Middle East exhibitor Vox Cinemas is on track to open 110 screens in Saudi Arabia by year’s end as the oil-rich kingdom continues to liberalize its entertainment environment. Vox unveiled its second Saudi multiplex Jan. 28, a luxurious 12-screen facility in the city of Jeddah’s Red Sea Mall. The multiplex houses more than 1,450 seats and an Imax
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Syfy has acquired A+E Networks’ sci-fi historical drama “Project Blue Book” for the U.K., it was announced Thursday by Syfy’s parent company, NBC Universal International Networks. Executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, “Project Blue Book” is based on a real-life U.S. government operation of the same name and centers on the investigation by the
The tectonic shifts being felt across the film industry landscape are reverberating at this year’s European Film Market, where the impact of new technological developments, growing opportunities, new markets and the roles of diversity and inclusion are in the spotlight. “We have been witnessing one of the biggest changes in the film industry during the
All3Media International has secured another major pre-sale on Two Brothers Pictures’ “Cheat” ahead of its screening as part of the European Film Market’s official Drama Series Days program in Berlin next week. ARD Degeto has acquired the drama series for Germany, with plans to air the show later this year. “Cheat” stars Katherine Kelly and
French actress Juliette Binoche said Thursday that Harvey Weinstein has “had enough” public excoriation and that “now justice has to do its work.” In Berlin, where she is heading the film festival jury, Binoche said she herself had had no problems with Weinstein, with whom she worked on “Chocolat” and “The English Patient,” for which
February 7, 2019 2:47AM PT STXfilms is in final negotiations to acquire U.S. rights to Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s “King of the Jungle,” starring Seth Rogen and Michael Keaton. STX is in talks with IMR International, which introduced the project to buyers at AFM and continues international sales at the European Film Market this
Darren Childs is to step down as CEO of Britain’s UKTV after eight years at the helm. He will exit at the end of June, the company announced Thursday. A successor has not been named. UKTV’s portfolio includes free-to-air channels such as Dave and Drama that mix classic British content with newer U.S. and U.K.
February 7, 2019 2:00AM PT Italian sales company True Colours is launching sales in Berlin on new pics by Italian auteurs Mario Martone (“Capri Revolution”) and Guido Lombardi (“La-bas: A Criminal Education”). Both pics have ties to the city of Naples and are produced by Indigo film, the shingle behind Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning “The Great
February 7, 2019 1:32AM PT A Dutch-raised teen returns to Bosnia to see her ill father in this coolly detached, predictably absurdist road trip, with Jarmusch overtones. Take a hefty amount of Jim Jarmusch, mix in a few heaping tablespoons of David Lynch, leaven it all with Bosnian absurdism and you can more or less
Blac Chyna’s Mom Dream Should Stay with Rob … Until BC Gets Her S**t Together!!! 2/7/2019 12:50 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Blac Chyna‘s personal life is a mess right now and, until she gets it together, Dream should stay with Rob Kardashian … and that’s coming from Chyna’s own mother. Chyna’s mom, Tokyo, tells TMZ … her daughter’s on a downward
Bow Wow Clowned in ‘Wild ‘N Out’ Rap Battle … Future Got Your Exes, Bro!!! 2/7/2019 12:30 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Bow Wow might have to give up all of his personal belongings … after getting royally OWNED in an epic rap battle on ‘Wild ‘N Out.’ TMZ got this clip of ‘Wild ‘N Out’ cast member
Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Atiq Rahimi’s “Our Lady of the Nile” (“Notre-Dame du Nil”), the Kabul-born novelist-turned-director’s follow up to the “The Patience Stone.” “Our Lady of the Nile” is adapted for the screen by Rahimi and Ramata Sy from the award-winning novel by Scholastique Mukasonga and unfolds in Rwanda in 1973. Pic
TF1 Studio has picked up Ludovic Colbeau-Justin’s “The Lion,” a high-concept action comedy starring Dany Boon (“Welcome to the Ch’tis”) and Philippe Katerine (“Sink or Swim”). Set to start shooting next week, the movie follows Romain, a psychologist who is fascinated by his patient, Leo Milan, who claims to be a highly-trained international spy, code-named
Paris-based Luxbox, whose films “The Heiresses” and “Museo” won three of the seven Silver Bears on offer at last year’s Berlinale, has acquired sales rights to three movies bowing later this year: Carlos Sironi’s “Sole,” Shahrbanoo Sadat’s “The Orphanage” and Melina Leon’s “Song Without a Name.” Luxbox is also unveiling first images on Feb. 7
February 6, 2019 10:01PM PT Rock Salt Releasing has boarded Kate Bosworth-starrer “Nona.” TriCoast Media launched arthouse-focused Rock Salt last year. It will present both films to buyers with screenings in Berlin. Michael Polish’s “Nona” – also known as “No Fame” – follows two strangers who travel from Honduras to the U.S. border. Touching on
February 6, 2019 10:00PM PT In a gender-flipped remake, Taraji P. Henson is a sports agent who reads her male coworkers’ minds and discovers that (surprise) they’re still jerks. Mel Gibson was still a beloved Hollywood megastar when he costarred with Helen Hunt in “What Women Want” (2000). The film had all the depth of a
Memento Films Intl. (“Call Me By Your Name”) has come on board “Persian Lessons,” a drama directed by “House of Sand and Fog” helmer Vadim Perelman. Set in Occupied France in 1942, “Persian Lessons” toplines Nahuel Perez Biscayart as Gilles, a man who is arrested by the SS alongside other Jews and sent to a
After a vibrant Sundance, driven by Amazon Studios’ $47 million spending spree, can Berlin sales prove as buoyant? While there are some intriguing titles, indies have to contend with, among many factors, very active buyers from deep-pocketed streamers and a volatile theatrical box office in many territories. Certainly there are star-studded titles. FilmNation will sell
London-based sales agency WestEnd Films has released the first-look photo for “I Am Woman,” which Variety has exclusively. The movie follows the rise of singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, whose song “I Am Woman” became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s. The shot features Tilda Cobham-Hervey (“Hotel Mumbai,” “52 Tuesdays”), who plays Reddy. “A
Check out the official Shaft sneak peek starring Samuel L. Jackson! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Buy Tickets to Shaft: https://www.fandango.com/shaft-2019-216997/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US Release Date: June
February 6, 2019 8:00PM PT Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. (PTI) has forged a strategic partnership with Studio Hamburg Enterprises (SHE), which kicks off with jazz documentary “It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story,” executive produced by Wim Wenders and directed by Eric Friedler. The film is about the two young émigrés from Berlin,
February 6, 2019 8:00PM PT Munich-based sales agency Beta Cinema has closed sales in further major territories for “The Keeper,” which stars David Kross (“The Reader”) and Freya Mavor (“The Sense of an Ending”). The film is based on the true story of Bert Trautmann, a German who went from being a prisoner-of-war to become
WASHINGTON — Spike Lee, at a D.C. screening of his Oscar-nominated “BlacKkKlansman,” weighed in on the revelations that Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, and attorney general, Mark Herring, wore blackface to parties in their college years. “Black shoe polish is in high demand,” Lee told reporters when asked about the controversy, before chuckling at the ironic comment.
In today’s film news roundup, “The Wizard of Oz” sets a modern-day record, “Monster Hunter” gets a release date and Dwayne Wade gets a documentary. RECORD SET The 80th anniversary re-release of “The Wizard of Oz” has grossed more than $2 million at the domestic box office, becoming the highest-grossing classic film for Fathom Events.
February 6, 2019 6:00PM PT Nick Jonas is returning to Sony’s sequel to “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” reprising his role as Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough. The plot of the film is being kept under wraps. Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan are also set to return and Awkwafina is in final negotiations
February 6, 2019 5:50PM PT Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator and showrunner of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” is in talks to direct a remake of “Gypsy.” New Regency is on board to finance with Joel Silver producing. STX Entertainment had agreed in 2016 to finance Barbra Streisand’s proposed remake of “Gypsy,” but backed out a few months
Brandi Carlile, the most nominated female artist at the Grammys this year, is more known for her own records than her occasional moonlighting as a producer. But in the midst of all her recent pre-Grammy activities, she found time to co-produce an album for one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s and ‘80s,
February 6, 2019 5:23PM PT Leaders of the Writers Guild of America have held their first meeting with Hollywood agencies to discuss the guild’s proposals to significantly revamp key rules for talent agents. The meeting took place on Tuesday — two months before the current agreement expires. There was no comment from the WGA or
At the winter Television Critics Assn. press tour Wednesday, Fox presented several of their programs — and debuted a sense of what “new Fox,” a network left out of Disney’s 20th Century Fox acquisition, will look like. Panels included a valedictory look at “Gotham” before its final season, an omnibus presentation of several of the
February 6, 2019 5:03PM PT Dwayne Johnson is the latest actor to explain why he won’t be hosting the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony. In response to a fan on Twitter, the actor explained that he was the Academy’s first choice to host the show this year, but due to filming commitments for his upcoming “Jumanji”