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Here at Empire, we have a tradition of sharing one article from our year at Christmas — consider it a digital stocking-filler. And so, as 2024 comes to a close and our attention turns to the year ahead, let us share with you a piece that's close to our hearts: our Future Of Cinema feature, in which we picked the brains of Hollywood's finest blockbuster directors and indie filmmakers on the state of play in the industry we love. We talked to George Miller, Sofia Coppola, Sean Baker and more all about the rise of AI, the streaming boom, and the movies — and moviemakers — who are leading the way as cinema enters a brave new world. So read on, and join us as we take a trip into the future...

The Future Of Cinema George Miller

(The Mad Max Saga, Happy Feet, Babe: Pig In The City)

What is one word that...

The first Babe (1995) was a family-friendly megahit. So for the sequel, why did director George Miller thrust his sweet porcine hero into a family-unfriendly nightmare? Host Rico Gagliano takes a trot down the mean streets of Babe: Pig in the City (1998), telling the story of its rise and box-office fall with the help of guests including Farmer Hoggett himself, James Cromwell, and voice of Babe, E. G. Daily.The latest season of the Mubi Podcast, Box Office Poison, dives into six visionary films...that were also notorious flops. Inspired by the new book of the same name by Tim Robey, film critic for The Telegraph, each episode takes a wild ride through a great movie’s rise, fall, and rise.Listen to episode two below or wherever you get your podcasts:Apple PodcastsSpotifyMore...

With its body horror “The Substance” performing well at the box office, a rerelease of Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall” currently underway, and a successful streaming channel offering artful cinema from around the world, you’d think the fine folks at Mubi might slow down and smell the roses, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Returning for its seventh season, Mubi is announcing a new installment of its award-winning audio-documentary series, “Mubi Podcast.” This new batch of episodes is inspired by film critic Tim Robey’s soon-to-be-published book, “Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops.”

Highlighting films such as “Sylvia Scarlett” (1935), “Sorcerer” (1977), and “Speed Racer” (2008), Robey’s book uncovers the history behind some of the entertainment industry’s biggest flops, contrasting their initial failure with the eventual acclaim they’d garner over time. Over six episodes, “Mubi Podcast” host Rico Gagliano will use this material as a guide,...

The process of creating an iconic image is not always a straight line. For many artists, their work is not appreciated immediately and often takes time to gain prominance. However, Simon Whiteley’s contributions to The Matrix immediately took the film world by storm. Twenty-five years later, FandomWire spoke with Simon about his work on the iconic movie. We also discussed his collaborations with Zach Snyder, George Miller, and The Eirys Coeden — a new mimlacode project.

Related“I really don’t know how they got my number”: The Martial Arts Legend Who Worked in The Matrix Later Found Work in the Greatest Quentin Tarantino Franchise Ever Made The Wachowskis wanted more Japanese influence.

We started by discussing The Matrix, especially with its 25th anniversary returning it to the news. As Whiteley notes, he was not initially brought on for the film. “at the beginning, Animal Logic was asked to...

Honestly, your guess is as good as mine why this summer has been so littered with monkeys and apes, going back to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in May, stretching through the second season of Hulu’s Hit-Monkey and into the August rush of Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey, Netflix’s Secret Lives of Orangutans and now HBO’s Chimp Crazy.

Is there a sense that we’re on the brink of postapocalyptic decay and we’re prepping for new simian overlords? Did the protracted anxiety of last summer’s dual entertainment industry strikes leave creatives feeling generally dehumanized? Or is it less specific and more general? Are monkeys just too cute for words and do we just want to get squishy with their adorable little almost-human faces and dress them up in cute outfits and take them out to the grocery store in strollers and make one...

Film critic Andrew Sarris changed his profession forever when he introduced, to English-speaking cinephiles at least, the concept of “auteur theory.” The general conceit is that some rarified directors are so gifted, or commanding, in their control over the process of film production that they alone can give a film a “personal or unique stamp.” They are the ones who become the author of the movie you’re watching. If anyone. It’s a seductive theory which encourages the critic to look for points of narrative, visual, or thematic similarity between a filmmaker’s work. The more ideas or images that rhyme, the potentially more impressive the auteur’s command over the medium becomes.

However, while it is hard to dispute the existence of auteurs, the concept at times devalues the contributions of a film’s many other collaborators—especially if they’re, say, editors, production designers, or cinematographers a...

Oh, George Miller, the genius that you are. The 79-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker has played in multiple genres, giving us plenty of masterpieces and films that pushed the medium forward, from "The Road Warrior" all the way to "Happy Feet." This is, after all, the mad man who gave us "Babe: Pig in the City," arguably the closest predecessor to "Fury Road" — one of the best movies of all time (according to the /Film team).

Now, nearly a decade after welcoming us to Valhalla in "Fury Road," Miller is back in the Wasteland with "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," an epic tale that follows Imperator Furiosa on a quest for vengeance. As our own Bj Colangelo wrote in her review, "'Furiosa' is somehow bigger, more imaginative, and yes, better, than what came before. George Miller has given us a scorching, rip-roaring, and downright breathtaking odyssey that serves as his finest work yet.

In 1979, George Miller made his feature debut with Mad Max, a modest, near-future indie about a cop taking on a biker gang. More than four decades later, amazingly, he’s still playing in that insane sandpit. Furiosa represents a lot of things: an epic slice of myth-making, a Homeric odyssey that broadens the ever-expanding dystopian world in which it is set; a prequel to 2015’s Fury Road, a historically exceptional action movie which may never be bettered; and perhaps the most ambitious film Miller has ever made.

It is a lot. Where Fury Road was set over a mere 36 hours, this story spans 15 years. Where Fury Road was singular, unstoppable action ecstasy, this is more episodic tension, divided into five chapters, each with cryptic titles like ‘The Pole Of Inaccessibility’. It is markedly different from that last film in so many ways, and yet inextricably tied to it, deepening our...

(from left) Three Thousand Years Of Longing (Metro Goldwyn Mayer); Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner Bros.); Lorenzo’s Oil (Universal Pictures); Happy Feet (Warner Bros.).Image: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures; Warner Bros.; Universal Pictures; Warner Bros.

For the uninitiated, it would be easy to look over the filmography of Australian director...

Imagine a kindly grandfather-type figure sitting by an open hotel window, staring out at the sea on the French Riviera. The early sun hits his shock of gray hair in a way that almost makes it look like there’s a halo above it. The black-on-black ensemble suggests he’s arrived in France for an undertaker’s convention. The glasses make him look slightly owl-like. As he leans forward, ready to launch into an anecdote, you feel like he’s about to wax poetic about some long-ago vacation he took...

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga releases May 24th, 2024.

From the man who brought you Happy Feet and Babe: Pig in the City comes the action-packed epic event of the summer. Visionary filmmaker George Miller returns to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that he created with the fifth entry into his highly acclaimed franchise: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. It’s been nine years since Mad Max: Fury Road and the esteemed filmmaker is now in his seventies, which had a lot of fans questioning whether he still had the ability to replicate the breath-taking extravaganza from nearly a decade ago. The simple answer is… hell yeah.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Plot

Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Young Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is ripped away from her family by the maniacal Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and his band of murderous marauders. She spends her youth honing her skills and...

The max in “Mad Max” stands for maximizing profit potential?

George Miller, the maverick 79-year-old Australian director, brought the fifth entry into his dystopian action franchise, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” to the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival this week.

While it’s been nearly a decade since “Mad Max: Fury Road” – the film that introduced the one-armed automotive avenger Imperator Furiosa, initially played by Charlize Theron but Anya Taylor-Joy in the prequel – Miller says he may not be done with stories set in the “guzzoline”-obsessed Wasteland.

“There are certainly other stories there. Mainly because in order to tell the story of ‘Fury Road’, we had to know the backstory of Furiosa and Max in the year before,” Miller said, revving up the engines of devoted fans. “That was a tool for the cast and crew. We know the Max story from the year before. I’ll definitely wait...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"'The Mummy' isn't really trying to scare you – it's trying to entertain you." This is what /Film's Chris Evangelista lovingly wrote of 1999's "The Mummy" in 2021. Directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser as the swashbuckling Rick O'Connell, the film became a somewhat unexpected hit, so much so that it ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of 1999 overall. Critics were a bit mixed on it in its day. It was an action/adventure film, the likes of which Hollywood had released many times before. Be that as it may, a film designed purely to entertain (rather than to scare) resonated with audiences in a big way. It was pulpy lightning in a bottle.

Universal had, for years,...

George Miller is about to return to the wasteland with "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," but it might surprise some people to know that his biggest box office hit to date remains the technological marvel that is "Happy Feet."

Though you wouldn't think of "Happy Feet" as being connected to "Mad Max: Fury Road," they have some things in common — particularly their stunning visuals and how they approach VFX. Despite what some fans would like to believe, "Fury Road" is full of CGI. As Miller himself told Vulture in 2022, "There was not one shot in that movie that wasn't CGI in one way or another." The film works because it blends digital and practical effects, using CGI to enhance scenes, delete wirework, and otherwise make what is already real feel larger-than-life. This is the approach that the best movies take -- the ones that understand CGI is a tool and not a shortcut.

Romancing the Mummy.

After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen), a horror version of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, and the pseudo-sequel to Videodrome in David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we’re kicking off May with a revisit to one of our favorite years for cinema: 1999! The film we’ve selected is Stephen Sommer‘s action-adventure-horror-romantic-comedy The Mummy!

In the film, adventurer Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn “Evy” Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her older brother Jonathan (John Hannah). While there, they accidentally awaken Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a cursed high priest-turned-invincible mummy, and must stop him before he sacrifices Evy in an attempt to resurrect his former lover (Patricia Velásquez).

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn,...

As the rollout of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga revs up, filmmaker George Miller will be heading to Las Vegas.

CinemaCon announced Tuesday morning that the Australian filmmaker has been selected to receive an international career achievement in filmmaking award during the annual convention put on by the National Association of Theatre Owners. Miller will be presented with the prize during a lunch ceremony at Caesars Palace on April 8.

“George Miller, an archetypal storyteller, has transformed the imaginations of moviegoers worldwide, forever altering the cinematic landscape,” said CinemaCon managing director Mitch Neuhauser. “His filmmaking serves as a testament to his enduring impact and inspiration.”

Warner Bros. Pictures will release Furiosa on May 24, following the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa finds Miller returning to the dystopian world he created more than 30 years ago. It follows a young Furiosa after...

The "Twilight Zone" episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", directed by Richard Donner, remains to this day one of the show's most popular. Scripted by Richard Matheson and starring a pre-"Star Trek" William Shatner, "Nightmare" follows a man, Robert Wilson, recently released from a sanitarium due to a mental breakdown. On a flight back home, Robert peers out the plane window into the rainy night and sees a massive, furry gremlin standing on the wing of the plane. The gremlin, in true gremlin spirit, pries up a metal panel on the wing and begins futzing with the machinery inside. The gremlin might very well cause the plane to crash. When Robert tries to alert anyone about the gremlin, they all assume he's imagining it, once again succumbing to his nerves.

Matheson first conceived of "Nightmare" in a 1961 short story, published in his anthology "Alone By Night." The story has become...

We’re big fans of Aardman Animation here at Film Stories Towers. With the new Chicken Run sequel out soon, this week’s film quiz covers their cracking canon to date…

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, since Netflix has cracked down on password-sharing, it’s might go and watch Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget at a mate’s house when the long-awaited sequel drops next week. It’s also in selected cinemas throughout the UK today, but whenever you’re watching it, we’ve got some Aardman-themed quiz questions to keep you going.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!) and give us any other lovely feedback.

(L-r) Ca’Ron Jaden Coleman, Tia Nomore, Amber Ramsey. Credit: Gabriel Saravia/ Courtesy of A24

Sundance break-out Earth Mama spotlights to struggles of a pregnant Black young woman who is trying to regain custody of her two children from foster care, in a quiet, moving indie drama by former Olympic athlete turned writer/director Savanah Leaf. Set and shot in the San Francisco Bay area, this impressive feature film debut for the British-born, under-30 writer/director has garnered awards and promising buzz. Unlike other similar dramas, Earth Mother has a remarkable realism and touching cliche-free drama along with a surprising artistry.

Gia (Tia Nomore) is in drug treatment for a drug addiction that led to her two children being placed in foster. The young single mother has a part-time job with a mall photographer and attends the mandated parenting and other classes yet never seems to quite get on top of...

When Savanah Leaf turns 30 in November this year, she will have already notched a number of professional titles few people could dream of possessing, including both “lauded filmmaker” and “Olympic athlete.”

While those two pursuits may sound different, for the British-born Leaf, who makes her feature directorial debut with the enthusiastically received A24 drama “Earth Mama” a decade after playing volleyball for Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, they’re really not so far apart.

Leaf’s first feature, which IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio hailed out of Sundance as a “sublime” drama that “defies all cliches,” follows Gia, a young Black mother whose son and daughter from an all-but-nonexistent father are in foster-care limbo while she recovers from drug addiction. As Gia (played by first-time actress Tia Nomore in a stunning performance) makes her way through the various requirements of reunification while also being heavily pregnant with her third child...

Bet you weren’t expecting the eyebrow-raising TV news of the day to involve a new adaptation of beloved children’s author Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. But the surprising twist in the BBC’s announcement today didn’t concern the bestselling series of whimsical, jolly-hockey-sticks children’s adventure novels from the 1940s-1960s – rather the creator behind this new series: Nicolas Winding Refn.

Considering this Danish director is famous for stylish but graphically violent films like The Neon Demon, Only God Forgives and Drive, The Famous Five will be somewhat of a left turn for him.

The series will have three 90-minute episodes drawing on Blyton’s 21 Famous Five novels, which detailed the adventures of five daring young explorers – Julian, Dick, Anne, George and their dog Timmy – as they spend their school holidays gallivanting around the English countryside and coastline, solving mysteries, finding treasure and catching criminals. Filming...

Some noteworthy new releases, a bevy of library titles and the complete series of “Freaks and Geeks” are among the new additions to Amazon Prime Video this month. May will see the streaming availability of the 2022 films “She Said,” “Violent Night” and “Till” on Prime Video, while the beloved (and short-lived) TV series “Freaks and Geeks” will be streaming on Amazon starting May 4.

We’ve also included everything new to Freevee, which includes the first three “John Wick” movies, “Scarface” and “The Usual Suspects.”

Check out the complete list of everything new on Amazon Prime Video in May 2023 below.

Also Read:

The 41 Best Movies on Amazon Prime (April 2023)

Arriving May 1

MasterChef Mexico S1-4 (2015)

A Beautiful Mind (2002)

Amistad (1997)

Babe (1995)

Babe: Pig In The City (1998)

Babel (2006)

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)

Biker Boyz (2003)

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Blue Crush (2002)

Blue Crush 2 (2011)

Bound (1996)

Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (2004)

Bridget Jones’s Baby...

With its list of new releases for May 2023, Amazon Prime Video is increasing its global reach.

The streamer’s biggest original offering this month is a German series. Hohlbeins’ – The Gryphon, based on the works of Wolfgang Holhlbein, will present a sprawling fantasy tale about three teens discovering a fantastical world called The Black Tower where “the Gryphon, a world-devouring monster, mercilessly subjugates all living creatures.”

The only other original title of note in May is Freevee comedy Primo on the 19th. Written by author and journalist Shea Serrano and produced by Michael Schur (The Good Place), this coming-of-age series will follow a teenager balancing “college aspirations, societal expectations, and a hectic home life on the south side of San Antonio.”

And that’s pretty much it for Amazon Originals this month! Thankfully, there is a huge influx of library content to keep Prime Video subscribers entertained. May 4 sees the...

In a heartfelt example of life imitating art, “Babe” star James Cromwell is helping save a real baby big from being slaughtered. Cromwell serves as an honorary director at PETA and is working with the animal rights organization to transfer a piglet to the Indraloka Animal Sanctuary after it fell off a truck that was transporting it to be fattened for slaughter.

According to PETA, the abandoned piglet was found “scraped, bruised and covered in mud” when he was rescued shortly before the Easter holiday weekend. Cromwell met the piglet virtually (see photo below) and named him Babe, a nod to his films “Babe” (1995) and “Babe: Pig in the City” (1998). Cromwell starred in the franchise as Arthur Hoggett, a farmer who becomes the father of the eponymous orphaned pig.

“Having had the privilege of witnessing and experiencing pigs’ intelligence and inquisitive personalities while filming, the movie ‘Babe’ changed my life and my way of eating,...

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the movie "Three Thousand Years of Longing."

George Miller is a visionary director with a filmography that can't be confined to one genre. Although known best for "Mad Max: Fury Road," he's also directed the horror comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" and various children's movies, including "Babe: Pig in the City" and both "Happy Feet" films. Miller has demonstrated an ability to delve into the darkest regions of humanity and explore the innocence of childhood imagination. "Three Thousand Years of Longing" combines both of these strengths into one sweeping, visually gorgeous narrative, but don't expect the high-octane action of "Fury Road." As /Film's Rafael Motamayor's review states, the film is "about the importance of storytelling, especially today. It's about how, even if we no longer need to explain the mysteries of the universe through fables, we still use storytelling to explain our emotions and desires.

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

The career of George Miller is undoubtedly a fascinating one. The man directed one of the most profitable films ever made in the form of "Mad Max" back in 1980, which launched the franchise that has defined much of his career. The man also wrote 1994's Oscar-nominated "Babe" before directing its very bizarre follow-up "Babe: Pig in the City." He also helmed "The Witches of Eastwick" and a segment in "Twilight Zone: The Movie." A varied career if ever there were such a thing.

But Miller's greatest contribution to cinema came in 2015 when, after years of false starts, he finally got to bring "Mad Max: Fury Road" to the screen. A blockbuster so beloved that it topped many best of the decade lists...

When people think about Academy Award-nominated directors, George Miller is probably not one of the first names that come to mind. Academy Award-nominated films have a certain connotation – typically we think of movies that are serious, but maybe a bit stodgy, ambitious, but classically-minded, crowd-pleasing, but rote. In the general public’s mind, Academy Award-nominated films are usually well-made, stuffy dramas that are more akin to eating your vegetables than pigging out on something decadent and different. But Miller makes odd, energetic genre films, something the Academy historically has ignored — unless this particular director is involved.

Miller, whose new film Three Thousand Years of Longing is out today, may be our weirdest highly decorated filmmaker still stretching his gifts. His last film, 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth entry in his post-apocalyptic action series that saw a 30-year gap between installments, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

It’s been almost a decade since George Miller, a then 70-year-old, Australian filmmaker some dismissed as either washed or well past his prime, proved doubters spectacularly wrong, writing and directing the best action film of the last quarter century, Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller brought an audacious blend of ambition, verve, and craftsmanship to the long-delayed, at one time apocryphal, fourth entry in the Mad Max series that began cinematic life as a modest, low-budget effort in 1979 with a young, pre-controversial Mel Gibson in the title role. While Miller subsequently mooted a Mad Max prequel/spin-off centered on a significantly younger version of Charlize Theron’s character, Furiosa (it’s currently in production with Anya Taylor-Joy...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Plot: A lonely woman discovers a Djinn locked away in his bottle. He offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

Review: George Miller is a filmmaker who continues to impress. It’s impossible not to connect the man to the brilliant franchise around Mad Max. Yet people sometimes forget the variety in Miller’s work. The director has given us a heart with Babe: Pig in the City and heartbreak with Lorenzo’s Oil. And he even made a dancing penguin super sweet in Happy Feet. And now, Miller’s latest takes on another fantastical element, a genie in a bottle. Three Thousand Years of Longing is a fantasy starring Tilda Swinton as a lonely art scholar who finds an old bottle, one that holds a Djinn (Idris Elba). It’s a weird and slightly wild tale of two lonely souls discovering each other through magic.

Tilda Swinton is Alithea,...

George Miller is one of our greatest maximalist filmmakers, capable of taking the smallest idea and turning it into a wonderfully bonkers, visually striking movie. For his follow-up to "Mad Max: Fury Road," Miller gives us a throwback fairy tale that feels more like his follow-up to "Babe: Pig in the City."

The film follows Tilda Swinton's Alithea, a narratologist on a trip to Istanbul for a conference who has a fateful encounter with a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes. The first problem is that Alithea seems content with her life,...

The post Three Thousand Years of Longing Review: George Miller Delivers an Epic, Romantic Fairy Tale About the Power of Storytelling [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.

Seven years after blowing our collective socks off with 2015's rip-roaring "Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller — who, let it never be forgotten, also directed "Babe: Pig in the City" and "Happy Feet" 1 & 2 — is finally back with a new movie titled "Three Thousand Years of Longing." With the film debuting at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, MGM unveiled a teaser that could only be described as a furious(a) flurry of marvelous imagery from the time-spanning fantasy drama, with Idris Elba's nameless Djinn at the heart of the gorgeously rendered chaos. Luckily, the...

The post Three Thousand Years of Longing Trailer: Idris Elba is a Djinn with a Past in George Miller's Fantasy appeared first on /Film.

The current production boom is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Australia to re-establish itself as a powerful filmmaking country, according to Animal Logic co-founder and CEO Zareh Nalbandian.

Animal Logic celebrates its 30th birthday this year, during a period that Nalbandian regards as “healthy and busy” for the industry.

The executive reflected on the success and challenges that have faced the company over its three decades last week in a conversation with Margaret Pomeranz, an event organised by the Australian Consulate-General in Los Angeles together with Australians in Film, Ausfilm and Screen Australia.

There are few Australian screen businesses that can boast the international name recognition of the studio, having crafted visual effects and animation across projects such as The Matrix, Moulin Rouge!, Happy Feet 1 and 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, The Great Gatsby and the Lego franchise.

With teams spanning Sydney,...

Gravitas Ventures will release Chasing Wonders theatrically and on-demand in the US as part of a new distribution deal.

Arclight Films announced it had reached an agreement for the film to be screened in North America, having secured worldwide distribution rights last September.

Scripted by Judy Morris, Chasing Wonders was shot over five years across Australia and Spain and with a cast that includes Paz Vega, Edward James Olmos, Quim Gutierrez, Carmen Maura, Antonio de la Torre, Jessica Marais and newcomer Michael Crisafulli as the lead.

The story follows 12-year-old Savino, who takes off on the adventure to find the magical Emu Plains after being encouraged by his maternal grandfather to live a life of hope and possibility. His journey leads him to the heart of the human condition – learning to understand our parents’ past but not to be defined by it.

Anna Vincent, Stewart Le Marechal, Anna Mohr-Pietsch, Hilton Nathanson,...

Arclight Films’ Chasing Wonders has locked North American distribution with Gravitas on its coming of age film, Chasing Wonders directed by Paul Meins. A theatrical and on-demand release is scheduled for June 4. Arclight is handling global sales for the pic.

Set in the lush wine country landscapes of Australia and Spain, the heart-warming tale follows 12-year-old Savino, who, encouraged by his maternal grandfather to live a life of hope and possibility, takes off on the adventure of a lifetime to find the magical Emu Plains. His journey leads him to the heart of the human condition – learning to understand our parents’ past but not to be defined by it.

The pic stars Paz Vega, Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos, Quim Gutierrez, Carmen Maura, Goya award-winner Antonio de la Torre, Australia’s Jessica Marais, and making his feature film debut, Michael Crisafulli as Savino.

Australian award-winning screenwriter Judy Morris wrote the screenplay, which was shot over a five-year period.

Chasing Wonders made its World Premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival last year and has been selected for the Gold Coast Film Festival, where it will screen on April 18 and 22.

“Chasing Wonders is an uplifting story of familial love and loss and a powerful exploration of the path to understanding and acceptance. This heartwarming film with top international stars and spectacular landscapes is exactly what audiences yearn for. We are thrilled to have our longtime trusted partners at Gravitas Ventures bringing the film to North American audiences and are certain that their team will make this beautiful film shine bright,” said Arclight Films Chairman Gary Hamilton.

“With an ensemble that includes veteran screen icons alongside exciting new talent, the filmmakers craft an inspiring coming of age story on a canvas of breathtaking vistas across multiple continents. We look forward to North American audiences taking the journey,” said Tony Piantedosi, VP of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures.

Hianlo Films presents Chasing Wonders in association with the South Australian Film Corporation, a Met Film and Sla Films production. Anna Vincent (I Am Mother), Stewart Le Marechal (Swimming With Men), Anna Mohr-Pietsch (Swimming With Men), Hilton Nathanson, and Louise Nathanson are producers. Jonny Persey (The Mercy) and Timothy White are EPs.

Arclight handles worldwide sales.

Arclight Films has licensed North American rights on Paz Vega coming-of-age drama Chasing Wonders to Gravitas Ventures, which has set a June 4 theatrical and on-demand release.

The story takes place in the wine country of Australia and Spain and centres on a 12-year-old boy who sets off on an adventure to find the magical Emu Plains.

Edward James Olmos, Carmen Maura, Antonio de la Torre, Quim Gutierrez, Jessica Marais and newcomer Michael Crisafulli round out the key cast.

Paul Meins directed and Australian award-winning screenwriter Judy Morris wrote the screenplay. The film premiered at Adelaide Film...

This month on Amazon Prime Video UK sees the final three episodes of Neil Gaiman fantasy drama American Gods arrive, along with the first three episodes of new comic book animated series Invincible, adapted from the books by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

Movies-wise, there’s the sequel to John Landis’ 1988 comedy Coming To America, which follows the story of Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem as he’s drawn back to the US ahead of taking on Zamunda’s throne. Also, in his most anticipated role since he put on a beanie for those Kia car ads, Robert de Niro plays a granddad fighting with his young grandson over the use of a bedroom in The War With Grandpa.

Also – tennis, and a collection of existing movies including the very good Call Me By Your Name, which lands on the 26th. We’ll update this guide as new release...

‘Chasing Wonders’ (Photo: Sam Oster).

Arclight Films has taken the worldwide distribution rights to coming-of-age film Chasing Wonders, produced by South Australia’s Sla Films and the UK’s Met Film, launching sales at the virtual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week.

Scripted by Judy Morris, the film was shot over five years across Australia and Spain and with a cast that includes Paz Vega, Edward James Olmos, Quim Gutierrez, Carmen Maura, Antonio de la Torre, Jessica Marais and newcomer Michael Crisafulli as the lead.

Due to make its world premiere at October’s Adelaide Film Festival, Chasing Wonders follows a 12 year old, whose sense of adventure and imagination runs wild, fueled by his maternal grandfather’s (Olmos) encouragement to journey to the magical Emu Plains. Against his father’s wishes, Savino takes off on an adventure of a lifetime and discovers that learning about life and living life are two very different things.

Film scheduled to premiere at Adelaide Film Festival on October 23.

Arclight Films has boarded worldwide sales rights to the ensemble coming-of-age drama Chasing Wonders led by Paz Vega and will launch sales during Toronto International Film Festival.

The key cast includes Edward James Olmos, Quim Gutierrez, Carmen Maura, Antonio de la Torre, Jessica Marais, and newcomer Michael Crisafulli.

Australian screenwriter Judy Morris wrote the screenplay about a 12-year-old only child who defies his father’s wishes and takes off on the adventure of a lifetime to find the magical Emu Plains. Debutant Hilton Nathanson directs.

Anna Vincent (I Am Mother...

Alec Bojalad Feb 20, 2020

We have the highlights of what's coming and going from HBO Now and HBO Go in March 2020.

March 2020 is an extremely HBO month for HBO.

What we mean by that is that the list of new releases for the month contain a lot of the hallmarks of the HBO brand that the network has built over the years. There is the third season of an expensive and popular sci-fi series with Westworld season 3 premiering on March 15. Then there's also the requisite new David Simon series when Philip Roth adaptation The Plot Against America premieres on March 16.

If that weren't enough, March 2020 sees the arrival of a big ticket superhero movie with X-Men: Dark Phoenix arriving on March 21. It's not a good big ticket superhero movie, but still! You may want to rewatch it all the same. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a sort of superhero movie itself.

Four-decade career culminates in gasp-inducing Mad Max: Fury Road performance that blows your mind and rattles your bones

The great Australian character actor Richard Carter died on the weekend, aged 65. Carter was one of those actors whose name might not be instantly recognisable to the general public, but whose face certainly was.

He popped up all over the place in a career that spanned four decades – including TV shows such as Rake, Bangkok Hilton, Police Rescue, Blue Murder, East West 101 and A Country Practice, and a wide range of films, four of which were directed by George Miller – including Happy Feet 1 and 2, Babe: Pig in the City and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Is there a Pokémon whose power is to move through your eyeballs and brain and then leave absolutely no impression? Because that was my experience of watching “Detective Pikachu,” a CGI-heavy live-action/animation hybrid based on the popular game-anime-manga franchise (and specifically on the eponymous Nintendo game).

And yes, as someone who has never played, read or watched anything Pokémon-related before now, I know that this movie wasn’t made for me. (That’s why we had expert Johnnie Jungleguts share his thoughts on the film as well.) After trying to make head or tail (or snout or blowhole) of the proceedings here, I can understand the confusion of someone attempting to keep up with “Avengers: Endgame” without having watched any of the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe titles.

But there’s a difference between being the 22nd feature in a franchise and the first — if “Detective Pikachu” had any...

Mark Harrison Feb 20, 2019

Revisiting the family-friendly films of Martin Scorsese, Robert Rodriguez and others who usually make more grown-up fare…

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

This feature contains mild spoilers for all the family films discussed, so if you haven’t seen one then proceed with caution.

Some family-friendly films come from the least expected sources. From Steven Spielberg to Robert Zemeckis, there are a fair few filmmakers whose output spans from grown-up films to G and PG-rated movies, but in the main, directors tend to become attached to films for similar demographics to their previous work.

This could be due to several big family-friendly properties, from franchises to adaptations of beloved stories, grouping in the four-quadrant center of the movie market. For instance, Transformers might have been a departure for the director who brought us the Bad Boys movies, except that all of Michael Bay's...

Update (12:30pm Et): Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton are attached to lead Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” (via Deadline). Since plot details are under wraps, it’s unknown what characters the two performers will be playing.

Earlier: Bittersweet news for George Miller fans: The director has finally announced he’s returning behind the camera for an ambitious-sounding epic titled “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” but a new Miller project means the planned “Mad Max” sequels are on hold for now. ” Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” will be his first directorial effort since “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which grossed $380 million worldwide and won six Oscars.

Miller is set to introduce “Three Thousand Years of Longing” at the American Film Market next week, where it’s expected to be one of the hottest acquisition titles. Plot details are remaining under wraps for now, although the project...

Paul Bradshaw Oct 25, 2018

The Mad Max: Fury Road director will make Three Thousand Years Of Longing.

Three Thousand Years Of Longing would be a good title for a documentary about the problems director George Miller had making Mad Max: Fury Road – or even about his ongoing legal dispute with Warner Bros over it – but it’s actually the name of an epic love story about genies.

THR reports that Miller is on the verge of selling his script to the film, which he intends to direct as his next project. Very little known about the plot at the moment, but it’s rumored to be “light-years in the opposite direction” from the tone of Fury Road.

Also known as Djinn, it sounds like Three Thousand Years Of Longing will be some kind of historical epic about genies – possibly set in Arabia, where genies tend to hang out. Whatever it is,...

Mad Max: Fury Road filmmaker George Miller appears to finally be ready to get back behind the camera.

Miller is shopping Three Thousand Years of Longing, aka Djinn, an epic love story that will be introduced to buyers at the American Film Market next week.

Miller wrote the script and will direct the feature project, which involves a genie. FilmNation is handling international sales, while CAA is handling North America.

Miller is the Australian writer-director behind the Mad Max action movies that helped launch Mel Gibson into stardom. He also penned the screenplay for Babe and wrote and directed Babe: Pig in the City,...

Mad Max: Fury Road filmmaker George Miller appears to finally be ready to get back behind the camera.

Miller is shopping Three Thousand Years of Longing, aka Djinn, an epic love story that will be introduced to buyers at the American Film Market next week.

Miller wrote the script and will direct the feature project, which involves a genie. FilmNation is handling international sales, while CAA is handling North America.

Miller is the Australian writer-director behind the Mad Max action movies that helped launch Mel Gibson into stardom. He also penned the screenplay for Babe and wrote and directed Babe: Pig in the City,...

Babe: Pig In The City co-writer Mark Lamprell to direct.

Myriad Pictures is in Toronto launching sales on the comedy The Chain Breakers starring James Cromwell, Dennis Waterman, Jacki Weaver and Shane Jacobson.

Mark Lamprell, who co-wrote Babe: Pig In The City, is set to direct from a screenplay by Luke Preston about four senior men who use skills learned during the Vietnam War to escape from their nursing home.

Each man has his own reasons to leave the facility, and use their mutual love and camaraderie to secure their freedom.

The Chain Breakers was developed with support from Film Victoria with R&R Films,...

Premiering first in Edinburgh and now crash-landing in London at the August FrightFest event, Matthew Holness’s Possum has been topping ‘must-see’ lists for months now. And we were very partial to its grimy, patient, very British take on horror. Sean Harris’s exceptional lead is the sort that’ll stick with you, but even scarier than the Mission: Impossible villain’s trembling cheekbones is his co-star – a tentacled puppet made of pure nightmare fuel. We fired a few emails across the globe and spoke to the studio behind the titular Possum, to figure out what the hell is going on with what is surely one of the most terrifying movie monsters of the year.

Sydney-based Odd Studios have won BAFTAs, Oscars, and just about every other award under the sun for their work on everything from Mad Max: Fury Road, to Pirates of the Caribbean, The Matrix and Babe: Pig in the City.

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

“Gotta Light?” celebrates Twin Peaks‘ epochal eighth episode with features and short programs, while A-z continues.

Belle de Jour screens on Sunday, if you’re not watching Twin Peaks, while a Prick Up Your Ears restoration plays.

Museum of the Moving Image

A mini-Spielberg retro kicks off, while two classics by Jerry Lewis are shown.

Why so glum, chum? Movies are fun and they need watching.

In the immortal words of Shane Black via Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight, “Life is pain. Get used to it.” These days life has been really painful though, and it’s not so easy to get used to it. Thankfully movies are always here to pick us up when we need it, or bring us down if we’re looking to wallow. This month we’ve made a list of movies that will leave you smiling and feeling good about humanity after you watch them — at least for a little while. Click on their titles to be taken to their Netflix pages.

Pick of the Month: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

It’s possible that Big Trouble in Little China might be the stupidest movie ever made. It’s about a fast-talking, rock-stupid, man-child truck driver battling Asian mystics over the fate of his...