World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
A new Alien writer, Paramount+ loses a boss, El Gouna crowns Safe Exit & Nollywood mourns Francis Duru.
A very busy morning of grandkids football and a Flickering Dreams podcast recording means that instead of my “Morning all” greeting, it’s an “Afternoon all” greeting! But better late than never! After yesterday’s packed Friday at the cinema, and yesterday’s sad news of Tom Skerritt, it turns out there’s a new Alien film in the works.
A new Alien writer: Aaron Guzikowski, the creator of the sci-fi series Raised by Wolves, is writing a new Alien film for 20th Century Studios, with production through Scott Free, Ridley Scott’s production company. There are no plot details, a director or a release date yet. The news arrives just a day after the death of Tom Skerritt, who played Captain Dallas in the original film.
Paramount+ loses a boss: Jane Wiseman, the head of originals at Paramount+, is leaving, as the streamer and HBO Max combine operations after the merger under Casey Bloys. It’s the latest departure in Skydance’s reshuffle, following the exits of Gerhard Zeiler and Kevin MacLellan that I reported last week.
El Gouna crowns Safe Exit: The ninth El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt closed on Friday. Egyptian director Mohamed Hammad’s Safe Exit won the Golden Star for Best Feature Film, worth $50,000, with the Silver Star ($25,000) going to Japanese director Yukiko Sode’s All the Lovers in the Night. In the documentary competition, the Golden Star ($30,000) went to Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama, Palestine’s Oscar entry, as I mentioned on 6 October, and the Golden Star for short film ($15,000) went to Andrés Davidson’s Stolen Memories. Rakeen Saad won Best Actress.
Francis Duru, 1969–2026: The Nollywood actor has died, aged 57, with his family announcing in the early hours of Friday that he died peacefully after a brief illness. Duru made his film debut in 1989’s Missing Mark, and broke through in 1995 as Ahanna in Amaka Igwe’s action-comedy Rattlesnake, which made him one of Nollywood’s most recognisable faces. He was interim president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria in 2010, received an Africa Movie Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor the same year, and in 2020 won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Igbo) at the Best of Nollywood Awards for Mboputa. He leaves behind his wife, Adokiye, and children, and he lost his son, Ifeanyi, in August 2024. Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, has offered his condolences, and Kanayo O. Kanayo and Kate Henshaw were among the many colleagues paying tribute. Rest in peace.
Birthdays: Kevin Kline, who won an Oscar for A Fish Called Wanda, turns 79 today, and B.D. Wong of Jurassic Park turns 66.
That’s all for today.
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