News

Technicolor’s UK business has appointedNick Holloway and David Pike of Interpath Advisory as joint administrators.

The “majority” of the VFX giant’s roughly 440 employees in the UK have been made redundant.

Technicolor operated through The Mill, Mpc, Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games brands in the UK.

In a statement Interpath said the Technicolor Group had been facing financial challenges for some time, exacerbated by rising labour costs, as well as the long-tail impact of the 2023 writers’ strike which delayed projects.

”In response, the directors sought to explore their funding options, including exploring options for a sale and refinancing, but with no solvent options available,...

The VFX company Technicolor may be going out of business as its division in the United Kingdom has just entered administration, rendering the majority of its 440 employees redundant.

Nick Holloway and David Pike of the British advisory firm Interpath were named administrators of Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited. In a statement, Holloway said they will seek an “orderly wind-down” of the business.

“Unfortunately, the economic headwinds which are affecting companies right across the creative industries have proved too challenging to overcome,” the statement read. “We will endeavour to support the Company’s workforce who have been impacted by redundancy, as well as exploring options to realise the Company’s assets.”

The news came via a memo to employees sent Monday, a day after Technicolor announced the closing of its offices in the U.S., including in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Among the subsidiary postproduction houses owned by Technicolor are Mpc,...

The news many in the film sector feared over the weekend is coming to pass as Technicolor has made the majority of its UK workforce redundant and the majority of its activities have ceased.

The update, which you can read below, has been spelled out just now by administrators Interpath.

This update only refers to the UK but the VFX giant is also battling for survival in its other major markets. The picture looks bleak in the U.S. and in France the company is entering receivership. It also has outposts in India and Canada. It’s not yet clear how current projects on the company’s slate will be impacted. Despite years of financial struggle, but the meltdown has come quickly and shockingly to many.

Paris-based VFX and post giant Technicolor Group owns prolific brands including The Mill, Mpc, Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games, whose work has spanned hundreds...

When Romeo Santos tells you he wants you on his bachata record, you say yes. At least that’s what Natti Natasha thought when the king of bachata reached out about working together.

“I remember him telling me, ‘Listen, I’ve had this song for this and this time, and I feel like you would be perfect to sing this song,’” Natasha says, remembering hearing a demo of the track “Desde Hoy” with his vocals for the first time. “He felt like I was the person who could do it and I was like,...

Patterson Hood has on several occasions claimed that his favorite album is Todd Rundgren’s sprawling 1972 avant-pop opus Something/Anything? It’s an influence that’s never been especially detectable in his music, to put it lightly. Runt’s magnetic popcraft as a songwriter and dense, meticulous style as a producer seem practically antithetical to the direct and unlabored, populist ethos of his band Drive-By Truckers—and perhaps that’s due to the steadfastly rough-and-ready influence of his partner in crime, Mike Cooley.

With that in mind, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams, Hood’s first solo album since 2012’s Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance and fourth overall, feels like a record the 60-year-old singer-songwriter has been keeping inside him for decades only to finally burst out. It doesn’t sound like Rundgren, per se, but the melodic, piano-based songwriting and lush, evocative orchestrations that are abundant throughout represent a level...

Horror fans wondering just how the Poohniverse will differentiate itself from other major horror franchises now have an answer. Scott Chambers, the writer and director of the upcoming Poohniverse entry Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com that the franchise won't play out the same as The Conjuring universe or the two worlds pitted against each other in Freddy vs. Jason.

Moreover, Chambers says his film will be totally different from the two Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films. While those movies feature slasher killers in animal masks, Neverland Nightmare is more psychological, having more in common with Scott Derrickson's indie horror hit The Black Phone. He stated:

"...with, Peter Pan, well, with the Poohniverse in general, every single entry will feel different to the last, and that is to open it up to different audiences... I compare it a lot to the 'Conjuring' universe...

Tom Hanks' divisive Christmas adventure film finds renewed streaming success just in time for its 20th anniversary. Though his most frequent collaborator is Steven Spielberg, Hanks is also well known for his various collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, starting with 1994's Forrest Gump, for which he won his second Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2000, Hanks reunited with Zemeckis for Cast Away and earned another Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Some of Hanks' latest movies have also been directed by Zemeckis, including 2022's live-action Pinnochio, in which he played Geppetto, and 2024's Here, in which the actor was digitally de-aged. In addition to his onscreen roles that have made him one of the most recognizable movie stars, Hanks has also lent his voice to a few animated characters throughout his career, most famously Woody in the Toy Story movies. Tom Hanks' collaborations with Robert Zemeckis also extend to the animated realm with the 2004 Christmas film,...

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was one of the best movies of 2022, and while I was hoping that the film's successes would lead to a resurgence in stop-motion movies, I am still worried about the medium after Netflix's Oscar winner. I have always been a fan of stop-motion, and while there are still all kinds of stop-motion movie classics that I can go back and watch, new stop-motion movies are incredibly rare. Movies of the quality of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio barely come out, and I'm not sure if things are going to get better.

For a long time, I was worried that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio wasn't going to get made. The acclaimed director had been pitching the idea around for over a decade before the film was actually released, with most studios not wanting to fund it. Every time del Toro moved on to a different project,...

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney has been known to include some darker elements in their family-friendly animated features. While Disney is known for its high-quality films aimed at young audiences, it has never avoided including dark aspects that pushed the age rating to its limits. Most of these darker stories were featured in the features released throughout the 20th century, although some of the more recent releases have occasionally featured dark moments, storytelling, or visuals.

These darker elements vary from scary villains to complex themes to terrifying visuals. These moments not only pushed the limitations of its age limit but also showed their young audiences the power of complex and darker storytelling while remaining mostly family-friendly. Some of these moments in Disney films stood out as especially dark.

The Pink Elements From Dumbo Disney Pushed the Limits of the G Rating...

Three-time Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro has had as many failures in Hollywood as he's had successes. Known for his darkly imaginative films like Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, the visionary director has been attached to numerous projects that, despite his special genius, never made it to the silver screen. Guillermo del Toro's style combines fairy-tale-inspired plots with horror tropes infused with romantically terrifying creatures.

The entertainment industry has a purgatory called Development Hell, where projects die in the pre-production stage, never progressing. Sadly, these projects never get made, no matter the caliber of the creatives involved. From the beginning of his career in the 1990s to today, Guillermo del Toro has had dozens of projects that never came to be. From varying origins from his early love of animation that never abated to the possibility of adapting the work of a genre icon, the Oscar winner...

Zack Snyder famously had a plan for an R-rated Star Wars story that never saw the light of day, thanks to Disney buying out the IP before Snyder had a chance to pitch it properly. Several years later, the idea found itself being developed as an original IP by Netflix, something that Snyder hoped would turn into a juggernaut like Star Wars itself.

Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire.

While beloved by Zack Snyder fans and general audiences, the beginning of the Rebel Moon IP failed to impress critics with its first part, A Child of Fire. Considering that the girl was only the first half of the story, Snyder has come out saying that the first film will merit re-evaluation when the second film, The Scargiver, hits streaming on April 19th.

Zack Snyder believes seeing the full story will change peoples’ opinions about the film

Rebel Moon 2

Speaking to Looper,...

This is a stacked weekend for movies that could get awards attention but probably won’t, both in theaters and on digital platforms. First up is a lively ode to one of cinema’s musical masters.

The contender to watch this week: “Ennio”

Giuseppe Tornatore‘s documentary about influential composer Ennio Morricone has been a long time coming, and not only because Morricone’s career dates back to 1946. “Ennio” premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021 and was released in Italy in 2022. But don’t take its delayed domestic debut as a bad omen: The movie is a spellbinding tribute to the two-time Oscar winner, who wrote the scores for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “Days of Heaven,” “The Untouchables,” “The Hateful Eight,” and Tornatore’s own “Cinema Paradiso.” The talking heads include Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, and Bruce Springsteen. Following a theatrical run in February,...

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is one step closer to becoming a reality, with the filmmaker announcing that filming for his next project has begun through his social media accounts. With a selfie standing in the middle of a snowy field, Del Toro has let audiences know that cameras are now rolling for the latest adaptation of the timeless story written by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein will mark del Toro's first film since Pinnochio was released, as the filmmaker sets his version of the monster story apart from previous adaptations thanks to his signature visual style and love for unsolved mysteries.

Del Toro's works have always had a soft humanist undertone, with some of his most powerful films being rooted in anti-fascist rhetoric. Pinnochio in particular subverts the typical trappings of the original story to speak to the horrors of war and the banal evil of fascist groupthink. It's an element that's become more pronounced in modern society, and it's one of Del Toro's strengths as a creator to make those points so clear.

One of the things that makes Guillermo Del Toro so exciting as a filmmaker is his capacity to shift in terms of genre and tone. Many of his films feature the exploration of "monsters." His films often follow themes of finding humanity in the inhuman and shining a light on the more monstrous qualities of people. This is best showcased through his exploration of genre as a filmmaker, his work often experimenting with different tones and styles while retaining core elements.

A new image reveals a first look at Pixar's upcoming short film Self. The short is a hybrid of stop-motion and CGI animation, marking the studio's first venture into this style. The short film explores a wooden doll's journey of self-discovery and fitting in, reminiscent of Pinocchio. Self is part of Pixar's SparkShort series, featuring more mature themes, and will be followed by a lineup of new releases, the most anticipated of which is Inside Out 2 later this year.

Pixar has revealed a first look at their upcoming short film Self for Disney+, which utilizes a hybrid of stop-motion and CGI. While the animation company is best known for their popular theatrical releases like Toy Story and Up, they have also produced a series of short films in different animation styles. In recent years, many of these shorts have been released on Disney+.

Now, Pixar has unveiled a...

Disney has come a long way since the days of Steamboat Willie and the Studio’s first major feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since its start, Disney has grown into a massively successful production company, arguably the biggest. Each decade of Disney offered something different and brought countless classics to life on the big screen. In the ‘40s, it was Dumbo and Pinnochio. In the ‘50s, it was Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. The ‘60s brought the live-action classic Mary Poppins, followed by The Aristocats and Robin Hood in the 1970s. While the ‘80s brought greats like The Little Mermaid and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Even in recent years, Disney has released major hits like Frozen, Coco, and Encanto, not to mention the successes from the 2000s like Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Lilo & Stitch, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. However, the best decade...

Guillermo del Toro is set to direct a new adaptation of Frankenstein, a project he has wanted to do for 50 years. The film will star Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, and Mia Goth. Del Toro's unique approach to sympathetic monsters makes him the perfect choice to bring the complexities of Frankenstein's creature to life.

Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Frankenstein adaptation receives an update from the director just seven months after an initial casting report. The classic story of Mary Shelley's influential 1918 novel has been adapted many times, leading to the creature becoming an enduring and often-revisited figure in pop culture from Hollywood's earliest years. The celebrated director acclaimed for Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, The Shape of Water, and Pinnochio's adaptation will be produced by Netflix, reuniting with the company after his successful and distinct retelling of the puppet who wished to be a real boy.

As reported by Collider,...

Guillermo del Toro almost directed a "really cool" 'Star Wars' film.The 'Nightmare Alley' filmmaker was set to work with 'The Dark Knight' screenwriter David S. Goyer on a movie in the sci-fi franchise but the project never went ahead due to "a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on" at the time.Asked which major franchise he'd like to be involved with, David revealed on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast: "I wrote an unproduced 'Star Wars' movie that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct... That was about four years ago.“There was just a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on at Lucasfilm at the time, but it’s a cool script... There’s a lot of cool artwork from it that was produced.”And later in the interview, the writer revealed he had written a separate unproduced scriptment for an "origins of the Jedi movie...

In Guillermo del Toro's acceptance speech for his adaptation of "Pinnochio" winning the Best Animated Film Award at the 2023 Oscars, he brought up a talking point that animation fans have been preaching for years: animation is a medium, not a genre. This is why there is such a rich, diverse landscape of entertainment provided by animation, and why it's wrong to simply write off the medium as "kid's stuff." Sure, animation has been the medium from which countless children's entertainment classics came to life, but it's also a place where complex, adult stories featuring characters that are seldom shown in live-action can be told. It's likewise a medium that thrives in varying lengths of time.

It's no surprise when a big-budget action blockbuster crosses the two-hour mark for its runtime, and it's almost expected if a film is coming from an "auteur" director. But considering the majority of Western...

The American Cinematheque is bringing on Jason Blum, Nicole Brown, Charles D. King, and Scott Stuber as the newest members of its board of directors.

“Each brings a unique perspective and appreciation of film culture and exhibition as the AC continues to expand its programming and community engagement,” stated American Cinematheque Chairman Rick Nicita.

Blum founded Blumhouse, a multimedia film and TV company regarded as the driving force in horror that recently entered the video game business. He’s on the Board of The Public Theater, Sundance Institute, Vassar College, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Also Read:

TikTok Chinese Owner ByteDance Accused of Spying on American Journalists in Justice Department Probe

Brown is the president of TriStar Pictures where she oversees all film development and production for the specialty label at Sony Pictures. In 2022 she was honored with the Entertainment Trailblazer Award by The Blackhouse Foundation. Brown serves...

Fresh off an Oscar triumph for Best Animated Feature, “Pinnochio” director Guillermo del Toro may have found his stars for his next big project.

The filmmaker behind “Crimson Peak,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Pacific Rim” is prepping a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” for Netflix. Andrew Garfield (“Tick Tick … Boom”), Oscar Isaac (“Ex Machina”) and Mia Goth (“Pearl”) are in early talks to join, according to multiple media reports.

While it’s unknown whether Isaac or Garfield would be playing, respectively, Dr. Frankenstein and his cursed creation, it is presumed that Goth would be playing Frankenstein’s love interest, who may or may not be Elizabeth Lavenza.

Also Read:

‘Infinity Pool’ Ending Explained: Vacation’s Over

Goth is hot off the buzzy and acclaimed Ti West horror films “X” and “Pearl,” with a third chapter in the would-be franchise on the way. Garfield nabbed an Oscar nomination for “Tick Tick…...

A nun teams up with an enemy AI to find the Holy Grail. That synopsis sounds like it was written– well, by an AI, but actually it comes from Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, who premiered their eclectic drama at South by Southwest on Tuesday.

At the premiere, star Betty Gilpin described the show as “No country for old Looney Tunes” and laughed afterward, saying they had just shared “the two normal episodes.” Costar Jake McDornan described the scripts as “mad libs that snowballed out of control.”

“The missive here is ‘Keep Austin weird,'” Lindelof said ahead of the March 14 premiere. “‘Mrs. Davis’ is hopefully going to do just that.” The first two episodes had the crowd laughing at scripted jokes, visual gags, and general absurdity, including multiple high-octane action sequences.

Hernandez and Lindelof joined forces in early 2020, and were set to collaborate right when Covid-19 hit. As they...

It looks like Black Adam was really eager to face Superman, as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently told Variety during a red carpet interview during last night's 95th Academy Award ceremony. Before the actor presented the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature to Guillermo del Toro for his work on Netflix's Pinnochio, he was questioned about what he thought regarding the fact that Henry Cavill is no longer attached to play Superman in upcoming DC projects. The state of the Man of Steel affects Johnson because the two characters were teased to be headed on a collision course during the post-credit scene of last year's blockbuster. Here's what the former WWE Superstar had to say:...

It’s Hollywood’s biggest night — the 2023 Oscars are here to wrap up an exciting and unpredictable awards season! It’s Sunday, March 12, and the 95th Academy Awards are airing on ABC with the network’s late-night heavyhitter Jimmy Kimmel at the helm, and recognizing the best of the year in film. Everything Everywhere All at Once is the one to watch tonight boasting 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor nods for Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Also competing for Best Picture are All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, The Fabelmans, Tar, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. Scroll down for all of the winners below. Animated Feature Film Guillermo Tel Toro’s Pinnochio — Winner Marcel The Shell With Shoes On Puss In Boots: The Last Wish The...

There was no way Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel was going to let the anniversary of one of the most talked-about moments in the ceremony’s history go by without at least a passing mention.

Indeed, it wasn’t long into Kimmel’s monologue at the start of Sunday’s Academy Awards that the comedian made a joke about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 broadcast.

More from TVLineThe Oscars Face Annual Backlash Over 'In Memoriam' Omissions From Telecast: 'A Qr Code Is Not Acceptable'Oscars 2023 Review: A Ho-Hum Affair Loses Its Magic by Playing It Too SafeOscars 2023: Michelle Yeoh...

Netflix and Disney released their own versions of Pinocchio just a few months apart, and they've received drastically different Rotten Tomatoes scores. Robert Zemeckis directed the version of Pinocchio on Disney+ and Guillermo del Toro directed the Oscar-nominated Pinocchio on Netflix, and both sport a star-studded cast, so how do their review scores compare on Rotten Tomatoes?

The story of Pinocchio is based on an 1883 children's book, The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Italian author Carlo Lorenzini. While the story has seen numerous adaptations through the years, it's likely most famous because of the 1940 Disney animated film. The two versions of Pinocchio released in 2022 include Zemeckis' live-action recreation of the original Disney animation, while Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is a stop-motion re-imagining that puts the puppet in the world of 1930s Italy during the rise of fascism. The Rotten Tomatoes scores for the two movies are about as different as...

Before he died in 1999, Stanley Kubrick had grand plans for multiple films, including his retelling of Napoleon Bonaparte's life that would have seen none other than Jack Nicholson in the title role. But for me, his long-gestating adaptation of British author Brian Aldiss's short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" was a much more interesting project — simply because it demonstrated Kubrick's remarkable prescience through his fascination with artificial intelligence back in the '70s.

The way things played out, Kubrick never made his "Supertoys," handing off directing duties to Steven Spielberg before his death. This is a shame because while Spielberg's attempt at bringing the story to the screen is mostly well-respected, I always felt the full Kubrick treatment would have yielded a genuine masterpiece.

As it stands, we have 2001's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." Set in a climate change-ravaged 22nd century, the movie follows David (Haley Joel Osment...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio does not feature either “I’ve Got No Strings” or “When You Wish Upon A Star”, but there is a reason for it. Three months after Robert Zemeckis’ live-action Pinocchio remake recreated the 1940 animated classic in the style of recent Disney live-action remakes, Pinocchio is back on screens now with a Guillermo del Toro stop-motion animated film. While Del Toro’s Pinnochio borrows elements from both Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio and the 1940 film, it offers a unique take on the classic tale.

Given how iconic Disney’s 1940 Pinocchio film is, to the point other Pinocchio adaptations have followed more the Disney classic than the original story, audiences were likely waiting for familiar, recognizable moments in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The stop-motion animated Pinocchio film does have some instantly recognizable moments,...

Pinocchio is the movie directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, starring Gregory Mann and David Bradley. It premiered at the AFI Fest in November, and is now streaming on Netflix.

This year, Robert Zemeckis‘s Pinnochio was released, and got mixed reviews. Guillermo del Toro‘s version of the story is set in a completely different era – 1920’s Italy. This latest adaptation is largely done with stop motion animation.

Premise

During the rise of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father’s expectations.

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Movie Review

Here we have a movie that has been brought about with one great virtue: it is created with singularity. Truly a spectacular production, we are given another version of this classic to what might be the bright and colorful takes,...

Ewan McGregor is having quite the year. After his Emmy-winning performance in Netflix's "Halston" and the immense success of his return as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Disney+ limited series, the "Star Wars" legend will be next seen in an adaptation of a beloved novel.

"A Gentleman In Moscow," the bestselling story from American author Amor Towles (who also wrote "Rules of Civility" and "The Lincoln Highway"), is getting the adaptation treatment (via Variety). The book has sold over a million copies and has been translated into 30 languages since its publication in 2016, and a series based on Towles' novel will be streaming on Paramount+ soon. If you haven't read it yet — now's probably a good time. It's a moving story about luck, second chances, and how the most mundane-seeming decisions and interactions with people can change the course of your life. Most details about the show are being kept under wraps for now,...

Disney’s 1989 animated show “Chip ‘n Dale,” about two chipmunks-turned-detectives, has a lot of fans out there. It’s one of Disney’s most popular shows. But it was also kind of silly, kind of lame, almost pointless, and solely aimed at kids who find water fights funny.

Read More: Disney Continues To Bet Big On Streaming; ‘Raya,’ ‘Pinnochio,’ ‘Enchanted’ Sequel & More Headed To Disney+

Thanks to Disney, remakes are hot right now.

Continue reading ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’: A Messy, Meta Riff On A Messy, Mediocre Show [Review] at The Playlist.

American High, Animal Pictures and Depth of Field have teamed up to produce the new Hulu feature “Love in Color.”

Animal Pictures and Depth of Field began development on the film before joining forces with American High, which has built a successful partnership with Hulu with buzzy releases like “Big Time Adolescence,” “The Binge,” “The Ultimate Playlist of Noise” and “Plan B.”

Written by Kirsten King and Casey Rackham, “Love in Color” follows an aspiring young artist. When forced to join her high school track team, she uses it as an opportunity to pursue the girl she’s been harboring a long-time crush on. But she soon finds herself unexpectedly falling for another teammate and discovering what real love feels like.

King and Rackham penned the script loosely based on their own experiences, largely motivated to write something that went beyond the coming out story and depicted the queer joy...

Chile’s Chilemonos International Animation Festival, the country’s largest event dedicated to celebrating its rapidly expanding animation scene, kicked off its second entirely online edition last week, and will run through July 25.

2021 is a milestone year for the festival, marking a decade since its inaugural edition. Since then, the festival has grown exponentially and become the only Academy Award qualifying event for animated shorts in Latin America. Once again this year, organizers are predicting record numbers of attendees on the event’s digital platform and are eagerly looking forward to an in-person event in 2022.

Uniquely, and excitingly for animation fans across Central and South America, Chilemonos’ entire competition and events lineup will be accessible across Latin America free of charge, supported by an alliance with the OndaMedia platform – which hosts the online version of the fest – and the Department of Culture at Chile’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

Pierre-Antoine Capton and Fred Kogel have established their respective companies, Mediawan (“Call My Agent!) and Leonine (“Dark”), as European powerhouses in only a few years. With their new joint vehicle, Mediawan & Leonine Studios, they’re now ready to gear up to the next stage with the acquisition of the award-winning U.K. production company Drama Republic.

The acquisition allows their new outfit, which is financially backed by New York-based private equity firm Kkr, and Mediawan to make its first foray into the U.K. and more broadly into the competitive English-language market. But that’s only the beginning, as the execs said they will look to make one or two mergers and acquisitions per year and are looking at markets such as Germany, France, Scandinavia and the U.S.

The two executives sat with Variety during the Cannes Film Festival to discuss their plans, their hands-on approach and talent-driven strategy...

Ron Perlman has been added to the cast of the upcoming ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ to take on the voice of Optimus Primal.

Perlman joins the already cast Anthony Ramos and ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ actress Dominique Fishback.

The new instalment to the franchise will return to the action and spectacle that first captured moviegoers around the world 14 years ago with the original Transformers, The film will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting adventure and introduce the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on earth between Autobots and Decepticons.

Also in news – Vanessa Kirby joins Hugh Jackman in ‘The Son’

Directed by Steven Caple Jr, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto & Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, Duncan Henderson serve as producers.

Steven Spielberg, Brian Goldner, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, Valerii An will serve as executive producers.

The film is...

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

Rachel Zegler has been cast as Snow White in Disney’s upcoming remake of the classic fairytale. Zegler, who beat out many for the role, is poised for a major breakout. She is making her feature film debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” which bows later in 2021, and will also appear in the superhero sequel to “Shazam.”

Shortly after the casting was announced, Zegler enthusiastically tweeted “I Have Manifested My Entire Life I Think I Think.” She also shared a video on Twitter meeting the Disney princess with the caption “homegirl we have Lots to catch up on.”

I Have Manifested My Entire Life I Think I Think

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) June 22, 2021

Marc Webb, whose credits include “500 Days of Summer” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” films with Andrew Garfield, is directing the movie.

Exclusive: Here’s a fun one uniting three screen greats. Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) are set to star in Western thriller Dead For A Dollar from legendary filmmaker and western aficionado Walter Hill (The Warriors).

The film will mark Waltz’s first Western since his memorable performance as Dr Schultz in Django Unchained, for which he won his second Oscar. This time around he’ll also be playing a bounty hunter.

Myriad Pictures is launching international sales for the hot package at this week’s Cannes virtual market.

Hill will write and direct the feature which is set in New Mexico Territory, Chihuahua, in 1897. The story will follow Max Borlund (Waltz), a famed bounty hunter, hired to find and return Rachel Price, the politically progressive wife of Nathan Price, a successful Santa Fe businessman. Max is told she has been kidnapped by an African American army deserter,...

Grammy, Tony and Emmy winner and two-time Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo is set for a remake of The Rose at Searchlight, in which she will star and also produce alongside Solome Williams.

The film is a remake of the 1979 Fox musical romantic drama that starred Bette Midler as a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those around her. While paying homage to the original, for which Midler scored an Oscar nom, the remake will put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.

Searchlight now will look to attach a writer to the project. Director of development Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh will oversee the project for Searchlight.

Erivo burst onto West End and Broadway stages in The Color Purple and has since taken the world by storm in movies such as Harriet and...

Cynthia Erivo has set up a remake of the Bette Midler-starring film “The Rose,” signing on to produce and star in the new movie for Searchlight.

The Grammy, Tony, and Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee will take on the title role in the musical romantic drama, which follows a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those who surround her. But while the new production will pay homage to the classic film, Erivo’s take on the story is said to “put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.”

Erivo will produce the project with Solome Williams under her newly launched production banner Edith’s Daughter. Williams serves as vice president of development at the label, which has a first-look deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media.

Richard Ruiz, Searchlight’s director of development,...

Cynthia Erivo is set to star in and produce a remake of the 1979 film “The Rose,” a musical romance that starred Bette Midler and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Erivo’s “The Rose” remake is set up at Searchlight Pictures and is the story of a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of those around her.

While the new film will pay homage to the original, “The Rose” aims to put a contemporary lens on the high price of fame.

No director or writer is attached at this stage.

Erivo is producing with Solome Williams. “The Rose” will be overseen by Searchlight’s director of development Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh.

The original “The Rose” was released by Twentieth Century Fox and starred Midler alongside Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest and Harry Dean Stanton. Mark Rydell...

Producers are out to writers and directors.

Cynthia Erivo will play a self-destructive rock star in a remake of The Rose that has been set up at Searchlight Pictures.

Erivo, who currently appears as Aretha Franklin on National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha, and Solome Williams are producing the story.

The Rose is based on the 1979 Twentieth Century Fox film of the same name that starred Bette Midler as a self-destructive rock star who struggles to deal with the pressures of her career and the demands of those around her.

The remake will pay homage to the original and put a...

A “Cruella” sequel is in the works at Disney, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

While the studio is in early development on the sequel, director Craig Gillespie and writer Tony McNamara are expected to return for the follow-up film. The first film was also co-written by Dana Fox.

“Cruella” debuted on May 28 in theaters and Disney+. It has earned $48.5 million globally so far and received positive reviews. It stars Emma Stone as the infamous villain Cruella de Vil, as well as Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea and Joel Fry.

“We are very pleased with ‘Cruella’’s box office success, in conjunction with its strong Disney+ Premier Access performance to date,” a Disney spokesperson told TheWrap Friday. “The film has been incredibly well received by audiences around the world, with a 97% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes in addition to A’s in every demographic from CinemaScore on opening weekend,...

When Bosch first premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2014, the streaming world was in a very different place. Netflix had only House of Cards and Orange is the New Black under its belt. Hulu was still a joint venture owned by multiple conglomerates. Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock didn’t even exist. Now, in June 2021, Amazon Prime’s list of new releases is highlighted by one last outing for LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.

Bosch season 7 premieres on June 25. This will be the last batch of episodes for the series, before a spinoff gets rolling for IMDb TV. For those who are not caught up on the sprawling procedural, Amazon has some other original TV series this month as well. Brazilian crime drama Dom premieres on June 4. That will be followed by the second season of the Anna Paquin-starring public relations drama Flack on June 25.

The library titles are where...

Swiss festival will screen Michael Mann’s The Insider and Heat for which Spinotti was Oscar-nominated.

Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotti will receive the Locarno Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award at its upcoming 74th edition running August 4 to 14, 2021.

Having spent the first 15-years of his career in his native Italy, Spinotti was given the opportunity to work in the US by compatriot producer Dino De Laurentis on Michael Mann’s 1986 mystery horror Manhunter.

It would mark the beginning of a long creative partnership with Michael Mann on a raft of titles including The Insider and Heat, for which Spinotti was Oscar-nominated.

While Showtime hasn’t been able to fully keep up with the likes of HBO in terms of overall quality of original programming or quantity, there are some serious bright spots on the premium network, including the long-running series, “Billions.” And because of that show’s popularity and awards recognition, it appears Showtime is ready to give “Billions” co-creators, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, another series about the business world to bring to the network, titled “Super Pumped.”

Read More: ‘Pinocchio’: Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & More Join Tom Hanks In Disney’s Live-Action Remake

According to Deadline, Brian Koppelman and David Levien are developing a new Showtime anthology series, “Super Pumped,” and the first season is expected to star none other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Continue reading Joseph Gordon-Levitt To Star As Uber CEO In New Showtime Series From ‘Billions’ Creators at The Playlist.

Three executives discuss their plans with Screen.

Independent UK distributors are feeling positive heading into the reopening of cinemas across the territory from next week (May 17), while noting ongoing confusion about the theatrical windows across different exhibitors.

“For the next few weeks, we’re fully concentrated on the theatrical experience,” says Rupert Preston, CEO at Vertigo Releasing which is distributing Oscar winner Sound Of Metal from Monday. “Digital and everything else will follow in a month or two.”

Sound Of Metal, starring Riz Ahmed as a heavy metal drummer who suffers sudden onset deafness, will play in 300 cinemas by the end of May.

For 55 years, “Ultraman” has been one of Japan’s A-list superheroes — defending the planet from alien kaiju and inspiring all manner of global pop culture, from the “Power Rangers” to Paul Rudd’s “Ant-Man” suit. But while the character has a loyal following outside of Japan, Ultraman has never become a massive crossover phenomenon at the scale of Godzilla or Pokémon.

Netflix is hoping to change that.

The streamer is partnering with Tsuburaya Productions to develop “Ultraman” as a CG-animated feature film aimed at bringing a new, wider audience to the beloved silver-suited character. Shannon Tindle, an animator who’s worked on “Coraline” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” will make his feature directorial debut with the project, from a script he wrote with “Kubo” screenwriter Marc Haimes. John Aoshima will co-direct.

Netflix is also home to an ongoing “Ultraman” animated TV series, also in partnership with Tsuburaya, that continues...

Exclusive: Eros STX’s Stephan James and J.K. Simmons sports drama National Champions is expanding its thespian team roster with Uzo Aduba, Alexander Ludwig, Andrew Bachelor, David Koechner, Tim Blake Nelson, and Timothy Olyphant.

Based on Adam Mervis’ play of the same name which he’s also adapting, National Champions explores the big business of college sports and tells the story of a star quarterback (James) ignites a player’s strike 72 hours before the biggest game of the year to fight for fair compensation, equality, and respect for the athletes who put their bodies and health on the line for their schools.

Aduba will play Katherine, the outside counsel to the NCAA in the Ric Roman Waugh-directed feature. Ludwig will play Emmett, a tight end who joins forces with James’ character as they fight for fair compensation of college athletes just days before the biggest game of the year.

Robert De Niro has joined the cast of “About My Father,” an upcoming film that’s loosely based on the life of standup comic Sebastian Maniscalco.

De Niro is set to play Maniscalco’s dad Salvo in the movie, reuniting the pair after first appearing together in Martin Scorsese’s mob drama “The Irishman.”

In “About My Father,” Sebastian tells his old-school Italian immigrant dad of his plans to propose to his all-American girlfriend, prompting Salvo to insist on crashing a weekend with her parents.

Nathan Kahane, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, says production on the film will begin later in 2021.

“The way Sebastian talks about his father, Salvo sounds to us like the type of guy who thinks that Robert De Niro should play him in a movie. So we thought, why not?” Kahane said in a statement. “Actually, Robert De Niro is incredibly selective about the projects he chooses,...

Luke Evans has been tapped to star in Apple’s Echo 3 action-thriller drama series, from Oscar winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), Apple Studios and Keshet Studios.

Echo 3 is set in South America and follows Amber Chesborough, a brilliant young scientist, who is the emotional center of a small American family. When she goes missing along the Colombia-Venezuela border, her brother and her husband — two men with deep military experience and complicated pasts — struggle to find her in a layered, personal drama, set against the explosive backdrop of a secret war.

Evans will play the role of Bambi, Amber’s brother.

The 10-part series is based on the award-winning Keshet Broadcasting series When Heroes Fly, created by Omri Givon and inspired by the eponymous novel by Amir Gutfreund. Given a straight-to-series order by Apple last July, Echo 3 will be shot with English and Spanish dialogue.

Boal serves as showrunner alongside...