1. Doug Liman will live, die, repeat his mistake

Did you watch All You Need is Kill? Maybe you knew it as Edge of Tomorrow when it was in cinemas? Or have you seen it since as Live Die Repeat? Whatever you call it, it was a good film and moderately successful. So it’s not much of a surprise that a sequel is in the works. It’s also not much of a surprise that Doug Liman has a predictably awful title for it. In an interview with Collider, the director confided that “it will be called Live Die Repeat and Repeat… The big question is is just when we’ll do it. But it’s not an if, it’s a when.”

While Live Die Repeat and Repeat is a bit of a mouthful, there is a certain logic to it. We live in a world where Now You See Me was not followed up with a sequel titled Now You Don’t – so kudos, Liman. The director didn’t share any plot details in the interview, but he did confirm that the story is “way better than the first film”. Bookies have stopped taking bets on it featuring Tom Cruise running really fast and maybe riding a motorcycle.

2. Johnny Depp says hello Richard Says Goodbye

Writer-director Wayne Roberts thinks he’s the man to rescue Johnny Depp’s box office appeal. No, he’s not directing a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel; instead, the Katie Says Goodbye director has cast Depp in his upcoming comedy-drama. According to Deadline, the project is “one of the hottest projects on the market,” and stars Depp as a college professor who decides to “live his life as boldly and freely as possible” after a life-changing diagnosis. This means “smoking, drinking, sex, and hurling blunt insults at anyone who annoys him.” Yes, it’s basically that episode of Futurama where Bender turned human. This will be the second project from Roberts, whose debut scooped a host of festival awards this year for the tale of a 17-year old who turns to prostitution to fund her dreams.

3. ‘Cause when the feelin’s right he’s gonna Blade Run all night…

Director Denis Villeneuve is proving something of an expert at making films with enough substance to match the style but still, Blade Runner: 2049 looks special. That’s without even counting the all-star cast of Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Mackenzie Davis and Robin Wright. Mm-hai bw-ha whoa-hoa. The colours, children. In any case, it looks like Ford’s Deckard has spent the last several years hiding out replaying the events of the original Blade Runner in his mind and gradually turning into Dennis Quaid. Now Ryan Gosling is here to ask him a few questions! Probably about a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top! Sounds good. Looks better.

4. Cannes keeps Netflix’s flicks competing

Just one week before things are due to kick off in the south of France, the Cannes Film Festival has announced plans to keep two Netflix productions – Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories – in the festival. This initially looked unlikely, not because some other festival was using their account password but because of reservations about allowing non-theatrically released films in competition. We wrote more about the intricacies of French distribution law here and-hey, come back!

The festival board had considered pulling both films from the program but they instead relented, urged Netflix to give the films a wide release, and determined that future entrants must be “distributed in French movie theaters.” This would likely end Netflix’s future involvement in the competition unless French regulation changes. Which it may well do. In any case, this is likely far from the last we’ll hear on this matter. [via Variety]

5. Look! Rising from Development Hell itself, it’s…

Hellboy. Although Guillermo Del Toro is most definitely out of the Hellboy business, Millennium is almost certainly in. This news comes via The Hollywood Reporter which claims that the production company are likely rebooting the tale of the apocalypse’s harbinger sans Perlman, Del Toro, Jones and everyone else you know and love. Stranger Things‘ David Harbour is in talks for the titular role instead.

While it was only weeks ago that Del Toro appeared to crush any faint hopes of seeing Big Red back on the big screens, it appears the project is already fairly far along. Writers Andrew Crosby and Christopher Golden, together with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, already have a script ready to go. Its working title is Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. According to Cosby, Blood Queen takes the series in a “darker, more gruesome” direction,” and development is continuing apace.

6. Cars 3 looks mighty familiar, even for a Cars film

We know it’s not an original thought, but Cars 3 looks a whole lot like Rocky IV. Like, a lot. There’s a training sprint on a beach, a rival all hooked up to modern machinery, and some unconventional training techniques. And while there’s no Dolph Lundgren, Pixar have cast a decent impression of one, if The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is anything to go by (it’s Armie Hammer). The storyline revolves around Owen Wilson’s Lightning McQueen realising he’s aging (for a car) and determining that he’ll go out on his own terms. He also gets a new paint job which was in no way mandated by marketing concerns! Joining Wilson and Hammer are Nathan Fillion, Kerry Washington, Bonnie Hunt and – don’t worry – Larry The Cable Guy. Cars 3 is in UK cinemas July 14 this year.

7. ILM to go all Peter Cushing on Robert De Niro’s face

Recognising that we’ve all made it to the year 2017 and, hey, maybe Robert De Niro isn’t a young man anymore, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are going to extreme measures to make the actor look young again. No backwards baseball caps and oversized sunglasses for Bobby! Instead, the team from Industrial Light & Magic have been charged with digitally editing De Niro’s appearance to make him look like a convincing 30 year-old. Specifically, the 30-year-old Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the mob hitman on who Scorsese’s gangster movie hangs.

The film was this week greenlit by Netflix and has itself a $100 million budget. Let’s hope it all gets spent wisely and De Niro doesn’t come out of this looking like some snapchat filter gone wrong. Especially as Netflix is aiming at a 2019 release for the project and is so confident of the film’s calibre – lest we forget, it co-stars Harvey Keitel, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino – it will release the film for a limited theatrical run so as to qualify for Academy Award inclusion. [via Indiewire]