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More October fun for our readers in today's Horror Highlights. Seventh.Ink starts things off with images of their Haunted Collection IX apparel, which is available now, and we also have Patient Zero Blu-ray / DVD details and info on Terrortory II coming to Amazon Prime.

Seventh.Ink's Haunted Collection IX Apparel Release Details: "Haunted Collection IX includes four shirts and a ton of other great items such as enamel pins, embroidered patches, and 9x12 screen prints.

As always, the shirts are tagless and screen printed with water-based ink on Next Level blanks.

Everything is now available at www.seventhink.com"

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Patient Zero Blu-ray and DVD Release Details: Press Release: "Matt Smith (“Dr. Who”), Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) and Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci star in Patient Zero, debuting on Blu-ray and DVD October 23rd from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. After a super-virus has turned humankind into highly intelligent,...

Exclusive: Pinewood Pictures exec to leave UK outfit after three years.

Director of Pinewood Pictures Steve Christian is to step down after three years at the company.

Christian, who is also a Pinewood board member, coordinates investment advice for the UK studio’s production arm, which has backed films including Spooks: The Greater Good, Take Down, Pressure, Our Robot Overlords, Dom Hemingway, Belle, The Christmas Candle and Camera Trap.

Pinewood declined to comment on the departure while Christian was unavailable for comment.

Former CinemaNX founder and chairman Christian, who previously oversaw the development of the Isle of Man’s film investment programme, joined Pinewood Pictures in 2012 when the studio took over management of the Isle of Man’s $38.5m (£25m) Media Development Fund in return for the Isle of Man taking a 19% stake in Pinewood Group.

The studio launched its production arm in 2010 under the stewardship of former British Film Commissioner Steve Norris.

Since then Pinewood...

Shooting began this week on Academy Award winner Stefan Ruzowitzky’s action-thriller, Patient Zero.

The feature stars Matt Smith (“Doctor Who,” Terminator Genisys), Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”), John Bradley (“Game of Thrones”), Agyness Deyn (Clash of the Titans) and Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games).

Production is based in the UK at Shepperton Studios and will shoot in and around London until April 18, 2015.

In Patient Zero, an unprecedented global pandemic of a super strain of rabies has turned the majority of humankind into highly intelligent, streamlined killers known as ‘The Infected.’ One victim, Morgan (Matt Smith), who is asymptomatic and can communicate with the infected, leads the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure.

Patient Zero is directed by Austrian Writer/Director, Stefan Ruzowitzky, best known for the 2008 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film The Counterfeiters, and is from a screenplay written by Mike Le.

Exclusive: Im Global CEO Stuart Ford has curated the two-day film event, set to run in July during the International Festival Of Business 2014 (Ifb 2014) in Liverpool.

Dream Factory will take place from July 14-15 as part of the broader seven-week business convention Ifb 2014 and features more than 30 speakers on a panoply of topics related to the creative and business aspects of film-making.

Liverpool-born Ford curated Dream Factory in partnership with UK talent management firm Independent and local writer and producer Kevin Sampson.

The event will take place at Liverpool’s Foundation For Art And Creative Technology (Fact, pictured), the arts and media centre located in the Ropewalks district that houses four state-of-the-art film screens, several art galleries and a café and bar.

The first of the two days will be dedicated to the creative aspects of film-making while the second day will focus on the business of film.

At time of writing, scheduled programme...

James Corden, Craig Roberts among cast to join thriller now underway in UK.

Thriller Kill Your Friends, John Niven’s adaptation of his novel set against the UK Britpop scene, is underway in the UK.

Nicholas Hoult is joined in the cast by Craig Roberts, Tom Riley, Georgia King, Jim Piddock, Joseph Mawle, James Corden and Edward Hogg.

Directed by Owen Harris, the film is produced by Gregor Cameron (Unigram), Will Clarke (Altitude Film Entertainment) and Len Blavatnik (AI Film and Warner Music Group).

Executive producers are AI Films (Aviv Giladi, Vince Holden), Altitude (Andy Mayson, Mike Rungall), Pinewood Productions (Steve Norris, Ivan Dunleavy), Studiocanal (Danny Perkins, Jenny Borgars) and World’s End (Johnny Vaughan) as well as Nicholas Hoult, Kate Buckley, Amanda Ghost and James Sully with Ben Giladi as associate producer.

StudioCanal handles UK distribution, Altitude Film Sales handles sales.

The film will feature a Warner Music soundtrack.

Trade association’s first ever Code of Practice for VFX members comes as Chancellor announces further changes to UK tax relief.

UK Screen Association has launched its first ever Code of Practice for VFX members.

The code, which sets out a series of commitments towards clients, employees and suppliers, has been developed in consultation with UK Screen’s member companies. This follows the extension of the creative sector tax reliefs to include high-end television and animation earlier this year.

Alongside the changes to film tax relief announced today in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the new tax reliefs are expected to attract more culturally-European productions to the UK and the code has been published to help these new clients, and other audiences, understand what they can expect from a UK Screen VFX company.

Split into five sections, the code includes some of the following:

We will continue to support the Government’s tax relief programme for culturally...

Film centres on a civil war in the future based around gender.

Pinewood Studios has backed a short film for the first time as part of its film financing initiative.

Alpha: Omega centres on a century-long civil war where the battle-line is gender and the resource at stake is reproduction.

Production company Gobby and Specs are behind the project that producer, director and co-writer Chanya Button and writer Sian Robins-Grace are developing into a feature.

Pinewood chief executive Ivan Dunleavy and head of Apollo Productions Steve Norris at Pinewood Studios singled out the project for support.

Norris said: “Pinewood has been steadily building its involvement in British, independent film in the last couple of years and has already backed some really exciting projects with some of the best new talent working in the UK.

“Alpha: Omega is the first short film Pinewood has put money into and we’re excited about the results. Chanya has worked...

Gugu Mbatha-Raw looks absolutely beautiful in this first poster for Amma Asante's Belle from Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film opens next spring and also includes Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Sarah Gadon, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton, James Norton, Matthew Goode and Emily Watson. Misan Sagay wrote the screenplay. Damian Jones produces while Steve Christian, Julie Goldstein, Steve Norris, Ivan Dunleavy, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross and Christopher Collins serve as executive producers. Belle opens in theaters on May 2nd, 2014 and is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and his wife (Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her status...

Check out the official trailer for Amma Asante’s Belle starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Reid, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Tom Felton, Miranda Richardson and Matthew Goode.

Scheduled for a May 2014 release, the film was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews.

Justin Chang (Variety): “The pleasures of Jane Austen and the horrors of the British slave trade make a surprisingly elegant fit in Amma Asante’s handsome period piece.” John Oursler (Sound on Sight): “Amma Asante’s Belle, a new entrant in the genre, strikes all the right notes.” John DeFore (The Hollywood Reporter): “Moviegoers should respond well when Fox Searchlight brings it to theaters next spring.”

I can’t wait to see this. Being a fan of period-piece dramas, Belle looks to be the perfect blend of courage, love and history.

Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw...

Gemma Arterton, Tim Roth and Max Irons are all set to star in Julius Sevcik's psychological crime thriller "The Keys To The Street" from Pretty Pictures, Apollo Productions and Myriad Pictures.

Set around London's Regent’s Park, the story follows a young woman who accepts a house-sitting assignment to escape her violent and disturbed ex-boyfriend.

As a series of murders in the neighborhood deepens the woman embarks on a mysterious affair.

Gail Mutrux and Steve Norris will produce and filming begins in the UK in the first quarter of 2014.

Source: THR...

Myriad Pictures has introduced buyers here to crime thriller The Keys To The Street starring Gemma Arterton, Tim Roth and Max Irons.

The Czech Republic’s Julius Sevcik will direct the psychological thriller set in London’s exclusive Regent’s Park area where a young woman accepts a house-sitting assignment to escape her violent and disturbed ex-boyfriend.

As a series of murders in the neighborhood deepens the woman embarks on a mysterious affair.

The Keys To The Street is scheduled to begin production in the UK in the first quarter of 2014.

Pretty Pictures and Apollo Productions produce with Gail Mutrux and Steve Norris, CEO of Apollo Productions, serving as producers.

Myriad head Kirk D’Amico and David Ducar negotiated the deal.

“We were thrilled when Steve and Gail brought this fantastic but long gestating project to us,” said D’Amico. “We think that audiences will love how Christopher Nolan and Michael Stokes have adapted this popular English...

Universal’s home entertainment division takes world rights.

Vertigo Films will release Mj Delaney’s feature debut Powder Room in UK cinemas from Nov 29.

Meanwhile, producer Damian Jones’ DJ Films has sold the world rights to Universal Pictures International Entertainment.

Sheridan Smith, Jaime Winstone, Oona Chaplin and Kate Nash star in the ensemble comedy set in a nightclub toilet, introducing a group of women at various stages of love and live during the course of one crazy night out.

The film is based on the play When Women Wee, adapted for the screen by playwright Rachel Hirons. Producers are Damian Jones, James Cotton and Nichola Martin. Executive producers are Steve Norris and Ivan Dunleavy.

DJ Films financed Powder Room through the BFI’s producer equity scheme, in association with Pinewood Films.

Delaney is the director of hit YouTube video Newport State of Mind.

Universal’s home entertainment division takes world rights.

Vertigo Films will release Mj Delaney’s feature debut Powder Room in UK cinemas from Nov 29.

Meanwhile, producer Damian Jones’ DJ Films has sold the world rights to Universal Pictures International Entertainment.

Sheridan Smith, Jaime Winstone, Oona Chaplin and Kate Nash star in the ensemble comedy set in a nightclub toilet, introducing a group of women at various stages of love and live during the course of one crazy night out.

The film is based on the play When Women Wee, adapted for the screen by playwright Rachel Hirons. Producers are Damian Jones, James Cotton and Nichola Martin. Executive Producers are Steve Norris and Ivan Dunleavy.

DJ Films financed Powder Room through the BFI’s producer equity scheme, in association with Pinewood Films.

Delaney is the director of hit YouTube video Newport State of Mind.

Jessica Alba is in final negotiations to star in Milo Addica's "Weightless" for Myriad Pictures and Apollo Productions.

The story is set in the near-future and is centered on a female astronaut who causes a fatal motorcycle accident.

She then flees the scene of the collision so as to not lose her spot on the space shuttle's next flight.

Kirk D'Amico and Steve Norris will produce. Addica, the screenwriter of "Birth" and "Monster's Ball", will make his directing debut on the project.

Source: Variety...

Jessica Alba is in final talks to take the lead role in Weightless, a movie about an American astronaut who unwittingly causes a fatal motorcycle accident before fleeing from the scene to pursue her dream to be involved in a mission to space, and then regretting her actions. The movie is based on an original screenplay from the Academy Award-nominated co-writer of Monster’s Ball – Milo Addica – who would be making his directorial debut.

Myriad Pictures have announced the casting and are beginning pre-sales on the movie at the Berlin Film Festival this week. Although the subject matter may be a tough sell, the talent behind the picture should secure it sells.

Here’s the extended plot details from Coming Soon, likely derived from a Myriad Pictures press release;

Weightless is set in the near-future and is the story of Maysie Overall, a female astronaut who has dreamt of exploring outer space her whole life.

Myriad Pictures announced today that Jessica Alba is in final negotiations to star in Weightless, an original screenplay from Academy Award-nominated writer and first-time director Milo Addica (Monster's Ball, Birth, The King). Alba will play the female lead of American astronaut, Maysie Overall. Myriad Pictures will begin pre-selling the film at the Berlin Film Festival this week.

Weightless is set in the near-future and is the story of Maysie Overall, a female astronaut who has dreamed of exploring outer space her whole life. Just as she is about to fulfill her life-long dream, she is unwittingly the cause of a tragic, fatal motorcycle accident. Rather than risk losing the opportunity to join the space shuttle's next mission, Maysie chooses to ignore her conscience and flees the scene of the accident. Following the space shuttle's successful flight, an unexpected mechanical failure causes the shuttle to crash on re-entry to earth. Maysie miraculously survives the crash.

London -- U.K. studio facilities group Pinewood Shepperton, VFX company Framestore and producer Steve Norris have teamed to create Apollo Productions.

Billed as a bespoke production services company for international movie-makers, the trio of names said the aim is to advise on all aspects of movie production in the U.K., from film qualification and the British cultural test, to co-production status and tax credits, as well as managing the production process for clients.

Apollo Productions opens for business this month and the parties believe it will be able to offer a one-stop shop for the normally fragmented provision of production services on offer in the U.K.

Pinewood Shepperton, listed in the U.K. on the stock exchange, often plays host to big budget productions such as Robin Hood and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Framestore has 20 years work in digital film and video under its belt and Norris,...

Well if you didn’t get a chance to see the Michael Caine thriller Harry Brown now you can when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment brings the vigilante justice film to Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Aug. 31, 2010. I didn’t get a chance to screen or see this movie here in the states so I am very much looking forward to this film. If you are a fan of Taken, Edge of Darkness or films of that nature then this movie is definitely for you. We showed the trailer a while back and you can watch it here.

Acting legend Sir Michael Caine stars in this critically acclaimed, controversial and thoroughly gripping story about an ordinary man unexpectedly pushed to extraordinary limits. As an Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and The South by Southwest® Film Festival, the action-packed Harry Brown will keep viewers on the edge of their...

Down in the Hug-bunker, we’ve been getting quite excited about forthcoming Brit-flick, Heartless. Directed by Philip Ridley, and starring Jim Sturgess, and the lovely Clémence Poésy, the film is set to be one of the first British features to benefit from near-simultaneous multi-platform release, coming out at cinemas on Friday 21st May, and being available to buy the following Monday (24th).

We recently spoke with the film’s producer, Richard Raymond, who provided some insight into just how hard it was to get the film off the ground, and just why he and Ridley decided to cast Sturgess.

Transcription by Ted Leighton.

HeyUGuys: If you could begin by talking about Heartless and how the project came about, and your involvement with it.

Richard Raymond: I’d known Philip Ridley for about ten years. What happened was, when I was about twenty two, I read a short story that...

British singer Dane Bowers was arrested on suspicion of assault following an alleged fight during a night out. The former Another Level star was partying at Mayhem club in Essex, England on Saturday night, April 17 but the evening turned violent when a fight broke out in the early hours, resulting in two 22-year-old men being taken to hospital.

One of the alleged victims, Steve Norris, insists it was Bowers who instigated the altercation and claims the star's pal punched him in the eye, leaving him in need of stitches. Norris tells Britain's The Sun newspaper, "Dane's friend came over and got in my friend's face. He got Kalvin in a headlock and Dane came over and got in my face. He pushed me and I pushed him back. We ended up on the floor. Then the other guy punched me in the eye."

Bowers and his unnamed pal were taken...