Movies

‘The Harder They Fall’ Cast to Receive Ensemble Tribute at 2021 Gotham Awards The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced that the cast of “The Harder They Fall” will receive the Ensemble Tribute during the 2021 Gotham Awards Ceremony, which takes place in person on Nov. 29 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Deadly flooding did not divert this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival from running its full course, with the event drawing to a close Monday with an award ceremony honoring Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy, India’s Natesh Hegde, and China’s Kong Dashan and Wei Shujun with top prizes. Many anticipated that this fifth edition of the

Village Roadshow has signed NBA star Kevin Garnett to a first-look partnership, which will span television, film and digital content. Garnett runs Content Cartel Studios with partners Brian Bennett and Mike Marangu. The first project up at the global-facing company is a feature documentary on hall of famer Wilt Chamberlain, who holds two NBA championships

Barbra Streisand is funding a UCLA research institute to tackle a broad range of social issues. Housed in UCLA’s division of Social Sciences, the institute bearing her name will include four research centers. These centers will delve into climate change and environmental health, the dynamics of gender relationships and power, the arts and how to

Palestinian filmmaker Said Zagha was turned away by Egyptian authorities in Cairo on his way to the El Gouna Film Festival to pitch his new project. The U.K. permanent resident has a Jordanian passport that indicates he is of Palestinian origin. He flew into Istanbul on Friday, but was not allowed to board his Turkish

Viewpark has teamed with Louisiana-based production company Back Porch Movies to develop and finance “In a Good Place Now,” a feature film based on the life of musician Warren Storm. Storm, who died on Sept. 7, was a pioneer of the musical genre known as “swamp pop,” a combination of rhythm and blues, country and

1091 Pictures has acquired the global rights to “Vandal,” Jose Daniel Freixas’ feature directorial debut, which premieres digitally and on demand on 11/16.  The film follows Nick “Damage” Cruz (Daniel Zovatto), the young leader of an infamous graffiti crew in Miami, as he experiences love, loss and the consequences of his actions while coming of age

A rally in support of the Netflix trans employee walkout on Oct. 20, dubbed “Stand Up in Solidarity,” will present co-CEO Ted Sarandos with a list of “firm asks” and feature a PSA from stars including Angelica Ross, Jonathan Van Ness, Jameela Jamil, Eureka O’Hara and Colton Haynes. Organized by activist Ashlee Marie Preston, the

Current best picture frontrunner “Belfast” has scooped the top prize at the Middleburg Film Festival. Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast,” a black-and-white family drama about the Northern Ireland city in the late ’60s, was awarded best narrative film. Branagh also appeared at the festival to receive the director spotlight award. The award for best documentary film

After a decade as CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dawn Hudson announced Monday that her current term will be her last. Hudson joined the Academy as CEO in 2011 and will relinquish her post when her contract ends in May 2023. The Academy also announced that a search for Hudson’s

Keith Redmon has joined Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures as a partner. He’s being tasked with heading up Black Bear Global, a newly created division which will focus on building strategic alliances and co-productions between the company and talent, production companies and partners overseas. Redmon, who was at Anonymous Content for two decades, will also

Production designer Alex DiGerlando had a unique opportunity when it came to set-building for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s stage-to-screen adaptation of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” (in theaters Nov. 12) — he could walk around the actual Greenwich Street apartment of “Rent” playwright Jonathan Larson. “There are a lot of vestiges of that period that are still there,”

Wolfe Releasing has acquired worldwide rights to transgender drama “Death and Bowling” from writer/director Lyle Kash. The film world premiered at Outfest Los Angeles, where it won the Narrative Feature Audience Award, and is playing NewFest on Monday. It will be released next year. In the film, a struggling trans actor goes on an adventure

Netflix has released the first trailer for “The Lost Daughter.” The upcoming drama is based on Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name and stars Olivia Colman as Leda, a middle-aged woman vacationing alone and having flashbacks to her days as a young wife and mother (with her younger self played by Jessie Buckley). Maggie

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a deal to sell GSN Games, a division of Game Show Network, to mobile-games company Scopely for about $1 billion in cash and stock. GSN Games’s portfolio of free-to-play mobile and online games includes “Solitaire TriPeaks,” “Bingo Bash” and “Wheel of Fortune Slots,” among other titles. Scopely will pay half the

French soccer player-turned-actor Eric Cantona (“Looking for Eric”) is set to star in “Giant With Feet of Clay” (“Le Colosse aux pieds d’argile”), a television drama about sexual harassement and abuse in sports. The movie is about to start shooting in Southwestern France with French director Stéphanie Murat; and is being produced by Sydney Gallonde’s

Sundance Institute launched the inaugural Trans Possibilities Intensive and announced the first six artists who will participate in the three-day virtual program supporting transgender storytellers of color. The selected fellows are Ava Davis, StormMiguel Florez, River Gallo, Carol Grant, Mitchell (MiSha) Owens, and Savannah Ward. Davis, an actor, writer, producer and advocate, will work on

Marvel fans, prepare to wait a little bit longer to see Doctor Strange, Thor and Black Panther return to theaters. Disney has delayed release plans for several upcoming films, including “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” from March 25 to May 6, “Thor: Love and Thunder” from May 6 to July 8 and “Black

“Dune” will be dashing some spice into the Twitter Movies timeline this week. Warner Bros., as part its larger marketing campaign for director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” teamed with Twitter for a weeklong takeover of the @TwitterMovies account to promote the sci-fi epic. The movie’s wide theatrical release in the U.S. is set for Oct. 22,

Cinema Guild has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” which won the Golden Eye award for best documentary at Cannes. Kapadia’s debut film, “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” world premiered at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. It also won the Amplify Voices Award at Toronto, as well as the Emerging Cinematic

“Halloween,” from rising Colombian prospect Silvia Prietov and “Mi Amigo del Sol,” the latest in a line of cause-driven movies from Mexico’s Fotosintesis Media, are among projects set to be unveiled at Ventana Sur’s 2021 Animation! They will be joined by the the latest animation titles in development at burgeoning production houses and animation studios around Latin

Just in time for Halloween, Rob Zombie has shared the first photo of “The Munsters” cast, confirming Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily Munster and Dan Roebuck as Grandpa Munster. The filmmaker wrote, “Since Halloween is rapidly approaching I thought it was the perfect time to MEET THE MUNSTERS! Direct

International sales agency Bleiberg Entertainment is representing Shogun Films’ action revenge movie “Renegades” and will introduce it to buyers at the online American Film Market (Nov. 1-5). Directed by action movie veteran Daniel Zirilli, the film recently wrapped in London and stars Nick Moran (“Avengement”), Lee Majors (“The Fall Guy”), Danny Trejo (“Machete”), Louis Mandylor

Netflix has picked up Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut “The Lost Daughter” for additional territories, snapping up U.K., Benelux and German rights to the Venice-premiering feature. The streaming service struck the deal with Entertainment One, which had previously secured the rights for these markets from Endeavor Content. The platform already held the majority of worldwide rights,

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” is on course to become one of the top three films of all time in China after dominating proceedings at the mainland Chinese box office for a third successive weekend. A patriotic war film, “Changjin” earned $73 million between Friday and Sunday to extend its cumulative total to $769 million

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” gave a much-needed jolt to the South Korean box office with a $6.66 million opening weekend. But there were slim pickings for other titles. The film played on nearly 2,000 screens and accounted for 81% of nationwide box office between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking

Variety film awards editor Clayton Davis has been awarded the excellence in entertainment journalism award by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. NALIP made the announcement on Thursday. “Latinx voices are essential in the entertainment industry, which is why we want to emphasize the importance of journalists spreading the message through their platforms,” NALIP

Jodie Comer was immediately intrigued by “The Last Duel” when she was asked to meet with director Ridley Scott about starring in the period film. In the drama, based on true events and adapted from Eric Jager’s 2004 book “The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France,” Comer stars as

Many members of IATSE say they will vote against ratifying a new contract with the major studios because it does not do enough to address working conditions on set. The deal, announced Saturday afternoon, averts a strike that would have shut down film and TV production nationwide starting on Monday morning. But in interviews and

Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” loomed large at the international box office this weekend, sinking its prodigious chompers into $62.3 million. That pushes the superhero adventure’s global haul to a muscular $283.7 million. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” expanded to 44 international markets over the weekend, including such major markets as the U.K., Italy,