20 articles
Box Office: 'Fifty Shades Darker' Is a Valentine's Day Dominatrix With $11M
11 hours ago | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news »
Fifty Shades Darker was a huge Valentine's Day winner at the box office, earning $11 million on Tuesday.
That was more than double the next closest film, The Lego Batman Movie ($5 million). And it's one of the best showings of all time for when the sweethearts' holiday falls on a weekday, almost matching record-holder The Vow, which pulled in $11.5 million on Valentine's Day in 2012, also a Tuesday.
From Universal and based on E.L. James' S&M book series, Fifty Shades Darker has earned $61.5 million in its first five days, slightly ahead of »
- Pamela McClintock
'The Raid': Joe Carnahan to Tackle Reimagining of Indonesian Action Movie
12 hours ago | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news »
Joe Carnahan is taking on The Raid.
The filmmaker and actor Frank Grillo on Wednesday shared an Instagram video announcing the project, which would reimagine the groundbreaking 2011 Indonesian martial-arts film.
The cult action hit tells the story of a Swat team who must fight its way to the top of a heavily protected apartment building that houses a brutal drug lord. The pic made action stars of its actors (some even made their way into Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and introduced audiences to martial art called silat.
In a series of tweets Wednesday, Carnahan revealed more details »
- Aaron Couch,Borys Kit
Mel Gibson In Early Talks To Direct Suicide Squad 2 For Warner Bros.
10 hours ago | ComicBookMovie.com | See recent ComicBookMovie news »
Suicide Squad may not have fared particularly well with critics, but it was a box office success, so you probably won't be too surprised to learn that a sequel is in the early stages in development. However, in a very unexpected twist, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Mel Gibson is in early talks to take the helm of the movie! He's a long way off signing up to direct, and the trade adds that he's currently familiarising himself with the comic books to see if it's a property he would be interested in working on. Warner Bros. is hedging their bets, though, as Daniel Espinosa is also being considered along with a number of others. With Suicide Squad's David Ayer busy working on Gotham City Sirens, it makes sense that he's not returning, and Gibson would most definitely shake the franchise up. The actor and filmmaker spend years on Hollywood's bad side, »
Director Martha Coolidge, Producer Wage Bitter Fight for Control of Holocaust Drama
11 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Veteran director Martha Coolidge is embroiled in an ugly battle with a Polish-Canadian producer for control over an independent feature about a love story set amid the Holocaust.
The producer, businessman Zbigniew Raczynski, fired Coolidge last month, alleging that she caused the production to spiral out of control, nearly doubling its $8.4 million budget. Coolidge — who was the first female president of the Directors Guild of America — enlisted the DGA to help her fight back, and won an arbitration ruling on Tuesday granting her control of the film.
Also on Tuesday, Raczynski filed a lawsuit in L.A. Superior Court, alleging that Coolidge physically attacked him on set and wore a Nazi SS officer’s outfit — including a Nazi hat — while filming scenes depicting the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The film — titled “Music, War and Love” — is nearly completed, but is stuck in limbo between Raczynski, who financed it and has barred Coolidge from the editing room, »
- Gene Maddaus
Ciaran Hinds Joins Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton In ‘Red Sparrow’
14 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Exclusive: Ciaran Hinds, who was recently seen in Martin Scorsese's Silence and boxing biopic Bleed For This, has boarded Fox’s Red Sparrow, a film adaptation based on Jason Matthews’ espionage novel. He joins Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, and Joely Richardson in the thriller which Francis Lawrence is directing. The film follows Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova (Lawrence), who is drafted against her will to become a… »
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Thinks ‘La La Land’ Is ‘Daring and Deserving,’ But ‘Sends A Bigoted Message’ About Race
15 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar started his new job with a bang. The Hollywood Reporter announced yesterday that it nabbed the NBA legend and culture critic as a contributing editor, and Abdul-Jabbar came out swinging with a measured but firm stance on race in “La La Land” in his first editorial.
Writing that he found Damien Chazelle’s musical “bold, daring and deserving” of its success, Abdul-Jabbar adds, “The better a work of art is, the more we must dissect it… We’re assessing its proper place in our cultural canon.” He goes on to say that while it is Chazelle’s prerogative to write as many or as few black characters as he wants, the racial make-up of the film is fair game when much of it revolves around jazz, “a uniquely African-American music form.”
Read More: ‘La La Land’ Review: A Lively Supercut of Classic Musicals Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
A jazz aficionado, »
- Jude Dry
'Love Actually' Cast to Reunite for Red Nose Day Special
15 hours ago | Rollingstone.com | See recent Rolling Stone news »
The majority of the Love Actually cast will reunite in a short, quasi-sequel set to premiere for Red Nose Day in March.
Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Andrew Lincoln and Bill Nighy are among those from the cast of the 2003 rom-com that will appear. The reunion was organized by Love Actually director Richard Curtis, one of the co-creators of Comic Relief and the annual Red Nose Day, which aims to raise funds and awareness to end child poverty.
"I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, »
Jared Leto Making Directing Debut With Patty Hearst Thriller ’77’ for Paramount
6 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Paramount Pictures has hired Jared Leto to direct the police thriller “77,” in what will be the actor’s feature directorial debut.
Leto previously helmed the documentary “Artifact,” which won an award at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. He has also directed numerous music videos and commercials under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins.
The “Suicide Squad” actor will direct from from an original screenplay by “L.A. Confidential” author James Ellroy with revisions by David Matthews (“Narcos,” “Boardwalk Empire”).
The story, set in politically charged 1974 Los Angeles, centers around two police officers who team up to recover kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst while simultaneously investigating the brutal murder of a fellow officer. They uncover not only relentless corruption and crime but a dark and violent conspiracy as well.
Hearst hid out in Los Angeles that year with her kidnappers from the Symbionese Liberation Army but managed to escape before six Sla members were gunned »
- Dave McNary
Berlinale: Mediapro Takes Stake in Burman Office, Creating TV Creation-Production Hub (Exclusive)
41 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Berlin — Creating one of the biggest independent creation-production TV hubs in the Spanish-speaking markets which is aimed at making contents for the whole world, Spain’s Mediapro, a “The Young Pope” co-producer, has bought a substantial stake in Argentina’s Burman Office. Headed by Daniel Burman, a leading light of the New Argentine Cinema, Burman Office is set to produce “Edha,” Netflix’s first TV series in Argentina.
One of the key axes in a fast-emerging new independent production TV scene in Latin America and Spain, the alliance will be unveiled Feb. 16 in Berlin by Mediapro head Jaume Roures and Burman. It builds on a strategic co-development deal between Mediapro and Burman Office for high-end fiction TV series and formats that was announced last July.
Mediapro’s equity investment goes further, however, seeing Burman Office becoming part of the Mediapro, one of Southern Europe’s largest and most international of »
- John Hopewell and Emilio Mayorga
French arthouse Svod Service Nowave Inks Pact with Wide Side (Exclusive)
49 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Berlin– Nowave, the Svod service specializing in arthouse world cinema, has closed a library deal with French distribution company Wild Side, the Wild Bunch-owned video distribution company.
Nowave was created by Bérangère Dastarac 18 months ago with the idea to showcase non-mainstream auteur films, genre movies and shorts, many of which have played festivals and have not been released in theaters.
“We’re aiming to give more visibility to great films that have gone unnoticed because they got lost in the flood of theatrical releases,” said Dastarac, who added that the service’s model was particularly attractif to right-holders as it offers a 50/50 revenue sharing.
Dastarac, who produced several films including “Winter of Discontent” and “Sing Freedom,” has enlisted several industry players and journalists to curate selection of films by theme in order to maximize content editorialization and attract younger audiences, particularly millennials.
For instance, Nowave just featured a curation focusing on Pinku movies, »
- Elsa Keslassy
Berlinale: Latido Takes Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ‘El Reino’ (Exclusive)
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Berlin — Madrid-based Latido Films, Oscar-winning Tornasol Films and Woody Allen producer Atresmedia Cine are re-teaming on Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “El Reino,” starring Antonio de la Torre.
All five backed Sorogoyen’s latest 2016 release, “May God Save Us,” a harrowing serial killer thriller which, consolidating Sorogoyen’s reparation as a director to track, was distributed by Warner Bros. in Spain, won best screenplay at September’s San Sebastian Festival last year and was still racking up international sales for Latido at this week’s Berlin European Film Market.
The lead producer on “May God Save Us,” Gerardo Herrero and Mariela Besuievsky’s Tornasol Films, an arthouse institution in Spain, produced Juan Jose Campanella’s “The Silence in Their Eyes,” which won an Academy Award for best foreign-language film in 2009.
The film arm of Atresmedia, one of Spain’s two biggest broadcast groups and film financiers, Atresmedia Cine produced Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona, »
- John Hopewell
Teresa Villaverde – Portuguese Filmmakers Are Experts in Making Omelettes without Eggs
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
50-year old female helmer Teresa Villaverde is one of Portugal’s best-known directors, whose recent films, produced at four-to-five year intervals, have premiered in either Berlin or Cannes.
“Colo”– her first feature since 2011’s “Swan” – plays in Berlin competition. A total of nine Portuguese shorts and feature films, including co-productions, are screening at this year’s Berlinale.
Starring João Pedro Vaz, Alice Albergaria Borges and Beatriz Batarda, “Colo” is about a father, mother and daughter, struggling with Portugal’s economic crisis. It is a co-production between Lisbon’s Alce Films and Paris-based Sedna Films. International sales are handled by Berlin-based Films Boutique.
In an interview with Variety, Villaverde talks about Portuguese cinema and her expectations for her film in Berlin.
What do you believe are the main reasons for the growing interest in Portuguese cinema at major festivals such as Berlin?
The quality of recent Portuguese films, the specific vision of each auteur, »
- Martin Dale
Rodar y Rodar Launches Mario Casas-Starrer ‘Mauthausen’ (Exclusive)
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Berlin–Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar — the prestige producer of successful psychological thrillers such as “The Orphanage” and “Julia’s Eyes”– will produce “The Photographer of Mauthausen,” the third outing as a feature film director of Mar Targarona (“Kidnapped”), Rodar co-ceo with Joaquín Padró.
Vicente Canales’ Film Factory has acquired international rights. The historical thriller will be produced in partnership with Belgium’s Umedia. Also backing the projects are Spanish public broadcaster Tve and its Icaa and Icec film institutes.
“Mauthausen” recreates the travails of Catalan photographer Francesc Boix, an inmate in the Mauthausen concentration camp from the winter of 1942, when he was 22, alongside his father and 1,500 Spanish Republicans, were imprisoned by the German army during their exile in France after the Spanish Civil War.
Spanish thesp Mario Casas (Michael Radford’s “The Mule,” Fernando González Molina’a “Palm Trees in the Snow”) will star. “It’s a role that could »
- Emilio Mayorga
Berlinale: Huayi Bros to Put More Emphasis on Chinese Tentpole Titles
2 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Leading Chinese studio Huayi Brothers Media is shifting its production strategy as a result of last year’s sharp slowdown in the theatrical box office. It will deliver upwards of four massive, local blockbusters per year and put increased emphasis on quality.
The new policy was outlined by CEO Jerry Ye, in Berlin on the sidelines of the Bridging The Dragon conference. He joined the company nine months ago after a high profile exhibition, distribution and production career largely at Wanda.
“Chinese movies had a slow year in 2016,” said Ye. “We need to put more focus on making blockbuster Chinese movies. Very big ones. We want four tentpoles for the four biggest periods of the year – Chinese New Year, National Day, mid-Autumn festival, and Christmas – any others will be on a case by case basis. Those big successes can be used to make franchises, TV dramas, or online series. Just like Hollywood. »
- Patrick Frater
‘American Horror Story’ Election? Ryan Murphy Reveals New Theme for Season 7
3 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
First, we joked about Donald Trump becoming president. Then, we joked that his win was 2016’s real American horror story. Now, Ryan Murphy is doing what he does best: taking our jokes and turning them into terrifying TV.
In an interview on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” the producer, writer, director, and creator of “American Horror Story” was asked if he had any news to share about the upcoming season.
“Well, I don’t have a title,” Murphy said. “But the season that we begin shooting in June is going to be about the election that we just went through.”
Read More: ‘Legion’: Noah Hawley’s ‘Romance of the Mind’ Might Be Hiding a Heart of Darkness
Cohen, surprised, almost cut to the next segment, but followed up by asking if there would be a Donald Trump character in the new season.
“Maybe,” Murphy responded.
- Ben Travers
‘Legion’: Noah Hawley’s ‘Romance of the Mind’ Might Be Hiding a Heart of Darkness
4 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Legion” Season 1, “Chapter 2.”]
Maybe the wild premiere left me Fubar, but the opening of “Legion’s” second episode gave off major “Apocalypse Now” vibes. David’s ominous, deadened voiceover recalled Martin Sheen’s war-torn work in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic. The song — “Road to Nowhere” by the Talking Heads — served as a modern stand-in for The Doors’ “The End,” which would be far too on-the-nose (and overused) to be repurposed yet again, but the notes guided a slow, seemingly peaceful riverboat ride; an iconic wartime image, countlessly repurposed in many an action film, but never so effectively alluding to the horrors hidden on each riverbed as in the Oscar-winning 1979 film.
Read More: ‘Legion’ Premiere: The 9 Moments That Make It a Masterpiece
And there are horrors lurking in “Legion” — literal and figurative. As sunlight shone through the trees above, men in “black masks, boots, and the one they called, ‘The Eye, »
- Ben Travers
Amblin Wins Female Action Spec ‘Ruthless’ For Helmer Brad Peyton
6 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Exclusive: Amblin Partners just won an auction for Ruthless, a female-driven action spec script by John Swetnam that had producers and studios going all week. San Andreas helmer Brad Peyton is attached to direct, and Weimaraner Republic Pictures partners and The Shallows producers Matti Leshem and Lynn Harris are attached to produce along with Tripp Vinson and Jeff Fierson, who’s Peyton’s partner in Asap Entertainment. Vinson Films’ Tara Farney will be exec producer. The… »
‘Manchester By the Sea’: Why Kenneth Lonergan’s Script Is A Screenwriting Master Class
6 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
“Manchester By the Sea” writer-director Kenneth Lonergan was a playwright first. He’s often lauded for his dialogue, rich character development, and the performances he gets from actors. Taken as whole, these descriptions could be interpreted as being a kind way of saying that his film is insufficiently cinematic.
That would miss the point. Like his previous films, “You Can Count on Me” and “Margaret,” his script for “Manchester By the Sea” draws a great deal of its power by taking advantage of the way movie audiences absorb story.
Building the Mask
At the beginning of “Manchester,” we watch Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), an apartment building handyman, react to his tenants — the indecisive man with a plumbing problem, the woman crushing on him as he unclogs her toilet bowl, a confrontational woman bizarrely accusing him of wanting to watch her take a shower. He’s comically expressionless as he goes about his work. »
- Chris O'Falt
Jared Leto To Direct James Ellroy Thriller ‘77’ For Paramount
7 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Jared Leto has signed on to direct Wolf Films’ period thriller 77 for Paramount Pictures. The film marks his feature-length scripted directorial debut. David Matthews (Narcos, Boardwalk Empire) writes from an original screenplay by L.A. Confidential author James Ellroy. Set in politically charged 1974 Los Angeles, the story revolves around two police officers who team up to recover kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, while simultaneously investigating the brutal murder of a… »
‘Trolls’ Tops Disc Sales Charts
7 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Twentieth Century Fox topped the national home video sales charts the week ended Feb. 12 with “Trolls,” the DreamWorks Animation family feature based on the iconic toy dolls.
The film, which earned more than $153 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1 on both the Npd VideoScan overall disc sales chart, which tracks combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, and Npd’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc Sales chart.
The computer-animated film, about two trolls trying to save their village from troll-eating adversaries, generated 53% of its total unit sales from Blu-ray Disc, Npd research shows.
Also new to the charts is the animated superhero film “Justice League Dark,” from Warner Bros. Animation, which generated 69% of its total unit sales from Blu-ray Disc. “Justice League Dark” bowed at No. 3 on the overall disc sales chart, behind Lionsgate’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” which held onto the No. 2 spot it debuted in the prior week. »
- Thomas K. Arnold
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