Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Jason Momoa, star of Game of Thrones and soon to be Aquaman in the DC Universe, will be joining Antoine Fuqua’s Magnificent Seven remake. The remake of the 1960 Western, which has been done and redone over the years – and was in itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai – has been acquiring more and more compelling talent over the last several weeks. Perhaps this will be enough talent to outweigh the expectations of a film slated for a January 2017 release date.
Along with Momoa, the Magnificent Seven remake will feature both Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, who both grabbed Oscar nominations (and a win for Washington) for Training Day, their first collaborations with Fuqua. Newly anointed superstar Chris Pratt will be along for the ride, as will Vincent D’Onofrio in, what else, the villain role.
Deadline also reported Tuesday that Byung-hun Lee, upcoming villain in Terminator: Genisys and star of the G.I. Joe films, has landed a role in this Magnificent Seven remake as a character named Billy Rocks. Other cast members include Wagner Moura, Luke Grimes, and Haley Bennett.
The impressive cast doesn’t seem to fit with the announced release date of January 13, 2017. January is typically the wasteland of Hollywood, where they dump movies in which they are supremely unconfident. Films like I, Frankenstein and The Boy Next Door belong in January, not a Magnificent Seven remake with such an all-star lineup and a proven director like Fuqua, whose upcoming film Southpaw is already generating some buzz. Perhaps, once the film comes together and begins filming, the release date will be pushed to a more favorable slot in 2017. Only time will tell.
