News

In today’s film news roundup, the “Just Dance” video game is in development as a movie; Capstone Entertainment hires a key exec; the Writers Guild Initiative promotes an exec; and Metrograph Pictures launches.

Project Launch

Sony’s Screen Gems has acquired the motion picture rights for a film based on Ubisoft’s video game “Just Dance.”

Ubisoft Film and Television and Olive Bridge Entertainment will develop and produce the project. Jason Altman and Margaret Boykin will produce for Ubisoft Film and Television alongside Jodi Hildebrand and Will Gluck for Olive Bridge Entertainment.

The “Just Dance” franchise is touted as the best-selling music video game of all time with more than 120 million players worldwide. The video game is celebrating its 10-year anniversary and includes songs by Shakira, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, Camila Cabello, the Chainsmokers, Jennifer Lopez, and Calvin Harris.

Eric Paquette and Brian Dukes are overseeing for Screen Gems.

Three years after successfully redrawing the cinema map of Manhattan with the opening of an influential arthouse theater on the Lower East Side, Metrograph is launching a distribution company.

Metrograph Pictures will put out both new releases and restored classics. It will be led by Head of Distribution George Schmalz, an industry vet who most recently curated AMC Networks’ Sundance Now streaming service. Schmalz will team with Jake Perlin, Artistic Director and Director of Programming of Metrograph, on acquisitions.

The distributor’s first title, The Competition (Le Concours), will open February 22. Claire Simon’s documentary portrait of the admissions process at French film school La Fémis screened in Venice as well as festivals in Vienna and London and got the True Vision award at the True/False Film Festival. After opening at the Metrograph, the film will expand nationally, the company said.

Restorations of several films are also on the release slate,...

New York City’s fledgling independent cinema The Metrograph — which opened in March of 2016, the first indie arthouse to open in the city in over a decade — is getting into the distribution business. Metrograph Pictures will launch on February 22, and will focus on “standout new releases and restored classics.” The new distributor will be led by Head of Distribution George Schmalz, an industry veteran who most recently served as curator for AMC’s Sundance Now. Schmalz will work closely with Jake Perlin, Artistic Director and Director of Programming of Metrograph, on all acquisitions.

Its first planned title is Claire Simon’s “The Competition” (Le Concours), billed as “a sensational documentary portrait of the admission process at French film school La Fémis,” which previously screened at the Venice, Vienna, BFI-London film festivals. In keeping with the new distributor’s mission, the theatrical release will mark the U.S. theatrical debut of veteran filmmaker Simon.

Golden Exits. © Sean Price Williams“No soul or locale is too humble,” John Updike wrote, “to be the site of entertaining and instructive fiction.” Which is a good thing for Nick, the nominal hero of Alex Ross Perry’s new film Golden Exits. The mild, meek, nearly-fifty archivist, played with greying dignity by former Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, lives a pinched and incapacious existence, toiling ten hours a day hunched behind the desk of a basement office only a few blocks away from his Brooklyn apartment. It’s a spartan, closed-loop life, and Nick thinks it’s “thrilling”—which it becomes for a time, when a 25-year-old assistant arrives from Australia and threatens to disrupt it. Golden Exits is about that threat. Or more precisely, it is a film about what happens when order and routine are besieged by the promise of change—when the life one has accepted is beleaguered by temptation,...

1. Mike Birbiglia, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Six years ago, Louis C.K. announced that he was going to release a new hour-long special ever year. Though it obviously has done wonders for C.K.'s career and creative output (see No. 5), it had a negative effect on stand-up by convincing people that releasing a special every year was what the best stand-ups did. This goes for both fans who demand new material and stand-ups — many of whom are not at C.K.'s level and released specials that could benefit from more time. But as Jerry Seinfeld told The New York Times Magazine, “I wanna see your best work. I’m not interested in your new work.” Comedy should be an art like any other that can take time to craft and perfect. This is a point Birbiglia echoed on a recent episode of the "You Made It Weird With Pete Holmes" podcast.

Year-end lists are the most self-imposed sources of stress this side of entering your medical symptoms onto Web MD. Everyone does these lists. No one likes writing them. Few enjoying reading them. But there's this odd game of chicken where no one wants to be left out of doing them, so the cycle continues each and every year in all forms of pop culture media and criticism.

The fact that The Boob Tube Dude is doing a list at all proves I'm not above this bulls***. But when it came time to rank my favorite shows of the year, I just couldn't do. Moreover, I realized I didn't Have to do it. No one's putting a gun to my head. No one's paying me to list X number of shows out. And on top of that, this year featured so much great TV that reducing it down to a list seems pointless.

Awesome comedian and actor Mike Birbiglia has been added to the cast of "The Fault in Our Stars," this according to author John Green who tweeted the news on Wednesday. Birbiglia will play Patrick in the film, the leader of a cancer patient support group that's attended by the story's protagonists, Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus (Ansel Elgort).

So excited to announce that one of my all-time favorite comedians/humans, Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs), will play Patrick in the TFiOS movie.

— John Green (@realjohngreen) August 28, 2013

Birbiglia is best known for "Sleepwalk With Me," his one-man off-Broadway show turned book, stand-up special, "This American Life" segment and feature film. He's also appeared on "Girls" and in the films "Cedar Rapids" and "Your Sister's Sister." Another Birbiglia stand-up special, "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend," is currently available on Netflix.

"The Fault in Our Stars" is already positioned as one of next year's must-see Ya films.

2012 was filled with great movies, and one of them was comedian Mike Birbiglia's debut feature, Sleepwalk with Me. The film was based on Birbiglia's one-man show/book, and was developed into a movie in association with Ira Glass and This American Life. The movie won the Audience Award at Sundance, and it's currently on Netflix Instant, so I highly encourage you to check it out. But now we're left wondering what Birbiglia will do for a follow-up, and it looks like he'll be going with the same creative trajectory as Sleepwalk with Me for his new project, an adaptation of My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. Hit the jump for more. Birbiglia tells THR: I’m writing a screen adaptation of [his most recent stand-up act] My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend. Which will have a different name, but that was the jumping-off point. I’m working on that right now, and I’m shooting a concert special of...

After critical success with his debut semi-autobiographical feature "Sleepwalk With Me", filmmaker Mike Birbiglia is already looking ahead to his next project.

'Sleepwalk' was based on Birbiglia's stand-up routine, book and radio play of the same title. The new project, entitled "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend," will be based on the comedian's latest stand-up act.

"I’m writing a screen adaptation of [his most recent stand-up act] My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend. Which will have a different name, but that was the jumping-off point. I’m working on that right now, and I’m shooting a concert special of My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend in about a month from now, and that should come out in the fall."

Source: THR...

If you haven't taken the time to watch Sleepwalk with Me, the directorial debut of stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia, it's on Netflix Instant right now. The film is a hilarious and charming adaptation of the comedian's book, stand-up act and radio play of the same, and proves Birbiglia can be a solid leading man, and a fresh new voice in the realm of comedy on film. But what's he doing next? Well, Birbigila recently sat down with THR who revealed that he'll be adapting his 2011 stand-up show My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (which will have a different title) for his next film, a chronicle of his romantic shortcomings and mishaps. The show found Birbiglia sharing "a lifetime of romantic blunders and miscues that most adults would spend a lifetime trying to forget. On this painfully honest journey, Birbiglia struggles to find reason in an area where it may be impossible to find — love.

After adapting his hit off-Broadway one-man show "Sleepwalk With Me" into an acclaimed first feature, comedian Mike Birbiglia isn't messing around with the formula that brought him praise and indie-film cred (his debut won the Best of Next Audience Award at Sundance and comes out Friday, August 24 via IFC Films). In an exclusive interview with Indiewire (the full profile will run later in the week), Birbiglia told us that he's in the process of adapting his latest solo play "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" into a sophomore feature. The show, which explores Birbiglia's bumbling love life, ended its successful off-Broadway run March 18, 2011 and is currently touring the States after playing around the world. It's a sequel of sorts to "Sleepwalk With Me," which tracks his rise as a comedian and the crumbling of his long-term relationship with his university sweetheart. Read More: Next Winner 'Sleepwalk With Me' is a...

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to Immortals, Jack and Jill & Into the Abyss alternatives.

On Friday muscle-bound men of legend face off against a duplicated doofus in drag and a striking new crime doc from Werner Herzog. But if these flicks can’t satisfy your thirst for mythic conflicts, gender-bending gut-busters and terrifyingly true tales, we’ve got you covered with a selection of tantalizing movies available online.

The Fall director Tarsem Singh returns with the tale of Theseus, a warrior of ancient Greece (played by Man of Steel Henry Cavill) chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans) to rise against King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke).

Ancient-era adventure awaits!

Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) Get your Greek on with this spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which is also streaming. Lucy Lawless...

by Travis Helwig

The trailer for the succinctly named "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" dropped today, sending the movie world into an ape-like frenzy. But it's not just the trailer itself that's catching some attention -- some are taking issue with the film's new title. While certain fans are upset with the name, one Hollywood director got the inside scoop on the film's "original working title."

As if that wasn't enough, the "Rock of Ages" director announced some huge casting news for the musical through his Twitter account. We won't give it away yet (okay, maybe we already did), but he's British, you know his name, and he's married to Katy Perry. Any guesses?

I'm @TravisHelwig and this is Twitter-Wood for April 14th, 2011.

Planet of The Apes: @ThatKevinSmith Via @hamm0ndeggs "I'll be happy if it's not Planet of the Apes (2001)" Heard the working title of Rise...

We at Mubi think that celebrating the films of 2010 should be a celebration of film viewing in 2010. Since all film and video is "old" one way or another, we present Out of a Past, a small (re-) collection of some of our favorite of 2010's retrospective viewings.

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Bluebeard's Castle (Powell) / Double Suicide (Shinoda) / Hitler (Syberberg): Or triple feature. The snow globe worlds, matted backgrounds, painting walls, rear projections, break down from Brechtian representations of sets—a transparently two-dimensional backdrop treated as three-dimensional cell, made two-dimensional, falsely illusionistic, again on-screen—into actual illusion, a purely aesthetic, abstract scrim. Not exteriorized illustrations of the characters' thoughts and dreams, their own subjectivity, illusions, the non-spatial spaces re-move the characters from any notion or objectivity or subjectivity: they become part of the design, purely exteriorized themselves, fatally and mock-aestheticized as setpieces, blind to a reality, never seen or reconstructed, of death, murder, suicide,...

New photos from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Resident Evil Afterlife, Tomorrow When the War Began, Peacock, Solitary Man.

Posters for The A-Team, MacGruber, Beastly, The Losers, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Animal Kingdom, Step Up 3D, True Blood: Season Three, Lottery Ticket, Marmaduke, Life During Wartime.

At last, a clear shot of the new Freddy Krueger's face from the upcoming "A Nightmare on Elm Street" can be found at Horror Bid.

A very thorough script review of Steven Soderbergh's viral outbreak thriller "Contagion" is up at The Playlist.

"Emily Blunt was courted by Marvel Studios to play Peggy Carter, the girlfriend of Chris Evans' Steve Rogers in the upcoming "Captain America" movie. However Blunt is close to signing on to other projects and has officially turned down Marvel's offer..." (full details)

"A representative for Will Smith's has denied that the star has signed for two "Independence Day" sequels,...

Here are the new MPAA ratings from Bulletin No: 2114.

2012: Doomsday - Special Edition Rated PG-13 For some violence and disturbing images. Accidents Happen Rated R For language, some disturbing images and brief teen drug and alcohol use. Bare Knuckles Rated PG-13 For violence and brief sensuality. Don't You Forget About Me Rated R For language. Eye For An Eye Rated R For some violence and language. Five Minutes Of Heaven Rated R For language and some violence. My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Rated PG For some mild thematic elements. Right Hand Drive Rated PG For thematic material including sensuality, and some language. Secretariat Rated PG For brief mild language. Release Date: October 8, 2010 Sexy Killer Rated R For strong bloody violence, sexual content, nudity and language. A Shine Of Rainbows Rated PG For some thematic elements, mild peril and smoking. Splice Rated R For disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.

Updated through 1/18.

"Eric Rohmer, a pioneer of the French New Wave which transformed cinema in the 1960s," reports Reuters. "He was 89." As in the barrage of other first reports hitting the wires, the milestones are just touched on now, an outline to be fleshed out over the coming days. And weeks. And years. Born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in Nancy on April 4, 1920; first international acclaim with Ma nuit chez Maud (My Night at Maud's), nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1969; founding La Gazette du Cinema with Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette in 1950; editorship of Cahiers du Cinéma; the last film, Les amours d'Astree et de Celadon (The Romance of Astree and Celadon) in 2007.

"A former novelist and teacher of French and German literature, Mr Rohmer emphasized the spoken and written word in his films at a time when tastes - thanks in no small part to his...

One of the great masters of the French New Wave his no longer with us. Eric Rohmer passed away Monday at the age of 89. Rohmer was known for making movies about young, modern French people who fall in love and talk and talk and talk, spurring the infamous comment that his films were like "watching paint dry." But the secret of Rohmer is that, even though his characters are smart and educated and know a little something about human nature, they can't help themselves from succumbing to feelings of love and lust and jealousy, no matter how many words they use or how often they try to intellectually justify themselves.

That duality worked in almost all of Rohmer's films, which he tended to direct in specific groups. His "Six Moral Tales" is perhaps the most well-regarded, including La Collectionneuse (1967), My Night at Maud's (1969), Claire's Knee (1970) and Love in the Afternoon...

Idiosyncratic French film-maker who was a leading figure in the cinema of the postwar new wave

In Arthur Penn's intelligently unconventional private eye thriller Night Moves (1975), Gene Hackman's hero – who finds the mystery he faces as unfathomable as his personal relationships – is asked by his wife whether he wants to go to an Eric Rohmer movie. "I don't think so," he says. "I saw a Rohmer film once. It was kind of like watching paint dry."

Behind that exchange lies a jab at ­Hollywood's mistrust of any film-maker, especially a French one, who neglects plot and action in favour of cerebral exploration, metaphysical conceit and moral nuance. The Dream Factory, after all, had proved through trial and error that cinema is cinema, literature is ­literature, and the twain shall meet only provided the images rule, not the words.

Of the major American film-makers, perhaps only Joseph Mankiewicz allowed his scripts,...

To watch an Eric Rohmer film is to watch life unfold on the screen. I’m not sure if Rohmer, who died earlier today at the age of 89, would be happy to have his oeuvre described as such, but that’s exactly what it felt like to me while watching, say, Autumn Tale (1998), Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987), or My Night at Maud’s (above, 1969). Not much seemed to be happening on-screen: people talked, kissed, fought, made up, talked some more, laughed, drank, had sex, went out, talked some more. The strange thing is, this peeping tom didn’t want most of those films to end. Just like I don’t want life to end. Now, I’ve never been a big fan of [...]...

Paris - Eric Rohmer, a pioneer of the French "New Wave" which transformed cinema in the 1960s, has died, his production house said on Monday. He was 89.Les Films du Losange, a company that produced his movies, said Rohmer died in Paris on Monday. The cause of death was not known.Rohmer directed such films as "My Night at Maud's" (Ma Nuit Chez Maud), "Claire's Knee" ("Le Genou de Claire") and "Chloe in the Afternoon" (L'Amour l'apres-midi")."My Night at Maud's" garnered an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film and best screenplay.His "Die Marquie von O" won the Special Jury Prize at the 1976 Festival de Cannes.Rohmer also directed "Pauline at the Beach" and "Full Moon in Paris," whose lead actress Pascale Ogier won the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival. It won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.With a background in journalism,...