While Need for Speed displayed yet again that videogames rarely translate properly to the big screen, Hollywood won’t let that slow them down. After coming aboard the project well over a year, the Tom Hardy-led Splinter Cell has landed its director and we’re set to see it sooner than we imagined. The Hollywood Reporter lets us know that Doug Liman will helm the feature, scripted by American Hustle’s Eric Singer and focusing on highly skilled Black Ops agent Sam Fisher. Following this summer’s Edge of Tomorrow, the Bourne director seems like a decent fit for the actioner, which aims to get off the ground by August ahead of a 2015 release.
Next up, after directing one of the best films of last year (and making history as the first natively shot Saudi Arabian feature from a woman), Wadjda helmer Haifaa Al Mansour has found a follow-up. Deadline reports the talented director will take on the period romance A Storm In The Stars. Scripted by Emma Jensen, it tells the tale of a poet Percy Shelley and his relationship with the younger Mary Wollstonecraft. A European production could kick off as soon at this year.
Lastly, after rejuvenating the Fast & Furious series, Universal is putting Justin Lin to work on the next Bourne, but the helmer is still piling up a list of potential future projects. The latest is at Focus Features with Taylor Materne and Jacob Rubin‘s Black List drama Times Square. Taking place in the titular New York City mecca, it heads back a few years, before it became the (fairly) nice and clean place we know it to be today. The lead is a man who is divided between the neighborhood crime boss and the ex-cop that’s protecting him. With a list of projects sky high, don’t expect to see this one for quite some time.
Which of the above films are you most looking forward?