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Munich-based Studio 100 Intl. has teamed up with Mexican animation studio Lunch Films to develop animated family feature “Halloween vs Day of the Dead.”

The film, which will blend 2D and 3D animation, will be directed by Celso Garcia, founder of Lunch Films and repped by the Gotham Group. Garcia’s credits include “The Thin Yellow Line,” produced by Guillermo del Toro, “Origins: The Journey of Humankind” for National Geographic and Legendary Pictures, the Mexican remake of “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” for Sony Pictures International, and “The Great Seduction,” a comedy produced for Netflix.

Joining the project is animation film producer and production director Gerry Cardoso, renowned for “El Americano: The Movie,” the first animated film co-produced between Mexico and the U.S.

“Halloween vs Day of the Dead,” set in a steampunk world, delves into the traditions of Halloween and Day of the Dead. The rivalry of the two towns...

Exclusive: Mena platform YouSat.TV has formed a partnership with WGA Middle East writer and producer Evan Mirzai (Origins: The Journey of Humankind) to internationally promote its formats and the raft of regional talent with which it works.

YouSat.TV specializes in broadcasting user-generated and social media content and is now looking to license its library for international distribution.

The library includes 673,000 uploads from 3,000 content creators, amounting to 45,000+ hours of content. Channel verticals include YouRock, airing music videos from beginners to well known local names, YouPlay, which broadcasts gamers, YouCook, focused on traditional and modern Mena recipes, as well as YouStyle, YouHealth, YouTravel and YouDance.

YouSat original content includes Mr. YouSat, hosted by 2019 Arab Content Creator of The Year Mohy Yasser, Good Luck with Iraqi creator-influencer Zinah Ahmed, and the Battle of the Rock tournament, a music video competition for the Mena region.

Mirzai’s banner House Of M will...

The final ballot from one of our favorite awards (for somewhat obvious reasons) has been announced — the 2021 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards final ballot is out! The nominees were selected by the combined efforts of jury and public voting. The final ballot voting is restricted to comic book industry creative community — anyone involved in and credited with creating comics professionally.

The Ringo Awards, the Fan-Only Favorites from the nomination ballot, and The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award and The Dick Giordano Humanitarian Award will be presented at the Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards ceremony on Saturday, October 23 as part of The Baltimore Comic-Con. We’ll be there, and hope to see you too!

2021 Ringo Awards Nominees

Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)

Derf BackderfMongieStan SakaiRachel SmytheAdrian TomineSophie Yanow

Best Writer

Penelope BagieuAnthony Del ColJason DouglasN.K. JemisinMarjorie LiuJames Tynion IVRam V

Best Artist Or Penciller

Josh AdamsJamal CampbellElsa CharretierHanza...

Exclusive: Ben Bitonti has been hired by 101 Studios as EVP of Non-Scripted Television and Alternative programming. Bitonti will build out the non-scripted and alternative content division for 101 and joint venture Sports Illustrated Studios.

Prior to joining 101, Bitonti lead the Unscripted development team for STX, serving as SVP of Development for the studio. There he was responsible for developing and Executive Producing multiple projects, including upcoming titles for HBO Max, Netflix, E!, and A&e.

Other EP credits include Skrrt W/ Offset for Quibi, Origins: The Journey of Humankind for Nat Geo, and Cyrus vs Cyrus: Design and Conquer for Bravo.

Said 101’s David Glasser & David Hutkin: “Ben’s rich, extensive background is going to provide a huge amount of insight and expertise to our studio – especially in the unscripted space – and we are thrilled to have him joining our team at 101.”

Said Bitonti: “I am beyond thrilled to...

Imagine Dragons have released two new songs, “Follow You” and “Cutthroat.” The tracks are the band’s first new music since they released their fourth studio album, 2018’s Origins.

On “Follow You” singer Dan Reynolds addresses the dedication required in a committed relationship. “I’ll follow you way down where you may go/I’ll follow you way down to your deepest low,” he sings. “I’ll always be around wherever life takes you/You know I’ll follow you.”

The songs are very personal, Reynolds relayed in a Twitter post.

On March 18 the long-awaited Zack Snyder’s Justice League premieres on HBO Max. On Saturday IGN interviewed the director about the upcoming release and debuted a new trailer.

Check out the Easter eggs https://www.ign.com/articles/justice-league-snyder-cut-easter-eggs-clues-mother-box-origins

In Zack Snyder’S Justice League, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late...

Come On, Get Happy: Cahill Finds Love in a Phoney Place with Simulation Sci-Fi

Director Mike Cahill has depended upon a higher degree of suspension of disbelief in his low-fi ponderings on human connections, so it’s no surprise his third feature Bliss demands the same open-mindedness of taking the subject matter seriously while forgiving the potentially uneven presentation. Starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek, it’s the most high-profile offering to date following the success of 2011’s Another Earth and the ambitious but somewhat flawed I, Origins (2014).

While the notable leads are somewhat distracting and uneasily navigate a forced chemistry, Cahill presents interesting and meaningful ideas about our innate need to experience opposing planes of emotions and situations to fully appreciate life as a complex continuum of connections.…...

The returning stars of Sex and the City are in line to make a wealth of money from the recently announced revival.

According to Variety, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis will each net more than $1 million per episode for the 10-installment And Just Like That.

What's more, they will also each serve as executive producers on the HBO Max revival.

As previously reported, Kim Cattrall will not return for the revival.

When the original series ended on HBO, Parker reportedly earned considerably more than her co-stars.

“The show doesn’t exist if Sarah Jessica wasn’t the blonde star of the show, that’s number one,” Executive Producer Michael Patrick King once said on the Origins podcast of Parker's bigger paycheck.

“‘Kim was not at the height of her career, Kristin was under her in terms of notability, Cynthia was a theater actress and their contracts reflected that status.

The various iterations of Stargate have seen the sci-fi franchise endure for over a quarter of a century, but fans have been relatively starved of content for a long time now. The ten episodes of Origins, which only run for ten minutes each, aired online two years ago, but that’s the only expansion of the mythology we’ve had since Universe ended after two seasons back in 2011.

At one stage, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were developing a long-awaited sequel to the original movie, which marked Emmerich’s first major foray into effects-driven blockbusters, and it did decent business after raking in $196 million on a $55 million budget, garnering solid enough reviews from critics in the process.

Under most circumstances that would be more than enough to justify a multi-film series, but for some reason, MGM never showed much interest in continuing the story on the big screen, before Stargate...

John Carpenter is rightly known as a master of horror. He’s responsible for classics like Halloween, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and They Live (not to mention kickass action movies Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13). He’s also playing a major role behind the scenes on Blumhouse’s Halloween trilogy, providing a new synth score for each film. His work on Halloween (2018) was incredible and I can’t wait to see what he comes up over the next two years for Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

But today he’s getting a lot of positive buzz on social media due to his praise for the recently released Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. This is the latest in the long-running Assassin’s Creed video game series, with this instalment building on the open world designs of Origins and Odyssey but with a Viking twist.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey was a major step forward for Ubisoft. It is now best-known as the Assassin's Creed title that fully embraced the RPG conventions and even took bigger risks than Origins. One of these risks was splitting the playable characters into two, Alexios and Kassandra. Both have the same storyline but they do have some subtle differences.

Related: Assassin's Creed: Every Assassin Ranked, Worst To Best

These differences, along with details about them, have made them by far two of the most interesting characters or protagonists ever in Assassin's Creed games. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is going to have to introduce some demi-Norse God or something in order to surpass how awesome Alexios or Kassandra is; these obscure details in-game should prove just how good they are as main characters.

Exclusive: Evan Mirzai, who has made The Black List four times and founded the House of M production banner, has signed on to executive produce and write on the indie pilot Bound For Glory, from producing and acting duo Michael Naizu and Derik Young. Mirzai is looking to take the original pilot to series.

Bound For Glory is set in present-day Los Angeles and follows a young, idealistic Asian-American actor (Naizu) who refuses to compromise with the industry’s subjugation of him based on existing prejudices and judgmental tropes. Struggling financially, he is faced with a decision to conform or stay true to his convictions.

The pilot is a passion project for Naizu and Young and marks their first project which was funded by sweat equity and out of their own pockets. The initial version of the pilot has already received acclaim and awards at various festivals including the Independent...

Exclusive: Screenwriter and producer Shea Mirzai has signed with APA for representation.

Mirzai has made the Black List four times and graduated from RespectAbility’s Annual 2020 Summer Lab For Entertainment Professionals as a Mid-Career/Mentor.

He serves as Executive Producer for the female-driven horror pic Clickbait directed by Misty Talley and produced by Miles Hardy. He is also is working on the feature adaptation of the novel Already Gone with producer Spencer Medof (The Illusionarium) and Mark Williams at Zero Gravity Management. Last year, Mirzai also sold the female-fronted spy thriller Ruth to AGC Studios which has since been set up with Executive Producer Mark Williams at Zero Gravity.

Mirzai also served as Executive Producer on the NatGeo event series Origins: The Journey of Humankind and co-wrote what would become American Pie Presents: Girls Rules at Universal.

He continues to be repped at Zero Gravity Management and Ggssc...

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Almost Famous, we recently reunited writer/director Cameron Crowe with stars Kate Hudson (who played “Band Aid” Penny Lane), Billy Crudup (who played Russell Hammond, lead guitarist of the fictional “middle-level band” Stillwater), and Patrick Fugit (who played teen Rolling Stone journalist William Miller). In the conversation, (co-hosted by James Andrew Miller, whose behind-the-scenes podcast Origins has dedicated its current season to the making of Almost Famous), Crowe and the actors looked back at the film’s most indelible scene: the sing-along to Elton John...

It is, in fact, all happening: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of writer-director Cameron Crowe’s hilarious, heartwarming masterpiece Almost Famous — one of the greatest music movies ever made and certainly the best film about a Rolling Stone writer (sorry, Perfect superfans) — we hosted a one-of-a-kind reunion.

In the nearly hourlong conversation, Crowe is joined by stars Kate Hudson (who played “Band Aid” Penny Lane), Billy Crudup (who played rock star Russell Hammond), and Patrick Fugit (who played teen journalist William Miller) to look back on the oft-grueling process behind the film,...

Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley embarks on a wild intergalactic adventure in the new animated video for his cover of Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’.” The track will appear on Frehley’s new album of covers, Origins Vol. 2, out September 18th.

Frehley delivers a faithful take on “Space Truckin’,” cranking up the guitars a bit to give Deep Purple’s pioneering hard rock sound some of the arena rock punch that their successors (like Kiss) would popularize in the late-Seventies/early-Eighties. Frehley recorded the song with drummer Matt Star and keyboard player Rob Sabino.

Dwayne Johnson has found his first major co-star for Black Adam. Noah Centineo has joined the cast of the long-gestating DC Comics adaptation as Atom Smasher. This marks the first bit of major casting, aside from The Rock, for the upcoming movie, which has been in development at Warner Bros./New Line Cinema for years. With Centineo's casting, things appear to be moving in the right direction.

According to a new report, Noah Centineo has signed on to star in Black Adam. Plot details are largely being kept under wraps, but Dwayne Johnson has positioned the character, historically a villain in the pages of DC Comics, primarily of Shazam, as an anti-hero. Atom Smasher is closely associated with Black Adam. The character has the ability to control his molecular structure. Additionally, he can manipulate his size, strength and durability. The character first appeared as Nukklon in 1983, but debuted as Atom...

Ubisoft has revealed this year’s highly-anticipated installment of the Assassin’s Creed series. The game is called Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and moves the action to ninth-century Europe during the Viking Age. The story stars a Viking raider named Eivor, who will travel from Norway to several kingdoms of Medieval England.

The Viking reveal may not come as a surprise to those who have been following rumors about the next Assassin’s Creed game online. We’ve suspected since 2019 that the new game would be set in the era of Vikings, although the rumor mill claimed the game would be called Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. Regardless of the title, this new era should allow Ubisoft to highlight the series’ best gameplay mechanics on both land and sea. It’s likely that ship battles will play a big part in this installment, just as they have in the past few entries.

Assassin...

With a long weekend now upon us, folks are no doubt going to be seeking out fresh content to dig into and though today – and the next few days – are actually a bit light on new movies and TV shows when it comes to the major streaming services, there’s still some stuff worth checking out.

Of course, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and HBO Max, in particular, just delivered massive drops to their subscribers on the first of the month, with each platform bringing a ton – and we do mean a ton – of new arrivals. So, it’s understandable that July 3rd, 4th and 5th may be a bit on the light side.

But again, there’s enough here that you should find something to satisfy you. And if you don’t, well, like we just said, July 1st brought with it more than enough to keep you busy.

Without further ado,...

Every year, movies are being produced at faster rates and in greater quantity, and that’s thanks – in part – to streamers like Netflix. Because of their business strategy, customers can now watch thousands of films for the same price as a single cinema ticket. As such, the entertainment appetite of the American public has been growing stronger with each passing season. To that end, here’s an overview of the best new movies coming to Netflix next month.

First off, we got science fiction and fantasy. Fans of visiting other worlds will be in for a treat in July, as Netflix will be adding Cloud Atlas to its library. Directed by the Wachowski siblings – the same ones who created the now-infamous Matrix franchise – this time-traveling epic follows the stories of a handful of reincarnating souls who live their different yet similar lives across several centuries.

Up next we got acclaimed classics,...

Netflix is out with its list of everything coming and going in July, and it includes Netflix originals like “Warrior Nun,” season one of “The Baby-Sitters Club,” the final football season of “Last Chance U,” and “The Kissing Booth 2.”

Some classic movies and beloved romantic comedies coming to the streamer include the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” the Ryan Reynolds rom-com “Definitely Maybe,” the Mandy Moore-lead “A Walk to Remember,” and the Jim Carrey 2004 film “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

Leaving at the end of the month are favorites like the Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams heartbreaker “Blue Valentine,” the Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller love story “Spectacular Now,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” and all three “Back to the Future” movies.

Also Read: What's Next for Chris D'Elia's Films After Sexual Misconduct Accusations

Here is the full list of everything coming and going:

July 1

Anne Frank...

With June now coming to an end, it’s time to begin looking at what’s to come next month on all the various streaming services, and after hearing from the likes of Disney Plus, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and Hulu, the top dog has now announced their line-up for July, and it’s a big one.

Yes, Netflix has revealed today what subscribers can expect over the next few weeks and the list of new arrivals is as impressive as ever. Boasting a ton of great licensed content, several big new original shows which are sure to take the world by storm and, of course, more than enough original movies, too, there’s definitely something for everyone here.

As usual, the biggest batch of new material will arrive on the first of the month, with the rest of the titles trickling in over the following days and weeks. And below,...

If you play your games on a computer, then you’re in luck. A few days ago, developer Ubisoft announced that PC owners will be able to download and play Assassin’s Creed: Origins for free during this coming weekend. And as the company notes, “if you want to continue the adventure after the free weekend concludes, your progress will carry over when you purchase the game.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the franchise – which, if you take video games even semi-seriously, is pretty much impossible – Assassin’s Creed is a series of action-adventure titles that allow players to step into the shoes of, you guessed it, assassins. Since the release of the first game in the late 2000s, each subsequent entry has been set in a different historical epoch. Over the years, fans of the franchise have been able to visit places like crusade-struck Jerusalem, renaissance Venice,...

With the 20th anniversary of the release date of the film “Almost Famous” approaching in September, the “Origins” podcast is getting a jump of the commemorating by launching a five-part series about the making of Cameron Crowe’s much-loved rock ‘n’ roll comedy-drama.

Writer-director Cameron Crowe, who based the movie on his own experiences as a teenaged Rolling Stone journalist in the 1970s, has been interviewed for the retelling of the making of the film. So have principal cast members Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand and Zooey Deschanel — along with cameo player Jimmy Fallon, who was right in the grey zone between famous and almost famous when the film was made.

Others interviewed include Peter Frampton, one of the many musicians Crowe profiled for Rolling Stone back in the day; Nancy Wilson of Heart, who contributed instrumental music to the film; and the “real” Penny Lane, the “band-aid” upon...

The Almost Famous cast reunited for Cadence13's Origins podcast. The five-part series is hosted by James Andrew Miller and will premiere on July 8th. Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, Patrick Fugit, Jason Lee, and others are set to make appearances. Guitarist Peter Frampton served as the movie's technical consultant and he shares his thoughts with Nancy Wilson of the band Heart, who co-wrote the fictional band Stillwater's songs with director and ex-husband Cameron Crowe.

Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous hit theaters in September of 2000. The movie is semi-autobiographical, since Crowe was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s. The story revolves around teenage journalist William Miller, who is trying to land his first cover story by following the band Stillwater on tour in the 1970s. Crowe based some of the tour stories from traveling with bands Poco, the Allman Brothers Band,...

If you’re in the mood to go exploring in one of Ubisoft‘s masterfully (mostly) crafted open worlds, we’ve just caught wind of a sale you’ll want to know about. Online retailer Green Man Gaming has kicked off its latest publisher-wide sale, this time with a focus on the France-based company’s numerous acclaimed IPs. Various entries from the Far Cry, Rainbow Six, Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed franchises are all up for grabs at a fraction of their usual asking prices, some of which are currently on offer for more than 80% off.

2016’s Watch Dogs 2 appears to have received the biggest discount at 82% and can be yours until the promotion ends for less than $20. The exhaustive collection of titles included is far too large to list here, but you can check out the sample below for some of the best deals available. Do note: you’ve...

Back in 1998, Takashi Shimizu unwittingly created a monster when he debuted a couple of short films about a haunted house. Little did he know, a lingering horror franchise was about to be born. In 2000, a first feature film about the story, Ju-On: The Curse, arrived – and the rest is history. There are now thirteen Ju-On movies in the bank, including an initial 2004 Us remake, that run all the way up to this year’s Sam Raimi-produced ‘sidequel’ – it’s a perfectly cromulent word – which unfortunately debuted to a weary critical reception and a mere wisp of a western audience.

Now, Netflix has jumped on on the Ju-On bandwagon – the streaming service has just set a July release date for its foreign language TV series based on the ongoing myths surrounding the iconic Grudge house.

The show seeks to rejuvenate the franchise on the small screen, but objectively, the most...

Exclusive: Netflix is to launch Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan, a docu-drama about the warring kingdoms of feudal Japan that is described as a real-life Game of Thrones. The series is a co-production with Blue Ant Media-run Smithsonian Canada.

The Svod service has commissioned the multi-part series from Canadian producer Cream Productions, the company behind PBS’ The Dictator’s Playbook and ID series Btk: A Killer Among Us and Fear Thy Neighbor.

The show will explore the warring kingdoms of feudal Japan when several powerful warlords fought to become absolute ruler. It brings to life a cast of characters in an epic struggle through stylized drama that will pay homage to the noir of graphic novels and Japanese art.

It will tell the story of Date Masamune, a notorious samurai known as the ‘One-Eyed Dragon’ who fought alongside the three founding fathers of Japan – warlords who led fierce...

With the recent heavy media spotlight placed on police brutality, “La 92” does not seem as though it consists of footage from 25 years ago. The new National Geographic Documentary film finds itself immersed in the tumultuous period of the Rodney King trial and riots.

Read More: National Geographic and Jason Silva Tell Humanity’s ‘Origins’ Story – Exclusive First Look

The official synopsis states, “…after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, ‘La 92,’ revisits the period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.”

The film is produced by two-time Oscar winner Simon Chinn (“Man on Wire”) and Emmy winner Jonathan Chinn (“American High”) and directed by Oscar winners Dan Lindsay and Tj Martin (“Undefeated”), the film looks at the events of 1992 from a multitude of vantage points, bringing a fresh perspective to a pivotal moment that reverberates to this day.

In anticipation of Nat Geo Channel’s upcoming “Genius” premiere, IndieWire has an exclusive first look clip from the network’s new 10-part event series about the life of famed physicist Albert Einstein.

In the very timely clip below, Einstein (Geoffrey Rush) and his wife Elsa (Emily Watson) are trying to escape the anti-Semitism and war efforts of Nazi Germany. As they attempt to emigrate from Germany to America, they face an unjust and heated interrogation from a consulate official (played by Vincent Kartheiser) within the United States embassy.

Read More: Tribeca TV Lineuup 2017 Unveiled: ‘Handmaid’s Tale,’ Albert Einstein’s ‘Genius,’ Ken Burn’ Vietnam War Doc and More

“Genius,” based on the Walter Isaacson biography “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” marks the network’s first scripted television project. The series chronicles the turbulent life of Einstein from his rebellious, formative years in which his quest for the answers to...