Movies

SND, the film arm of French commercial network M6, and Quad, the banner behind “The Intouchables,” are teaming up to produce “Kittened,” a high-profile CGI animated feature directed by Albert Pereira-Lazaro (“Lascars”).   On top of producing, SND will handle worldwide sales and French distribution. The high-concept project will be introduced to buyers at the AFM,

Music Box Films has bought U.S. distribution rights to “L’Immensità,” Emanuele Crialese’s (“Respiro“) film starring Penelope Cruz. Crialese’s movie, which competed at the Venice Film Festival, will hit U.S. theaters next year. Cruz stars as Clara, a Spanish woman who has relocated to Rome in the early 1970s to raise a family with Felice (Vincenzo Amato),

“Loki” star Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, is calling for the urgent support of millions of displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following a visit to the region last week. The British actor met with displaced individuals and families experiencing life-threatening hardship, caused by the ongoing conflict,

When one thinks of “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” the name that immediately comes to mind is most likely Tim Burton. After all, Disney marketed the movie as “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” following the director’s success with “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “Batman Returns.” And yet, it was Henry Selick who directed “Nightmare.” Burton cracked

Warner Bros.’ “Black Adam” continued its run atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.4 million ($4.01 million) in its second weekend and now has a total of £13.4 million, according to numbers from Comscore. In its third weekend, in second place, Sony’s “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” continued its strong performance with £1.49 million for

Donald Sutherland has boarded the coming-of-age genre thriller “Heart Land,” a rare U.K. and New Zealand treaty co-production. Directed by David Carson (“Star Trek: Generations,” “Unstoppable”), the film is currently being filmed in New Zealand and Quebec, Canada, with post-production set to take place in the U.K. Penned by Matthew A. Collins (“All That Glitters”),

A new feature documentary backed by Red Bull will examine the historic journey of the first human-powered aircraft to fly the English Channel. “The Flight of Bryan,” which is being introduced to buyers by Altitude Film Sales at this week’s American Film Market, tells the true story of self-taught U.S. hang glider pilot Bryan Allen,

“Wakanda Forever,” a podcast that dives deep into the making of the blockbuster sequel to “Black Panther,” will debut next week. Ta-Nehisi Coates has narrated the six-episode series, which features interviews with director Ryan Coogler, producer Kevin Feige, star Angela Bassett and incorporates audio narrative storytelling about the comic book mythos. The first episode airs

Shibasish Sarkar’s New Jersey registered special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) International Media Acquisition Corp. (IMAC), of which he is chair and CEO, is acquiring India’s Reliance Entertainment Studios and Risee Entertainment. A filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 22 reveals that the deal for the two companies is in the form

PURIN PICTURES CASH Purin Pictures, a non-profit Asian film financier, is to give grants to two Burmese, two Cambodian, two Thai, and one Indonesian project in its latest funding round. “We are excited to support multiple projects from Myanmar and Cambodia, two countries that have less developed film industries than their Southeast Asian neighbors,” said

There are great artists, and then there are artists of such titanic power that they literally change the world. I’m thinking of Shakespeare, Leonardo, Dostoevsky, Picasso. Louis Armstrong is on that Olympian plane. Yet he’s the rare example of an artist whose very fame, image, and media mythology can actually obscure his revolutionary grandeur as

Japan’s film industry is beginning to talk through some of its long-held ways of working. Ways that many say are no longer appropriate. At the Kering-sponsored Women In Motion pow-wow on Monday at the Tokyo International Film Festival (male) director Kore-eda Hirokazu and (female) actor Matsuoka Mayu got to grips with industry issues and their

Kelly Sipherd, a former actor who briefly met Harvey Weinstein during the Toronto International Film Festival when she was 24 years old in the early 90’s, testified that she was sexually assaulted by the producer in 1991 and again in 2008. She told the jury that after Weinstein invited her up to his hotel room

“Return to Dust,” the latest work from Chinese director Li Ruin (“River Road,” “Fly With the Crane”) won the top Golden Spike at the Seminci Valladolid Film Festival, Spain’s traditional arthouse platform, which this last week sold over 100,000 tickets for the second time in a row, a sign of much needed, if temporary, vitality

Australian independent crime thriller “The Stranger” written and directed by Thomas M. Wright, has become a surprise hit for Netflix. With Joel Edgerton producing and starring, the film was acquired by the streamer at Cannes. Now playing online, it has reached #4 globally on Netflix and places in the top 10 in 54 countries. The

Carlos López Estrada has been enlisted by Paramount, Bad Robot and Toho to rewrite and direct the sci-fi anime live action remake “Your Name.” The film is currently in development and is based on the the 2016 animated romantic fantasy drama, considered to be a modern classic in Japan. López Estrada is writing the current script.

The terms “elevated horror” and “elevated genre movie” surged in popularity a few years ago following a string of acclaimed offerings like Ari Aster’s “Hereditary,” Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” Robert Eggers’ “The Witch,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” and more. The term refers to genre films with a seemingly more artful sensibility than most fare, plus a

Scientology returned to the spotlight on Monday in the Paul Haggis civil rape trial. Its reemergence in the conversation comes as a surprise since both sides seemingly agreed last week there’s “no evidence” to suggest the person suing the Oscar-winning director for rape is tied to the controversial church. Defense attorneys for Haggis called on

Henry Cavill’s time as Superman has largely been defined by brooding movies such as “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” but it sounds like things will be somewhat different when the actor puts the cape back on. Cavill confirmed in an Oct. 24 social media post that he is returning as Superman in a new

“She Wolf” director Tamae Garateguy, one of the most exciting talents on Latin America’s burgeoning genre scene, is set to direct “Fuckin’ Sexy,” a sex doll horror movie set up at Argentina’s Machaco Films, producer of Damien Rugna’s “Terrified” and “When Evil Lurks.”    A bold swing, which is what Garateguy’s fans love about her,

When “Banshees of Inisherin” cinematographer Ben Davis received the film’s script, his reaction was that while there were many interpretations to be had, it was the conflict that spoke to him. “Particularly men in conflict and how most wars are created and caused by men, and maybe they could have sorted that out, and they

Imax is one of the exhibition companies that’s eager to return to Pandora and Wakanda. That’s the hopeful message being sounded after a lack of splashy new blockbusters and a faltering last-summer box office took a chunk out of Imax’s profits, leaving the company to tout the impending arrival of two upcoming releases. “The blockbuster

Emma Corrin and David Dawson share some intimate moments with Harry Styles in “My Policeman.” To build that chemistry between the actors, director Michael Grandage introduced the three of them through a more musical approach. In one scene in the movie, Corrin, Dawson and Styles get drunk at a bar and sing a song. “The

A former actor cried on the stand when testifying that Harvey Weinstein assaulted her two times, decades apart, during the Toronto International Film Festival. The woman — identified by the court as “Kelly S.,” in order to protect her identity — went into graphic detail alleging Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 1991 and

IFC Midnight and Shudder are acquiring North American rights to “Consecration,” a supernatural thriller from AGC Studios. The film boasts a cast that includes Jena Malone of “The Hunger Games” franchise, Danny Huston from “Wonder Woman” and “Children of Men,” and Janet Suzman, a stage and screen doyenne who received an Oscar nomination for her

EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow have partnered up to develop and produce a spinoff series based on “Lucy,” the hit action movie starring Scarlett Johansson. Morgan Freeman is in advanced negotiations to star in the series, the plot details of which are being kept under wraps.  The movie, which was directed by Luc Besson, earned over

Writing and directing team Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper have signed with Verve for representation. The announcement comes on the heels of the release of the duo’s critically acclaimed sci-fi film ‘Vesper,” which premiered in main competition at this year’s Karlovy Vary festival. After debuting to rave reviews, the picture sold to IFC. In a

Daina Oniunas-Pusić, director of “Rhonna & Donna” and the upcoming A24 movie “Tuesday” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has signed with CAA for representation in all areas. Best known for her award-winning 2016 comedy short “Rhonna & Donna,” Oniunas-Pusić is currently in post-production on her debut feature film “Tuesday” for A24, BBC Film, Cinereach and BFI. Written

Thomas Doherty, best known for playing the resident flirt on HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” reboot, is set to star alongside Kiki Layne in “Dandelion.” The romantic drama, backed by IFC Films, is currently in production. IFC plans to release the movie theatrically on a yet-to-be determined date in 2023. Nicole Riegel wrote and directed “Dandelion,”

Organized alongside the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its MIFA market, Ventana Sur’s Animation! has announced the five Latin American titles that will comprise its 2022 Works in Progress strand, unspooling Nov. 28-Dec. 2 in Buenos Aires.  The section curates feature-length animation projects from Latin America and, since 2020, has expanded its platform, hosting