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There’s a period in every relationship you might call the “supernova” phase — when everything is fresh and new, the attraction and lust burn blindingly bright, and you can’t get enough of each other. The couple at the center of Oh, Hi! are a textbook example of this Paleolithic period of romance: Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) are four months into what seems like a giddy love connection. They’re going on their first trip together, spending a weekend in a house in upstate New York. It...

Sony and Creo have unveiled the 2025 winners for this year’s Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.

The 2025 winners include Rossana Montoya’s “My Demon” in the fiction category, Juliet Klottrup’s “Travelling Home” in the non-fiction category, Santiago O’Ryan and José Navarro’s “Hermanos Casablanca” in the animation category, and Hayder Hoozeer and Franz Böhm’s “Rock Paper Scissors” in the student category. The recipients were flown out to Los Angeles for an immersive four-day industry program at Sony Pictures Studios from June 2 to June 5, where they met with industry leaders and executives. In addition to being flown out to Los Angeles, winners received Sony Digital Imaging equipment and cash prizes. The winners were announced at the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

The recipients were selected by a panel of judges that included Jason Reitman, Minhal Baig, Elizabeth Gabler, and Chair of the Jury Justin Chadwick.

“It is...

In Thunderbolts*, CIA director La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine unwittingly brings together Marvel’s anti-heroes instead of the Avengers, who face a threat that could destroy the world. This unlikely team-up of our morally gray fan favorites is receiving a good reception on the big screen. The team includes Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent, Ghost, Taskmaster, Red Guardian, and Winter Soldier.

Not only is it the final film in Marvel’s Phase 5, but it also ends up being one of the most crucial films in this phase that sets up the Multiverse Saga finale. The ensemble cast returning to this film includes Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Thunderbolts* cast salary: Who has the highest and lowest net worth? The cast of Thunderbolts*: Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, and Florence Pugh | Credits: Marvel Studios

Julia Louis-Dreyfus,...

Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is right around the corner, and while the cast is packed with familiar anti-heroes and shady power players, there’s one fresh face grabbing all the curious glances—Geraldine Viswanathan. She’s stepping into the MCU as Mel, the sharp and ambitious assistant to a shadowy CIA director, and fans are already buzzing that there’s more to this character than what’s on the surface.

But Viswanathan isn’t some random breakout—this Aussie star has been putting in the work for years. While Thunderbolts* may be her grand MCU entrance, Viswanathan has already built an impressive résumé that stretches from amazing dramas to witty comedies. So, where have you seen her before?

Let’s go back to Geraldine Viswanathan’s roots Geraldine Viswanathan | Credit: Instagram\@yoyogeraldine

Born and raised in Newcastle, a coastal city in New South Wales, Australia, Geraldine Viswanathan grew up in a...

Exclusive: Spanish screenwriter Javier Gullón has been tapped to adapt Final Boarding, a horror film for Sony’s Screem Gems, based on a short story by Clarence Hammond.

Plot details for the film are under wraps. Screen Gems President Ashley Brucks optioned the story from Hammond, a former colleague from her time at Paramount Players, who will produce.

This marks the second studio horror project that Gullón has lined up recently, following his pitch sale of the Sarah Pinsker novella Two Truths and a Lie to Walter Hamada’s 18hz and Paramount. Prior to that, Gullón’s hot thriller spec The Bet sold preemptively to Warner Bros with 42 producing.

Establishing himself recently as one of the industry’s most sought-after writers of elevated horror, Gullón most famously wrote Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy, an A24 psychological thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Plot details for both of his other upcoming projects are under wraps,...

Geraldine Viswanathan remembers a conversation with Ethan Coen that made her realise life was getting pretty weird. It was early 2024, and they were promoting Drive-Away Dolls, in which Coen directed her — already something she found ridiculous. “He said, ‘Oh, Guillermo del Toro watched the movie and really liked your performance,’” she remembers, aghast. “The Australian in me wants to downplay everything and keep me humble and pretend none of this exists,” she laughs. “I’m really trying to step into a more American mentality.”

Viswanathan spent her early career doing stand-up and sketch comedy in Sydney, and travelled back and forth between Australia and America before her big Hollywood break came in 2018 with Blockers. Acting in the teen comedy about lifelong friends who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night was a time she calls “the craziest year of my life. I went from working in a...

The third annual Sony Future Filmmaker Awards has announced the jury members for its 2025 kudos.

Four-time Oscar nominee Jason Reitman, filmmaker Minhal Baig, President of 3000 Pictures Elizabeth Gabler, and director Justin Chadwick make up this year’s panel. Reitman is currently in the Oscar discussion for directing, writing, and producing the feature film “Saturday Night.”

Mark your calendars for April 29, 2025, as that’s when this year’s group of 30 shortlisted filmmakers will be announced. The 2025 Sony Future Filmmaker Awards will include a five-day program at the legendary Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif., from June 2 to June 6.

The special event includes hands-on workshops for the aspiring filmmakers, plus industry intuition from top professionals, backstage access, keynotes by major cinematographers, screenings, Q&a sessions, talent agency resources, and more.

The awards ceremony will take place on June 5, 2025, which is when the winners of the four major categories will be...

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are among the most popular Hollywood couples known for their controversial situations. Although they have gained public attention for all the wrong reasons in recent times, with their elaborate careers, they have minted a huge fortune. After the Oscar slap fiasco, Mr. Smith’s career might have gone into tatters, but still, he has earned more than he could spend in his lifetime.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith | Credits: Wikimedia Commons, Hannah Research, Creative Commons Attributes Share Alike 4.0

It is quite clear who has the upper hand when it comes to the net worth comparison, yet Jada is not far behind her husband in amassing over the years. Will’s constant flow of money comes from his projects as he is one of the highest-paid stars. On the other hand, Jada has tapped into many business ventures to keep her income affluent. So,...

Exclusive: Molly Gordon (Theater Camp), Logan Lerman (We Were the Lucky Ones), Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) and John Reynolds (Search Party) are set to star in Oh, Hi!, an indie comedy written and to be directed by Sophie Brooks (The Boy Downstairs), who conceived the story with Gordon.

Entering production in New York this month, the film centers on Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Lerman), whose first weekend away as a couple is going so well — until Isaac mentions he didn’t know they were a couple. Iris is sure he’s just confused….so she decides to hold him captive until they get on the same page.

Brooks and Gordon developed the project alongside producers David Brooks and Dan Clifton. Julie Waters will also produce for Watermark Media, which is financing with QWGmire, AmorFortuna, and Bespoke Production Capital. The executive producers are Evan Dyal, Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty,...

Chicago – There was once a Chicago housing project called Cabrini Green, and its legacy was a damning testament to Chicago’s mismanagement of housing for the poor in general. It’s gone now, the victim of gentrification, but its memory lives on in “We Grown Now,” a new release from writer and director Minhal Baig.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The film is set in 1992, rightly called the beginning of the end for the massive high-rise Chicago Housing Authority complex. Malik and Eric (Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez) are best friends and neighbors at Cabrini, idling between school and imaginative play. Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smolett) and his grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson) keep body and soul together for their family, along with Eric’s father Jason (Lil Rei Howery). When a fellow child 7-year-old resident Dantrell Davis is killed in a gang related shooting, Dolores takes steps to move out,...

Exclusive: Academy Award winner Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and former Overbook head Caleeb Pinkett (Cobra Kai) are set to produce a live-action feature adaptation of The Storm Clan, the comic book created by Dallas Jackson and Joe Casey, which marks the first title from Jackson’s new company DJ Classicz Comix.

Jackson and Casey will pen the script, with former Lionsgate exec Jorge Alfaro to serve as an EP.

A sci-fi action adventure story, The Storm Clan watches as an ex-military weapons engineer trains his five adopted children to be undercover hi-tech/martial-arts thieves wearing an invincible bionic-body armor. Previously orphaned, the teenagers gifted with bionic technology see it provide them with the opportunity to protect themselves from the threats of the streets, also empowering them to take advantage of life instead of being taken advantage of, and most importantly, giving them comfort and sense of belonging within a family.

"Don't be afraid to fly." Sony Pictures Classics has revealed the main official trailer for an acclaimed film titled We Grown Now, set in Chicago in the 1990s. This is the third feature film created and directed by filmmaker Minhal Baig, best known for her Sundance gem Hala from 2019. We Grown Now premiered at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival last year, and it also stopped by AFI Fest in the fall. Two young boys, best friends Malik and Eric, discover the joys and hardships of growing up in the sprawling Cabrini-Green public housing complex in 1992 Chicago. Starring Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Avery Holliday, and Ora Jones, along with Lil Rel Howery and Jurnee Smollett. This received rave reviews from TIFF, with critics saying it's a "unassuming character study set to poetic rhythms makes for an empathetic study of Black life, full of resolve." Watch out for...

Sony Pictures Classics and Stage 6 Films have unveiled the release date and trailer for We Grown Now, a coming-of-age drama from writer-director Minhal Baig (Hala) that’s currently up for three three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Also previously landing the Toronto Film Festival’s Changemaker Award, the film is set to open in theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago on April 19 before expanding nationwide on May 10.

Pic takes place in 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, watching as a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends, Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing. Their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.

Writer-director Minhal Baig shares coming-of-age stories from all walks of life, and this time, she’s returning home to Chicago.

Baig’s third feature, “We Grown Now,” centers on the housing project Cabrini-Green Homes in Chicagoin 1992. “We Grown Now” follows two young boys who are best friends and neighbors, with first-time actors Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez playing respective characters Malik and Eric. Jurnee Smollett and Lil Rel Howery also star.

The official synopsis reads: “In 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.”

“We Grown Now” is Baig’s...

Exclusive: The Black List has named the six projects and seven screenwriters invited to their 2023 Annual Lab. The program, now in its eleventh year, provides creative mentorship and career support to promising feature writers as they further develop their scripts during a weeklong workshop in Ojai, CA.

This year’s writers are Jake Burnstein and Brandon Verdi (Extra Pulp), Anne Hollister (The House Sitter), Chris Hwisu Kim (E.S.L.), Kathryn Prescott (Ema), Jainaba Seckan (But Some Of Use Are Brave), and Lisabelle Tay (Momo). The Black List selected these writers from over 1,300 feature script submissions on blcklst.com.

During the Lab, each writer workshops their screenplay through peer workshops and one-on-one sessions with working professional screenwriting mentors, including Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), Steve Desmond (Knock At The Cabin), Stephany Folsom (Toy Story 4), Kiwi Smith (Legally Blonde) , Jonathan Stokes (El Gringo), and Scott Myers of Go Into The Story.

The Black...

Sony Pictures Releasing International will release film internationally.

Sony Pictures Classics will release Minhal Baig’s TIFF premiere We Grown Now from Stage 6 Films, Participant, and Symbolic Exchange in North America.

‘We Grown Now’: Toronto Review

Baig received TIFF’s Changemaker Award for the coming of age drama, which stars Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Avery Holliday and Ora Jones, with Lil Rel Howery and Jurnee Smollett.

We Grown Now marks the filmmaker’s follow-up to her 2019 debut Hala and screened in TIFF Centrepiece and Next Wave Selects.

Set in 1992 Chicago as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion,...

Sony Pictures Releasing International will release film internationally.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights to Stage 6 Films, Participant, and Symbolic Exchange’s TIFF premiere We Grown Now directed by Minhal Baig.

‘We Grown Now’: Toronto Review

Baig received TIFF’s Changemaker Award for the coming of age drama, which stars Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Avery Holliday and Ora Jones, with Lil Rel Howery and Jurnee Smollett.

We Grown Now marks the filmmaker’s follow-up to her 2019 debut Hala and screened in TIFF Centrepiece and Next Wave Selects.

Set in 1992 Chicago as Michael Jordan...

Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed the North American rights to Minhal Baig’s We Grown Now, which stars and is executive produced by Jurnee Smollett.

Baig, whose debut film Hala premiered at Sundance in 2019, brought We Grown Now to Toronto for a world debut. Domestically, Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in partnership with Stage 6 Films, while Sony Pictures Releasing International will handle the international rollout.

“I could not be more delighted to have found a home for We Grown Now with Sony Pictures Classics. We Grown Now is a film that captures the tender moments of childhood resilience and the power of human connection in the face of adversity,” said Baig in a statement.

The coming-of-age story follows Malik and Eric, best friends played by newcomers Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez, as they face changes to their community in Chicago’s misunderstood Cabrini-Green housing complex. S. Epatha Merkerson,...

1497 has selected three finalist for their Features Lab.

The Lab’s first year was held virtually, and the second year was hybrid, held virtually and in-person. For its third year, 1497 is conducting the Lab as an in-person, immersive, artistic retreat in Malibu, California, during which each Mentee will be paired with a pod of four Mentors from whom they will receive script feedback and career guidance. Mentees will also work with filmmaker and veteran script consultant Adrienne Weiss to further develop their scripts, with a particular emphasis on the emotional journey of their stories.

“We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we started the 1497 Features Lab to empower writers in the South Asian diaspora to tell whatever stories they want to tell, regardless of the societal, industry, or stereotypical expectations that so often confine writers in our community to certain genres and cultural storylines,” Ahmed, Khan,...

"We Grown Now" is a film that beautifully captures the realistic and joyous lives of people growing up in a dangerous neighborhood. The lead performances by Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez are absolutely divine, bringing charm and gravitas to their roles. Cinematographer Pat Scola turns every shot into a visually stunning dreamscape, blending quality-grade cinema with stylized modern art.

The homes in Cabrini-Green were demolished in 2011. A Chicago neighborhood comprised of both good and bad, what it represented more than anything was the America we made for ourselves. The residents' legacy now lives in the year's most surprising film, We Grown Now. Writer-director Minhal Baig made waves with 2018’s Hala, a teenage drama with a star-turning performance from Geraldine Viswanathan (Miracle Workers). In Baig's latest offering, Jurnee Smollett (Love Craft Country) and Law & Order alum S. Epatha Merkerson are turning in career-best work as well. But it...

Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strikes, the Toronto Film Festival continues to turn up the star wattage for its 48th edition, adding movies with Dakota Johnson, Bérénice Bejo, Awkwafina, Sandra Oh and Mads Mikkelsen to its lineup on Thursday.

For the Gala section, TIFF unveiled the A-list heavy crime drama Finestkind from Brian Helgeland, the Oscar-winning writer-director behind Mystic River and L.A. Confidential; and A Knight’s Tale, which stars Ben Foster, Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones and Toby Wallace.

Also headed to Roy Thomson Hall is the South Korean drama A Normal Family, directed by Hur Jin-ho, the Korean auteur who in the past premiered Dangerous Liaisons and April Snow in Toronto. TIFF earlier tapped fellow Korean director Ryoo Seung-wan’s Smugglers for its Special Presentations sidebar, and has now bumped that drama up to a gala screening in Toronto after a world bow in Locarno.

[Editor’s note: The following interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14, 2023.]

Geraldine Viswanathan seems like the kind of gal you can kick off a conversation with — a professional one, to boot — by way of owl-based non sequitur. Indeed, you can, as the perpetually rising (and that’s Ok!) it girl and constant “breakout star” (she’s been here!) is about as easy and fun an interview subject as anyone would desire to have.

Where you know Viswanathan from depends on your taste in entertainment: the Emmy-nominated Aussie has been working since the age of 4 (when she booked her first commercial) and has appeared in a range of roles ever since, from the raunchy (and smart) teen 2018 comedy “Blockers” to the TBS anthology comedy series “Miracle Workers.” She’s done plenty of indies and had a recurring role on the animated comedy gem “BoJack Horseman.”

And yet, every time Viswanathan pops up in a new project, people seem to be reminded all...

The Sundance Institute has selected Minhal Baig, Marion Hill, Ciara Lacy, Billy Luther, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Mariem Pérez Riera, Jamila Wignot and Iman Zawahry for its fourth Momentum Fellowship, supporting professional development for mid-career artists from historically marginalized communities as they explore and develop their creative practice.

The eight fellows selected will participate in a full-year program tailored for each by Sundance Institute staffers, receiving access to unrestricted grant funding, as well as industry mentorship and meetings, a writing intensive, and professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, with support from The Harnisch Foundation. Additionally, as part of the Sundance Institute’s ongoing partnership with NBCUniversal, the studio will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative. The two-year, at-will initiative, led by Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team, provides access to NBCUniversal’s creative executives and producers to...

Just One Film is a series that recommends individual films from festivals around the world—the movies you otherwise might have missed that deserve to be discovered.The fall of “innocence” looms over girlhood, an hour of imminent despair. We arrive at the coming-of-age drama already well-versed in the limits she will encounter as she explores her sexuality: there are clashes and confrontations, frustration and discomfort. She may make questionable sexual decisions or very natural ones. She may have to abandon her own home to survive. Haya Waseem’s Quickening belongs more specifically to those films that account for the sexual awakening of Muslim girls, divided between family influence and Western mores. In just the last few years there has been Iram Haq’s What Will People Say (2017), Jinn (2018) by writer-director Nijla Mu’min, and Minhal Baig’s Hala (2019). Waseem’s debut feature departs from its more straightforward predecessors by...

After delivering the goods with one of the best directorial debuts (and Sundance Film Festival Next section selections) in recent memory, for her sophomore project, Anna Rose Holmer adopted a two heads is better than one mantra having The Fits film editor Saela Davis join her behind the camera (again). The pair directed the music video for James Blake featuring actress Natalie Portman, and shortly after this Davis’ last film cred was as editor for Minhal Baig’s Hala – also a Sundance Film Festival selection. Holmer and Davis next creative collaboration was a co-production with filming taking place across the pond this past May.…...

Exclusive: Geraldine Viswanathan is set to join Studiocanal and New Yorker Studios’ psychological thriller Cat Person starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun. The film is based on Kristen Roupenian’s well-received short story, which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. The film will be directed by Susanna Fogel and penned by Michelle Ashford.

The story follows the brief relationship between Margot, a twenty-year-old sophomore college student, and Robert, an older man who is a regular at the movie theater where Margot works. Viswanathan will play a college student who is Margot’s best friend.

The pic will be produced by Jeremy Steckler and Helen Estabrook through the New Yorker Studios. Fogel, Michelle Ashford, Daniel Hank and Gino Falsetto will executive produce.

Studiocanal are fully financing and handling worldwide sales.

Viswanathan’s star has been on the rise since her scene-stealing role in the Universal comedy Blockers, portraying John Cena’s daughter,...

Exclusive: The Black List has chosen six screenwriters out of 1,400 submissions for its ninth annual Features Lab.

Lab participants will workshop their scripts through peer groups, and one-on-one mentorship over the course of six weeks. Participating mentors include Minhal Baig (Hala), Jessica Bendinger (Bring It On), Scott Myers, David Rabinowitz (BlackKklansman), Kiwi Smith (Legally Blonde), and Chris Weitz (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).

Previous Black List Lab alumni include Baig, Tom Dean, Noga Pnueli and Jimmy Keyrouz. Two additional Black List Lab projects (The Enclosed by Chris Basler and Empire Waist by Claire Ayoub) are currently in production.

The Feature Lab participants and their projects are:

New Hampshire Boy

by...

Quickening is not the first film of its kind. The gorgeous but disorienting debut feature from Haya Waseem feels eerily similar to Minhal Baig’s debut, Hala. In Hala, which premiered at Sundance in 2019, a young Pakistani American high school senior grapples with the tensions between who she is at home and who she is becoming at school. Faith, tradition and sexuality clash in a similar way in Quickening, which, while not a replica of Hala, is bound to draw comparisons.

The film opens with Sheila (Arooj Azeem), a 19-year-old performing arts student, lying among a sea of bodies dressed in black. This is her ...

Quickening is not the first film of its kind. The gorgeous but disorienting debut feature from Haya Waseem feels eerily similar to Minhal Baig’s debut, Hala. In Hala, which premiered at Sundance in 2019, a young Pakistani American high school senior grapples with the tensions between who she is at home and who she is becoming at school. Faith, tradition and sexuality clash in a similar way in Quickening, which, while not a replica of Hala, is bound to draw comparisons.

The film opens with Sheila (Arooj Azeem), a 19-year-old performing arts student, lying among a sea of bodies dressed in black. This is her ...

Exclusive: As Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions continues to expand its slate, Jamal Watson has joined as VP Production and Development. He comes from Overbrook Entertainment, where he began his career as an intern before moving up the executive ranks, working on such films as Aladdin, Sprinter and Hala.

“Jamal is the rare executive who understands production and development in the deep and holistic way that’s well-suited to Monkeypaw’s mission and ambition. He’s quickly proven to be a key member of the team,” Monkeypaw’s president Win Rosenfeld said.

Monkeypaw has also promoted Alex Kim to VP Development. Kim works across Monkeypaw’s creative slate in both film and TV, most recently producing the second season of The Twilight Zone, Lovecraft Country on HBO, and Hunters on Amazon. Both Watson and Kim will report to Rosenfeld.

In addition, Jasmyne Peck-Bailey has been promoted to Development Executive and Amy McLeish to Production Coordinator,...

Exclusive: Minhal Baig, the filmmaker behind acclaimed feature film Hala, has signed an overall deal with Amazon Studios and has set her first project.

Baig, who also wrote for the first season of Hulu’s Ramy and the final season of Netflix’s Bojack Horseman, will develop and produce content for the streamer as part of the deal.

Her first project is an adaptation of Samantha Schweblin’s short story collection Mouthful of Birds. The book, which was published by Penguin Random House last year, is a collection of stories featuring women on the edge, men turned upside down and the natural world at odds with reality.

The series is an elevated horror drama that plunges into the darkness of the feminine psyche and blurs the line between the surreal and banal. Mouthful of Birds circles madness, trauma, and violence in a darkly absurd, profoundly eerie, and ultimately human way,...

While theatrical exhibition has taken a major hit during the pandemic, buyers are still expected to arrive at the virtual Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, eager to stock up on titles for release in cinemas later this year. But those distributors will have to contend with new rules that have taken shape over the last few years: If a streaming service wants a movie and is willing to pay, good luck.

Streamers’ deep pockets and the fact that they’re operating with a completely different set of equations means that a movie priced for streaming is becoming tougher and tougher for theatrical distributors to afford. It’s a scenario that’s led to the emergence of partnerships between the likes of Hulu and Neon, and Apple and A24 — the streamers get the prestige bump and marketing budget that comes with a theatrical release, and the theatrical distributors get a chance...

Vertical Entertainment has released the official trailer for their upcoming crime thriller, “Body Brokers.” The film stars Jack Kilmer as Utah, a young junkie who finds himself roaming the rustic highways of Ohio alongside his partner Opal, played by Alice Englert (recently seen in Netflix’s “Ratched”).

Continue reading ‘Body Brokers’ Trailer: Addicts Are Exploited By Drug Rehabs Feat. Frank Grillo, Michael K. Williams, Melissa Leo & More at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Jack Kilmer, known for his breakout role in Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto and for his performance in the acclaimed 2019 Sundance film Hala, among others, has signed with Gersh for representation.

Kilmer’s star has been rising since his 2013 feature film debut in Palo Alto, based on James Franco’s short story collection of the same name. He portrayed Teddy alongside Franco, Emma Roberts, Nat Wolff and Zoe Levin. Kilmer, son of Val, also stars opposite Odessa Young and Ben Schnetzer in indie feature The Giant.

Kilmer also can be seen in Vice Films’ Lords of Chaos, opposite Emory Cohen and Rory Culkin which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Woodshock, directed by Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. He will next be seen in Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Wobble Palace, as well as Becca Gleason’s Summer 03 opposite Joey King and Andrea Savage, both of which premiered at SXSW.

Jada Pinkett Smith will star in “Redd Zone,” an upcoming drama that will be released by Netflix and produced by Westbrook Studios.

The film is based on the true story of Tia Magee (played by Pinkett Smith), a single mother who helps her sons and their high school football teammates, “The Bros,” heal after the murder of their best friend, Dominic Redd. One by one, the boys start moving into her house, and soon, 17 of “The Bros” are living under her roof. Eventually, all of them go to college, and four make it to the NFL. Magee’s son, Brandon Magee, became a linebacker for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was later drafted by the Boston Red Sox to play outfield.

The film will be dedicated to Redd’s memory.

Pinkett Smith, Miguel Melendez and Jon Mone, Westbrook Studios co-president and head of motion pictures, will produce...

Paramount Players has hired former Overbrook Entertainment executive Clarence Hammond as senior vice president of production.

Hammond will report to Paramount Players President Jeremy Kramer and begin his new position effective Nov. 30. In his new role, Hammond will help oversee the development and production of films made under the Paramount Players label, which is focused on genre films from unique, contemporary voices and properties.

Kramer, said, “With his eye for original stories and a track record for championing talented, up-and-coming filmmakers, Clarence will be a great addition to Players.”

Hammond spent over a decade at Overbrook Entertainment, which was founded by Will Smith and James Lassiter in 1998. He most recently served as vice president of production. During his tenure, Hammond developed and produced several projects including “Life in a Year,” starring Jaden Smith and Cara Delevingne, which will be available on Amazon Prime on Thanksgiving.

Hammond most recently produced “Charm City Kings,...

Marvel Studios has found its Ms. Marvel. Newcomer Iman Vellani has nabbed the role of the teenage superhero, who will headline her own Disney+ series before appearing on the big screen in Marvel films.

Marvel was testing actors in the summer and had landed on Vellani by late August or early September, sources say. The Canadian actor hails from the Toronto area and a year ago took part in a Toronto International Film Festival committee that helped highlight films that speak to teenagers. She focused on Hala, a film centering on a Pakistani-American teen pulled between her family and life in the west — themes ...

Marvel Studios has found its Ms. Marvel.

Newcomer Iman Vellani has nabbed the role of the teenage superhero, who will headline her own Disney+ series before appearing on the big screen in Marvel films.

Marvel had been testing actors throughout the summer and had landed on Vellani by late August or early September, sources say. The Canadian actor hails from the Toronto area and a year ago took part in a Toronto International Film Festival committee that helped highlight films that speak to teenagers. She focused on Hala, a film centering on a Pakistani American teen pulled between her family and life in the West ...

In Natalie Krinsky’s directorial debut, “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” Geraldine Viswanathan plays Lucy, a 26-year-old hipster who lives in Brooklyn with two roommates, Amanda and Nadine. Lucy is an aspiring art gallerist whose career takes a hit after she’s fired for delivering an angry drunken toast at an opening, directed at her erstwhile boyfriend, Max. She then meets Nick, and after they become friends, Lucy begins to contend with her lifelong habit of collecting — hoarding? — mementos from past relationships. TriStar Pictures released “The Broken Hearts Gallery” on more than 2,200 screens this weekend.

In Owen Gleiberman’s glowing review of the movie, he writes that writer-director Krinsky “has a witty and spirited commercial voice.” And she does have a lot going on these days, in addition to doing press for “The Broken Hearts Gallery.” She’s imminently pitching two TV shows, one of which she couldn’t discuss, the...

"It's like art in a gallery... the broken heart gallery." Sony released a second & final trailer for the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery, which is now scheduled to open in theaters this week after being held over from July in the summer. The film is the feature directorial debut of "Gossip Girl" writer Natalie Krinsky. Formerly known as The Museum of Broken Relationships, the film is about a young woman living in New York City who, after being dumped, decides to start a gallery where people can leave trinkets from past relationships. To share all "the items love has left behind." Geraldine Viswanathan stars in this as Lucy, with a cast including Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Suki Waterhouse, Arturo Castro, Ego Nwodim, Taylor Hill, and Bernadette Peters. This is a shorter & raunchier trailer than the first one, but still looks sweet. Here's the second & final...

“Charm City Kings” producer Caleeb Pinkett has teamed up with production company Rebel Maverick for a film based on Alyssa Keli Rose’s Medium article “The Dunbar Heist,” Variety has learned exclusively.

Pinkett, the brother of Jada Pinkett Smith, will produce the project with Clarence Hammond and Dougie Cash. Rebel Maverick’s Matt Nicholas and Nastassja Kayln will also be producing, with Jane Kim Yang overseeing for their company. Norman Towns (“Insecure”) brought in the project and will be executive producing.

Nicholas and Kayln are adapting the script with screenwriter Leon Langford.

The 1997 robbery took place at the Dunbar Armored facility in Los Angeles — five men stole $18.9 million in under 30 minutes. Allen Pace III, a fired employee of the Dunbar depot, was the mastermind who planned the robbery for two years and recruited four of his closest friends. After four years of thwarting law enforcement, the scheme fell apart after one of the robbers,...

Exclusive: Daniel Dae Kim and Randall Park are going from polar opposite love interests to Ali Wong in Always Be My Maybe to teaming up for the ultimate plan to snatch some loot. The duo is partnering for an untitled Asian American-led heist film that will be penned by screenwriter Young Il Kim, who has worked on Showtime’s Billions wrote the Black List script Rodham. Several studios and streamers were thirsty for the pitch, but after a heated bidding war, Amazon Studios came out on top to acquire it.

The logline is being kept under wraps but what we do know is that it will be loosely focused on a reunion of high school friends who come together in a nod to the classic, fun ensemble heist films.

“I think it has nods to Ocean’s 11, The Full Monty as well as Better Luck Tomorrow,” Kim tells Deadline. The...

Apple has won the bidding for the runaway slave thriller “Emancipation” starring Will Smith and directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Warner Bros, MGM, Lionsgate and Universal also made offers on the property starting last week at the Cannes virtual market. CAA Media Finance, which arranged the financing for the film, represents U.S. rights at the market. Film Nation Entertainment represents international sales.

“Emancipation” is written by William N. Collage and centered on a runaway slave named Peter, who escaped to the Union Army during the Civil War and outwitted bounty hunters over 10 days through the Louisiana swamps, masking his scent with onions. Army photos taken of Peter showing the scars on his back from being whipped were published in 1863 and became known as the “scourged back” photos, which became a means to illustrate the cruelty of slavery.

Production is expected to launch in early 2021. Smith will produce “Emancipation” through Westbrook Studios...

Apple has won in an auction the worldwide distribution rights to “Emancipation,” a thriller based on the true story of a runaway slave that Apple will produce and that will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and star Will Smith, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The deal for the film was made out of the Cannes Virtual Market and will premiere in theaters and on Apple TV+.

Willam N. Collage wrote the original script that’s based on true events and is the story of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey North. Once there, he joined the Union Army. When Peter showed his bare back during an Army medical examination, photos were taken of the scars from a whipping delivered by an overseer on the plantation owned by John and Bridget Lyons that nearly killed him.

Exclusive: The largest film festival acquisition deal in film history is now closed. Apple Studios has acquired world rights to Emancipation, the film package with Antoine Fuqua directing Will Smith in a Willam N. Collage-scripted action thriller about the harrowing escape of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey North where he joined the Union Army.

There were seven bidders when the package was brought to market last week as the signature film in the Virtual Cannes market. Bidding zoomed past $75 million, and the field got down to Warner Bros and Apple, and the latter finally closed the deal last night. Sources said the commitment comes in at $105 million net, but when backend gross buyouts are factored in, deal will exceed $120 million when all is said and done. Collage is being paid mid seven figures for his script.

On Wednesday, Apple announced Greatness Code, a short form documentary series co-produced by LeBron James’ Uninterrupted and Tom Brady’s Religion of Sports and directed by Emmy-winner Gotham Chopra (Facebook Watch’s Tom vs. Time). Greatness Code will debut globally July 10, exclusively on Apple TV+.

Apple describes Greatness Code as “a landmark, short form unscripted series that spotlights untold stories from the greatest athletes in the world.” The first season consists of seven mini-episodes, each examining a pivotal moment that defined a legendary athlete’s career.

Those athletes include three-time NBA Champion LeBron James, six-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, Olympic Gold Medalist and co-captain of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Alex Morgan, world’s fastest man and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt, five-time Olympic Gold medalist and 15-time World Champion swimmer Katie Ledecky and 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater.

Greatness Code is a co-production between powerhouse...

Exclusive: In a real shocker, the WWII battleship drama Greyhound that Tom Hanks wrote and stars in has abruptly changed course and will berth at Apple. Originally on the Sony Pictures theatrical calendar for Father’s Day weekend, the film instead will become the biggest feature film commitment made by Apple to premiere on Apple TV+. It is the latest in a growing indication that Apple is making its move, and becoming as aggressive as any streamer or studio in auctions for the acquisition of films and TV projects.

Hanks will test the waters in putting out one of his star-vehicle films direct to a streamer for the first time with a premiere in more than 100 countries, and it is all because of the coronavirus pandemic and how it has wrecked studio theatrical release calendars this year. Hanks already had been indelibly linked to the pandemic when, on the set...

Geraldine Viswanathan’s first audition was for the Hunter School of the Performing Arts in her native Australia when she was just 5 years old. “I have no recollection of it, but apparently I did have to pretend to walk a dog,” she says on today’s episode of the Variety and iHeart podcast “The Big Ticket.” “I nailed it and I got in.”

Almost two decades later, with a couple of Aussie television shows under her belt, Viswanathan is still nailing it, having caught Hollywood’s attention with her breakout role in the 2018 comedy “Blockers,” with John Cena and Leslie Mann. Her performance in last year’s “Hala,” in which she played the title role of a rebellious American Muslim, drew Viswanathan praise in a Variety review, which commended her as the “real deal,” with her on-screen work proving “her range, and hopefully, longevity.” Now 24, she stars alongside Daniel Radcliffe...

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Martin Scorsese’s representatives are in talks with Apple and Netflix to produce and/or distribute “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The project, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, is currently set up at Paramount but the studio is balking at its ballooning budget.

The film is now expected to cost over $200 million, and Paramount told Scorsese to seek out other partners. According to the report, Scorsese also reached out to Universal and MGM — but Paramount is open to a deal that would still allow them to participate as as financier or distributor.

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The film is based on the award-winning 2017 true crime book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of...

Apple TV Plus may have only launched back in November, but it already has plenty of content to keep viewers entertained.

The streaming service is already home to shows including Golden Globe-nominated “The Morning Show,” starring Steve Carell, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston; “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet”; and “Oprah’s Book Club.” Apple TV Plus is also bringing on new films to the platform, adding “The Banker” (which was previously delayed amid accusations of historical inaccuracy and sexual abuse against co-producer Bernard Garrett Jr.), starring Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Hoult, and the “Beastie Boys Story,” a documentary about the famous rap trio and their rise to fame.

Original Apple TV Plus shows currently available to stream also include “Servant” from director M. Night Shyamalan, “Dickinson” starring Hailee Steinfeld and “Truth Be Told” with Octavia Spencer, Lizzy Caplan and Aaron Paul. “Servant” follows a Philadelphia couple mourning the...