The Tracking Board’s Daily Debrief (06.27.16)

Netflix Nabs Urban Fantasy The Shambling Guide From Mur Lafferty With Plans For Feature (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix continues its big year of purchases as it picks up the rights to The Shambling Guide To New York City from author Mur Lafferty with plans to develop the book into a feature.

Is There Still Hope For The Mid-Budget Movie?

Hollywood is no longer making the kinds of movies that made us fall in love with the movies in the first place. As a rash of tentpole sequels fail to hit at the box office, where is the mid-budget movie?

Owen Wilson Set To Join Julia Roberts, Jacob Tremblay In Wonder At Lionsgate

The Zoolander 2 actor is in final negotiations to star opposite Julia Roberts in the Lionsgate film based on R.J. Palacio’s coming-of-age-novel Wonder.

More News From Around The Web

• Rumors are circulating that Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin is being eyed to helm the remake of Akira. A remake of the original Katsuhiro Otomo film has been gestating at Warner Bros. since 2002. (The Playlist)

• Director Peyton Reed is excited for the upcoming Marvel sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp and has said that the titular characters will be equally important. (The A.V. Club)

• In addition to the Pacific Rim sequel and a Kathryn Bigelow film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens breakout star John Boyega recently tweeted that he may be reuniting with Attack the Block director Joe Cornish for a new project. (The Mary Sue)

• Fans of the Magic Mike franchise may be disappointed to hear that Channing Tatum won’t return for a third installment. However, the story of Mike and his fellow male entertainers will live on in a live Vegas show. (/Film)

• Warner Bros. has set a release date of May 25, 2019 for the big screen adaptation of the wildly popular video game Minecraft. The movie will go head to head with Disney’s Star Wars: Episode IX and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War — Part II. (Variety)

• The forthcoming adaptation of the puzzle-driven video game Tetris is paving the way for an entire trilogy of movies. Director Larry Kasanoff is conceiving the film as a “big science fiction movie.” (Empire)

• Bliss Media has revealed that they will be producing their own 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that will be released in China. The film is set to compete with Bryan Singer’s version of Jules Verne’s popular novel. (Deadline)

• Vanessa Redgrave will join Annette Bening, Julie Walters, and Jamie Bell for Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, an adaptation of Peter Turner’s memoir. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• Adult Swim made history as the first TV network to use Vine to premiere an entire episode of their upcoming animated comedy series Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio. (Indiewire)

• NBC’s supernatural drama Midnight, Texas promotes Sex and the City alum Jason Lewis to series regular. The show is based on a book series by True Blood author Charlaine Harris. (Deadline)

• Freeform is renewing Dan Berendsen’s sitcom Baby Daddy for a sixth season. The show stars Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Derek Theler, Tahj Mowry, Melissa Peterman, and Chelsea Kane. (TVLine)

• The USA Network has picked up the pilot Damnation from Longmire writer Tony Tost. James Mangold, who is currently filming the upcoming Wolverine sequel, is set to produce. (The Hollywood Reporter)