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EXCLUSIVE: VMI Worldwide has acquired world rights to the vampire comedy Don’t Suck from American Sicario director RJ Collins and will be selling the film at the upcoming European Film Market. Scroll down for the trailer below. The pic stars Jamie Kennedy, who plays Pete, a washed-up veteran comedian who must find an opener for his upcoming comedy tour. Pete is introduced to Ethan (Matt Rife) by his girlfriend Stephanie (Ellen Hollman), who convinces him to take this young comedian on tour as his opener. Things start to take a wacky turn when Pete finds out Ethan is a Vampire, and their tour goes from cheap motels, morning DJs, dive bars, and dinners to opening up for the Russell Peters special in Vegas. All while Ethan and Pete attempt to bridge the gap between being real and exploiting his vampirism. Don’t Suck features appearances from various comedians, including Russell Peters, Matt Rife, Jimmie Walker, Jimmy Shubert, and Carrot Top. The deal was … [Read more...] about ‘Don’t Suck’: VMI Worldwide Boards Jamie Kennedy Vampire Comedy & Releases First Trailer — EFM

2nd UPDATE, 2:30 PM: Reports of the NFL being knocked down this season may have been a bit premature – at least according to the results of last night’s New York Giants bruising 10-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys. With the final numbers in, a season record 26.5 million viewers tuned in for the Sunday Night Football NFC East match-up between the two big market and nationally followed teams. That’s the best any primetime NFL game has done on any network this season and best Week 14 audience the NFL has had since 1989 when ABC’s Monday Night Football pulled in a TV crowd of 26.502 million to watch the then L.A. Rams and the SF 49ers clash. In a season of declining NFL numbers and too many blowouts or lame scoring games, the Cowboys, along with the Patriots and a few other teams, have proven the get well pill for the league. For instance, the overall most watched game of the 2016/17 season so far is the November 13 afternoon 35-30 game between the Cowboys and the … [Read more...] about Giants’ Close Victory Over Cowboys Gives ‘Sunday Night Football’ Most Watched Primetime Game This Season – Update

Pondering last weekend’s vibrant, three-day “Regeneration Summit” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures —it was a celebration keyed to the museum’s Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 exhibit—I was struck by a wild fantasy. In the far future—I mean way down the line , even after my brand new driver’s license expires—maybe museum members, some of them at least, will be given an Oscar vote. To be clear, nobody that I know of is talking about this. The current management of both the museum and the Academy could rightly dismiss the idea as hare-brained. But time is a relentless beast. Let it gnaw for a while on the legs of those entwined institutions, and the enfranchisement of paying museum members might begin to look like an option. It would certainly be slick way to support the museum while weaning the Oscars from their dependence on a diminishing broadcast audience—that is, the hoi polloi. What we learned, I think, from the Regeneration Summit is that the … [Read more...] about Weird Thought: Will Some Museum Members Someday Get An Oscar Vote?

Having been a member of the Academy for several decades, I find myself suddenly embarrassed to admit it. The Academy made a grand, if puzzling, announcement last month, but now has decided to disavow it. Its board of governors, having watched Academy CEO Dawn Hudson crawl out on a limb, at this week’s board meeting decided to saw it off. The issue, of course, focuses on the Academy’s decision to award a new Oscar to this year’s “most popular” film — this in addition to its regular Oscar winner. Upon reading this announcement, all of us quickly inquired about the criteria for “popular.” The Academy has an “awards” committee to make exactly those decisions. Guess what: The committee forgot to do it. So did the governors. This is doubly ironic in that, at the very first Oscar show in 1929, the award was divided between a popular movie, Wings , and an art movie, Sunrise . The governors apparently had figured it all out 90 years ago. This year seemed a natural moment … [Read more...] about Peter Bart: Academy Pushed The Envelope Too Far, Scratches Oscar Popularity Contest

Welcome to Global Breakouts , Deadline’s new strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you. We kick off with a buzzy resurrection drama breaking records in Korea , the nation that introduced the world to Netflix ’s Squid Game but in reality has been making smash-hit shows for decades. Name: Reborn Rich Country : Korea Network : JTBC Seller : Studio LuluLala Where can I watch : On Viu in Korea, South East Asia and the Middle East For fans of : Netflix’s Dark or Christopher Nolan’s Inception There had never been a “reincarnation drama” on Korean cable before JTBC’s Reborn Rich and local viewers had rarely seen anything quite like it, but that didn’t stop them watching this … [Read more...] about Global Breakouts: Korean Cable Hit ‘Reborn Rich’ Is Bringing The Reincarnation Genre Into The Mainstream

EXCLUSIVE : Johannes Roberts — the filmmaker behind the shark thrillers 47 Meters Down (2017) and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) — is reteaming with Byron Allen ’s Allen Media Group Motion Pictures on a new film in the genre titled The Red Triangle . The project will look to recapture the success of those past two films co-written and directed by Roberts, each of which registered strongly at the worldwide box office. The original, starring Mandy Moore and Matthew Modine, marked AMGMP’s entrée into the theatrical marketplace and grossed over $62MM worldwide. The sequel, featuring Yellowjackets ‘ Sophie Nélisse, John Corbett, Nia Long, Brec Bassinger and more, netted over $47MM globally. AMGMP’s next big-budget theatrical feature is set in Northern California — famous for its gorgeous beaches, but also known for a particular stretch of ocean that has a bloody reputation — The Red Triangle. Stretching south from Bodega Bay toward San Francisco and jutting out … [Read more...] about ‘47 Meters Down’ Filmmaker Johannes Roberts Reteaming With Allen Media Group Motion Pictures For Shark Thriller ‘The Red Triangle’

EXCLUSIVE : Chandler Riggs ( The Walking Dead ) and Samantha Isler ( Molly’s Game ) are set to lead the Christmas-themed dramedy Breakup Season , marking the feature debut of writer-director H. Nelson Tracey . The indie going into production this month in La Grande, Oregon follows a young man (Riggs) as he brings his girlfriend (Isler) back to his rural Oregon hometown to meet his family for the first time, over the course of the holidays. The introduction doesn’t go as planned. Pic also stars James Urbaniak ( The Fabelmans ), Jacob Wysocki ( Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ), Brook Hogan, Carly Stewart, and Kailey Rhodes. Stephen Mastrocola, Rafi Jacobs, and Liana Montemayor of the L.A.-based Static Films will produce alongside Tracey. Also producing is Christopher Jennings, co-founder of the Eastern Oregon Film Festival, whose residency program is where the script was developed. “I first visited La Grande, Oregon in the fall of 2019 for the annual … [Read more...] about ‘The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs, Samantha Isler Board H. Nelson Tracey’s Dramedy ’Breakup Season’

There’s a change at the top of Banijay’s Americas operation. The company, which houses a slew of production companies that make shows including Fox’s MasterChef and Amazon’s Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls , has promoted Ben Samek to CEO as Cris Abrego moves out of that role but remaining as Chairman. It comes as Banijay Americas officially becomes the holding company that oversees the group’s ten production companies in North and South America, which includes Bunim/Murray Productions, Truly Original and 51 Minds Entertainment. Samek, who was previously President and COO becomes CEO, Banijay Americas with Abrego staying on as Chairman of the Americas. Abrego will now focus on acquisitions and new business ventures. Samek joined Endemol USA in 2014 as COO and transitioned to COO of Endemol Shine North America in 2015. Promoted to President and COO for Endemol Shine North America in January 2018, Samek then expanded his areas of oversight to include the … [Read more...] about Banijay Americas Promotes Ben Samek To CEO As Cris Abrego Steps Down, Stays As Chairman

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of the February 14 Season 6 midseason return of The Walking Dead There was good news and declining news for the explosive and brutal midseason return of The Walking Dead on Sunday. The zombie apocalypse blockbuster didn’t have to face the potential demo drain of the Grammy Awards this year, with the declining CBS hootenanny moved to Monda y. However, even if the high-scoring NBA All-Star Game and the debut of the Martin Scorsese-helmed Vinyl from HBO weren’t factors, the AMC series took a hit. Not that a lot of that hit came from the HBO opener. Vinyl , the drama series about the record industry of the early and decadent 1970s, drew 764,000 viewers for the premium cabler for its 9-10:54 pM ET premiere. That’s no Game Of Thrones obviously, but OK bordering on soft for an HBO debut. The opener is just a little up from what the Season 2 debut of The Leftovers pulled in on October 4 last year in a big drop from … [Read more...] about ‘Walking Dead’ Ratings Down In Midseason Return; ‘Vinyl’ Starts OK

There was death, terror, a horde of Walkers and of course millions of viewers on Sunday. The Season 6 midseason finale of The Walking Dead was watched by 14 million total viewers, with 8.9 million among the adults 18-49 demographic for a 7.02 rating. The numbers for the November 29 episode are down 5% among total viewers and 7% in the key demo from the record-breaking Season 5 midseason finale of November 30 last year – which means this year was the second-highest-rated TWD midseason finale in the blockbuster show’s history after the 2014 winter finale. Week-to-week, the highest-rated TWD of this season after the October 11 premiere was up 6% in both categories from its November 22 show, which was up 3% from the week before. Unlike last year’s winter finale, TWD did not take down Sunday Night Football in the demo, a fate it has achieved far fewer times this season. Sunday was also the night that saw Super Bowl champs the New England Patriots lose their first … [Read more...] about ‘The Walking Dead’ Ratings Steady With Record-Breaking 2014 Midseason Finale