Pathaan, Lioness, Liberté, Rainbow Six, Face/Off 2, The Recruit, A Spy Among Friends, and God’s Spy are just some of the upcoming spy movies or series that we’ll fill you in on today in our Spy Movie News January 31 2023 edition.
As usual, you can listen to this as a podcast if you’d prefer to listen than read.
A Thank You
We want to start off with a tip of the cap to Tom and Chris over at James Bond Radio. In case you hadn’t heard, they have decided to end their podcast. We’ve been fans of their show for years and have appreciated the passion and positivity they showed for everything James Bond. We thank you Tom and Chris for all of your hard work. You have been appreciated by many in the Bond community. We wish you all the best.
Upcoming Spy Entertainment
Ok, let’s move to the upcoming spy entertainment. To begin with, we’ll start with a movie that was released in the US and internationally this past weekend, Pathaan. It set the Bollywood box office record for an opening weekend.
Pathaan
Pathaan is a Hindi movie that is the fourth movie of the YRF Spy Universe. For those of you not familiar with the YRF Spy Universe, it is an Indian universe of spy action-thriller movies.
According to Deadline.com, the story revolves around an exiled Indian spy agency field operative who is assigned to take down a private terrorist operation that is planning an attack on India.
Pathaan stars Shah Ruk Kahn, commonly called SRK, in what is being considered a comeback movie for this star. SRK has been a romantic star in Bollywood, but his last few movies struggled. Based on what we’ve seen, he’s back.
We’ve seen the trailer for Pathaan. Based on the trailers, this looks to be a must-see spy movie to us.
An article on Variety.com quotes Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint managing director, PVR Limited, who calls Pathaan
“A movie truly made for the big screen experience, we are seeing an increasing preference to watch this movie in our premium formats like IMAX, ICE, 4DX and P [XL]. “
PVR Limited is an Indian multiplex chain. We like when movies are made for the big screen and not just for streaming. So,we are excited about this one.
Pathaan has been released in the Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. This is also available in the US with English Subtitles. We will be seeing Pathaan this week and will do a no-spoiler review for you soon.
Lioness
Lioness is an upcoming Paramount+ series based on a real-life CIA program. The tagline for the series is: “Cruz Manuelos, a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within.”
Lioness stars Carla Mansour and Sam Asghari. Addionally, they have just announced that Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Kelly have joined the cast.
This looks like a series we will like.
Liberté
Sky History will premiere the short film Liberté on February 21, the 80th anniversary of the real World War II mission it is based on. The story is about a British Muslim spy, Noor Inaya Kahn, and her mission, which led to her death. Surprisingly, it is based on testimony from her captors.
You can find more about Liberte at Variety.com.
Rainbow Six
Michael B. Jordan reprises his role as John Clark, a Tom Clancy character. Rainbow Six has been a video game that has had many different releases since 1998.
This one should be interesting as Jordan’s first movie playing John Clark, Without Remorse, was not well received. Without Remorse was released directly to Amazon Prime. Now, to be fair, it was released during the Covid Pandemic. But the reviews were not kind. It only has a 37% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
So, we’ll have to see what they do with Rainbow Six. We have read that they intend this to release in theaters, but nothing has been solidified yet. We’ll keep you posted when we hear the final plans.
Face/Off 2
We’ve been talking about Face/Off 2 for quite a while now. Well, Nicholas Cage has talked about this movie, we don’t know much about it. In fact, what Cage has told us has been based on one discussion, but nothing concrete.
That said, Cage is quoted on Collider.com giving a hint of where the plot for Face/Off 2 may be headed. He said:
“I think Face/Off is a sequel that lends itself to a lot of twists and turns and unpredictability. It’s almost like if you factor in the idea of offspring and Castor and Sean having children and these children grow up, then it becomes like three-dimensional chess, and then it’s not just the two, John Travolta and myself, it’s four of us ping-ponging and going at different levels, and it becomes even more complex. I think there’s a lot of fertile ground there. I had maybe one meeting in an office, but I haven’t heard anything since, so I don’t know.”
So, we don’t know about you, but that didn’t clarify things for us. We are eagerly anticipating this movie and hope it does happen. However, this quote makes us wonder.
True Lies
Well, we first talked about the TV show being created based on the 1994 movie True Lies way back in our February 2021 Spy Movie News. Well, we are finally almost ready to be able to watch it.
True Lies will premiere on CBS here in the US on March 1st, 2023.
Instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, the TV version will star Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga. I’m a big fan of Howey’s as I really liked the way he played Kevin Ball on “Shameless”. I think he would be a great fit for Harry. I first remember Gonzaga from the TV series “Anger Management”. This looks like a good pair to lead this series.
The Recruit
The Netflix series “The Recruit” has been picked up for a second season. The first season has 8 episodes and stars Noah Centineo and we liked the series. Centineo plays Owen Hendrix as a CIA lawyer who dives into the world of being an operative based on some information he’s uncovered. We haven’t heard about a release date, but we’re glad this series will continue.
Slow Horses
We’ve previously told you that Slow Horses Season 2 was released last year. There will be a season 3.
Variety tells us that Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù, of Gangs of London fame, is slated to play the former head of the British embassy in Istanbul. So, you know we like the Slow Horses series and are very happy it is continuing. Bringing Dìrísù into the fold should work well.
A Spy Among Friends
In our December 28, 2022 episode, we told you about the series “A Spy Among Friends.” It was released in the UK on December 9th but no date had been set for the US release. Well, we can now tell you that this series will be released on MGM+ (formerly Epix) on March 12, 2023.
This is the series based on the relationship between Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby. It stars Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce, and Anna Maxwell Martin. As we said in December, we really liked this series and think this is a series any spy movie fan will like. This isn’t an action movie, but it is a good spy movie.
Kandahar
Gerard Butler will star in Kandahar. We know Butler from his “has fallen” movies and are glad he’s doing more spy movie work.
This time, in Kandahar, Butler plays an undercover CIA operative who is stuck in Afghanistan. He has to get to Khandahar which is his extraction point. Joining him in this movie are Bahador Foladi and Olivia-Mai Barrett.
This movie has a May 26, 2023 release date.
Agent Elvis
Netflix will be releasing an animated spy show called Agent Elvis. As you might guess, the premise of the show is that Elvis gets recruited by the CIA. While traveling the country for his performances, he has to fight crime.
According to Movieweb.com, the show was created in part by Elvis’ ex-wife, Priscilla Presley. As Priscilla puts it:
“From the time Elvis was a young boy he always dreamed of being the superhero fighting crime and saving the world! Agent King lets him do just that…My co-creator John Eddie and I are so excited to be working with Netflix and Sony Animation on this amazing project and getting the chance to show the world an Elvis they haven’t seen before.”
No release date has been set.
Heart of Stone
Another movie we have been talking about for a while finally has a release date. Heart of Stone, starring Gal Gadot will release on August 11, 2023, on Netflix. We’re not sure if Netflix will hold a theatrical release for this movie in advance of it hitting the streaming platform. Many of its other big-budget action movies have done a theatrical release so we anticipate one here as well.
This is another movie that Netflix will hope to turn into a spy movie franchise, like James Bond. We’ll have to wait to find out.
God’s Spy
Here’s another spy movie being developed based on a true story. God’s Spy is about a German pastor who becomes a spy during World War II. He was an anti-Nazi who took on Hitler while trying to save Jewish lives.
We have not seen a release date yet as this movie is still in production.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E sequel
Our friends at The Spy Command pointed us to the website GiantFreakinRobot.com. They tell us that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 2 is in development with Guy Ritchie and Henry Cavill. At last! We’ve been waiting for this one.
There aren’t a lot of details in the article as this thing seems to be under wraps. We’ve heard about The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 2 as a rumor for a long time. Additionally, we expect that with his troubles, Armie Hammer won’t be returning for the sequel.
Given the lack of detail, we aren’t sure if this is a ‘friend-of-a-friend’ type of rumor of if it is correct. That said, GiantFreakinRobot.com has a pretty good track record with these things.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
What is up with Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre? Although released internationally we still don’t have a US release date for streaming or in the theater. Come on guys, what’s up? We want to see this movie!
Industry News
Jeremy Renner
You may have heard that Jeremy Renner has been injured by a snowplow. Spy movie fans know Jeremy as Brandt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Arron Cross in The Bourne Legacy. He also has appeared in The Avengers and has 2 Academy Award acting nominations.
Well, on January 1st, Renner saved his nephew. In the process of doing so, the snow plow ran over Renner. He suffered critical injuries and will be dealing with his injuries for quite some time.
This is one of those scary real-life incidents and we wish Jeremy a speedy recovery.
Awards
We have a few award nominations and recognition awards for spy movies to discuss.
Roger Deakins
The first is cinematographer Roger Deakins. He will receive a career achievement award at the American Cinematheque Tribute to the Crafts ceremony.
He’s been the Director of Photography for over 85 movies. We know you’ve seen his movies. Spy movie fans have seen his work in Sicario, Skyfall, and A Beautiful Mind. Congratulations Roger.
In addition to this award, Deakins has 15 oscar nominations with two wins.
Slow Horses
Nina Gold and Kate Bone have been nominated for the Best Casting in a TV Drama Series award by the Casting Director’s Guild UK for the TV series Slow Horses.
Spy x Family
In our December 28, 2022, Spy Movie News, we told you that the animated spy series ‘Spy x Family’ will be made into a movie. Well, the animated series has garnered 19 nominations at Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards. Obviously, we can’t wait to see this movie.
In Memorium
Owen Roizman
Cinematographer Owen Roizman has passed at 86. Roizman received five Academy Awards nominations. In addition, in 2017 Roizman received an honorary Academy Award for his contributions to cinematography. Spy movie fans have seen his work in Three Days of the Condor.
Ben Masters
Actor Ben Masters passed at the age of 75. Probably best known for his role as Julian Crane in the TV series ‘Passions’. Spy TV fans will undoubtedly know Ben from the 1997 series ‘Spy Game’.
Miiko Taka
Actress Miiko Taka has passed at 97. Spy TV fans have seen Miiko in the series ‘The Wild Wild West’, ‘The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.’, ‘I Spy’, ‘The FBI’, and ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’
Mike Hill
Academy Award-winning editor Mike Hill has passed at 73. Hill was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one. He also received three BAFTA nominations, winning one. Daniel P. Hanley shared all of these nominations with Hill.
Spy movie fans have seen his work in A Beautiful Mind.
Annie Wersching
Actress Annie Wersching has passed a 45. Spy TV fans will know Annie as Renee Walker in the TV series ‘24’.
That’s a wrap of our Spy Movie News January 31 2023 edition! Please help us out and Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies, through your favorite podcast app! Remember, you can always send us your comments via email at info@spymovienavigator.com. And, if you hit the red button that says “Leave us a voicemail”, you can leave us a message that we might use in an upcoming podcast episode.
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