Motion Picture: Reda Elazouar To Star In ‘The Family Plan’ Sequel, Rachel Zegler-Led Thriller ‘NDA’ Gets Bleecker Street Distribution

Diego Calva - JB Lacroix

Action/Sci-fi/Thriller: Sex Education star Reda Elazouar is set to star in the action-thriller Scorpion, alongside Alex Pettyfer and Clive Owen. Principal photography is already underway in Cyprus on the movie, which is being directed by Richard Hughes (The Enforcer). The film began shooting in Cyprus on July 6, 2026, and then moved to Bulgaria on July 13, 2026, where production will continue until the end of the month. The synopsis reads: “Scorpion follows Jason, a young police officer on his first assignment with an elite tactical unit of Afghanistan veterans. During a nighttime raid on a remote farmhouse, the operation turns into a deadly trap. Cut off from all communication and sealed inside the building, the squad is confronted by a sinister voice issuing an ultimatum: every thirty minutes, someone will die unless one of them confesses to what the unit did during a classified operation in Afghanistan years ago.”

The screenplay was written by Hughes and Bennett Fisher (The Passenger). Director of photography is Jeremy Rouse (Burden). WestEnd Films is handling world sales and will introduce first footage to buyers at the TIFF market in September.

Diego Calva (Club Kid) is set to join the cast of Paramount Pictures Possession alongside Callum Turner. This is a remake of the cult classic 1981 feature of the same name. Margaret Qualley (How to Make a Killing) and Paul Dano (The Batman 2022)also recently joined the cast. Parker Finn is directing from a script he wrote. Finn is also producing alongside Jonathan Fass through their Bad Feeling banner as well as Roy Lee through his Vertigo banner. Andrew Childs will also produce through Vertigo. Robert Pattinson (The Drama) is also producing. Marc Bienstock will executive produce.

Following premieres at the Cannes Film Festival, Calva will next be seen in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell opposite Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and Charles Melton (Riverdale), which Neon will release on July 24th, 2026. This fall, Calva will be seen in Jordan Firstman’s acclaimed Club Kidopposite Firstman and Cara Delevigne, which A24 acquired after Cannes. 

Reda Elazouar (Sex Education) is set to star alongside Malk Wahlberg in the ensemble of the Apple Original Films sequel to its hit movie The Family Plan starring Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg will also produce the new movie, being directed by Simon Cellan Jones. Hailing from Skydance Media, the sequel also stars Michelle Monaghan, Kit Harington, Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby. The original premiered as the most-watched film on Apple TV+ following its debut in 2025.

Details around Elazouar’s role are currently being kept under wraps. Penned by David Coggeshall, The Family Plan sequel takes place at Christmas in Europe where Dan has planned the perfect vacation for the Morgans, however his past comes back to haunt him in unexpected ways. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger will produce for Skydance, alongside Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson through Municipal Pictures. John G. Scotti will also produce. Cellan Jones is exec producing.

Reinaldo Marcus Green - Dave Kotinsky/Stringer

Drama: King Richard director, Reinaldo Marcus Green is set to write, direct and produce a feature film celebrating the life and legacy of beloved Puerto Rican Hall of Fame baseball star Roberto Clemente. A previous draft of the script was written by Jaquén Castellanos. The film will be produced by Ben Silverman, Jay Weisleder, Chiara Bernasconi and Strike Three Films. Jen Gorton and Brandon Mattingly will oversee the project for Teton Ridge Entertainment, led by president Jillian Share.

Clemente was a superstar who spent 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and is one of only 33 players to have recorded 3,000 hits. A devoted philanthropist, his life was cut short on December 31, 1972, at the age of 38, when he was killed in a plane crash that was bound for Managua, Nicaragua; Clemente was on his way to deliver aid to victims of a recent earthquake.

“My family and I are proud to see Teton Ridge Entertainment working on our father’s life story,” said Roberto Clemente Jr. In addition to securing Clemente’s exclusive life rights, Teton Ridge Entertainment has acquired rights to David Maraniss’ definitive biography Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, and partnered with the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh, granting the production exclusive access to the world’s largest collection of Clemente memorabilia. 

Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine) is set to star in and produceFree Byrd, an action-drama directed by Greg Kwedar for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity banner. Gill Netter will also produce the pic also written by Kwedar (Sing Sing, Train Dreams). “Free Byrd follows a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals a dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his mechanic brother, as he risks everything on one last jump. The film examines and confronts the mind’s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it’s too late,” a synopsis from the producers states. The script for Free Byrd was originally written by Jon Boyer, with an earlier draft coming from The Peanut Butter Falcon writer and directors Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson, before Kwedar did a rewrite. 

The film marks a continuation of Johnson’s bid to be taken more seriously as an actor in recent years. The Jumanji star took a time-out from playing blockbuster action heroes to star in Benny Safdie’sThe Smashing Machineas Mark Kerr, an early MMA fighter whose life took a dark turn. A film he’s lamented not getting an Oscar nom for.

Sony Classics has acquired North American, Southeast Asian, and worldwide Airline rights (excluding France) to anticipated drama-thrillerBunker, written and directed by Oscar winner Florian Zeller (The Father). The movie stars Penélope Cruz (Ferrari) and Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) with  Stephen Graham (Adolescence), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), and Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus) rounding out the cast. In Bunker, “when an architect accepts a morally ambiguous project — building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire — his wife begins to question their marriage after 17 years together.” An Oscars campaign is already in talks among studio executives. The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and CAA Media Finance and WME, who are handling domestic sales, and FilmNation Entertainment, who is handling international sales on the film. Pathé will distribute the film in France, Switzerland and West Africa.

The Rachel Zegler (Snow White 2025) led thriller NDA has gotten distribution from Bleecker Street. Penn Badgley and Amy Ryan also star in the film that marks the feature directorial debut for Audrey Ellis Fox. The film centers around Zegler’s character Dana, who faces a wild day of mediation after filing an office harassment claim. As the deadline approaches, she navigates questions about silence and the truth. The film is currently in production in New York City. Producers include Jared Ian Goldman and Zola Elgart Glassman for Mighty Engine, Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder for SNOOT, Caitlin Gold for Tanbark Pictures and Daniel Ginsberg for In The Cut Productions. Zegler is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Hirsch Wallerstein.  

Wai Ching Ho - Michael Loccisano

Industry: Neon has sold stake to Department M. Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer‘s Department M has closed a transaction to acquire a significant stake in multi Oscar winning studio Neon. The new deal, in addition to infusing capital to Neon’s expanding operations, allows the Santa Monica, CA studio to launch Neon TV, creating a more significant mini-studio that already includes an international sales arm and a lucrative, award-winning feature library. Department M is already supplying development- and production-ready projects as part of the new deal.

While Neon founder Tom Quinn remainds CEO, Department M partner Schaefer will become Neon’s Chief Content Officer, while Department M partner Larocca remains at Department M and joins the Neon board. The new deal will keep long-standing Neon backers The Friedkin Group as significant shareholders and board members. The Friedkin Group, led by Dan Friedkin, invested in NEON via 30West.

Wai Ching Ho, famous Daredevil and Hustlers actress has passed away at 82 years old. 

“I had the enormous good fortune to work with Wai Ching Ho and to share a dressing room with her. She was incredible-warm, funny, caring, joyful, positive and a truly wonderful actor. At the age of 82? 83?” recalled Kakkar in the Instagram post.

“She played a lead role-basically a female King Lear, and was riveting. She would say to us-Eat two slices of raw ginger every day and you won’t get sick! For those of us who did not have a lot of role models and mentors in the industry Wai was a pillar. I am deeply grateful I got to know her and I am very sad she is gone. She also utterly refused to speak ill of anyone. My dear Wai you deserve all the standing ovations-what a stellar human and a stellar artist. What an example of how to live.”

Ho was born on November 16, 1943 in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, Wai’s onscreen debut came in the 1990 Robin Williams-starrer Cadillac Man. She went on to roles in Soapdish (1991), Happiness (1998), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), Tracers (2015), Set It Up (2018), Hustlers (2019) and Disney’s Turning Red (2022).

Wai also appeared on shows like One Life to Live, Swans Crossing, Law & Order, New Amsterdam, Flight of the Conchords, Blue Bloods, Orange is the New Black, Fresh Off the Boat, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens and Only Murders in the Building.

After originating the role of Madame Gao in Netflix’s Daredevil, Wai reprised her performance in the spin-off shows Iron Fist and The Defenders.