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Box office: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' flies to $22 million on Friday
20 hours ago | Hitfix | See recent Hitfix news »
J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness" has finally launched in North America, and is off to a strong -- but not spectacular -- start at the box office. The sequel took in roughly $22 million on Friday, and will likely earn $83 million for the weekend, which will put it in line with the 2009 reboot's debut weekend. "Darkness" is opening somewhat softer than expected, with most box office prognosticators guessing that it would rack up around $100 million in its debut weekend. Having opened late Wednesday night in North America, "Darkness" has so far earned $35.3 million domestically. The film's 3D and IMAX »
- Dave Lewis
Christopher Nolan in talks for Bond 24?
17 May 2013 2:10 AM, PDT | TotalFilm | See recent TotalFilm news »
Given his status as the world’s premiere director of large-scale event cinema, it was perhaps inevitable that Christopher Nolan would become linked to the vacant director’s chair on Bond 24, and sure enough, that’s exactly what’s happened. The Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye reports that Nolan is in early talks with Bond bigwigs Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, with a view to the director stepping into the position recently vacated by Sam Mendes. Our instant reaction to this one would be that with Nolan embarking upon...
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- George Wales
'Fast & Furious 6' Opening Day Universal's Best-Ever in U.K.
22 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
"Fast & Furious 6" raced out of the gate as the No. 1 film in the U.K. and Ireland on Friday, posting Universal's biggest opening day ever in that market with $4.6 million. That figure beats the $3.6 million that the fourth film in the franchise, "Fast & Furious," opened with in 2009 and is the year's second-best opening day in the U.K., just behind the $4.7 million of "Iron Man 3." Warner Bros. rolled out "The Great Gatsby" on Thursday in the U.K., and that film has taken in $2.5 million. Also »
- Todd Cunningham
Cohen Media Takes Movie Rights on Edward Muybridge Tome
9 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Cohen Media Group has acquired movie rights to Edward Ball’s “The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures.”
Story, published earlier this year, focuses on the relationship between motion picture pioneer Edward Muybridge and industrialist and politician Leland Stanford, who hired Muybridge to prove the theory that a horse will have all four feet off the ground as it gallops. Muybridge’s photos proved the theory and marked an early form of motion pictures when the inventor showed his images on a projector he created.
At the time of his work with Stanford, the middle-aged Muybridge married a divorcee half his age, discovered a drama critic may have fathered their baby son and shot the man point blank. At his murder trial, Muybridge was acquitted on grounds of “justifiable homicide” after Stanford had arranged for his defense.
Cmg topper Charles S. Cohen »
- Dave McNary
Jia’s ‘Touch of Sin’ Ignites Biz
15 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Jia Zhangke’s Palme d’Or contender “A Touch of Sin,” the critics’ favorite among Cannes competition films through Saturday, is igniting more than a touch of Riviera sales business.
Five territories have been sold and another 16 are under discussion or in the final stages of negotiation, sales company MK2 announced Sunday on the Croisette.
Territories closed are France (Ad Vitam), the U.K. (Arrow, continuing a long relationship with MK2), Espagne (Golem), Portugal (Midas Filmes) and Canada (FilmsWeLike).
Japanese co-producer Bitters End will release in Japan. Chinese producers the Beijing-based Xstream Pictures and the Shanghai Film Group Corporation plan a release this fall in China.
Countries under discussion or negotiation take in the U.S., Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux, Switzerland, South Korea, Russia, Greece, Brazil, Turkey and former-Yugoslavia.
Helmed by multi-prized Jia Zhangke (“24 City,” “Platform,” Venice Golden Lion winner “Still Life”), the four-part “Sin,” based on true stories, delivers a »
- John Hopewell
Fox International Prods. Launching Two German Films
29 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Fox International Prods. Germany has set production on a pair of movie projects — teen comedy “Playing Doctor” and children’s drama “Riko, Oskar and the Pasta Detective.”
The company noted it’s moving ahead on the two movies following the success of its “Breakup Man,” which it touted as the top grossing German film this year with $24 million at the German box office. The projects were announced at Cannes.
“Playing Doctor,” directed by Marco Petry from a script by Petry and Jan Ehlert, is set to begin shooting in Munich. It is a Lieblingsfilm Munchen production with Robert Marciniak and Philipp Budweg producing and has received funding from Hessen Invest and the German Federal Film Board.
Fip Germany will begin shooting “Rico” in the late summer in Berlin and Leipzig with Neele Leana Vollmar directing. The movie, as adaption of the Andreas Steinhofel children’s book, tells the story of »
- Dave McNary
Colombian Talent Turns to Television
29 minutes ago | Variety - TV News | See recent Variety - TV News news »
Dominated by Caracol and Rcn TV, Colombia’s television duopoly can be credited with spurring the film production surge of the past decade as TV-trained talents applied their experience to bigscreen projects.
Now, some of the country’s leading producers and helmers are venturing in the opposite direction, accepting TV gigs as networks tap into local filmmakers’ experience to produce skeins with higher production values. In turn, they enjoy financing ease and quicker returns, not unlike their counterparts in the U.S., where David Fincher, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have found success on the smallscreen.
Among the entities embracing the switch, Cmo Prods. made a TV version of its blockbuster Sonar no cuesta nada and continues to churn out skeins and pics.
For producer Diego F. Ramirez of 64-a Films and helmer Carlos Moreno, the logistically demanding experience of making Caracol TV’s hit biographical series Escobar: El Patron »
- Anna Marie de la Fuente
Colombian Productions, Projects and Players at Cannes
30 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Alias Maria
Producers: Rhayuela, Axxon Films (France),
Sudestada (Argentina)
Director: Jose Luis Rugeles
Details: Social drama. Financing under way.
Buenaventura mon amour
Producers: Mon Amour Prods., Rhayuela
Director: Jose Luis Rugeles
Details: Transmedia music and dance drama set in salsa capital, Cali.
Producer: Ennovva Films
Director: Simon Brand
Details: Found-footage English-language thriller
Sales: Wild Bunch
Delirio
Producers: 64-a Films, Film Fatal (Spain)
Director: Chus Gutierrez
Details: Romantic comedy set in Cali. Shoots in August.
El duende
Producer: 64-a Films
Director: Jorge Navas
Details: English-language paranormal thriller.
Producers: Ennovva Films, A Bigger Boat, Launchpad (U.S.)
Director: Victor Garcia
Details: English-language supernatural thriller starring Peter Facinelli, Carolina Guerra, Sophia Myles.
Sales: Im Global
La olla magica
Producer:
Cachupedillo Cine
Director: Jairo Eduardo Carrillo
Details: Kid-targeted animated feature. In production.
Lejos del mundo
Producers: Ennovva,
De La Tierra, Tornasol (Spain)
Director: Gerardo Herrero
Details: Dark comedy thriller starring Carmelo Gomez. »
- Anna Marie de la Fuente
IFC Takes North America on Zoe Bell’s ‘Raze’
30 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
IFC Midnight has acquired North American rights to action-thriller “Raze,” starring Zoe Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms and Sherilyn Fenn.
Deal was announced at Cannes, where Celluloid Dreams is selling international rights.
Directed by Josh Waller, “Raze” made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last month. Cinipix financed with Kenny Gage and Andy Pagana producing.
Bell portrays a woman who is mysteriously abducted and find sherself in an underground lair, forced to do battle with other innocents for the amusement of unseen spectators. Script was written by Robert Beaucage.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman for Sundance Selects/IFC Films with Nate Bolotin of Xyz Films on behalf of the filmmakers. »
- Dave McNary
‘World War Z’ to Open Moscow Fest
53 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Marc Forster’s Brad Pitt starrer “World War Z” is to open the 35th Moscow film festival, which runs June 20-29.
Leonid Vereshchagin, producer general of the fest, also unveiled on Saturday in Cannes the first 10 films in competition. He was joined at the Cannes event by Kirill Razlogov, the fest’s program director, and Andrey Plakhov, the chief selector. The fest received more than 1,500 entries, Vereshchagin said.
Fest has introduced a retrospective strand for docus, the theme of which will be the Olympic Games, retros of films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Costa Gavras, as well as a program devoted to Dutch cinema.
Film mart Moscow Business Square will return for a fifth edition with 20 projects from Russian and international producers seeking co-production partners, and Generation Campus will run a program that offers young filmmakers training in different aspects of filmmaking, Vereshchagin said.
The Miff Media Forum, a parallel program to the festival, »
- Leo Barraclough
What is Jewish Humor? Justin Timberlake 'Smells a Trap' for Coen Brothers in Cannes
1 hour ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
Justin Timberlake stepped in to save an awkward situation when directors Joel and Ethan Coen were asked at the Cannes Film Festival about Jewish humor by a German reporter on Sunday. "I smell a trap," quipped Timberlake at a news conference (left) for Joel and Ethan Coen's sardonic drama about a folk singer, "Inside Llewyn Davis," where a German reporter asked about the nature of "Jewish humor." See photos: The Scene at the Cannes Film Festival 2013 (Photos) Timberlake has a supporting role in the movie as folk singer Jim. "The Germans are »
- Sharon Waxman
Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner Joke About Their Marriage on Saturday Night Live
1 hour ago | PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news »
Ben Affleck is still reveling in his Oscar glory - and dwelling on the speech in which he thanked wife Jennifer Garner and acknowledged that their marriage is "work." On Saturday, he tried to make light of the moment while hosting Saturday Night Live - and even brought Garner on stage during his monologue to help. (Watch the monologue below.) "I thanked my wife while saying the essence of marriage is work," he said during the monologue, noting that giving an Oscar speech is "completely terrifying." "Some uncharitable souls on the Internet took that to mean our marriage is some kind of manual labor, »
Weinstein, Yen Talk ‘Crouching Tiger’ Sequel
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Getting one phone call from Harvey Weinstein would be enough for many actors to commit to a role. But it took one phone call a week, for several weeks, to get martial arts star Donnie Yen to commit to the Weinstein Co.‘s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel.
“At first I was a little hesitant,” Yen said during a discussion with Weinstein and director Yuen Woo-Ping at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.
The kung-fu expert, who has shown off his skills in pics like Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” and the “Iron Monkey” films, praised the original 2000 “Crouching Tiger,” and said he had concerns about how to improve on it. Eventually, though, Yen said that “as an actor,” he couldn’t pass up the challenge.
Weinstein’s love of Asian cinema and martial arts is well-known, and he talked about being influenced by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.
Weinstein »
- Rachel Abrams
Success of ‘Star Trek’ Reboot Helps Sequel Blast Off With Promo Partners
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
When it comes to promotional partnerships, “Star Trek” isn’t known for going where no brand has ever gone before.
In the films, Captain Kirk and his crew are never seen behind the wheel of a fancy new car, using the latest cell phone or consuming junk food to help hype a brand’s products.
But Paramount’s been able to capitalize on the appeal of the sci-fi series — especially after J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot helped re-energize the interest of moviegoers in “Star Trek” at the megaplex.
Three years ago, Paramount lined up Burger King, Verizon and Esurance around “Star Trek,” who promote the film mainly Stateside with media support.
But with “Star Trek Into Darkness,” out this weekend, Paramount managed to rally a larger group of marketing partners around the sequel who are spending north of $100 million to roll out a massive worldwide campaign around the film — one of Paramount »
- Marc Graser
Angelina Jolie Gets Reader Love, While Tori Spelling's Ring Gets a Laugh
1 hour ago | PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news »
Angelina Jolie's remarkable story about undergoing a preventative double mastectomy triggered an outpouring of empathy this week, as well as opened the door to the important discussion of women's health issues. At the other end of the spectrum, good fun was had over the gift Dean McDermott gave Tori Spelling for their seventh wedding anniversary. Here are the five stories that sparked the strongest reactions from readers over this past week - the news that made you happy, sad, laugh out loud, awestruck, even angry. In the meantime, please keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every »
- Stephen M. Silverman
DreamWorks Inks Metropolitan Deal in France
4 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
DreamWorks Studios has inked further output deals with indie distribs, including Metropolitan FilmExport in France, as part of its pact with David Garrett’s Mister Smith Entertainment to rep DreamWorks’ pics in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Metropolitan will distrib DreamWorks’ films in all media.
Metropolitan toppers Samuel and Victor Hadida stated, “For us, this arrangement is a natural progression of our business, and of our handling the best English-language films for the French marketplace.”
DreamWorks also closed deals with Inter-Film for the Ukraine, which was negotiated by Oleg Golovashkin, and a multi-picture agreement with MediaPro for the Czech Rep., Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, negotiated by Anca Truta.
“Seven months ago, we began building our network of partners and are very pleased to be enhancing our network with these first-class distributors,” Jeff Small, DreamWorks president and COO, said.
DreamWorks previously announced partnerships with Constantin Film in Germany, Austria »
- Leo Barraclough
Cannes: 'World War Z' With Brad Pitt to Open Moscow Film Festival
4 hours ago | The Hollywood Reporter | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news »
Cannes - Marc Forster’s World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, will open the 35th annual Moscow Film Festival on June 20, organizers said here over the weekend. They also unveiled the first 10 competition titles, with the rest set to be announced later this month. The first members of the competition jury are writer and director Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Kandahar) and Ursula Meier (Sister). The Moscow festival team also said it would offer a retrospective of documentaries on the Olympic Games, retrospectives of films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Costa Gavras, as well as a program devoted to Dutch cinema. "We received more than 1,500 entries, but I feel we have
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- Georg Szalai
DreamWorks Studios Signs Additional Foreign Output Deals
4 hours ago | The Hollywood Reporter | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news »
DreamWorks Studios has inked additional key partnership deals with independent distributors through its existing collaboration with David Garrett's Mister Smith. Mister Smith, which currently represents DreamWorks Studios' titles for Europe, the Middle East and Africa has inked a deal with Samuel and Victor Hadida’s Metropolitan FilmExport in France for DreamWorks' output. Photos: 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Cast Heats Up Cannes The studio output agreement with Metropolitan means the French indie giant will distribute titles in all media spanning theatrical, home entertainment, and TV. DreamWorks president and COO Jeff Small said: "We know Metropolitan to be amongst the strongest independents in Europe, and
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- Stuart Kemp
Cannes Film Review: ‘The Dance of Reality’
4 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Life goes by like a dream — and sometimes a nightmare — in “The Dance of Reality,” an “imaginary autobiography” by legendary cult filmmaker (and self-proclaimed “psychomagician”) Alejandro Jodorowsky that marks the octogenarian Chilean helmer’s first feature in the 23 years since the barely released job-for-hire “The Rainbow Thief.” As purely personal a film as Jodorowsky has ever made, “Dance” features no shortage of the bizarro imagery and willful atonalities that have long been his stock-in-trade, but it all seems to stem from a more sincere, coherent place this time than in the flamboyant head movies (“El Topo,” “The Holy Mountain”) that made him a star of the 1970s midnight movie scene. By turns playful, tragic and surprisingly light on its feet, this welcome comeback — “rebirth” might be more in keeping with pic’s own spirit — should keep its maker fully booked on the fest circuit, with arthouse theatrical play also likely in key territories. »
- Scott Foundas
Cannes Film Review: ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’
4 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Founded on the iffy premise, raised here by Nicolas Winding Refn, that the combination of a cult book plus a cult director would have equaled a bigger-than-“Star Wars” worldwide sci-fi sensation, “Jodorowsky’s Dune” indulges one of film history’s more entertaining “what if” stories. Before David Lynch spectacularly botched a bigscreen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” Alejandro Jodorowsky, cinema’s shaman of psychedelia, had a spectacular go at the job. Nearly 40 years later, first-time director Frank Pavich attempts to re-create that vision (in our imaginations, at least). Expect fanboys to flip and minds to be blown over the highly entertaining result.
The year was 1974. After almost singlehandedly inventing the midnight-movie phenomenon with “El Topo,” Jodorowsky had scored a second hit — in France, at least — with his massive head trip, “The Holy Mountain,” prompting producer Michel Seydoux to encourage whatever project the director might want to do next. »
- Peter Debruge
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