November 15, 2018 2:50AM PT Saudi Arabian sovereign-wealth fund PIF is exploring the possibility of acquiring a stake worth up to $700 million in Wanda-owned Legendary Entertainment. The news was reported by the Reuters news agency. The Reuters story, citing unnamed sources, said Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is seeking to invest about $500 million
Movies
Italy is set to regulate its theatrical windows by law, following an uproar over the simultaneous release on Netflix and in theaters of local police-brutality drama “On My Skin.” New rules announced by Italian Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli will enshrine in law the current gentleman’s agreement among the country’s distributors to wait 105 days after
Idris Elba’s daughter, Isan, has been named next year’s Golden Globes Ambassador, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Wednesday evening. Isan is also the daughter of makeup artist and businesswoman Kim Elba. The ambassador, a title that typically goes to the son or daughter of a celebrity, assists in distributing the Golden Globe trophies
November 14, 2018 5:25PM PT Brillstein Entertainment Partners has recruited manager Kailey Marsh and has acquired the online BloodList franchise that Marsh launched a decade ago to highlight horror scripts. Brillstein plans to expand BloodList into a production banner for film and TV projects. “Kailey’s entrepreneurial spirit has brought BloodList to life and turned it
November 14, 2018 4:48PM PT Newcomer Ella Jay Basco is in negotiations to land the last major role, Cassandra Cain, in Warner Bros.’ Harley Quinn spinoff, “Birds of Prey.” Margot Robbie is back as Quinn with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell on board as Huntress and Black Canary, respectively. Ewan McGregor will play the film’s villain and
November 14, 2018 3:30PM PT Lily James and Armie Hammer are set to star in Netflix and Working Title’s “Rebecca,” directed by Ben Wheatley. Jane Goldman is writing the screenplay, adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s classic Gothic novel of the same name. The story follows a newly married young woman who, upon arriving at her husband’s
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production banner has acquired six new projects from a number of rising filmmakers. Among the titles is a feature on hip-hop artist Bobby Hall, known by his stage name Logic. His song “1-800-273-8255” was nominated for two Grammys. His movie, “Everything Must Go,” is described as “Clerks” for a new generation.
November 14, 2018 1:55PM PT Independent content studio AGC is financing and producing the new action-comedy film “We Real Cool.” Focusing on a group of college-bound friends, “We Real Cool” will follow Summer, Jordan, and Aurora on their journey home from a Brooklyn party as they avoid neighborhood goons following their implication in a terrifying
“Age of Sail,” Google Spotlight Stories’ latest and most ambitious immersive animated short, directed by Oscar-winning animator John Kahrs, launched on multiple platforms today. The 12-minute animated short follows a lonely old sailor (voiced by Ian McShane) adrift at sea whose life is reinvigorated by a young girl he rescues after she falls from a
November 14, 2018 1:02PM PT Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Television has cut a deal with Amazon Studios to produce eight feature-length thrillers to run worldwide on the streaming service. Amazon said the projects will come from filmmakers of diverse backgrounds. Blumhouse scored a big hit last year with the success of theatrical release “Get Out,” which
November 14, 2018 11:00AM PT Fox Searchlight veteran Cassandra Butcher has joined Bron Studios as chief marketing officer. In her new role, Butcher will oversee all the company’s marketing campaigns and collaborate with Bron’s distribution and sales partners. Butcher will work alongside chief content officer Anjay Nagpal and recently appointed chief strategy officer Ashley Levinson.
“Green Book,” which Universal releases Nov. 16, centers on the unlikely real-life friendship between Jamaican-American classical pianist Don Shirley and his driver Tony Vallelonga, a laid-off New York nightclub bouncer, during a 1962 tour of the Midwest and the racially tense South. The film premiered at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival in September and has surged
The audience that witnessed DOC NYC’s Monday world premiere of the moving and soulful Aretha Franklin church concert doc “Amazing Grace,” captured on film by Sydney Pollack in 1972, was fortunate indeed. But for actress Gina Gershon and the late Queen of Soul’s nephew Vaughn Franklin, the screening at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre was something far
Doing good for humankind while making bank at the box office can be tricky business, but producer Scott Budnick’s activist content company has received millions of dollars in fresh financing and kicked off development on an action thriller with Margot Robbie. Budnick, an executive producer on hit comedy franchise “The Hangover,” set up shop this
The Oscar buzz surrounding “Green Book” has been a revelation for Peter Farrelly, directing solo without brother Bobby this time around. “I have a very thick skin, but I didn’t realize we were so looked-down-on,” Farrelly says with a laugh. “I thought we were highly regarded.” Critics have marveled that the director, who created a
The writer of an inflammatory interview with Ennio Morricone, in which the composer allegedly badmouthed Quentin Tarantino, has admitted to making “terrible mistakes” in the piece, including the use of quotes taken from previous stories in other outlets, Playboy in Germany said Wednesday. The magazine called it “an intolerable breach of journalistic ethics” that did
November 14, 2018 10:03AM PT “A Star Is Born” cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who received an Oscar nomination for 2010’s “Black Swan,” was reportedly arrested on Tuesday for assaulting public officials in the city of Bydgoszcz, Poland. Libatique, who was in town attending the Camerimage Film Festival, allegedly attacked paramedics and police at a hotel where
National Research Group (NRG), which caters to movie studios and others in the entertainment industry, hired Ben Rogers as president of platform and technology clients. Rogers, a market-research veteran with 20-plus years of experience, most recently was at Ipsos as executive VP, head of media development. At NRG, he will lead the company’s technology practice across
As 2018 draws to a close, Hollywood continues to find itself under the microscope with regard to inclusion and representation in the industry. It appears some positive steps are indeed being taken toward rectifying a historically shameful track record of excluding women and people of color from executive suites and on both sides of the
After going from 8-bit zero to arcade hero during his original outing, Wreck-It Ralph levels up in a big way with “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” an ambitious, all-around satisfying sequel to Walt Disney Animation’s wonderfully outside-the-box smash that ranks among the studio’s very best toons: It’s a poignant buddy movie that’s sincere in all the
Grief over the death of Stan Lee has taken the Internet by storm in China, with the local hashtag “Stan Lee has passed” trending No. 1 on social media and viewed more than a staggering 1.21 billion times by Wednesday evening – equivalent to nearly once per person in the world’s most populous country. Fans
Director Clay Kaytis’ “The Christmas Chronicles” isn’t going to make audiences believe in the power of Christmas, let alone stoke the spirit of the holiday season, but boy does it exhaust itself trying. The family-friendly adventure, about two kids whose Christmas Eve mission to capture Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) leads to helping him save the holiday, plays like
November 13, 2018 8:17PM PT “Roma,” Alfonso’ Cuaron’s loving recreated portrayal of family life in 1970s Mexico, is to get a theatrical release in South Korea. The film was originally commissioned for online streaming giant Netflix. Pan Cinema will handle the release in Korea from Dec. 12. It is currently unclear how many screens the
November 13, 2018 7:39PM PT South Korea’s CJ Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to ambitious Malaysian drama “The Garden of Evening Mists.” The film’s cast mixes high profile Asian and Western stars. The picture is an adaptation of a novel of the same title by Tan Twan Eng, which was nominated for the
In today’s film news roundup, Disney has donated $500,000 for fire recovery efforts, the African American Film Critics Association honors “Crazy Rich Asians,” the Duplass brothers support an independent film and Chance the Rapper boards an MGM musical. RECOVERY EFFORTS Walt Disney Company has committed $500,000 to support relief and recovery efforts in response to
November 13, 2018 5:55PM PT The California Film Commission has banned filming in state parks and beaches in the California wildfire zones until further notice. The commission made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. The Woolsey fire was at 35% containment on Tuesday after burning about 150 square miles of land in Ventura and Los Angeles
November 13, 2018 4:55PM PT AFI Fest has added a screening of the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” on Nov. 15 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres. The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, premiered Monday at the DOC NYC festival. Warner Bros. Pictures
November 13, 2018 4:11PM PT The California wildfires have caused the cancellation of the red carpets for “Widows” and “Destroyer” at the AFI Festm at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. A total of five red carpet events have been called off in recent days due to the still-raging fires. Netflix scrubbed a pair of
Shooting Lady Gaga revealing herself as a down-to-earth woman while lensing a rock star character Bradley Cooper was creating for himself were just two of the challenges facing DP Matthew Libatique in the star-crossed lovers story “A Star Is Born.” The love story is screening at the EnergaCamerimage fest, competing for the main cinematography prize.
Put your wands up, muggles. The upcoming chapter in the “Harry Potter” universe looks to enchant moviegoers and dominate the global box office. “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is expected to earn $65 million from over 3,300 domestic locations, though industry estimates show that number could be closer to $75 million. The higher part