Month: August 2022

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to the coming-of-age thriller “Hysteria!” The series hails from writer and executive producer Matthew Kane. Chris Bender and Jake Weiner of Good Fear will also executive produce. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the writers and directors of the upcoming film “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” will direct
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John Legend revealed on the most recent episode of “The Axe Files” podcast that he and Kanye West are no longer close friends after the two had a falling out over West’s politics. Speaking to host David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, Legend said he disagreed with West’s decisions to support Donald
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Hong Kong boy band Mirror has pulled out of Japan’s Summer Sonic festival, organizers confirmed, while investigations continue into last week’s horrific incident that severely injured two dancers on stage during a live concert in their hometown. Summer Sonic announced on Friday that the 12-piece group has canceled the performance at the festival’s Tokyo Pacific
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MTV has announced the first round of performers for the 2022 VMAs, taking place live from New Jersey’s Prudential Center on Sunday, August 28th at 8PM ET/PT. Anitta, J Balvin, Marshmello x Khalid and Panic! at the Disco are the first round of announced artists, with more to follow in the coming weeks. Brazilian singer Anitta, who played a vivid 45-minute
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“Batgirl” co-director Adil El Arbi revealed on Instagram that several high-profile Hollywood names have reached out to him and fellow “Batgirl” director Bilall Fallah in the aftermath of Warner Bros. shelving their comic book movie. The studio announced Aug. 2 that the $90 million “Batgirl” film would not be released in theaters or on HBO
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Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Runner,” by director Marian Mathias, which will have its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Already sparking upbeat word of mouth, “Runner” follows Haas (Hannah Schiller), an 18-year-old girl who was raised by her
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Agustí Villaronga, one of the most versatile of higher-profile Spanish auteurs, is attached to direct “Purgatory,” a project which will be presented at Locarno’s Match Me! Event by Nati Escobar at Spain’s Galápagos Media. “Purgatory” turns on Father Tomás, a scholar of ancient history and biblical theology sent to a remote sanatorium as a penance
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New York and London-based TV and film investment fund APX Group has partnered with L.A.’s Decentralized Pictures (DCP) on a crypto currency scheme to help finance projects by up and coming directors. The initiative is being unveiled at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. APX, which is headed by American-Israeli businessman Adi Cohen, has become active recently
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The rules of engagement between U.S. studios and streamers and European producers are starting to change. That was a key takeaway from the Locarno Film Festival’s StepIN think tank on the state of the indie film industry, where on Wednesday some 50 European and international invited industry players participated in a daylong event involving working
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Paramount+ has unveiled a slate of exclusive acquisitions for the U.K. and Ireland including Keshet’s “La Brea” from NBCUniversal Global Distribution and “Minx,” starring Jake Johnson and Ophelia Lovibond. “La Brea” is a survival thriller in which citizens battle for survival after they’re pulled into a mysterious land via a Los Angeles sinkhole while “Minx”
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For its 50th edition unspooling Aug. 20-26, Norway’s top film event, the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, will be treating its 400-plus international guests and local audiences with a beefed-up onsite program of 72 feature length films and 19 shorts. “We’ve had more films to choose from than ever before, “says festival honcho Tonje Hardersen
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As a newcomer to Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series “The Sandman” (cue diehard fans immediately clicking out of this review, and fair enough!), I came to Netflix’s adaptation with an open mind and curious eye. Knowing this 1989 title had spawned onscreen spinoffs of “Sandman” characters — “Lucifer,” “Constantine,” etcetera — but never one
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Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based media giant RTL Group, which owns Fremantle, has declared revenue of €3.26 billion ($3.35 billion) for the first half of 2022, a growth of 9% from the corresponding period in 2021. The RTL Group has interests in 56 television channels, eight streaming services and 36 radio stations. The group’s content business, Fremantle, is
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There’s a new giant in town, or at least at Locarno’s Match Me!, one of the festival’s biggest industry initiatives. For years, by a large head, France has had more titles at the Locarno Festival’s two biggest sections, the Piazza Grande showcase and main International Competition than any other country in the world. 2022 is
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For the tenth time in 11 years, the Locarno Film Festival is hosting 10 international film critics from various stages of development during the 10 days of the A-list Swiss festival. Coming from places as far from the Swiss resort town as Bangalore, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta, and from an even more varied matrix of
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Matt Dillon might have been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Locarno on Thursday, but he still has “stuff to do.” And he wants you to know that. “The first thing I thought was: ‘Oh wow, that’s really nice.’ And then: ‘I don’t feel like I am done just yet!’,” Dillon tells Variety ahead of the ceremony.
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