Roland Emmerich’s big-budget World War II film “Midway” was no match for local drama “Better Days” at China’s box office, bringing in $3 million less than the top-earning Chinese title, which is already in its third weekend in theaters. One of the more expensive independent films ever made on a budget of $98 million, the
Leading U.K.-based indie Zig Zag Productions has recruited award-winning producer and showrunner Ronnie Krensel to lead its U.S. business. He will be EVP, Zig Zag USA, and take charge of development and pitching projects to networks, cable channels, and streamers based in the U.S. Krensel has created and produced shows for numerous U.S. outlets, including
Play video content Exclusive TMZ.com Trina‘s shopping trip to Walmart turned racial when another customer allegedly called her a “n***** bitch” … and cops ended up getting involved. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … someone inside the Walmart in Cooper City, FL called police after people started mouthing off and screaming at each other inside
Kristin Scott Thomas will be honored at this year’s British Independent Film Awards with the Richard Harris Award for her contribution to British film. Thomas will join a celebrated list of former honorees including Judi Dench in 2018, and Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson and Chiwetel Ejiiofor in years past. Thomas’ film work includes “Four Weddings
We’ve all seen couples like Gota and Chika Yanagida — some of us may even be in one. In writer-director Shin Adachi’s “A Beloved Wife,” the Yanagidas bicker constantly, turning their near-constant state of marital conflict into a kind of public performance, sucking friends and strangers alike into the typhoon of their discomfort. Are they
The Mediterranean island nation of Malta has long been attracting international film and TV productions mainly for tales with either a strong marine or biblical element, and often for limited portions of the overall shoot. Now Malta is trying to make a quantum leap to lure a wider scope of productions for longer stays. And
November 10, 2019 6:16PM PT E! is set to revive its talk show comedy roundup series “The Soup” with Brazilian-born comedian Jade Catta-Preta. It’s set to premiere early next year as a weekly half-hour series. The enduring franchise that began on E! as “Talk Soup” in 1991 features a comedic take on outrageous highlights from
China’s Joy Pictures — previously a buyer, marketer and distributor best known for bringing “La La Land” to China — is now turning towards the production and sale of animation, and is at AFM for the first time this year as a seller. So far a hot title has been one of Joy’s few live-action
Play video content Exclusive TMZ.com Cuba Gooding Jr. got confronted in the club again — only this time it was by his own girlfriend … who freaked out on him during what we’re told was her party. CGJ was down in South Beach Saturday at Mango’s Tropical Cafe, where sources tell us he was celebrating
In another step toward integrating CBS and Viacom’s assets following the merger of the two entertainment entities earlier this year, CBS chief creative officer David Nevins is adding oversight of Viacom-owned BET Networks, while MTV/VH1 chief Chris McCarthy will take over Comedy Central, Paramount Network and other channels as longtime Comedy Central chief Kent Alterman
It isn’t rare to see a love-it-or-hate-it movie; every awards season brings one or two of them. Last year we had “Green Book,” this year we have “Joker.” (I’m tempted to say, in the case of both those films, that millions of moviegoers love them and 197 media people hate them, but that’s another story.)
Responding to French actress Valentine Monnier’s accusation of rape, a lawyer for Roman Polanski has issued a statement saying that the filmmaker denied the allegations and was considering suing the newspaper that published Monnier’s story. In an article in Le Parisien on Friday, Monnier alleged that Polanski raped her violently at a ski chalet in
“Terminator: Dark Fate” faced another rocky weekend in theaters as the sixth entry in the sci-fi saga scraped together $29.9 million from 53 international markets. Though the film is nearing the $200 million mark globally (worldwide ticket sales are currently at $199.4 million), “Dark Fate” still stands to be a major money loser for Paramount,
Oliver Laxe’s “Fire Will Come” won the top prize, the Golden Alexander, at the 60th Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival on Sunday, as well as the best actor award for Amador Arias, playing an arsonist who returns to his family home in the mountains. The film, described in its Variety review as “a rustically beautiful rural
In a surprise box office win, Roland Emmerich’s World War II epic “Midway” took down the competition in North America to land in first place with $17.5 million. Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros.’ Stephen King adaptation “Doctor Sleep” was widely expected to take the top prize, but the R-rated sequel to 1980’s “The Shining”
Nikolay “Nick” Sarkisov is the co-founder and head of Blitz Films, a production and financing company he founded in 2018 with his father, Sergey. With headquarters in Los Angeles and Moscow, Blitz Films focuses on pursuing unique storie. Blitz has partnered with first-time filmmakers such as cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko’s “Show Me What You Got” and
Frakas Prods., the Belgian independent company behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw,” is collaborating with another promising filmmaker, Christophe Hermans, on his feature debut, “Hive,” which a teenage-driven psychological thriller. The film, which just wrapped shooting, is headlined Ludivine Sagnier opposite Sophie Breyer, Mara Taquin and Bonnie Duvauchelle, as well as Romain Guillermic. Adapted from Arthur Loustalot’s
Barcelona-based studio Filmax has acquired international sales rights to Avelina Prat’s feature-debut “Vasil,” which is currently in pre-production. Filmax also handles Spanish distribution. “Vasil” is produced by Barcelona-based Distinto Films, which backed Patricia Ferreira’s “The Wild Children,” in co-production with Bulgaria’s Activist 38, which made Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Uncle Tony, Three Fools, And
Stars like Jason Statham, Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson and Ben Affleck have brought a semblance of stability to an unsettled American Film Market this week. The boom in streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon along with the emergence of new services from Disney, Apple and Warner Bros. has disrupted the traditional business model for
While most of the action onscreen in “Midway” involves Americans and Japanese, most of the money behind the movie is Chinese. Starlight Entertainment, which put up 45% of the $98 million budget, sees itself as an ally of the independent movie scene. The Hong Kong stock market-listed firm first came to attention when it struck
In her live show, “An Evening with Rita Moreno,” Saturday at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Rita Moreno told the audience she will have a “real” role in next December’s “West Side Story” remake, which recently wrapped shooting, and that she initially had concerns about the film’s production. “At first, it
Pulsar Content, the newly launched Parisian sales boutique, has closed deals on “Aznavour by Charles,” a documentary feature on the late French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour, directed by Marc di Domenico and narrated by Romain Duris. “Aznavour by Charles” delivers an intimate portrait of the iconic singer through exclusive footage of him through the years, and
LOS ANGELES — Films Boutique has closed France and Japan on Himalayan crowdpleaser “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” by Bhutanese filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji, rolling off its market premiere at the AFM. French rights on “Lunana” have been acquired by ARP Selection, one of the country’s most prominent art film distributors with a strong line
Among the other things Eddie Murphy’s rapturously received new comedy has going for it, “Dolemite Is My Name” might be the movie musical of the year, in spirit, if not wholly in form. At least, there are a few sequences where its real-life protagonist, comedian/musician/actor Rudy Ray Moore, breaks into a kind of proto-hip-hop performance
Summer Walker is the “queen of R&B,” declared producer London On Da Track at her sold-out show at The Novo in downtown Los Angeles. He, along with special guests Usher and Jhene Aiko, represented the proven hitmakers who bowed down, as it were, to Walker on Friday night. On a stage that consisted of two
Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Intl. Film Festival, Europe’s leading event celebrating cinematography, came full circle Saturday, opening in Torun, the Gothic town where the founders first launched it 27 years ago. The fest was based in Bydgoszcz from 2010 until this year, operating previously in Lodz. Kicking off with a video call to David Lynch, a longtime
Play video content Exclusive TMZ.com Chanel West Coast says Sharon Stone shouldn’t be suing her for thrusting her back into pop culture again with a song that invoked her name … instead, SS should thank her. We got the rapper and MTV host Saturday in Sherman Oaks and asked about the lawsuit the iconic actress
UPDATED: A small brush fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills above the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, Calif., causing the Warner Bros. lot to evacuate as a precaution, before its forward progress was stopped at around 5 p.m. Saturday. According to the LAFD, fire crews are working on putting out the “still active
Phedon Papamichael has built his reputation as a cinematographer with indie, minimalist shooting for directors like Wim Wenders and Alexander Payne: his work on “Nebraska,” to cite just one case, is a study in stark, deeply ironic black-and-white compositions that center on character contrast. So when he took up the challenge with director and frequent
Rodrigo Prieto, who first visited Poland’s Camerimage fest in 2000 to take the top prize for “Amores perros” and later filmed “Brokeback Mountain” and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” says his cinematography in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” presented challenges that pushed him into new territory. The crime thriller, adapted from Charles Brandt’s book “I Heard