Shawn Levy is a very busy man. Not only is he an in-demand director helming big Hollywood movies like Real Steel and the Night at the Museum movies, he also runs 21 Laps Entertainment, which is the production company behind Stranger Things, Shadow and Bone, the new Unsolved Mysteries, and films like The Spectacular Now and Best Picture nominee Arrival.
With Levy’s fantastic new movie Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds arriving in theaters August 13th, I recently spoke with him to talk about the challenges of making an original movie not based on existing IP in a marketplace that is always looking for sequels and easy sells. While I’ll have that conversation online soon, today I wanted to provide some updates on a few other projects at 21 Laps.
If you’re not aware, 21 Laps is currently producing an animated Night at the Museum movie for Disney+. While not much is known, according to thedisinsider, it’s rumored to be called Night At The Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again and will focus on Nick Daley, the son of Ben Stiller’s character Larry Daley, who is hesitant to follow in his father’s footsteps as the nightwatchman of a museum that comes to life at night. According to Levy, things are going well and it’s going to be released next year on Disney+:
“It is in production. Production and animation is a very different process. I am very actively in hands-on, producing that. I've seen two of the three acts in animation form. It is somehow its own thing, but very, very loyal to the legacy of those characters in that title. So happening, and will be on Disney+ next year in 2022.”
Another of the many projects Levy’s 21 Laps produced was the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This. The supernatural YA drama starring IT alums Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff had a fantastic first season and even though the show's co-creators Jonathan Entwistle and Christy Hall had a two-season vision for the show's narrative, Netflix cancelled the series after one season. While a cancellation always hurts, this one hit harder than most because the season ended on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, if you’ve been holding out hope that a miracle might happen and fans would get some sort of closure, get ready to be disappointed. I asked Levy if they had plans in any medium to resolve the series. He said:
“Currently, not. Dreams of a comeback in some form or format? Yes. But no current plan and that was kind of a heartbreaker of a lesson. It’s a reminder that sometimes you can make something really good and do your job right and still have no control over viewership or box office and outcome. So that's one of those shows, like Dash and Lily, which just won a bunch of Daytime Emmys where it's like we, and the team at 21 Laps, feel like we made the show we promised. We made the show we wanted. Not enough people watched and it is a cruel metric in the age of the streaming wars. And sometimes, if you don't get the eyeballs, you don't get to make more of the thing. That's what happened there.”
Switching over to some happier news, one of the hit series on Netflix during the past year was Shadow and Bone, which is produced by Levy’s company. If you’re not familiar with the series, it takes place in a war-torn world where a lowly soldier and orphan named Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) accidentally unleashes an extraordinary power that’s been residing in her that could help save her land and set her country free. What you also need to know about Shadow and Bone is this world has magical soldiers known as Grisha that have different powers, and a massive black cloud (known as the Shadow Fold) that runs hundreds of miles north and south that is extremely dangerous to cross due to the creatures inside. Shadow and Bone is based on author Leigh Bardugo’s novels and the showrunner is Eric Heisserer.
According to Levy, things are moving forward on Shadow and Bone Season 2 without any issues. He told me:
“Scripts written, heading into production shortly, in great shape, very much favorable to the characters in the world that we built and the Grishaverse that was put on screen in Season 1. But building out from there. Eric Heisserer still at the helm as creator, showrunner and getting kind of dangerously close to heading into production.”
As a big fan of the first season (trust me this series is worth checking out), I’m glad enough people tuned in for the story to continue. For more on Shadow and Bone Season 2 you might want to read everything we know so far.
Look for more from my interview with Levy tomorrow.
