Movies

On a picturesque day in the South of France, throngs of Johnny Depp fans gathered along the Croisette, shrieking and snapping photos of the embattled movie star as he graced the world’s most famous red carpet. “Jeanne du Barry,” which marks Depp’s first leading film role in three years, since ongoing legal battles with ex-wife

Catherine Corsini, an outspoken queer activist and co-founder of France’s feminist organization 50:50, should have been celebrating her new film’s inclusion in the competition lineup of the Cannes Film Festival. Instead, she found herself in the middle of a firestorm after “Homecoming,” her coming-of-age story, failed to get the proper government approvals for a scene of

British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, but its eyes are firmly on the road ahead, not the rear-view mirror. On May 24, at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, in Antibes, France, near Cannes, the company unveils the first of its next generation of sports cars (see teaser image, here) and the

Signature Entertainment has snapped up U.K. and Ireland rights to Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy “You Hurt My Feelings” from FilmNation Entertainment. Directed by Nicole Holofcener, the film stars Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies (“The Crown”) as a couple whose marriage is thrown into turmoil when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book. The cast also

Mk2 Films is set to reunite with Joachim Trier following “The Worst Person in the World,” the Norwegian helmer’s Cannes prize-winning and Oscar-nominated romantic comedy which was also a worldwide box-office hit. The Paris-based company will handle international sales and co-produce alongside Juliette Schrameck at Agat Films, who was also a co-producer on “The Worst

Roadside Attractions has acquired the U.S. rights to “Camp Hideout” and will release the family comedy theatrically in the fall. The film follows a troubled teen named Noah (Ethan Drew), who nearly gets caught stealing a top-secret gadget from some big city thugs. He then barely escapes by hiding in a summer camp run by the

Bleecker Street has landed North American rights to “Across the River and Into the Trees,” an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s last full-length novel. Liev Schreiber and Josh Hutcherson will star in the film, which will release exclusively in theaters in the fall. News of the sale was announced at the Cannes Film Festival. Paula Ortiz

Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” stayed atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second consecutive weekend with £5.4 million ($6.6 million) for a total of £23.9 million, per figures from Comscore. In second place, in its sixth weekend, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” collected £858,444 for a total of £51

If you thought Johnny Depp starring in a film might be a lightning rod of controversy, imagine the movie’s director spitting on a journalist. “Jeanne du Barry” will open the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night, marking Depp’s return to the red carpet, following legal battles that have largely defined the actor for the past

Opening this year’s Directors’ Fortnight, “The Goldman Case” soars on rhetoric and singes with political debate, condensing a decade worth of civic upheaval into the narrow contours of a courtroom thriller. At the center of this docudrama is Pierre Goldman (Arieh Worthalter), a left-wing radical appealing a murder charge – alongside a number of other

REinvent Intl. Sales, the banner launched by former TrustNordisk CEO Rikke Ennis, has picked up “In the Name of God,” a thriller about a priest on a mission to expand his congregation at any cost. The film is directed by Ludvig Gür (“Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story”) and stars Linus Wahlgren (“With One

The last love of Franz Kafka, the celebrated Czech author of “Metamorphosis,” will be portrayed in romantic drama “The Glory of Life.” TrustNordisk has boarded international sales ahead of Cannes, while Majestic is handling the domestic rights. Currently shooting, “The Glory of Life” is directed by Georg Maas (“Two Lives”) and is inspired by the love story between

Timothée Chalamet is playing the world’s most famous chocolatier in Warner Bros.’ upcoming musical “Wonka,” but it wasn’t necessarily the Roald Dahl source material that sparked his interest in joining the project. The Oscar nominee told Vogue magazine that he was drawn to playing Willy Wonka for the simple reason of making a movie for

The Eternal Memory Chile, U.S. DIRECTOR: Maite Alberdi Alberdi’s follow-up to Oscar- nominated “The Mole Agent” snagged Sundance’s top doc award and a worldwide distribution deal with MTV at Sundance. Co-produced by Fabula, it centers on a loving elderly couple struggling with the man’s fading memory.  The Cardinal (“El Cardenal”) Chile, Argentina, Brazil DIRECTOR: Benjamín

As Chile hosts its third Docs in Progress Showcase at Cannes’ Marché du Film, it brings to the fore one of the richest and most prolific documentary traditions in Latin America, led by such figures as Patricio Guzmán, whose 2019 “The Cordillera of Dreams” won the Cannes Golden Eye, and Maite Alberdi, whose 2020 “The

Co-productions are increasingly the norm in Chile where state funds remain scant in a market of a mere 19.5 million inhabitants. Its new president’s campaign pledge last year to more than double the state’s contribution to the arts is not quite a reality, with a 16% increase noted so far. On the bright side, there

Adriana Chiesa, the pioneering Italian sales agent who has been a fixture at Cannes for 40 years, has sold her film library to Italy’s Minerva Pictures. The 85-title ACEK library comprises a broad mix of prominent works by revered directors such as Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” (pictured) and “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes

The stars are out at this year’s Cannes, and not just on the red carpet that leads up to the splashy premieres that make the festival the most glamorous celebration of movies in the world. From Daisy Ridley to Alicia Vikander, Angelina Jolie to Sylvester Stallone, Idris Elba to Jude Law, several A-list actors are

Principal photography has wrapped in Spain’s La Rioja region on Isabel Coixet’s romantic drama “Un Amor,” a tale of obsessive passion that forces the film’s protagonist to reconsider the woman she thought she was. The 2023 Goya actress winner Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) stars opposite Hovik Keuchkerian (“Money Heist”); Film Constellation handles world sales. A sales promo

Cinetic Media is launching sales in Cannes on “Anita,” a documentary about actor-model Anita Pallenberg, which premieres in the Cannes Classics section. In “Anita,” which includes never-seen-before Super 8mm home movies and family photographs, Pallenberg’s words from her unpublished memoir are voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The first-look photo (above) shows Pallenberg and Keith Richards in

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield-led romantic drama “We Live in Time” has sold into Canada’s Sphere Films. The Montreal- and Toronto-based company has picked up Canadian rights to the drama directed by “Brooklyn” helmer John Crowley, who also directed Garfield in his breakout role in “Boy A.” The film is currently in production in London

Global Screen has racked up presales to multiple territories for the animated family adventure movie “Niko — Beyond the Northern Lights,” the third in the box office hit franchise about a flying reindeer. The sales agency will be showing a first scene to buyers at Cannes Film Market. The animated movie has been picked up

Start your engines! Virgil Films has acquired North American rights to the Ewan McGregor-narrated documentary “Speed Is Expensive: Philip Vincent and the Million Dollar Motorcycle,” featuring Jay Leno, Clash bassist Paul Simonon and seven-time world championship racer John Surtees. Lighbulb Film Distribution will release the doc in the U.K. and Ireland. Virgil is repping sales

Last year, at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Telefilm Canada had launched a campaign to invite audiences to return to cinemas. They called it “Feel Again” and had partnered with distributors, cinemas, festivals, broadcasters, Air Canada — and even filmmaker Director X — to help drive audiences to re-discover Canadian films. “We really spent last

Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, known internationally for genre-bending titles “They Call Me Jeeg” and “Freaks vs. the Reich,” is shooting a kung fu movie set in Rome’s multi-ethnic Piazza Vittorio quarter. Cameras have just started rolling in Rome on Mainetti’s yet-to-be titled third feature that will see him riff on martial arts movie tropes, following his

Boy George, lead singer of Culture Club, was synonymous with 1980s pop culture. Following a string of ubiquitous international radio hits such as “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and “Karma Chameleon,” the Grammy-winning singer embarked on a solo career, with his recording of “The Crying Game” punctuating Neil Jordan’s Academy Awarding-winning film of

Bleecker Street has acquired North American rights to Andrew Cumming’s Stone Age thriller “The Origin” from Sony Pictures’ Stage 6. World premiering at the BFI London Film Festival in October, “The Origin” won acclaim for its unique approach to genre set in the Palaeolithic period. The script was written by Ruth Greenberg (“Run”) with Escape

Funding from Singaporean state sources is involved in two features that make their debut at the Cannes Film Festival this month. A third film, “The Breaking Ice,” is directed by Singapore-born filmmaker Anthony Chen. “We are absolutely thrilled that we have the most number of Made with Singapore films debuting in Cannes this year,” said

Bob Chapek, the former Disney CEO who was abruptly ousted from the company last November, is among a group of executives facing a lawsuit claiming violations of securities law for allegedly providing misleading statements and omissions about Disney+ and its subscriber growth. The case, filed by Local 272 Labor Management Pension Fund on May 12

The Directors Guild of America is continuing its negotiations with the AMPTP, as companies hope to get a deal that could play a role in ending the two-week-old writers strike. Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America told members Monday that the guild is winning the “PR war” against the studios, as members share their stories