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Michael Bay Producing Dystopian Action-Thriller ‘Little America’ for Universal
1 hour ago
Universal Pictures is developing the dystopian action-thriller “Little America” with Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller on board to produce through their Platinum Dunes production company.
Universal won a bidding war for a spec script by Rowan Athale (“Wasteland”), who will also direct. Platinum Dunes has teamed with Universal for “The Purge” and “Ouija” franchises.
“Little America” is described as being reminiscent of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 sci-fi action-thriller “Escape From New York,” starring Kurt Russell. “Little America” is set in a time where America is so bankrupt that China is calling all the shots.
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Michael Bay to Develop Biopic on Drone Warfare Fighter (Exclusive)
VP of Production Sara Scott and creative executive Mika Pryce will oversee the project for Universal.
Bay is best known as the director of all four “Transformers” movies for Paramount. The fifth, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” opens on June 23. He also directed and »
- Dave McNary
‘Predator’ Reboot Adds ‘Room’ Star Jacob Tremblay
1 hour ago
Jacob Tremblay is joining Fox’s “The Predator,” a reboot of the alien action franchise that launched in 1987.
Shane Black is directing from a script by Fred Dekker. John Davis, Joel Silver, and Lawrence Gordon — who produced the original — are returning to produce the reboot as well. Fox has already scheduled “The Predator” for a Feb. 9, 2018, opening.
Major plot details are being kept under wraps. “Narcos” star Boyd Holbrook replaced Benicio del Toro as the lead back in October. The cast also includes Trevante Rhodes, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, and Keegan-Michael Key.
The original was directed by John McTiernan and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, and Jesse Ventura as commandos attempting to rescue hostages while being stalked in a jungle in Central America by a fearsome extra-terrestrial, played by Kevin Peter Hall.
“The Predator” is expected to begin production in Vancouver in February.
Tremblay, who’s now 10 years old, »
- Dave McNary
The Honorees at the 2017 PGA Awards
1 hour ago
A TV legend, big screen players, and one of the year’s most celebrated films earn honors.
Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television
To build a highlight reel of memorable moments from the television career of Brooks is a challenge that few editors would want to undertake. But the 20-time Emmy winner, whose CV includes such groundbreaking series as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Taxi” and “The Simpsons,” and is this year’s recipient of the Producers Guild Awards’ Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, was recently charged with just such a task. Brooks found that the easiest path to a solution was to recall the program where the collaboration between talent in front of and behind the camera gelled. “Everything is a marriage of actors and writers, and what makes those stories happen is that if it’s a good coupling,” he says. To that end, »
- Paul Gaita and Dave McNary
China Slowdown Brings 2016’s Global Box Office Down
1 hour ago
Publicly, studio executives tend to be a rosy bunch, predicting that each year’s crop of movies will be better than that which preceded it. But behind closed doors, few in the business were expecting much from 2016.
When the final numbers are tallied, the global box office will probably fall short of last year’s record-breaking $38.9 billion. Most observers expect ticket sales to fall roughly 2% to just over $38 billion. That decline is reason for some alarm, particularly as the shortfall is largely attributable to a slowdown in China. After years of explosive growth, in which returns were expanding at a 40% clip annually, revenue in China was essentially flat in 2016 — a disappointment for the world’s second-largest film market, which had been expected to surpass the U.S. in terms of revenue in a matter of months.
“As China goes, so goes the international marketplace,” notes Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. »
- Brent Lang
Audience Popularity, Strong Box Office Factor Into PGA Nominees
1 hour ago
The Producers Guild of America has remained a distinctive voice during the Hollywood awards season — often in favor of including popular mainstream movies that might be overlooked otherwise.
That tendency was clearly in evidence on Jan. 10 when the PGA nominated “Deadpool” for its Darryl F. Zanuck Award along with the expected high-brow contenders — “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “Hidden Figures,” “La La Land,” “Lion,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight.”
Prizes will be handed out during the 28th annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Jan. 28 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Along with “Lion,” “Deadpool” was the biggest surprise among the nominees. The Ryan Reynolds action-comedy is by far the top grosser among the PGA nominees with $783 million worldwide on a $60 million budget.
Awards trackers theorize that producers are more likely to be impressed with strong box-office performance in honoring a film that won’t go on to »
- Dave McNary
Tom Rothman Hits Three Decades in Hollywood With PGA’s Milestone Award
1 hour ago
Marking three decades in Hollywood, Tom Rothman is being honored with the Producers Guild of America’s Milestone Award.
Best known in Hollywood for a passionate approach to movies, Rothman has been chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group for the past two years, where he oversees the studio’s motion picture production and distribution activities worldwide. The award will be presented to Rothman at the 28th Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Jan. 28.
It’s the PGA’s top honorary award, recognizing historic contributions to the entertainment industry. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Sherry Lansing, Ron Meyer, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Alan Horn, Bob Iger, and 2016 recipient Jim Gianopulos.
Rothman broke into Hollywood in 1987 as an executive VP of Columbia Pictures after leaving the law firm of Kurnit, Klein & Selz. In 1989, he became president of worldwide production for the Samuel Goldwyn Company in »
- Dave McNary
James Le Gros to Star in Melora Walters Drama ‘Waterlily Jaguar’
2 hours ago
James Le Gros is starring in Melora Walters’ feature directorial debut “Waterlily Jaguar” with shooting starting this week, Variety has learned.
The production company is Lexicon Entertainment, in association with Room in the Sky Films. Production began Wednesday in Los Angeles with shooting planned for several weeks.
Producers on the project are Mark Mathias Sayre, Troy Daniel Smith, Walters and Jonathan Piumelli. Executive producers are Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Swadling, and Larry Nealy with Justin Foia co-producing.
Walters is directing from her original screenplay, in which Le Gros portrays a famous novelist seeking to write a more serious book, only to find himself tumbling down a spiral of obsession that may leave his most important relationships in shambles, including his marriage.
Mira Sorvino stars as his wife, Stacey Oristano is his assistant and Dominic Monaghan is his agent. “Waterlily Jaguar” also stars Christopher Backus and Steven Swadling.
Walters and Sayre »
- Dave McNary
Gaumont Television Taps Adam Fishbach as Head of Creative Affairs, Hires Maia Hollinger (Exclusive)
3 hours ago
Gaumont Television, the L.A.-based production and distribution arm of French film powerhouse Gaumont, is aiming to beef up its business with the promotion of Adam Fishbach as head of the creative affairs department and the appointment of Maia Hollinger as VP of creative affairs for original productions.
Joining Gaumont from Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Hollinger will work closely with Alexandra Hunter, VP of creative affairs, who spearheaded Netflix original series “Narcos” and “F Is for Family.”
Sean Wolfson, currently executive assistant to Gene Stein, the president of Gaumont Television U.S., has been promoted to manager of creative affairs.
Hunter, Hollinger and Wolfson will now report directly to Fishbach, who joined the company in 2013.
“As part of our growth it was the perfect time to acknowledge Adam for all of the great work he’s done these past three years. He’s the ideal executive to oversee the creative affairs department, »
- Elsa Keslassy
Armie Hammer’s ‘Call Me by Your Name’ Joins Berlinale’s Panorama Lineup
5 hours ago
The Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section has completed its lineup with the addition of 24 feature films, including “Call Me by Your Name,” an extremely well-reviewed gay love story featuring actor Armie Hammer.
The full Panorama program includes 36 world, six international and nine European premieres. Thirteen European films have been added. Among those is “Call Me by Your Name,” directed by Luca Guadagnino (“A Bigger Splash”) from an adaptation, co-written with James Ivory, of a novel by André Aciman.
There are five films from Brazil, including “Como Nossos Pais” (Just Like Our Parents), directed by Lais Bodanzky, who depicts the everyday lives of three generations in Sao Paulo as “a pyrotechnic display of individual passions and existential delusions staged with a sublime naturalness,” according to the festival.
Also in the program are Spanish debut feature “Pieles” (Skins) by Eduardo Casanova, “Rekvijem za gospodju J.” (Requiem for Mrs. J.) by Serbia’s Bojan Vuletić, »
- Leo Barraclough
Berlinale: M-Appeal Picks Up International Rights to ‘Discreet,’ ‘Inflame,’ ‘Millennials’ (Exclusive)
6 hours ago
Ahead of the Berlinale European Film Market, Maren Kroymann’s Berlin-based M-Appeal has acquired international sales rights to three new Berlin fest-selected titles: “Discreet,” “Inflame” and “Millennials.” All are world premieres.
Focusing on new voices from independent and world cinema, and with a strong line in Lgbt art films, M-Appeal also handles sales on young adult drama “Center of My World.” Seen at the Palm Springs Festival and directed by Jakob M. Erwa, who recently won a best upcoming director prize at the Bavarian Film Awards, “Centre of the World” has been licensed by M-Appeal to the U.K.’s Matchbox. “Centre of My World” is included in the Berlinale’s Deutscher Filmpreis screenings of films nominated for Germany’s national Lola Awards. It competes in the best picture category.
Sporting the Berlinale’s hallmark contemporary focus, the three M-Appeal pickups focus on key social issues roiling modern-day world: homophobia in the U. »
- John Hopewell
Hollywood Anti-Trust Probe in Europe Might Be Softened, E.U. Official Hints
6 hours ago
A speech by Europe’s powerful anti-trust commissioner sparked hope Wednesday that the E.U.’s probe into Hollywood studios’ licensing deals with pay-tv operator Sky might be softened.
Comments by Margrethe Vestager suggested that she is open to maintaining territorial licensing in Europe, the financial backbone of Hollywood and other studios’ business in the region. But Vestager’s speech in Brussels on Tuesday, while viewed as more conciliatory in tone, does not mark a total climb-down or end to the investigation. And both the U.S. and European film and TV industries still want greater clarity on key points concerning their ability to license products country-by-country in Europe.
Initiated in July 2015, the investigation centers on whether the major studios and Sky enacted measures preventing consumers elsewhere in the European Union from paying for and accessing Sky’s programming in the U.K. and Ireland. Vestager contended at the time »
- John Hopewell
Pinewood Pictures Hires Imogen Bell as Head of Production
7 hours ago
Imogen Bell has joined Pinewood Pictures, the production arm of the British studio facilities company, as its head of production.
Over the past 17 years, Bell has worked as a freelance line producer, production manager and production co-ordinator across film and television on a host of independent productions, including “My Summer of Love,” “Brothers of the Head” and “Moon.”
Her appointment at Pinewood Pictures is part of the company’s push to increase its “U.K. and international presence in independent film financing and production,” managing director Yu-Fai Suen said. Recent productions for Pinewood Pictures have included “Their Finest,” “Mindhorn” and “The Collection.” Current titles in production include “Show Dogs,” “Journey’s End” and “Where Hands Touch.”
Bell began in commercials, then quickly moved into feature films, working with producer Chris Collins on “My Summer of Love” and “Four Last Songs” from development through delivery for BBC Films. Other notable credits include “Heartless, »
- Leo Barraclough
Japan Box Office Climbs 8% in 2016 Boosted by Local Hits
8 hours ago
Japan’s theatrical box office grew by 8% in 2016. It hit $2.08 billion (JPY236 billion,) according to new data from the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren.)
The country is the world’s third largest theatrical market, behind the $11 billion of North America and $6.6 billion of China.
The 2016 score was boosted by a succession of local hits including “Your Name” and “Shin Godzilla.” It compared with JPY217 billion in 2015, reported as $1.84 billion. The previous highest year was 2010 when “Avatar” was the top release.
Theatrical admissions for the year were 180 million, the highest attendance figure since 1974. In 2015 they were 167 million.
The number one film at the 2016 box office was “Your Name,” which has also set a record for the top-earning Japanese film ever internationally, with $290 million at last count. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $102.5 million was the second ranked film of the year and the top scoring Hollywood movie. In »
- Mark Schilling
‘Elle,’ ‘Frantz,’ ‘Slack Bay’ Lead Cesar Awards Nominations
9 hours ago
Paris – Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle” with Oscar-nominated Isabelle Huppert, Francois Ozon’s period drama “Frantz” and Bruno Dumont’s “Slack Bay” lead the nominations at the 42nd Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars.
“Elle” and “Frantz” scored 11 Cesar nominations each. “Slack Bay” received nine.
“Elle,” which competed at Cannes, has already earned Huppert a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for best actress. Set in France and produced by Said Ben Said and Michel Merkt, “Elle” has been described as a powerful rape-revenge thriller laced with dark humor. Huppert recently received a honorary prize from the French culture ministry and promotional organization UniFrance. The movie was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics at Cannes.
Her nomination for “Elle” marks Huppert’s 16th Cesar nod. She has won only once, for her performance in Claude Chabrol’s “La Ceremonie.”
“Frantz,” starring Pierre Niney (“Yves Saint Laurent”), turns on a »
- Elsa Keslassy
Australian Films’ 2016 Box Office Dips, Despite Oscar Nominations Success
9 hours ago
The Australian industry was quick to celebrate its haul of Oscar 13 nominations for “Lion” and “Hacksaw Ridge” and a first-ever nod in the foreign-language category, for “Tanna.” But Australian-made films are struggling at their local box office.
Overall theatrical box office in Australia grew by 2.7% in local currency terms in 2016, according to newly released figures from the Motion Picture Distributors Assn. of Australia. Revenue grew from A$1.23 billion in 2015 to A$1.26 billion.
In U.S. dollar terms, the gain was greater, from Us$845 million in 2015 to Us$955 million, using end-of-year exchange rates for each year. That reflected the gradual strengthening of the Australian dollar over the past year.
But Australian films saw their share of the home market crumble from 7.2% in 2015 to just 1.9% in 2016. In 2015 they accounted for a record A$88 million, but last year they managed to pull in just A$24 million, with “Hacksaw Ridge” the top scorer on A$8.6 million. »
- Patrick Frater
Berlin: Global Screen Adds 3D Animation ‘My Fairy Troublemaker & Me’ to Efm Lineup (Exclusive)
9 hours ago
Global Screen has picked up worldwide distribution rights to English-language 3D animated feature “My Fairy Troublemaker & Me,” which it describes as “sparkling with humor and magic.” Global Screen will start pre-selling the film at next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
“Boisterous 10-year-old Maxie can’t believe her eyes when lovely, little, funky fairy Violetta turns up in her bedroom,” according to a statement. “With her help, Maxie sees her big dream come true: to return to her grandmother’s house in the countryside. But soon it turns out that Violetta is a magical washout suffering from a serious chocolate addiction.”
Producer Maite Wokock stated: “‘My Fairy Troublemaker & Me’ is a suspenseful, charming and high-end 3D-animated feature film. The screenplay is full of action, humor, magic and heart, making us laugh about our foibles and showing that with a real friend everything is possible. This project is my project from the heart. »
- Leo Barraclough
Sundance Film Review: ‘Burning Sands’
11 hours ago
The price paid for elite brotherhood is awfully high in “Burning Sands,” which chronicles fraternity pledges’ survival — or otherwise — of a particularly brutal hazing process at an all-black university. Director/co-scenarist Gerard McMurray’s debut isn’t as striking a treatment of the same theme as last year’s divisive “Goat,” a film that went out of its way to stir viewer outrage by being as stripped-down and unpleasant as possible. This is a more conventional effort on nearly all levels, with room for some titillation, comedy relief, and other escape valves. But that might well translate into a wider audience for this flawed yet confident and polished Netflix drama, which arrives at the same conclusion as the earlier film: Hazing is a very bad thing.
Despite the fact that a series of high-profile scandals and lawsuits have resulted in hazing being banned from most campuses, the practice continues — and »
- Dennis Harvey
Sundance Film Review: ‘The Last Word’
13 hours ago
Here’s a new movie rule: If you’re going to sit through a Sundance “crowd-pleaser,” complete with cardboard situations and cheeseball snark and life lessons, it’s always better if that movie stars Shirley MacLaine. In “The Last Word,” she plays — what else? — a cutely difficult pie-eyed pixie-curmudgeon who is always scolding everyone and telling them how to improve themselves. I can think of many films where she played a similar role that outclass this one — like “Terms of Endearment,” “In Her Shoes,” “Bernie,” or “Postcards from the Edge.” Those were real movies. “The Last Word,” written by Stuart Ross Fink and directed by Mark Pellington, is an eager assemblage of quasi-fake setups and two-stroke characters. It makes “Little Miss Sunshine” look…organic. (It’s also not nearly as well-made.) Yet MacLaine, who isn’t above falling into high-concept shtick herself, hasn’t lost the gift of spontaneity. At 82, she’s spry and fearless. »
- Owen Gleiberman
Sundance: Netflix Buys Global Rights for ‘To The Bone’
13 hours ago
As the first week of the Sundance Film Festival comes to a close, Netflix continued its buying spree, picking up worldwide rights to the drama “To The Bone,” starring Keanu Reeves and Lily Collins, Variety has confirmed.
The movie, directed and written by Marti Noxon, follows a 20-year-old anorexic girl (Collins) who tries to get the medical help she needs at a group home. Reeves plays her doctor. The rest of the cast includes Carrie Preston, Lili Taylor and Alex Sharp.
The deal, estimated to be around $8 million, will allow the streaming giant to show the movie in regions around the world.
“To the Bone,” which debuted in the festival’s U.S. dramatic competition, was produced by Julie Lynn, Bonnie Curtis, Karina Miller, Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi. It was executive produced by Talal Al Abbar, Matthew J. Malek and Anita Gou.
Netflix has had a very active Sundance, »
- Ramin Setoodeh
Sundance Film Review: ‘Bad Day for the Cut’
14 hours ago
A pile of corpses paves the way to revenge for a seemingly mild-mannered but resourceful-when-roused protagonist in “Bad Day for the Cut.” Chris Baugh’s accomplished debut feature manages to develop its own distinct flavor while fitting snugly into the general tradition of latter-day U.K. gangster pics, with their rueful humor, colorful characters and realistically nasty violence. This Northern Ireland-set thriller doesn’t quite rank with the most memorable of that ilk, but it has sufficient genre appeal to attract some sales and attention around the globe.
Graying middle-aged Donal (Nigel O’Neill) still lives at home on a small farm with his increasingly frail mother (Stella McCusker), forging a limited social life at the local pub and repairing cars on the side. He seems content enough, yet there’s a sense of life having passed him by that’s tweaked when, in exchange for some auto work, he »
- Dennis Harvey
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