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Photo by Giles Keyte, Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

After a somewhat slow start both critically and commercially, Inside Out 2 marked a real turning point in the moviegoing year as films finally began to hit their stride and moviegoers returned to cinemas for more magic.

In financial terms, the 2024 global box office is estimated at $30 billion, or seven percent behind 2023’s figures. That small downturn is due in part to the labour disputes in Hollywood back in 2023 — the important work of the Writers Guild of America strike and SAG-AFTRA strike — which postponed or halted a number of films and ultimately altered studio plans for 2024. It was another major recovery year at the global box office nonetheless, with significant increases over previous recovery years.

On the theatrical exhibition front, Sony Pictures became the first studio to purchase a cinema chain in 75 years, following the expiration of the infamous Paramount...

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A man in the midst of trying to rebuild his family finds himself in a nightmarish fight for survival in Succubus. The horror movie hails from writer/director R.J. Daniel Hanna, best known for previously helming the Adina Porter and Uzo Aduba-starring Miss Virginia, as well as the Matthew Modine-starring sports drama Hard Miles and working as an editor on a variety of other titles, including the 2020 horror-thriller What Lies Below, led by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star Ema Horvath.

Succubus centers on Chris, a seemingly mild-mannered father currently working through a trial separation from his wife as he tries to salvage their marriage. From the advice of Eddie, his jock-like best friend, Chris creates a profile on a dating website and matches with a woman named Adra, who claims to be in trouble while...

Shout! Studios, in collaboration with A Kiss and Tale Productions, Convoke Media, and Pixium Film Group has announced the upcoming release of Succubus, a “gruesome thriller” that’s headed to VOD outlets for purchase and/or rental beginning September 24, 2024.

Written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna, Succubus boasts a talented cast of Brendan Bradley, Rachel Cook, Olivia Applegate, Derek Smith, Emily Kincaid, Rosanna Arquette and Ron Perlman.

Produced by Todd Slater, Anna Elizabeth James, Ari Novak, Ron Perlman, and R.J. Daniel Hanna, Succubus follows a young father going through a marital separation, joins a dating app, and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman…whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.

Coached by his over-sexed friend Eddie, Chris, a new father, joins the StarCrossed dating app “just to see what’s out there,” and eventually comes...

Succubus: "This Fall, brace yourself for a wild and brazen horror about the most terrifying series of events that could befall a guy or you. On September 24, Shout! Studios, in collaboration with A Kiss and Tale Productions, Convoke Media, and Pixium Film Group will release the highly anticipated, gruesome thriller Succubus across digital entertainment platforms for purchase and/or rent. The DVD is also available on the same day. This is a definitive entertainment release that horror enthusiasts and movie audiences won’t want to miss!

Written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna (Hard Miles, Miss Virginia), Succubus boasts a talented cast of Brendan Bradley, Rachel Cook, Olivia Applegate, Derek Smith, Emily Kincaid with Rosanna Arquette and Ron Perlman.

Produced by Todd Slater, Anna Elizabeth James, Ari Novak, Ron Perlman, and R.J. Daniel Hanna, Succubus follows a young father going through a marital separation, joins a dating app,...

A down-on-his-luck coach or mentor assembling a bunch of underdogs and taking them to glory has to be the most common sports film template. Then we have these self-searching adventure films where one individual or a group takes a journey somewhere in search of purpose. Hard Miles, directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna, happens to be a mix of both of these kinds. Naturally, it appears to be conventional and familiar, but that doesn’t mean it’s not rewarding. In many ways, this genre itself is like a comforting cheeseburger. If it’s done right, it’s always going to work, and it certainly doesn’t matter if you’ve had it thousands of times before. This film is a profound example of that. It is, obviously, inspired by this real person, Greg Townsend, and his incredible story. Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner from Stranger Things is how most of you know him) plays the part,...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (May 31-June 2)Total gross to dateWeek 1. If (Paramount) £1.6m £9.6m 3 2. The Garfield Movie (Sony) £1.3m £6.3m 2 3. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (Disney) £1.1m £13.3m 4 4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Warner Bros) £963,053 £4.5m 2 5. The Fall Guy (Universal)

£523,218 £11m 5

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27

Without a hot new tentpole release, this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office has been dominated by holdovers, with Paramount’s If clinching the top spot, and The Garfield Movie overtaking Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

John Krasinski’s live action-animation hybrid If has finally broken out of its second place slot in its third weekend on release,...

It looks to be a modest weekend at the UK-Ireland box office for new releases, with spider horror Sting crawling into 484 locations for Studiocanal, and the widest release coming from 20th anniversary screenings of Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, out at 524 sites for Warner Bros.

Holdovers including Warner Bros’ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Paramount’s If, Sony’s The Garfield Movie and Disney’s Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes will endeavour to dominate the top spots.

Sting is directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. The feature, which shot in Australia, centres on a 12-year-old girl living in...

Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” and Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” enjoyed a fruitful long May bank holiday weekend at the U.K. and Ireland box office.

“The Garfield Movie” debuted with £2.1 million ($2.7 million) and “Furiosa” with £1.9 million ($2.5 million), per numbers from Comscore.

In its second weekend, Paramount’s “If” collected £1.6 million for a total of £4.6 million. In its third weekend, Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” earned £1.5 million for a total of £10.4 million.

Rounding off the top five was Universal’s “The Fall Guy” with £752,683 in its fourth weekend for a total of £9.5 million.

There were two other debuts in the top 10. Dream Entertainment’s Malayalam-language “Turbo” debuted in eighth place with £152,295 and Trinity Asia’s “Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In” in ninth with £106,919.

The upcoming weekend, Disney is releasing “Young Woman and the Sea,” the story of competitive swimmer Trudy Ederle, who,...

Archstone Entertainment has acquired international rights to multiple pictures produced by the Todd Slater and Brandon Evans-run Convoke Media and Brick Lane Entertainment.

They include “Succubus,” which was written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna (“Hard Miles”) and stars Ron Perlman and Rosanna Arquette. The film follows a new father in a failing marriage who joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious woman. He is completely entranced by her allure until her powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in unexpected ways. The cast also includes Brendan Bradley, Rachel Cook, Olivia Applegate, Derek Smith and Emily Kincaid. Producers are Slater, Ari Novak and Anna Elizabeth James.

Shout! Studios has secured all distribution rights in North America to “Succubus,” including theatrical, digital, video-on-demand and home entertainment for cross-platform releases.

Thomas Mignone’s “Queen of Manhattan” is a biographical drama that tells the true life story of adult star Vanessa Del Rio.

Munro Film has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to R.J. Daniel Hanna’s Hard Miles starring Matthew Modine.

Modine stars as a coach of a group of incarcerated youngsters at a correctional school in Colorado, who he teaches to work together on a gruelling bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

Sean Astin, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams and Leslie David Baker star alongside Modine. Munro Film has set a UK-Ireland theatrical release for May 31, 2024.

The film played the US festival circuit in 2023, winning the People’s Choice Award at Denver International Film Festival. It is written by Hanna and Christian Sander,...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on April 10th, 2024, reviewing “Hard Miles,” a new sports-inspirational film set featuring veteran actor Matthew Modine. In select theaters on April 19th, see local listings.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Greg (Modine) is a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional center with a passion for bicycle adventure rides and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation …rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762-mile cycling challenge from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, the mentor and his teen pedal pushers will battle heat stroke, mountain inclines/speedy descents … and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.

”Hard Miles” is in select theaters beginning April 19th. See local listings. Featuring Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, Jackson Kelly, Leslie David Baker and Cynthia Kaye McWilliam. Written by R.J. Daniel Hanna and Christian Sanders.

A grueling two-pedal route to the Grand Canyon just might provide the course-correction male juvenile offenders need in “Hard Miles.” With Matthew Modine as their teacher-coach, this fact-inspired tale covers familiar redemptive sports drama terrain. But it’s traveled with affectingly understated assurance by director R.J. Daniel Hanna (“Miss Virginia”) and a strong cast, making for a satisfying scenic ride that picked up several festival audience awards last year.

In a film loosely based on the life and work of his character’s offscreen namesake, Modine plays avid cyclist Greg Townsend, welding instructor at a medium-security correctional residential school in Colorado. That job environment is no picnic, given volatile students who can go from bantering to insults to fistfights in a flash. Plus he’s got his own demons to wrestle with — there are flashbacks to an abused childhood, and phone calls from an incarcerated brother keep urging Greg to...

Chicago – The journey of a thousand miles begins … in the case of “Hard Miles” starring Matthew Modine … with a single pedal. “Hard Miles” joins the pantheon of cycling movies, in this case with Modine portraying a social worker who teaches his life lessons through a bicycling journey with his youthful charges.

The based-on-truth story features Greg (Modine) as a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional cente, with a passion for bicycle challenges and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation … rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762 mile ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, this determined mentor and his disgruntled teenage squad will battle heat stroke, speed wobbles, mountainous inclines, and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.

Matthew Modine in Chicago, October of 2023

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Matthew Modine was born in California,...

Exclusive: Upcoming Filipino crime drama series Sellblock has wrapped principal photography and is headed for MIPTV. You can see four first-look images above.

Slated as a three-season series, Sellblock chronicles the activities of one of Asia’s biggest drug empires operating from inside a Philippines maximum-security prison. LA’s Blue Fox Entertainment has boarded the show and will launch it at the final ever MIPTV next week in Cannes, France.

The series is produced by Manilla-based BlackOps Studios Asia, headed by Pedring Lopez, who is known for Netflix’s Maria, Darkroom and Geisha of Death and also leads Psyops8. Lopez directs all eight episodes of the first season.

Blue Fox is handling sales, including the Philippines, and will be screening the pilot episode for buyers at MIPTV as it moves into TV distribution. Filipino producer Abs-cbn was initially attached to the show, but we hear it is no longer involved.

"Typical cyclist... Can't stay in your lane." Ha. Blue Fox Entertainment has revealed an official trailer for a movie titled Hard Miles, based on a true story. Opening in theaters this April for everyone to watch. A strong-willed social worker at a youth prison assembles a cycling team of teenage convicts and takes them on a transformative 1000-mile ride. Inspired by the life of Greg Townsend and the Ridgeview Academy (a medium-security correctional school in Colorado) cycling team. It's the story of how these troubled young men "found another gear." Their impressive ride took them from Denver all the way to the Grand Canyon. Starring Matthew Modine as the coach, Greg, plus Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Leslie David Baker, Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly, Damien Diaz, Zachary T. Robbins, with Sean Astin. This played at a number of smaller regional US film festivals last year, including the Denver Film Festival in the fall.

Exclusive: Blue Fox Entertainment announced on Monday that Hard Miles, its cycling drama starring Matthew Modine (Stranger Things), will hit theaters nationwide on April 19. They also unveiled a series of first look stills, which you can view above and below.

Directed by 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow R.J. Daniel Hanna, Hard Miles tells the true story of the bicycling team at Rite of Passage’s RidgeView Academy, a medium-security correctional school in Colorado. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend (Modine) as he rounds up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students for a seemingly impossible bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

As the beginner bicyclists battle heatstroke, speed wobbles, and the greatest enemy of all cyclists — a chafed crotch — they must learn to stop fighting and ride together as a peloton. The bicycle serves not just as a means of transportation, but as a test; a way for each of...

Chicago – The stature and talent of actor Matthew Modine has loomed large for nearly two generations. He began his career in his early twenties, and continues to make an impact as he takes on new roles … for instance, that of a social worker in “Hard Miles,” which screened at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff).

Matthew Modine at the 59th Ciff on October 21, 2023

Photo credit: Joe Arce for HollywoodChicago.com

Greg (Modine) is a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional center with a passion for bicycle racing and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation …rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 1000-mile ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. To achieve their goal, this determined coach and his disgruntled teenage squad will battle heat stroke, speed wobbles, mountainous inclines, and most of all each other to come together as a unified team.

Matthew Modine was born in California,...

Nationwide theatrical release set for spring 2024.

Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales on cycling drama Hard Miles starring Matthew Modine and will kick off sales talks in TIFF next week.

Sean Astin, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, and Leslie David Baker also star in the coming-of-age sports film about a coach who must get students at a medium security correctional school to work together on a gruelling bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

Nicholl Fellow R.J. Daniel Hanna directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with producer Christian Sander. Scott Sander at Pensé Productions also served as a producer.

R.J. Daniel Hanna (Hard Miles) is in the director’s chair for an upcoming horror movie titled Succubus, and Deadline reports that Shout! Studios will distribute here in the United States.

Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley) and Rosanna Arquette (Signs of Love) will lead the cast, which also includes Brendan Bradley (A Tale Told by an Idiot), Rachel Cook (The Hack Job), Olivia Applegate (Love & Death), Derek Smith (What/If), Emily Kincaid (Hard Miles) and Finley Rose Slater (Playing with Fire).

“Succubus follows a new father going through a marital separation who joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman… whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.”

Todd Slater of Convoke Media, Ari Novak and Anna Elizabeth James produce. John Rhodes, Jennifer Ambrose, and Braden Duemmler are exec producing alongside BondIt Media Capital.

“My...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios and Convoke Media have set Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley), Rosanna Arquette (Signs of Love) and Brendan Bradley (A Tale Told by an Idiot) to star in Succubus, a new horror thriller written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna (Hard Miles), which Shout! will distribute in North America.

Also starring Rachel Cook (The Hack Job), Olivia Applegate (Love & Death), Derek Smith (What/If), Emily Kincaid (Hard Miles) and Finley Rose Slater (Playing with Fire), Succubus follows a new father going through a marital separation who joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman… whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.

Producers on the film currently in production are Todd Slater of Convoke Media, Ari Novak and Anna Elizabeth James. John Rhodes, Jennifer Ambrose, and Braden Duemmler are exec producing alongside BondIt Media Capital,...

A Great Divide, a anti-Asian racism drama that stars Ken Jeong, Jae Suh Park and Emerson Min, is set to open the competitive program for Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival, running June 13-18.

The feature directorial debut of Emmy-winning commercial and short film director Jean Shim, which also star Miya Cech in a lead role, will get a world premiere during the ninth edition of the Bentonville, Arkansas festival. A Great Divide follows a Korean-American family that leaves the Bay Area for a fresh start in rural Wyoming after experiencing a devastating loss.

Also getting a first look at Bentonville is director R. J. Daniel Hanna’s Hard Miles, which dramatizes the true story of a youth prison social worker who took a cycling team comprising teenage inmates on a transformative 1,000-mile ride. The film, written by Hanna and Christian Sander, stars Matthew Modine, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly,...

Exclusive: Sean Astin (Stranger Things) and Craig Parker (Good Trouble) have signed on to star alongside Domenica Cameron-Scorsese in Jason Mac’s political thriller, A Social Contract — the filmmaker’s follow-up to his directorial debut A Father’s Legacy, which was released by Cinedigm last year.

In the film exploring the dynamics and social constructs of power, relationships and government, a political dinner turns deadly when a group of power-starved politicians fight for a seat of survival on a helicopter at the onset of a nuclear war. While Astin will play the lead role of Senator Bennett Wilde, details as to Parker’s part haven’t been disclosed.

A Social Contract also stars Christopher Wallinger (The Offer) and Samora Smallwood (Star Trek: Discovery), as well as Angela Morris (Shining Girls), Rachel Kang (Power Book IV:...

Exclusive: Oscar nominee Sean Astin has signed on to star alongside fellow Stranger Things alum Matthew Modine in the cycling drama Hard Miles, which 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow R.J. Daniel Hanna is directing from his and Christian Sander’s script.

Additional cast set for the indie includes Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey), Leslie David Baker (The Office), Jahking Guillory (On My Block), Jackson Kelly (Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion), Damien Diaz (Marvel’s Runaways) and Zachary T. Robbins (Bloodline).

The film is based on the true story of the cycling team at Colorado’s Ridge View Academy, which for decades has given at-risk youth a second chance through academic rigor, targeted treatment, competitive sports and leadership. Modine stars as Greg Townsend, who has led the team at Ridge View for the last 30 years, as previously announced. Astin will play benevolent local bike shop mechanic Speedy, with McWilliams as...

Exclusive: Matthew Modine (Stranger Things) will star in the cycling drama Hard Miles, which is currently in production in Los Angeles and Lone Pine, CA.

The film is based on the true story of the cycling team at Colorado’s Ridge View Academy, which for decades has given at-risk youth a second chance through academic rigor, targeted treatment, competitive sports and leadership. Modine is playing Greg Townsend, who has led the team at Ridge View for the last 30 years.

Ridge View Academy was conceptualized by the Colorado Division of Youth Services in the mid-1990s, as a means of responding to the steady rise of juvenile offenders in the state. The charter school opened its doors in 2001 and has since helped set upwards of 4,300 young men on the right path. 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow R.J. Daniel Hanna is directing Hard Miles from his and Christian Sander’s script. Hanna’s co-writer is also producing,...