Movies
‘Wolf Creek 2’ In Flux As Investor Backs Out…
While production was rumored to kick off early 2012, it looks like Gregg McLean’s long-gestured Wolf Creek 2 will once again be seeking out investors.
Geoffrey Edelsten has launched legal action over his $5 million investment in the sequel to Aussie horror flick Wolf Creek, reports the Herald Sun. In documents filed in the Supreme Court this week, Mr Edelsten has flagged his intention to have rescinded the investment deed he signed for the sequel. He says he would never have invested $5 million had he known he was “by far and away” the biggest single private investor. The film has a $13.2 million budget.
Mr Edelsten says in an affidavit that only $300,000 of this was from other private investors, the balance coming from government grants.
He says the amount coming from government agencies was not mentioned in his first meeting with the film’s director, and government support did not provide him with the “same comfort” as private investors.
Emu Creek Pictures, of which Greg McLean is a director, sent Millennium Management, of which Mr Edelsten is director, a statutory demand last month for payment of $4.923 million.
Millennium has now taken action against Emu Creek and is asking the Supreme Court to set aside the statutory demand. “The plaintiff wishes to investigate irregularities with the investment deed and PIA (private investor agreement),” Mr Edelsten says in his affidavit.
“Further, based on the misrepresentations about the other private investors and the tax deductibility of my proposed investment, I believe that the plaintiff has a complete defence to the alleged debt.”
Mr Edelsten says in his affidavit he intends to issue separate action to rescind the investment deed.
Wolf Creek 2 would see John Jarratt reprise his role as deranged killer Mick Taylor.
Mr Edelsten revealed in August he was backing Wolf Creek 2.
“I was looking for a film with international appeal and the script for Wolf Creek 2 blew me away. I loved the first film, but this will set the bar at a new height,” he said at the time.
“It’s bigger, badder, more terrifying and action-packed than the first film. After reading the script it stuck with me for weeks, and meeting Greg and Matt (producer Matt Hearn) sealed the deal.”
In a statement late yesterday, Emu Creek Pictures denied Mr Edelsten’s allegations.
“We intend to fight the allegations in the Supreme Court of Victoria and are confident of victory,” the statement said.
“The production company has been clear, thorough and transparent in all its dealings with Geoffrey Edelsten and Millennium Management from the outset with Screen Australia overseeing the contracting process for the film.”
The dispute over the Wolf Creek 2 investment is due to be heard in February.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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