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Brian Wilson, the pioneering co-founder of The Beach Boys and inspiration behind Bill Pohlad's biopic Love & Mercy, has died aged 82. The musician, songwriter, and producer leaves behind a storied legacy defined by musical innovation and creative brilliance, with many of his songs, such as Surfin' USA, Good Vibrations, and God Only Knows, regarded as classics. He also wrote and produced the 1966 Pet Sounds album, which is widely credited as being one of the most influential and groundbreaking records in music history.

In a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday (which can be seen below), Wilson's family wrote: "We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy."

The phrase "Love...

Brian Wilson wrote some of the most beautiful music to ever grace this confounding world. His songs are eerily perfect and, in terms of the creative process, impossible to reverse engineer. Obviously, you can break down the songwriting structure and meticulous production of masterpieces like "Surfer Girl," "When I Grow Up to Be a Man," and "Don't Worry Baby," but accounting for their existence, how they came into being, how someone could hear such exhilaratingly strange harmonies and convey them to his bandmates... this was nothing short of sorcery.

Upon learning that Wilson has passed away at the age of 82, I was struck with the same sense of melancholic hope that I feel every time I listen to "God Only Knows" (so well used in "Boogie Nights") or "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." From measure to measure, these songs swing from deep sadness to unfettered joy; they encompass...

Stars are mourning the death of Brian Wilson after it was announced on Wednesday that he died. He was 82.

The family of Wilson, who was a founding member of The Beach Boys, confirmed his death on Instagram, writing: “We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.”

Soon after the news broke, celebrities took to social media to share their condolences.

Elton John took to Instagram Wednesday, calling Wilson “the biggest influence on my songwriting ever.”

“Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him,” John said. “He sang ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’ at a tribute concert in 2003, and it was an extraordinary moment for me.

Exclusive: Live Nation Productions has tapped Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys) to pen a feature centered on “Godmother of Rock and Roll” Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with rock legend Mick Jagger producing.

Hailing from Tribeca Studios, Jagged Films, and Inaudible Productions, the project has the participation of Tharpe’s estate, which has granted rights to her music catalogue. In the making of the film, the producers will also draw on Gayle Wald’s definitive biography Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, to which they’ve secured exclusive rights.

Rising to fame in the ’30s and ’40s, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a trailblazing gospel guitarist and singer whose fearless transgressions of musical boundaries laid the foundation for rock and roll. An artist who broke barriers as a Black woman in music, she influenced countless legends with her music — among them, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash,...

Neon has acquired North American, UK and Australia & New Zealand rights to Cristian Mungiu’s family drama Fjord starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve.

Shooting has wrapped in Norway on the Norway-Sweden-Denmark-Finland-France-Romania co-production about a Romanian father and Norwegian mother who move with their children to a remote Norwegian village. They bond with the neighbours, however when the family is suspected of disturbing behaviour they become the focus of scrutiny.

Goodfellas handles worldwide sales and Neon will release theatrically in the US nationwide. Producers are Mobra Films, Eye-Eye Pictures, Why Not Productions, and Goodfellas, alongside Snowglobe, Aamu Film Company, Garage Film,...

Damson Idris (F1) and Anamaria Vartolomei (Mickey 17) are leading a movie about a young Miles Davis from River Road Entertainment and Mick Jagger’s Jagged Films.

Goodfellas will launch sales at Cannes this week on Miles & Juliette, which tells the story of 22-year-old iconic jazz musician Davis (Idris) on a transformative trip to Paris in 1949, where he falls into a passionate romance with Juliette Gréco (Vartolomei), the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon. What begins as an intimate affair blossoms into a profound connection between two young artists—just before they became cultural legends.

The movie comes from Bill Pohlad and is being penned by Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard, with Xavier Dolan also cast.

Rolling Stones icon Jagger is producing via his banner with Victoria Pearman and the Miles Davis Estate is on board. Jagged Films has made a number of...

Damson Idris (“F1”) and Anamaria Vartolomei (“Mickey 17”) are set to star in “Miles & Juliette,” a Paris-film by Bill Pohlad (“Love & Mercy”). The pair will star opposite Canadian filmmaker and actor Xavier Dolan (“Matthias & Maxime”).

Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard (“Premature”), “Miles & Juliette” tells the story of 22-year-old Miles Davis (Idris) on a transformative trip to Paris in 1949, where he falls into a passionate romance with Juliette Gréco (Vartolomei), the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon. “What begins as an intimate affair blossoms into a profound connection between two young artists—just before they became cultural legends,” the synopsis reads.

Goodfellas will launch international sales for “Miles & Juliette” at the Cannes Film Market this month, while CAA Media Finance is handling North American rights.

Pohlad will direct and produce under his River Road Entertainment banner, whose credits include “Brokeback Mountain” and “12 Years a Slave,” alongside...

Damson Idris and Anamaria Vartolomei have signed to play jazz icon Miles Davis and French singer Juliette Gréco in the romance Miles & Juliettefor director Bill Pohland.

Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearlman’s Jagged Films are producing the film in association with the Miles Davis Estate. Robert Glasper will compose and produce the score.

Goodfellas and CAA Media Finance are launching Cannes sales.

Zora Howardwrote the screenplay to the story which follows Davis as he embarks on what will become a transformative trip in 1949 to Paris where he falls into a passionate romance with Gréco, the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon.

Damson Idris will star in period romance Miles & Juliette with Anamaria Vartolomei, with Idris playing Miles Davis and Vartolomei portraying Juliette Gréco.

Love & Mercy director Bill Pohlad will direct the project from a screenplay by Zora Howard. Mick Jagger will produce via his Jagged Films banner along with Victoria Pearman and Pohlad via his River Road Entertainment banner (Brokeback Mountain) alongside Kim Roth (Mudbound).

Xavier Dolan will also star along with Idris and Vartolomei.

According to the project’s description, Miles & Juliette follows “22-year-old Miles Davis (Idris) on a transformative trip to Paris in 1949, where he falls into a passionate romance with Juliette Gréco (Vartolomei), the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon. What begins as an intimate affair blossoms into a profound connection between two young artists — just before they became cultural legends.”

Goodfellas will launch international sales for Miles & Juliette at the Cannes Film Market, with CAA Media Finance...

Exclusive: Cohen Media Group has acquired all North American distribution rights to Unicorns, the cross-cultural romance that debuted at Toronto 2023 and went on to play at London, Palm Springs, Sydney and other festivals.

The film stars Ben Hardy as Luke, a single father from Essex, England, who works as an auto mechanic and is forced to rethink his sexual identity when he unexpectedly falls in love with Aysha, a British Indian drag queen living a double life, played by Jason Patel.

The film is co-directed by BAFTA-nominated El Hosaini — who made waves at Toronto with Netflix pic The Swimmers — and BIFA-winning filmmaker-actor Krishna Floyd from the latter’s script.

Pic was produced by Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray of Maven Screen Media, Bill Pohlad, Kim Roth and Christa Workman of River Road Entertainment, and Phil Herd of Chromatic Aberration.

Cohen Media Group’s Robert Aaronson, Executive Vice President of Cohen Media Group,...

The creative mind is a finicky, fragile thing. Sometimes inspiration floods the senses, prompting a flurry of productivity — some of which, if you're lucky, is actually usable if not good! At other times, it's a struggle to write so much as a word, or draw merely a line without everything feeling totally wrong. This is especially frustrating if/when you realize your mood has no impact on your process. You can be downright chipper, and not be able to produce anything of merit. Meanwhile, a low period can provoke great art if you can work through whatever it is that's dragging you down.

And then there is anxiety, the most debilitating force in the creative life. When you find yourself dealing with panic attacks that come on for seemingly no reason at all, you're constantly on guard for the next one, praying like hell that it won't hit at a...

Correction: An early version of this article indicated that Studiocanal had acquired global rights to 11 River Road Entertainment, but Searchlight holds domestic U.S. and Canada rights to “12 Years a Slave” and U.S. and U.K. rights to “The Tree of Life.”

Studiocanal and River Road Entertainment have announced an exclusive international distribution deal for 11 celebrated films, including Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave,” Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or-winning “The Tree of Life” and Sean Penn’s critically acclaimed “Into the Wild.”

The partnership brings together Europe’s leading production and distribution house, Studiocanal, and the American independent film production giant, River Road Entertainment, in a multi-territory arrangement covering TV, SVOD, theatrical and other media platforms.

Under the agreement, Studiocanal will distribute nine feature films and two documentaries, a roster of prestigious titles that have collectively earned over $440 million at the global box office.

Juliette Hochart,...

The Rise of a Phenomenal Actor Few actors have had as diverse a filmography as the great Paul Dano. From comedic and lighthearted films to dark and emotionally driven roles, his ability as an actor and his performances in these movies are like no other. Alongside acting, Dano is also a director as he made his directorial debut with the 2018 film ‘Wildlife’, which is an adaptation of the Richard Ford novel of the same name and stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan. The talented actor first started out on Broadway at a young age and made his debut on screen for the film, ‘The Newcomers’ in 2000. Since then, Dano has appeared in many notable movies and television series and earned several awards for his performances. Here is a look back at his best roles and the films he has starred in. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel,...

Disney announced on Tuesday that its new documentary The Beach Boys, on the iconic California band of the same name, will begin streaming on Disney+ on May 24.

Directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny, the film is described as a celebration of the band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations to come. The documentary traces the band from humble family beginnings and features never-before-seen footage and all-new interviews with The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston, plus other luminaries in the music business, including Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monáe, Ryan Tedder, and Don Was.

Viewers will also hear from the group’s Carl and Dennis Wilson in their own words, plus view a new interview with Blondie Chaplin and hear audio from Ricky Fataar.

Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The...

Exclusive: Zooey Deschanel has signed on to star in Merv, a romantic comedy that Jessica Swale will direct for Amazon MGM Studios.

Written by Linsey Stewart and Dane Clark, the film (Merv is a working title) watches as an estranged couple learns that the dog they share is suffering from depression following their break-up, awkwardly reconciling over the holidays when they take their dog on a sunny vacation to Florida to lift his spirits.

Producers of the pic are Matt Baer and Roma Downey.

Best known for starring in films like (500) Days of Summer, Yes Man, Almost Famous, and the holiday classic Elf, as well as Fox’s hit sitcom New Girl, Deschanel has most recently been seen starring opposite Casey Affleck in Roadside’s Emerson brothers drama Dreamin’ Wild from Love & Mercy helmer Bill Pohlad, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Other recent projects for the Emmy...

Swiss film producers and financiers Karl Spoerri and Viviana Vezzani have been Sundance regulars for more than 15 years, but this edition is special.

The pair, who were driving forces behind the Zurich Film Festival (Zff) up until 2019, are in Park City this year with Thelma, which is the first feature from their new company Zurich Avenue to make it into Sundance.

Josh Margolin’s action-comedy-drama, starring 94-year-old June Squibb as a L.A. grandmother who sets off on a friend’s mobility scooter on a mission to track down an Internet scammer, is proving one of the early hits of the festival.

“On a personal level, it’s very meaningful because Sundance was always a big influence for us at the Zurich Film Festival from the start,” says Vezzani.

“We always loved going as programmers so getting Thelma accepted at Sundance was a dream come true.”

Former Zff co-founder and...

Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to “Unicorns,” the romance drama co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, who starred in both “The Swimmers” and her directorial debut “My Brother the Devil.”

From a script written by Floyd, “Unicorns” is described as a “visually daring and heartfelt portrayal of modern masculinity” and follows a queer South Asian club performer living a double life who meets a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly. The film stars Ben Hardy (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Love at First Sight”), newcomer Jason Patel, Nisha Nayar (“Buddha of Suburbia”), Hannah Onslow (“Empire of Light”) and Sagar Radia (“Industry”).

“We are thrilled to have Signature bring ‘Unicorns’ to U.K. and Irish cinemas where we know audiences will enjoy our unique, timely, but above all entertaining film,” said El-Hosaini and Floyd.

“Unicorns,...

A total of £208,217 was awarded to 10 projects through the international distribution strand.

Hoard, The Radleys and How To Have Sex are among the 10 titles to receive funding from the latest round of UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf) awards, totalling £208,217 through the international distribution strand, administered by the British Film Institute (BFI).

To-date, this strand has made 57 awards totalling nearly £2m, financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms).

Financial support for international distribution provides sales agents and producers with funding via three tracks – film sales, prints & advertising (P&a) and festival launch.

Venice Critics’ Week award winner Hoard,...

Exclusive: After serving as the distributor for Participant and River Road’s Academy Award-nominated 2008 documentary Food, Inc., Magnolia Pictures has taken U.S. rights to the sequel, with Dogwoof coming aboard to rep international sales. An urgent continuation of the original film’s story, the doc is slated to premiere in the spring.

In the sequel, which world premiered at Telluride, directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo reunite with investigative authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) to take a fresh look at food in the U.S. The film reveals how corporate consolidation has gone unchecked by our government, leaving us with a highly efficient yet shockingly vulnerable food system dedicated only towards increasing profits. Seeking solutions, it introduces innovative farmers, food producers, workers’ rights activists, and prominent legislators such as U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Jon Tester, who are facing these...

Dreamin' Wild is a movie directed by Bill Pohlad that follows the story of the Emerson brothers, whose music received little commercial success until it was rediscovered years later. The film features a stacked cast, including Casey Affleck, Walton Goggins, and Zooey Deschanel, who bring their talent and charm to their respective roles. Director Bill Pohlad wanted to maintain authenticity in portraying the real-life story and worked closely with the Emerson brothers to ensure their story was accurately represented onscreen.

Writer-director Bill Pohlad's latest movie Dreamin' Wild is a spiritual successor to his previous effort, Love & Mercy, once again focusing on real-life musicians whose talent didn't always align with the life they wanted to live. While the former followed Beach Boys' co-founder and leader Brian Wilson, the latter centers on a pair of brothers whose work received little commercial success until they were rediscovered in the mid-2000s.

Dreamin' Wild...

Zurich Avenue, headed by producers and former Zurich Film Festival execs Karl Spoerri and Viviana Vezzani, has quickly amassed an impressive slate of projects since launching last year, including Annette Bening starrer “Nyad.”

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s film, which chronicles the attempt by 64-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad to swim from Cuba to Florida, unspools at the Zurich Film Festival. Zurich Avenue co-developed the Netflix film, which was produced by Black Bear Pictures and Mad Chance.

Part of financing group SPG3 Entertainment, likewise co-founded by Spoerri along with Urs Wietlisbach and Alfred Gantner in 2020, Zurich Avenue has provided the producers with a more hands-on approach, allowing them to create their own slate. The company’s recent films include Bill Pohlad’s critically-acclaimed “Dreamin’ Wild,” starring Casey Affleck and Zooey Deschanel; Coky Giedroyc’s Take That musical “Greatest Days”; and the forthcoming Josh Margolin action-comedy “Thelma,” starring June Squibb...

Fans of America’s most idiosyncratic director are in luck: Wes Anderson’s second film of the year is now just a few clicks away. It seems almost guaranteed to earn him an Oscar nomination, and it’s the movie on this list that’s likeliest to break through in any category.

The contender to watch this week: “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar“

Big-name directors could monopolize Best Live Action Short Film at next year’s Oscars, with Pedro Almodóvar and Wes Anderson having each made movies that clock in under 40 minutes. “Henry Sugar” is the first of four Roald Dahl adaptations Anderson has shepherded for Netflix, this one starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy 1930s gambler who finds a fantastical way to cheat. It’s dense, delightful, and arguably a more impactful distillation of Anderson’s style than his other 2023 movie, “Asteroid City.” Three other shorts, including “The Swan...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Age Out (A.J. Edwards)

The only thing worse than never getting your happy ending is having it within grasp and realizing you cannot accept it. To see salvation and turn around knowing it would be a lie is the type of heartbreaking choice we often have to make in order to keep on going. It’s the decision that separates man from monster: an admission of remorse, guilt, and regret. Our actions cause ripples that affect countless others we haven’t met yet or never will and while that truth allows some to sleep at night, the rest wonder what nightmares the collateral damage of their deeds endure as a result. You could say that the only thing separating those two groups is love.

Exclusive: Bohemian Rhapsody actor Ben Hardy and newcomer Jason Patel were kept apart during the pre-production phase of Unicorns, a love story between an Essex car mechanic and a South Asian drag queen.

It’s the new film co-directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and James Krishna Floyd (The Good Karma Hospital), and they took measures to ensure that the relationship Hardy and Patel depict in the movie, which has its world premiere Friday at TIFF, was fresh.

“All of our prep was separate,” Patel confirmed. “They didn’t want us to meet.”

Floyd said that the only time they saw each other was at the read-through, “but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We explained it to Ben and Jason and to the heads of department that if they spent too much time together before filming began, then it would be too familiar...

Oscar-nominated producer Bill Pohlad has a long history of aligning himself with auteurs on award-winning fare—from Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain to Terrence Malick on the Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Life to Steve McQueen’s Oscar Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, and getting financially behind them with his River Road Entertainment banner. We talk with Pohlad on Crew Call today about his third career feature as director, Dreamin’ Wild, based on the New York Times Steven Kurutz article about the Fruitland, Wa-based Emerson brothers whose dad literally bet the farm (mortgaging it to the tune of $100K) on the duo’s singing talents in the 1970s, and built them a studio. They didn’t make it initially — not until 2008 when the album they made some near 40 years prior, “Dreamin’ Wild,” was discovered by a record collector in Spokane, Jack Fleischer, and championed fervently. The...

CatVideoFest, which is just what it sounds like, joined notable indie debuts and festival favorites Shortcomings and Passages, the re-release of Shiva Baby and juggernaut Talk To Me in another weekend of varied specialty fare, both new and holding over. Indies are helping drive a buoyant box office. They’re also waiting for the Barbenheimer tsunami to recede as bit as these unusual blockbusters vacuum up the arthouse/adult audiences.

Sony Pictures Classics said Sundance favorite Shortcomings by Randall Park grossed an estimated $316.4k at a 404 locations. Written by Adrian Tomine, the comedy stars Justin Min as Ben, a struggling filmmaker in Berkeley, California, along with Ally Maki and Sherry Cola. Spe co-president Michael Barker said the edgy romcom is attracting a young and diverse audience and word of mouth is strong.

Hollywood strikes, which prohibit promotion by actors, have made opening films more complicated, although Barker said the thesps...

Success sometimes happens on its own timeline, and for brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson, it took nearly 30 years to materialize. The Emerson brothers are the subject of the movie "Dreamin' Wild," which premiered on Aug. 4 and stars Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe, and Zooey Deschanel. It recounts the true story of a pair of brothers who created a musical masterpiece, only for it to slip into obscurity until it was picked up by chance and given a second life.

The Emersons grew up in the rural town of Fruitland, Wa, which has a population of just 751. The brothers became interested in music when their father purchased a tractor that came with a radio, and soon the boys started writing songs. "I would just contemplate being in those tracks, you know? I couldn't get my head out of it," Donnie told The Guardian in 2014 of that first radio. "I grew up with...

Festivals past are populating a busy specialty market this weekend with films from Sundance and Venice. Sony Pictures Classics is giving Randall Park’s Shortcomings a substantial 400+ screen release. See Deadline review. Mubi is out with Passages in New York and LA – both premiered to critical acclaim in Park City.

There’s been some drama around the latter after the MPA gave the Ira Sachs film an Nc-17 rating, which Mubi “officially rejected.” The distributor/streamer/producer said it “remains committed to releasing Passages nationwide in its original version as the filmmaker intended, with our full backing, unrated and uncut.” Rates a 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Deadline review here.

Casey Affleck and Noah Jupe-starring Dreamin’ Wild from Roadside Attractions on 400 screens follows the life of singer-musician brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Deadline review. Magnolia’s A Compassionate Spy, coming in the wake of blockbuster Oppenheimer, is an espionage...

Dreamin' Wild explores the beauty and pain of artistic talent and the emotional turmoil that comes with success and failure. The film's excessive use of soft-focus cinematography and repetitive contemplative shots detracts from the impact of the protagonist's pain portrayed by Casey Affleck. Despite its substantive themes, Dreamin' Wild would benefit from better editing to cut down on slow pacing and unnecessary speechifying for a more impactful viewing experience.

Editor's note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.

For anyone who has seen Love & Mercy, the previous film from writer-director Bill Pohlad, watching Dreamin' Wild is a curious experience. For one, they are deeply aligned: Two stories about real-life musicians struggling with their gift and its reception by the public, told by intersecting past and present storylines...

“At 20 when I met him, I knew I would see his name on a screen.”

Nancy Emerson beams with pride as she speaks of her husband, the singer-songwriter Donnie Emerson. Donnie’s had a strange career: after years in obscurity, in 2008, Dreamin’ Wild, an album he recorded with his brother Joe, became a cult hit, gaining notice from music lovers all over the world. Overlooked when it debuted in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is now considered a classic of its time, and launched Donnie into a professional musical career.

Now the amazing story of Donnie and Joe Emerson gets the Hollywood treatment in the new film Dreamin' Wild, directed by Bill Pohlad. Debuting August 4, it recounts the amazing story of the Emerson Brothers and their sudden, belated rise to fame.

“I’m blessed that the underground took off in the music business,” said Donnie, shy and soft-spoken. “What it did — it crossed all the barriers.

The true story of the late-blooming musical duo, Emerson Brothers, at the heart of Bill Pohlad’s elegiac yet bizarrely dull “Dreamin’ Wild” goes a bit like that of Rodriguez, the Michigan-based musician followed in the Oscar-winning documentary, “Searching for Sugarman.”

Growing up amid modest means at their hardworking family’s Washington State farm, Donnie and Joe Emerson were two teenagers in love with making music. A real talent often charges family-wide operations of this sort—in the Emerson clan that was Donnie, a gifted songwriter on his guitar and an expressive soloist to boot, with boundless aspirations for the future of his still young life.

On the drums was his older sibling Joe, for whom music had never been an all-or-nothing pursuit. Through much sacrifice and support from their caring family the two released their only record, “Dreamin’ Wild,” in the late ’70s, a soulful, genuinely beautiful album doomed with the dead-end,...

The combination of Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” collectively made $139.7 million on their second weekend, so can any new movie best them this time around? Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

First up on Wednesday is Paramount Pictures’ animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” co-written and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg with Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”). It puts a twist on the previous animated “Turtles” movies by casting young newcomers as the title stars: Nicolas Cantu voices Leonardo, Brady Noon is Raphael, Micah Abbey voices Donatello and Shamon Brown, Jr is Michelangelo. There are many bigger names in the voice cast, too, including Ice Cube, Jackie Chan, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne and Rogen himself.

SEEAugust 2023 box office preview

The “Turtles” have quite a history from the original comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in the ’80s,...

In some ways, August is a month of endings, at least on television. Both Billions and Archer begin their final seasons as does a great, unusual comedy covered below. But as melancholy as that sounds, there’s plenty of new stuff on the horizon, too, including everything from a new take on (part of) Dracula and an ambitious miniseries about the opioid crisis. We’ll kick things off with a fresh take on an old favorite. Here’s everything you should watch in theaters, plus more on Prime Video, Hulu,...

Dreams are hard. Most of us wake up. And what a sad thing that is. Dreamin’ Wild, written and directed by Bill Pohlad and based on the article “Fruitland” by Steven Kurutz, aims to explore that ache through the lens of a quite-improbable true story. But first, some context. In the late ’70s, Donnie and Joe Emerson were teenagers living on their parent’s farm in Fruitland, Washington when they made an album called Dreamin’ Wild. Joe played the drums, and Donnie did everything else. Sadly, the records went largely unsold and un-listened. Three decades later, an anthropology student named Jack Fleischer discovered the album, listened to it, and loved it. This spurred an underground positive response to the album among collectors and music lovers alike. Finally it got into the hands of Matt Sullivan, co-owner of Light in the Attic, a reissue label that specializes in giving under-heard gems a fresh,...

Dreamin' Wild is a captivating, inspiring, heartwarming, and melancholy biopic that follows the lives of musicians Donnie and Joe Emerson. The film beautifully examines Donnie's struggles with pressure, guilt, and severe anxiety, showcasing his journey towards finding freedom and happiness through music. The performances in Dreamin' Wild are exceptional, with Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe, Walton Goggins, Zoey Deschanel, and Beau Bridges delivering brilliant portrayals of their characters. Plus, the soundtrack is filled with beautiful folk-pop music that enhances the overall experience.

As an audience, we are fascinated with the real-life stories of celebrities and artists. Whether we keep up with them on the news, watch interviews, or listen to podcasts, we can never get enough of hearing the inspiring, and sometimes tragic stories of our role models. With that, one of the most popular movie genres is the biopic.

A biographical film retells the life and journey of a real-life individual.

Zooey Deschanel doesn’t need you to like her.

Sure, the California native has spent almost two decades bringing her signature deadpan comedy and effortless emotion to screens big and small. She went from a few television appearances to a part in the rock film Almost Famous, and followed it up with major starring roles in Elf, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, and 500 Days of Summer — all of which became cult classics. In 2011, she toplined the sitcom New Girl as kooky kindergarten teacher Jessica Day, a character that,...

Writer-director Bill Pohlad’s Dreamin’ Wild movingly dramatizes the real-life story of Donnie (Casey Affleck) and Joe Emerson (Walton Goggins), two unassuming, blue-collar brothers from Fruitland, Washington, and their winding road to success. In 1979, the teenaged Emersons recorded the titular album in a studio built by their supportive father, Don Sr. (Beau Bridges). It was quickly forgotten, but in the early 2010s, after the rediscovery of the LP in an antique store, the brothers become underground cult heroes.

Pohlad is uninterested in turning the film into a checklist of the escalating milestones and setbacks in the Emerson brothers’ history, as evidenced by the fact that we mostly get a sense of these events via offhand comments and off-screen background chatter. And yet, we still get a profound sense of how those events shape the experiences of the Emerson brothers.

That much is clear from a number of wonderfully crafted moments,...

Clockwise from upper left: Blue Beetle (Warner Bros.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount), Meg 2: The Trench (Warner Bros.), Heart Of Stone (Netflix), Oldboy (Kino Lorber)Graphic: Libby McGuire

Barbenheimer is living up to its billing as a cinematic phenomenon and both films will still figure prominently in August.

After producing such movies as The Tree of Life, 12 Years a Slave, Brokeback Mountain, A Prairie Home Companion, and Into the Wild, Bill Pohlad returned to the director’s chat with his Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy. He’s now back with his next feature, which finds him returning to the world of music.

Starring Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins, Chris Messina, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Beau Bridges, Dreamin’ Wild tells the story of music duo Donnie and Joe Emerson, whose work in the 1970s was only discovered and appreciated three decades later. Ahead of an August 4 release, the first trailer has now arrived.

Featuring the original music from Donnie Emerson, the official synopsis notes, “While the album’s rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also brings long-buried emotions as Donnie, his wife Nancy, brother Joe, and father Don Sr. come to terms with the past and their newly found fame.

Donnie and Joe Emerson were teenage wannabe pop star brothers when they recorded Dreamin’ Wild, a 1979 album that fell into obscurity until Light in the Attic Records gave it a second chance. Their story is the basis of the upcoming biopic Dreamin’ Wild, which comes out Aug. 4.

The trailer depicts the bothers both as teens, figuring out how to make an album with their father’s encouragement, as well as grownups when Light in the Attic convinced them that re-releasing the album would be a good idea. The two-and-a-half–minute...

Roadside Attractions has dropped a trailer for “Dreamin’ Wild,” Bill Pohlad’s follow-up to 2015’s “Love & Mercy.” The film stars Oscar winner Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) and Emmy nominee Walton Goggins (“The Hateful Eight”) as brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson, musicians who unexpectedly find success when the owner of a boutique label (“Air’s” Chris Messina) wants to revive an incomplete album they self-released three decades earlier. This bittersweet stroke of luck dredges up a painful past but also provides the opportunity for closure. Noah Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) and Jack Dylan Grazer (“It”) portray the pair as teens. Beau Bridges co-stars as their father, and Zooey Deschanel plays Donnie’s wife, singer Nancy Sophia.

The film, based on a longform essay by New York Times reporter Steven Kurutz titled “Fruitland,” premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where Marshall Shaffer (The Playlist) wrote, “‘Dreamin’ Wild’ amounts to...

Roadside Attractions has released the trailer for “Dreamin’ Wild”, the upcoming biographical music-drama that tells a moving story about prevailing against all odds.

Based on the true story of love and redemption, “Dreamin’ Wild” is “about what happened to singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson and his family when the album he and his brother recorded as teens was rediscovered after thirty years of obscurity and was suddenly hailed by music critics as a lost masterpiece,” as per the official synopsis. “While the album’s rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also brings long-buried emotions as Donnie (Casey Affleck), his wife Nancy (Zooey Deschanel), brother Joe (Walton Goggins), and father Don Sr. (Beau Bridges) come to terms with the past and their newly found fame.

Read More: Casey Affleck Offers Bizarre Reason For Skipping Ben Affleck And Jennifer Lopez’s Wedding

Casey Affleck as Donnie Emerson and Zooey Deschanel as Nancy...

Casey Affleck stars in the first trailer of Dreamin’ Wild, Roadside Flix’s next film that mixes music, family and history in the adaptation of the true story behind Donnie and Joe Emerson, a legendary musical duo that was highly underrated during the 70s but has become extremely popular in the last couple of years.

Dreamin’ Wild had its premiere back in September 2022 at the 79th Venice Film Festival, and now it’s ready to hit the screen and bring Emerson's music to an even wider audience.

Academy Award winner Casey Affleck plays Donnie while The Righteous Gemstones’ Walton Goggins plays his brother Joe, joined by New Girl’s Zooey Deschannel as Nancy, Based on a True Story’s Chris Messina as Matt Sullivan, three-time Emmy winner Beau Bridges as Don Emerson Sr., Shazam! Fury of the Gods' Jack Dylan Grazer, and Noah Jupe, star of the A Quiet Place franchise.

The story of “Dreamin’ Wild” is a pretty damn fascinating one beyond its terrific filmmaker (Bill Pohlad) and its excellent cast. In short, Light In The Attic, a fantastic Seattle record label that unearths undiscovered gems, did just that with Donnie and Joe Emerson. Teenage boys with dreams of rock stardom, they self-released Dreamin’ Wild in 1979, a bedroom-made album of rock, pop jams, raw funk, and yacht rock, and of course, no one really noticed; it fell into obscurity, and they went on with their “normal” adult lives.

Continue reading ‘Dreamin Wild’: Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel & More Star In The Story Of Forgotten & Rediscovered Teen Rockers at The Playlist.

Casey Affleck is continuing his comeback, and he’s bringing his guitar. Roadside Attractions is proud to present the studio’s Dreamin’ Wild trailer, featuring Affleck as singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson, for a story about music, hope, redemption, and keeping dreams alive. Bill Pohlad directs from a script he wrote based on actual events, with a cast of greats tapping their toes, to an inspiring tale that hits struggling musicians where they live.

Here’s the official synopsis for Dreamin’ Wild, per Roadside Attractions:

Dreamin’ Wild, the true story of love and redemption, is about what happened to singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson and his family when the album he and his brother recorded as teens was rediscovered after thirty years of obscurity and was suddenly hailed by music critics as a lost masterpiece. While the album’s rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also brings long-buried emotions as Donnie,...

Daniel Sharman, Grace Van Dien, Keenan Arrison among cast.

The Exchange has acquired worldwide rights excluding Africa to Kelsey Egan’s sci-fi thriller The Fix and is launching talks here in Cannes.

Writer-director Egan’s second feature takes place after a toxic compound infects earth’s atmosphere and follows a troubled young model who takes an illicit new drug at a party and suffers a shocking transformation.

As she hunts for a ‘fix’ to reverse the drug’s effects the model learns that her mutation may be the key to saving the human race.

Daniel Sharman (Fear The Walking Dead...

Exclusive: The Exchange has added Bill Pohlad’s Dreamin’ Wild starring Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe and Zooey Deschanel to its Cannes slate.

Roadside Attractions, which snapped up North American rights for the film following its Out of Competition Venice premiere, will release the film theatrically on August 4.

Dreamin’ Wild is the third film from Pohlad, who is also known for his Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated work as a producer including 12 Years A Slave, The Tree Of Life and A Monster Calls.

The drama is inspired by the real-life story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, two brothers living in the Washington State rural town of Fruitland, who were catapulted to fame in the 2010s after an album they self-recorded in the 1970s was re-discovered by music critics.

Oscar-winning Manchester By The Sea actor Affleck plays Donnie, a working dad who tries to keep his dreams of rock stardom alive...

It’s almost summer in the city, and you might as well rot in the sun with some of the year’s best indie films.

Rooftop Films, one of the longest-running outdoor showcases for indie films globally, has revealed its 2023 lineup, which IndieWire shares exclusively below.

Throughout New York City parks and outdoor landmarks, the Summer Series runs May 25 through August 24 with over 45 events featuring new independent feature films, short film programs, and live performances. Highlights include screenings of Bill Pohlad’s Donnie and Joe Emerson biopic “Dreamin’ Wild,” Savanah Leaf’s A24 drama “Earth Mama,” Eva Longoria’s directing debut “Flamin’ Hot,” and Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s “Bobi Wine: The People’s President.”

But you can also catch festival favorites like Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema) winner “Scrapper” from writer-director Charlotte Regan, Laura Moss’s horror entry “birth/rebirth,” D. Smith’s Sundance Award-winning trans documentary “Kokomo City,...

The 2023 Nantucket Film Festival, running June 21-26, with kick off with four films on its opening day lineup. For the 12th consecutive year, a Disney and Pixar movie will open the festival with “Elemental,” which premieres in May at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Also on Day 1 are Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation,” coming off stops at Sundance and Sarasota — Barthes will also receive the inaugural Maria Mitchell Visionary Award for the film; SXSW-premiere documentary “Joan Baez I am a Noise,” with Baez herself in attendance; and Austrian documentary “Patrick and the Whale,” which premiered at TIFF 2022.

Recent Bleecker Street acquisition “Jules,” starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin, will be the closing-night film.

Guests announced to be in attendance include Michaela Watkins (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Allison Williams (“M3GAN”), Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), and Julio Torres (“Problemista”).

Other films...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions has acquired North American rights to The Last Rider, the story of cycling legend Greg LeMond, who came back from a near death experience to win his sport’s greatest race.

LeMond remains the only American man to win the Tour de France, a feat he accomplished three times – in 1986, 1989 and 1990 (Tour victories by Americans Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were vacated after they admitted using banned performance-enhancing drugs). Remarkably, LeMond’s second and third Tour de France wins came after he was nearly killed in a hunting accident, in which his brother-in-law accidentally blasted him with a shotgun, hitting LeMond with 60 pellets. He lost 65 percent of his blood, but somehow survived.

The documentary directed by Alex Holmes will be released in theaters on June 23.

Greg LeMond races in the Tour du Pont in Washington, DC May 14, 1992.

“Deeply personal and raw,...