Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Universal Pictures has scheduled its adaptation of Jo Nesbo's thriller The Snowman for release on October 13, 2017. The film stars Michael Fassbender as an elite crime squad’s lead detective investigating the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter who fears an elusive serial killer may be active again.

The popular film noir festival Noir City returns to San Francisco's majestic Castro Theatre for its 14th edition, from January 22-31, 2016. This year's theme is "The Art of Darkness" and includes 25 "noir-stained films exploring the pressures, pitfalls, paranoia and pain of being an artist in an indifferent and often cruel world." Two of the featured films are Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place and Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street.

STX Entertainment released the first trailer for the thriller Desierto from writer-director Jonás Cuarón (Gravity) that stars Gael García Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

TELEVISION

House of Cards creator David Fincher and actress Charlize Theron are bringing the show Mindhunter to Netflix. The show is based on the 1996 book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker and tells the true story of Douglas’ work as an FBI profiler of serial killers and violent sex offenders. Some TV analysts see parallels between the project and long-running CBS television show, Criminal Minds.  

John Singleton’s 1980s cocaine-epidemic drama pilot Snowfall got a boost in its pickup chances at FX when the California Film Commission approved its application for tax incentives should it go to series. Snowfall is set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the 1980s and focuses on a trio of main characters – ambitious dealer Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), Mexican wrestler-turned-gangster Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) and prodigal son Logan Miller (Billy Magnussen).

Amazon Studios announced a slate of new productions for 2016, including the political thriller Patriot. Lost alum Terry O'Quinn stars as a State Department director of intelligence and the father of intelligence officer John Tavner (Australian newcomer Michael Dorman), whose latest assignment is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The cast also includes Michael Chernus, Kathleen Munroe, Ailette Opheim and Kurtwood Smith, and was written and directed by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty).

The Librarians star Christian Kane hinted that a Leverage movie is "going to happen." The series originally aired on TNT from 2008-2012 and featured a crew of high-tech crooks who attempted to steal from wealthy criminals and corrupt businessmen.

Acclaimed murder-mystery series Shetland, based on the novels of Ann Cleves, returns for a new six-part tale featuring DI Jimmy Perez and his team, on BBC One on January 15.

James Franco is heading to Lifetime to remake Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? for the cult classic's 20th anniversary. The original film starred Tori Spelling as a young woman whose perfect boyfriend turns out to be an abusive monster.  

Good news for American Crime fans: ABC has made the first episode available for free on iTunes. Stars Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton will soon be returning for the second season, which premieres on January 6.

Fox International Channels said it will air the revived six-episode event series The X-Files day-and-date across more than 60 countries. Once again directed by creator and original showrunner Chris Carter, the show reunites FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and will air on FIC’s Fox channels immediately following its January 24 debut on Fox in the U.S.

Wondering when you favorite shows will return in the new year? Deadline has a list of the premiere dates for all new and returning shows in the first part of 2016.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Award-winning author Kim Powers stopped by CrimeFiction.FM to discuss his first work of crime fiction, Dig Two Graves, which introduces Ethan Holt, an Olympic champion, college professor, and father who is raising a 12-year-old daughter named Skip.

Debbi Mack welcomed British spy thriller author, Jeremy Duns to her Crime Cafe podcast.

GAMES

A new computer game introduces young girls to coding basics by giving them a fun mystery to solve, with the help of the original girl-detective, Nancy Drew. The game, which is titled Nancy Drew: Codes and Clues, will target users who are young girls, ages five to eight.