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On this episode of Collider Movie Talk (October 18th, 2016) John Campea, Mark Ellis, Jon Schnepp, Ashley Mova and Wendy Lee discuss the following:

  • Joe Manganiello reveals spring 2017 shoot for The Batman 
  • Opening this Week
  • Mail Bag
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Image via 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox has released a new Assassin’s Creed trailer online. Directed by Macbeth’s Justin Kurzel, the film is based on the popular video game and stars Michael Fassbender as death row inmate Callum Lynch; who is taken to a mysterious facility and put into a device called the “Animus” where he is forced to live out past memories from his 15th century Spanish ancestor in the hopes of discovering the location of a lost and important object. The film also stars Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons. It opens on December 21st.

Earlier this year, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes revealed an 18-month timetable for the upcoming solo Batman movie, with a release date yet to be set for the Ben Affleck directed standalone. Now, speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Deathstroke star Joe Manganiello casually revealed filming will begin next spring. While this could just be a slip of the tongue from the actor, Warner Bros has yet to confirm or deny the start date which means we could conceivably see the solo Batman movie as early as 2018.

Opening this week

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) springs into action after the arrest of Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), an Army major accused of treason. Suspecting foul play, Jack embarks on a mission to prove that the head of his old unit is innocent.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Keeping Up with the Joneses - An ordinary suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher) discovers it's not easy keeping up with their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors, the Joneses (Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot) -- especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. Jones are really covert operatives.

BUY OR SELL

Following the final trailer for the first of the Star Wars anthology films, Lucasfilm released a set of character posters on social media that show who will help the Rebellion defeat the Empire. The Rogue One posters feature leader Jyn Erso, Captain Cassian Andor and Director Orson Krennic along with Chirrut Îmwe, K-2SO, Bodhi Rook, Baze Malbus and Saw Gerrera. Rogue One is directed by Gareth Edwards and is scheduled for theaters on December 16th.

While Disney continues its search for a director to helm their live-action Mulan film, the rival project from Sony is one step ahead of the game. Deadline reports that Game of Thrones director Alex Graves has signed on to helm the live action pic, which is written by Mirror, Mirror screenwriter Jason Keller. Both projects will adapt the story of a young girl in Ancient China who enters the army disguised as a boy in order to protect her ailing father from the draft. For both the Disney and Sony version, a release date has not been set.

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Image via DreamWorks Animation

After a long hiatus, DreamWorks Animation is ready to revive the Shrek franchise and now, a new writer has been added to the fifth movie in the series. In an interview with Hollywood News, Trolls co-director and producer on Shrek 5, Mike Mitchell, revealed they have a pretty good story that’s being written by Michael McCullers, the screenwriter behind the Austin Powers films. The writer is currently at work on the script but no director or release date has been set.

Variety reports that Kevin Costner is now in talks to join Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba in Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game. Chastain will play Molly Bloom who, after failing to make the Olympic team, decides to take a year off before law school and get a job as a waitress in Los Angeles. Through a bizarre set of circumstances, she ends up making millions by running, for eight years, the most exclusive high-stakes poker game in the world. Her life comes crashing down when 17 FBI agents armed with automatic weapons ring her doorbell. A release date has not been set.

MAIL BAG

Harry writes:

Hey Collider Crew,

There is no better place to get my movie news. I was excited to see Rogue One but after watching last week's movie talk opening segment of your reaction to the Rogue One trailer I am at the edge of my seat wanting to see it. With that said where does Vader rank in this telling of the Empire? Does the Rebellion fear him more than the Emperor in this storyline? Other than the Joker, he seems like the best villain ever written in Cinema because of his arc from good to bad and good again. Thanks and keep doing what you're doing guys.

John Kreczko writes:

Hello Collider crew, I hope everyone is having a great day! You guys have mentioned multiple times before that if we want to have more original movies then we have to support those movies. My question though is how can we support an original movie that looks good if it doesn't come out in our area or the theater that's showing it is hours away?

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Image via Warner Bros.