Two upcoming women-directed projects have received release dates. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michelle MacLaren’s “The Nightingale” will hit theaters in summer 2018 and the “Charlie’s Angels” reboot from Elizabeth Banks will open in summer 2019.
MacLaren’s feature directorial debut, “The Nightingale,” is based on the book by Kristin Hannah. The drama centers on two sisters growing up in German-occupied France in the years leading up to World War II. Written by MacLaren and John Sayles (“The Spiderwick Chronicles”), the film will hit screens August 10, 2018.
MacLaren has previously directed episodes of series like “The Leftovers,” “Better Call Saul,” and “Game of Thrones.” She has won two Emmys for her work on “Breaking Bad.” MacLaren was originally set to direct the upcoming “Wonder Woman” movie starring Gal Godot before Patty Jenkins took over.
“The Babadook” writer-director Jennifer Kent is also making a movie titled “The Nightingale.” That project is currently filming and centers on a convict seeking revenge against a soldier who wronged her family.
Banks’ “Charlie’s Angels” is an update of the TV and film-mainstay about three private detectives hired by an enigmatic millionaire, Charlie, only ever heard through the telephone. The original, a 1976 TV show starring Jacklyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett, was previously remade into an early-aughts action film franchise (starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu) and a short-lived 2011 ABC series (starring Minka Kelly, Annie Ilonzeh, and Rachael Taylor). The new “Charlie’s Angels” will be released June 7, 2019.
Banks made her directorial debut with 2015’s “Pitch Perfect 2,” in which she also starred. The comedy sequel about a misfit college a cappella team earned more than $287 million worldwide. Banks has a number of projects in the works including adapting Lindy West’s feminist memoir “Shrill” for TV, serving as producer on “White Girl Problems,” a book adaptation helmed by Lauren Palmigiano, and producing and starring in “Pitch Perfect 3.” The franchise’s next film hits theaters December 22.
