News

Warner Bros. just found a way to make English-language versions of “Parasite” and “The Handmaiden.”

The Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group and Korean studio Cj Enm have entered an agreement to co-develop, co-finance, and distribute English-language and Korean-language feature film remakes of each studio’s films. It will start with Warner Bros. as a lead studio on an English-language remake of a Cj Enm film, and then the reverse will happen. Those first two titles to be remade from the studios’ respective libraries have not been announced.

“Miky Lee, Cj Vice Chairwoman, and the team at Cj Enm have built an enviable slate of films over its history to become a powerhouse producer of Korean cinema, with films that resonate with audiences across the globe,” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Co-Chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement shared with the press on Tuesday.

Warner Bros. has reached a production deal with Korean studio Cj Enm that will see the two companies partner to make remakes of films from each other’s libraries.

Through this new agreement, initially, Warner Bros. will act as lead studio on an English language remake of a film from Cj Enm’s library, and Cj Enm will act as lead studio on a Korean language remake of a film from the Warner Bros. Pictures library. Cj’s library includes several Korean films that have enjoyed breakthrough global success, including Park Chan-wook’s “The Handmaiden,” Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” and Bong Joon-ho’s Best Picture Oscar winner “Parasite.”

“Miky Lee, Cj Vice Chairwoman, and the team at Cj Enm have built an enviable slate of films over its history to become a powerhouse producer of Korean cinema, with films that resonate with audiences across the globe. We are excited...

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has struck a deal with Cj Enm, the backer of Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite” and Celine Song’s acclaimed “Past Lives,” to develop, finance and distribute English-language and Korean-language remakes of each studio’s films.

Through the new agreement, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group will take the lead on English-language remakes of Cj Enm’s library, while Cj Enm will spearhead Korean-language adaptations of Warner Bros. films.

Each studio will be responsible for the development and productive of their respective remakes, though the other company will provide input on creative decisions like the project’s writer, director, producer, cast and budget. Warner Bros. Pictures will serve as distributor globally on all films, with the exception of Cj Enm handling the rollout of its remakes in South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey.

“Miky Lee, Cj vice chairwoman, and the team at Cj Enm have...

Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group and Cj Enm have signed a new agreement to co-develop, co-finance, and distribute English-language and Korean-language feature film remakes of each studio’s films.

Through this new pact, initially, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures will act as lead studio on an English language film emanating from Cj Enm’s library, and Cj Enm will act as lead studio on a Korean language movie emanating from the Warner Bros. Pictures library.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Cj Enm will be respectively responsible for the development and production of their remakes, with each studio providing input on key creative decisions including each project’s writer, director, producer, and cast as well as shared oversight of a film’s budget.

Warner Bros. Pictures will serve as distributor on the movies worldwide, with the exception of Cj Enm distributing in South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Turkey on the Cj Enm remake.

In a major declaration of intent between two Hollywood and Asian studio powerhouses, Warner Bros Motion Pictures Group and Cj Enm have formed a co-development, co-financing and distribution partnership to exploit remakes of each other’s films.

Warner Bros Motion Pictures will act as lead studio on English-language films emanating from Cj Enm’s library, while Cj Enm will act as lead studio on Korean-language remakes from the Warner Bros vault.

Warner Bros Pictures will serve as global distributor on the films, with the exception of Cj Enm remakes, where the latter will distribute in South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Turkey.

“The Dreamers,” “Y Tu Mamá También,” “Casablanca,” “Notorious,” hell, even “Titanic” — cinema loves a love triangle, and Justin Kuritzkes wrote the definitive one of 2024 with his script for Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers.”

That film put Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor in a psychosexual frenzy and turned tennis into a sweaty, propulsive metaphor for the games people play to get each other into and out of bed. Kuritzkes is back in Guadagnino land with his script for “Queer,” an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella about an expat’s heartache in Mexico City.

While that film, out November 27 from A24, isn’t explicitly a love triangle, you could argue that drugs and alcohol form one point in a triad between Lee (Daniel Craig) and elusive army vet twink Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) as they keep trying to make a romantic connection work. Including a trip to the South American jungle looking for ayahuasca,...

Hiro Murai, a music video director and TV director and executive producer on Atlanta, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Bear, will make his feature directorial debut for A24, Square Peg and 2Am on the samurai epic Bushido.

Plot details remain under the proverbial wraps on the project, although A24 did share that the saga will take place against the backdrop of feudal Japan.

Murai will direct and produce the original film, with Henry Dunham serving as both writer and producer.

A24 will finance and produce, with Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen producing through their Square Peg, alongside Julia Oh, Christine D’Souza Gelb,...

It used to be a rite of passage: up-and-coming directors would first cut their teeth on commercials, work their way up to television shows to develop a strong body of work, and finally burst onto the scene with movies after proving that they have what it takes to handle much larger productions. That filmmaking pipeline has become a thing of the past in the last few decades, but one bona fide talent is taking his cues from a more old-fashioned era. The final result is one of the more exciting projects we've heard about it some time.

Even if you don't quite know his name just yet, you've seen his work on "Atlanta," "Barry," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," and several of Donald Glover's music videos performed under the stage name Childish Gambino. Now, director Hiro Murai is taking his biggest step yet into Hollywood with his feature film debut...

Exclusive: Hiro Murai, one of today’s most influential and in demand directors of television and music videos, has found his long-awaited first feature project in Bushido, an original samurai film to be financed by A24, which will produce alongside Square Peg and 2Am.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, Bushido is said to be a high-stakes action film set against the backdrop of feudal Japan.

Murai will direct from a script by Henry Dunham (The Standoff at Sparrow Creek), with the duo to produce alongside Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen for Square Peg, and the 2Am trio of Julia Oh, Christine D’Souza Gelb and David Hinojosa.

The project comes at a time when the samurai story has significant cultural cachet, given the outsized breakout success of FX’s Shōgun, an hour-long drama delving deep into samurai culture and the feudal politics of early 17th-century Japan. The winner of 18 Emmys,...

Over the past few years, Hiro Murai has quietly become one of the most prolific creators of modern pop culture. The director and executive producer has worked extensively with Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) on Atlanta and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, as well as music videos like "This Is America,...

Taiwanese filmmakers Nelson Yeh and Herb Hsu and U.S.-based, Taiwan-born writer-director Weiko Lin discussed strategies for taking Taiwanese content global at a seminar during Taiwan Creative Content Fest (Tccf) on Wednesday.

Lin is gearing up to direct Chalk, a thriller with U.S. and Taiwanese elements to be produced by Yeh’s Taipei-based Good Image and US producer Dave A. Liu’s Liucrative Media.

The film revolves around a single mother who witnesses a murder, then is assigned a policeman to protect her who turns out to be her estranged son. Lin, who is repped by Anonymous Content and UTA, has recently been scouting locations in Boston.

Lin originally wrote the script as a wholly English-language project, but then decided to bring in Taiwanese characters and changed the script to include dialogue in both English and Chinese. Citing hits such as Past Lives, Minari and Everything Everywhere All At Once,...

Reverse engineering a previously English-language script into a bilingual, dual-location thriller is one possible route to giving Taiwanese feature films a better shot in the international marketplace. So too, is adapting a previously successful romantic novel that could be partly filmed in the U.K.

Both approaches were spelled out on Wednesday at a panel discussion at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest titled ‘Where is the silver lining for Tw film?’ The session involved well-established director Nelson Yeh (“Night Market Hero”), U.S.-based director Weiko Lin and Taiwan female actor and screenwriter Herb Hsu (“Untold Herstory”).

Over the course of the session, the trio mentioned various challenges facing the Taiwanese industry. These included viewer distraction by micro-length videos, poor levels of audience support for local titles (especially art house films and those in minority languages), a lack of female film directors, as well as an over-familiarity with Hollywood content.

"Past Lives," Celine Song's achingly beautiful, contemplative drama was a standout at 2023's Sundance Film Festival. The playwright's directorial debut follows Nora, or Na Young (Greta Lee), and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two childhood sweethearts who grow up together in South Korea before becoming separated for more than a decade after Na Young's family move to Toronto. Later, Nora relocates to New York where she rediscovers her long lost friend on social media and the pair reconnect. However, Nora ultimately withdraws from the long-distance relationship and eventually marries American writer Arthur (John Magaro).

12 years later, Hae Sung finally visits Nora and Arthur in NYC, and a final act sees the childhood sweethearts try to make sense of their lingering feelings in the face of Nora's genuine love for her husband. Ultimately, the pair come to the understanding that their current situation simply constitutes another of their many past lives,...

La película fue alabada en su estreno mundial en Venecia. © Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures ha publicado el primer tráiler y póster de Septiembre 5, un thriller sobre el fatídico momento que cambió para siempre la cobertura informativa en los medios de comunicación y que ha seguido influyendo en el tratamiento de la actualidad.

Septiembre 5 se ambienta en los Juegos Olímpicos de Múnich de 1972 y narra las peripecias de un equipo de retransmisión deportiva estadounidense que hace rápidamente la transición de la información deportiva a la cobertura en directo del secuestro de los atletas israelíes. Geoff (John Magaro), un joven y ambicioso productor, se esfuerza por demostrar su valía a su jefe, el legendario ejecutivo de televisión Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard). Junto con la intérprete alemana Marianne (Leonie Benesch) y su mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), Geoff se hace cargo inesperadamente de la cobertura en directo. Enfrentado a temas y narrativas cambiantes,...

Exclusive: Oscar nominees Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo) have been set to star in action-thriller Lone Wolf.

Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) is set to direct from an original screenplay by Tom Chilcoat. Ted Hope and his Double Hope banner is producing alongside Christine Vachon and her Killer Films, in association with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions. Backing comes from Rabbits Black.

The conspiracy thriller will follow a troubled vet (Gladstone) struggling with addiction who is recruited by a contractor (Cranston) for a covert government plot to assassinate a high-level politician. After learning she’s set to take the fall, she must utilize all of her skills to outwit the shadow agents to protect the future of her son.

Great Escape is handling sales with the UTA Independent Film Group jointly handling domestic at the upcoming American Film Market.

Executive producers include Sean Krajewski,...

John Magaro went from an extra on a Steven Spielberg film to leading his own movie about the same tragic events 20 years later.

Magaro has steadily built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors, seamlessly transitioning between indie gems and major studio films such as “Not Fade Away” and “Past Lives.” But despite his steady rise in the industry, he remains grounded and deeply connected to the craft of acting, driven by a passion for storytelling and a dedication to exploring the complexities of each role.

In this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Magaro discusses his latest project, Paramount Pictures’ “September 5” — a dramatic thriller about the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis. He also reflects on his early days in the business, which included an unexpected start as an extra in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film “Munich,” a full-circle moment for him. Listen below.

“What makes this...

“Anora,” a free-wheeling comedy about a sex worker who becomes entangled with the family of a Russian oligarch, led the Gotham Awards, picking up four nominations, including a nod for best feature.

“Nickel Boys,” the story of two African-American teens who are sent to an abusive reform school, and “I Saw the TV Glow,” a psychological horror film about high schoolers who begin to lose touch with reality, were close behind with three nods apiece.

“Nickel Boys” will vie for best feature alongside “Anora.” Other nominees for the top prize include the erotic drama “Babygirl,” the black comedy “A Different Man” and “Challengers,” a love triangle that unfolds against the backdrop of professional tennis. There were several notable omissions, with critically heralded films like “The Brutalist” and “Conclave” passed over for a best feature nomination. “The Brutalist” did earn two nominations for its star Adrien Brody and for the supporting turn of Guy Pearce.

We Live In Time Box Office (North America): 3rd Weekend Update (Photo Credit – Facebook)

Besides horror flicks, romance dramas are also doing well at the box office. After It Ends With Us, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield starrer We Live in Time is also performing well, even though it is a limited release. It crossed a significant milestone this weekend after gaining multiple theatres. Scroll below for the deets.

The viewers like the fresh pairing of Florence and Andrew, and the film also received positive reviews from the critics. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September this year. The dramedy has been certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer with a strong 78% critics rating. The audience rating is also impressive, as it scored 86% on Popcornmeter.

The critics were in awe of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield’s palpable chemistry. According to Luiz Fernando’s report, We Live in Time...

Get ready to analyze another data point about awards season.

On Tuesday, nominees for the 2024 Gotham Awards will be announced beginning at noon Et.

In a press release, the Gotham Film & Media Institute called its annual awards ceremony the “start of the annual awards season.” In terms of the awards calendar, that’s certainly true: the Gotham Awards take place on December 2, before even some major critics groups like the New York Film Critics Circle make their own choices.

Nominees for the Gotham Awards, now in its 34th year, “are selected by committees of film and television critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators.” To choose the winners, “Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in making films will determine the final Gotham Award recipients.”

The juried nature of its categories – and the fact that there are several small juries overall – tends to keep...

Alicia Vikander will lead Rachel Rose’s debut film “The Last Day” alongside Victoria Pedretti and Wagner Moura.

The film, which wrapped production in New York in October, follows a writer and mother who confronts her lack of creative purpose and embarks on a journey of rediscovering herself after encountering figures from her past.

“The Last Day” is produced by Lucie Elwes, Rose, Mason Plotts, Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon of Killer Films — the production company behind last year’s “Past Lives” and “May December” — as well as David Kaplan of Kaplan Morrison (“The Brutalist”). Maja Hoffmann and Lucas Hoffmann of Luma Projects serve as executive producers.

CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group co-represent North American rights on “The Last Day.”

Vikander is an Oscar-winning actor whose credits include “The Danish Girl,” “Ex Machina” and “Tomb Raider.” This year she starred alongside Cate Blanchett and Charles Dance in the political satire “Rumours,...

Everything We Know So Far About The Agency, Michael Fassbender's New Series - Main Image

Award-winning actor Michael Fassbender is making his American TV series regular debut on Paramount+ with Showtime's upcoming espionage thriller The Agency.

There has been a lot of anticipation for the series considering the A-list talent that is involved in the project and its intriguing premise. Let's explore what we know so far below.

What is Paramount+ and Showtime's The Agency About?

Paramount+ with Showtime's The Agency is based on the hit French series Le Bureau des Légendes (or The Bureau in English).

According to the logline, the series follows "Martian, a covert CIA agent, ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity, and his mission are pitted against his heart—hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.

Exclusive: John Magaro (Past Lives) has closed a deal to star opposite Josh O’Connor and Alana Haim in writer-director Kelly Reichardt’s next film, The Mastermind.

Magaro comes to the project after collaborating with Reichardt on her A24 films First Cow and Showing Up, having earned a Gotham Award nomination for Best Actor for his work on the former. While the new film centers on an audacious art heist amid the backdrop of the Vietnam War, there’s no word yet on the role Magaro is playing.

Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, and Vincent Savino are producing for filmscience, with Mubi financing the film and distributing in select territories, including North America, the UK, Ireland, Latam, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Turkey, and India. UTA Independent Film Group arranged financing, and The Match Factory is handling remaining worldwide sales.

Filmscience comes to the project as a partner of Reichardt’s on all of...

Six years after transitioning from film criticism, programming and docu features to narrative with Diane (2018), Kent Jones is gearing up for his sophomore project. Titled Late Fame, it was announced just prior to Cannes with Sandra Hüller onboard, however, Past Lives Greta Lee has replaced her and will now joining Willem Dafoe. This should be another fascinating character study – as the drama was penned by Samy Burch (Haynes’ May December – read review). Filming was planned for the fall – so this will be packaged and complete for the fall festival season in 2025. Killer Films’ Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon are producing.…...

Greta Lee (“Past Lives”) has joined the cast of Kent Jones’ “Late Fame,” and will star opposite Willem Dafoe (“Poor Things”), taking over from Sandra Huller. The project “May December” co-screenwriter Samy Burch and producer Killer Films.

Hüller has exited the project due to a scheduling conflict, according to MK2 Films which represent worldwide sales outside of North America. WME Independent, UTA Independent Film Group and Cinetic Media co-represent North American rights.

Lee will play Gloria, a mercurial theater actress whose magnetic personality and unpredictable allure upend the life of Dafoe’s Ed Saxberger, a former poet rediscovered by a group of young artists. The film explores the “illusory effect of praise on the soul, and the lingering ghostly presence of the past, whether it’s imagined or vividly remembered,” reads the synopsis.

Produced by Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon of Killer Films, “Late Fame” had a buzzy launch at...

This time of year, major fall festivals give way to regional fests around the country, which program a mix of Oscar contenders and international Oscar submissions. The better-resourced festivals bring in talent to regale the Academy members on hand, from the Hamptons and Woodstock to Savannah. Audience award winners gain momentum, such as “Conclave” (Focus Features), which won at both Middleburg and Mill Valley. And at this year’s BendFilm Festival in Oregon, ex-Sundance festival director John Cooper launched the inaugural BendFilm: Basecamp.

Filmmakers and their casts did not make the trek to the Orcas Island Film Festival (October 16-20), which has built up a passionate following over 10 years. Coaxing distributors to send them DCPs is Carl Spence, veteran of the Seattle, Palm Springs, Miami, and Sonoma fests, who runs Orcas Island with local culture impresario Donna Laslo. It was fun taking the puddle jumper from Seattle to Orcas Island...

Jodie Foster's career has been famously wild. As a child, she appeared in lightweight Disney films like "Napoleon and Samantha" and "Freaky Friday," while also taking the world by surprise playing an underage sex worker in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver." Throughout the 1980s, she successfully continued acting as she grew, appearing in films like "Foxes," "The Hotel New Hampshire," and "The Accused," for which she won her first Academy Award. In 1991, Foster won her second Oscar for playing FBI cadet Clarice Starling in Jonathan Demme's bleak serial killer thriller "The Silence of the Lambs," one of the few films to win "The Big Five" Oscars. That same year, Foster made her directorial debut with the child-prodigy drama "Little Man Tate."

From then on, Foster was a Hollywood staple, leading multiple high-profile studio dramas like "Maverick," Robert Zemeckis' "Contact," and "Anna and the King." She also worked with...

Exclusive: Lionsgate Play will provide free access to its entire content library for one week from October 18 to 24 as part of its “Gatecrash Lionsgate” campaign in India — just before the country’s major Diwali holiday.

This campaign will include complimentary access on Lionsgate Play to the Indian premiere of Paris Has Fallen, part of the Has Fallen franchise and starring Mehdi Meskar, Tewfik Jallab and Ritu Arya.

Now in its fourth year, the streaming service from Lionsgate India and Starz has focused on building a content library centered on Hollywood action films, with titles dubbed into four to five Indian languages.

Rohit Jain, President of Lionsgate Play (Asia), told Deadline that besides action, Lionsgate Play is seeing strong audience uptake in the horror genre — and he is also keenly tracking the popularity of Korean content.

“We are probably going to take some bets in the coming year on Korean content,...

Casting is such a crucial component to crafting a great film that last year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rightly deemed the profession worthy of Oscar recognition. There will now be a Best Casting trophy handed out every March, which has avid Oscar viewers wondering what films would've won the top prize each year prior to 2025 –- and whether that winner would've had to be in the running for Best Picture. Would this have been a way to make sure star-studded romps like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," "Casino Royale," or "The Cannonball Run" were represented on Hollywood's biggest night? Would a critical misfire like "Heartburn" have been acknowledged just for bringing together the heavyweight acting duo of Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep for the first time? Could films like "The Outsiders" or "Stand by Me" (which should've been a Best Picture contender) have taken...

Pan-European indie group Vuelta, which recently bought Telepool in Germany, has completed another strategic acquisition with WW Entertainment, one of Benelux’s largest distributors.

With offices in Amsterdam and in Belgium, WW Entertainment (previously eOne Entertainment Benelux) has consolidated a solid portfolio of local and international titles in the last decade. WW Entertainment’s recent hits include “Loverboy: Emoties Uit,” as well as “Hit Man” and “Bombini Bangkok Nights.”

The acquisition of WW Entertainment gives Vuelta a solid footprint in Benelux, a key European market for theatrical distribution, spreading from Belgium to the Netherlands.

The deal also fits into Vuelta’s strategy to build synergies with some of its other European distribution banners, including Scanbox in Scandinavia, SquareOne/Telepoolin Germany and Pan in France. The latter just scored big in France with the local dramedy “A Little Something Extra” which outperformed Hollywood blockbusters tops this year’s French box office,...

Luca Guadagnino’s drugged-up gay romance “Queer” made its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival on Sunday, October 6 as part of the festival’s Spotlight Gala. A24 acquired the domestic distribution rights following its premiere at Venice, set to premiere in theaters on November 27.

One of the buzziest films of this year’s upcoming awards season, Guadagnino’s latest has been talked about for having the filmmaker’s most explicit, graphic sex scenes of his career, involving Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. At the NYFF premiere, Starkey told IndieWire that while they had an intimacy coordinator, he didn’t really feel the need to use them.

“Daniel and I worked with an intimacy coordinator, but we were in movement rehearsals for like months before those shoots,” Starkey told IndieWire. “So, you know, by the time we got there, it’s like we’d been [in] like a jiu-jitsu...

Here’s a prediction: Aidy Bryant will be wearing ruby red when she takes to the stage on Feb. 22 to host the Spirit Awards. Why’s that you ask? Because it will the 40th anniversary of these prizes bestowed by Film Independent and the ruby is the traditional gift for this landmark achievement.

Bryant emceed the most recent edition of these kudos, which saw “Past Lives” pick up a pair of prizes including Best Picture. “The Holdovers” won three (including for eventual Oscar champ Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and “American Fiction” took two (giving screenwriter Cord Jefferson a chance to practice his Oscar acceptance speech).

Bryant starred for 10 seasons on “SNL” and earned a pair of Emmy nominations for Best Comedy Supporting Actress. Since leaving the show in 2022, Bryant has been busy. She headlined her own Hulu comedy, “Shrill,” picking up another Emmy bid (this time for Best Comedy Actress). And...

After debuting as host of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant is coming back for ceremony’s 40th edition in 2025.

The Spirits’ nominees will be announced December 4, with winners to be revealed at the awards show on February 22, 2025 that will be streamed live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels.

“We couldn’t ask for a better host for our 40th anniversary! As we prepare to celebrate this incredible milestone honoring the outstanding achievements and contributions within the independent world, we welcome Aidy back with open arms,” said Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent. “After her unforgettable turn last year, we can once again anticipate an evening filled with laughter, inspiration, and recognition of excellence.”

Last year’s top winners included A24’s Past Lives for Best Feature and that pic’s Celine Song as Best Director.

Bryant was a 10-year cast member on Saturday Night Live.

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards is looking to a familiar face to celebrate its 40th anniversary: “SNL” alum Aidy Bryant.

The “Shrill” star returns to host the 2025 Spirit Awards after being the master of ceremonies in 2024. Bryant got some big laughs doing a “roast” of the honorees like Natalie Portman, Sterling K. Brown, and Charles Melton.

“We couldn’t ask for a better host for our 40th anniversary!” Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent, said in a press statement. “As we prepare to celebrate this incredible milestone honoring the outstanding achievements and contributions within the independent world, we welcome Aidy back with open arms. After her unforgettable turn last year, we can once again anticipate an evening filled with laughter, inspiration, and recognition of excellence.”

The 2025 nominees will be announced on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, with winners being revealed at the awards show on Saturday, February 22, 2025. The show will be streamed live...

Italy’s Lucky Red is to be honoured with the best international innovation distribution award 2024 at the third International Film Distribution Summit, which takes place October 15-17 in Cologne, Germany.

Headed by Andrea Occhipinti, independent distributor Lucky Red’s activities also span exhibition, production, sales and streaming.

It runs the Circuito Cinema, a cinema chain with 40 cinemas and 126 screens, including several theatres in Rome, Florence and Bologna.

Sales outfit True Colors’ was launched in 2015 by Lucky Red, and Indigo Film as a global distributor for Italian films. Digital arthouse cinema platform MioCinema was created in 2020.

Recent Lucky Red releases include The Boy And The Heron,...

Denis Villeneuve will receive the Director Tribute at the 34th Gotham Awards, in recognition of “Dune: Part Two.” The ceremony will take place live and in person on December 2, 2024 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The prize celebrates visionary filmmakers “responsible for bringing some of audiences’ most beloved films to life,” according to the statement released by the Gotham Awards.

“Denis Villeneuve has masterfully adapted Frank Herbert’s classic, first with 2021’s ‘Dune’ and now with ‘Dune: Part Two,’ creating a visually stunning and narratively complex conclusion to this tale in a manner that has captivated everyone from critics to audiences to devoted fans,” Executive Director of the Gotham Film & Media Institute Jeffrey Sharp said in a statement. “The Gotham is honored to present Villeneuve — a visionary who has redefined the genre for modern audiences — with The Director Tribute. This recognition celebrates not only his recent accomplishments...

While at the Creative Investors Conference at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Killer Films producer Christine Vachon addressed the controversy involving Joaquin Phoenix’s last-minute exit from the latest project by “May December” director Todd Haynes.

“The truth is, pretty much what happened is out there for all of you to read. I don’t know much more than that. I’d gossip if I had anything to gossip about, but I don’t. It was tragic,” she said when asked about what happened with the project.

“In a lot of ways, the most tragic part about it is that Todd Haynes is 62. He’s not old, right? But there is a finite number of films that he’ll be able to do in his lifetime. I consider him one of the most extraordinary film artists of his generation, and the idea that his time was wasted and that...

Supergroup L.S. Dunes — featuring members of My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive, and Thursday — have unveiled the new single “Fatal Deluxe.”

The new song arrives as L.S. Dunes are set to play a handful of US festivals in the coming days and weeks — including Riot Fest, Louder Than Life, Furnace Fest, Aftershock, and When We Were Young — as well as support Rise Against on an extensive fall tour (pick up tickets here).

Get Rise Against and L.S. Dunes Tickets Here

L.S. Dunes are comprised of vocalist Anthony Green (Circa Survive), guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), bassist Tim Payne (Thursday), guitarist Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria), and drummer Tucker Rule (Thursday). They released their debut album, Past Lives, in 2022.

For now, “Fatal Deluxe” is a stand-alone single, but Iero reveals that the track offers a strong hint of what’s to come from L.

The Gotham Awards said Wednesday that it will honor Netflix’s The Piano Lesson with the 2024 Gotham Awards Ensemble Tribute during the 34th annual awards ceremony December 2 in New York City.

The Piano Lesson, directed by Malcolm Washington and co-written by Washington and Virgil Williams based on the famed play by August Wilson, features a cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Erykah Badu.

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh just after the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom, the family piano, which documents the family history through carvings made by their enslaved ancestor.

Related: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars, Grammys, Guilds & More

The pic just had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. It is set to premiere in select theaters on November 8 before...

Paramount Pictures has set the historical drama “September 5” for a limited theatrical release on Thanksgiving weekend, with plans to expand the film nationwide in December.

The film recounts the terrorist attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which Palestinian militants took Israeli athletes hostage, through the perspective of the ABC Sports crew that was there to cover the event. Peter Sarsgaard stars as ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge, who found himself unexpectedly in the position of overseeing the first ever live televised coverage of a terrorist attack.

“Past Lives” star John Magaro also stars in the film along with Ben Chaplin and Leonie Benesch also star in the film, which was directed by Tim Fehlbaum from a script he co-wrote with Moritz Binder.

Paramount’s Republic Pictures acquired the film back in July ahead of its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it has received widespread acclaim. Paramount will handle...

A24, the company behind films like Room, Moonlight, Lady Bird, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Past Lives, is as bold and daring a distributor as any in the movie business today. Rarely has that been more evident than it is in a pair of films that they brought to the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (to say nothing of the film that they acquired during the fest, a nearly four-hour VistaVision epic intended for projection in 70mm).

Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn’s Babygirl both came to Toronto after having their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival. Both films star bona fide Hollywood A-listers — Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, respectively — in highly risqué roles that explore sexual inhibitions, or lack thereof, and power dynamics. (The Venice jury awarded Kidman the fest’s best actress prize, and Craig was rumored to be in serious...

The most surprising thing about “Matt and Mara” — Kazik Radwanski’s sharply engaging indie drama about former sweethearts reconnecting — is how chaotic it feels, despite its understated tone. This starts with how quickly it flings you into its premise, disorienting you right alongside married creative professor teacher Mara Walsh (Deragh Campbell) when a man from her past, the quick-witted novelist Matt Johnson (Matt Johnson), pops up out of nowhere to say hi right outside her classroom, just a few seconds into the runtime.

The movie’s broad strokes resemble Celine Song‘s Oscar-nominated immigrant drama “Past Lives,” which, while masterful, left some viewers wanting a version of that film where its lovelorn leads actually get together, or at least move in that direction. They’re wrong, but have nonetheless been rewarded, as “Matt and Mara” scratches that particular itch. However, Radwanski’s Toronto-set story isn’t quite a linear, didactic affair drama either,...

Last year, Sundance was the first in-person version of the festival since the pandemic forced the bastion of American independent filmmaking online for two years. It also acted as the unofficial debut for 2Am, the upstart production and management outfit headed by Christine D’Souza Gelb, producer David Hinojosa and manager Kevin Rowe.

At the festival, 2Am premiered productions that included Celine Song’s Past Lives and competition title The Starling Girl, while clients screened feature debuts like A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, which went on to win the fest’s top prize. “It was our first real Sundance back, and our client of this tiny company, this little thing we’ve been building in the pandemic, wins the grand jury prize,” D’Souza Gelb remembers of the moment.

2Am was brainstormed in 2020, in a time that disrupted the industry but, in particular, the indie film marketplace. Some three years after launch,...

Stars John Magaro and Leonie Benesch had no way of anticipating that their new film “September 5,” depicting how ABC handled coverage of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, would be premiering at the Venice and Telluride film festivals so shortly after this year’s games in Paris, or at a time where all eyes are on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Going into production directly from last year’s Berlin Film Festival, where their respective films “Past Lives” and “The Teachers’ Lounge” both screened, the pair did not even know “September 5” would be coming off of a turning point in their careers, as both those films would go on to receive Oscar nominations. “It’s just coincidence,” said Magaro over Zoom. “It could have [premiered] in the winter and it would’ve been totally different.”

Directed by Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum, who wrote the script with Munich native Moritz Binder, “September 5” sees Magaro play Geoffrey Mason,...

Exclusive: Dan Magnante has been hired by 2Am, the production/ management company founded by Christine D’Souza Gelb, David Hinojosa and Kevin Rowe. Magnante will join as a producer with a focus on television.

Overseen by Hinojosa, 2Am’s film and TV production division just launched with a Venice Film Festival World Premiere Halina Reijn’s Babygirl—starring Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, and Antonio Banderas. A North American premiere is upcoming at TIFF, as is one for Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, on which Hinojosa was exec producer. The company is also in post-production on Celine Song’s Materialists, featuring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. Previously, 2Am produced Song’s directing debut, the Oscar-nominated film Past Lives.

Magnante will be based in 2Am’s Los Angeles office with D’Souza Gelb and Julia Nelson. Magnante has produced both film and television, and he spent over a decade at Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment.

On Tuesday night at the Venice Film Festival, just as Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” was beginning to roll its closing credits and the Sala Grande was still dark and applause had only begun started, star Daniel Craig turned in his seat to give director Luca Guadagnino a tight hug. The gesture would foreshadow what was to come mere minutes later, when the above-the-line talent made sure to have just about every creative who worked on the film who was present at its Venice premiere take a trip down the theater stairs — and take in the rapturous cheers from the audience.

Though it was not a standing ovation that broke records — mostly because by the eighth minute past the credits, even costume designer Jonathan Anderson got his own time in the spotlight — it was one of the more exuberant receptions for a film so far at the festival. Italian teenagers seeking autographs started a “Luca,...

Daniel Craig cruised to Italy and is now on land at the Venice Film Festival for the Queer world premiere.

Ahead of the Luca Guadagnino film’s festival debut — taking place at Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande in the early evening on Tuesday — Queer was toasted at a pre-premiere celebration courtesy of Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and W Magazine’s editor-in-chief Sara Moonves. Anderson served as costume designer for the A24 release, marking his second straight collaboration with Guadagnino after Challengers. Also keeping it in the family, Craig stars in Loewe’s new campaign.

Held at Il Porticciolo, the restaurant inside Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, Venice, the intimate affair drew a shortlist of actors from Queer, fashion insiders from Loewe and festival stars. Craig arrived arm-in-arm with actress wife Rachel Weisz, who is here to support her husband as he breaks free of his James Bond persona...

A hot sales title and potential Oscar contender is generating buzz on the festival circuit: Tim Fehlbaum’s tension-filled drama, “September 5.” If any studio feels like adding another worthy awards hopeful to its slate, this film could go far under the right guidance.

The film, which has received outstanding reviews at both Venice and Telluride, could make a significant impact given its timely and compelling story. Set on Sept. 5, 1972, it portrays the international hostage crisis involving the Israeli Olympic team, as it unfolded live on global television. However, the story is told from the perspective of the broadcasters. The period drama features a talented ensemble cast, including John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin and Leonie Benesch.

“September 5” is a taut, suspenseful thriller, and even if you’ve seen (and hopefully admired) Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” (2005), this retelling more than warrants its perspective, reminiscent of previous Oscar winners like “Spotlight” and “All the President’s Men.

Brat summer architect and influencer of foreign elections Charli xcx is expanding her resumé. Charli has joined the cast of Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, which just this week added Cooper Hoffman to its roster as the subject of Olivia Wilde’s sexual fascination. The pop star’s...

Atemloser Thriller in Real-Time-Anmutung, der die Ereignisse vom 5. September 1972 bei den Olympischen Spielen aus der Sicht der Reporter von ABC Sports erzählt.

Fast Facts:

• Atemberaubend effektiver Hochdruckthriller nach wahren Ereignissen

• Auf diese Weise wurde der Terrorangriff bei den Olympischen Spielen in 1972 noch nie verfilmt

• Mit einem Maximum an Authentizität realisiert

• Dritte Regiearbeit von Tim Fehlbaum nach „Hell“ und „Tides“

• Hochkarätige internationale Besetzung

• Sean Penn als amerikanischer Produzent mit an Bord

• Weltpremiere als Eröffnungsfilm der Orizzonti Extra in Venedig 2024

Credits:

Land / Jahr: Deutschland / USA 2024; Laufzeit: 95 Minuten; Regie: Tim Fehlbaum; Drehbuch: Tim Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder; Besetzung: Leonie Benesch, John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin; Verleih: Constantin Film; Start: 7. November 2024

Review:

Als der amerikanische Fernsehsender ABC Sport 1972 in München seine Zelte aufschlug, um von den Olympischen Spielen zu berichten – den ersten Olympischen Spielen auf deutschem Boden seit Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs, mit denen sich Deutschland als verändertes, geläutertes, weltoffenes Land präsentieren wollte –, sollten Maßstäbe gesetzt werden,...

Lili Horvát’s English-language debut My Notes On Mars will star Greta Lee and Andrew Scott, we’ve learned. More on the sci-fi romance below.

Andrew Scott and Greta Lee starred in two of the most emotionally devastating films of the last few years. Scott’s turn in Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers left us weeping in our cinema seats, while Celine Song’s Past Lives had us longing for all those who got away.

The pair will now maximise their control over our emotions as they team up for Lili Horvát’s My Notes On Mars. Described as a sci-fi romance, Deadline reports that the film will follow “Margot (Lee), a brilliant young scientist with a troubled marriage, who disappears inexplicably while hiking with her husband Sam (Scott) and a group of friends. A few weeks later, she miraculously reappears the day of her own memorial service.