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
The 20024 Cannes Film Festival is in full swing now, and it’s arguably been dominated by expensive passion projects that could be seen as vanity projects by their makers. The first one, Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited “Megalopolis,” landed yesterday to much consternation and mixed reviews; ours was positive, but still slightly baffled, and the film currently sits at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. The next big self-financed project debuting soon on the Croisette is “Horizon: An American Saga,” an epic Western from writer/director and star Kevin Costner.
Continue reading ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Trailer: Kevin Costner’s 2-Part Epic Civil War Western Premieres In Cannes Soon at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Trailer: Kevin Costner’s 2-Part Epic Civil War Western Premieres In Cannes Soon at The Playlist.
- 5/17/2024
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Olivier Assayas is back on the Croisette of the Cannes Film Festival, albeit at the Cannes Market. And the French auteur’s next project is easily one of the buzziest packages at the festival so far. Variety reports Assayas’ next film will be “The Wizard Of The Kremlin,” which sees the director reunite with “Irma Vep” star Alicia Vikander for a political thriller in the vein of “Carlos” and “The Wasp Network.”
Read More: Cannes Film Festival 2024 Preview: 22 Must-See Films To Watch
Based on Giuliano da Empoli‘s 2022 book of the same name, “The Wizard Of The Kremlin” centers on the life and rise to power of Vladimir Putin’s infamous advisor and spin doctor Vadim Baranov.
Continue reading ‘The Wizard Of The Kremlin’: Olivier Assayas’ Next Film Stars Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis & Tom Sturridge at The Playlist.
Read More: Cannes Film Festival 2024 Preview: 22 Must-See Films To Watch
Based on Giuliano da Empoli‘s 2022 book of the same name, “The Wizard Of The Kremlin” centers on the life and rise to power of Vladimir Putin’s infamous advisor and spin doctor Vadim Baranov.
Continue reading ‘The Wizard Of The Kremlin’: Olivier Assayas’ Next Film Stars Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis & Tom Sturridge at The Playlist.
- 5/17/2024
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
Now that Megalopolis has premiered, nothing has actually changed. The film is a self-consciously impractical act that few would care nearly as much about if it weren’t very publicly known to have cost $120 million of Francis Ford Coppola’s personal money. That’s the kind of extravagant gesture you don’t get to ever see on this scale, and hence destined to be praised for being willed into existence amidst a sea of algorithimically conceived risk-aversion—or, alternately, decried as a hubristic folly in the trades with a palpable subtext of “how dare he?” Megalopolis is praiseworthy for mostly predictable reasons: lavish eccentricity, […]
The post Cannes 2024: Megalopolis first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Cannes 2024: Megalopolis first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/17/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Reflecting the breadth of Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton’s vast network and friendships, an impressive roster of film industry players flocked to celebrate him as he received Variety‘s International Visionary Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.
Attendees included CAA’s co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, who said a few words about Capton on stage, as well as AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford, SPC’s Tom Bernard, Netflix’s Larry Tanz and Pauline Dauvin, and Mediawan executives including Elisabeth d’Arvieu and Justine Planchon. The event also gathered star producers within Mediawan’s galaxy, from Hugo Selignac (Chi-Fou-Mi) to Dimitri Rassam (Chapter 2), Matthias Weber (2425 Films) and Federica Sainte-Rose (Blue Morning Pictures), and entertainment attorney Elsa Huisman. There were also leaders from the various streamers, such as Sahar Baghery and Thomas Dubois from Amazon Prime Video in France and Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce from Netflix, among others.
The Variety award coincides...
Attendees included CAA’s co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, who said a few words about Capton on stage, as well as AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford, SPC’s Tom Bernard, Netflix’s Larry Tanz and Pauline Dauvin, and Mediawan executives including Elisabeth d’Arvieu and Justine Planchon. The event also gathered star producers within Mediawan’s galaxy, from Hugo Selignac (Chi-Fou-Mi) to Dimitri Rassam (Chapter 2), Matthias Weber (2425 Films) and Federica Sainte-Rose (Blue Morning Pictures), and entertainment attorney Elsa Huisman. There were also leaders from the various streamers, such as Sahar Baghery and Thomas Dubois from Amazon Prime Video in France and Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce from Netflix, among others.
The Variety award coincides...
- 5/17/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety - Film News
Francis Ford Coppola has done well at Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or twice, for “The Conversation” (1974) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), another film mired in controversy during production that sailed into release as a critical and box office success ($85 million worldwide), nominated for eight Oscars and winning two. Now the winemaker is back in Cannes with controversial “Megalopolis,” a 2 hour, 18 minute movie which he debuted at a gala premiere Thursday night to the usual sustained standing ovation (measured between seven and 10 minutes). There were a few boos at the press screening. He had dreamed of making the overstuffed extravaganza for 40 years since he wrote early versions of it in the ‘80s, but finally spent $120 million of his own money to produce and direct it.
Coppola faced drama on the set. He replaced VFX and art department members over clashes in filmmaking methods. Adam Driver, who plays a Robert Moses-style builder who...
Coppola faced drama on the set. He replaced VFX and art department members over clashes in filmmaking methods. Adam Driver, who plays a Robert Moses-style builder who...
- 5/17/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
How can you be a leader to your people if you’re on the run from them? It’s a fascinating question, one that could serve as the basis for a great book or film, but one that’s hard to embed in a six-part mini-series, a format that proves the wrong one for the story of how a fake movie played a role in the life of Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton.
Continue reading ‘The Big Cigar’ Review: Great André Holland Performance Gets Lost in Cluttered Apple Mini-Series at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Big Cigar’ Review: Great André Holland Performance Gets Lost in Cluttered Apple Mini-Series at The Playlist.
- 5/17/2024
- by Brian Tallerico
- The Playlist
Timothée Chalamet is making his Martin Scorsese cinematic debut in Scorseses “most difficult” project yet.
The Oscar-nominated actor leads the Bleu de Chanel men’s fragrance campaign for Chanel, with auteur Scorsese helming the latest commercial. Actress Havana Liu Rose co-stars in the sultry campaign that captures an obsessive young love story. The logline reads: “An actor’s conflict between celebrity and staying true to himself. A dialogue between Timothée Chalamet’s artistic sensibility and Martin Scorsese’s virtuosity.”
Chalamet told GQ in conversation with Scorsese that the ad is “not evocative of other commercials […] in a good way,” adding that he didn’t want audiences to “feel like it’s a product.”
Scorsese called helming a commercial an “intense” process. The “Killers of the Flower Moon” director, whose latest feature is three-and-a-half-hours long, explained why making a one-minute ad is even more challenging as a director.
“To think in...
The Oscar-nominated actor leads the Bleu de Chanel men’s fragrance campaign for Chanel, with auteur Scorsese helming the latest commercial. Actress Havana Liu Rose co-stars in the sultry campaign that captures an obsessive young love story. The logline reads: “An actor’s conflict between celebrity and staying true to himself. A dialogue between Timothée Chalamet’s artistic sensibility and Martin Scorsese’s virtuosity.”
Chalamet told GQ in conversation with Scorsese that the ad is “not evocative of other commercials […] in a good way,” adding that he didn’t want audiences to “feel like it’s a product.”
Scorsese called helming a commercial an “intense” process. The “Killers of the Flower Moon” director, whose latest feature is three-and-a-half-hours long, explained why making a one-minute ad is even more challenging as a director.
“To think in...
- 5/17/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Back in the Old Days, sequels and franchises used to be anathema in Hollywood. The conventional wisdom was that no audience wanted to see more of a story that had already reached its conclusion, and that a "part two" or more didn't make as much money at the box office as an original work did.
Except, that is, within the horror genre. Universal Pictures discovered pretty early on in cinema's history that audiences would be down with seeing their spooky pals on screen as much as possible, and thus Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and others made return visits in the '30s and '40s. However, each of these sequels sought to be as unique as possible, with very few merely rehashing what had come before, and the concept of continuity or lore was essentially tossed aside at will.
Now we live in a cinematic age where IP rules the day,...
Except, that is, within the horror genre. Universal Pictures discovered pretty early on in cinema's history that audiences would be down with seeing their spooky pals on screen as much as possible, and thus Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and others made return visits in the '30s and '40s. However, each of these sequels sought to be as unique as possible, with very few merely rehashing what had come before, and the concept of continuity or lore was essentially tossed aside at will.
Now we live in a cinematic age where IP rules the day,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
What makes for a Cannes Palme d’Or winner? Ignore the critics, because it’s up to the jury, this year led by president Greta Gerwig, to decide.
While far-flung prognosticators might consult the ever-updating Screen Daily international critics’ grid for the writing on the walls, predicting winners is more about assessing the makeup and tastes of the jury. Screening 22 films are filmmakers like J.A. Bayona, Nadine Labaki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, plus actors like Lily Gladstone, Ebru Ceylan, Eva Green, and Omar Sy. Though past Palme d’Or winners indicate jurors respond to emotion, more recent winners have been less typically audience-pleasing. Last year’s Palme d’Or recipient, “Anatomy of a Fall,” was hardly an overwhelmingly emotional movie, but its smart screenplay and great performances took it beyond Cannes all the way to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar win (for director Justine Triet and her partner and co-writer Arthur Harari...
While far-flung prognosticators might consult the ever-updating Screen Daily international critics’ grid for the writing on the walls, predicting winners is more about assessing the makeup and tastes of the jury. Screening 22 films are filmmakers like J.A. Bayona, Nadine Labaki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, plus actors like Lily Gladstone, Ebru Ceylan, Eva Green, and Omar Sy. Though past Palme d’Or winners indicate jurors respond to emotion, more recent winners have been less typically audience-pleasing. Last year’s Palme d’Or recipient, “Anatomy of a Fall,” was hardly an overwhelmingly emotional movie, but its smart screenplay and great performances took it beyond Cannes all the way to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar win (for director Justine Triet and her partner and co-writer Arthur Harari...
- 5/17/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Cannes film festival
There isn’t much plot in Tyler Taormina’s very charming and rich movie about one huge family’s festivities, but it’s engrossing, exalted even
At first glance, there’s some reason to be suspicious of this film, with its possible nepo shenanigans. It’s about an extended blue collar family with a tinge of crime … and it features Francesca Scorsese, daughter of Martin. It’s also about the teeming warmth of a suburban American home, whose inhabitants seem on the verge of something epiphanic … and it features Sawyer Spielberg, son of Steven. But for all the influence-anxiety that anything like this carries with it, this is a very charming and rich movie, teeming with ambient detail, from very original and distinctive film-maker Tyler Taormina, whose previous picture Ham on Rye I very much admired.
Despite or because of the fact that almost nothing really happens in any conventionally dramatic sense,...
There isn’t much plot in Tyler Taormina’s very charming and rich movie about one huge family’s festivities, but it’s engrossing, exalted even
At first glance, there’s some reason to be suspicious of this film, with its possible nepo shenanigans. It’s about an extended blue collar family with a tinge of crime … and it features Francesca Scorsese, daughter of Martin. It’s also about the teeming warmth of a suburban American home, whose inhabitants seem on the verge of something epiphanic … and it features Sawyer Spielberg, son of Steven. But for all the influence-anxiety that anything like this carries with it, this is a very charming and rich movie, teeming with ambient detail, from very original and distinctive film-maker Tyler Taormina, whose previous picture Ham on Rye I very much admired.
Despite or because of the fact that almost nothing really happens in any conventionally dramatic sense,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
(Baby) It’s cold outside. Strings of gaudy rainbow lights twinkle from gables. In cozy living rooms, grandmothers and great aunts doze in their chairs while middle-aged siblings bicker and booze it up around the dining table. Little kids squirm in makeshift beds trying to stay awake for Santa, while truculent teenagers sneak out into the suburban night to do secret teenager things. Ok, so there are no chestnuts roasting on an open fire — instead there is a salad bowl full to the gluttonous brim with red and green M&Ms — but in almost every other respect Tyler Taormina’s delightful stocking-stuffer “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” is as alive to the domesticated magic of holiday tradition as any Nat King Cole seasonal classic. And probably even more so: Taormina’s fondly multivalent, Millennial-Norman-Rockwell perspective incorporates a child’s experience of the holiday, overlaid with a teen’s...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety - Film News
Like any Christmas film worth the time it took to wrap, Tyler Taormina’s wry but melancholy “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” has a bone-deep understanding of why all the best holidays are so painfully bittersweet: They bring the evanescence of our lives into focus, crystallizing the passage of time, while slowing it down just enough for us to appreciate how much of it has already melted into memory. Unlike the rest of its way too crowded genre, Taormina’s contribution has precious little interest in doing anything else.
And god bless this movie for that, because its tinselly charm depends on conjuring a feeling so pure and hyper-specific that even the slightest flurry of a plot might threaten to dilute the effect. Even more so than Taormina’s previous features, “Christmas in Miller’s Point” is just happy to be an immaculately conceived vibe.
Instead of scenes, there are fleeting glimpses.
And god bless this movie for that, because its tinselly charm depends on conjuring a feeling so pure and hyper-specific that even the slightest flurry of a plot might threaten to dilute the effect. Even more so than Taormina’s previous features, “Christmas in Miller’s Point” is just happy to be an immaculately conceived vibe.
Instead of scenes, there are fleeting glimpses.
- 5/17/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has selected 44 projects for its 2024 spring grants cycle, including Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes next Wednesday, May 22.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has divided Screen International’s Cannes jury grid critics, receiving an average score of 2.1.
The sci-fi epic from the veteran director scored five threes (good) and four ones (bad) with three critics giving it twos (average).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Adam Driver leads Coppola’s latest feature as an architect trying to rebuild New York. Other cast include Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Shia Labeouf and Nathalie Emmanuel.
Also landing on the jury grid was Andrea Arnold’s Bird with an average score of 2.4. The surrealist drama received five threes and five twos,...
The sci-fi epic from the veteran director scored five threes (good) and four ones (bad) with three critics giving it twos (average).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Adam Driver leads Coppola’s latest feature as an architect trying to rebuild New York. Other cast include Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Shia Labeouf and Nathalie Emmanuel.
Also landing on the jury grid was Andrea Arnold’s Bird with an average score of 2.4. The surrealist drama received five threes and five twos,...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Tennis champion Naomi Osaka’s company Hana Kuma has boarded Leonardo Van Dijl’s debut feature “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere May 18 in Cannes Critics’ Week. The film is being sold by New Europe Film Sales.
Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid are behind Hana Kuma, an Emmy Award-nominated creative house, and will serve as executive producers on the film.
“Julie Keeps Quiet” tells the story of Julie, the star player at an elite tennis academy whose life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet.
“I’m so excited to be joining the incredible team on this film with a subject matter that resonates so deeply with me and Hana Kuma,” said Osaka. “Leonardo is an incredible...
Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid are behind Hana Kuma, an Emmy Award-nominated creative house, and will serve as executive producers on the film.
“Julie Keeps Quiet” tells the story of Julie, the star player at an elite tennis academy whose life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet.
“I’m so excited to be joining the incredible team on this film with a subject matter that resonates so deeply with me and Hana Kuma,” said Osaka. “Leonardo is an incredible...
- 5/17/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety - Film News
Ascended rock deity David Bowie appeared on TV and in movies as early as 1968, only shortly after the release of his first record. His first leading performance came in 1972 with the release of Nicolas Roeg's sci-fi satire "The Man Who Fell to Earth," a film about an alien who comes to Earth and becomes distracted by drugs, TV, and other unhealthy creature comforts. Bowie later played himself in Uli Edel's harrowing 1981 J.D. flick "Christiane F.," in addition to starring in the smoky vampire film "The Hunger" and terse Pow drama "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." A younger generation fell in love with Bowie because of 1986's puppet film "Labyrinth," while he was cleverly cast as Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ."
In 1993, when director Renny Harlin was preparing to make his mountainside actioner and Sylvester Stallone vehicle "Cliffhanger," he very much wanted Bowie to play the film's villain.
In 1993, when director Renny Harlin was preparing to make his mountainside actioner and Sylvester Stallone vehicle "Cliffhanger," he very much wanted Bowie to play the film's villain.
- 5/17/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
AGC Intl., the international sales arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, is launching sales in Cannes on director Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary feature “Nobu,” about world renowned chef and hotelier Nobu Matsuhisa.
Nobu’s path to success was strewn with obstacles, adversity and tragedy. His story will be uncovered by Tyrnauer, the former editor-at-large at Vanity Fair, with exclusive access to Nobu, his global empire, and his key collaborators, friends and famous fans.
Tyrnauer’s films have included “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for documentary feature; the Emmy-nominated multi-part series “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” about the man behind the commercial empire and his hidden ties to Jeffrey Epstein; “Where’s My Roy Cohn?,” about the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump; “Studio 54,” about the famed New York City nightclub that became a cultural phenomenon; “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood,” about...
Nobu’s path to success was strewn with obstacles, adversity and tragedy. His story will be uncovered by Tyrnauer, the former editor-at-large at Vanity Fair, with exclusive access to Nobu, his global empire, and his key collaborators, friends and famous fans.
Tyrnauer’s films have included “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for documentary feature; the Emmy-nominated multi-part series “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” about the man behind the commercial empire and his hidden ties to Jeffrey Epstein; “Where’s My Roy Cohn?,” about the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump; “Studio 54,” about the famed New York City nightclub that became a cultural phenomenon; “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood,” about...
- 5/17/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety - Film News
Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to Sylvester Stallone (“Tulsa King”) action thriller “Alarum” from Highland Film Group.
The feature is produced and financed by Convergence Entertainment Group (“Cash Out”) and is directed by Michael Polish (“Force of Nature”) from a script written by Alexander Vesha (“Deadly Impact”). The film stars Scott Eastwood (“Fast X”) and Stallone.
“Alarum” follows retired assassin couple Joe and Lara Travers, who are in hiding at a holiday resort in Belize when a plane crashes nearby. After retrieving a top-secret flash drive from the crash, the couple are pulled back into their shadowy past, fending off government operatives determined to retrieve the drive.
The deal was negotiated between Signature’s chief commercial officer Elizabeth Williams and Highland Film Group’s president of international sales Todd Olsson. Highland Film Group is handling international rights to the actioner.
“Everyone loves the legend that...
The feature is produced and financed by Convergence Entertainment Group (“Cash Out”) and is directed by Michael Polish (“Force of Nature”) from a script written by Alexander Vesha (“Deadly Impact”). The film stars Scott Eastwood (“Fast X”) and Stallone.
“Alarum” follows retired assassin couple Joe and Lara Travers, who are in hiding at a holiday resort in Belize when a plane crashes nearby. After retrieving a top-secret flash drive from the crash, the couple are pulled back into their shadowy past, fending off government operatives determined to retrieve the drive.
The deal was negotiated between Signature’s chief commercial officer Elizabeth Williams and Highland Film Group’s president of international sales Todd Olsson. Highland Film Group is handling international rights to the actioner.
“Everyone loves the legend that...
- 5/17/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety - Film News
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his film Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola said he thinks that the traditional US studios may not survive in the future.
He said: “I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt. And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations.
“New companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft have plenty of money, so it might be that the...
He said: “I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt. And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations.
“New companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft have plenty of money, so it might be that the...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Director Renny Harlin has made some of your favorite movies. He's also made some total stinkers. And the beauty of speaking to the filmmaker -- who has carved out a unique niche across horror and action cinema for past four decades -- is that he's completely aware of it. Here is a director who has been around long enough, who has seen every facet of the filmmaking machine from all possible angles, that he's willing to be straight-up honest about it. Like anyone with a filmography this large (and this wild), he has stories to share.
When I sat down with Harlin over Zoom to chat about his new movie, the horror reboot "The Strangers: Chapter 1," I hoped we could talk about his entire filmography. But 30 jam-packed minutes later, my time was up, and the sheer number of noteworthy movies we didn't get to was astonishing. But we did...
When I sat down with Harlin over Zoom to chat about his new movie, the horror reboot "The Strangers: Chapter 1," I hoped we could talk about his entire filmography. But 30 jam-packed minutes later, my time was up, and the sheer number of noteworthy movies we didn't get to was astonishing. But we did...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jacob Hall
- Slash Film
Francis Ford Coppola shared his thoughts on the current studio system during the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his self-financed epic “Megalopolis,” saying that they might not be around much longer.
“I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt. And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations,” Coppola said in response to a question from Variety. “Obviously, new companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft, they have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long, some wonderful ones, are not to be here in the future anymore.”
The presser also veered into the political, with Coppola being asked if the film is a commentary on Donald Trump,...
“I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt. And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations,” Coppola said in response to a question from Variety. “Obviously, new companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft, they have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long, some wonderful ones, are not to be here in the future anymore.”
The presser also veered into the political, with Coppola being asked if the film is a commentary on Donald Trump,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Matt Donnelly, Ellise Shafer and Tatiana Siegel
- Variety - Film News
Variety will present a Women in Cinema Panel at the Cannes Film Festival in tandem with the Red Sea International Film Festival featuring top talents from Egypt, India, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.
The panel will take place at La Plage Des Palmes on Saturday, May 18, at 12pm Cet.
Below is a complete list of panelists:
Salma Abu Deif is an Egyptian actress and model who both produced and played the lead role in “A Nose and Three Eyes” that screened at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival.
Kiara Advani has starred in seven global blockbusters, including critically acclaimed “Shershaah.” She is set to appear in “Game Changer,” directed by S. Shankar, and “War 2” alongside Hrithik Roshan and in “Don 3” alongside Ranveer Singh.
Sarocha Chankimha (Aka Freen) is a Thai actress, model and singer, who in 2022 appeared in “Secret Crush” on “You and Gap: The Series,” which gained...
The panel will take place at La Plage Des Palmes on Saturday, May 18, at 12pm Cet.
Below is a complete list of panelists:
Salma Abu Deif is an Egyptian actress and model who both produced and played the lead role in “A Nose and Three Eyes” that screened at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival.
Kiara Advani has starred in seven global blockbusters, including critically acclaimed “Shershaah.” She is set to appear in “Game Changer,” directed by S. Shankar, and “War 2” alongside Hrithik Roshan and in “Don 3” alongside Ranveer Singh.
Sarocha Chankimha (Aka Freen) is a Thai actress, model and singer, who in 2022 appeared in “Secret Crush” on “You and Gap: The Series,” which gained...
- 5/17/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety - Film News
Buenos Aires-based production, sales and distribution company FilmSharks has picked up all worldwide rights to the new crime thriller by Argentina’s Sebastian Schindel, “A Silent Death” (Una muerte silenciosa”), to which it has sold Latin American theatrical rights to Disney’s Star Distribution, slated for release later in the year.
Said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud: “This is likely to become one of the biggest Latin American films of the year. Sebastian Schindel has earned his stripes as the Master of Crime after the huge international success of his films ‘The Boss,’ ‘Anatomy of a Crime,’ ‘Crimes that Bind’ and ‘The Wrath of God.’”
“There is a huge appetite for crime films across all platforms,” noted Rud who also holds the remake rights to the film.
Starring Joaquín Furriel, Soledad Villamil (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) Alejandro Awada (“Nine Queens”) and Maria Marull (“Wild Tales”), the psychological thriller is...
Said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud: “This is likely to become one of the biggest Latin American films of the year. Sebastian Schindel has earned his stripes as the Master of Crime after the huge international success of his films ‘The Boss,’ ‘Anatomy of a Crime,’ ‘Crimes that Bind’ and ‘The Wrath of God.’”
“There is a huge appetite for crime films across all platforms,” noted Rud who also holds the remake rights to the film.
Starring Joaquín Furriel, Soledad Villamil (“The Secret in Their Eyes”) Alejandro Awada (“Nine Queens”) and Maria Marull (“Wild Tales”), the psychological thriller is...
- 5/17/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety - Film News
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. CAA Media Finance is handling North America.
“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,...
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. CAA Media Finance is handling North America.
“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,...
- 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
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