Trust No One, Fubar, Heart of Stone, Argylle, The Wild Wild West, and of course, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One are just some of the upcoming spy movies or series that we’ll fill you in on today in our Spy Movie News – June 27 2023 edition.
July is shaping up to be a huge box office month. Barbie and Oppenheimer open July 21st. And of course, there is that small spy movie that nobody has talked about. Oh, wait, maybe there has been a lot of hype for this one. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One finally opens on July 12th in the US (more on that release date in a bit).
Also, the Writer’s Guild of America’s strike started on May 2, 2023. So, we’re now 56 days into this strike. In case you were as curious as we were: How long do these strikes tend to last? Well, the 1985 strike only lasted 2 weeks. However, the other 5 strikes in WGA history lasted from 95 to 154 days. So, it looks like we’ll be here while.
Upcoming spy movies and series
So let’s take a look at some of the upcoming spy movies and series.
FUBAR
We’ll start with the hit spy series FUBAR.
If you are a spy movie fan and have Netflix, this is a good series to watch. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger so you know there will be some humor along with the spy action stuff. And, oh, tell us if you’ve heard this one before: the star is a recently retired CIA agent. If you haven’t, you’ll hear that theme again later in this episode. Monica Barbaro who played Lt. Natasha ‘Phoenix’ Trace in Top Gun: Maverick plays a pivotal role in this series as well. We won’t spoil what it is, but this does have a bit of a True Lies feel to it.
Now for the news on FUBAR. This Netflix series debuted at number one on Nielsen’s weekly streaming ratings. They say that 1.5 billion minutes of this series were streamed during its first 4 days. That’s crazy huge. And Variety reported that FUBAR hit just under 89 million hours of watch time in those first four days, which is even larger. No matter who you ask, FUBAR is a hit.
So, it should come as no surprise that Netflix announced that there will be a season two of the series. The tweet that Netflix used to announce season 2 includes some bloopers that contain some R-rated words. We’re sure you know that FUBAR is an acronym for f’d up beyond all recognition. So, these outtakes are a great way to have some fun with the series title.
TRUST NO ONE
So let’s turn to TRUST NO ONE. We are talking about the upcoming Israeli series that should frighten anyone who uses an electronic device. There are a few movies with this title so we want to be clear this is the upcoming series about cyber warfare and the security state.
As co-creator Daniel Amsel says in an article on Variety.com:
“Israel has become one of the largest global exporters of spy ware,” says co-creator Daniel Amsel. “Only, those technological weapons can undermine democracy and lead to the death of truth. So we wanted to thread those very sensitive topics into an entertaining and fast-paced thriller that deals with the loneliness of leadership and the difficulties of parenthood, among other themes.”
Amsel goes on to say
“Five tech giants hold about 90% of the data from all people in the Western world,” “That means every bit of information about everyone you know is only five hacks away. And that’s not just an Israeli problem – although we’re using an Israeli case in order to showcase it.”
So yeah, this is a problem. We’re eager to see what they do with it in this series. TRUST NO ONE is slated for broadcast on Keshet 12 in Israel later this year. As of this recording, worldwide distribution hasn’t been finalized.
THE OLD MAN
Season 2 of the excellent FX spy series THE OLD MAN has shut down filming early due to the writer’s strike. Due to the strike and some needed rewrites in episode 5, they’ve only completed filming the first four episodes. Filming will resume when the writer’s strike ends.
In the meantime, if you haven’t seen season one, you can stream it on Hulu, which is FX’s streaming partner.
In case you didn’t know, this hit series is about a retired CIA agent, this time played by Jeff Bridges. Hmm, a retired agent, where have we heard that before? Anyway, Bridges is joined by John Lithgow and a strong supporting cast.
We expect to hear of more of these types of delays as the strike wears on. We’ll keep you updated as we hear more about THE OLD MAN.
HEART OF STONE
Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan’s upcoming Netflix spy movie HEART OF STONE dropped its first official trailer a week ago. You can see the trailer on YouTube.
The tagline for HEART OF STONE is “Gal Gadot is Agent Rachel Stone, the only intelligence operative who stands between her global, peace-keeping organization and the loss of its most valuable — and dangerous — asset, codenamed: The Heart.”
Jamie Dornan plays MI6 agent Parker.
Alia Bhatt plays hacker Keya Dhawan. You may not know her if you don’t follow Hindi movies. But, Alia is an actress you need to know. She is one of the most popular actresses in Bollywood. For spy movie fans, Bhatt was excellent in the 2018 based-on-a-real-person spy thriller RAAZI as the lead character Sehmat Khan. If you haven’t seen RAAZI, it is currently available as part of Amazon Prime. We liked that movie a lot.
Gal Gadot has talked about wanting to lead a spy movie franchise, like James Bond or Mission: Impossible. As she’s quoted on movieweb.com:
“I realised that there was an audience for a female action protagonist. I grew up watching Bond, and Mission, and Bourne. I wanted to create a really strong, female-driven action movie that is for everybody, not a male story that’s been done many times already.”
But to do that, she doesn’t believe that this should be a gender swap. As she also told movieweb.com.
“I wanted to show a great story about a female character who is doing it in the action genre. Right? She is thriving. But at the same time, how many times have they just switched gender? They take a story that’s all about the men and they just change it to a woman, and then go shoot it? To me, it was so important in the DNA to make Heart of Stone a little different, because men and women are different. They’re built differently, they operate differently.”
We’ve been talking about HEART OF STONE for a while now and are looking for its premiere on August 11 2023 on Netflix.
ARGYLLE
Our friends at The Spy Command tell us that the Matthew Vaughan-directed movie ARGYLLE finally has a release date.
This is the movie we’ve talked about in numerous Spy Movie News episodes since we first mentioned it in our July 27 2021 episode.
ARGYLLE is based on the yet-to-be-released novel, of the same name, by Elly Conway. That novel by the way has been delayed again. In our September 27, 2022, Spy Movie News episode, we told you that the book’s release was delayed until March 2023. Well, the book is now slated to be available on January 17, 2024.
As for the movie, the Apple TV website says:
“The spy thriller “Argylle” follows the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the U.S., London and other exotic locations, featuring a star-studded, award-winning cast including Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Dua Lipa , Ariana DeBose and Samuel L. Jackson.”
That is one heck of a cast.
Well, ARGYLLE has been given a February 2, 2024, global theatrical release date and will then be released on Apple TV+ at a later date.
THE WILD WILD WEST
Again we can thank our friends at The Spy Command for giving us a heads-up on this next one. Fans of the 1960s tv series THE WILD WILD WEST can now stream the 104-episode series on Amazon Prime. This is one of our favorite series from the 60s and we’re actively watching this one now.
James Bond fans will recognize a very large actor with a less-pronounced smile here and an actress who was “named after your father perhaps” in a few of these episodes. We’ll let you figure out who we mean as you watch.
JAMES BOND
And speaking of James Bond, we found an interesting article on metro.co.uk where Britt Ekland shares her thoughts on today’s Bond women compared to the Bond girls when she made THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.
As she put it:
“There are no more Bond girls, they are Bond women today. They have it with the political correctness and the #MeToo, they have a much better time than we had.
But I don’t think that the end product is as fun as ours were, because we were pretty and we had good bodies and we didn’t try to look sexy, we just were,’ she told the PA news agency.
‘Today, everything is so, “Don’t do that because that will upset that side”. We didn’t have any of that. We just went out there, we were always in a bikini and all these people are fully dressed, very typical, but it was a job and we did it.
‘So, I think today the Bond women have it – from a political correctness point of view – in a much better position. But I think we had more fun.”
So, it looks like she thinks there is both good and bad with the changes in the Bond women.
Mission: Impossible
Release Schedule
Ok, now for the elephant in the room: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE. It’s finally here, well, in two weeks.
To us, the release schedule on this one is head-scratching as the dates have been changing (mainly being pushed up, not delayed.)
Stick with us on this one as it gets weird.
The movie premiered in Rome on June 19, 2023 with most of the cast in attendance. There was also a premiere with Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie in attendance in Abu Dabi on June 26th as some of the movie was shot in the Liwa desert in Abu Dabi.
The big release dates are in the second week of July.
- The UK release date has been moved up a day to July 10th.
- The official US release date has been moved up to July 12 along with a slew of other countries.
- The rollout continues through the July 21 2023 release date in Japan.
Now for the odd part. We have purchased tickets to see an “Early Access” showing in the US on July 10th. These tickets are available to anyone, not just press. We’ve looked at theaters across the US and they all have an Early Access showing on July 10th. Plus, we can buy tickets for regular showings on the 11th. So, what is the real “release” date? We guess it doesn’t matter, but they sure have made this convoluted.
Our guidance to you is that if you want to see the movie as early as possible check your local theater to see if it is offering Early Access. See it before the spoilers come out.
The IMAX problem
Plus, it appears that Tom Cruise is not happy with the release plan due to the aforementioned movie OPPENHEIMER. We are wondering if this is part of the reason for the release being pushed up a few days.
The issue, according to Cinemablend.com has to do with IMAX theaters, and the limited number of them compared to the deluge of movies being released on IMAX. INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, BARBIE, OPPENHEIMER, THE FLASH, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEAST, and THE FLASH have all been jocking for a position on the IMAX screens this summer, altering release schedules.
We’re not sure, but with everything being delayed and now coming out after COVID, we may just have a temporary glut of these movies. However, with fans wanting to see action movies on larger screens, this may be a problem for some time.
So, why is this a problem for what has been one of the most-hyped movies of the summer, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE? Well, OPPENHEIMER has a guaranteed 3-week window to show on IMAX screens. Given that it releases 10 days after DEAD RECKONING, the IMAX window for Cruise’s movie is quite short, causing Cruise some consternation.
Um, these schedules don’t just pop up. A little planning may have given more runway to Cruise and company. Just saying.
In Memoriam
Sergio Calderón
Actor Sergio Calderón has passed at the age of 77. Calderón is probably best known for his performance as Captain Vallenueva in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END. However, he earned his SAG card after his performance as Alfonso in the spy movie THE IN-LAWS. He also played Jose in MEN IN BLACK.
Treat Willams
Actor Treat Williams passed at age 71. Williams received Golden Globe nominations for his performances in HAIR, PRINCE IN THE CITY, and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. He also received a Primetime Emmy nomination for his performance in THE LATE SHIFT, playing Michael Ovitz. Spy movie fans will know him from MARATHON MAN and THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.
George Maharis
Actor George Maharis died at the age of 94. Maharis was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1962 for his performance as Buz Murdock in the tv series ROUTE 66. Spy tv fans will recognize Maharis for his role as Thomas Backman in the Mission: Impossible series episode “The Fountain. Maharis also played Sgt. Chips Slater in the movie THE LAST DAY OF THE WAR.
Barry Newman
Actor Barry Newman passed at the age of 92. Newman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his role as the title character in the tv series PETROCELLI. Spy movie fans will recognize Newman as William Mathison in the movie THE SALZBURG CONNECTION.
Mike Batayeh
Actor, comedian, and writer Mike Batayeh has died at the age of 52. Batayeh is probably best known for his performance as Dennis Markowski on BREAKING BAD. Spy tv fans will recognize him as Ziad in three episodes of the tv series Sleeper Cell.
Paul Geoffrey
Actor Paul Geoffrey passed at the age of 68. He is probably best known for his performances as Perceval in the movie EXCALIBER and Lord John Clayton in GREYSTROKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN. Spy tv fans will remember Geoffrey in the role of Simon Tate in the BBC drama SPYSHIP.
John Beasley
Actor John Beasley, known for his performance on EVERWOOD, THE SOUL MAN and others passed at the age of 79. Spy movie fans will remember Beasley for his performance as General Lasseter in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS.
Peter Simonischek
Austrian actor Peter Simonischek died at the age of 76. He’s best known for his performance as Winfried in Toni Erdmann which he won and was nominated for a slew of international awards. Spy movie fans will remember him for his role as Manfred Brumm in ASSIGNMENT BERLIN.
That’s a wrap of our Spy Movie News – June 27 2023 edition! Please help us out and Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies through your favorite podcast app! You can also read all of our Spy Movie News articles on our website.
