Exclusive: Amazon MGM Studios has signed an exclusive overall deal with Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Maquina Vega. Under the deal, Alazraki is set to produce, write and direct series for Amazon MGM Studios.
Alazraki is a Mexican director known for directing the movies Father of The Bride (2022; writer and director of Mexico’s record-breaking comedy Nosotros Los Nobles (2013); and co-creator, executive producer and director of Club De Cuervos (2015), Netflix’s first Spanish original series. He heads Maquina Vega and is a board member of Oceana.
Alazraki began his career by directing commercials and the short films: Volver (2005) starring Jaime Camil, Martha Higareda, Tony Dalton and La Hora Cero (2008) produced by Guillermo Arriaga.
In 2011, he began production on Nosotros Los Nobles starring Gonzalo Vega, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Karla Souza and Juan Pablo Gil which he directed/wrote/produced. The film was released by Warner Bros. in 2013 and it became the highest-grossing Mexican movie of all time.
Alazraki is a Mexican director known for directing the movies Father of The Bride (2022; writer and director of Mexico’s record-breaking comedy Nosotros Los Nobles (2013); and co-creator, executive producer and director of Club De Cuervos (2015), Netflix’s first Spanish original series. He heads Maquina Vega and is a board member of Oceana.
Alazraki began his career by directing commercials and the short films: Volver (2005) starring Jaime Camil, Martha Higareda, Tony Dalton and La Hora Cero (2008) produced by Guillermo Arriaga.
In 2011, he began production on Nosotros Los Nobles starring Gonzalo Vega, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Karla Souza and Juan Pablo Gil which he directed/wrote/produced. The film was released by Warner Bros. in 2013 and it became the highest-grossing Mexican movie of all time.
- 2/20/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Gaz Alazraki, Alisa Tager, Mark Alazraki and Moises Chiver have partnered to create Maquina Vega, a new production company with offices in Los Angeles and Mexico City, which will provide a pipeline between the English and Spanish-speaking worlds.
Working with creators across countries and genres, the company will produce films and television series in both English and Spanish, bolstering emerging talents from Mexico and Latin America, while looking to increase the production of high-quality entertainment for Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide.
The Alazrakis come to Maquina Vega after launching Alazraki Entertainment in 2013 with the release of Gaz’s mega-hit Nosotros Los Nobles, a dark comedy which upon its theatrical debut became the highest grossing homegrown film ever released in Mexico. Following that up was Club de Cuervos, Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series, centered on football club Cuervos Fc. Co-created, exec produced and directed by Gaz Alazraki, the show ran for...
Working with creators across countries and genres, the company will produce films and television series in both English and Spanish, bolstering emerging talents from Mexico and Latin America, while looking to increase the production of high-quality entertainment for Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide.
The Alazrakis come to Maquina Vega after launching Alazraki Entertainment in 2013 with the release of Gaz’s mega-hit Nosotros Los Nobles, a dark comedy which upon its theatrical debut became the highest grossing homegrown film ever released in Mexico. Following that up was Club de Cuervos, Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series, centered on football club Cuervos Fc. Co-created, exec produced and directed by Gaz Alazraki, the show ran for...
- 1/25/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Anonymous Content is elevating longtime literary managers and producers Ryan Cunningham, David Kanter and Nicole Romano to partner.
Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.
Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...
Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.
Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...
- 4/12/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Anonymous Content has hired longtime literary agent and former UTA partner Bec Smith as a partner and manager in their Los Angeles-based lit team. We revealed Smith’s impending exit from UTA last month.
The respected veteran has amassed a client roster including directors and writers such as Coline Abert, Levan Akin, Jane Anderson, Benedict Andrews, Emily Atef, Anthony Chen, Eva Husson, Ellen Kuras, Katrin Gebbe, Sebastian Junger, Julia Leigh, Phillip Noyce, Joshua Oppenheimer, Jennifer Peedom, Maria Schrader, Tali Shalom-Ezer, Dawn Shadforth, Kirsten Sheridan, Goran Stolevski, Warwick Thornton and Max Werner.
Related Story Shocker! Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead & COO Heather McCauley Resign; Protesting Settlement To Former Top Producer Keith Redmon? Related Story UTA Partner & Top Talent Agent Brian Swardstrom Leaving Agency For New Ventures; Will Produce With 'Nomadland's Peter Spears To Start Related Story UTA Signs Cecillia Aldarondo, Filmmaker Behind SXSW-Premiering Documentary 'You Were My First Boyfriend...
The respected veteran has amassed a client roster including directors and writers such as Coline Abert, Levan Akin, Jane Anderson, Benedict Andrews, Emily Atef, Anthony Chen, Eva Husson, Ellen Kuras, Katrin Gebbe, Sebastian Junger, Julia Leigh, Phillip Noyce, Joshua Oppenheimer, Jennifer Peedom, Maria Schrader, Tali Shalom-Ezer, Dawn Shadforth, Kirsten Sheridan, Goran Stolevski, Warwick Thornton and Max Werner.
Related Story Shocker! Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead & COO Heather McCauley Resign; Protesting Settlement To Former Top Producer Keith Redmon? Related Story UTA Partner & Top Talent Agent Brian Swardstrom Leaving Agency For New Ventures; Will Produce With 'Nomadland's Peter Spears To Start Related Story UTA Signs Cecillia Aldarondo, Filmmaker Behind SXSW-Premiering Documentary 'You Were My First Boyfriend...
- 3/22/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with more details: Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead and COO Heather McCauley have resigned from their roles. It’s a developing story, but sources said this is over a settlement that is being paid to Keith Redmon, who left the company under a cloud and took a job at Black Bear Pictures, and later sued for breach of contract.
The duo’s abrupt exit Thursday comes barely a month after former Netflix executive McCauley joined Anonymous, recruited by Olmstead.
Deadline has a statement from Olmstead: “I can confirm that, effective immediately, I am resigning as CEO of Anonymous Content. I am proud of all we accomplished during my two years at the company. I am especially grateful to my extraordinary team who worked alongside me to take Anonymous to exciting new levels. I wish them all the best.”
The board of Anonymous Content has also weighed in: “Thanks to Dawn’s contributions,...
The duo’s abrupt exit Thursday comes barely a month after former Netflix executive McCauley joined Anonymous, recruited by Olmstead.
Deadline has a statement from Olmstead: “I can confirm that, effective immediately, I am resigning as CEO of Anonymous Content. I am proud of all we accomplished during my two years at the company. I am especially grateful to my extraordinary team who worked alongside me to take Anonymous to exciting new levels. I wish them all the best.”
The board of Anonymous Content has also weighed in: “Thanks to Dawn’s contributions,...
- 3/9/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Robert Walak and Alisa Tager will be leaving their posts as Presidents of Film & Television at AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content, when their contracts are up in a couple of months.
Walak and Tager are expected to continue producing projects for AC Studios through an arrangement whose terms are still being worked out.
There are no details yet about the duo’s replacement though I hear UCP veteran Garrett Kemble, who joined Anonymous Content as EVP of Development for AC Studios last summer, reuniting with former UCP President Dawn Olmstead who is now CEO of Anonymous Content, is poised for a bigger role in light of Walak and Tager’s pending exit.
“Alisa and Robert are brilliant producers,” said Anonymous Content Cco David Levine. “It has been a pleasure working with the two of them these past few years to...
Walak and Tager are expected to continue producing projects for AC Studios through an arrangement whose terms are still being worked out.
There are no details yet about the duo’s replacement though I hear UCP veteran Garrett Kemble, who joined Anonymous Content as EVP of Development for AC Studios last summer, reuniting with former UCP President Dawn Olmstead who is now CEO of Anonymous Content, is poised for a bigger role in light of Walak and Tager’s pending exit.
“Alisa and Robert are brilliant producers,” said Anonymous Content Cco David Levine. “It has been a pleasure working with the two of them these past few years to...
- 2/11/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
The Peabody Award-winning HBO Original series returns for its second season when Random Acts Of Flyness: The Parable Of The Pirate And The King debuts the evening of Friday, December 9 at midnight (12:00 a.m. Et) with two episodes. The six-episode season continues with two episodes airing weekly, concluding December 23.
Logline: Artist, musician, and filmmaker Terence Nance returns for a long-awaited second season of the acclaimed series Random Acts Of Flyness. Exploring the metaphysics of Black life through avant-garde storytelling, the second season follows Terence (Terence Nance) and Najja (Alicia Pilgrim), a couple working towards healing generational wounds and reintroducing themselves to the ways of their ancestors. Each of the six episodes explores a different dimension while presenting a rich tapestry of audio and visuals to illustrate the spiritual practice of Black liberation.
Season 2 cast: Terence Nance (Terence), Alicia Pilgrim (Najja), Austin Smith (Xavier), and Ta’Neesha Murphy (Janaya).
Credits: Created...
Logline: Artist, musician, and filmmaker Terence Nance returns for a long-awaited second season of the acclaimed series Random Acts Of Flyness. Exploring the metaphysics of Black life through avant-garde storytelling, the second season follows Terence (Terence Nance) and Najja (Alicia Pilgrim), a couple working towards healing generational wounds and reintroducing themselves to the ways of their ancestors. Each of the six episodes explores a different dimension while presenting a rich tapestry of audio and visuals to illustrate the spiritual practice of Black liberation.
Season 2 cast: Terence Nance (Terence), Alicia Pilgrim (Najja), Austin Smith (Xavier), and Ta’Neesha Murphy (Janaya).
Credits: Created...
- 11/30/2022
- by TV Shows Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
Click here to read the full article.
As scary movies continue to rule the fall box office, production/management firm Anonymous Content has partnered with Eat the Cat, the banner run by Nick Antosca, the prolific creator and series showrunner behind The Act and A Friend of the Family, and partner Alex Hedlund, on a new joint venture to make horror and genre films.
With a plan to leverage creative and production resources from both Anonymous and Eat the Cat, the partnership, which is being titled Anonymous Cat, will focus on developing and producing what it calls premium filmmaker-driven fare in the spook space.
Robert Walak and Alisa Tager, presidents of AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that resides inside Anonymous, will oversee the joint venture with Garrett Kemble, Ryan Schwartz and Anonymous CEO Dawn Olmstead, alongside Cat’s Antosca and Hedlund.
The venture is hitting the...
As scary movies continue to rule the fall box office, production/management firm Anonymous Content has partnered with Eat the Cat, the banner run by Nick Antosca, the prolific creator and series showrunner behind The Act and A Friend of the Family, and partner Alex Hedlund, on a new joint venture to make horror and genre films.
With a plan to leverage creative and production resources from both Anonymous and Eat the Cat, the partnership, which is being titled Anonymous Cat, will focus on developing and producing what it calls premium filmmaker-driven fare in the spook space.
Robert Walak and Alisa Tager, presidents of AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that resides inside Anonymous, will oversee the joint venture with Garrett Kemble, Ryan Schwartz and Anonymous CEO Dawn Olmstead, alongside Cat’s Antosca and Hedlund.
The venture is hitting the...
- 10/20/2022
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Licorice Pizza and If Beale Street Could Talk producer Sara Murphy and War Pony producer Ryan Zacarias have launched their own TV and film production company and have struck a deal with Anonymous Content.
The pair have launched Fat City, which has a first-look deal with Anonymous Content’s AC Studios.
Begho Ukueberuwa, formerly of CAA, will head up Fat City’s development across film and television.
In addition to producing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Oscar-nominated producer Murphy has produced films including Eliza Hittman’s Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Anima, starring Thom Yorke.
Zacarias’s most recent film was Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s debut feature War Pony and has also produced Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara. His next project is John Trengove’s Manodrome, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, and Odessa Young,...
The pair have launched Fat City, which has a first-look deal with Anonymous Content’s AC Studios.
Begho Ukueberuwa, formerly of CAA, will head up Fat City’s development across film and television.
In addition to producing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Oscar-nominated producer Murphy has produced films including Eliza Hittman’s Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Anima, starring Thom Yorke.
Zacarias’s most recent film was Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s debut feature War Pony and has also produced Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara. His next project is John Trengove’s Manodrome, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, and Odessa Young,...
- 10/6/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), with presenting partners The Arab Film and Media Institute and Dutch Culture USA are partnering for a short film festival that runs across the Dec. 10 and 11 weekend.
The annual event, titled Nfmla Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema, will feature virtual screenings of films followed by live Q&As. The films are by emerging filmmakers from the Netherlands, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, France, Belgium and the U.S.
The program includes the U.S. premiere of “Nervosa,” the latest work by Nfmla alum Thessa Meijer and the Tribeca award-winning short “Leylak,” by co-directors Scott Aharoni and Dennis Latos.
Festival panels will feature conversations with Palestinian director-writer Hany Abu-Assad (“Omar”), whose upcoming feature “Huda’s Salon” will be distributed by IFC Films, and Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour...
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), with presenting partners The Arab Film and Media Institute and Dutch Culture USA are partnering for a short film festival that runs across the Dec. 10 and 11 weekend.
The annual event, titled Nfmla Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema, will feature virtual screenings of films followed by live Q&As. The films are by emerging filmmakers from the Netherlands, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, France, Belgium and the U.S.
The program includes the U.S. premiere of “Nervosa,” the latest work by Nfmla alum Thessa Meijer and the Tribeca award-winning short “Leylak,” by co-directors Scott Aharoni and Dennis Latos.
Festival panels will feature conversations with Palestinian director-writer Hany Abu-Assad (“Omar”), whose upcoming feature “Huda’s Salon” will be distributed by IFC Films, and Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour...
- 12/8/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Tanya Saracho’s 2014 play off-Broadway play, Mala Hierba is coming to the big screen, and the Vida creator will be helming the feature.
In her movie directorial debut, Saracho has teamed up with Anonymous Content to adapt the Texas border town set drama. Mala Hierba the movie will be produced by the Robert Walak and Alisa Tager-run AC Studios, with Dawn Olmstead, David Levine, and Whitney Dibo overseeing the project for the Mr. Robot and True Detective outfit. Former Vida EP Stephanie Langhoff, and Christine Davila, head of development and production at Saracho’s Ojala Productions, will serve as producers on Mala Hierba.
Originally opening at Second Stage Uptown nearly six years ago, the play unravels the coiffured life of a Lone Star state trophy wife who begins to see the cracks in her life of wealth and privilege as her first and perhaps true love reappears. The...
In her movie directorial debut, Saracho has teamed up with Anonymous Content to adapt the Texas border town set drama. Mala Hierba the movie will be produced by the Robert Walak and Alisa Tager-run AC Studios, with Dawn Olmstead, David Levine, and Whitney Dibo overseeing the project for the Mr. Robot and True Detective outfit. Former Vida EP Stephanie Langhoff, and Christine Davila, head of development and production at Saracho’s Ojala Productions, will serve as producers on Mala Hierba.
Originally opening at Second Stage Uptown nearly six years ago, the play unravels the coiffured life of a Lone Star state trophy wife who begins to see the cracks in her life of wealth and privilege as her first and perhaps true love reappears. The...
- 7/7/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Colman Domingo’s Dot will go from stage to screen after AMC Networks’ streamer ordered West Philly, Baby, a drama series inspired by the play.
The series, which will co-produced by AMC Studios and Allblk, will follow the journey of a Philadelphia family forced to grapple with their matriarch’s declining memory amidst uncovering long held family secrets that shake the foundation of their home. Midlife crises, troubling revelations, childhood trauma, and complications of Alzheimer’s make for an American family story set in the heart of one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant cities.
The Fear The Walking Dead actor will write, direct and executive produce the series. West Philly, Baby is one of the first projects from Domingo’s Edith Productions banner to be developed under the actor’s first look deal with AMC Studios. He previously collaborated with AMC for his digital series Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s,...
The series, which will co-produced by AMC Studios and Allblk, will follow the journey of a Philadelphia family forced to grapple with their matriarch’s declining memory amidst uncovering long held family secrets that shake the foundation of their home. Midlife crises, troubling revelations, childhood trauma, and complications of Alzheimer’s make for an American family story set in the heart of one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant cities.
The Fear The Walking Dead actor will write, direct and executive produce the series. West Philly, Baby is one of the first projects from Domingo’s Edith Productions banner to be developed under the actor’s first look deal with AMC Studios. He previously collaborated with AMC for his digital series Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s,...
- 6/24/2021
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
Colman Domingo, known for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fear the Walking Dead” and “Zola,” is adapting his award-winning play “Dot” as a dramedy entitled “West Philly, Baby.” The series, a co-production between AMC Studios and the AMC Networks-owned streamer Allblk, is one of the first projects from Domingo’s Edith Productions to be developed under its first-look deal with AMC Studios.
Domingo will write, direct and executive produce the series, which follows “a Philadelphia family forced to grapple with their matriarch’s declining memory amidst uncovering long held family secrets that shake the foundation of their home,” according to the studio. “Midlife crises, troubling revelations, childhood trauma, and complications of Alzheimer’s make for an American family story set in the heart of one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant cities.”
Alisa Tager will also executive produce the six half-hour episods, with Sean San José serving as story consultant.
Domingo will write, direct and executive produce the series, which follows “a Philadelphia family forced to grapple with their matriarch’s declining memory amidst uncovering long held family secrets that shake the foundation of their home,” according to the studio. “Midlife crises, troubling revelations, childhood trauma, and complications of Alzheimer’s make for an American family story set in the heart of one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant cities.”
Alisa Tager will also executive produce the six half-hour episods, with Sean San José serving as story consultant.
- 6/24/2021
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Former Focus Features President Robert Walak and veteran producer Alisa Tager have joined the executive team at Anonymous Content as Presidents of AC Studios. In their new roles, the duo will oversee development and production on projects across film, television, documentaries, doc series and podcasts.
AC Studios is the premium independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content. Recent projects include the Peabody Award winning series Dickinson and the George Clooney-directed limited series Catch-22; as well as Paradise Lost and Home Before Dark, which just wrapped filming on its second season; Defending Jacob starring Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery; and the upcoming film Swan Song, with Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Awkwafina and Glenn Close.
We understand there are further significant projects to come, with both in- and out-of-house talent and with industry tastemakers Walak and Tager eager to get going in nimble fashion.
In their new posts,...
AC Studios is the premium independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content. Recent projects include the Peabody Award winning series Dickinson and the George Clooney-directed limited series Catch-22; as well as Paradise Lost and Home Before Dark, which just wrapped filming on its second season; Defending Jacob starring Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery; and the upcoming film Swan Song, with Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Awkwafina and Glenn Close.
We understand there are further significant projects to come, with both in- and out-of-house talent and with industry tastemakers Walak and Tager eager to get going in nimble fashion.
In their new posts,...
- 4/27/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Kelly Marie Tran has come aboard as an executive producer on Summertime, reuniting her with her Raya and the Last Dragon director Carlos López Estrada on his spoken-word poetry feature film that world premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Good Deed Entertainment has distribution rights to the pic, which will now get a July 9 release date in select Los Angeles and New York movie theaters before expanding a week later.
Inspired after attending a spoken-word workshop featuring 20-plus high school performers from the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Get Lit, Estrada proposed a collaboration to develop the performers’ work into a loose, interconnected narrative, allowing the young poets to express themselves and their relationship to the city in an authentic way onscreen. The result is the Slacker-esque construction Summertime, part contemporary musical, part sociological art, that bowed at Sundance in its experimental Next section.
Kimberly Stuckwisch, Jeffrey Soros, Alisa Tager, Simon Horsman,...
Inspired after attending a spoken-word workshop featuring 20-plus high school performers from the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Get Lit, Estrada proposed a collaboration to develop the performers’ work into a loose, interconnected narrative, allowing the young poets to express themselves and their relationship to the city in an authentic way onscreen. The result is the Slacker-esque construction Summertime, part contemporary musical, part sociological art, that bowed at Sundance in its experimental Next section.
Kimberly Stuckwisch, Jeffrey Soros, Alisa Tager, Simon Horsman,...
- 4/13/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The musical from the director of ‘Blindspotting’ was first seen at Sundance.
London-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has picked up world sales rights to musical feature Summertime.
Directed by Carlos López Estrada, whose credits include Blindspotting, the film received its world premiere at Sundance in January. FIlm Constellation will be introducing it to buyers at the virtual TIFF market next month and will host private digital screenings.
The slam poetry musical is set in Los Angeles during a heatwave and follows the lives of 25 young Angelinos as they intersect over the course of a single day. It was developed with 25 young poets,...
London-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has picked up world sales rights to musical feature Summertime.
Directed by Carlos López Estrada, whose credits include Blindspotting, the film received its world premiere at Sundance in January. FIlm Constellation will be introducing it to buyers at the virtual TIFF market next month and will host private digital screenings.
The slam poetry musical is set in Los Angeles during a heatwave and follows the lives of 25 young Angelinos as they intersect over the course of a single day. It was developed with 25 young poets,...
- 8/26/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
In today’s film new roundup, “Broken Hearts Gallery” moves back, “Burnt Orange Heresy” gets a release date, “Summertime,” “2 Hearts” and “The Mechanic” find homes and Helen Mirren is narrating “Escape from Extinction.”
Release Dates
Sony Pictures has moved back the release of romantic comedy “The Broken Hearts Gallery” from July 10 to July 17.
The studio said Tuesday that the movie will still be the first wide release of the summer. Last week, Warner Bros. moved Christopher Nolan’s spy thriller “Tenet” off July 17 and on to July 31.
“The Broken Hearts Gallery” stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Suki Waterhouse, Arturo Castro, Ego Nwodim, Taylor Hill and Bernadette Peters.
****
Sony Pictures Classics will release Giuseppe Capotondi’s “The Burnt Orange Heresy” in theaters on Aug. 7. Based on the novel by Charles Willeford with a screenplay by Scott B. Smith, the film stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki,...
Release Dates
Sony Pictures has moved back the release of romantic comedy “The Broken Hearts Gallery” from July 10 to July 17.
The studio said Tuesday that the movie will still be the first wide release of the summer. Last week, Warner Bros. moved Christopher Nolan’s spy thriller “Tenet” off July 17 and on to July 31.
“The Broken Hearts Gallery” stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Suki Waterhouse, Arturo Castro, Ego Nwodim, Taylor Hill and Bernadette Peters.
****
Sony Pictures Classics will release Giuseppe Capotondi’s “The Burnt Orange Heresy” in theaters on Aug. 7. Based on the novel by Charles Willeford with a screenplay by Scott B. Smith, the film stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki,...
- 6/16/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
In the first trailer for the Sundance award-winner “Shirley,” Elisabeth Moss does what all the heroines in her character’s books do: “They go mad.”
Moss stars in “Shirley” as famed horror author Shirley Jackson, who wrote books such as “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House” (which was adapted into a widely popular limited series for Netflix), and she stars alongside a cast that includes Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young. The sinister first look at the film gives a taste of Moss’ spitfire performance.
“Shirley, what are you writing now,” a party guest asks Jackson. She replies, “A little novella. I’m calling it ‘None of Your Goddamn Business.'”
Also Read: 'Shirley' Director Says Elisabeth Moss Was Always the 'Top Choice' to Play Author Shirley Jackson (Video)
In the loosely biographical film from director Josephine Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”), Jackson is on the precipice of writing...
Moss stars in “Shirley” as famed horror author Shirley Jackson, who wrote books such as “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House” (which was adapted into a widely popular limited series for Netflix), and she stars alongside a cast that includes Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young. The sinister first look at the film gives a taste of Moss’ spitfire performance.
“Shirley, what are you writing now,” a party guest asks Jackson. She replies, “A little novella. I’m calling it ‘None of Your Goddamn Business.'”
Also Read: 'Shirley' Director Says Elisabeth Moss Was Always the 'Top Choice' to Play Author Shirley Jackson (Video)
In the loosely biographical film from director Josephine Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”), Jackson is on the precipice of writing...
- 5/8/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Fresh off the company’s Oscar win for Best Picture with “Parasite,” Neon has acquired the North American rights to “Shirley,” the biographical film and thriller starring Elisabeth Moss that premiered at Sundance, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.
Moss stars in the film from director Josephine Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”) as famed horror author Shirley Jackson. Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young also star in the film about how Jackson finds inspiration for her next novel after she and her husband take a young couple into their home and form a deep connection with them that tests the bonds of the couple’s young love.
“Shirley” won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Auteur Filmmaking at Sundance, and Neon acquired the film in a deal in the low seven-figures range.
Also Read: Neon, Hulu Acquire Andy Samberg's 'Palm Springs' for $17.5 Million; Beats Previous...
Moss stars in the film from director Josephine Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”) as famed horror author Shirley Jackson. Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young also star in the film about how Jackson finds inspiration for her next novel after she and her husband take a young couple into their home and form a deep connection with them that tests the bonds of the couple’s young love.
“Shirley” won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Auteur Filmmaking at Sundance, and Neon acquired the film in a deal in the low seven-figures range.
Also Read: Neon, Hulu Acquire Andy Samberg's 'Palm Springs' for $17.5 Million; Beats Previous...
- 2/10/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Drama premiered in Park City last month.
Neon has picked up North American rights to Josephine Decker’s Sundance premiere Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg.
The distributor, riding high on Parasite’s historic Oscar win on Sunday night, negotiated the deal with Paradigm and UTA Independent Film Group.
Sarah Gubbins wrote the screenplay about a celebrated horror writer and her husband who take a young couple into their home where a battle of wits ensues. Odessa Young and Logan Lerman round out the key cast.
Shirley marks Decker’s follow-up to her acclaimed Sundance 2018 selection Madeline’s Madeline.
Neon has picked up North American rights to Josephine Decker’s Sundance premiere Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg.
The distributor, riding high on Parasite’s historic Oscar win on Sunday night, negotiated the deal with Paradigm and UTA Independent Film Group.
Sarah Gubbins wrote the screenplay about a celebrated horror writer and her husband who take a young couple into their home where a battle of wits ensues. Odessa Young and Logan Lerman round out the key cast.
Shirley marks Decker’s follow-up to her acclaimed Sundance 2018 selection Madeline’s Madeline.
- 2/10/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Just as his feature directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind makes its Sundance Film Festival debut tonight, Chiwetel Ejiofor has been set by Los Angeles Media Fund to adapt and direct The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, based on the bestselling book by Jeff Hobbs. Antoine Fuqua and Rebecca Hobbs are producing, along with Andrea Calderwood and Kat Samick. Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman will produce on behalf of Los Angeles Media Fund, which will fully finance the project.
Growing up outside of Newark, NJ, Robert Peace dreamed of making his single mother proud by escaping his crime-ridden city. He defied the odds and went to Yale on a full scholarship. He was captain of the water polo team and graduated with honors in molecular biochemistry and biophysics. All this promise and potential was...
Growing up outside of Newark, NJ, Robert Peace dreamed of making his single mother proud by escaping his crime-ridden city. He defied the odds and went to Yale on a full scholarship. He was captain of the water polo team and graduated with honors in molecular biochemistry and biophysics. All this promise and potential was...
- 1/25/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Colman Domingo Lifts The Lid On AMC Adaptation Of Stage Play ‘Dot’ – Mipcom
Fear The Walking Dead star Colman Domingo said that he is “mining the pilot” of his adaptation of stage play Dot for U.S. cable network AMC.
The actor and playwright is developing the project, which premiered on stage in 2016 in New York, as In The Middle of the Street. The show follows a family in fading West Philadelphia, who must confront old secrets in order to face the challenges of their present. It tackles aging parents, marriage, sexuality, and politics with humor and joy.
“It’s a dark comedy, it’s about how the matriarch, her filter is gone and you find out some secrets of the family. It re-examines what family is, over many many seasons, hopefully. We’re still mining the pilot,” he said.
Domingo, who exec produces alongside Alisa Tager for Collider Entertainment, said that he pitched the show to a number of rival networks because...
The actor and playwright is developing the project, which premiered on stage in 2016 in New York, as In The Middle of the Street. The show follows a family in fading West Philadelphia, who must confront old secrets in order to face the challenges of their present. It tackles aging parents, marriage, sexuality, and politics with humor and joy.
“It’s a dark comedy, it’s about how the matriarch, her filter is gone and you find out some secrets of the family. It re-examines what family is, over many many seasons, hopefully. We’re still mining the pilot,” he said.
Domingo, who exec produces alongside Alisa Tager for Collider Entertainment, said that he pitched the show to a number of rival networks because...
- 10/16/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
AMC gave horror fans a lot to look forward to at the Television Critics Association Press Tour, announcing several in-the-works projects, including Shock Theatre, a sci-fi horror anthology series from director/executive producer Greg Nicotero:
Press Release: Beverly Hills, CA – July 29, 2017 – AMC announced today from the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour a look at a current slate of select scripted and non-fiction projects in various stages of development for 2018 and beyond. New projects include many from existing AMC creative partners like “Better Call Saul” producers Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, “Talking Dead” host Chris Hardwick’s production company Fish Ladder, “The Walking Dead” executive producer, director and special FX make-up designer Greg Nicotero, and “Fear The Walking Dead” star Colman Domingo, among others. These seven scripted projects for potential series consideration are among a broad number of projects currently being developed as part of AMC’s “scripts-to-series” model, which the...
Press Release: Beverly Hills, CA – July 29, 2017 – AMC announced today from the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour a look at a current slate of select scripted and non-fiction projects in various stages of development for 2018 and beyond. New projects include many from existing AMC creative partners like “Better Call Saul” producers Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, “Talking Dead” host Chris Hardwick’s production company Fish Ladder, “The Walking Dead” executive producer, director and special FX make-up designer Greg Nicotero, and “Fear The Walking Dead” star Colman Domingo, among others. These seven scripted projects for potential series consideration are among a broad number of projects currently being developed as part of AMC’s “scripts-to-series” model, which the...
- 7/31/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Even while established series like “The Walking Dead” continue to perform, AMC has its eyes on the future. The network announced Saturday, July 29 its upcoming slate of new series currently in development, including new projects from Rainn Wilson, “Walking Dead” director Greg Nicotero, and Blumhouse Television.
Read MoreAll of IndieWire’s TCA coverage
Three of the announced series in development are anthology-oriented, while nearly all feature some level of genre element. This includes the B-movie homage “Shock Theatre” as well as “Wicked West,” Blumhouse’s non-fiction take on “the most frightening and disturbing tales from the Wild West.”
There are also two high-concept premises mentioned: “Liking What You See” depicts a world where people voluntarily choose to surrender their ability to appreciate beauty, while “The Age of Miracles” is a drama about what happens to one woman’s family after the world learns that the earth’s rotation is slowing down.
Read MoreAll of IndieWire’s TCA coverage
Three of the announced series in development are anthology-oriented, while nearly all feature some level of genre element. This includes the B-movie homage “Shock Theatre” as well as “Wicked West,” Blumhouse’s non-fiction take on “the most frightening and disturbing tales from the Wild West.”
There are also two high-concept premises mentioned: “Liking What You See” depicts a world where people voluntarily choose to surrender their ability to appreciate beauty, while “The Age of Miracles” is a drama about what happens to one woman’s family after the world learns that the earth’s rotation is slowing down.
- 7/29/2017
- by Liz Shannon Miller
- Indiewire
Cinedigm Entertainment Group has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to “Arthur Newman,” starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt. The film, which had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, will be released theatrically in mid-2013, followed by digital, DVD and TV rollouts. Written by Becky Johnston ("Prince of Tides") and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Dante Ariola, “Arthur Newman” follows a divorced sad sack who fakes his own death, buys a new identity and falls in with an equally damaged woman looking for a new life. Read More: Cinedigm Grabs U.S. Rights to Ugandan Lgbt Doc 'Call Me Kuchu' Vertebra Film’s Mac Cappuccino and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver produced along with Alisa Tager and Johnston. Andy Cappuccino, Helen Cappuccino, Natalie G. Hill, James Holt, Lisa Bruce and Eric Greenfeld are executive producers. “‘Arthur Newman’ is perfect for today's...
- 11/9/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Starring the excellent Emily Blunt and Colin Firth in the leads, Arthur Newman will be making its world premiere at Tiff next week, and given the cast, there’s naturally some significant anticipation surrounding it.
With its premiere only a few days away, we’ve now got two new images of Blunt and Firth to share, both looking as brilliant as ever; a rising young star and a class act.
“We are all actors in one sense or another. Who among us hasn’t at some point longed to become someone else? Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) knows that longing all too well. Divorced, dissatisfied, with a young son (Sterling Beaumon) who resents him so badly that he won’t even talk to him, and a new girlfriend (Anne Heche) already tiring of his anomie and inattentiveness, Wallace feels he’s got nothing worth hanging onto. So he takes a step that many dream of,...
With its premiere only a few days away, we’ve now got two new images of Blunt and Firth to share, both looking as brilliant as ever; a rising young star and a class act.
“We are all actors in one sense or another. Who among us hasn’t at some point longed to become someone else? Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) knows that longing all too well. Divorced, dissatisfied, with a young son (Sterling Beaumon) who resents him so badly that he won’t even talk to him, and a new girlfriend (Anne Heche) already tiring of his anomie and inattentiveness, Wallace feels he’s got nothing worth hanging onto. So he takes a step that many dream of,...
- 9/5/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Kristin Lehman (AMC's "The Killing," "The Sentinel") has signed on to join the cast of the dark comedy "Arthur Newman, Golf Pro" at Cross Creek Pictures says Variety.
Colin Firth stars as Wallace Avery, a man who hates his job and is despised by his family. He decides to fake his own death and create a new identity, along the way meeting a young woman (Emily Blunt) with her own troubled past.
The pair start breaking into empty homes to pose as the absent owners. Lehman will play Firth's ex-wife, who lives with their son and her new husband.
Dante Ariola directs from a script by Becky Johnston. Johnston, Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager will produce with shooting to commence this month in North Carolina.
Colin Firth stars as Wallace Avery, a man who hates his job and is despised by his family. He decides to fake his own death and create a new identity, along the way meeting a young woman (Emily Blunt) with her own troubled past.
The pair start breaking into empty homes to pose as the absent owners. Lehman will play Firth's ex-wife, who lives with their son and her new husband.
Dante Ariola directs from a script by Becky Johnston. Johnston, Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager will produce with shooting to commence this month in North Carolina.
- 10/7/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Poster for The Thing, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Lorax, New Year's Eve, I Melt with You and Justice.
"Despite the disappointing box-office for the recent fourth entry, Wes Craven believes there will still be a fifth "Scream" film - "It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be (another sequel). Whether I will be a part of it or not? I don't know"…" (full details)
"Warner Bros. Pictures has set a September 14th 2012 release date for the Ben Affleck-directed hostage drama "Argo"…" (full details)
"Jon Hamm says the "Bridesmaids" sequel isn't as sure a thing as you'd expect - "I don't think Kristen is going to do it. They need to lock [Wiig] up before me"…" (full details)
"Fox has ordered an additional eleven episodes of the Zooey Deschanel...
"Despite the disappointing box-office for the recent fourth entry, Wes Craven believes there will still be a fifth "Scream" film - "It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be (another sequel). Whether I will be a part of it or not? I don't know"…" (full details)
"Warner Bros. Pictures has set a September 14th 2012 release date for the Ben Affleck-directed hostage drama "Argo"…" (full details)
"Jon Hamm says the "Bridesmaids" sequel isn't as sure a thing as you'd expect - "I don't think Kristen is going to do it. They need to lock [Wiig] up before me"…" (full details)
"Fox has ordered an additional eleven episodes of the Zooey Deschanel...
- 9/29/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Walt Disney Pictures has acquired an untitled project from screenwriting newcomer Ashley Bradley that centers on a new female detective, says Heat Vision . Green Lantern writer and TV producer/writer Marc Guggenheim will produce with his Collider Entertainment partner Alisa Tager. The trade says that "the project revolves around a young woman who finds out she is the descendant of a legendary detective and is forced to take up the sleuthing mantle." Guggenheim co-created "Eli Stone" and was a writer/executive producer on "FlashForward" and "No Ordinary Family."...
- 9/28/2011
- Comingsoon.net
A story coming out of Cannes tells us that recent Oscar winner Colin Firth will be starring in a currently untitled dark comedy for Dante Ariola, a commercial director who’s making his feature debut. Also starring Emily Blunt, the Focus Features movie is financed by Vertebra Film and produced by Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager.
Written by Becky Johnston, the movie follows a man played by Firth who “missed his one shot at living the dream.” He decides to fake his own death “in an attempt to reinvent himself,” meeting a woman (played by Blunt), who’s “also in the process of trying to escape her old life.” Eventually, they begin to “break into empty houses to seal the identities of the absent owners.” Eventually, they “find a kindship despite all the lying.”
Filming begins in fall of this year, and territories are being sought by Focus at Cannes right now.
Written by Becky Johnston, the movie follows a man played by Firth who “missed his one shot at living the dream.” He decides to fake his own death “in an attempt to reinvent himself,” meeting a woman (played by Blunt), who’s “also in the process of trying to escape her old life.” Eventually, they begin to “break into empty houses to seal the identities of the absent owners.” Eventually, they “find a kindship despite all the lying.”
Filming begins in fall of this year, and territories are being sought by Focus at Cannes right now.
- 5/11/2011
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Colin Firth and Emily Blunt have teamed up to star in an untitled dark comedy. The project is being sold at Cannes by Focus Features International. Dante Ariola is direcing the film based on a script by Becky Johnston. Vertebra Films is producing the project and is being produced by Cross Creek Pictures' Brian Oliver, Johnston and Alisa Tager. Domestic distribution is being handled by UTA and CAA.
The project marks Ariola's directorial debut after making a name for himself directing commercials. Firth stars as "a man who hates his job and is hated by his ex-wife and son. Feeling he missed his one shot at living the dream, he fakes his death and buys a new identity. Along the way he meets a woman (Blunt) who is also trying to leave her past behind. The pair break into empty homes and pose as the absent owners. The two...
The project marks Ariola's directorial debut after making a name for himself directing commercials. Firth stars as "a man who hates his job and is hated by his ex-wife and son. Feeling he missed his one shot at living the dream, he fakes his death and buys a new identity. Along the way he meets a woman (Blunt) who is also trying to leave her past behind. The pair break into empty homes and pose as the absent owners. The two...
- 5/11/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
Colin Firth and Emily Blunt are set to team for an untitled dark comedy from Vertebra Films and Focus Features International reports Screen Daily.
The story follows two damaged souls fleeing their pasts who meet and break into empty homes to assume the identities of the absent owners. Over the course of their misadventures the pair fall in love.
Commercials director Dante Ariola makes his feature directorial debut on the film with a script by Becky Johnston. Johnston, Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager will produce and shooting kicks off in the Fall.
The story follows two damaged souls fleeing their pasts who meet and break into empty homes to assume the identities of the absent owners. Over the course of their misadventures the pair fall in love.
Commercials director Dante Ariola makes his feature directorial debut on the film with a script by Becky Johnston. Johnston, Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager will produce and shooting kicks off in the Fall.
- 5/11/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Focus Features International began shopping a dark comedy starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt to buyers today at the Cannes Film Festival. According to Screen, Focus partnered with Vertebra Films as the financier of the project along with producers Becky Johnston and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager. Johnston also boarded the project as screenwriter with acclaimed commercial director Dante Ariola signing on for his feature film directorial debut. “I am thrilled to be working with Dante to help bring his incredible vision to the big screen,” Oliver told Screen.
- 5/11/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Focus Features International began shopping a dark comedy starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt to buyers today at the Cannes Film Festival. According to Screen, Focus partnered with Vertebra Films as the financier of the project along with producers Becky Johnston and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager. Johnston also boarded the project as screenwriter with acclaimed commercial director Dante Ariola signing on for his feature film directorial debut. “I am thrilled to be working with Dante to help bring his incredible vision to the big screen,” Oliver told Screen.
- 5/11/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Focus Features International began shopping a dark comedy starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt to buyers today at the Cannes Film Festival. According to Screen, Focus partnered with Vertebra Films as the financier of the project along with producers Becky Johnston and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Alisa Tager. Johnston also boarded the project as screenwriter with acclaimed commercial director Dante Ariola signing on for his feature film directorial debut. “I am thrilled to be working with Dante to help bring his incredible vision to the big screen,” Oliver told Screen.
- 5/11/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Focus Features International will be selling territories on an untitled dark comedy that will pair The King's Speech star Colin Firth and Emily Blunt. The film will be directed by Dante Ariola from a script by Becky Johnston. The film's financed by Vertebra Films, and is produced by Cross Creek Pictures' Brian Oliver, Johnston and Alisa Tager. UTA and CAA package it and will broker a domestic deal. Ariola comes out of commercials and is making his directing debut. Firth plays a man who hates his job and is hated by his ex-wife and son. Feeling he missed his one shot at living the dream, he fakes his death and buys a new identity. Along the way he meets a woman (Blunt) who is also trying to leave her past behind. The pair break into empty homes and pose as the absent owners. The two find a kindship despite all the lying.
- 5/11/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
- I'm not saying Christopher Nolan extracted the 'invade people's dreams to steal their secrets' concept of Inception from Uncle Scrooge in The Dream of a Lifetime, but...
- The Playlist reports that Sony has optioned Sheila Weller's biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, titled Girls Like Us, with intent to make it a "priority project". The studio is currently looking specifically for a female scribe to tackle the script.
- If you're a big fan of stalking movie sets, Sony has slotted starting months for two of its most anticipated, surefire blockbusters: Spider-Man and Men in Black III. If you happen to want to stalk both, you'll have to crack the space time continuum; Mibiii will be filming in NYC, Spidey, however, is heading to La.
- Marc Guggenheim and Alisa Tager have formed Collider Entertainment with the goal of creating cross-platform content. The company's...
- 8/3/2010
- by Peter Hall
- Cinematical
One more story that fell a bit between the cracks during our coverage of the San Diego Comic-Con came in the form of an announcement at the show that producer/writers Marc Guggenheim and Alisa Tager have formed Collider Entertainment, a company focused on the principle that intellectual property can be developed across multiple platforms for production and global distribution simultaneously.
What does that mean in simple terms? The company will have multiple creators writing and directing stories for film, television, comic books, video games and alternative/new media outlets. The first two projects will originate as comic books and be published by Image Comics:
Utopian by Guggenheim and Tara Butters ("Reaper", "Dollhouse"). The project between Guggenheim and Butters, both of whom are professional writers and are married but have never written together until now, tells the story of what happens when the world’s superheroes are rendered obsolete when war,...
What does that mean in simple terms? The company will have multiple creators writing and directing stories for film, television, comic books, video games and alternative/new media outlets. The first two projects will originate as comic books and be published by Image Comics:
Utopian by Guggenheim and Tara Butters ("Reaper", "Dollhouse"). The project between Guggenheim and Butters, both of whom are professional writers and are married but have never written together until now, tells the story of what happens when the world’s superheroes are rendered obsolete when war,...
- 7/31/2010
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Green Lantern co-writer Marc Guggenheim is at Comic-Con today. He's launching Collider Entertainment, a partnership with Alisa Tager that is designed to create properties that start out as comics and then springboard onto other media platforms. Guggenheim and Tager have experience in everything from TV to films, video games and comic books. Their company gets off the ground with a deal with Image Comics that begins with two titles. Guggenheim has written the first title, Utopian, with his screenwriter wife Tara Butters. The first installment of the five-comic series will be published in November. It takes place in a world where superheroes are rendered obsolete when war, famine and crime disappear. One hero investigates the source of the new-found tranquility but his colleagues oppose his efforts to return the world to its normal chaos. Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, the scripters of Red and Battleship, are generating the second title,...
- 7/23/2010
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Chiwetel Ejiofor, who starred in the indie feature "Dirty Pretty Things", is set to appear in the Universal Pictures project "Serenity", Joss Whedon's feature film version of his canceled television series "Firefly". The concept revolves around an ensemble of characters who are galactic outcasts 500 years in the future. The film centers on a captain and the crew on his transport-for-hire spaceship, Serenity. When they pick up two passengers, they find themselves caught between a military force and cannibalistic savages. Ejiofor is the first actor to sign on to the "Firefly" feature who did not appear in the TV series, which had a brief run on Fox in fall 2002. He will play a character known as the Operative, an assassin and tracker who speaks with eloquent sophistication. Whedon is writing and directing. Barry Mendel, Chris Buchanan and Alisa Tager are producing. Mary Parent and Damien Saccani are overseeing the project for the studio. ICM-repped Ejiofor's other credits include "Amistad" and "Love Actually".
As if the constant whinnies, neighs and snorts of the four-legged lead characters -- providing some clues to their thoughts and behavior -- weren't enough, Columbia's kiddie horse fantasy "Running Free" is reined in by an oppressive first-animal narration (read by Lukas Haas) that will irk, if not uproot, most adult viewers.
Jean-Jacques Annaud, producer and co-author of the film's original story, was surely after another unique film experience and worldwide boxoffice hit like "The Bear", but "Running" comes off as seriously botched, and it certainly won't start any stampedes among domestic ticket buyers. If for nothing else, the film based on historical events is endurable for the fantastic locations in Namibia.
Horse lovers also have many things to feast their eyes on in director Sergei Bodrov's World War I adventure set in southwest Africa, where a pregnant grey mare from Germany is shipped to work in a mine. During the long sea voyage, she gives birth to Lucky, a chestnut colt who is separated from his mom when the horses reach their destination.
The horses are dumped in the ocean and forced to swim ashore. Lucky falls behind and is eventually put in a railroad car. Arriving at the mine days later, Lucky is very ill and found by a young boy, Richard (Chase Moore), who is himself an orphan and thrilled to have his own horse to take care of.
Lucky and Richard look out for each other. The former still misses Mom, but he takes coltish interest in friendly young filly Beauty and stays away from her big and mean father, Caesar.
While the early part of the movie is dependent on the quest of son to find mother and vice versa, "Running" insists on making Caesar into a villain who causes the grey mare's death and galvanizes Lucky to seek revenge. After his reunion with the grey mare, Lucky also has to say goodbye to Richard because of the war, with all the humans abandoning the mine and leaving the horses to fend for themselves.
In what appears to be just a season or two after he has survived a lone desert trek to find a hidden lake, the grown Lucky returns to the still-deserted mine to lead his comrades to the Promised Land, while giving Caesar his well-deserved comeuppance. Reunited with Beauty, Lucky and the rest of the herd are happy as baking clams. Years later, the grown-up Richard (Arie Verveen) comes looking for and, remarkably to say the least, finds his old bud Lucky.
RUNNING FREE
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Columbia Pictures presents
a Reperage production
Credits: Director: Sergei Bodrov; Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg; Producer: Jean-Jacques Annaud; Executive producers: Alisa Tager, Lloyd Phillips; Director of photography: Dan Lausten; Production designer: Wolf Kroeger; Editor: Ray Lovejoy; Costume designer: Jo Katsaras-Barklam; Music: Nicola Piovani; Casting: Janet Meintjies. Cast: Young Richard: Chase Moore; Nyka: Maria Geelbooi; Boss Man: Jan Decleir; Adult Richard: Arie Verveen; Boss' Son: Nicholas Trueb. MPAA rating: G. Color/stereo. Running time - 82 minutes.
Jean-Jacques Annaud, producer and co-author of the film's original story, was surely after another unique film experience and worldwide boxoffice hit like "The Bear", but "Running" comes off as seriously botched, and it certainly won't start any stampedes among domestic ticket buyers. If for nothing else, the film based on historical events is endurable for the fantastic locations in Namibia.
Horse lovers also have many things to feast their eyes on in director Sergei Bodrov's World War I adventure set in southwest Africa, where a pregnant grey mare from Germany is shipped to work in a mine. During the long sea voyage, she gives birth to Lucky, a chestnut colt who is separated from his mom when the horses reach their destination.
The horses are dumped in the ocean and forced to swim ashore. Lucky falls behind and is eventually put in a railroad car. Arriving at the mine days later, Lucky is very ill and found by a young boy, Richard (Chase Moore), who is himself an orphan and thrilled to have his own horse to take care of.
Lucky and Richard look out for each other. The former still misses Mom, but he takes coltish interest in friendly young filly Beauty and stays away from her big and mean father, Caesar.
While the early part of the movie is dependent on the quest of son to find mother and vice versa, "Running" insists on making Caesar into a villain who causes the grey mare's death and galvanizes Lucky to seek revenge. After his reunion with the grey mare, Lucky also has to say goodbye to Richard because of the war, with all the humans abandoning the mine and leaving the horses to fend for themselves.
In what appears to be just a season or two after he has survived a lone desert trek to find a hidden lake, the grown Lucky returns to the still-deserted mine to lead his comrades to the Promised Land, while giving Caesar his well-deserved comeuppance. Reunited with Beauty, Lucky and the rest of the herd are happy as baking clams. Years later, the grown-up Richard (Arie Verveen) comes looking for and, remarkably to say the least, finds his old bud Lucky.
RUNNING FREE
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Columbia Pictures presents
a Reperage production
Credits: Director: Sergei Bodrov; Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg; Producer: Jean-Jacques Annaud; Executive producers: Alisa Tager, Lloyd Phillips; Director of photography: Dan Lausten; Production designer: Wolf Kroeger; Editor: Ray Lovejoy; Costume designer: Jo Katsaras-Barklam; Music: Nicola Piovani; Casting: Janet Meintjies. Cast: Young Richard: Chase Moore; Nyka: Maria Geelbooi; Boss Man: Jan Decleir; Adult Richard: Arie Verveen; Boss' Son: Nicholas Trueb. MPAA rating: G. Color/stereo. Running time - 82 minutes.
- 5/30/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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