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Exclusive: Here’s first-footage of Paris-set chef drama Grande Maison Paris, the standalone feature spinoff from the world of Japanese hit series La Grande Maison: Tokyo.

Set in the high stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film is led by Japanese star Takuya Kimura (Blade of the Immortal) reprising his lead role from the series, and popular Korean actor and rapper from band2PM Ok Taec-yeon (Hansan: Rising Dragon).

Three Michelin star Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi (of Paris restaurant Kei) created the film’s cuisine. Pic gets its world premiere at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival.

Toho will release in Japan. Sony Pictures International Productions will release in France, with London and Paris-based finance, production and sales company Film Constellation handling international sales.

The official synopsis reads: “Famous Japanese chef Obana (Takuya Kimura) opens a new restaurant in Paris in the quest for his elusive third Michelin star.

Brand new episodes of The View.

Brand new look for one of the talk show’s opinionated co-hosts.

Ahead of Tuesday’s Season 28 premiere of this long-running program, ABC released the following promotional photo of Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Ana Navarro, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Can you spot the reason why it created quite a stir on social media?

Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Ana Navarro, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin make up your cast for The View Season 28. (ABC/Jeff Lipsky)

As you can see immediately, Hostin has Much shorter hair than she had in the past… perhaps changing up her appearance in response to her youngest child going off to college.

She’s an empty-nester now.

She has more time to focus on her style.

We mean… just compare the Sunny Hostin above to the one who posed on the red carpet just one...

Exclusive: FilmNation is launching sales on a buzzy package for the TIFF market: dark heist comedy 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank.

Taken star and Oscar nominee Liam Neeson is in talks to lead the project alongside a collection of fast-ascending actors including Never Rarely Sometimes Always breakout Talia Ryder, Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place), Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl), Jack Dylan Grazer (It) and newcomer Deacon Phillippe, son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe.

Neeson will play ex-bank robber Danny, whose teenage granddaughter Paige (Ryder) means the world to him. So when she overhears that his former gang is pulling him back in for one more score to pay a debt, she comes up with the only logical solution: She enlists her three ride-or-die best friends to rob the bank the day before so he doesn’t have to.

Set to be directed by Frankie Shaw (Smilf), and based on the...

Searchlight Pictures has announced that its drama The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, starring Uzo Aduba, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Sanaa Lathan, will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu on August 23.

Based on the 2013 New York Times bestselling novel by Edward Kelsey Moore, the film directed by Tina Mabry tells the story of three best friends dubbed “The Supremes” who have weathered life’s storms together for two generations, through marriage and children, happiness and the blues, watching as they find themselves at a crossroad that tests their lifelong bond.

Pic also stars Russell Hornsby and Mekhi Phifer, as well as Kyanna Simone, Tati Gabrielle, Abigail Achiri, Julian McMahon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Tony Winters, Dijon Means, Xavier Mills, Cleveland Berto and Ryan Paynter. Cee Marcellus adapted the screenplay, with revisions by Mabry, with Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen’s Temple Hill Entertainment producing.

Most recently, Searchlight released Laura Chinn’s Sundance drama Suncoast,...

Exclusive: Helena Howard (Madeline’s Madeline), Bella Thorne (Divinity), Zión Moreno (Gossip Girl), Chloe Cherry (Euphoria) and Sophia Ali (Uncharted) have wrapped production on Find Your Friends, a thriller marking the feature directorial debut of actor-filmmaker Izabel Pakzad.

Others to appear in the film include Chris Bauer (The Wire), Jake Manley (The Order), Israel Broussard (Happy Death Day), Harrison Sloan Gilbertson (Oppenheimer), and Blaine Kern III (Accused).

Izabel Pakzad

Written by Pakzad, Find Your Friends watches as Amber and her four best girlfriends take a trip to escape the L.A. bubble and cut loose in Joshua Tree for the weekend. But upon arrival, they quickly realize the locals don’t want them there. As the hostile environment escalates, our girls are disparaged by their aggressive neighbor, dismissed by the cops, and, it seems, even being stalked by some local men. But as her friends uncover Amber’s past trauma,...

A first trailer for Universal’s anticipated Twisters update has dropped during the Super Bowl. You can check it out above.

Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos star in the new chapter to the 1996 box office hit. Lee Isaac Chung is on board to direct from a script by Mark L. Smith. The film is co-financed by Warner Bros.

Supporting cast includes Kiernan Shipka, David Corenswet, Daryl McCormack, Sasha Lane, Maura Tierney and Katy O’Brian.

Starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, the original Twister was a massive hit in 1996, scoring almost $500M at the worldwide box office, thanks in no small part to the film’s groundbreaking special effects. The movie followed a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system. Pic was helmed by Speed director Jan De Bont and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by author Michael Crichton.

Preeminent comedian Jo Koy has been set to host the 81st Golden Globe Awards, in what will be his first outing in that capacity at a major awards show.

He comes to the role of Globes host after breaking sales records on his “Funny Is Funny World Tour,” which came in as one of the highest grossing of the year according to Pollstar, at a gross of $29.4 million for 88 performances in arenas and theaters around the world.

While the Golden Globes are almost always hosted by comedians these days, the introduction of Koy to the stage is particularly appropriate in a year that’s seen the ceremony introduce a category recognizing Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television, alongside one for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Inaugural nominees in the former include Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes, Trevor Noah, Sarah Silverman, Ricky Gervais and Amy Schumer.

This year’s Golden Globes Awards...

Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning British actress and former Labour MP, has died. She was 87.

In a statement, her agent Lionel Larner said she died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, following a “brief illness.”

Larner’s statement read: “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress, and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.”

Statement continued: “She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”

Jackson was perhaps best known for her two Oscar-winning performances in Ken Russell’s 1970’s pic Women in Love, a D. H. Lawrence adaptation, where she starred alongside Alan Bates and Oliver Reed and 1973’s A Touch of Class. Jackson also won a BAFTA Best Actress gong for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971).

Jackson was born in 1936 in North West England. She studied at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...

Few people lived a life as bold and controversial as Leonardo da Vinci. It’s easy to forget sometimes he was also a human being with doubts who struggled with the same things that trouble just about all of us.

In animated feature “The Inventor,” writer/director Jim Capobianco, who shared an original screenplay Oscar nomination with Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava for “Ratatouille,” was always interested in the more personal side of the famed painter and inventor. “The Inventor” combines traditional 2D and stop-motion animation as well as original music and lyrics by Alex Mandel.

“I’m telling the story of [da Vinci] at the end of his life and years in France,” says Capobianco. “I knew he was going to die [at the end of the story] and I was asking what that means to a man like Leonardo da Vinci. Having researched him, I learned that he believed that he procrastinated a lot...

Update, writethru: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie has got super game as it levels up to cross 1B$ at the global box office through Sunday. It now becomes the 10th animated film in history to cross $1B worldwide, and is the 10th biggest animated film of all time globally, overtaking Despicable Me 2 and Minions: The Rise Of Gru. The Super Mario Bros Movie is the third Illumination title to hit the $1 billion mark.

The juggernaut powered-up to an additional of $68.3M this session in 80 overseas markets, bringing its international receipts to-date through Sunday to $532.5M. Worldwide, the estimate through today is $1.022B.

Notably, Japan opened this weekend. On 776 screens, the start was a huge $14.3M to score the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated studio movie, as well as the biggest Saturday box office in Universal history – topping Jurassic World Dominion. In only two days,...

Exclusive: Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina and Ron Perlman are the latest additions to Apple Original Films’ The Instigators, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. The A-list ensemble also includes Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser and Michael Stuhlbarg. Doug Liman is directing.

The film follows two thieves who go on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a robbery goes awry. The script was penned by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck and was developed by Robinov, Graham and Casey Affleck.

Related Story Eiza González & Aaron Paul To Star In Flying Lotus’s Sci-Fi ‘Ash’; “We ‘Bout To Kill This”, Says Director Ahead Of Filming Related Story Michael Stuhlbarg Joins Matt Damon And Casey Affleck In 'The Instigators' Related Story Alfred Molina Boards Indie Dramedy 'When We Get There'

Damon and Ben Affleck are producing through their newly announced banner Artists Equity, along with Jeff Robinov...

Burt Bacharach was one of the most distinguished and successful composers of the last century.

Working most fruitfully with the lyricist Hal David, his addictively intelligent songs embodied unconventional time signatures, shifting chords and a fusion of pop and rock, jazz, and Latin elements. With Bacharach’s adventurous song structures married to David’s words, often bittersweet lyrics as though from a cinematic school of realism, the duo were like the personification of New York’s Brill Building hit factory.

Although not all these songs were with David, Bacharach, who has died aged 94, enjoyed more than 50 UK Top 40 hits, and more than 70 in his native US. A remarkable 38 of these tunes were with the classically trained former gospel singer Dionne Warwick with whom the pair began working in 1962. Several of Bacharach’s compositions were bigger hits in the UK than in America.

The pair first hit the charts in 1957 with...

Rolling applause, and lots of it, greeted Ruben Östlund and the cast of Triangle Of Sadness as they entered the Cannes press conference this morning.

Call it cathartic for a global audience that’s been mired too long by Covid, inflation, and the dreariness of the Ukraine war. Cannes is notorious for its somber, three year hour movies. However, Triangle of Sadness in its Farrelly Brothers-esque vomit and poop antics, provided a reason for the press corps here to laugh, and, boy, are they responding to it after last night’s crowd gave the pic one of this Cannes’ longest standing ovations.

The movie, which Östlund bills as his “end of Western Civilazation,” follows a fashion model and her model casting agent partner, played by Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson, who wind up on luxury yacht, the poorest of those setting sail, and are ultimately stranded on a deserted island.

Italian actor-turned-director Andrea Di Stefano, who helmed well-received U.S. indie thrillers “Escobar: Paradise Lost,” with Benicio del Toro, and “The Informer,” is set to make “L’Ultima Notte di Amore,” his Italian-language debut.

Universal Pictures Intl., Focus Features, and Italy’s Vision Distribution have worldwide distribution rights on the pic, which toplines Pierfrancesco Favino (Cannes competition title “Nostalgia” from Mario Martone).

The film’s title, which translates as “The Last Night of Love,” is a play on words. Amore actually refers to a police lieutenant named Franco Amore. On the night before his retirement the lieutenant is called to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. We soon find out that Amore was involved in the diamond heist and learn how the love of his wife Viviana will help him survive this fatal night.

The film’s screenplay is by Di Stefano.

Exclusive: Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise), Oscar nominee Bette Midler (The First Wives Club) and Emmy winner Megan Mullally (Will And Grace) are attached to star in The Fabulous Four from director Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker).

The feel-good comedy will follow two life-long friends who travel to Key West to be bridesmaids in a surprise wedding of their college girlfriend Marilyn (Midler). When there, sisterhoods are rekindled, the past rises up, and sparks, drinks and romance fly.

The plan is to start pre-production in July and begin filming in September in Atlanta, Georgia and Key West, Florida.

Sierra/Affinity is launching international sales next week in Cannes and the project will likely have strong appeal for those in need of humour and diversion and looking to tap into the mature audience quadrant. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are representing the North American distribution rights.

Exclusive: The Goldbergs star Wendi McLendon-Covey has signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the hit ABC comedy series. Under the pact, McLendon-Covey will develop for the studio across all platforms.

The pact was made in conjunction with McLendon-Covey recently signing a new contract to continue to portray matriarch Beverly Goldberg on The Goldbergs, which paved the way for the show to receive a Season 10 renewal. McLendon-Covey, who also serves as an executive producer on The Goldbergs, has been nominated for two Critics Choice Awards for her role.

“There is no one funnier, more unique and talented than Wendi,” said Dawn Steinberg, EVP Worldwide Talent & Casting and Glenn Adilman, EVP Comedy Development for Sony Pictures Television. “She is the longstanding pride of our Sony family and we are thrilled to be deepening our relationship both behind and in front of the camera.”

A standout from the...

Exclusive: Pretty Little Liars and The Perfectionists alumna Sasha Pieterse has signed with Paradigm for representation in all areas.

Best known for her starring role as Alison Dilaurentis on the hit Freeform series Pretty Little Liars and spinoff The Perfectionists, for which she won two Teen Choice awards, Pieterse will next be seen in the upcoming Netflix feature film Ivy & Bean, based on Annie Barrows’ bestselling book series.

On the film side, Pieterse co-starred as Japonica Fenway in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Short. Additional feature credits include the 2018 Lionsgate pic The Honor List, produced by Zoe Saldana, and her starring role in the Netflix feature Coin Heist. She also starred in the indie comedy G.B.F (Gay Best Friend), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in Burning Bodhi opposite Kaley Cuoco.

Her cookbook Sasha in Good Taste was published...

Emmy-winning “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor will be the protagonist of Italian auteur Alice Rohrwacher’s next film “La Chimera,” which is set in the world of archeological looting and is currently shooting in and around Southern Tuscany.

O’Connor, who in “The Crown” played the young Prince Charles, in “La Chimera” is playing a young British archeologist named Arthur who gets involved in an international network of stolen Etruscan artifacts during the 1980s.

Also starring in “La Chimera,” which can be loosely translated as “The Unrealizable Dream,” are Isabella Rossellini as a retired opera singer; Brazilian actor Carole Duarte (“The Invisible Life”) who plays another non-Italian woman who intersects with Arthur; Alba Rohrwacher as an international artifacts trafficker; and Vincenzo Nemolato (“Martin Eden”) who plays one of the “tombaroli,” literally grave robbers, as artifacts thieves are known in Italy.

“‘La Chimera’ is the story of a young English archaeologist...

Utopia Boards Sci-Fi Drama

Exclusive: Utopia has acquired worldwide sales rights to feature film Saul At Night, a sci-fi drama and feature debut by Cory Santilli, written by Daniel Miska. Starring Kentucker Audley, Suzanne Clément, Stephanie Ellis and Acadia Colan, the movie follows Saul Capgras (Audley) as he is forced to become acclimated to isolation in a bizarre experiment. A legally imposed curfew and mandated sleeping schedule has been forced upon citizens, except Saul, the one person who rests during the day and spends his waking hours in the eerie and lonely night. Alienated from his family, Saul begins to invent ways to continue sharing his life with his wife and daughter, but things take a turn when he encounters a mysterious woman on one of his nightly wanderings. Digital release is lined up for this month. Pic is a JawDoc Productions film produced by Raz Cunningham and Julie Snyder,...

Riz Ahmed has boarded Egyptian-American director Dina Amer’s “You Resemble Me,” a bold exploration of the roots of Islamic radicalization through the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen – who in 2015 was wrongly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber – ahead of the pic’s premiere in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena).

Amer’s feature debut, which world premiered positively at the Venice Film Festival, is a deeply researched character study of the fragile young Muslim woman who became linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris even though she didn’t participate in them. Boulahcen died during an anti-terrorism raid alongside her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was one of the ringleaders of the coordinated assaults that killed 130 people in the French capital, including 90 at the Bataclan theater.

Ahmed’s show of support for the film – which is also executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze...

Deadline’s movie awards-season showcase The Contenders returned in-person this past weekend with Contenders Film: London, an all-day event that put 19 of the year’s buzziest movies from nine studios in the spotlight. A total of 44 panelists from George Clooney and Jennifer Hudson to Denis Villenueve, Dakota Johnson and Jonathan Majors participated.

Click here to go to the Contenders London streaming site.

Altitude, Amazon Studios, Apple Original Films, Focus Features, MGM, Neon, Netflix, Universal and Warner Bros/Legendary were the studios who took part in the hybrid event at the Ham Yard Hotel, bringing with them stars and creatives from films including Clooney and Grant Heslov for The Tender Bar, Hudson for Respect, Villeneuve and star Rebecca Ferguson for Dune, and Johnson and Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter.

Other attendees included Titane‘s Julia Ducournau; Encounter‘s Riz Ahmed and writer-director Michael Pearce; A Hero‘s Ashgar Farhadi; Coda...

In “Blue Moon,” young Irina dreams of University in Bucharest while her chaotic, rural family serves to undermine her future. Alina Grigore’s directorial debut premiers in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and follows Irina’s psychological take on ‘blood for blood.’

Grigore – who wrote and starred in Berlinale prize-winning film “Illegitimate” – moves behind the camera for “Blue Moon,” and uses her knowledge of focus and mise-en-scène to build bubbling tension from emotional violence. The film is also written by Grigore, who was inspired by her own community.

“Blue Moon” is produced by Gabriela Suciu and Robi Urs through InLight Center, and co-produced by Atelier de Film, Forest Film, Smart Sound Studios, Unfortunate Thespians and Avanpost. It was acquired by Patra Spanou Film for international sales.

Variety spoke with Grigore ahead of the film’s San Sebastian premiere.

What inspired you to tell a story regarding the dark side of family dysfunction?...

Arclight Films has sold Michael Lembeck’s comedy-drama Queen Bees to a host of international territories.

MGM has picked up Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Iceland, UK, Middle East, Greece, Portugal/Portuguese-speaking Africa, Cis/Russia, India, South Africa, Pan Asia Pay TV, Caribbean Basin and Latin America on the title. In addition, Kismet has taken Australia and New Zealand, Cannonball Films has taken Spain and Monolith has picked up Poland.

Gravitas Ventures released the movie in North America on June 11.

The pic stars Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Ann-Margret and James Caan. Donald Martin wrote the screenplay, which follows a fiercely independent senior who moves into a retirement community while her home undergoes repairs. Once there, she encounters lusty widows, cutthroat bridge tournaments and a hotbed of bullying ‘mean girls’ the likes of which she hasn’t encountered since high school.

Pic is an Astute Films production with Harrison Powell,...

German sales outfit Patra Spanou Film has acquired the international sales rights to “Blue Moon,” the feature debut of Romanian director Alina Grigore, which will world premiere in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

“Blue Moon” follows the psychological journey of a young woman, played by Ioana Chitu, who struggles to receive a higher education and escape her dysfunctional family. An ambiguous sexual experience with an artist will spur her intention to fight the family’s violence.

Pic stars Chitu alongside Mircea Postelnicu, Mircea Silaghi, and Vlad Ivanov, and is produced by Gabi Suciu for InLight Center (“Illegitimate”), in co-production with Atelier de Film, Forest Film, Smart Sound Studios (“Monsters”) and Avanpost. It’s Grigore’s second feature as a writer, after she wrote and starred in Adrian Sitaru’s Berlinale prize winner “Illegitimate.”

“Romanian cinema has been in the focus of the international arthouse film scene for a while,...

Exclusive: Tamera Kissen has signed on for New Line’s reimagining of House Party.

She joins previously announced cast members Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Tosin Cole, Karen Obilom, DC Young Fly, Shakira Ja’nai Paye, Andrew Santino and Bill Bellamy in the film, which The SpringHill Company is producing for HBO Max.

The original 1990 comedy watched as high schooler Christopher (Christopher “Kid” Reid) snuck out to his friend Peter’s (Christopher “Play” Martin) house party, for a wild night of music and fun.

Pic was a surprise box office hit for New Line, and is credited with helping launch hip-hop into the mainstream. It also launched the career of writer/director Reginald Hudlin, and those of actors Reid, Martin, Tisha Martin-Campbell, Martin Lawrence, A.J. Johnson, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell and Full Force.

With the House Party remake, scripted by Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori, award-winning music video...

Exclusive: Louis Herthum (Westworld), Chris Coy (The Deuce), Melinda Page Hamilton (Messiah), Katie Leung (Annika) and Austin Rising (Alt) are set as series regulars on The Peripheral, Amazon’s upcoming original series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films. Chloë Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor star in the sci-fi thriller drama, based on the bestselling novel by William Gibson.

Created by Scott B. Smith, The Peripheral is described as a dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.

The book centers on Flynne (Moretz) and her brother Burton (Reynor). In the novel, Burton, a veteran of the Marine Corps’ elite Haptic Recon force, is hired for a security job that takes place in what he thinks is cyberspace. When Flynne temporarily takes his place, she witnesses something that might have been murder.

Herthum will play Corbell Pickett, Coy will portray Jasper, Hamilton is Ella,...

Cercamon has closed major sales for “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?,” from Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze, which had its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Dubai-based indie specialist has sealed a multi-territory deal with Mubi, the global distributor and streaming service, which includes the U.S., where the film will be released this fall, Canada, Italy, India, Turkey, and Latin America.

Pic has also been sold to the U.K. and Ireland (New Wave Films), France (Damned Films), Benelux (Mooov), Spain (Noucinemart), Germany (Grandfilm), Austria (Polyfilm Verleih), Greece (Ama Film), Romania (Bad Unicorn), the Baltics (A-One), Taiwan (Hooray Film), and mainland China (Beijing Hugoeast). Discussions are also underway with distributors in Japan, Scandinavia, Australia and Israel.

“We had an overwhelming response from distributors all over the world and very enthusiastic press,” said Cercamon’s Sebastien Chesneau. “Cinema is fully alive,...

While it’s not really a time to take a victory lap at the box office with only 3.1k movie theaters opened out of U.S. and Canada’s 5.8K, five out of the eight Oscar-nominated best pictures this past weekend in theatrical release reaped the halo effect of Monday’s noms.

Keep in mind many arthouses, especially in the awards hubs of New York and Los Angeles, are operating at 25% capacity. That curbs and really hurts grosses for arthouse titles, as they’re typically given fewer showtimes and depend on full auditoriums, especially at primetimes such as 5pm and 7pm for older crowds. Landmark on Pico has still not opened. But the arthouse chain reopened their Nuart site on Friday with Sony Pictures Classic’s The Father and A24’s Minari. Nonetheless, the reopening of both cities’ arthouses couldn’t come at a better time, as they can capitalize on Oscar contenders,...

Haley Bennett has joined the cast of Eli Roth’s adaptation of Borderlands for Lionsgate.

The Swallow actress will play a new role in the Borderlands universe as a key to the past of Cate Blanchett’s character, Lilith.

The cast also includes Kevin Hart as Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, and Jack Black as Claptrap in the film.

Pic is based on the 68 million-plus units best-selling PC and console gaming experience from developer Gearbox Software and publisher 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Craig Mazin wrote the recent draft of the pic. Avi Arad and Ari Arad are producing through their Arad Productions banner, with Erik Feig also producing through Picturestart. Pic’s EPs are Randy Pitchford, executive producer of the Borderlands video game franchise and founder of the Gearbox Entertainment Company, and Strauss Zelnick,...

The drama explores the relationship between victim and abuser in a dysfunctional, rural family. Best known for Adrian Sitaru’s Berlinale-selected Illegitimate, actress-screenwriter Alina Grigore is putting the finishing touches to her directorial debut, Blue Moon. The independent feature follows a dysfunctional family in rural Romania, exploring how a victim can become an abuser. The exclusively Romanian project is being produced by Gabriela Suciu and Robi Urs through InLight Center, and co-produced by Atelier de Film, Forest Film, Unfortunate Thespians, Smart Sound Production and Avanpost. The screenplay, written by Grigore, centres on the relationship between Liviu, a man trying to make a family-run business successful in rural Romania, and his younger cousin, Irina (Ioana Chiţu). He doesn’t believe in education, while she dreams of studying in Bucharest. Soon, Irina will discover that she is ready to do anything in order to smash Liviu’s preconceptions about...

Exclusive: In the starriest new package announced so far for this year’s virtual AFM, we can reveal that Tye Sheridan (Mud), Oscar-nominee Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road), Golden Globe-nominee Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), Bill Skarsgard (It Chapter One & Two), Pete Davidson (The King Of Staten Island), Ashton Sanders (Moonlight), Martin Sensmeier (The Magnificent Seven), Moises Arias (Monos), and Angus Cloud (Euphoria) have been set as the impressive ensemble for Vietnam war movie The Things They Carried.

It’s hard to recall a deeper lineup of in-demand young talent for a recent indie movie. And the casting isn’t over, we hear.

Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) will direct the feature adaptation of Tim O’Brien’s acclaimed collection of stories about a platoon of young soldiers and their experiences on the front lines during the Vietnam War.

Script adaptation comes from Oscar-nominated screenwriter Scott B. Smith...

Exclusive: Euro financier Anton is launching sales on buzzy AFM package Mothers’ Instinct, which will star Oscar-nominee Jessica Chastain and Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway as 1960’s housewives whose relationship takes a dark turn.

The psychological thriller will follow best friends and neighbors Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway) who both live an idyllic traditional lifestyle with manicured lawns, successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond and a psychological battle of wills begins as the maternal instinct reveals its darker side.

Writer-director Olivier Masset-Depasse will helm the feature, which is an English-language remake of his 2018 Belgian movie Duelles, which won a record nine Magritte Awards from the Belgian Academy including Best Film and Best Director.

The film is based on the novel Derrière La Haine by novelist Barbara Abel. Writer Sarah...

Exclusive: Madison Pettis (American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules), Peyton Meyer (American Housewife), Isabella Crovetti (Magic Camp), Annie Jacob (Motherland: Fort Salem) and Myra Molloy (The Bold Type) are the latest to be added to the cast of He’s All That, Miramax’s modern remix to the ’90s teen classic She’s All That. The new additions are joining leads Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan, who will be playing gender-swapped versions Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook’s characters, respectively.

The remake brings back original producers Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay as well as screenwriter R. Lee Fleming, all of whom worked together on the film’s development over 20 years ago. Mark Waters is directing.

The film follows an influencer (Rae) who decides to avenge herself by accepting a challenge to turn the school’s biggest loser (Buchanan) into prom king after her boyfriend turns her into a laughing stock.

Sources...

All have projects at the Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink industry strand.

With the CineLink industry programme in full swing at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Screen profiles five producers from the region with an international outlook.

Jelena Angelovski (Serbia/Montenegro)

Serbian-born actress and producer Angelovski began to make her mark internationally when she produced Tamara Drakulić’s feature debut Wind through her Belgrade-based Monkey Production in 2016. It played at various international festivals including Torino and Goteborg.

Angelovski followed it up with two freelance projects: Ivan Salatić’s 2018 Venice Critics Week entry You Have the Night. made through Podgorica-based Meander Film,...

Programme includes 34 world premieres.

The line-up for the 46th Berlinale Forum has been announced and will feature a total of 44 films in its main programme, of which 34 are world premieres and nine international premieres.

One focus of this year’s programme is the Arab region, with films shot by mainly young directors from an area that stretches between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, exploring both the past and present of their homelands.

In A Magical Substance Flows into Me, artist Jumana Manna sets out in search of the musical diversity of the Palestinian region.

Tamer El Said’s feature In the Last Days of the City (Akher ayam el madina) sends his alter-ego Khalid through the director’s home city of Cairo, which is in a state of uproar.

Maher Abi Samra’s documentary A Maid for Each (Makhdoumin) grapples with the employment of maids from the Global South in middle-class Lebanese households, a practice...