Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Jason Patric has joined the action movie The Prince, playing a retired mob enforcer who travels across the country to find his missing college-aged daughter. He joins Bruce Willis, who was cast as the villain, as well as John Cusack, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Jonathon Schaech.

Universal announced release dates for its Jennifer Lopez-starring psychological thriller The Boy Next Door for Friday, January 23, 2015, and an untitled Michael Mann cyber crime thriller from Legendary Pictures for January 16, 2015.

TELEVISION

Omnimystery News reported that A&E has officially renewed Longmire for a third season. The series is based on the novels and characters created by Craig Johnson.

Hollywood Reporter took a look at TNT's efforts to rebrand the network from "popcorn crime dramas and procedurals" to darker fare, a la HBO's Boardwalk Empire. The first part of that effort is the period drama Mob City, which debuts on December 4, with others in the pipeline to include the spy thriller Legends; a nuclear-fallout book adaptation of The Last Ship; and Stephen Bochco's single-case mystery Murder in the First.

Shut out of jobs in the U.S., older writers from shows like Murder She Wrote and Hart to Hart are part of a new effort to bring projects to the booming Chinese television market. E! Entertainment co-founder Larry Namer, who is CEO of the Chinese production company Metan, is organizing a collective of about 2,000 older writers to create content for the country.

Melissa Ponzio has booked a recurring role on NBC's firefighter drama Chicago Fire. She will play Donna, a love interest to Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker). In further NBC casting, Copper alumnus Kevin Ryan has signed up for a recurring role in the upcoming Crossbones, playing a pirate who tangles with Blackbeard (John Malkovich).

D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye) has been hired to direct Tin Man, NBC’s drama pilot from screenwriter Ehren Kruger (of The Ring and Transformers franchises). The psychological crime thriller is set in the near future and focuses on a robot accused of first-degree murder (who may also hold the key to the future of human evolution), and the young female public defender forced to fight for his cause.

Welsh actor Tom Ellis is set to star in the USA pilot Rush. He'll play Dr. William Rush, a doctor who’s on call to very rich and private people in need of medical attention in a "look the other way and only ask questions related to treatment." 

CBS put in a development order for Doc Ford, a drama project based on Randy Wayne White’s book series. Chris Gerolmo (Mississippi Burning, The Bridge) is writing the adaptation, which centers around a retired NSA agent-turned-marine biologist who gets justice for those in need on the Gulf Coast of Florida. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

The U.S. hit series Homeland, which is based on an Israeli drama, is headng for a Russian TV version titled Rodina. At the same time, a different production company is planning a separate Rodina show, allegedly not related to the first.

TNT has ordered six episodes of Missing Persons, starring Troy Dunn in a reality-TV investigation series that incorporates a social media application to help reunite loved ones.

The BBC promoted the upcoming third season of Sherlock with a black funeral hearse complete with a floral arrangement spelling out the name "Sherlock" and the date 01/01/14. The date refers to the premiere of the show in London, while American viewers will have to wait until January 19. 

RIP Tony Musante, who died this past week at the age of 77. He starred in the 1970s ABC cop series Toma, baased on the the biography of Newark detective David Toma, as well as playing a mafia boss on the HBO series Oz.