News

Totoro is making his way back onto the big screen.

As part of Gkids and Fathom Entertainment’s Studio Ghibli Fest, “My Neighbor Totoro” will be re-released in theaters across the country July 19-23. Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film follows sisters Satsuki and Mei, who relocate to a country home alongside their father to be close to their hospitalized mother. As the two children explore the countryside, they stumble upon creatures, including forest spirit Totoro.

Screenings will include both English dubbed and Japanese versions. Audience members can stick around after the film ends for a “Creating the Characters” bonus featurette that will include Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki.

This year’s Studio Ghibli Fest consists of an eight-film lineup, including “The Boy and the Heron” (the first time the film returns to theaters after its 2023 release).

Tickets for “My Neighbor Totoro” are available at GhibliFest.com. July 19, 20 and 23 are...

Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired U.S. rights to the comedic documentary My Friend Tommy, along with North American rights to Blood Scales, an award-winning French-English doc about animal trafficking. The former title will debut on digital October 24th, with the latter hitting the internet on the 31st.

Directed by Nem Stankovic, My Friend Tommy follows Thomas “Tommy” Lee, a sheltered 40-year-old virgin who embarks on a cross-continental journey with his best friend, former pro-ball player and comedian Nem, to learn basic adult skills in a crash course on the life he’s missed out on. Nora Stankovic, Nem Stankovic, and Lauren Wolkowski produced the film alongside EPs Nick Risher, Patrick Tsang, Oliver Mochizuki, Utsava Kasera, Rahil Khandker, Wilson Siu, G. Lam, Archit Joshi, Christopher Aw, Sin W. Lau, Mark N. Taaffe, Jessey Lee, and Cherie Chan.

Directed by Paolo Sodi and produced by Alessio Bariviera, Blood Scales highlights...

Good Deed Entertainment’s genre label Cranked Up Films has acquired U.S. rights to American Badger, an action film written and directed by and starring stunt veteran Kirk Caouette. It is set for a digital and VOD release on June 15.

Caouette plays a hitman known as Badger, the nickname that came from his wife, who died 4451 days ago. Since her passing he has been living the life of a recluse, operating in the shadows. But all that is about to change with his latest assignment: Make friends with a sex worker named Velvet (Andrea Stefancikova) and extract information about the inner workings of an Albanian gang she works for. An unlikely romance follows until Badger’s handler tells him that it is time to take down the syndicate — and the first person he must kill is Velvet.

“Right away we took to the complex,...

Rachel True Sean Gunn, Hayley McFarland, Zandy Hartig, and Chris Browning have signed on for Agnes, a horror indie from QWGmire. They are joining Molly C. Quinn and Jake Horowitz in the pic which Mickey Reece wrote and is directing. The film will follow rumors of demonic possession at a religious convent which prompt a church investigation into the strange goings-on among its nuns. A disaffected priest and his neophyte are confronted with temptation, bloodshed, and a crisis of faith. Shooting will begin in January. QWGmire is co-producing alongside Divide/Conquer with QWGmire’s Elan Gale, Mathew Welty and Quinn, as well as Divide/Conquer’s Adam Hendricks, Greg Gilreath and Zac Locke all serving as exec producers. Peter Kuplowsky and Jacob Snovel will also produce.

Francesca Reale, Jaboukie Young-White, Catherine Cohen (High Maintenance), and Brian Muller (The Deuce) star in Dating in New York, an indie comedy from first-time feature helmer Jonah Feingold. Set in New York, the film explores modern dating tropes such as ghosting, orbiting, and profound concepts like an “I miss you” text. Jerry Ferrara, Arturo Castro, Taylor Hill (Broken Heart Gallery), Alex Moffat (SNL), Eva Victor (Comedy Central), and Yedoye Travis (Comedy Central) co-star. The story centers on Wendy and Milo (Reale and Young-White) who, both packing their own emotional baggage (literally), are thrown together to help navigate the city and each other’s dating lives. Their L-Train fueled-quest for love ultimately begs the question: can ‘happily ever after’ truly exist in the age of read receipts? Joaquin Acrich produced the pic with Mason Novick,...

In today’s film news roundup, Neil Young’s “Mountaintop” is coming, AMC replaces its CFO, Bob Weinstein is starting anew, and Ed Begley, Jr. and David Koechner join “Reboot Camp.”

Music Documentary

Abramorama is partnering with Shakey Pictures and Reprise / Warner Records to release the Neil Young documentary “Mountaintop.”

The movie, which chronicles the making of Young and Crazy Horse’s studio album “Colorado,” will open in North America on Oct. 22 and in Europe and South American on Nov. 8. Young produced using his pseudonym Bernard Shakey, marking his 13th collaboration with Abramorama dating back to “Greendale,” and Jonathan Demme’s trilogy.

Abramorama CEO Richard Abramowitz said, ”The only thing better than working on a Bernard Shakey film is working on another Bernard Shakey film. Providing fans around the world with the opportunity to see how Neil and the band put it all together is a particularly rare and exciting experience.

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired domestic rights to Adam Cushman’s The Maestro, a biopic about composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco tarring The Walking Dead‘s Xander Berkeley. It will get a theatrical release beginning February 15 in New York and Los Angeles, with VOD coming February 19. The pic, penned by C.V. Herst and produced by David J. Phillips, centers on the letters of Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who composed scores for more than 200 Hollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s and mentored the likes of John Williams, Randy Newman, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and Andre Previn. Leo Marks, Sarah Clarke, Mackenzie Astin, Bobby Campo, Alex Essoe and in his last film Jon Polito co-star. The deal was negotiated by Freestyle Ira Goldklang and Rachel Koehler and Sean Pope and Tiffany Boyle from Ramo Law for the filmmakers.

Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive, has acquired North American digital rights for The Bellwether,...