Will Smith shared new details about “I Am Legend 2,” which he stars in and produces alongside Michael B. Jordan, on Saturday night at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The upcoming sequel is based on the alternate ending used in the 2007 post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie’s DVD release, rather than its
Month: December 2023
It’s not hard to find on the internet: a group photo from a Grammy Museum workshop that featured Stevie Nicks as the guest teacher, circa 2011. She’s surrounded by musicians, executives and a few hopeful young musicians — including a young Billie Eilish and Finneas, who were 9 and 13 at the time, and have
Mark Shelmerdine, the BAFTA L.A. co-founder and producer who is credited with reviving Alexandra Korda’s London Films, died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness. He was 78. Shelmerdine was diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016. After being treated in a trial program between Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer
Asmae El Moudir’s “The Mother of All Lies” won top honors at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday, marking festival history as the first Moroccan film to claim the top trophy, while adding Marrakech’s Étoile d’Or to a list of accolades that also includes best director from Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and best film from
Noburu is 10 and living in Brazil with a budding curiosity surrounding his Japanese heritage. With an inquisitive enthusiasm, he approaches his grandfather Hideo, reluctant to share tales of his difficult years assimilating to a new country. The two begin an arduous journey towards reconnection and learn critical lessons about one another in the process.
BUENOS AIRES — Holding a captive audience, Laura Gouthez, president of the French video game association SO-Games, spoke about the present state of the industry and its forward trajectory in a casual discussion hosted Wednesday by Maquinitas, the games sidebar that runs in tandem with the Ventana Sur market. Located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the association of video
“House of the Dragon” is heating back up, as HBO has released a trailer for the second season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel series. Season 2 promises even more dragon warfare, as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower’s forces go head to head — well, dragon to dragon. The trailer shows Daemon Targaryen suiting up
Buenos Aires-based Boutique sales agency Compañía de Cine has snagged “Pirópolis,” Chilean Nicolás Molina’s docu selected as part of Ventana Sur’s Doc Sur sidebar. Compañía de Cine’s deal with its producers Funky Films and Pequén Prods. caps a triumphant festival trajectory for “Pirópolis,” which has played in a number of film events, including Docs in
Viral revivals are a hallmark of the streaming era, with songs regularly springing back to life years — sometimes decades — after they were first released. Miguel’s “Sure Thing” is an aberration. Rolled out as a single in 2011, the romantic ballad cracked Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and crowned the R&B chart.
Country music hasn’t had a huge presence in the mainstream top 10 since Florida Georgia Line provided a couple of big crossover blips in 2014 and 2017 with “Cruise” and “Meant to Be.” But that changed in triplicate in 2023 with three Nashville exports— the well-established Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, plus a blazing-hot newcomer,
Habanero Film Sales has snapped up documentary “I Trust You” (“En vos confio”) from Juan Pablo Gugliotta and Nathalia Videla Peña’s Magma Cine (“The Distinguished Citizen,” “1976”) in one of the more significant of multiple deals struck at a hectic Ventana Sur (VS) in Buenos Aires. Directed by Agustin Toscano, whose “The Owners” and “The Snatch
It’s a busy year for the Red Sea Souk, the market arm of the Red Sea Film Festival dedicated to discovering new Arab and African talent. The same could have been said of every year of the market’s three-year history, however, with Saudi Arabia’s lightning-fast film industry solidifying the Souk as the principal film market
“Reacher” has been renewed for Season 3 at Amazon‘s Prime Video. The announcement was made during the Prime Video panel at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil. The news comes ahead of the Season 2 premiere of the action series, which is due to debut on Dec. 15. Series star Alan Ritchson made the announcement via
On the heels of the “Gen V” Season 1 finale, “The Boys” are back! The first trailer for Season 4 of Prime Video very R-rated superhero show released on Saturday. The last time we saw “The Boys,” they were dealing with the fallout from their battle with Homelander (Antony Starr) and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles).
Laura Karpman is one of very few composers who has made a genuine difference in the scoring community. A five-time Emmy winner, she co-founded the Alliance for Women Film Composers, which is widely credited with helping to propel the nearly invisible community of female music writers into prominence. No one asks “why aren’t there any
“Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” is taking over the box office after grossing $11.5 million on its opening day from 2,539 locations, a figure that includes a strong $5.1 million in Thursday previews. Putting that next to the massive October debut of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” it’s shaping up to be the first year
Kidnap thriller “Fourth Wall” and romance story “Chasing Red” are the first two titles to be shot at Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla as part of its partnership with Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures. The film entity, which is looking to attract international productions to a spectacular swathe of northwest Saudi, recently announced its partnership with Stampede
Susan Sarandon issued an apology for controversial comments she made at a pro-Palestine rally in New York last month. At the Nov. 17 rally, the actor had said, “There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels
Original TV series based on Arab and Muslim characters are beginning to go global, a Netflix executive said Saturday at the Red Sea Film Festival. Ahmed Sharkawi, director of Arab content, Netflix Europe, Middle East and Africa, said that a new, distinctive voice was emerging from the region. “Recently, a friend called me and her
Netflix has boarded Saudi Arabian multi-hyphenate Fatima Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” which tackles the theme of mental illness in her country. The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway. Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi – who
Egypt’s Oscar submission “Voy! Voy! Voy!,” from director-writer-producer Omar Hilal, is a blackly comic look at migration viewed through the lens of a conman pretending to be visually impaired in order to play in the Blind Football World Cup. The fast-paced, entertaining film makes its Moroccan debut in the Special Screenings section of the Marrakech
Prolific Singaporean filmmaker Kelvin Tong‘s latest feature “A Year Of No Significance,” which has its world premiere at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), mourns the loss of a generation. Set in Singapore in 1979, the film chronicles the gradual disintegration of a middle-aged architect as changes rock the 45th year of his life.
Kidnap thriller “Fourth Wall” and romance story “Chasing Red” are the first two titles to be shot at Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla as part of its partnership with Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures. The film entity, which is looking to attract international productions to a spectacular swathe of northwest Saudi, recently announced its partnership with Stampede Ventures
Play video content TMZ.com Robert Glasper is all pumped up to face Chris Brown at the Grammy Awards once again .. and tells us he’s open to challenging his R&B category competitor to a dance-off!!! TMZ Hip Hop linked up with Robert this week, where the reigning “Best R&B Album” winner laughed off his past
In body-swap comedies, the acting is its own kind of brazen put-on fun. Adult actors get to channel their inner innocent kid; young actors get to channel their “serious” adult. And that’s why, ever since the original “Freaky Friday” (1976) brought this genre into being, it’s been marked by instances of true Hollywood artistry, like
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing delivered an electrifying masterclass to a sold-out ballroom full of screaming fans at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands on Friday. The in-conversation event was part of the 34th Singapore International Film Festival where Fan is the recipient of this year’s Cinema Icon Award. The festival is screening three of Fan’s films, curated
A movie directed by the berserk “Muppet Show” character known as Animal couldn’t be any more unruly than Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s new film of that title. This sporadically fun but exhausting hot mess provides 202 minutes of hyperventilating overkill for star Ranbir Kapoor as a tycoon’s favorite son whose anger-management (as well as daddy) issues
Mexican Rigoberto Pérezcano’s “Lovers Fare Goodbye,” a poignant, exquisitely shot tale of star-crossed young love dominated prizes at Primer Corte, Ventana Sur’s key arthouse pic competition. The prize and dozens of others were announced Friday at Latin America’s most important film-TV mart-meet. Organizers confirmed a total Ventana Sur attendance of 4,300 delegates, some 30% up
Are multiverses consistent with Christian theology? Personally, I have my doubts, but in Angel Studios’ religious-minded sci-fi thriller “The Shift,” the notion that there could be infinite parallel realities offers an original, outside-the-box model to test its main character’s faith. Here’s how it works: A churchgoing man named Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) meets and marries his
6.1 million viewers tuned in to see who Gerry Turner would propose to on Thursday night after two month of wooing women of a certain age. That marks not only a series high, but the most-watched episode of any series in the “Bachelor” franchise since the conclusion of Matt James’ season in 2021. When “The