
EXCLUSIVE: Jenna Ortega is in final talks, we hear, to join J.J. Abramsā secret untitled movie at Warner Bros.
The Wednesday and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice star will star opposite Glen Powell, who is also finalizing his deal.
Few details are known about the movie, other than itās not a time-travel movie. Abrams wrote the script and his Bad Robot is producing.
Thatās quite the blockbuster pair: Powell sinceĀ Top Gun: MaverickĀ andĀ Anyone But YouĀ is seeing his latest summer movieĀ TwistersĀ barrel past $200 million stateside and $275M worldwide, while Ortega can get credit for having the latestĀ Scream VIĀ notch its best domestic opening ever at $44.4M and best stateside take for the franchise at $108.1M. Among allĀ ScreamĀ movies on a global basis,Ā Scream VIĀ is the third highest-grossing pic in the series (as previously reported,Ā Ortega is not attachedĀ to the next sequel).
The summer box office momentum the industry is relishing will not cease once Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice opens in the post-Labor Day corridor. The current expectation for the Tim Burton-directed sequel, which also features original cast Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine OāHara, is heading toward a $75M-$84M opening according to long-lead tracking. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is set to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
The Ortega-starring Wednesday is the most watched series in Netflix history with 252.1M global views.
Down the road for Ortega is the Sony/3000 Picturesā Klara and the Sun from Taika Waititi, about a robot girl who is designed to prevent loneliness; she tries to save a heartbroken family of humans. Amy Adams and Natasha Lyonne also star.
Ortega also has the A24 feature Death of a Unicorn from filmmaker Alex Scharfman and starring Paul Rudd and Will Poulter. Pic follows father-daughter duo who hit a unicorn with their car and bring it to the wilderness retreat of a mega-wealthy pharmaceutical CEO.
Bad Robot and Warner Bros did not return request for comment about the Abramsā project news.
Ortega is repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein.