Simu Liu of Marvel's 'Shang-Chi' headed to Wilmington; 'Halloween Kills' streaming date

The star of the No. 1 movie in America appears to be headed to Wilmington for his next film project.

Simu Liu, star of the hit Marvel superhero film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," is listed as a co-star of romance film “One True Loves" on the movie's IMDB page.

The Wilmington Regional Film Commission recently put "One True Loves" on its website as being in pre-production in Wilmington.

Liu has gotten raves for his performance as a martial arts expert in "Shang-Chi," which roared to the top of the Labor Day weekend box office, breaking records for the holiday weekend and for a film released during the pandemic.

A super debut:Marvel's ‘Shang-Chi’ blasts Labor Day records at the box office, debuting with $71.4M

Locally, no one's saying much about “One True Loves," although a June story in film industry publication Variety said it stars Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey, along with Liu, in the story of a woman who must choose between the husband she thought was dead and her new fiance.

The Variety story also said "One True Loves" was "set to begin after summer in Massachusetts," but that would appear to have changed with the film popping up on the local film commission website.

That could mean a whole lot of star power landing in Wilmington this fall, with Oscar-nominated actors Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon coming to town to star as country legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones in TV series "George & Tammy."

Entertainment new:Country series 'George & Tammy' names new star, set to resume production in Wilmington

'Halloween' streams

Wilmington-shot horror film "Halloween Kills" made its festival debut at the Venice International Film Festival this week, spawning some news about the 12th movie in the long-running "Halloween" franchise.

For starters, "Halloween Kills," which shot in Wilmington in 2019 and was directed by David Gordon Green, will now premiere Oct. 15 on NBC/Universal's Peacock streaming service in addition to its previously announced debut in theaters on that same date.

More:See the blood-soaked new trailer for Wilmington-shot horror film 'Halloween Kills'

Also, "Halloween Kills" actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who of course starred as horror icon Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's original "Halloween" back in 1978, received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice festival.

Reviews for the film itself, however, have been mixed so far, rating just 56 percent positive reviews (nine out of 16 so far) on the review-aggregation site RottenTomatoes.com.

Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney compared the movie to "a latex ghoul mask so stretched and shapeless it no longer fits," a reference to iconic, mask-wearing "Halloween" villain Michael Myers. But Screen International critic Wendy Ide deemed the film "competent and generally pretty entertaining."

"Halloween Kills" is the second film in Green's trilogy. In addition to Curtis, it returns Kyle Richards and Nancy Stephens, who appeared in the 1978 original. Judy Greer ("Jurassic World") plays Curtis' on-screen daughter and Andi Matichak plays her granddaughter.

Anthony Michael Hall ("The Breakfast Club," "Edward Scissorhands") plays what appears to be a neighborhood vigilante determined to put a stop to Michael Myers once and for all.

Wilmington makes plenty of appearances in the trailer for "Halloween Kills," including scenes at Greenfield Lake and the downtown campus of Cape Fear Community College.

The film's producers, Universal Studios and Blumhouse, haven't announced where they'll be filming “Halloween Ends,” the third and final installment in director Green's series, but signs point to the production returning to Wilmington.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.