SALAAR, AMATEUR, SPY X FAMILY CODE: WHITE, MAGGIORE, RED NOTICE 2, and BLINDSPOT are just some of the upcoming spy movies or series that we’ll fill you in on today in our Spy Movie News July 25 2023 edition.
Upcoming spy movies and series
We’ll start out as usual by looking at some upcoming spy movies and series.
AMATEUR shuts down production
We told you about the movie AMATEUR starring Rami Malik back in our February 2023 Spy Movie News. At the time we didn’t know any production details. Well, they started production but have now shut it down due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes. Shutdowns like this are rampant with these strikes.
AMATEUR isn’t the first, nor will it be the last to shut down until the strikes end. Last month we mentioned the spy series The Old Man had halted production due to the writer’s strike Let’s hope this mess gets cleared up soon.
Anyway, we’ll keep you posted about AMATEUR as we hear more after the strikes and they start up again.
Spy X Family Code: White
Here’s another one we’ve been talking about for a while. Spy X Family is an animated spy series. They are working on a spin-off movie called SPY X FAMILY CODE: WHITE that is slated to release in December 2023 in Japan.
The creative team likes to have fun. For instance, their spy dog is named Bond.
Well, they had fun with the latest Mission: Impossible movie. In collaboration with Paramount, they created a teaser trailer for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE DEAD RECKONING PART ONE. It is a combination of Spy X Family with clips from the Dead Reckoning Part One trailer with SPY X Family’s Loid Forger providing commentary. Next, they created a combined poster that is a take-off of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE DEAD RECKONING PART ONE poster. You can find that on DigitalSpy.com.
We like it when the studios don’t take each other too seriously and will have fun with marketing. Great job teams.
Maggiore
Israeli network Yes TV is behind an upcoming 8-part series called MAGGIORE. They are the same group that brought us the wonderful spy series FAUDA.
MAGGIORE’s main plotline is that a boat is sunk on Lake Maggiore, which connects Italy and Switzerland. That boat was filled with intelligence officers from both Israel and Italy.
Oh yeah, and this is a real event that recently happened on May 29, 2023. There were at least 13 Mossad and eight Italian intelligence officers onboard. Due to the intelligence passengers, some of who died, there is a lot of speculation about the spies and what they were doing on the boat.
There is intrigue about what happened. An article about MAGGIORE in Variety.com tells us that the location of the drowning which was between Italian manufacturing plants and the heavily spy-traveled Switzerland has brought about conspiracy theories. Plus, Israel sent a private plane to evacuate the Israeli victims. No, nothing to see here (laugh).
We find it fascinating that they already have this designated as an 8-part series. All of the details behind the boat accident are probably not likely flushed out yet. So, it will be interesting to see where they take this.
However, that article also points out that the goal is to create a series much like the French spy series “The Bureau”, but this time highlighting Italian intelligence, instead of French.
One possible outcome of MAGGIORE is that the series spins into taking on other mysterious accidents. We’ll have to see.
As of now, we don’t have an expected release date.
Blindspot
Another upcoming spy series based on reality, albeit much older reality, is called BLINDSPOT. This one has Maipo Film and Spero Films backing it. The series will focus on a real Mossad assassination mission in Lillehammer in 1973. Let’s just say that the mission didn’t go well and the wrong person got killed.
BLINDSPOT will be a drama trying to tell the story of what happened. It will dive into the events and examine the people impacted by this mission.
No production details have been released as of press time.
Alia Bhatt Set for YRF Spy Universe
In last month’s Spy Movie News, we talked about the actress Alia Bhatt.
She will be in the Netflix movie HEART OF STONE, which will be released on August 11, 2023.
At the time we told you to pay attention to this British-Indian actress. We expected her career to soar. She was fantastic in the spy movie RAZZI and also was a lead in the immensely popular RRR (just say the R three times).
Yash Raj Films delivered what we think was an excellent spy movie PATHAAN, and talked about their YRF Spy Universe when that movie was released this past January. Well, they have announced that Alia Bhatt will be the first female to have a lead in the YRF Spy Universe. Sometimes you just get lucky with your timing as we did here.
The movie, whose title hasn’t been released, is expected to start production next year. But we know Bhatt will play a “super-agent” in the movie.
Interestingly, she will be joining Gal Gadot in HEART OF STONE as we think that Bhat will have a similar career trajectory. She is already very popular in India. We bet she and Gadot end up competing for some female spy roles in the near future.
As usual, we’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
Rainbow Six?
Tom Clancy’s spy novels have been turned into movies, tv-series, and video games. Of course, we have the Jack Ryan series. But, one of his novels, “Rainbow Six” was turned into a very successful video game. The game deviates from the novel, which is common.
Movieweb.com speculates that “Rainbow Six” as a movie was teased in the Jack Ryan series. They speculate that a RAINBOW SIX might be a continuation of the WITHOUT REMORSE storyline or be part of the Jack Ryan universe.
Now, we normally don’t talk about movie speculation, but this one seems like it has a realistic chance of happening. We’ll keep you posted.
RED NOTICE 2
When Netflix released the successful movie RED NOTICE, we told you there were plans for both a RED NOTICE 2 and RED NOTICE 2. That was two years ago.
Gal Gadot has told Collider that she’s read the script and filming will be underway soon. That was before the strikes so we don’t have a handle on what “soon” means.
That said, we’re happy to see this. Although we had some mixed feelings about RED NOTICE, we thought they did have a chance to make this a series that could work.
So, once we get more notice about RED NOTICE 2, we’ll give you a heads up.
THE MAN FROM ROME
The spy movie THE MAN FROM ROME has a clip giving us the basis of the plot that was put out by Screen Media Films. In addition, an official trailer has been released that you can find on YouTube. So, we have two slightly different videos on this movie.
The tagline for THE MAN FROM ROME is:
“Vatican intelligence operative Father Quart (Richard Armitage) investigates an anonymous message sent to the Pope concerning a crumbling Spanish church that ‘kills to defend itself,’” reads the official synopsis for The Man from Rome. “A deep conspiracy unfolds that puts Father Quart’s loyalty and faith to the test.”
THE MAN FROM ROME is based on the novel “The Seville Communion” and stars Richard Armitage. Armitage is one of the names bandied about as a possible “next actor to play James Bond”.
THE MAN FROM ROME was released last year in Spain and has recently started to be available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play.
More John Le Carré in India
In 2016, the English-language series based on John Le Carré’s novel “The Night Manager” was a hit. The novel has recently been adapted and released as a big hit series in India. This time it is Hindi-language based.
An article in Variety talks about this Hindi-based adaptation, and the fact that it is not just a remake of the 2016 series. More importantly, it tells us that future seasons of “The Night Manager” are being looked at.
Plus, it looks like more John Le Carré novels than just “The Night Manager” are expected to be adapted into Indian Hindi-language movies or series. The Ink Factory manages the Le Carré novels and has said:
“We are in the process of adapting one, which is in a relatively late stage of adaptation and one, which is at an early stage. We’re very keen to bring more le Carré to India.”
We’re keen to see if any of these Hindi-language releases make their way to English-Language adaptations.
SALAAR
Back in February’s Spy Movie News, we told you about the upcoming pan-Indian movie SALAAR. At the time we told you that we weren’t sure that this is going to be a spy movie. We know it is an action movie. But, the plot has been kept under wraps.
We know that the release will include the Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi languages.
Even though it is supposed to release on September 28, 2023, we still don’t know if it is a spy movie. That’s even with the movie’s teaser trailer being released. You can see the trailer on YouTube.
We may have to wait until the SALAAR is released before we know if it is just an action movie or a spy movie. We’ll let you know.
MR-9-DO OR DIE
Last June we told you about the movie MR-9. This is a movie based on the Rana series of novels that Bangladeshi writer Qazi Anwar Hussain wrote.
An article in Deadline.com tells us:
“Based on the popular Bangladeshi spy novel series Masud Rana, the film charts the story of spy MR-9, a skilled and veteran spy with a muddled past. He is chosen to join forces with an elite group of international agents. Together they must stop a terror attack aimed at Las Vegas, organized by tech villain Roman Ross (Frank Grillo).”
We’ve liked Grillo in his past movies and are looking forward to seeing him in this one.
We can now update you and tell you that there will be a U.S. and Canada release on the same day as its release in Bangladesh. That will be on August 25th.
Frank Grillo Movie ‘MR-9: Do Or Die’ Gets North American Deal – Deadline
Business News
AMC Theatres drops movie ticket prices based on seat location
We had a rant about the controversial policy AMC implemented at some of its theaters where the price you paid for your seat was based on where in the theater your seat was. They called it “Sightline at AMC”. It was somewhat like what the airlines do.
However, we didn’t like this policy and enough other theater-goes voiced their negative opinion of the policy.
Fortunately, AMC Theaters has heard the feedback (and possibly some lost revenue) and is dropping the experiment and won’t roll it out nationally. Supposedly they found that people would pay for premium seats, but wouldn’t use the front row, even though those seats were less expensive under the experiment.
We are very happy to see this.
Stitcher is Shutting Down
Ok, this one isn’t about spy movies, but it may affect our podcast listeners. SiriusXM is going to shut down their podcase app Stitcher on August 29, 2023. The goal is to move podcasts to SiriusXM subscriptions.
Their press release says that podcast fans will still be able to listen to ad-supported versions of shows that had been on Stitcher.
If you want to continue to listen to our show via another podcast app, we are virtually everywhere you can listen: Apple, Google, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, etc.
The Strikes
As we mentioned earlier, the actors have joined the writers and are striking in Hollywood. This has effectively shut down most movie and tv production here. It has also curtailed the amount of movie news coming out. Therefore, we may not release an August 2023 Spy Movie News episode. If there isn’t enough to discuss, we’ll wait until the strikes are over.
In Memoriam
Alan Arkin
Actor Alan Arkin passed at the age of 89. Arkin was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning in 2007 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. One of his nominations was for the same category for his performance in the spy movie ARGO. Spy movie fans will also remember him as Dr. Sheldon Kornpett in the spy comedy THE IN-LAWS.
Lawrence Turman
Producer Lawrence Turman passed at the age of 96. Turman is probably best known as the producer of THE GRADUATE. However, before becoming a producer, Turman worked at a talent agency. He placed four clients in the espionage classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Carlin Glynn
Actress Carlin Glynn passed a the age of 83. She won a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway musical “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. Spy movie fans will remember her for her role as Mae Barber in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR.
Manny Coto
Writer and Producer Manny Coto passed at the age of 62. His writing credits include 43 episodes of the tv series 24 and its spin-offs.
Rob Young
Oscar-nominated sound mixer Rob Young passed at the age of 76. He was nominated for Best Sound for the movie UNFORGIVEN. Spy movie fans will know his work as a sound mixer on the 1990 movie THE RUSSIA HOUSE and the 2002 movie I SPY.
Robert Lieberman
Director, Producer, and writer Robert Lieberman passed at the age of 75. Spy tv series fans will know his work as the director for the episode “Girl’s Best Friend” of the series NIKITA.
Margia Dean
Actress Margia Dean passed at the age of 101. Spy tv fans will know her work as Rehab in the “Ancient Spies” episode of the series I SPY.
That wraps up the Spy Movie News July 25 2023 edition. Thanks for spending time with us – we appreciate it!
