Wild Bunch AG, the pan-European film and TV group co-founded by Vincent Grimond, Brahim Chioua and Vincent Maraval, has secured a €35 million ($40 million) credit line from Germany’s Commerzbank. The company told Variety that the new credit line will be used by the banner to continue ramping up its production activities, increase its investment
Movies
BMI announced the winners of the performing rights organization’s annual Film, TV and Visual Media Awards on Monday, with an online unveiling of the recipients substituting for the ceremony that would have been taking place in Beverly Hills under non-quarantine conditions. The most awards, five, went to Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson, who won for his
Canadian exhibition chain Cineplex has announced it will commence legal proceedings against Cineworld and seek damages after the U.K.-based exhibitor pulled its $2.1 billion takeover deal. Cineworld back away from the Cineplex agreement on June 12, citing alleged breaches of the merger agreement and a “material adverse effect” without providing details. “Cineworld’s decision to abandon
Will Smith will star in the thriller “Emancipation,” which will be directed by Antoine Fuqua, sources tell Variety. William N. Collage penned the script, based on the true story of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the punishing Louisiana swamp on a tortuous journey to the Union Army and his only
Gaumont has acquired French distribution and international sales rights to Melanie Laurent’s period mystery thriller “The Mad Women’s Ball” which is being produced by Alain Goldman’s Legende Films. Based on the award-wining novel by Victoria Mas “Le Bal des folles,” “The Mad Women’s Ball” will be headlined by up-and-coming French actress Lou de Laâge (pictured)
Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller and director Mike Rianda offered an in-depth look at Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming feature “Connected” on the first day of Annecy 2020 Online, this year’s digital version of the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival and accompanying Mifa market. The animated comedy, which Sony is releasing Stateside on Oct. 23, follows Katie,
Virtual Reality producers Baobab Studios have announced that “Star Wars” actor Daisy Ridley will headline the company’s next VR project, “Baba Yaga,” presenting a Work in Progress panel at this year’s online Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival. “It’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle of a ‘Star Wars’ film and not to think
Acclaimed Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts (“The Mustang”) will play the lead in thriller “Wildlands,” from director Kim Mordaunt (“The Rocket”). The “Rust and Bone” actor will play a jaded bomb disposal specialist who gets a final chance at redemption when he is sent to Angola — one of the most heavily mined countries in the
“Jurassic World: Dominion” will resume filming on July 6 in the United Kingdom, Variety has confirmed. Pre-production on the big-budget sequel was halted in March as the coronavirus swept across the globe, upending economic activity and delaying work on most major movies and television shows. “Jurassic World: Dominion” was four weeks into its 20-week production
The U.K. Cinema Association has published safety guidelines for the re-opening of drive-in cinemas, which are allowed to open in England from Monday. Although there are only a reported 20 drive-in cinemas in the U.K. and the concept has not taken off as in the U.S., their reopening is being seen as the first step
Celebrated Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep” among many other accolades, is known to be rather reclusive. But he had no hesitation in accepting to preside over the jury of the International Migration Film Festival’s first edition, thus contributing significantly to its launch. He took questions
Turkey, which hosts the largest number of migrants in the world, is launching the International Migration Film Festival that aims to boost awareness of their plight and will also serve as a primer of global cinematic output on this timely topic. There are currently an estimated roughly 4 million migrants in Turkey, most of whom
WestEnd Films has launched international sales on “Lamya’s Poem,” an animated feature by Alexander Kronemer, which will be part of Annecy’s Works in Progress panel at the digital version of the world’s largest animation festival and market that begins Monday. WestEnd builds on an established reputation representing prestigious independent arthouse animated features, such as Oscar-nominated
For its first edition the International Migration Film Festival has assembled a diverse lineup of eight titles tackling the plight of refugees and migrants around the world and running the gamut from feelgood comedy to gut-wrenching dramas and docs. They will vie for a best feature film award worth €15,000 ($16,800) and also a prize for
Whether in “I Lost My Body,” a boy-girl love story which takes place as the suitor’s severe hand crawls towards its owner, or with “The Summit of the Gods,” an epic account of two crazed climbers’ attempt to scale Everest’s South-West face in winter without oxygen, France is pushing back the boundaries of animation as
Sandcastle Studios’ “Jungle Beat: The Movie,” produced in collaboration with South Africa’s Sunrise Productions, had big theatrical plans for its post-festival life. But all that changed when the world went into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “When the pandemic came, we realized theatrical wasn’t going to happen, so we started thinking about putting
COVID-19 looks set to accelerate the biggest paradigm shift in French animation in the last two decades: Global streaming platforms’ ever larger presence in finance and distribution. How France’s auteur-driven animation movie and TV industry dovetails with the market interests and industry practices of Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Warner Media and Apple TV Plus
As the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival deals with the benefits and struggles of going digital, perhaps no American studio has backed 2020’s online version more than Netflix, which will host three highly-anticipated panels for upcoming projects, among them a masterclass from stop-motion master Henry Selick and his composer Bruno Coulais. An unannounced surprise, the
“Little Women,” the coming-of-age period drama directed by Greta Gerwig, is nearing the $100 million mark at the international box office as movie theaters start to reopen. Overseas, “Little Women” generated $760,000 this weekend from 13 markets. That takes its foreign haul to $99.5 million. A majority of those ticket sales came from Japan, where
The long line of Hollywood tough guys appearing alongside cute kids continues with “My Spy,” a passable PG-13 action-comedy in which big ’n’ brawny Dave Bautista plays a CIA man whose nose-diving career and damaged emotions are rehabilitated by a clever nine-year-old girl with an aptitude for espionage and a matchmaking plan for her widowed
Colo Tavernier O’Hagan, the revered screenwriter of award-winning films by Bertrand Tavernier and Claude Chabrol, died from cancer on June 13, according to a statement from the Lumière Institute in Lyon. Throughout her prolific career spanning film and TV, Tavernier O’Hagan was a life-long, inspiring collaborator to her former husband, Bertrand Tavernier, on many of
Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his home in Bandra, Mumbai on Sunday. Early reports indicate that his death was by suicide. He was 34. Rajput made his television debut in 2008 with Balaji Telefilms’ “Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil.” The popularity of that show led to him being cast in
This year’s online Annecy Festival includes a Territory Focus on South-East Asia, co-organized by Annecy and the French Embassy. This is the second edition of the initiative, part of Annecy’s MIFA, market, which aims to kickstart animation projects from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Projects developed this year include animated shorts, features and TV
UPDATED: Spike Lee has issued an apology for his comments defending Woody Allen against cancel culture in Hollywood. “I deeply apologize. My words were wrong. I do not and will not tolerate sexual harassment, assault or violence. Such treatment causes real damage that can’t be minimized,” he posted on Twitter on Saturday. I Deeply Apologize.
Actors Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel Howery joined a Black Lives Matter protest on Friday outside of the iconic L.A. comedy club Laugh Factory, both giving powerful speeches in support of the cause. Haddish, best known for her roles on TV show “The Last O.G.” and movies like “Girls Trip” and “Night School,” spoke out
“No Time to Die” will be releasing in U.S. theaters five days earlier than expected. The James Bond film’s Twitter account made the announcement on Saturday morning, revealing it will head to U.S. theaters on Nov. 20. The film has been shifted around twice now due to the coronavirus pandemic. “No Time to Die” was
Chinese authorities on Friday put another nail in the coffin for China’s film sector, formally announcing that cinemas in Beijing must remain shut for the time being after three new coronavirus cases were discovered in the capital. Beijing found its first COVID-19 case in nearly two months on Thursday — a Xicheng district resident who
Universal Pictures has moved the Tom Hanks post-apocalypse movie “Bios” back to 2021 in the latest of an array of release date changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Bios,” from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin banner, will move from Oct. 2 to April 16, 2021. “Bios,” which came together in 2017 with “Game of Thrones” helmer Miguel Sapochnik
The Wallflowers’ 1996 hit “One Headlight” wasn’t just a song choice that set a mood for the trailer of “The King of Staten Island.” It appears in the film itself, in a quick but telling barroom scene that gets at how near-strangers can bond over music… even if it’s music they don’t quite remember well
Queen Latifah has long been a trailblazer for women in the industry, transitioning from rapper to actor to producer to entrepreneur, while emphasizing the importance of having a seat at the table when it comes to business. And with her latest venture, the Queen Collective — a mentorship initiative designed to give multicultural women directors