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Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Studios and Storyoscopic Films on Monday announced a joint venture whereby Storyoscopic will produce and finance approximately five or more projects a year.

Films produced under the joint venture and backed by what a source said would be at least $200m in production funding will release internationally via Relativity’s network of output partners and go through Relativity Europa Distribution (Red) in the Us.

Relativity launched Red in 2010 after it acquired Overture Films from John Malone’s Liberty Media and four years later EuropaCorp came on board in a reported $130m deal to acquire a 50% stake.

The venture comes as Relativity shifts its focus towards financing, producing and distributing family films and branded features with global appeal.

George Lee and Marcus Englefield, the duo behind 2D-to-3D conversion specialists Venture 3D, have worked with Hollywood and Chinese partners and launched Storyoscopic in 2013 to make family and genre films in the $15-50m range...

Variety is reporting that David Twohy, who was behind the camera for all three of Vin Diesel's Riddick flicks and will return Furia, the planned fourth installment in the series, has been set to write and direct a sci-fi drama titled Ice Moon Rising. The film, which will feature a female Chinese lead character, is being produced by Das Films’ Sriram Das and Greater China's Steve... Read More...

David Twohy and Vin Diesel’s may be prepping to blow the doors off their cult Riddick franchise with the Merc City TV show along with a fourth – and possibly R-rated – movie, but the former is keeping busy beyond the realm of Furyans and galactic mercenaries, after Variety brings word that Twohy has been tapped to write and direct Ice Moon Rising.

Remaining in the sci-fi genre for the time being, the outlet notes that Ice Moon Rising has been hatched as an American-Chinese co-production, and will chronicle a daring space mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons that has enchanted scientists and stargazers for generations.

That’s because Europa is said to house massive oceans beneath its icy exterior, and Twohy’s feature will extrapolate that scientific reality and craft a plot involving alien creatures and wayward astronauts. Bound for Jupiter’s satellite, the Chinese and American...

The world may be falling apart, but there’s this much: the wait for Todd Haynes‘ next film will not take us through two presidential elections and whole career arcs for his American contemporaries. With Carol still fresh on our minds, Wonderstruck has added another cast member: joining Julianne Moore is Michelle Williams, who will play the deceased mother of a boy living in Minnesota circa 1977. [Variety]

Based on an illustrated novel by Hugo author Brian Selznick, it also focuses on a girl in New Jersey circa 1927 who ventures to New York to meet her idol, an actress named Lillian Mayhew — presumably Moore’s role. Given the connections between its narrative threads, the film’s already shaping up rather nicely.

Killer Films and Amazon Studios are backing the project.

It’s hardly surprising that a film adaptation of Gay Talese‘s horrifying article The Voyeur’s Motel would move forward within...

Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore and Us writer-director David Twohy are developing projects with China, which were both announced on the first full day of the Beijing International Film Festival (April 16-23).

Tornatore has agreed to make a film for Alibaba Pictures, the filmmaking arm of ecommerce giant Alibaba, which he signed with Alibaba Pictures’ CEO Zhang Qiang at the end of the Bjiff’s Co-production Forum on Sunday.

However, the specific project has not yet been identified and it’s unclear whether it will be made as a co-production under the China-Italy treaty.

Separately, producers Steve Chicorel and Sriram Das announced Us-China co-production Ice Moon Rising – a sci-fi project to be directed by David Twohy who wrote The Fugitive and directed The Chronicles of Riddick and its sequel. Chicorel and Das are in the process of locking down a Chinese co-producer and international sales agent for the film.

The producing partners are also working with director [link=nm...

Exclusive: Das Films has signed a deal with Beijing based Yisang Media Investment to finance the $35-$40m sci-fi.

Sriram Das and Steve Chicorel will produce the story about a return mission to Europa 20 years after an earlier crew discovered predators below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon.

Production on Ice Moon Rising is set to commence in the third quarter of 2015. Rita Augustine wrote the screenplay.

Yisang Media previously financed and produced the animated Chinese co-production Little Big Panda and is behind the Us-Chinese co-production Gods.

“Sci-fi action represents the highest international box office in China today so it’s about time we start matching Chinese and Western stars in equivalently powerful roles for these movies,” said Yisang Media CEO Chen Xiaoxiang. “That’s what everyone is trying to make and we’re excited Das Films has figured out an exhilarating recipe for success.

“Due to combining the latest Western technology and production efficiency, a Chinese...