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Exclusive: The Worst Man, an action comedy spec from Matt Altman (Red Widow) and Dave Matalon (Totally Killer), has landed at Universal Pictures, with 87North set to produce.

Plot details are under wraps. This marks the second spec sale in less than a year for Altman and Matalon, who set up the action comedy Three Hitmen and a Baby at Lionsgate, as we were first to tell you. 87North, the company behind actioners like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, Nobody and Violent Night, is also aboard to produce that one.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch will produce The Worst Man through 87North’s first-look deal with Universal Pictures, whose Director of Development Tony Ducret will oversee the project, along with Max Jacoby for 87North.

Prior to Three Hitmen and a Baby, Altman and Matalon sold sci-fi action film Level Up to Hideaway Entertainment, with Vandal Entertainment coming aboard to produce.

Aaron Rabin is set to write Universal Pictures’ film adaptation of Square Enix and Avalanche Studio’s bestselling video game franchise, ”Just Cause,” TheWrap has exclusively learned.

“Blue Beetle” director Ángel Manuel Soto, who just wrapped production on Amazon MGM’s “The Wrecking Crew,” is attached to direct.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch, producers of action films “The Fall Guy,” “Bullet Train,” “Nobody” and “Violent Night,” will produce through 87North’s first-look deal with Universal.

The team behind “Tomb Raider” and Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” will also be producing via Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson, with Dan Jevons executive producing.

Debuting in 2006, the video game series follows the adventures of Rico Rodriguez, an operative for a fictional U.S. covert agency sent to destabilize and overthrow oppressive regimes. “Just Cause” is well regarded for its wide-open sandbox environments, over-the-top action and humor.

Exclusive: Lionsgate has snapped up rights to Three Hitmen and a Baby, an action comedy spec from Dave Matalon (Totally Killer) and Matt Altman (Red Widow), Deadline can exclusively reveal.

Pic’s logline is being kept under wraps, though its title clearly riffs on the classic 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby, starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson, about three bachelors whose lives change forever when a baby suddenly appears on their doorstep. Kelly McCormick and David Leitch will produce through their company 87North, for whom Max Jacoby is overseeing the project. Meredith Wieck and Jon Humphrey are overseeing for Lionsgate.

Screenwriter Matalon most recently co-wrote the slasher comedy Totally Killer! for Blumhouse and Amazon, which headlined Prime Video’s Halloween season last year. As we first reported, his sci-fi action script Level Up, also written with Altman, is in development with The Hideaway and Vandal Entertainment.

From 87North comes a new women-led action project Ballerina Overdrive.

The cast has rotated a bit since the project was first announced out of Berlin’s European Film Market with additions still being made.

For everything we know about Ballerina Overdrive, read on.

What is Ballerina Overdrive about?

The film will follow a troupe of ballerinas whose bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition. While they are stranded, they must fight for survival.

Who is in Ballerina Overdirve?

Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place) and Iris Apatow (The Bubble) were among the first announced as cast members of the action feature film, which Deadline reported first. Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Yara Shahidi (Grown-ish) and Isabela Merced were also originally attached, but they have since dropped the project.

Exclusive: Uma Thurman has joined the cast of the indie action feature Ballerina Overdrive from 87North and Gulfstream Pictures.

She joins previously announced stars Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Millicent Simmonds, Maddie Ziegler and Avantika. Previously attached stars Lena Headey, Yara Shahidi and Isabela Merced have since departed the project. Jenny Jue cast the film, which is currently in production in Budapest.

From Vicky Jewson, who is directing from a script by Kate Freund, Ballerina Overdrive follows a troupe of ballerinas who find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch produce through their 87North banner with Bill Bindley and Mike Karz for Gulfstream Pictures alongside Piers Tempest. Gulfstream Pictures fully financed the project. Max Jacoby is supervising for 87North.

Exclusive: Maddie Ziegler and Avantika (Mean Girls) have joined the cast of the indie action feature Ballerina Overdrive from 87North and Gulfstream Pictures.

From Vicky Jewson, who is directing from a script by Kate Freund, Ballerina Overdrive follows a troupe of ballerinas who find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.

As Deadline revealed exclusively last year, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow and Millicent Simmonds also star. Previously attached stars Lena Headey, Yara Shahidi and Isabela Merced have since departed the project. Jenny Jue cast the film, which is currently in production in Budapest.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch produce through their 87North banner with Bill Bindley and Mike Karz for Gulfstream Pictures alongside Piers Tempest. Gulfstream Pictures is fully financing.

Hit video game franchise Just Cause has gotten a new lease on life.

The video game from Square Enix and Avalanche Studios has landed at Universal Pictures with Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto set to helm the adaptation.

Kelly McCormick and David Leitch, the producing duo behind the studio’s The Fall Guy and Nobody, will produce through their 87North banner. The company has a first-look deal with Universal.

Also producing are Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson of Story Kitchen. The team is already involved in the video game space with adaptations of the Tomb Raider and Sonic the Hedgehog titles.

Since its 2006 debut, the video game puts players on deadly missions as Rico Rodriguez, an operative who is a regime change specialist. Armed with a grappling hook and wingsuit, he goes on race-against-time missions to stop The Black Hand, a lethal mercenary group.

A...

Exclusive: Through its first-look film deal at Universal Pictures, 87North has set up Mrs. K, a re-imagining of Yuhang Ho’s 2016 Malaysian-Hong Kong cult hit, at the studio.

Author and humorist Mishna Wolff, best known for her memoir, I’m Down, is set to write the screenplay. Her debut script for the film Werewolves Within, which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival followed by Berlin, was met with critical acclaim when it was released theatrically by IFC last year.

Mrs. K is a fast-paced, darkly humorous action movie featuring an unlikely heroine. Mrs. K’s peaceful life is disrupted, and family threatened, when trouble brews.

Producers are 87North’s Kelly McCormick and David Leitch. EPs are Paperheart Limited’s Yuhang Ho and Lorna Tee, and Conor Zorn.

Universal EVP of Production Jay Polidoro will oversee the project for the studio. Guy Danella and Max Jacoby will oversee for 87North.

After working together on The Suicide Squad, Idris Elba and John Cena are poised to re-team for Amazon's action movie Head of State, Collider has confirmed. Deadline reports that Amazon bought the pitch following a Zoom presentation from screenwriter Harrison Query and producers Peter Safran and John Rickard in a deal said to be worth between high-six and low-seven figures for the rising scribe. Max Jacoby will co-produce for The Safran Company, Plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources say Elba and Cena will play a mismatched odd couple in a '90s-style …...

Exclusive: Amazon Studios has won Heads of State, a pitch package designed to re-team John Cena and Idris Elba, who star in the upcoming The Suicide Squad sequel at Warner Bros. The project was sold after a Zoom pitch presentation with the actors, screenwriter Harrison Query, and the producers (The Safran Company’s Peter Safran and John Rickard). The actors are finalizing, and this was a high six figure against low seven figure deal for the writer. Amazon moved quickly to halt the pitching process and take Heads of State off the table.

Specifics are being kept under wraps, but I’m told this is a ’90s style two-hander, a high octane premise that has a bit of Air Force One meets Hobbs and Shaw, bringing together an odd couple in a high stakes situation. A producer on the James Gunn-directed The Suicide Squad, Safran came away from the...

Exclusive: Peter Safran’s The Safran Company has finalized a first-look producing deal at Warner Bros and has named Wrigley Pictures chief and Rampage producer John Rickard as president of production.

The deal brings together two esteemed blockbuster producers on the Burbank lot: Safran, who has been behind the $1.9 billion-grossing success of New Line’s Conjuring franchise and the highest-grossing DC movie of all time in Aquaman ($1.15B), and Rickard, who in addition to delivering such hits as the $428M-grossing Dwayne Johnson vehicle Rampage was also a producer on New Line’s $320M-plus-grossing Horrible Bosses series. Both are respected by Warner Bros and New Line brass as producers who get their hands dirty, show up on set, and are with the production beyond set-to-wrap.

Wrigley Pictures’ Max Jacoby will also segue to The Safran Company as director of development, serving alongside Peter Safran’s director of development Megan Fleming. Already,...

Beneficiaries include team behind children’s fantasy film Admiral.Scroll down for full list of projects

The Netherlands Film Production Incentive scheme has backed 21 film projects to the tune of €6.1m in its latest funding round, including 15 feature films, five documentaries and one animated feature.

The average investment was €291,185, with the smallest being €40,000 and the largest sum, €900,000, going to the team behind 2015 fantasy film Admiral [pictured] for their new project Redbad 754 A.D.

Currently in pre-production, Redbad 754 A.D. will be directed by Rob Reiné (who is attached to direct episdoes of Marvel’s upcoming TV series Inhumans) from a script by Alex van Galen. Dutch producers will be Farmhouse TV en Film, with Belgian outfit Bulletproof Cupid co-producing.

The Conductor, directed and written by Maria Peters and produced by Shooting Star Filmcompany, received the second largest grant with €898,111. Peters’ previous credits include romantic drama Sonny Boy and family film Mike Says Goodbye!.

Projects also receiving...

[Editor's note: If anyone says 2010 was a sh!% year for movies, please refer them to this post.]

Instead of the usual "best" or "worst" films of the year lists, I thought a good way to take a look at the highs and lows of the 2010 film year would be to compile almost every single review we published in 2010 and let readers meander through the wasteland as it were.

I'm really amazed at the range of films we managed to cover from around the globe this year. Quiet Earth has certainly come a long way over the years and it's really due to the talents and passion of our team of writers who literally travel a world of fests to bring news and reviews of new films.

I hope you're all taking notes. Many of these films were from fests and will probably be hitting VOD and Blu-ray sometime in the new year, so this is a good chance to get a start on your must-watch lists.

The...

Year: 2009

Directors: James Mann/Brandon Nicholas

Writers: James Mann

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: agentorange

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Desert Son is a stylishly filmed, angsty coming-of-ager that feels a lot like Larry Clark riffing on the wilderness survival genre. That is to say it is a haunting look into the dark side of aimless adolescence that pulls no punches when examining how messed-up kids can be when drunk on a potent cocktail of confusion, raging hormones and ego. And with an odd little family / love triangle at its core, Desert Son even manages to ruminate on how the dysfunction we're brought up with becomes the baggage we carry around with us forever. Like the battered old suitcase Philip carries with him throughout the film, our past is an extension of who we are and contains all the bits and pieces that make up what we will become.

In fact,...

Year: 2009

Directors: Max Jacoby

Writers: Max Jacoby

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Rick McGrath

Rating: 4 out of 10

Add a snail’s pace to very very little action about a small and boring love triangle set in some upper class version of post apocalyptic paradise and you have Dust – hopefully it won’t settle on you.

This is one of those movies where you really wonder what the heck the creative team are up to -- save the usual arthouse killer cinematography and crunchy use of sound Dust tells a story in 82 minutes that should have been told in 22. Just long enough to be a half hour TV show. Which is too bad, but you have to understand very few of the ingredients in Dust make for a great story. But it is weird in its relentless footdragging to go nowhere. For example, twice I found myself absently cleaning my...

You can tell right away that Desert Son directors, James Mann (Brandon Nicholas co-directed), started out as a cinematographer. In fact, this stunning trailer for his intriguing indie thriller features some of the best desert photography I've seen since probably Dark Country. He actually manages to make it look as romantic as he does a hell-on-earth.

At it's heart, Desert Son is a coming of age movie set around an interesting high concept teen thriller. A boy is abandoned in the desert and joins a couple of other kids to form a home for themselves. To survive they must commit crimes against residence of the nearest town. Of course, things go completely south. Reminds me a little of Max Jacoby's recent film, Pa film, Dust, actually with a bit more teen angst and crime.

Synopsis:

A boy is abandoned in the heart of the desert by his step father.

We've been following Max Jacoby's arthouse take on the Pa drama (with a hint of The Quiet Earth) for quite a long time, in fact, we posted the trailer back in August which looks nothing short of spectacular. Now, via the director, we have word the film will be premiering at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea on October 12th with details right here. He also sent along the first two real posers, one of which you can see to the right.

Elodie and Elias are sixteen-year-old twins who live by themselves in the shadow of the dam of a man-made lake. We slowly find out that the world they are living in is depopulated, except for a few scattered survivors with whom they have no contact. Surrounded by this total emptiness, Elodie and Elias have gotten closer to each other than ordinary twins.

One day, on...

Update: Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out a high quality version of the trailer on vimeo which we have after the break.

We've been waiting on this Forever and I finally just found it! Stunning, beautiful, poignant, clearly slow and with little dialogue.. there's a lot I'd love to say about this, but for right now, I'm dying to see it. There is emptiness in the beautifully shot, empty vistas dotted with our 2 remaining people, and while our friend D'mooN pointed out that it sounds a bit like the plot from The Quiet Earth as it shares a third who joins them and causes problems, it looks nothing like it.

Elodie and Elias are sixteen-year-old twins who live by themselves in the shadow of the dam of a man-made lake. We slowly find out that the world they are living in is depopulated, except for a few...

Not much available on Max Jacoby's upcoming Pa drama Dust but I wanted to post about it because I was immediately struck by how much the film's synopsis and poster art reminded me of the early chamber work of Ingmar Bergman crossed with The Quiet Earth. It Looks to be very character driven involving a last threesome on earth kind of deal.

Elodie and Elias are sixteen-year-old twins who live by themselves in the shadow of the dam of a man-made lake. We slowly find out that the world they are living in is depopulated, except for a few scattered survivors with whom they have no contact. Surrounded by this total emptiness, Elodie and Elias have gotten closer to each other than ordinary twins.

One day, on their way home after bathing in the lake, they discover Gabriel. He is a boy slightly older than them who just escaped...