Movie News
The revival of I Know What You Did Last Summer is appropriately set to hit theaters in the dead of summer.
Sony Pictures announced Thursday that its new film with the same name as the original 1997 slasher flick is set for theatrical release domestically on July 18, 2025. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is directing the sequel from a screenplay she co-wrote with Sam Lansky after an initial script from Leah McKendrick. Neal Moritz produces the film.
The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were in talks to reprise their roles from the first movie that hit theaters Oct. 17, 1997.
Also scheduled for release on July 18, 2025, is Paramount’s Naked Gun reboot from director Akiva Schaffer that features Liam Neeson as bumbling detective Frank Drebin.
The original I Know What You Did Last Summer starred Hewitt, Prinze, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. It was penned by...
Sony Pictures announced Thursday that its new film with the same name as the original 1997 slasher flick is set for theatrical release domestically on July 18, 2025. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is directing the sequel from a screenplay she co-wrote with Sam Lansky after an initial script from Leah McKendrick. Neal Moritz produces the film.
The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were in talks to reprise their roles from the first movie that hit theaters Oct. 17, 1997.
Also scheduled for release on July 18, 2025, is Paramount’s Naked Gun reboot from director Akiva Schaffer that features Liam Neeson as bumbling detective Frank Drebin.
The original I Know What You Did Last Summer starred Hewitt, Prinze, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. It was penned by...
- 5/16/2024
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Freddy Fazbear will return to haunt multiplexes in 2025.
Universal and Blumhouse’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” a horror sequel set in the haunted Chuck E. Cheese-esque establishment known as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, will land in theaters on Dec. 5, 2025.
Universal added several Blumhouse titles to its release calendar, including “The Woman in the Yard” and “Drop”. The studio also shifted the dates for two other buzzy sequels: “M3GAN 2.0” from May 16, 2025, to June 27, 2025; and “The Black Phone 2” from June 27, 2025, to Oct. 17, 2025.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” adapted from the popular video game, made a killing at the box office last October with $297 million globally and became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing film of all time — all while streaming simultaneously on Peacock. Josh Hutcherson starred in the original as a nighttime security guard at Freddys Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronic mascots are prone to murder. The studio hasn’t clarified who is returning for the follow-up,...
Universal and Blumhouse’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” a horror sequel set in the haunted Chuck E. Cheese-esque establishment known as Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, will land in theaters on Dec. 5, 2025.
Universal added several Blumhouse titles to its release calendar, including “The Woman in the Yard” and “Drop”. The studio also shifted the dates for two other buzzy sequels: “M3GAN 2.0” from May 16, 2025, to June 27, 2025; and “The Black Phone 2” from June 27, 2025, to Oct. 17, 2025.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” adapted from the popular video game, made a killing at the box office last October with $297 million globally and became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing film of all time — all while streaming simultaneously on Peacock. Josh Hutcherson starred in the original as a nighttime security guard at Freddys Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronic mascots are prone to murder. The studio hasn’t clarified who is returning for the follow-up,...
- 5/16/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Lily Allen is the latest star ready to lighten up Night and Day, an adaptation of the comedic Virginia Woolf novel.
The singer and actress joins a cast that includes Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek and Timothy Spall, who will bring to life the 1919 novel revolving around the daily lives and romances of two women. Katharine Hilbery (Bennett), is an Edwardian astronomer who avoids love, while Mary (Allen) is a straight-talking, fearless, funny suffragette. Jack Farthing rounds out the cast for the feature.
Justine Waddell penned the script and will produce, with BAFTA nominee Tina Gharavi directing the feature, which is aiming to shoot this fall in Newcastle, England and Cologne, Germany.
Financing company FilmHedge has come on board to back the project, withs its founder and CEO Jon Gosier and its COO Chandler Heinz Laun serving as executive producers, along with Konstantin Korenchuk.
Producers include Christopher Figg, Meg Thomson and German co-producers Glisk,...
The singer and actress joins a cast that includes Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek and Timothy Spall, who will bring to life the 1919 novel revolving around the daily lives and romances of two women. Katharine Hilbery (Bennett), is an Edwardian astronomer who avoids love, while Mary (Allen) is a straight-talking, fearless, funny suffragette. Jack Farthing rounds out the cast for the feature.
Justine Waddell penned the script and will produce, with BAFTA nominee Tina Gharavi directing the feature, which is aiming to shoot this fall in Newcastle, England and Cologne, Germany.
Financing company FilmHedge has come on board to back the project, withs its founder and CEO Jon Gosier and its COO Chandler Heinz Laun serving as executive producers, along with Konstantin Korenchuk.
Producers include Christopher Figg, Meg Thomson and German co-producers Glisk,...
- 5/16/2024
- by Aaron Couch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The “Silent Hill” film franchise continues with “Return to Silent Hill,” the latest adaptation of the hit horror anthology video game series. Variety has the first look at the famed monster Pyramid Head in the Christophe Gans-directed film, which is previewing at the Cannes Film Festival.
After helming the “Silent Hill” in 2006, Gans returns to direct the next installment from a script he co-with Sandra Vo-Anh and William Josef Schneider. The project is produced by Victor Hadida for Davis Films, Molly Hassell for Hassell Free Productions and David Wulf.
“Return to Silent Hill” is based on “Silent Hill 2,” the second and most popular game in Konami’s successful video game series, which has been named to top video game lists by Time Magazine, IGN and more. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, “Silent Hill 2,” is widely considered the best game in the series (and introduced the Pyramid Head character.
After helming the “Silent Hill” in 2006, Gans returns to direct the next installment from a script he co-with Sandra Vo-Anh and William Josef Schneider. The project is produced by Victor Hadida for Davis Films, Molly Hassell for Hassell Free Productions and David Wulf.
“Return to Silent Hill” is based on “Silent Hill 2,” the second and most popular game in Konami’s successful video game series, which has been named to top video game lists by Time Magazine, IGN and more. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, “Silent Hill 2,” is widely considered the best game in the series (and introduced the Pyramid Head character.
- 5/16/2024
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety - Film News
Lionsgate is developing a John Wick spinoff movie around Donnie Yen’s Caine assassin character.
Yen will reprise his John Wick: Chapter 4 role in the untitled project set to shoot in Hong Kong in 2025. The franchise expanding film, with no director yet announced, will follow the events of John Wick 4 as Caine has been freed from his obligations to the High Table.
The project also follows Yen, a veteran Hong Kong action hero, pushing back against what he claimed were Asian stereotypes in the original script for John Wick 4. After some prodding, John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski agreed to change the name and clothes for Yen’s character.
China-born Yen is a household name internationally thanks to his hugely popular and acclaimed Ip Man movie series, and he has crossed over to Hollywood with outings in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which grossed over a billion dollars,...
Yen will reprise his John Wick: Chapter 4 role in the untitled project set to shoot in Hong Kong in 2025. The franchise expanding film, with no director yet announced, will follow the events of John Wick 4 as Caine has been freed from his obligations to the High Table.
The project also follows Yen, a veteran Hong Kong action hero, pushing back against what he claimed were Asian stereotypes in the original script for John Wick 4. After some prodding, John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski agreed to change the name and clothes for Yen’s character.
China-born Yen is a household name internationally thanks to his hugely popular and acclaimed Ip Man movie series, and he has crossed over to Hollywood with outings in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which grossed over a billion dollars,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Natasha Lyonne is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The actor, best known for the TV shows “Russian Doll” and “Poker Face,” has been cast in Disney’s upcoming “The Fantastic Four” reboot. It’s not clear who Lyonne will portray in the comic book adventure.
Created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, “The Fantastic Four” centers around Marvel’s First Family. This iteration of the superhero quartet will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Other already-announced cast members include Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer, Paul Walter-Hauser and John Malkovich.
Matt Shakman, whose credits include “WandaVision,” is directing “The Fantastic Four” from a script by Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson and Ian Springer. Production is expected...
The actor, best known for the TV shows “Russian Doll” and “Poker Face,” has been cast in Disney’s upcoming “The Fantastic Four” reboot. It’s not clear who Lyonne will portray in the comic book adventure.
Created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, “The Fantastic Four” centers around Marvel’s First Family. This iteration of the superhero quartet will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Other already-announced cast members include Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer, Paul Walter-Hauser and John Malkovich.
Matt Shakman, whose credits include “WandaVision,” is directing “The Fantastic Four” from a script by Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson and Ian Springer. Production is expected...
- 5/15/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
“If,” a fantasy-comedy from director John Krasinski and star Ryan Reynolds, looks to collect a promising $40 million in its box office debut.
Based on projections, “If” — short for imaginary friends — is tracking to land at least $35 million and as much as $45 million from 4,000 North American theaters. At the higher end of estimates, those ticket sales would mark a solid start for a live-action PG family film that’s not based on an existing property. But the movie cost $110 million, so it’ll need to resonate globally to justify its price tag. Ahead of its domestic release, “If” opened last weekend in two overseas markets, France and Belgium, where it’s earned $3.7 million to date. It lands this week in 56 additional international territories.
Krasinski wrote, directed and stars in “If,” which follows neighbors Cal and Bea (Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) with the ability to see other people’s imaginary friends. While...
Based on projections, “If” — short for imaginary friends — is tracking to land at least $35 million and as much as $45 million from 4,000 North American theaters. At the higher end of estimates, those ticket sales would mark a solid start for a live-action PG family film that’s not based on an existing property. But the movie cost $110 million, so it’ll need to resonate globally to justify its price tag. Ahead of its domestic release, “If” opened last weekend in two overseas markets, France and Belgium, where it’s earned $3.7 million to date. It lands this week in 56 additional international territories.
Krasinski wrote, directed and stars in “If,” which follows neighbors Cal and Bea (Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) with the ability to see other people’s imaginary friends. While...
- 5/15/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety - Film News
Mofac Animation has found Jesus.
Oscar Isaac has signed on to portray Jesus Christ in The King of Kings, the animated family film being made by the South Korean-based animation house. At the same time, Forest Whitaker has been tapped to give voice to the apostle Peter.
The duo join a growing A-list voice cast that includes Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, and Jojo Rabbit actor Roman Griffin Davis.
Seong-ho “Jay” Jang, known as a visual effects pioneer in Korea, is directing King of Kings while Anfernee Kim (Last Knights, John Woo’s The Crossing 2) is producing.
The faith-based feature is very loosely inspired by The Life of Our Lord, a little-known Charles Dickens short story that was published posthumously and that depicted the life and times of Jesus.
The script, by Jang and Rob Edwards (Disney’s The Princess and the Frog), sees Charles and Walter Dickens, voiced by Branagh and Davis,...
Oscar Isaac has signed on to portray Jesus Christ in The King of Kings, the animated family film being made by the South Korean-based animation house. At the same time, Forest Whitaker has been tapped to give voice to the apostle Peter.
The duo join a growing A-list voice cast that includes Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, and Jojo Rabbit actor Roman Griffin Davis.
Seong-ho “Jay” Jang, known as a visual effects pioneer in Korea, is directing King of Kings while Anfernee Kim (Last Knights, John Woo’s The Crossing 2) is producing.
The faith-based feature is very loosely inspired by The Life of Our Lord, a little-known Charles Dickens short story that was published posthumously and that depicted the life and times of Jesus.
The script, by Jang and Rob Edwards (Disney’s The Princess and the Frog), sees Charles and Walter Dickens, voiced by Branagh and Davis,...
- 5/16/2024
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stephen Curry has netted a new scripted project as the basketball superstar continues making inroads as a Hollywood playmaker.
Curry’s producing banner Unanimous Media and David Henrie’s Cedar Hill are developing the basketball-focused comedy feature Trick Shot. A director has yet to be attached to the film that has a script from Jay Longino, whose previous writing credits include Uncle Drew (2018) and Skiptrace (2016).
Trick Shot centers on a middle school student who is dismal at basketball until a freak accident occurs, and he suddenly can’t miss a shot. His newfound hoops talent leads him to become an unexpected NBA rookie, where he is soon an integral member of his favorite team.
Producers include Curry and Erick Peyton for Unanimous Media, David Henrie and James Henrie for Cedar Hill and Ben Everard for Everard Entertainment. Longino and Unanimous’ Brian Testuro Ivie serve as executive producers.
Curry is a...
Curry’s producing banner Unanimous Media and David Henrie’s Cedar Hill are developing the basketball-focused comedy feature Trick Shot. A director has yet to be attached to the film that has a script from Jay Longino, whose previous writing credits include Uncle Drew (2018) and Skiptrace (2016).
Trick Shot centers on a middle school student who is dismal at basketball until a freak accident occurs, and he suddenly can’t miss a shot. His newfound hoops talent leads him to become an unexpected NBA rookie, where he is soon an integral member of his favorite team.
Producers include Curry and Erick Peyton for Unanimous Media, David Henrie and James Henrie for Cedar Hill and Ben Everard for Everard Entertainment. Longino and Unanimous’ Brian Testuro Ivie serve as executive producers.
Curry is a...
- 5/16/2024
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Horror and thriller directors Michael and Peter Spierig (Lionsgate’s Jigsaw) are set to direct Fall 2, it was announced by Capstone Studios’ CEO Christian Mercuri. Scott Mann, who directed and co-wrote the first film, is returning to co-write Fall 2 with Jonathan Frank.
Following the successful survival thriller Fall released in 2022 by Lionsgate, Fall 2 will reunite producers Mark Lane and James Harris of Tea Shop Productions (47 Meters Down), Capstone’s Christian Mercuri, David Haring, and Scott Mann via the Flawless banner.
Dan Asma, John Long, and Roman Viaris will also reunite as executive producers alongside Capstone’s Ruzanna Kegeyan. Capstone will finance the sequel, with Fall 2 set to begin shooting in June 2024.
Capstone Global is handling worldwide rights to the franchise. In late 2023, Capstone Studios greenlit both Fall 2 and Fall 3 under the franchise. Mann will return to write and direct the third installment.
“We’re extremely excited to helm the second...
Following the successful survival thriller Fall released in 2022 by Lionsgate, Fall 2 will reunite producers Mark Lane and James Harris of Tea Shop Productions (47 Meters Down), Capstone’s Christian Mercuri, David Haring, and Scott Mann via the Flawless banner.
Dan Asma, John Long, and Roman Viaris will also reunite as executive producers alongside Capstone’s Ruzanna Kegeyan. Capstone will finance the sequel, with Fall 2 set to begin shooting in June 2024.
Capstone Global is handling worldwide rights to the franchise. In late 2023, Capstone Studios greenlit both Fall 2 and Fall 3 under the franchise. Mann will return to write and direct the third installment.
“We’re extremely excited to helm the second...
- 5/16/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
One Cannes ritual is IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond’s annual press lunch. IMAX is thriving in the global marketplace, with more than 1,700 screens in 90 countries, as audiences continue to recognize and embrace the global brand for giant film and digital cameras and big-screen formats. Helfand announced the company’s upcoming 2025 filmed for IMAX slate (below) while at Cannes, which he believes will break records for the company. Thanks to IMAX believer Chris Nolan‘s global blockbuster “Oppenheimer,” IMAX performed at peak capacity with over $1 billion in revenue in 2023, matching the company’s 2019 pre-pandemic record.
IMAX delivered 20% of the global box office for “Oppenheimer” — shot entirely with IMAX film cameras — and more than $190 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest grossing IMAX film of all time. IMAX also delivered 21% of the global box office for “Dune: Part Two” — shot entirely with IMAX-certified digital cameras — and over $145 million worldwide, making it the seventh highest.
IMAX delivered 20% of the global box office for “Oppenheimer” — shot entirely with IMAX film cameras — and more than $190 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest grossing IMAX film of all time. IMAX also delivered 21% of the global box office for “Dune: Part Two” — shot entirely with IMAX-certified digital cameras — and over $145 million worldwide, making it the seventh highest.
- 5/16/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The main cast of Jim Jarmusch‘s first film since 2019’s “The Dead Don’t Die” has been revealed, and what a cast it is. Variety reports that Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Jarmusch regular Tom Waits, Charlotte Rampling, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat join Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps on “Father Mother Sister Brother.” Jarmusch has already wrapped shooting, with post-production underway in NYC, so expect the film to be ready for a premiere later this year.
Continue reading ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’: Jim Jarmusch’s Latest Star Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Tom Waits & More at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’: Jim Jarmusch’s Latest Star Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Tom Waits & More at The Playlist.
- 5/16/2024
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
A radical vision of Indian womanhood collides with scattered storytelling in director Konstantin Bojanov’s “The Shameless,” a provocative queer drama laid low by its oblique narrative. Following two women destined for a life of sex work, the drama is lucid in its politics, but often opaque in its drama — a dynamic embodied by two wildly different lead performances.
Anasuya Sengupta is remarkable as “Renuka,” a Muslim woman who dons the moniker of a Hindu goddess while on the run from police. When “The Shameless” begins, her crime of killing a policeman is already in her rearview, forcing her to take refuge in a small-town brothel in Northern India. While in hiding, she meets Devika (Omara Shetty), a young, meek wannabe rapper whose enigmatic grandmother (Mita Vasisht) is a revered holy woman. Devika’s stern mother (Auroshika Dey) has condemned her to an eventual life of religiously-inspired devadasi sex work,...
Anasuya Sengupta is remarkable as “Renuka,” a Muslim woman who dons the moniker of a Hindu goddess while on the run from police. When “The Shameless” begins, her crime of killing a policeman is already in her rearview, forcing her to take refuge in a small-town brothel in Northern India. While in hiding, she meets Devika (Omara Shetty), a young, meek wannabe rapper whose enigmatic grandmother (Mita Vasisht) is a revered holy woman. Devika’s stern mother (Auroshika Dey) has condemned her to an eventual life of religiously-inspired devadasi sex work,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety - Film News
French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch is in Cannes for the third time with “Everybody Loves Touda,” launching out of competition.
The film tells the story of a young poet and singer steeped in an ancient Moroccan form of folk song called aita, but forced to perform trashy pop songs in bars filled with abusive men.
Below, Ayouch speaks with Variety about what “Touda” says about Morocco today.
Morocco’s Shaeirat poetesses and singers have already appeared in several of your films. That said, how did this project originate?
As you say, I’ve met several of these women during the shoots of my previous films and they were haunting me somehow. In talking to them about their lives, they told me how difficult it was for them to be so strong, so powerful, on stage, while at the same time being forced to live in a world where they feel so...
The film tells the story of a young poet and singer steeped in an ancient Moroccan form of folk song called aita, but forced to perform trashy pop songs in bars filled with abusive men.
Below, Ayouch speaks with Variety about what “Touda” says about Morocco today.
Morocco’s Shaeirat poetesses and singers have already appeared in several of your films. That said, how did this project originate?
As you say, I’ve met several of these women during the shoots of my previous films and they were haunting me somehow. In talking to them about their lives, they told me how difficult it was for them to be so strong, so powerful, on stage, while at the same time being forced to live in a world where they feel so...
- 5/17/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety - Film News
Spanish sales, distribution, and production company Filmax has picked up international rights to the upcoming kids and family animated feature “The Light of Aisha” and is sharing the project with buyers at this year’s Marché du Film.
The CG-animated film tells the story of Aisha, a young girl living in XI-century Al-Andalus in the south of modern-day Spain. Born into a family of calligraphers, Aisha would much rather work as a pyrotechnic artist on the popular fireworks displays used to celebrate all manner of important occasions.
In addition to their roles as calligraphers, Aisha’s family also safeguards a legendary and dangerous book belonging to the caliph. When a visiting scientist offers to teach Aisha how to make the rocket of her dreams in exchange for the text, the temptation proves too much, and she agrees. When the book is discovered missing, Aisha’s father is blamed, and the...
The CG-animated film tells the story of Aisha, a young girl living in XI-century Al-Andalus in the south of modern-day Spain. Born into a family of calligraphers, Aisha would much rather work as a pyrotechnic artist on the popular fireworks displays used to celebrate all manner of important occasions.
In addition to their roles as calligraphers, Aisha’s family also safeguards a legendary and dangerous book belonging to the caliph. When a visiting scientist offers to teach Aisha how to make the rocket of her dreams in exchange for the text, the temptation proves too much, and she agrees. When the book is discovered missing, Aisha’s father is blamed, and the...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety - Film News
Lily Gladstone took a break from jury duty at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday to present Ron Howard with Variety’s Profile in Excellence Award.
Howard was the guest of honor at the annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute at Lucia Beach, where an array of industry veterans — including The Gotham’s Jeffrey Sharp, Focus Features’ Jason Cassidy, Disney’s Keleigh Thomas Morgan, the Sundance Institute’s Eugene Hernandez and more — donned their best beach chic attire (with sunglasses) to mix, mingle and sip rosé.
“It’s rare that a director speaks to you at two fully different stages of your life,” Gladstone said, pointing to “Willow” and “Arrested Development” as pieces of entertainment that helped shape her childhood and college years. “I want you to narrate my life.”
Howard granted that wish as he took the stage, slipping into...
Howard was the guest of honor at the annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute at Lucia Beach, where an array of industry veterans — including The Gotham’s Jeffrey Sharp, Focus Features’ Jason Cassidy, Disney’s Keleigh Thomas Morgan, the Sundance Institute’s Eugene Hernandez and more — donned their best beach chic attire (with sunglasses) to mix, mingle and sip rosé.
“It’s rare that a director speaks to you at two fully different stages of your life,” Gladstone said, pointing to “Willow” and “Arrested Development” as pieces of entertainment that helped shape her childhood and college years. “I want you to narrate my life.”
Howard granted that wish as he took the stage, slipping into...
- 5/17/2024
- by Angelique Jackson and Brent Lang
- Variety - Film News
The blockbuster franchises are showing signs of serious wear and tear, so why don’t the studios take on newer worlds created by the likes of Christopher Nolan and Alex Garland?
Some of the greatest genre movies of all time are sequels. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; The Godfather Part II; The Dark Knight; Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow. Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. There is absolutely no reason that lightning can’t strike twice, or even three, four, five, six times, if the will and creative verve are in place.
And yet there is also a law of diminishing returns. This week Planet of the Apes writer-producer team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver revealed that they are planning another five films in the dystopian sci-fi series, after the barnstorming box office and critical success...
Some of the greatest genre movies of all time are sequels. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; The Godfather Part II; The Dark Knight; Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow. Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. There is absolutely no reason that lightning can’t strike twice, or even three, four, five, six times, if the will and creative verve are in place.
And yet there is also a law of diminishing returns. This week Planet of the Apes writer-producer team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver revealed that they are planning another five films in the dystopian sci-fi series, after the barnstorming box office and critical success...
- 5/17/2024
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: The director of The Seed of the Sacred Fig details how he discarded electronic devices and fled over the mountains on foot after authorities sentenced him to eight years in prison and flogging
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof escaped imminent imprisonment in Iran by discarding all trackable electronic devices and walking across a mountainous borderland on foot, the film-maker has told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.
But even though he has found shelter in Germany and is optimistic about attending next week’s Cannes premiere of the film that nearly saw him jailed for eight years, Rasoulof said he still expects to return to his home country “quite soon” and sit out his sentence.
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof escaped imminent imprisonment in Iran by discarding all trackable electronic devices and walking across a mountainous borderland on foot, the film-maker has told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.
But even though he has found shelter in Germany and is optimistic about attending next week’s Cannes premiere of the film that nearly saw him jailed for eight years, Rasoulof said he still expects to return to his home country “quite soon” and sit out his sentence.
- 5/17/2024
- by Philip Oltermann in Cannes
- The Guardian - Film News
Andrea Arnold’s initial inspiration for her Cannes competition entry “Bird” was perhaps not what many people might have been expecting.
“A very long time ago, I had the image a tall, thin man with a long penis, standing on a roof,” she explained at the press conference for the film on Friday when asked about her initial visual prompt. “But I didn’t know if he was good or bad or what he was.”
From this bizarre starting point, Arnold crafted a social realist drama about a family on the fringes of society living by British seaside and an unexpected visitor who becomes close to a young girl entering puberty. Alongside stars Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogoswki, she once again peppered her cast with first-timers.
For Keoghan, he didn’t even need to look at the script before signing up, with Arnold having been on a list of filmmakers...
“A very long time ago, I had the image a tall, thin man with a long penis, standing on a roof,” she explained at the press conference for the film on Friday when asked about her initial visual prompt. “But I didn’t know if he was good or bad or what he was.”
From this bizarre starting point, Arnold crafted a social realist drama about a family on the fringes of society living by British seaside and an unexpected visitor who becomes close to a young girl entering puberty. Alongside stars Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogoswki, she once again peppered her cast with first-timers.
For Keoghan, he didn’t even need to look at the script before signing up, with Arnold having been on a list of filmmakers...
- 5/17/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety - Film News
Logical Pictures is launching a new Africa venture that will see the production, financing and distribution outfit expand its global footprint into the fast-growing African market.
According to the group’s head, Frédéric Fiore, the move will help position Logical Pictures as the preferred financing partner on the continent for the international industry and the leading production company of African content with global ambitions.
“Logical Pictures has now established in Europe a uniquely positioned group that can finance, distribute and produce content internationally with outstanding talents,” said Fiore. “With Logical Pictures Africa, we want to emulate a similar ecosystem in one of the most creative places in the world, dovetailing our approach to the specificities of each part of the world.”
Launched in 2016, the Logical Pictures Group has become a leading player in film and TV equity, producing, financing and distributing a range of content in France and internationally through...
According to the group’s head, Frédéric Fiore, the move will help position Logical Pictures as the preferred financing partner on the continent for the international industry and the leading production company of African content with global ambitions.
“Logical Pictures has now established in Europe a uniquely positioned group that can finance, distribute and produce content internationally with outstanding talents,” said Fiore. “With Logical Pictures Africa, we want to emulate a similar ecosystem in one of the most creative places in the world, dovetailing our approach to the specificities of each part of the world.”
Launched in 2016, the Logical Pictures Group has become a leading player in film and TV equity, producing, financing and distributing a range of content in France and internationally through...
- 5/17/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety - Film News
Paulo Carneiro’s third feature, “Savanna and the Mountain,” is world premiering at this year’s Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight section. The film depicts a David-and-Goliath struggle between rural folk from Covas de Barroso in the North of Portugal and London-based Savannah Resources, which plans to build Europe’s biggest open-air lithium mine.
The venture to carve out the local mountains in the search for lithium, first proposed around 2017, has been met with fierce resistance from local villages and councils. A corruption scandal associated with the fast-tracked approval process led to the downfall of the previous Socialist government, led by Antonio Costa, a recent general election that saw the center-right party Psd take power, and a surge in votes for the far-right party, Chega.
In 2019, ecologists and the community of the small village of Covas de Barroso, which faced the devastation of its agricultural properties, decided to contact Carneiro,...
The venture to carve out the local mountains in the search for lithium, first proposed around 2017, has been met with fierce resistance from local villages and councils. A corruption scandal associated with the fast-tracked approval process led to the downfall of the previous Socialist government, led by Antonio Costa, a recent general election that saw the center-right party Psd take power, and a surge in votes for the far-right party, Chega.
In 2019, ecologists and the community of the small village of Covas de Barroso, which faced the devastation of its agricultural properties, decided to contact Carneiro,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Martin Dale
- Variety - Film News
Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis and Tom Sturridge team up in Olivier Assayas’ political thriller “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s bestseller by the same name.
Produced by Olivier Delbosc’s banner Curiosa Films and Gaumont – who last partnered on Cannes prizewinning “The Taste of Things” — “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is one of the hottest packages launching at the Cannes Film Market where Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont’s EVP international sales and distribution, is kicking off pre-sales.
“The Wizard of the Kremlin” is co-written by Assayas and Emmanuel Carrère, whose novel “Limonov” has been adapted for the big screen by Kirill Serebrennikov and will premiere in official selection at Cannes.
The story opens in Russia, in the early 1990’s, in the aftermath of the Ussr’s collapse. In a new world that promises freedom and flirts with chaos, a young artist-turned-tv producer,...
Produced by Olivier Delbosc’s banner Curiosa Films and Gaumont – who last partnered on Cannes prizewinning “The Taste of Things” — “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is one of the hottest packages launching at the Cannes Film Market where Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont’s EVP international sales and distribution, is kicking off pre-sales.
“The Wizard of the Kremlin” is co-written by Assayas and Emmanuel Carrère, whose novel “Limonov” has been adapted for the big screen by Kirill Serebrennikov and will premiere in official selection at Cannes.
The story opens in Russia, in the early 1990’s, in the aftermath of the Ussr’s collapse. In a new world that promises freedom and flirts with chaos, a young artist-turned-tv producer,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety - Film News
The Swiss/French “Dog on Trial” is set to disrupt, move and entertain the Croisette from what is revealed in a first clip from sales outfit MK2 Films, exclusively shared with Variety.
The film world premieres at Cannes Un Certain Regard May 19.
Writer/actor-turned-director Laetitia Dosch, who delivered what Variety reviewer Peter Debruge called a ‘blazing-wildfire performance’ in the 2017 Camera d’or winner “Jeune Femme”, is herself taking a chance this year on the coveted award. Meanwhile Cosmos the Dog (aka Kodi in the film) will battle for the leather dog collar Palme Dog win.
As the main protagonist Alice, Dosch wears an attorney’s gown to defend the four-legged Cosmos, accused of multiple bite attacks. Known for taking up lost causes, she will rise to the challenge, confront the legal system and advocate both for animal rights and women’s rights.
Next to Dosch and the dog Kodi, the...
The film world premieres at Cannes Un Certain Regard May 19.
Writer/actor-turned-director Laetitia Dosch, who delivered what Variety reviewer Peter Debruge called a ‘blazing-wildfire performance’ in the 2017 Camera d’or winner “Jeune Femme”, is herself taking a chance this year on the coveted award. Meanwhile Cosmos the Dog (aka Kodi in the film) will battle for the leather dog collar Palme Dog win.
As the main protagonist Alice, Dosch wears an attorney’s gown to defend the four-legged Cosmos, accused of multiple bite attacks. Known for taking up lost causes, she will rise to the challenge, confront the legal system and advocate both for animal rights and women’s rights.
Next to Dosch and the dog Kodi, the...
- 5/17/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety - Film News
Awards News
Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor. It was followed by “Old Fox” with ten nominations and “Big,” with eight.
The film tells the story of a gangster who discovers that he is only the country’s third most wanted criminal and, before he dies, sets out to eliminate those ranking above him.
The best film contenders are “Salli,” “Trouble Girl,” “Big,” “Old Fox” and “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon.”
The best actor nominees include Frederick Lee for “Fish Memories,” Bai Run-yin for “Old Fox,” Vic Chou for “Be With Me,” Ethan Juan for “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” and King Jieh-wen for “A Journey in Spring.” The best actress...
Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor. It was followed by “Old Fox” with ten nominations and “Big,” with eight.
The film tells the story of a gangster who discovers that he is only the country’s third most wanted criminal and, before he dies, sets out to eliminate those ranking above him.
The best film contenders are “Salli,” “Trouble Girl,” “Big,” “Old Fox” and “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon.”
The best actor nominees include Frederick Lee for “Fish Memories,” Bai Run-yin for “Old Fox,” Vic Chou for “Be With Me,” Ethan Juan for “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” and King Jieh-wen for “A Journey in Spring.” The best actress...
- 5/17/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety - Film News
Cannes film festival
The choreography is impressive as people are hurled through walls, thrown off rooftops and otherwise beaten to a pulp, but the editing is frenetic and the characters cartoonish
Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City – once the most densely populated place on Earth – is the perfect movie setting: a Piranesian labyrinth of squalid high rises and dark, cramped alleys, teeming with crooks, lowlifes, addicts and impoverished families running small businesses, legit and otherwise. This 1980s-set action epic lovingly, meticulously recreates the notorious neighbourhood (which was demolished in 1994), but sadly, the backdrop is more interesting than the story.
At heart it’s a tale of a Chinese immigrant caught between rival gangs. Street fighter Chan Lok-kwan (Raymond Lam) is initially scammed by local triad boss Mr Big (a cigar-smoking caricature from veteran Jackie Chan sidekick Sammo Hung). Chan retaliates by stealing a package and, after a great bus-top chase scene,...
The choreography is impressive as people are hurled through walls, thrown off rooftops and otherwise beaten to a pulp, but the editing is frenetic and the characters cartoonish
Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City – once the most densely populated place on Earth – is the perfect movie setting: a Piranesian labyrinth of squalid high rises and dark, cramped alleys, teeming with crooks, lowlifes, addicts and impoverished families running small businesses, legit and otherwise. This 1980s-set action epic lovingly, meticulously recreates the notorious neighbourhood (which was demolished in 1994), but sadly, the backdrop is more interesting than the story.
At heart it’s a tale of a Chinese immigrant caught between rival gangs. Street fighter Chan Lok-kwan (Raymond Lam) is initially scammed by local triad boss Mr Big (a cigar-smoking caricature from veteran Jackie Chan sidekick Sammo Hung). Chan retaliates by stealing a package and, after a great bus-top chase scene,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Los Angeles-based Flourishing Films has boarded Singapore- and India-based Mumba Devi Motion Pictures’ “Grand Sugar Daddy” and “Not Today” at the Cannes Film Festival’s market.
Flourishing is focused on expanding access to Black, diverse and female-driven filmed content originating from the U.S., Africa, the U.K. and worldwide. Mumba Devi, headed by producer Sweta Chhabria and producer-director Aditya Kripalani, makes issue-based films focusing on stories that are mostly to do with gender and burning topics like suicide prevention and mental health. The outfit makes it a point to minimize the male gaze by bringing on board heads of department who are all women.
The Singapore-set film “Grand Sugar Daddy” follows a 70-year-old widower who is introduced to the world of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies. The film traces his conversations with a Singaporean Chinese woman, an Indian woman and a transgender Malay.
In “Not Today,” a 24-year-old woman...
Flourishing is focused on expanding access to Black, diverse and female-driven filmed content originating from the U.S., Africa, the U.K. and worldwide. Mumba Devi, headed by producer Sweta Chhabria and producer-director Aditya Kripalani, makes issue-based films focusing on stories that are mostly to do with gender and burning topics like suicide prevention and mental health. The outfit makes it a point to minimize the male gaze by bringing on board heads of department who are all women.
The Singapore-set film “Grand Sugar Daddy” follows a 70-year-old widower who is introduced to the world of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies. The film traces his conversations with a Singaporean Chinese woman, an Indian woman and a transgender Malay.
In “Not Today,” a 24-year-old woman...
- 5/17/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety - Film News
Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has acquired international sales and remake rights to the Spanish comedy I Cannot Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti).
The project is in post and stars Argentinian superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Spanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.
I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.
Santiago Requejo...
The project is in post and stars Argentinian superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Spanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.
I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.
Santiago Requejo...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
After nearly two years of planning, the digital platform “The Gleaners and I: Revisiting Agnès Varda’s Edit” is about to go live.
Supported by Martin Scorsese, the pedagogical platform will open the treasure trove of Agnès Varda’s archives, making never-before-seen footage and hours of unused rushes available to nascent filmmakers across the globe. Through “The Gleaners and I,” students at participating universities will be able to re-edit and completely rethink Varda’s 2000 documentary of the same name — pooling from 62 hours of rushes, all subtitled in English – under the proviso that each new clip edit be uploaded back on to the platform.
“Agnès would have surely loved the idea of having her work live on in this way,” says daughter and project leader Rosalie Varda. “She would want to give the students full freedom – and that’s what we’ve done. Participants can really reconceive the work however they see fit.
Supported by Martin Scorsese, the pedagogical platform will open the treasure trove of Agnès Varda’s archives, making never-before-seen footage and hours of unused rushes available to nascent filmmakers across the globe. Through “The Gleaners and I,” students at participating universities will be able to re-edit and completely rethink Varda’s 2000 documentary of the same name — pooling from 62 hours of rushes, all subtitled in English – under the proviso that each new clip edit be uploaded back on to the platform.
“Agnès would have surely loved the idea of having her work live on in this way,” says daughter and project leader Rosalie Varda. “She would want to give the students full freedom – and that’s what we’ve done. Participants can really reconceive the work however they see fit.
- 5/17/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety - Film News
Directors Jared Hess and Lynn Wang craft a solid piece of family fun with the tale of a pony aiming for success in disguise
Thelma the Unicorn, a new Netflix animated family movie, has plenty of successful tricks aimed at kids: glitter and cotton-candy pink, a pile of manure jokes, a mini-album of catchy original songs, an endearing hero in its titular singing pony-turned-unicorn. But perhaps its greatest asset is its parable of fame, easy enough for young minds reared on phones to grasp, but winking to those who understand a matching-double-denim-outfits on the red carpet reference.
I have to imagine that it is bewildering to grow up aware of or aspiring to viral fame – Instagram celebrities, TikTok trends, overnight Youtube stars –before you even really know yourself. In the grand tradition of kids movies peppered with adult references and talking donkeys, Thelma the Unicorn, directed by Lynn Wang and Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess,...
Thelma the Unicorn, a new Netflix animated family movie, has plenty of successful tricks aimed at kids: glitter and cotton-candy pink, a pile of manure jokes, a mini-album of catchy original songs, an endearing hero in its titular singing pony-turned-unicorn. But perhaps its greatest asset is its parable of fame, easy enough for young minds reared on phones to grasp, but winking to those who understand a matching-double-denim-outfits on the red carpet reference.
I have to imagine that it is bewildering to grow up aware of or aspiring to viral fame – Instagram celebrities, TikTok trends, overnight Youtube stars –before you even really know yourself. In the grand tradition of kids movies peppered with adult references and talking donkeys, Thelma the Unicorn, directed by Lynn Wang and Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
“La Mesías” star Carmen Machi, Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma and Blanca Portillo, a Cannes best actress co-winner for Almodóvar’s “Volver,” are set to star in “The Prey” (“Dia de Caza”), billed as a contemporary revision of Carlos Saura’s 1965 pic “The Hunt,” quite possibly his crowing achievement.
The film is set to shoot in July in Spain’s Extremadura, with theatrical release scheduled for autumn 2025.
Brutal, kinetic at times and taking no prisoners, Saura’s original won a Berlin Silver Bear. The film follows three once-close friends reuinting for a rabbit hunt; the final bloody outcome was read as a broad metaphor of the social elite in dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain.
Directed by Pedro Aguilera “The Prey,” set in the summer of 2024, has three women reuniting for a rabbit hunt in the very same stark valley where Saura shot “The Hunt” almost 60 years before. Under a remorseless sun,...
The film is set to shoot in July in Spain’s Extremadura, with theatrical release scheduled for autumn 2025.
Brutal, kinetic at times and taking no prisoners, Saura’s original won a Berlin Silver Bear. The film follows three once-close friends reuinting for a rabbit hunt; the final bloody outcome was read as a broad metaphor of the social elite in dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain.
Directed by Pedro Aguilera “The Prey,” set in the summer of 2024, has three women reuniting for a rabbit hunt in the very same stark valley where Saura shot “The Hunt” almost 60 years before. Under a remorseless sun,...
- 5/17/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety - Film News
If the best revenge is living well, it is a truism that has not yet taken root for Hamid (a riveting Adam Bessa), the dark, scarred heart of Jonathan Millet’s brooding, gripping “Ghost Trail.” Outside his soon-to-be-revealed mission, Hamid barely has a life at all, placing him firmly in the genre tradition of the taciturn, traumatized hero whose obsessive pursuit of his quarry leaves little room for anything beyond the constant, careful stoking of his rage, grief and survivor’s guilt. Millet’s expertly tooled movie is far from the first to derive its moral stakes from the desire to find some measure of redress for the victims and survivors of political violence, but it is among the best to also crossbreed this familiar archetype with the urgency and topicality of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Even while the screen is still black as the opening credits unfurl, the narrative...
Even while the screen is still black as the opening credits unfurl, the narrative...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety - Film News
Pinocchio is entering the Poohniverse.
The frequently adapted children’s story is set to become the latest standalone film introduced into the extremely bloody and gory world of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” the IP-bludgeoning microbudget slasher that that sparked headlines for turning A. A. Milne’s jovial bear into a feral serial killer.
Variety has the details of “Pinocchio: Unstrung,” which is selling in Cannes via Premiere Entertainment. Like “Blood and Honey,” Rhys Frake-Waterfield will direct the film, which which have little reliance on VFX and feature the character of Pinocchio as a practical doll (casting for Geppetto will soon be announced). Todd Masters at MastersFx (creator of Chucky in the 2019 “Child’s Play”) will be taking the lead in all animatronics and puppetry, while the Prosthetics Studio (whose credits include films in the “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars” franchises), will be handling much of the practical gore. Filming is due...
The frequently adapted children’s story is set to become the latest standalone film introduced into the extremely bloody and gory world of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” the IP-bludgeoning microbudget slasher that that sparked headlines for turning A. A. Milne’s jovial bear into a feral serial killer.
Variety has the details of “Pinocchio: Unstrung,” which is selling in Cannes via Premiere Entertainment. Like “Blood and Honey,” Rhys Frake-Waterfield will direct the film, which which have little reliance on VFX and feature the character of Pinocchio as a practical doll (casting for Geppetto will soon be announced). Todd Masters at MastersFx (creator of Chucky in the 2019 “Child’s Play”) will be taking the lead in all animatronics and puppetry, while the Prosthetics Studio (whose credits include films in the “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars” franchises), will be handling much of the practical gore. Filming is due...
- 5/17/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety - Film News
Chilean actor Alfredo Castro will make his directorial debut with the psychological thriller “Los Trabajadores de la Muerte,” which translates to “the workers of death.”
Based on Diamela Eltit’s novel of the same title, the film is penned by Castro and Pablo Valledor. Chile’s Storyboard Media and Les Films de l’Âge d’Or in France co-produce.
Producer and co-writer Valledor tells Variety the project is representative of his larger goal to ramp up international co-productions: “As a producer, my intention is to get involved in projects that present a radical approach and an attractive cinematic language,” he explained. “The aim of Les Films de l’Âge d’Or is to establish a structure dedicated to projects of this nature, creating a bridge between the Americas and Europe to ensure that funds are obtained and that these films are made through well-established international co-productions.”
Set during Chile’s economic crisis...
Based on Diamela Eltit’s novel of the same title, the film is penned by Castro and Pablo Valledor. Chile’s Storyboard Media and Les Films de l’Âge d’Or in France co-produce.
Producer and co-writer Valledor tells Variety the project is representative of his larger goal to ramp up international co-productions: “As a producer, my intention is to get involved in projects that present a radical approach and an attractive cinematic language,” he explained. “The aim of Les Films de l’Âge d’Or is to establish a structure dedicated to projects of this nature, creating a bridge between the Americas and Europe to ensure that funds are obtained and that these films are made through well-established international co-productions.”
Set during Chile’s economic crisis...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety - Film News
The world premiere of Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond in Cannes Competition is the only one by a first-time filmmaker and heralds Riedinger as part of a new wave of French female directors to arrive en force on the Croisette.
The film explores western society’s obsession with beauty and fame and the omnipresence of social media through the story of a 19 year-old girl who sets out to earn a spot on a reality TV show.
Also in Competitoin is France-born Coralie Fargeat’s second feature The Substance. The body horror is produced by the UK’s Working Title Films and stars Demi Moore,...
The film explores western society’s obsession with beauty and fame and the omnipresence of social media through the story of a 19 year-old girl who sets out to earn a spot on a reality TV show.
Also in Competitoin is France-born Coralie Fargeat’s second feature The Substance. The body horror is produced by the UK’s Working Title Films and stars Demi Moore,...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sola Media has closed sales for multiple territories for “The Sloth Lane,” which will world premiere at the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival. Sola will be presenting a first look at the trailer at the Cannes Market.
The story, which centers on an adorable family of sloths and their journey to the fast-paced world of Sanctuary City with their slow food truck, has sold to more than 40 territories including Portugal (Nos), Hungary and Romania (Ads), Israel (Filmhouse), Taiwan (AvJet), Greece (Tanweer), Turkey (Tme) and Middle East (Krisco).
“The Sloth Lane,” which will be part of Annecy’s Official Selection 2024 – Annecy Presents, is produced by the Australian production house Like A Photon Creative, and is part of the Sanctuary City franchise.
Solveig Langeland, managing director of Sola Media, said: “We immediately fell in love with the adorable family of sloths and are excited by the project’s development and to show...
The story, which centers on an adorable family of sloths and their journey to the fast-paced world of Sanctuary City with their slow food truck, has sold to more than 40 territories including Portugal (Nos), Hungary and Romania (Ads), Israel (Filmhouse), Taiwan (AvJet), Greece (Tanweer), Turkey (Tme) and Middle East (Krisco).
“The Sloth Lane,” which will be part of Annecy’s Official Selection 2024 – Annecy Presents, is produced by the Australian production house Like A Photon Creative, and is part of the Sanctuary City franchise.
Solveig Langeland, managing director of Sola Media, said: “We immediately fell in love with the adorable family of sloths and are excited by the project’s development and to show...
- 5/17/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety - Film News
Gemma Arterton will lead the cast of After You’d Gone, a new feature from the producers of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Sister Midnight.
Arterton will play Mel, a woman whose long-term partner disappears abruptly. She discovers he had created an entire false identity; Mel’s search for truth then exposes a scandal at the heart of the UK’s Metropolitan Police.
Producers Al Clark of Wellington Films and Anna Griffin – a 2018 Screen Star of Tomorrow – of Griffin Pictures are raising production finance and taking meetings at Cannes, as well as attending the world premiere of Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight...
Arterton will play Mel, a woman whose long-term partner disappears abruptly. She discovers he had created an entire false identity; Mel’s search for truth then exposes a scandal at the heart of the UK’s Metropolitan Police.
Producers Al Clark of Wellington Films and Anna Griffin – a 2018 Screen Star of Tomorrow – of Griffin Pictures are raising production finance and taking meetings at Cannes, as well as attending the world premiere of Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
China’s Wishart Media, represented by Hong Kong-based Mandarin Motion Pictures at the Cannes market, has landed a string of sales for upcoming Jackie Chan-starrer Panda Plan and period martial arts film Invincible Swordsman.
Both titles have been picked up for Cis by Capella, India (Indo Overseas Films), Indonesia (Pt Prima) and Malaysia (Shanghai Pictures).
Panda Plan, an action comedy directed by Zhang Luan and about stolen baby pandas, has also been sold to Eastern Europe and Benelux (Spi International), Ukraine (Green Light Films), the Middle East (Phars Film) and Singapore (Shaw).
Further sales for Invincible Swordsman directed by...
Both titles have been picked up for Cis by Capella, India (Indo Overseas Films), Indonesia (Pt Prima) and Malaysia (Shanghai Pictures).
Panda Plan, an action comedy directed by Zhang Luan and about stolen baby pandas, has also been sold to Eastern Europe and Benelux (Spi International), Ukraine (Green Light Films), the Middle East (Phars Film) and Singapore (Shaw).
Further sales for Invincible Swordsman directed by...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Michelle Jenner and Mario Casas have signed to star in Olga Osorio’s feature adaptation of Elia Barceló’s acclaimed novel The Goldsmith’s Secret.
Film Factory is introducing the film to Cannes buyers.
Adrián Guerra and Nuria Valls are producing for Nostromo Pictures, whose credits include the upcoming Rodrigo Cortés title Escape, exec-produced by Martin Scorsese.
The Goldsmith’s Secret will shoot in June in Alava and Barcelona. It is a love story set across three moments of the 20th Century. “It is inspired by classics such as Somewhere In Time and In the Mood for Love,” said Guerra.
Film Factory is introducing the film to Cannes buyers.
Adrián Guerra and Nuria Valls are producing for Nostromo Pictures, whose credits include the upcoming Rodrigo Cortés title Escape, exec-produced by Martin Scorsese.
The Goldsmith’s Secret will shoot in June in Alava and Barcelona. It is a love story set across three moments of the 20th Century. “It is inspired by classics such as Somewhere In Time and In the Mood for Love,” said Guerra.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has acquired international sales and remake rights to the Spanish comedy I Cannot Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti).
The project is in post and stars Spanish superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Splanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.
I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.
Santiago Requejo...
The project is in post and stars Spanish superstar Adrian Suar from 30 Nights With My Ex and A Boyfriend For My Wife and Paz Vega, whose credits include Lucia y El Sexo, Splanglish, and Rambo: Last Blood.
I Cannot Live Without You centres on a successful middle-aged executive addicted to his devices whose world falls apart when his wife demands a divorce and he signs up for an unusual therapy for cell phone addicts.
Santiago Requejo...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Pim Herrmeling, head of Benelux- based September Films has warned the territory’s buyers are becoming more cautious due to high asking prices.
“Normally, all Cannes Competition films are pre-sold for Benelux. This year, a lot of films were still available,” Herrmeling noted. “On the hot films, there is still a lot of competition but not as early as it used to be.”
As of press time, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope was unsold in the region.
“MGs have gone up in general, which is a bit strange,” said Hermeling
“Home entertainment/VoD is completely gone. SVoD is Ok on the...
“Normally, all Cannes Competition films are pre-sold for Benelux. This year, a lot of films were still available,” Herrmeling noted. “On the hot films, there is still a lot of competition but not as early as it used to be.”
As of press time, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope was unsold in the region.
“MGs have gone up in general, which is a bit strange,” said Hermeling
“Home entertainment/VoD is completely gone. SVoD is Ok on the...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Hong Kong-based Mandarin Motion Pictures has closed a string of sales for upcoming Jackie Chan-starrer Panda Plan and period martial arts film Invincible Swordsman.
Produced by China’s Wishart Media (Xixian), both have been picked up for Cis by Capella, India (Indo Overseas Films), Indonesia (Pt Prima) and Malaysia (Shanghai Pictures).
Panda Plan, an action comedy directed by Zhang Luan and about stolen baby pandas, has also been sold to Eastern Europe and Benelux (Spi International), Ukraine (Green Light Films), the Middle East (Phars Film) and Singapore (Shaw).
Further sales for Invincible Swordsman directed by Luo Yiwei include Korea...
Produced by China’s Wishart Media (Xixian), both have been picked up for Cis by Capella, India (Indo Overseas Films), Indonesia (Pt Prima) and Malaysia (Shanghai Pictures).
Panda Plan, an action comedy directed by Zhang Luan and about stolen baby pandas, has also been sold to Eastern Europe and Benelux (Spi International), Ukraine (Green Light Films), the Middle East (Phars Film) and Singapore (Shaw).
Further sales for Invincible Swordsman directed by Luo Yiwei include Korea...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
TIFF’s plans to launch an official content market in 2026 has got the Croisette buzzing and sparked mixed reactions, with some industry sources expressing enthusiasm while others have cautioned against a more cluttered calendar.
CEO Cameron Bailey and chief programming officer Anita Lee announced the initiative yesterday. Backed by a $16.9m (C$23m) investment by the Canadian federal government, it will expand on the existing unofficial marketplace and include film, series and Xr screenings, and tentpole packages.
The annual September event will run concurrently with the festival and operate out of dedicated venues in Toronto, with Canadian talent showcases and...
CEO Cameron Bailey and chief programming officer Anita Lee announced the initiative yesterday. Backed by a $16.9m (C$23m) investment by the Canadian federal government, it will expand on the existing unofficial marketplace and include film, series and Xr screenings, and tentpole packages.
The annual September event will run concurrently with the festival and operate out of dedicated venues in Toronto, with Canadian talent showcases and...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Blue Fox Entertainment has reported a strong response here to the YA romance The Qb Bad Boy And Me based on the Wattpad novel to star TikTok influencer Noah Beck in his feature acting debut and Siena Agudong from Netflix’s Resident Evil series.
Deals have closed in Germany and Austria (Capelight Pictures), Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa (Sun Distribution Group), France (Snd), Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), Scandinavia (Mis.Label), Switzerland (Praesens-Film Ag), Turkey (Videomite), and Eastern Europe excluding Poland (Prorom).
Justin Wu, whose credits include CBC’s K-Pop series Gangnam Project, directed the feature about a...
Deals have closed in Germany and Austria (Capelight Pictures), Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa (Sun Distribution Group), France (Snd), Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), Scandinavia (Mis.Label), Switzerland (Praesens-Film Ag), Turkey (Videomite), and Eastern Europe excluding Poland (Prorom).
Justin Wu, whose credits include CBC’s K-Pop series Gangnam Project, directed the feature about a...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
A delegation of Palestinian filmmakers is in Cannes, seeking both international support for projects and the opportunity to alter the discourse on how Palestinians are perceived internationally.
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Twin brother directors Tarzan and Arab Nasser are gearing up to film Once Upon a Time In Gaza in Jordan in September.
Bac Films is handling international sales and French distribution. Mad Distribution has taken Mena rights.
The Palestine-France-Germany-Portugal-Jordan- Saudi Arabia co-production is produced by Marie Legrand and Rani Massalha of France’s Les Films du Tambour, who made the Nassers’ 2015 title Dégradé and 2020 feature Gaza Mon Amour, Palestine’s Oscar submission.
David Grumbach, CEO of Bac said the film “echoes the terrible current events in this region and confirms the Nasser brothers are among the leading auteurs in cinema...
Bac Films is handling international sales and French distribution. Mad Distribution has taken Mena rights.
The Palestine-France-Germany-Portugal-Jordan- Saudi Arabia co-production is produced by Marie Legrand and Rani Massalha of France’s Les Films du Tambour, who made the Nassers’ 2015 title Dégradé and 2020 feature Gaza Mon Amour, Palestine’s Oscar submission.
David Grumbach, CEO of Bac said the film “echoes the terrible current events in this region and confirms the Nasser brothers are among the leading auteurs in cinema...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Barcelona-based outlet Filmax has boarded Fury, the first fiction feature by Gemma Blasco and will also release the film in Spain.
Produced by Ringo Media and starring Alex Monner, a Screen Spain Star of Tomorrow, Fury is about the impact of a New Years’ Eve sexual assault on a young actress and her brother.
Blasco has previously directed short films and the experimental film El Zoo.
The project was developed at the Torino Film Lab Extended, New Horizons Studio+, Cima Mentoring, Dama Ayuda and D’A Final Cut.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Screen’s dailies...
Produced by Ringo Media and starring Alex Monner, a Screen Spain Star of Tomorrow, Fury is about the impact of a New Years’ Eve sexual assault on a young actress and her brother.
Blasco has previously directed short films and the experimental film El Zoo.
The project was developed at the Torino Film Lab Extended, New Horizons Studio+, Cima Mentoring, Dama Ayuda and D’A Final Cut.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Screen’s dailies...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Films Boutique has taken on international sales for Berlinale Golden Bear winner Ildiko Enyedi’sSilent Friend now filming in Marburg in Germany.
Written and directed by Enyedi, Silent Friend stars acclaimed Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler and Enzo Brumm.
The film marks Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s first time acting in a European film following credits including In The Mood For Love, Lust, Caution, and Shang Chi And The Legend Of The 10 Rings.
Enyedi’s On Body And Soul won the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2017 and an Oscar nomination 2018 for best international film, while The Story of My Wife...
Written and directed by Enyedi, Silent Friend stars acclaimed Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler and Enzo Brumm.
The film marks Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s first time acting in a European film following credits including In The Mood For Love, Lust, Caution, and Shang Chi And The Legend Of The 10 Rings.
Enyedi’s On Body And Soul won the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2017 and an Oscar nomination 2018 for best international film, while The Story of My Wife...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Queen Of Hearts director May el-Toukhy has set her next feature, post-Second World War drama Woman, Unknown (working title).
The film revolves around Marie, a former housekeeper preparing a lavish dinner party to celebrate her engagement to the patriarch of the house, when the truth of her secret past starts to emerge.
el-Toukhy is writing the script with her Queen Of Hearts co-writer Maren Louise Kaehne. The film will be produced by Mikael Christian Rieks for Nordisk Film Production, with filming expected to begin in the first half of 2025.
Backers on the film include the Danish Film Institute.
“With Woman,...
The film revolves around Marie, a former housekeeper preparing a lavish dinner party to celebrate her engagement to the patriarch of the house, when the truth of her secret past starts to emerge.
el-Toukhy is writing the script with her Queen Of Hearts co-writer Maren Louise Kaehne. The film will be produced by Mikael Christian Rieks for Nordisk Film Production, with filming expected to begin in the first half of 2025.
Backers on the film include the Danish Film Institute.
“With Woman,...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
The UK’s Independent Entertainment has sold Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Sundance premiere Layla to Curzon for the UK-Ireland, with a theatrical release plotted for later this year.
Al-Kadhi’s directorial debut stars Bilal Hasna, Louis Greatorex, Safiyya Ingar, Terique Jarrett, Darkwah and Sarah Agha, with supporting roles from Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka musician Self Esteem and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestant, Baby.
It tells the story of a struggling Arab drag queen who starts an intoxicating romance with a marketing executive that begins to alter Layla’s sense of identity.
The feature is backed by Film4 and the BFI,...
Al-Kadhi’s directorial debut stars Bilal Hasna, Louis Greatorex, Safiyya Ingar, Terique Jarrett, Darkwah and Sarah Agha, with supporting roles from Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka musician Self Esteem and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestant, Baby.
It tells the story of a struggling Arab drag queen who starts an intoxicating romance with a marketing executive that begins to alter Layla’s sense of identity.
The feature is backed by Film4 and the BFI,...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
The UK’s Screenbound has locked in a slew of deals on its slate, including Austin Jennings’ former Yugoslavia-set horror Eight Eyes, that’s been picked up for Shudder in North America and Donau Film in Germany.
Slaughterhouse 2 has pre-sold to Latin America (Encrypta), while Of Things Past starring Tara Reid and sci-fi western Showdown In Yesteryear have gone to Latin America (Encrypta) and North America (Lion Heart Distribution).
Further sales include Voodoo Macbeth, snapped up by Lightyear Entertainment for North America, Kip International for ex-Yugoslavia and Encrypta for Latin America. Encrypta has also picked up teen drama Listen.
Slaughterhouse 2 has pre-sold to Latin America (Encrypta), while Of Things Past starring Tara Reid and sci-fi western Showdown In Yesteryear have gone to Latin America (Encrypta) and North America (Lion Heart Distribution).
Further sales include Voodoo Macbeth, snapped up by Lightyear Entertainment for North America, Kip International for ex-Yugoslavia and Encrypta for Latin America. Encrypta has also picked up teen drama Listen.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
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