Month: February 2024

The CGI animated sequel to “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness,” the hit adventure film based on the Dark Horse comics which sold around the world, has lured buyers ahead of the European Film Market. Titled “Chickenhare and the Very Very (Very) Old Groundhog,” the movie is budgeted at $23 million (a large budget by European production standards) and
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“The Bachelor” franchise is continuing to grow, with “The Golden Bachelorette” currently casting its lead and suitors — but that may not be the only spinoff in the works. With “The Golden Bachelor” proving that a very large older audience is watching, would the flagship — which usually casts men and women in their 20s
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In “The Housewife and the Hustler 2: The Reckoning,” Erika “Jayne” Girardi of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” meets the victims whom her estranged husband Tom Girardi allegedly defrauded over many years. It’s an awkward, and at times frosty and defensive encounter — and is the centerpiece of this new documentary that dropped
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As an alumna of “Saturday Night Live,” Kate McKinnon knows what it takes to come up with interesting characters. Now she will do so for a decidedly different format. The comic actor plans to launch a debut novel aimed at young-adult readers. “The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science” is
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“Barbenheimer” may be the gift that keeps on giving. After Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” ignited the summer box office, the blockbusters with twin release dates are bringing populist energy to the Oscars. Yet the one-two punch of “Barbie” ($1.445 billion globally) and “Oppenheimer” ($957 million), along with a valiant assist from Martin
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Margot Robbie‘s production company is making it official with the studio that backed the Oscar-nominated blockbuster “Barbie.” LuckyChap signed a multi-year, first-look feature film deal with Warner Bros. to collaborate on future projects. The pact follows the smash success of “Barbie,” which was distributed by Warner Bros. and produced by Robbie and her LuckyChap co-founders,
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Australia-based indie sales firm Odin’s Eye Entertainment has picked up international rights to adult-skewing animation film “The Weird Kidz.” The film, which has a 1980s vibe and sense of humor, debuted last year in festivals and Odin’s Eye will be using Berlin’s European Film Market to launch an expanded version. A weekend camping trip becomes
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When Hannah Gadsby entered a deal at Netflix in 2022 with the goal of broadening “a notoriously transphobic industry,” they set plans for a multi-comic special featuring genderqueer comics from around the globe. Now titled “Gender Agenda,” that project will debut on March 5 with a lineup of seven performers. With Gadsby as curator and
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Ahead of his return as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart stopped by “CBS Mornings” to explain why it was finally time to return to his old job. Stewart hosted the network’s flagship news show from 1999 to 2015. He’ll now be hosting only Monday episodes throughout the 2024 election cycle. Stewart
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It’s a semi-annual tradition during the PBS executive session at the Television Critics Assn.: Asking president/CEO Paula Kerger about the state of funding for the public broadcaster. And so it went on Monday, during the public broadcaster’s portion of the winter 2024 press tour — and despite the ongoing gridlock in Washington, Kerger said things,
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Anyone imagining that a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction could be the thing that finally bring the Gallagher brothers together for an Oasis reunion has been disabused of that notion by Liam Gallagher. The singer posted a series of social media messages expressing his contempt for the institution, along with some ongoing disdain
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Camelot Media has set action-adventure film franchise “The Lost Book of Creation.” Roel Reine (“Line of Fire,” “Halo”) will direct the first film of the planned three-film franchise. Matt Hookings (“Prizefighter”) has written the script and will also star alongside Madalina Diana Ghenea (“Deep Fear,” “House of Gucci”). The film follows archaeologists Slade (Hookings) and
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Concourse Media, the sales and distribution banner led by Matthew Shreder, is teaming with Goldfinch on its already-established genre label The Number 44. Concourse will come aboard as sales partner for a five-picture slate, which is fully financed with production already completed on two films and three more slated for this year. Concourse is also
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As the film industry braces for a colder-than-normal Berlinale, the indie sector faces a rising level of pain points, now exacerbated by leaner and meaner commercial terms on offer from territorial and domestic distributors for indie titles. Pre-pandemic overproduction, problems with minimum-guarantee payments (commonly referred to by the acronym MG), delays in payments, a decline
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LaKeith Stanfield, the Oscar-nominated star of “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Atlanta,” has joined Raoul Peck’s “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.” The upcoming documentary chronicles the life and work of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, whose early pictures showed Black life under apartheid. They were images that
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A new model proposing shorter hours in the U.K. screen industry is garnering industry support. Bectu Vision, a Scottish screen skills training body affiliated with crew union Bectu, together with flexible-working experts Timewise have completed an in-depth study assessing the financial implications of shorter working days in scripted drama production. BBC and Screen Scotland, who
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U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Films has boarded international sales for select territories to Shudder original film “Oddity.” Written and directed by Damian McCarthy (“Caveat”), the supernatural film will have its world premiere at SXSW 2024 as part of the Midnighter section. Blue Finch will introduce the title in advance to buyers at
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“The Dead Don’t Hurt,” the Viggo Mortensen-directed Western in which the three-time Oscar nominee stars alongside Vicky Krieps, has landed a number of international sales for HanWay Films. Newly confirmed territory deals for the film — a Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture and Perceval Pictures production — include France (Metropolitan), Spain (Wanda & Elastica), Scandinavia (Scanbox), U.K.
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Paris-based sales and production outfit Totem Films has closed a slew of sales ahead of the Berlinale premieres of their Competition title “My Favourite Cake,” and the Panorama opening film “Crossing.” Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha‘s “My Favourite Cake” sold to Cherry Pickers for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Arizona for France, Triart for Sweden, Cineworx
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Film and TV studio Fifth Season has secured international distribution rights to “Monsieur Spade,” the crime drama series starring and executive produced by Clive Owen. Fifth Season will represent the title at the upcoming Berlin European Film Market. The six-episode series is based on Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade, the protagonist of 1930
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