Month: April 2023

Paris-based XR distributor Diversion Cinema has scooped up a pair of award-winning titles, adding director Singing Chen’s “The Man Who Couldn’t Leave,” and both director Thierry Loa’s “21-22 China” and his follow-up “21-22 USA” to a premium catalog of prestige immersive fare. Produced by The Walkers Films and Outland Film Production, “The Man Who Couldn’t
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Swiss auteur Simon Jaquemet’s “Electric Child” joins Ukrainian sci-fi comedy “U Are the Universe,” and “We Are Zombies,” from heavily rated Canadian trio RKSS, as three potential highlights at this year’s Cannes Marché du Film’s Frontières Platform, organized with the Fantasia Film Festival.  Focusing on genre, the Frontières showcase is emerging as one of the Marché
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Norwegian animation “Pesta,” directed by Hanne Berkaak, will head to the Frontières Platform in May. Directed at genre film professionals, the event is organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival with the Cannes’ Marché du Film. The film, set in 1349 during the outbreak of the Black Plague, will see two teenagers, Astrid and Eilev,
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APPOINTMENT Argonon Group, the parent company behind “The Masked Singer U.K.,” has appointed former Jupiter Entertainment executive VP Steve McGovern as COO of its U.S. business with a remit across Leopard USA, Rose Rock Entertainment and future U.S. operations including acquisitions. Argonon, a global production group headquartered in the U.K. and U.S., owns Scottish indie production
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A Coenesque caper-gone-wrong and an interactive mother-daughter saga told in bite-size form, XR titles “Kidnapped in Vostok” (pictured) and “Rock, Paper, Scissors” are among the 17 projects leading distributor Astrea picked up in a recent bout of acquisitions. Both titles are playing in competition at this year’s NewImages Festival, while other recent Astrea pickups include
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After putting the finishing touches on chapters two and three of motion-capture VR experience “Jailbirds” earlier this year, writer/director Thomas Villepoux will next adapt his tale of freedom and confinement into a feature, Variety has learned. Currently in development, the upcoming “Jailbirds” feature will nearly triple the runtime of a nearly finished short that Villepoux
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Jan Mojto’s Beta Cinema has announced first pre-sales for feature film “The Offing,” which will star and is executive produced by Helena Bonham Carter. Jessica Hobbs, who won an Emmy Award for “The Crown,” directs the U.K.-set English-language project. Distributors Curzon, Cineart and Madman joined forces and acquired all rights for U.K./Ireland, Benelux, and Australia/New
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NTR Jr, star of Oscar- and Golden Globe-winner “RRR,” will feature alongside Hrithik Roshan in “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe, Variety has confirmed. “War 2” will be directed by Ayan Mukerji, who previously helmed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva.” NTR Jr
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The Sydney Film Festival, which this year will celebrate its 70th edition, has unveiled its first dozen selections. Seven are feature films, five are documentaries. “The 2023 program will expand on this legacy, promising to ignite stimulating dialogues and present powerful ideas that will broaden audience perspectives,” said festival director Nashen Moodley. He noted that
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To stimulate travel to Singapore through TV series and films, the city state’s Infocomm Media Development Authority and the Singapore Tourism Board are launching a $7.53 million (S$10 million) fund. The fund will support selected projects by international media and entertainment companies. These must be set in Singapore and launched before the first quarter of
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Cinedigm has acquired all North American rights to the Japanese sci-fi horror film “New Religion.” “New Religion” is a surrealist body horror film written, directed and produced by first-time feature filmmaker Kondo Keishi. It stars Seto Kaho, Nunami Daiki, Oka Satoshi and Ryuseigun Saionji. After her daughter’s death, divorced Miyabi begins working as a call
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Pearls of wisdom and displays of affection were shared widely on Tuesday afternoon when honorees Judy Blume, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie Perez, Kelly Ripa and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez took the stage at Variety‘s Power of Women New York luncheon, presented by Lifetime, at midtown restaurant The Grill. While all five women touched on the key lessons
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“Hannibal” never should’ve worked on broadcast television. When it premiered a decade ago on April 4, 2013, NBC’s take on Hannibal Lecter (masterfully played by Mads Mikkelson) must have been Standards and Practices’ worst nightmare. Each episode presented audiences with brutal, blood-drenched killings that were artfully rendered, as if they were paintings sprawled across the
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WWE’s WrestleMania 39 delivered the highest weekend usage ever on Peacock. The two-night event was up 29% in hours viewed and 32% in reach compared to last year’s WrestleMania, Peacock announced Tuesday. The NBCUniversal-owned streamer also claims that WrestleMania 39 generated the most hours-watched of any live event on Peacock with the exception of the
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Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in film and television last year was Liam Neeson’s cameo appearance on “Atlanta.” The actor appeared in the fourth season episode “New Jazz” and poked fun at his 2019 racism controversy. The actor ignited outrage on his “Cold Pursuit” press tour in February 2019 after revealing his past reaction
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A “Cruel Intentions” TV adaptation has been ordered at Amazon, Variety has confirmed. Sources say Amazon has placed an eight-episode series order for a TV adaptation of the film which will likely be released through Freevee, Amazon’s free streaming service. Though it could potentially move to Prime Video. Amazon declined Variety’s request for comment. The
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Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are poised to clobber the box office competition as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” readies to power past the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game, which opens in 4,000 North American theaters on Wednesday, looks to collect a
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New York Times-bestselling novelist Curtis Sittenfeld broke out with her 2005 debut “Prep,” which unpacked the layered coming-of-age of a teenager at a private boarding school. Since then, she’s spun “Pride and Prejudice” for the 21st century with 2016’s “Eligible” and reimagined the fictional lives of Laura Bush in “American Wife” and Hillary Clinton in
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“Murder Mystery 2” was Netflix’s top film title after its March 31 debut. In its first three days of availability, the film took the title for Netflix’s second biggest opening weekend for a comedy film with over 42 million views. The sequel starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston earned 64.42 million hours viewed total during
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Amazon is developing a series version of the Philip K. Dick novel “Clans of the Alphane Moon,” Variety has learned exclusively. The project is being developed under Electric Shepherd Productions and Patrick Moran’s first look deals with Amazon Studios. Moran, via Patrick Moran Productions, is executive producing the project along with John Leguizamo, as well
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