Popular Spanish filmmaker Kike Maíllo (“Eva,”“Toro”) is set to direct “A Perfect Enemy,” a psychological thriller based on Amelie Nothomb’s bestselling novel “The Enemy’s Cosmetique” with “Cold War” star Tomasz Kot and “The Good Liar” actress Athena Strates set to headline. Pulsar Content, the newly launched Paris sales company, has boarded the project and is
Hallmark Channel has been a defy-the-odds TV success story during the past decade, as the cabler has enjoyed ratings growth and a heightened pop culture profile for its unabashedly feel-good programming. But behind the camera, the independent cable group owned by Crown Media Family Networks has faced an increasingly uphill battle on the distribution front
November 6, 2019 12:30PM PT The planned reboot of the classic series “Kung Fu” is on the move. The one-hour series, which was previously set up at Fox with a put pilot order, is now in development at The CW. In addition, Albert Kim has exited the project, with Christina M. Kim now attached to
Leading Spanish-language media company Univision reported robust digital and soccer viewership as key growth drivers in its third quarter financials report. A further boost came from higher subscriber fees as well as its return to Dish Network after an almost nine-month carriage dispute with the satellite pay-TV service was resolved last spring. Digital video views
For the first time in its 38-year history, the American Film Market is producing a conference about what was once considered taboo at the confab’s Loews Santa Monica digs: television. The Nov. 11 event will address how indie filmmakers can cash in on the tidal wave of new streaming services — Apple TV Plus, Disney
November 6, 2019 11:41AM PT At 2:18 p.m. on Nov. 8, 2018, Fox News Channel took to Twitter to tell its followers that a federal appeals court had ruled against the Trump administration’s desire to end the U.S. program that gives immigrants a chance to continue working and living in the United States. After that,
Charades, the Paris-based sales banner, has boarded a pair of stylish English-language genre films: Steven Kostanski’s science fiction comedy “Psycho Goreman” (pictured), and “Cosmogony,” a psychological thriller directed by Vincent Paronnaud (“Persepolis”). “Cosmogony” follows Eve, who meets what she thinks is a charming guy in a bar. Yet things go terribly wrong once she realizes
With major award nomination deadlines looming, Noah Baumbach’s critically acclaimed Netflix divorce drama “Marriage Story” is emerging as a strong contender. The stars at the center of the festival favorite, Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, have both been hailed for their tour de force turns as a theater director and his actress wife caught in
November 6, 2019 10:30AM PT The “Queen Sugar” team of Kat Candler and Ava DuVernay are re-teaming for a drama series that is in development at TNT. The currently untitled one-hour drama follows a struggling young wife and mother who, in the aftermath of a deadly oil refinery explosion that takes the life of an
When talking about Fox’s “Ford v Ferrari,” starring Christian Bale as race car driver Ken Miles and Matt Damon as auto designer Carroll Shelby, director James Mangold stresses the collaborative nature of filmmaking: “The triumph of our editing team is also a triumph of our stunt teams and design teams and cinematographer. They’re all interlocked.”
Lifetime’s Salt-N-Pepa biopic has found its leads. G.G. Townson and Laila Odom will be playing Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton, respectively. Additionally, the upcoming limited series will also star Cleveland Berto as music producer Hurby Azor, Jermel Howard as rapper Treach and Monique Paul as DJ Spinderella. This still-untitled authorized biopic follows the
As the stars of Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” August Diehl and Valerie Pachner, walked the red carpet at the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the famously reclusive writer-director was nowhere to be seen. Nor did he appear in video footage of the six-minute standing ovation that his film received that night. But
The Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation Wednesday into Christophe Ruggia, the filmmaker who has been accused by French actress Adele Haenel of sexual harassment and unwanted touching for several years from the time she was 12. “Following the publication of an article in Mediapart on Nov. 3, the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a
While Hollywood And Wall Street have been bracing for more than two years for a slew of competing streaming services, a new survey has some revelations about the marketplace these platforms will soon enter. Conducted in September by viewer tracking service TV Time and UTA IQ, the survey, “Beyond the Big Three,” says a considerable
“When do they issue those arm patches to authors?” Liz Phair wondered aloud on the opening night of a residency at L.A.’s Largo, designed to promote her new memoir. “Is that the second book? I can wait.” There is, in fact, a second book coming, or at least promised; hers is intended as a two-part
November 6, 2019 9:05AM PT Central Partnership has picked up international sales rights to “Chernobyl. Abyss,” directed by Danila Kozlovsky, and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky and Sergey Melkumov, who were both Oscar-nominated for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Leviathan” and “Loveless.” The drama is the first major Russian feature film to focus on the aftermath of the explosion
In 2019, a female singer-songwriter who has been making music for over 20 years — collaborating with big named like R.E.M. and the Red Hot Chili Peppers while consistently releasing her own albums — should be defined by her body of work, not her relation to a man. And yet the headline of a recent
November 6, 2019 9:00AM PT Sebastien Raybaud’s production, finance and sales house Anton has picked up worldwide sales rights to music documentary “Laurent Garnier: Off the Record,” and is presenting the project to buyers at the American Film Market. The documentary looks at the life of one of the godfathers of house music, the pioneering
November 6, 2019 9:00AM PT Ben Affleck has been cast in “Hypnotic,” an action thriller written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Affleck will play a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program, while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists. Solstice Studios and Studio 8 unveiled
Good news for subtitles lovers: The Academy is radically expanding how nominees are chosen in the Oscars new international feature film race. In the past, nominees were chosen in two phases, with the bulk of the work done by Academy members who volunteered to watch dozens of foreign-language movies at Los Angeles-based screenings. That’s where
November 6, 2019 8:57AM PT James Dean will be brought back to the big screen through CGI visual effects for the Vietnam War era drama “Finding Jack.” The actor, best known for “Rebel Without a Cause,” “East of Eden” and “Giant,” died in a car accident in 1955 at age 24. Magic City Films has
Only PriceWaterhouseCoopers knows the final tally, but from the sidelines, it sure looked like last year was the closest the Academy has ever come to awarding best picture to a foreign-language film. Instead, an old-school studio movie, Peter Farrelly’s feel-good “Green Book,” took the top award, while Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white Mexican art film “Roma” won
November 6, 2019 8:21AM PT ABC’s live (or semi-live) musical adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” made a splash in the TV ratings on Tuesday night. The show scored a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 and just under 9 million total viewers, solid numbers for a live TV musical. For comparison, Fox’s “Rent” live musical event
“Supernatural” leading man Jensen Ackles made his directorial debut on the show in the sixth season and then went on to direct a handful more. But after Season 11’s “The Bad Seed,” it seemed like he was taking a break from pulling double duty on the demon-hunting CW drama. His work in front of the
While theatrical exhibitors continue to reap profits showcasing the stories of military men and women on the big screen, streaming services have not only become a destination for smaller and sometimes lesser-known projects, but have also provided a new and expanding opportunity to serve the veteran community with more consistent and eclectic depictions of heroism
Among the record 92 submissions this year, 27 titles are directed or co-directed by women. There are six documentaries in the mix, as well as two animated features. Moreover, for the first time, Ghana and Uzbekistan are each fielding an entry. However, Nigeria’s submission was disqualified by the Academy as being mostly in the English
November 6, 2019 8:00AM PT [embedded content] Apple has released the creepy trailer for its M. Night Shyamalan series “Servant.” The half-hour thriller series, exec produced and directed by the “Sixth Sense” and “Split” helmer, premieres on Nov. 28 on Apple TV Plus and centers around a Philadelphia couple in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy
November 6, 2019 7:26AM PT Eric Sundermann, head of content for The Fader, was fired by the company after an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct that initially emerged on Twitter. A rep for the company confirmed Sundermann’s departure to Variety, but denied a report in Billboard stating that publisher Andy Cohn was also under
Some of TV’s most popular programs are rooted in a blockbuster creative concept. Others are designed to cater to a unique insight about audience behavior. The current third hour of NBC’s venerable “Today” was spurred by a different factor: sheer necessity. NBC News didn’t have the luxury of focus groups or a test show when
Adam Lublin, a former AEG executive and consultant to First Access Entertainment, was charged with sexual abuse for a third time by the New York County District Attorney, according to reports in the New York Post, Rolling Stone and Billboard. Lublin was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday on two indictments including seven counts of sexual abuse