchise offshoot Step-Up China and 2017 action thriller Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin, the latter of which co-stars Will Yun Lee, who—in a bit of a coincidence—happens to be a prominent part of another future-set cyberpunk offering, Netflix’s Altered Carbon.

    47 Ronin 2 (title to be determined) doesn’t have any production or release windows set, but it certainly sounds like an eccentrically intriguing proposition.
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    Gene Ching
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    ‘Lucifer’s Aimee Garcia & NYT Bestselling Author AJ Mendez

    Anyone watch Lucifer or read Mendez? Wait, she was in WWE?

    ‘47 Ronin’ Sequel Sets ‘Lucifer’s Aimee Garcia & NYT Bestselling Author AJ Mendez As Scribes

    By Anthony D'Alessandro
    Editorial Director/Box Office Editor
    @AwardsTony

    April 20, 2021 12:13pm

    Aimee Garcia, AJ Mendez
    Courtesy of Gregg DeGuire; Cathy and David Photography
    EXCLUSIVE: Lucifer actress Aimee Garcia and New York Times bestselling author AJ Mendez have been brought on to pen the upcoming untitled 47 Ronin sequel for Universal 1440 Entertainment. The action-fantasy pic, which is being directed by Mulan‘s Ron Yuan as we first told you, is the follow to the 2013 Universal Keanu Reeves movie which grossed over $151M WW.

    The original film was directed by Carl Rinsch and written by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini from a story conceived by Morgan and Walter Hamada. Also starring in that pic were Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi and Ko Shibasaki. Based on Chūshingura, 47 Ronin tells a fictionalized account of the titular 47 rōnin, a real-life group of samurai in the 18th century who set out to avenge the death of their master who was killed by a merciless shogun.

    “AJ and I are excited to write a diverse and inclusive action film,” said Garcia. “Director Ron Yuan’s vision to blend martial arts, horror, cyber-punk and action was inspiring and we’d like to thank the team at 1440 for being so supportive.”

    “As creators of color, we’re honored to be part of a modern, multicultural story with powerful female leads,” said Mendez.

    Garcia currently stars on Netflix’s Lucifer, new episodes of which are dropping on May 28, and she’ll also star in Marvel’s MODOK, premiering on Hulu May 21.

    Mendez’s pilot script Home landed on The Black List’s inaugural Latinx TV List in 2020. She is a former championship wrestler with the WWE.

    Garcia and Mendez are the co-authors of the comic book series Glow, based on the Netflix property, and Dungeons and Dragons for IDW Publishing, as well as Wonder Woman for DC Comics coming out in July.

    The duo recently launched Scrappy Heart Productions to create diverse stories with universal themes across all media. Currently, Scrappy Heart is adapting Crazy Is My Superpower based on Mendez’s bestselling memoir.

    Garcia and Mendez are repped by Atlas Artists and Atlas Literary.

    Universal 1440 Entertainment is a production arm of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG).
    Gene Ching
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  3. #3
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    script finished

    THE INVERSE INTERVIEW

    '47 RONIN' SEQUEL SCRIPT IS FINISHED, WRITER REVEALS
    “IT WAS FULFILLING TO CREATE FEMALE AND DIVERSE CHARACTERS.”

    — Aimee Garcia


    ERIC FRANCISCO
    5.20.2021 5:30 AM

    AIMEE GARCIA SPENT YEARS looking for herself in the world of superheroes. Now, she’s writing them into worlds of her own creation.

    The star of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., streaming May 21 on Hulu, tells Inverse that she’ll next harness her love of superheroes and comic books to expand one promising franchise that got off to a particularly rocky start: 47 Ronin.

    “HOPEFULLY, THEY DISCOVER NEW STARS” – Alongside her creative partner A.J. Mendez, a former WWE star-turned-author, Garcia has scripted a sequel to the famously troubled samurai fantasy epic, which starred Keanu Reeves and hit theaters in 2013. In a recent interview with Inverse, Garcia pulled back the curtain on her 47 Ronin follow-up to reveal its thrillingly diverse ensemble of heroes.

    “We just wrote the sequel to 47 Ronin,” Garcia says. “It was fulfilling to create female and diverse characters. A.J. and I wrote two strong female leads. Now they’re casting a Latina and a Japanese [actress]. Our other lead is Black. Hopefully, they discover new stars.”

    “WE’RE WRITING STORIES WE DIDN’T HAVE AS KIDS.”

    For Garcia, working on a franchise project that prioritized diversity so directly couldn’t have felt more important. “I got chills,” she says. “We’re writing stories we didn’t have as kids. We’re writing for the next generation. They’re going to find badass actors who are going to kick butt in the samurai world.”


    SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 22: Aimee Garcia arrives at the "Lucifer" press line at Comic-Con International 2017 on July 22, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/FilmMagic)
    Aimee Garcia at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.Joe Scarnici/FilmMagic/Getty Images

    Best known as an actress on shows like Lucifer (where she plays forensic scientist Ella Lopez), Garcia has taken up writing with Mendez on comic books like G.L.O.W. and Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World, in addition to an untitled, upcoming original story. But it was a massive leap forward for her career as a screenwriter when Deadline reported in April that Garcia and Mendez had signed on to co-write the sequel to 47 Ronin, marking their feature writing debut.

    Initially released in 2013, 47 Ronin was a dark fantasy epic, inspired by real-life samurai in 18th-century Japan but also populated by witches, giants, and mythical swordsmen. Despite ultimately grossing $155 million worldwide, the film’s hefty budget and (then-dashed) franchise hopes ensured it was remembered as a box-office bomb. But in approaching a sequel, Garcia and Mendez aim to put their own stamp on the 47 Ronin universe — by penning a sequel set in a far future with influences ranging from martial arts to cyberpunk to horror.

    A SCRAPPY HEART – As Latina women, Garcia and Mendez bonded over rarely seeing characters who looked like them in their favorite comics and genre films. A Chicago-born actress with Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, Garcia has been a lifelong Marvel fan; her favorite heroes include Spider-Man, Venom, Deadpool, and Guardians of the Galaxy – “before it was a movie,” she’s sure to add.

    “We started having conversations [about] growing up and being like, ‘Did people look like you in TV?’” she says. When both Garcia and Mendez agreed neither of them had been offered role models they could relate to, and that diverse future generations of genre fans deserved better, the two started a company, Scrappy Heart, and started writing.


    LUCIFER: L-R: Lauren German and Aimee Garcia in the Quintessential Deckerstar episode of LUCIFER airing Monday, May 7 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Photo by FOX Image Collection via Getty Images)
    Aimee Garcia (right), in her role as Ella Lopez on the procedural drama Lucifer.FOX/FOX Image Collection/Getty Images
    Garcia was further encouraged to write when she met fans at Comic-Con who’d dressed in scientist regalia to cosplay as her Lucifer character. “Going to Comic-Cons, [I’d see] fans cherry-pick for representation,” Garcia says.

    “I found it sweet fans would dress like a scientist – which is something they can be,” she says. “We’ll never become Spider-Man. He’s aspirational, but I’ll never climb on the ceiling. So we wanted to create characters we never saw growing up. We’re writing films and TV we’re hoping can be the next Lucifer or Supernatural.”

    I “WON THE LOTTERY” – While the sequel to 47 Ronin is currently cooking, Garcia still has Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K to promote. “I loved it,” she raves, eagerly discussing her arrival in the Marvel multiverse.

    “I had never seen a supervillain take out the garbage or pay taxes,” she says. “This is a one-of-a-kind show, where you see the supervillain hungover with hair messed up.”

    “YOU CAN KNOCK M.O.D.O.K. DOWN AND HE’LL FLOAT RIGHT BACK UP.”
    M.O.D.O.K., in other words, didn’t glamorize its antihero – though he does a pretty great job of that all by himself. “That’s what appealed to me about this character not a lot of people knew about: this guy who has the smallest arms and legs, and the biggest head, thinks he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread,” she says. “I found him inspirational because he is so confident. You can knock M.O.D.O.K. down and he’ll float right back up.”


    Aimee Garcia MODOK Hulu
    Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., streaming May 21 on Hulu, stars Garcia as Jodie, who puts up with her ex-husband’s antics.Hulu
    Her character of Jodie is a Latin-American woman, pressured to play up a heritage she doesn’t quite identify with in order to succeed. Playing a character written with that identity in a Marvel series, Garcia said she feels she “won the lottery.”

    “I have to credit Jordan [Blum] and Patton [Oswalt],” Garcia says. “Not only are we multicultural, we’re multibionic. It’s reflective of the world we’re in, and the world we might be in. We might all be bionic in a hundred years. Even though the show has aliens and Avengers, it really deals with issues like divorce and identity. To originate a Latina in the Marvel universe is a dream come true.”

    But M.O.D.O.K. is also a reminder to Garcia that what she wants to do next could be even more seismic. “I hope to create with [Mendez] the change we want to see,” says the actress – though she already has plenty of reasons to feel triumphant.

    M.O.D.O.K. BEGINS STREAMING MAY 21 ON HULU.
    I should tune into Garcia more. She's got it going on.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I should tune into Garcia more. She's got it going on.
    I bet she can dance too. If anyone could make a "sequel to 47 Ronin" its her! Anyway, I don't believe every one of them killed themselves...

  5. #5
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    update

    '47 Ronin' Sequel, Starring Anna Akana and Mark Dacascos, Enters Production
    BY HILARY REMLEY
    PUBLISHED 3 DAYS AGO
    Filming is currently underway in Budapest.
    Image via Lionsgate
    Production on the sequel to the 2013 film 47 Ronin has officially begun, as Universal 1440 Entertainment has just announced today that principal photography has started for the film in Budapest.

    Leading the cast is Anna Akana, who has previously starred in Ant-Man and Jupiter's Legacy, and action film veteran Mark Dacascos who has previously been featured in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The film will take a decidedly modern turn, taking place three hundred or so years after the events of the first film. Director Ron Yuan will tell the story of a modern-day world in which samurai clans now exist in complete secrecy. The film is described as being a fantasy action-adventure and, given the three-hundred-year time-jump, will prove to be quite the departure from the original.

    Keanu Reeves, who starred in the original 2013 film, will not reprise his role in the sequel. The original 47 Ronin took place in Medieval-era Japan and told the story of Reeves as an outcast samurai who joins 46 other samurai to defeat a powerful and supernatural enemy. The original film did not do well financially or critically, making the upcoming sequel a bit of a wild card.

    However, the new direction might prove to be reinvigorating for the series. As General Manager and Executive Vice President of Universal 1440 Entertainment Glenn Ross said, “We are excited to continue the story of these ancient Japanese samurai warriors with this next chapter of the 47 Ronin film franchise set in modern times.” In addition to being set in modern times, Ross stated that director Ron Yuan will also bring a "vision of diverse and inclusive samurai warriors.”

    The all-new 47 Ronin movie is from a script by John Swetnam (Breaking Through, Into the Storm, Step Up All In) and first-time feature film writers Aimee Garcia and A.J. Mendez, and is produced by Tim Kwok (Sway, Super Hybrid, The King of Fighters). No specific release date has yet been set for the sequel, but it will be distributed on non-theatrical platforms sometime in 2022.
    'diverse and inclusive'
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  6. #6
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    Female ronin

    Dec 17, 2021 5:59am PT
    Universal’s ’47 Ronin’ Gets a Facelift With Female-Skewing ‘Blade’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    By Patrick Frater

    Agencies.
    Production wraps this week in Hungary on “Blade of the 47 Ronin,” a sequel to Universal’s 2013 Japanese-themed action classic “47 Ronin.” The new movie represents a substantial revamp that emphasizes Asian fantasy heroes and female characters and addresses some of the cultural criticisms of the previous Keanu Reeves-starring picture.

    The action is moved forward by some 300 years to present-day Budapest, which is intended as a metaphor for East-West confluence, and where a meeting of the five Samurai clans is taking place. In addition to the male clan leaders, the meeting is also attended by three Onna Bugeisha (literally ‘Women Warriors’), though their presence is initially resented.

    Production was handled by Universal Studios through its 1440 Productions unit for Netflix. The streamer is expected to release it sometime in 2022, though a specific date is still unknown.

    The existence of female Samurai who fought alongside their male colleagues in feudal Japan is well documented. But their stories have rarely been told due to societal pressure and political turmoil. In “Blade” the women lead the campaign to reunite two halves of a mythical sword and keep it out of the hands of a villain who wants power for himself.

    The cast is headed by: Anna Akana, a U.S. actor and YouTube creator; U.S. martial artist Teresa Ting; Mike Moh, who played Bruce Lee in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”; veteran Vietnamese-American actor and filmmaker Dustin Nguyen (“Warrior”); Australian Chris Pang (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Crazy Rich Asians”); Japanese actor and model Chikako Fukuyama (“Terrace House: Aloha State”); and seasoned action specialist Mark Dacascos (“John Wick 3,” “Wu Assassins”).

    They are joined by Luna Fujimoto (Chinese hit “Monster Hunt 2,” and the upcoming “Wandering Earth 2”) as one of the three female leaders; Koieyama Akira (“Samurai Marathon,” “47 Ronin,” “Sense8”); and Nino Furuhata (“Spaghetti Code Love,” “Tetris,” “The Limit of Sleeping Beauty”).

    Where the earlier “47 Ronin” was adapted from a comic book series, the new film is an original script penned by John Swetnam, along with comic book writers Aimee Garcia (“Dexter,” “Robocop”) and A.J. Mendez.

    The ensemble is pulled together by director Ron Yuan and producer Tim Kwok. Yuan is an Asian-American multi-hyphenate whose recent acting credits include Disney’s “Mulan” and Warner’s “The Accountant,” and whose latest feature-length directorial work was Lionsgate’s 2019 movie “Step Up China.”

    Kwok is a Los Angeles-based veteran with producing credits including Jackie Chan’s “The Medallion,” Maggie Q-starring game adaptation “King of Fighters,” and Malaysia’s 2012 Oscar contender “Bunohan.”

    Yuan acknowledges that the preceding film was accused in some quarters of “whitewashing” and by others of distorting Japanese history through the use of elements such as Chinese-style dragons. “We need people who know the genres, people that know the history, people that can understand how to bring these stories, make it fresh and pop off the screen. Not like those old TV shows where every time there’s an Asian theme, or an Asian character, you hear the gong going ‘ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding dang’,” he told Variety. “None of that **** anymore.”

    Yuan also wanted to use the sequel to give the franchise a facelift. “It was important that this new samurai and Ninja culture could be opened up to different personalities, not just in the Asian world, but all over, making it more international,” he said.

    “It is an English-language film. But I purposely have two of our actresses speak to each other in Japanese. It is a homage, but it is also just to let people know, they can speak Japanese, they can speak English, it doesn’t have to be either-or.”

    The film was delayed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was originally expected to shoot in Thailand. But when that became impossible, the production looked at other destinations including Malaysia, New Zealand and Louisiana. They settled on Budapest, where Kwok was scheduled to shoot “Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac,” a big-budget live action adaptation of another Japanese IP for Toho Animation.

    That necessitated another rethink. “Originally, I wanted this whole cyberpunk world with Asian skylines and stuff. But I’d shot for five months in Budapest on ‘Marco Polo’ and I love the Hungarian crews. They work hard and are very talented,” said Yuan. “So, I talked with the production designer and decided [to keep some] cyberpunk elements, but also make it more of a dystopian world.”

    Kwok says the result is modern, accessible and relevant. “This is a female-driven story, with our main group of heroes — Luna, Onami, Aya and Mai — fighting alongside Reo, who is a male Ronin (exiled Samurai), for the fulfilment of the prophecy. They are also fighting against ingrained prejudices of the other clans about female warriors,” said Kwok. “The story of strong females fighting against societal pressures and expectations is really timely.”
    Shouldn't it be Onna-Bugeisha?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  7. #7
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    Blade of the 47 Ronin | Own it on Digital & Blu-ray October 25th

    Gene Ching
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    Author of Shaolin Trips
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