Month: April 2022

Working on “Our Flag Means Death,” a half-hour comedy now streaming on HBO Max, production designer Ra Vincent was excited for the challenge of crafting “a theatrical play … on the high sea.” Concept art by Ra Vincent, reunited with collaborator Taika Waititi Ra Vincent A fictionalized account of reallife 18th-century “gentleman pirate” Stede Bonnet
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Canvas Media Studios and MarVista Entertainment have hammered out a six-film slate deal that will be focused on identifying diverse, first-time and up-and-coming writers and directors. The agreement will involve fully financed completed titles with a pre-buy distribution commitment from MarVista Entertainment, which will also oversee global distribution for all films produced under the partnership.
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Curiously unadventurous for a sex-positive teen romantic comedy, Sammi Cohen’s “Crush” centers its premise on an age-old recipe: an emotionally bemused heroine desperately pursues her supposed soul mate, when her ultimate the one has been right under her nose all along. Still, predictability isn’t the real deficit of this well-meaning and progressive Hulu original that
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Elisabeth Moss addressed her religious ties to the Church of Scientology in more detail than usual during an interview with The New Yorker. The “Mad Men” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” actor has been a Scientologist since before she was a teenager but has rarely spoken about her relationship to the group in press interviews. “I
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Alex Winter (“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”) and Patton Oswalt (“Young Adult”) are set to appear in martial arts drama “Absolute Dominion” for Netflix. “The Porter’s” Oluniké Adeliyi, “Better Call Saul’s” Julie Ann Emery and “Jerry Maguire’s” Reagan Gomez will also star in the project. Helmed and written by stunt-woman turned director Lexi Alexander (“How
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“The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” star Simon Merrells and “We Hunt Together’s” Hermione Corfield will lead the sci-fi thriller “A Million Days.” Signature Entertainment (“Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts”) will introduce the film to buyers at next month’s Cannes Film Festival as part of its international sales slate. The film is the
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Sunil Rayan, president and head of Disney+ Hotstar India, has hailed the “tremendous strides” the streamer has made in its subscription offerings over the last two years. Disney+ Hotstar is the SVOD market leader in the country by some distance. Speaking at the Asia Video Industry Association’s Future of Video India conference on Friday, Rayan
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The Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival marked its long-awaited return to cinemas last night, opening its 29th edition in the historic Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema with the world premiere of Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal’s “Into the Weeds: Dewayne ‘Lee’ Johnson vs. Monsanto Company.” Sphere Films (formerly WaZabi Films) has worldwide sales rights (excluding
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Irish director Frankie Fenton explores the movement of global activists who believe nuclear power is our best hope to fight climate change in “Atomic Hope: Inside the Pro-Nuclear Movement,” which world premieres May 3 at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Paris-based documentary specialist Java Films, which is handling world sales on the film,
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Netflix India’s director, films and licensing, Pratiksha Rao, has welcomed the competition in the country’s crowded streaming space. Speaking at the Asia Video Industry Association’s Future of Video India conference on Friday, Rao was asked about competition, especially with rival Amazon Prime Video India announcing a massive 40-strong slate on Thursday and other players catering
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Charlotte Rampling starrer “Juniper” has been picked up by distributor Parkland Entertainment in the U.K. and Ireland. In “Juniper,” Rampling plays Ruth, a “funny, rude, fearless, flirtatious” grandmother who unexpectedly descends on her grandson Sam and his father after Sam is suspended from boarding school. For Sam, who is already struggling with suicidal thoughts, the
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“Peaky Blinders” star Aimee-Ffion Edwards and “This is Going to Hurt’s” Kadiff Kirwan are set to join season 2 of Apple TV+’s “Slow Horses,” Variety can exclusively reveal. Although it has not yet been confirmed which parts Edwards and Kirwan will play, season 2 of the show about a group of MI5 no-hopers is understood
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Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s foremost Canary Islands-based animation festival, is venturing deep into the metaverse with experts in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) joining leading voices in animation from major studios, including DreamWorks, Walt Disney, Skydance, Sony Pictures and Platige Image. Some 23 guests will be participating across 14 master classes, three
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José Luis López Linares’ “Goya, Carrière and the Ghost of Buñuel,” a portrait of French film great Jean-Claude Carrière, captured breaking down the paintings and personality of painter Francisco de Goya, has been acquired for international sales by Reservoir Docs. In its earliest sales, the doc feature has closed the two biggest markets in Europe
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Netflix has dropped the trailer for “Money Heist: Korea — Joint Economic Area,” a remake of its hit Spanish crime drama. The streamer also announced that the show will premiere on June 24. The 12-episode series is directed by Kim Hong-Sun (Voice, Black) and is headlined by high-profile actors, including Yoo Ji-tae (“Oldboy,””Healer”), Kim Yunjin
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Banijay U.K.’s Kudos has signed a creative partnership deal with “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight. Under the terms of the deal, Kudos will get a first look at future U.K. based projects originated by Knight and support the Birmingham film and TV industry. Kudos, the production company behind “Deadwater Fell” and “Grantchester,” is also producing
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Spain’s J.A. Bayona, director of “The Impossible” and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” is close to wrapping production on the Spanish leg of Netflix’s “Society of the Snow,” (“La sociedad de la nieve”), one of the Spanish-speaking world’s most ambitious upcoming features for 2023. Turning on a 1972 air crash in the Andes that forced its
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