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Ryan Kampe’s Visit Films has licensed UK, Germany, Australia and Middle East rights on recent SXSW action thriller 40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler.

Vertigo Releasing will distribute in the UK, Weltkino in Germany, Rialto Distribution in Australia and New Zealand, and Falcon Films in the Middle East. Further territories are in negotiation.

Magnolia plans an early summer theatrical release in the US, and Mongrel Media will distribute in Canada.

R.T. Thorne directed the story of Hailey Freeman and her family, the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War, as they struggle in...

Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar in ‘Drop,’ directed by Christopher Landon. (Photo Courtesy of Overlook Film Festival)

The 2025 Overlook Film Festival announced its first wave of films, with director Christopher Landon’s Drop starring Brandon Sklenar (1923) and Meghann Fahy (The Perfect Couple) set as the Opening Night film. This year’s popular horror film festival will take place April 3-6 in New Orleans and will include 47 films, live performances, interactive events, and special guests.

Attendees will also be treated to screenings of classic horror films including director Ernest Dickerson’s Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight and the 40th anniversary 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator.

“No matter how many years this festival runs, every time we get to re-open the gates of our spectral summer camp feels like a miracle,” stated Landon Zakheim, co-founder and executive director of the Overlook FIlm Festival. “For all wayward souls and monster...

The Overlook Film Festival returns to “America’s most haunted city” from April 3 to 6. A cat on its ninth life, the annual event in New Orleans was founded almost a decade ago to celebrate scary movies and immersive horror experiences. This year, the festival lineup emphasizes tradition — honoring Shudder’s 10th birthday at its opening night party, programming a retro series with “Ash” director Flying Lotus, offering a conversation with genre literary legend Joe Hill, and more.

“I feel like we are standing at the crossroads of horror history,” said Michael Lerman, co-founder and director of film programming. “This year really showcases the old and new guard coming together. We have astounding debuts from exciting newcomers. We have veteran masters that keep reinventing themselves with new work. And we’re just getting started so stay tuned for more.”

From narrative films like “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick...

The Overlook Film Festival has announced this morning their first wave of programming for the upcoming 2025 edition, taking place April 3 – April 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Get ready to descend on America’s most haunted city for interactive events, live performances, immersive programming and special guests.

The fest announces 47 films (25 features and 22 shorts) from 10 countries, as well as five live presentations and three immersive experiences, with many more exciting surprises to be announced as the festival approaches. Kicking off the festivities as the Opening Night film will be Universal Pictures’ upcoming thriller Drop from Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes. Following the screening, festival-goers and special guests will make their way to an unmissable party celebrating both the start of the festival and the tenth anniversary of Shudder, the iconic horror curation and streaming service. Hosted by Shudder, this one-of-a-kind event will kick off with a horror-infused second line and will include some very special guest performances.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired the U.S. rights to the Toronto International Film Festival breakout film “40 Acres” starring Danielle Deadwyler.

The action-thriller, which comes from debut feature filmmaker R.T. Thorne, also stars Michael Greyeyes (“Firestarter”). The film premiered at TIFF in 2024, gaining wide applause from its audience and film critics. It was listed as one of the festival’s Top 10 films from that year.

The film also stars Kataem O’Connor, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare, Elizabeth Saunders and Tyrone Benskin. In March, “40 Acres” will make its U.S. premiere at the South by Southwest film festival, which will be followed by a summer theatrical release.

“Writer-director R.T. Thorne has delivered an incredible, intense vision of a world on edge,” Magnolia Pictures co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley said in a Thursday statement. “Danielle Deadwyler’s towering performance as a total badass is one for the ages.

Exclusive: Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to 40 Acres, an action-thriller starring Danielle Deadwyler (Till) and Michael Greyeyes (True Detective), from world sales company Visit Films. Hailing from debut filmmaker R.T. Thorne, who wrote the script with Glenn Taylor, the film will be released in theaters in early summer.

World premiering at TIFF, where it was named one of Canada’s Top 10 films of the 2024 festival, 40 Acres is set in a world where a plague has eradicated all animal life and famine has spread across the globe, leaving society at war and in ruins, but the Freemans are surviving — even thriving — on their ancestral farm, so long as they dispatch the occasional raiding party. But what good is surviving the end of the world if it means snuffing out your own humanity? Former soldier Hailey (Deadwyler) made that choice years ago, believing that isolation was the only way to protect her family.

Hammer Films is making a big comeback, and this time, they’re bringing a brand-new monster to the horror world. Under the leadership of British theater producer John Gore, the legendary studio is set to launch a fresh slate of films while honoring its rich horror legacy.

For the first time in 60 years, Hammer is introducing a new movie monster with Ithaqua, a horror film directed and produced by Casey Walker. Set in the harsh, frozen wilderness of 1800s Canada, the story follows a group of survivors at a remote fur-trading outpost. The industry is in decline, food is scarce, and a mercenary is forced to unite the struggling group against the deadly cold, starvation… and something even worse.

A dark presence lurks in the shadows, watching, waiting. Those who fall under its influence are cursed with an uncontrollable hunger for flesh.

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The legendary brand Hammer Films is plotting a return with a brand new slate of movies under the ownership of British theater producer John Gore, the new team aiming to “celebrate and preserve the unmatched legacy of Hammer and to usher in a new era of storytelling.” For the first time in 60 years, on that note, Hammer is unleashing a brand new movie monster!

The brand announced on Instagram over the weekend that director and producer Casey Walker will soon unleash Ithaqua, which is set in the brutal wilderness of 1800s Canada.

Hammer Films previews, “the fur trade is in decline and a remote outpost is starving. A mercenary fights to unite the survivors against the cold, the hunger… and something far worse.

“A dark force is watching. Waiting. And those who fall into its grasp are cursed with an insatiable hunger for flesh.”

Now in production, Ithaqua will feature...

John Gore Studios, a new film and TV production studio headquartered in London, has on Wednesday officially launched and appointed industry veteran Hilary Strong as CEO.

British-born Gore, a two-time Emmy and Olivier award winner, will serve as executive chairman of John Gore Studios. He has tapped Strong as CEO, an exec in the literary and entertainment sectors whose previous endeavors include chief at Agatha Christie Ltd and commercial director at Hat Trick productions.

John Gore Studios, with additional offices in New York, will adopt a “strategic approach to film and TV that mirrors the highly successful methods used for theater” by the John Gore Organization, a comprehensive family of media companies, which includes Broadway Across America, Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com, and Group Sales Box Office. Gore is a 22-time Tony award winner.

John Gore Studios is already set for production on two new features: The Bitter End...

Exclusive: Broadway producer John Gore has fulfilled a long-held desire to launch a British studio, appointing Hilary Strong CEO and unveiling first projects including the Joan Collins-starring Wallis Simpson biopic.

John Gore Studios Ltd comes more than a year after Gore, a 22-time Tony Award winner, acquired iconic British Dracula outfit Hammer Films and several weeks after it bought Kaleidoscope parent KFilm.

Headquartered in London with offices in New York, the studio will make films and TV shows. “Through the strategic acquisition and restoration of film libraries, the acquisition of heritage intellectual property and a commitment to innovative production, John Gore Studios will uphold the rich traditions of the British film and television industry with a future-facing creative vision,” it said.

Gore Studios said it will adopt a similar approach to the John Gore Organization, which owns the likes of Broadway Across America, Broadway.com and The Broadway Channel. Gore’s credits include Oklahoma!

40 Acres starts at the Freeman farm. An assault on the farm and its occupants is about to occur, but a small, mighty group manages to stop the assailants and ensure they never return. Here, we meet Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler), a former soldier who has trained her family, which comprises her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) and their four children, the oldest of whom is her son Emmanuel (Kateem O'Connor). The Freemans hold firm to their values, protecting their land, training to survive, and never forgetting their respective history as a blended Black and Indigenous family.

40 Acres

Director R.T. ThorneRelease Date September 6, 2024Writers R.T. ThorneCast Tyson Kirk, Patrick Kerton, David Chinchilla, Julian Lewis, Ava Weiss, Jaeda LeBlanc, Leenah Robinson, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Kataem O'Connor, David MacInnis, Elizabeth Saunders, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael GreyeyesGenres Drama, Thriller, History

The film by writer-director R.T. Thorne takes place in the near future, when the decimation of...

For as long as Danielle Deadwyler has had to wait to take the lead in an action film like “40 Acres,” it takes far less time for the “Till” star to demonstrate the full range of her strengths. Given the kind of introduction usually reserved for the likes of Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis as a camera runs up her back, only to reveal her face after plunging a knife into an intruder on her property, it just hits differently when a Black woman is presented with such power, and though R.T. Thorne’s dynamic siege thriller has some familiar moves, it is full of fresh ideas.

Set in a dystopian future where the animal population has been wiped out 14 years earlier because of a fungal pandemic, “40 Acres” shows a new world order: Farmers who can produce their own crops hold their own while others shuffle along for survival...

Principal photography has begun on the thriller 40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler in one of her first feature roles following 2022’s Till.

The pic is currently shooting on location in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The independent pic also stars Kataem O’Connor (The Way Home), Michael Greyeyes (1923), Milcania Diaz-Rojas (The Bold Type) and Leenah Robinson (1923).

Billed as a “post-apocalyptic thriller,” synopsis reads: Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in 1875 in rural Canada after the first Civil War. Two hundred years later, they struggle to survive in a famine-decimated future and make their last stand against a band of cannibals intent on taking their home.

The film is directed by R.T. Thorne (The Porter). Joining Thorne are director of photography Jeremy Benning (Accused), production designer Peter Cosco (Women Talking), costume designer Charlene Akuamoah (Robyn Hood), and editors Sandy Pereira (Young Werther) and Dev Singh (The...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Emmy Predictions:

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Weekly Commentary: Commentary to be added in the coming weeks.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Primetime Emmy predictions in the major categories.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Creative Arts predictions in all categories.

And...

Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points from episode seven of 1923 on Paramount+.

Anyone who tuned in to Taylor Sheridan’s latest Yellowstone prequel expecting wall-to-wall storytelling about the Dutton family was in for a shock: half of the story has been devoted to the horrific treatment of young indigenous women in a boarding school run by Catholic nuns and a very sadistic priest.

One of those girls is played by Aminah Nieves, an indigenous actress who landed the very important role of Teonna Rainwater — a veritable prisoner of the Catholics who can dish it out as much as she can take it. Teonna finally escapes the clutches of her captors but trouble continues to follow her.

Here, Nieves talks affectionately about meeting Taylor “Tay Tay” Sheridan and how important it was for her to accept the role.