THE EQUALIZER 2 Gets A 2017 Release Date!

Hopefully all of the glowing reviews published online (including mine) and the overall box-office success of Antoine Fuqua's 2014 hit, The Equalizer, garnered enough reason for you to at least see it on disc or VOD by now. It's one of the best action films in recent memory next to John Wick and led by Denzel Washington, a stellar actor with just the right amount of gravitas to give the main character the cinematic boost it needed on the big screen as it did then on television starring Edward Woodward.

Surely enough the film finally greenlit the sequel back in April, which probably wasn't much of a surprise for those who were able to attend test screenings for the film, and with delightful results to boot. Alas, various media sites including Collider are now reporting an official release date set for September 29, 2017. There's no word yet on who else is cast aside from the likelihood that Washington could return, and we still don't know if Fuqua will come back to direct; obviously considering the explosive work done on the first film, it would only make sense for these two to get back together again.

In the meantime, the film is the second title to be dated for the same year as the latest official Fuqua/Washington pairing, The Magnificent Seven, which arrives nine months earlier.

Stay tuned for more info and don't forget to check out Fuqua's new boxing drama, Southpaw, later next month!

Wagner Moura Adds To Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

For all the bruhaha from some critics over director Neill Blomkamp's 2013 sci-fi epic, Elysium, at best, it was a film I ultimately enjoyed. It especially landed actor Wagner Moura on my radar while I haven't yet seen his previous films, Elite Squad and Elite Squad 2 - they're on my watchlist, so all things in good time.

Meanwhile, Moura's screen presence is defintely something I look forward to, particularly with director Antoine Fuqua's upcoming remake, The Magnificent Seven. The film itself is one that's come up on occasion in the last few years, interestingly enough with the previously-mentioned and hopeful involvement of Martin Scorsese and action duo Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo-Ping for a remake of Seven Samurai, the 1954 Kurosawa Akira classic on which helmer John Sturges's 1960 western in question was based. For now though, it's Sturges's movie in the headlines and Training Day trio, stars Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke and director Antoine Fuqua tapped to work on the film along with The Equalizer co-star, actress Haley Bennett and actors Chris Pratt and (hopefully) Marvel's Daredevil co-star, actor Vincent D'onofrio, and now with Moura joining in.

The new script from scribes John Lee Hancock and Nic Pizzolatto will center on Bennett's role as a grieving widow who hires a disparate group of bounty hunter to avenge her husband's death at the hands of a rutheless gold-mining baron, offering them enough money to split seven ways to get the job done. Sony has since planted a flag for the film's release date of January 13, 2017 on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

In the meantime, Moura can be seen this August in Netflix's upcoming series, Narcos, while Fuqua settles in this July with upcoming boxing drama, Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, in addition to (hopefully being the one to facilitate) a sequel to his September 2014 hit, The Equalizer, which Variety now reports has officially been greenlit by Sony as of this week for Washington to return to star.

Lots of work ahead. Keep your eyes peeled!

H/T: THR

Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Gets A Release Date!

Director Antoine Fuqua's western thriller revival, The Magnificent Seven, is still in the casting phase with just five actors enlisted, so there's still a ways to go before we hear anything about who gets to apprear. In the meantime, MGM is planting its flag for the film's release on January 13, 2017, according to reports forwarded by ComingSoon.net.

Actress Haley Bennett, and actors Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke are all tapped to star in the film alongside leading man Denzel Washington in his latest return to the set with Fuqua in what will be their fourth pairing since the 1999 film, Training Day and last year's box office reign of the hit action thriller TV adaptation, The Equalizer. Netflix's Daredevil co-star, actor Vincent D'onofrio is expected to join the cast as the main villain in a story based on John Sturges's titular 1960 film inspired by the 1954 classic, Seven Samurai.

There's still no word yet on when filming will start. In the meantime, Fuqua's latest Oscar-inspired boxing drama, Southpaw is currently bound to release in July. Click here for the trailer if you missed it and stay tuned for more details!

Ethan Hawke May Reunite With 'Training Day' Cohorts For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

There's something to be said about a certain type of project and the goodness it brings when all the right people come together. In 2000, that very project came in the form of the award-winning crooked cop thriller, Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington.

If you haven't seen it, just know that you're missing out on one of the most terrific cinematic experiences you'll ever have as it turns out with a handful of some  of the best performances you'll ever see. It certainly did the trick years after my own recognition of Fuqua came with action star Chow Yun-Fat's hit role in The Replacement Killers, and you would be especially advised to make note of the director as well following the accolades he receivged with his paring with Washington for The Equalizer. All things considered, Fuqua and Washington may very well be working on a sequel to The Equalizer in due time, but not before adhering to their latest ensemble efforts in the forthcoming western thriller, The Magnificent Seven, reimagining John Sturges's classic remake of auteur Kurosawa Akira's 1954 epic, Seven Samurai.

At the moment, the two will be reunited with The Equalizer co-star, actress Haley Bennett, along with actor Chris Pratt in a story that pits our seven gunslingers against a ruthless gold-mining baron at the behest of a widow willing to pay for their services. John Lee Hancock re-worked the script initially written by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, and now the word is that Hawke is officially in talks to join, according to Variety. Obviously the aim here is to try and reverb the same success sustained from The Equalizer with the acclaim of Fuqua's Training Day, which I'm all for. Granted some people have their opinions in favor of remakes, or otherwise, but with a grouping like this, at least for now, you can't go wrong.

All hands on deck!

Haley Bennett Reunites With Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!

Last year's go-around with the Denzel Washington/Antoine Fuqua hit pairing, The Equalizer, turned out some really amazing from its cast. One such performance came from supporting actress Haley Bennett who plays a friend to that of lead actress Chloe Grace Moretz in the story of a monastic former government operative whose fight for a young girl's freedom from human traffickers turned into a sprawling one-man war against an entire criminal organization, and at the rate we're going, we could very well see a sequel.

Before then, director Fuqua and our lead actor Washington are bound to rejoin for the production of The Magnificent Seven as of last June - a remake of the original 1960 classic western directed by John Sturges and starring Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen. Actor Chris Pratt was announced for a possible role in the film last December as well, and now, Deadline is reporting the film could very likely reunite Fuqua and Washington with actress Bennett for a leading role - a widow who hires a bounty hunter to avenge her husband's death at the hands of a rutheless gold-mining baron, offering enough money to split seven ways with his men to get the job done.

As a noteworthy mention, Pratt's name is also one with major circulation in the year following his successful start at Marvel as Star Lord in Walt Disney Co.'s Guardians Of The Galaxy, with any number of roles now lining up in his direction, including Cowboy Ninja Viking and Friday's Deadline report of his pick by Steven Spielberg for a reboot of Indiana Jones. Hopefully we'll learn more about which will come first in the months ahead as 2015 grows itself into another busy and exciting year for movies!

Stay tuned for more info!