Independent set

After snapping up the critically acclaimed Jonathan Majors movie Magazine Dreams out of Sundance, Searchlight has set a Dec. 8 theatrical release for the Elijah Bynum directed title; a date that’s right in line with the classics’ label previous awards season launches. Searchlight beat out Neon, Sony Pictures Classics and HBO for this fierce drama in which Majors portrays a disturbed amateur bodybuilder. The pic, which Bynum also scripted, follows Killian Maddox (Majors), who struggles to find human connection in this exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom in the bodybuilding world, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest. Taylour Paige and Haley Bennett also star in the movie along with Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page and Harriet Sansom Harris. Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman produced. EPs are Majors, under his production banner … [Read more...] about Searchlight Sets December Release For Jonathan Majors Sundance Title ‘Magazine Dreams’

EXCLUSIVE : Schitt’s Creek alum Eugene Levy is heading to Summer Camp . The four-time Emmy winner will play Diane Keaton’s love interest in the comedy also set to star Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard . Castille Landon ( After franchise) is directing the film, which is heading into production next month in North Carolina, from her own script. It tells the story of Nora, Ginny and Mary, who have been best friends since childhood, spending their summers together inseparably at sleepaway camp. As the years have passed, they’ve seen each other less and less, so when the chance for a summer camp reunion arises, they all take it, some begrudgingly and others excitedly. Each of their lives might not be where they’d imagined, but one thing is for sure — Nora, Ginny, and Mary need each other, and summer camp reminds them why. Summer Camp is a Saks Picture Company production, in association with and financed by Taylor & Dodge and Grant S. Johnson’s Project … [Read more...] about Eugene Levy Set For ‘Summer Camp’ Comedy With Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates & Alfre Woodard

EXCLUSIVE : Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American VOD rights to the documentary Grandpa Was An Emperor from director Constance Marks , whose last feature, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey , won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. The new film, which premiered to rave reviews at the DOC NYC Festival in 2021, is set for theatrical engagement in Los Angeles from April 7-13 at Laemmles Town Center in Encino, with evening showings on the 7th and 8th to be followed by Q&As with Marks, as well as her fellow producers and talent. It’s set for release on digital on May 30. Exec produced by 2x Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo , Grandpa Was An Emperor follows Yeshi Kassa, great-granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, as she embarks on a personal quest to discover what happened to her closest relatives during the coup of 1974. While Yeshi and her older sister were thousands of miles away in a British boarding school, her … [Read more...] about ‘Grandpa Was An Emperor’ Documentary Exec Produced By Cynthia Erivo Sets Freestyle Release

Neon has taken the North American rights to the Anne Hathaway -starring Sundance Film Festival premiere Eileen , from director William Oldroyd ( Lady Macbeth ). The distributor is eyeing a fall theatrical release. Oldroyd’s connection to Sundance began in 2013 when his short film Best won the Short Film Competition. Eilee has already notched 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics since its Park City debut in January. The pic, based on the 2015 debut novel by Otessa Moshfegh, is set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, when young secretary Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor Rebecca (Hathaway) at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path. Shea Whigham, Marin Ireland and Owen Teague also star in the pic, which was adapted for the screen by Moshfegh with Luke Goebel. The pic was produced by Fifth Season, … [Read more...] about Neon Acquires Domestic Rights To Anne Hathaway Sundance Movie ‘Eileen’

EXCLUSIVE: Kumail Nanjiani , Patton Oswalt , comedian James Acaster and Emily Alyn Lind have joined the cast of the live-action sequel to Sony Pictures’ hit film, Ghostbusters : Afterlife . Gil Kenan is directing, and the previous pic’s cast including Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon will return as the setting shifts to the original films’ New York City and firehouse. Jason Reitman , who directed the 2021 pic, will move into the writer-producer role alongside co-scribe Kenan and Jason Blumenfeld. Not much is known about the sequel, but sources say the plan is to return to New York City and the iconic firehouse made famous in the original Ghostbusters films. It is slated for a December 2023 release . It’s been a high priority for Sony to get a sequel in production after Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the latest sequel to the iconic 1984 film, became a hit with its November 2021 opening . Directed and co-written by Reitman, and executive produced and co-written by … [Read more...] about Kumail Nanjiani And Patton Oswalt Among Newest Additions To Cast Of ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Sequel

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC and PBS have set their latest landmark science series, an exploration of how modern humans came into being. In Human, which is in the process of crewing up, archaeology, travelog and reconstruction will be used to tell the story of the homo sapiens species that emerged around 300,000 years ago. There are no official records for the vast majority of this human history but the series will look to piece things together, using DNA sequencing and scientific tools, and showcasing fresh discoveries. BBC Studios Science Unit is producing Human, which is the latest factual landmark from the BBC and PBS following a long and fruitful relationship. The pair have combined in recent times on alien doc First Contact , BAFTA-nominated 8 Days: To The Moon and Back and The Planets. BBC Head of Science Tom Coveney said Human will “reveal the dramatic twists and turns of our species’ story, the secrets behind our success, and ultimately what makes us … [Read more...] about BBC & PBS To Explore How Modern Humans Came Into Being In Latest Landmark Science Doc

More than 300 leading figures from the French film and TV world have gotten behind a petition decrying controversial pension reforms spearheaded by the government of President Emmanuel Macron . French stars Juliette Binoche , Audrey Fleurot, Camille Cottin , Swann Arlaud, Jeanne Balibar, Bérenice Béjo, Laure Calamy, Camille Cottin, Pierre Deladonchamps and Noémie Merlant; directors Michel Hazanavicius , Alice Diop , Kim Chapiron, Maimouna Doucouré, Robert Guédiguian and Alain Guiraudie, as well as producer Saïd Ben Saïd were among the signatories. “It is high time to make our voices heard, because cinema, theater, culture, even if they sometimes offer dreams and a means of escape, above all speak of our world,” read an open letter to Macron accompanying the petition. The petition was launched under the banner of the Cinema Entertainment Collective on the Liberation newspaper website on Thursday afternoon, as a national strike brought public services to a … [Read more...] about French Film & TV Stars Get Behind Petition Decrying Macron Pension Reforms; King Charles State Visit Postponed Due To Unrest

Britain’s culture secretary Oliver Dowden has denied a report that the government has asked right-wing commentator Charles Moore and former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to fill two powerful UK media jobs. The Sunday Times reported that Moore has been tapped to be the next chair of the BBC , while Dacre is set to be installed as the new chair of UK media regulator Ofcom . The government is responsible for recruiting for both roles and the Sunday Times said prime minister Boris Johnson wants the pair, both ferocious critics of the BBC, to usher in a “revolution” in UK broadcasting. Senior government insiders told the newspaper that hiring Moore as a replacement for outgoing BBC chair David Clementi is a “done deal,” while Johnson “wooed” Dacre for the Ofcom job over drinks at Downing Street in February. But speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Dowden denied that any decisions have been made prior to the government launching a formal recruitment … [Read more...] about UK Government Denies Offering Powerful Media Jobs To Ferocious BBC Critics Paul Dacre & Charles Moore

World class climber Jimmy Chin met his future wife, filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi , over a mountain – of footage. He had been working for a number of years on the documentary that would become Meru , the story of an attempt by Chin and his fellow alpinists and friends Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk to become the first to summit the perilous Shark’s Fin peak in the Himalayas. Perhaps because he was so close to the subject matter, the film wasn’t quite cohering. “I had submitted it to a few film festivals and got turned down,” Chin explained during an Artists & Auteurs conversation at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. He told moderator Thom Powers, TIFF’s documentary programmer and host of the Pure Nonfiction podcast, that while struggling over the film he crossed paths with Vasarhelyi at a conference. “I knew that she had quite an accomplished career as a filmmaker,” Chin said. “So, I asked her to screen what I had cut so far. She didn’t call me back for three months, but it … [Read more...] about Oscar-Winning Filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin On Love Stories – Their Own, And They One They Tell In ‘Wild Life’ – CPH:DOX

Detective John Luther’s movie debut helped lock up millions of UK viewers for Netflix , but the feature fell well short of other film offerings on Netflix. Luther: The Fallen Sun was watched by 3M people on TV sets, according to Barb, the official audience research group. It has also occupied first place in Netflix’s top-10 movies in the UK for two weeks. Luther was only sixth in the list of Netflix’s most-watched movies since Barb began reporting viewing figures for streamers in November 2021, according to a Deadline analysis. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery spent two weeks in Barb’s list of the top 50 shows and films in the UK, amassing a total of 18.5M viewers in that time. Don’t Look Up also spent two weeks in Barb’s list, meaning it was watched by 15M people. The Adam Project (11.1M), The Gray Man (6.9M), and Enola Holmes 2 (4.6M) also performed well. The figures only include people watching on television sets, meaning that viewing on mobile … [Read more...] about ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ Arrests 3M UK Viewers, But Struggles To Match Other Netflix Movies