Warner Bros. is ramping up the pre-production process on their upcoming genre thriller from writer-director-producer Ryan Coogler and producer-lead actor Michael B. Jordan. As they prepare to shoot in New Orleans this month, they have assembled the top members of the cast.
Little is known about the film, which Warner Bros. and Coogler’s team are keeping tightly under wraps. Off-the-record descriptions paint it as a genre thriller featuring vampires hunting down the Ku Klux Klan in the Jim Crow-era US South. Jordan is also set to play twin roles, but now, the rest of the cast is being filled.
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We learned earlier this month that Jack O’Connell is set to play the main antagonist, a white supremacist, a part that was very coveted by young, up-and-coming actors. Delroy Lindo is also in the movie, The Hollywood Reporter said a few days ago, though the only thing we know so far about his character is that there’s a musical element to it.
Wunmi Mosaku, who played Hunter B-15 in Loki, is the female lead and possibly the love interest to one of Jordan’s characters. Deadline also reported that both Omar Benson and Jayme Lawson are part of the ensemble, though details are unknown regarding their characters.
And last but not least, Hailee Steinfeld is in the movie too, THR said earlier this week, though her part “is all sealed up in a coffin.”
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News about the project first surfaced in January, when Coogler had completed his script and was ready to show it to studios (not streamers, though). Flashy words like “buzzy project” or “bidding war” were thrown around a lot in media reports, perhaps placed there by their publicists, perhaps not.
But there’s always been an interesting veil surrounding the movie. For one, representatives for interested studios were forced to go up to WME’s (Coogler’s agency) offices to read the script, similar to how it works with new Marvel or Star Wars movies. But Coogler also wanted to leverage his side of the bargain and asked for some specific terms when signing the deal — the most interesting being that he wanted the rights to revert back to him and/or his estate after 25 years.
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That was a deal-breaker for some studios, but Warner Bros. eventually agreed to it, perhaps because studio heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy really believed in the project, perhaps because they wanted to attract as many A-listers as they could so that they could get their boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, happy as he tries to pursue a sale of the company this year.
Most likely, it’s both. The studio has given the film a prime release date, March 7, 2025. That alone may not give away a lot, but much like the first weekend of October, it’s a spot that WB generally enjoys for their big event films. Two years ago they released The Batman on that weekend, and this year, they opened Dune: Part Two, both to massive success. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee box office returns, but it’s a sign of confidence in what Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan are cooking up.
Of course, having a new film by this pair is pretty exciting by itself, but there are additional details that we can read between the lines that can get us even more pumped up. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this project is the buzz, at least in the media, that a fully original idea is generating, and how WB is taking it to the next level, by treating it as a blockbuster, similar to a Batman film.
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Will this translate into box office dollars? There’s some precedent to think so, even if Coogler hasn’t made a non-IP film since Fruitvale Station. Jordan is a pretty big star now, and Coogler’s name also draws some attention thanks to Marvel. It might not be a 1:1 comparison, but a filmmaker like Jordan Peele is also able to sell a movie just by putting his own name on the poster, even if it’s not pre-branded.
A combination of vampires, white supremacists, and musical elements could be the perfect cocktail that the box office needs right now, especially after Barbie, which also included musical elements and a fresh look at familiar elements to the audience.
Ryan Coogler and his wife Zinzi Coogler are both producing the new film.
Filming will start soon in New Orleans, so things are moving pretty fast. Perhaps some set photos will be leaking into the Internet once that happens, though Coogler really wants to keep everything locked up until they are ready to show the movie.
What do you think about Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan’s new genre thriller? Do you like the cast so far? What is your favorite Ryan Coogler film? Let us know your thoughts on our Twitter and also via our Discord server!
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