Movies

Organizers of the American Film Market are limiting access at the headquarters Loews Hotel to the official AFM participants, Variety has leaned. When the 39th AFM starts on Oct. 31, admittance to the Loews will be strictly limited to those with credentials. In the past, attendees coming into the hotel lobby in Santa Monica, Calif.,

October 8, 2018 4:28PM PT Michael Shannon is in talks to join the A-list ensemble being assembled for Rian Johnson’s next pic “Knives Out,” which currently stars Daniel Craig and Chris Evans. Lakeith Stanfield is also on board with MRC financing. Johnson is writing and directing and will produce with his producing partner Ram Bergman.

Bangladeshi director Abdullah Mohammad Saad has teamed with Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua on drama “I See Waves,” an Asian Project Market selection. Produced by Chua’s Potocol, the film follows a tormented medical professor who finds her definitions of justice tested after she witnesses a sexual assault. “I have a lot of friends who went to

Cambodian filmmaking collective Anti-Archive’s Echoes of Tomorrow initiative debuted in Busan’s Wide Angle shorts competition with the world premiere of Danech San’s “A Million Years.” Echoes of Tomorrow provides an opportunity to three first-time filmmakers to direct a short each. “The film is not really like a story. My intention is to really talk about

Czech Republic/Latvia co-production “The Pack” is at Busan’s Asian Project Market seeking the remainder of its $1.4 million budget, having raised more than $400,000 already. The film will follow a 16-year-old diabetic ice hockey player who deals with bullying on the team. Director Tomas Polensky, who has shot a six-minute pilot for the film, has

Singapore-based Aurora Media Holdings, one of Southeast Asia’s leading media companies, has optioned and boarded India-South Korean co-production “The Yellow Jade” as a producer, alongside India’s Stray Factory and India/Singapore outfit Magic Hour Films. The deal was struck at Busan’s Asian Project Market. Aurora group managing partner Justin Deimen, pictured above, will produce with Stray

October 8, 2018 2:19PM PT Michael Pena will play the Mr. Roarke role in Blumhouse and Sony’s upcoming “Fantasy Island” movie. Ricardo Montalban originated the role in the television series “Fantasy Island” as the white-suited Mr. Roarke who oversaw a mysterious island where people could live out their fantasies — for a price. The series,

Netflix announced Albuquerque, N.M., as the site of a new U.S. production hub — which the company said will bring upwards of $1 billion in production money to New Mexico over the next decade and up to 1,000 production jobs per year. Netflix said it is in final negotiations to buy ABQ Studios, located in

October 8, 2018 12:13PM PT Malcolm McDowell has been tapped to play News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch in Annapurna’s upcoming drama about disgraced former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and the women who brought him down. The veteran actor joins a cast of A-list talent that includes Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Margot Robbie, and Charlize

October 8, 2018 11:15AM PT Jim Carrey and Emilia Clarke have been selected as recipients of Britannia Awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles. Carrey will receive the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy, while Clarke will receive the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. The

October 8, 2018 11:06AM PT Comedy star Amy Schumer has left United Talent Agency and signed with WME for representation in all areas. Schumer defects UTA’s stacked comedy department with her sister and collaborator Kim Caramele and writer-producer Kevin Kane. Both have appeared on Schumer’s Comedy Central series “Inside Amy Schumer.” The actress has consolidated

Topic Studios has acquired film and TV rights to Cory Doctorow’s upcoming science-fiction novella, “Unauthorized Bread,” the first in a four-part short story series that will debut next year. “Unauthorized Bread” is set in a near future America where the usage of everyday technology falls under the control of corporations — including all the appliances

BARCELONA — Projects “Deus Irae,” “The Occupant,” “9 Steps’ and ‘Fiesta” won prizes at the 4th Sitges Pitchbox, hosted by Spain’s Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in partnership with online platform Filmarket Hub and godfathered this year by Ron Perlman. Awards were announced Friday Oct. 5. “Deus Irae” aims to be the feature debut of Argentine

Leading Indian actor and director, Rajat Kapoor (“Ankhon Dekhi”) is the latest man caught up in the wave of sexual misbehavior allegations that has been swept Bollywood in recent days. Kapoor, who was accused of inappropriate behavior with three separate women, has apologized on Twitter. “All my life I have tried to be a decent

Busan’s Asian Film Market announced the winners Oct. 8 of E-IP Pitching and Book to Film programs in which intellectual properties, including web comics, novels and story ideas, are pitched for film and TV adaptation. The NEW Creator awards, sponsored by leading local studio Next Entertainment World, went to Han Ji-su’s mystery romance novel “The

Filmmakers, officials from Southeast Asia and Korean film policymakers on Monday laid the foundations for the establishment of an Asian Film Center. Propelled into action by former Busan Film Commissioner and current Korean Film Council chairman Oh Seok-geun, the proposal emerged from a round table conference held in Korea on the margins of the Busan

SEGOVIA, Spain — Spain’s 3D Wire, an increasingly important festival and market dedicated to animation, comics, video games, traditional gaming, VR and AR, wrapped its 10th edition this weekend in Segovia. Four days of industry workshops, works in progress presentations, meetings and much more culminated on Saturday night with an awards ceremony held at the Museo

October 7, 2018 8:40PM PT A harrowing look at addiction that stands out amongst an autumn filled with films about junkies and their families. “Let Me Fall” is a harrowing look at addiction that stands out amid an autumn filled with films about junkies and their families. Again touching a domestic nerve as he did

October 7, 2018 8:33PM PT A convincing but underpowered exploration of female identity and alienation in status-and-youth-obsessed contemporary Seoul. The health of the Korean film industry, to an outsider’s eye, can hardly be in doubt, as it’s one of the rare national cinemas that finds international acclaim for a broad spectrum of offerings that range

October 7, 2018 8:17PM PT Released on Wednesday, American action thriller, ‘Venom’ topped the South Korean box office. The Sony release showed on some 1,300 screens nationwide and earned $16.4 million from 2.08 million admissions over five days. Another Oct. 3 opener, South Korean crime drama “Dark Figure of Crime” landed in second. The Showbox

Five years after “The Last Stand” — Korean director Kim Jee-woon’s one-off attempt at American filmmaking, a throwaway shoot-’em-up co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville — Kim is back home, applying what he learned in Hollywood to anime adaptation “Illang: The Wolf Brigade.” An obsidian-black sci-fi thriller all but consumed with corruption of the state

Hong Kong crime thriller, “Project Gutenberg” scored $37.2 million at the Chinese box office to comfortably win the under-powered second weekend of a prolonged holiday period. Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” placed second. For the film industry, the National Day sessions started on Sunday a week earlier, with the delayed releases of several titles. After a midweek

Ukrainian filmmaker Dar Gai, whose “Namdev Bhau in Search of Silence” has its world premiere in Busan’s A Window on Asian Cinema strand, has had a fascinating passage to India. The philosophy major spent 10 years acting, directing and organizing festivals in Ukraine. While she was familiar with Western culture, the east was yet to

October 7, 2018 3:20PM PT The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) is expected Monday to unveil ambitious plans for an Asian Film Center. The new organization is envisaged as a policy-making body that would promote the region’s film industry. The proposal is expected to be made at a round table conference being organized by KOFIC on the

Busan: Autumn Sun Picks up ‘Legend of Erlang,’ ‘Man Who Feels No Pain’ – Variety You will be redirected back to your article in seconds October 7, 2018 3:00PM PT Newly-launched Hong Kong sales outfit, Autumn Sun Company has picked up international rights to animated film “The Legend of Erlang” from Chinese studio Starry Entertainment

Busan International Film Festival might be the best-known feature of Busan, the city that styles itself as the hub of Asian cinema. On the production side, Busan has long been home and the location for the majority of South Korean films as well as a several big Asian films. The city boasts the Busan Film

Japanese multihyphenate Kiko Sugino (“Snow Woman”) will produce an omnibus film directed by seven women from Asian countries, the project’s executive producer Kousuke Ono (“Kinki”) revealed at the Platform Busan forum on Sunday. Ono was participating in a discussion on Asian omnibus films moderated by Busan International Film Festival Asian cinema programmer Kim Young-woo. Another

Leading Korean studio Lotte Entertainment will produce a Korean-language remake of Mexican comedy blockbuster “Instructions Not Included.” The group has partnered with Lionsgate-affiliated Globalgate Entertainment, which is developing local-language versions of the Eugenio Derbez-directed picture. “In addition to distribution rights, our sales and acquisitions businesses, we also see the growing importance of remake deals and

Independent Chinese director Zhang Wei must be one of the best-tempered auteurs in the industry. He repeatedly accepts setbacks like badges of honor, but plows on anyway. Zhang has produced, directed and financed socially aware films “Factory Boss” and “Sound of a Dream,” with his latest film, “The Rib,” world-premiering at the Busan International Film

October 7, 2018 2:00PM PT Vertically-integrated local studio BHD | Vietnam Media Corp. is launching international sales on two of its biggest titles at Busan’s Asian Film Market. “The Tap Box” (aka “Song Lang”) is an odd couple drama set in 1980s Saigon. It pitches a cold-hearted debt collector from the gangster milieu together with