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A decade after “La Famille Belier,” which was remade as the Oscar-winning “Coda,” another comedy featuring protagonists with disabilities, “A Little Something Extra” has stormed the French box office. It’s not only the year’s biggest hit so far, but the highest grossing French movie since before the pandemic.

Released May 1 by Pan Distribution and modestly budgeted at €6.1 million ($6.55 million), the feel-good movie (called “Un p’tit truc en plus” in French) has grossed an estimated €50.7 million ($54 million) from 7.2 million tickets sold as of June 16 — two times more than Warner Bros. tentpole “Dune 2” starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya.

It’s a mighty feat, considering that that unlike “La Famille Belier,” in which the deaf and speech-disabled characters are played by bankable European stars — Karin Viard and Francois Damiens — “A Little Something Extra” has an ensemble cast of young non-professionals with different types of disabilities.

The movie, produced by Pierre Forette...

From the out-of-step psychedelic rock of 2010’s Congratulations and 2013’s Mgmt to their surprisingly somber return to form in 2018’s Little Dark Age, Mgmt has seemingly been on a career-long quest to confound critics and fans alike. On their fifth studio album, Loss of Life, the band discovers a delectable sweet spot between the psych-pop promise of their early work and their noble, albeit stubborn, determination to deliver something more sophisticated.

That’s not to say that Mgmt has outgrown their prankster ways. The album opens, perhaps counterintuitively, with “Loss of Life, Part 2,” which warps the music of the closing title song into a backing track for a reading of “I Am Taliesin. I Sing Perfect Metre,” a medieval poem celebrating the interconnectedness of all things. It’s a weird and trippy intro to Loss of Life that effectively speaks to the album’s sound and ethos.

Loss of Life...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This jam-packed week is filled with iconic comebacks, including Lil Nas X’s buoyantly blasphemous track and Ariana Grande’s sassy house-infused single. Plus, 21 Savage returns to England in full force, Kid Cudi and Jay-Z deliver star-studded features, and Kali Uchis gives us a merengue-inspired gem.

Lil Nas X, “J-Christ” (YouTube)

Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?” (YouTube)

21 Savage, “Redrum” (YouTube)

Kid Cudi feat. Travis Scott, “Get Off Me” (YouTube)

Jay-Z feat.

Mgmt have shared the video for their new song “Nothing to Declare,” the latest single off the duo’s upcoming album Loss of Life.

The Joey Frank-directed visual stars Inga Petry, a college student born with upper limb aplasia who uses social media to spread awareness for the disabled community. In the video, Petry travels to Paris, documenting an adventure that culminates with her witnessing the Venus de Milo in person.

“When I was first approached by Joey to do this project, it was the parallelism in his vision that first drew me in.

Mgmt are back with “Nothing To Declare,” the latest preview of their forthcoming album Loss of Life. Watch the song’s accompanying music video below.

Built from a folky guitar arpeggio, the song combines the naturalistic, acoustic hues of previous singles “Bubblegum Dog” and “Mother Nature” with the shimmering psychedelia they’re predominately known for. Unlike Loss of Life‘s other singles, however, “Nothing To Declare” doesn’t bubble up and burst into a flurry of activity — instead, the track blooms gently, with light flourishes of synths and percussion creating a sincere, cinematic feel.

“Nothing To Declare,” as one might say when arriving in a new country, is fittingly accompanied by a music video that features social media influencer and disability awareness activist Inga Petry taking a trip to Paris. Petry, who was born with upper limb aplasia, makes her way through various tourist attractions throughout the city, eventually landing...

Exclusive: Cohen Media Group will be releasing Driving Madeleine, the next movie from Oscar-nominated director Christian Carion’s (Joyeux Noel), on Jan. 12, 2024 in limited release.

Written and directed by Carion, and starring Line Renaud and Dany Boon, Driving Madeleine follows the unlikely friendship of a struggling taxi driver and an elderly passenger on a heartfelt journey through Paris. A seemingly simple taxi ride evolves into a profound meditation on the realities of the driver, whose personal life is in shambles, and his fare, an elderly woman whose warmth belies her shocking past.

The pic will play on Jan. 12 in in New York at the Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street) and in Los Angeles at Landmark Theatres Sunset (8000 Sunset Blvd.) and Landmark’s Pasadena Playhouse (673 E Colorado Blvd.) before going nationwide on Jan. 19.

Driving Madeleine had its North...

Mgmt have finally confirmed their next album. Titled Loss of Life, the band’s fifth full-length arrives on February 23rd via Mom + Pop. In anticipation, the first single, “Mother Nature,” is out now.

Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser co-produced Loss of Life along with Patrick Wimberly, while their longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann handled mixing. Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), Brian Burton (Danger Mouse), and James Richardson provide additional production on “Dancing in Babylon” — which includes the first-ever feature on an Mgmt record, thanks to Christine and the Queens. Finally, Miles A. Robinson served as associate producer and engineer on the LP.

With acoustic guitar and relaxed vocals, “Mother Nature” feels a lot more grounded than the psychedelic singles that made Mgmt famous over a decade ago. In a statement, the duo said the song “outlines the archetypical Mgmt mythology of one hero attempting to get the other hero to come...

Colm Bairéad’s Irish-language drama An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) was the big film winner at last night’s vritual Irish Film and Television Academy awards with eight wins. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

Director Colm Bairéad’s debut won best film, best director and lead actress for Catherine Clinch in addition to multiple craft awards. Bairéad also won the rising star prize. The coming-of-age drama had debuted at the Berlin Film Festival where it won two prizes.

Creators Ciaran Donnelly and Peter McKenna’s Kin won big in the TV categories with six prizes including best drama, script for McKenna, lead actress drama for Clare Dunne, lead actor drama for Sam Keeley and supporting actress drama for Maria Doyle Kennedy.

Ciaran Hinds won both the film and drama supporting actor awards on the night for Belfast and Kin, respectively. Belfast, which had garnered ten nominations,...

Feature debutant Colm Bairéad’s Berlin-winning “An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”) was the big film winner at the 2022 Irish Film and Television Academy awards on Saturday with eight wins.

“An Cailín Ciúin” won best film, director and lead actress for Catherine Clinch in addition to a raft of craft awards. Bairéad also won the rising star award.

Creators Ciaran Donnelly and Peter McKenna’s “Kin” led the television awards with six wins including best drama, script for McKenna, lead actress drama for Clare Dunne, lead actor drama for Sam Keeley and supporting actress drama for Maria Doyle Kennedy.

Ciaran Hinds won both the film and drama supporting actor awards on the night for “Belfast” and “Kin” respectively. Overall, despite a slew of nominations, it was a disappointing outing at the awards for Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” which, besides Hinds’ win, won script for Branagh and nothing else.

Lead actor...

Nominations have been announced for this year’s Irish Film And TV Academy Awards (IFTAs). Scroll down for the full list.

Leading the way with ten apiece are Kenneth Branagh’s much-fancied awards contender Beflast and Irish-language feature An Cailín Ciúin, which recently won the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus program at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Both titles are up for Best Film, alongside Deadly Cuts, Swan Song, Who We Love, and You Are Not My Mother. Of those six, four are debut features.

For Belfast, Branagh will also contend for the Best Director and Best Script prizes. The film is up for seven Oscars this year.

On the TV Side, crime drama Kin dominated the field with 13 nominations, including Best Drama, as well as director, script, actor (twice) and actress. Vikings:Valhalla, the Netflix sequel of the popular historical show, received seven noms, as did BBC show Hidden Assets.

Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and Colm Bairéad “An Cailín Ciúin” lead nominations at the 2022 Irish Film and Television Academy Film and Drama award nominations with 10 nods across categories.

“Belfast” is nominated for best film, best director and script for Branagh, with a lead actor nod for Jude Hill, supporting actor recognitions for Ciarán Hinds and Jamie Dornan and a supporting actress nod for Caitríona Balfe, besides craft nominations.

“An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”), which won the grand prize at the Generation Kplus strand of the recently concluded Berlin Film Festival, was similarly recognized across the main categories.

“Kin” led the drama nominations with 13 nods, while “Vikings: Valhalla” and “Hidden Assets” had seven each and “Smother” five.

IFTA chief executive Áine Moriarty said: “What a spectacular line-up of nominees that have been shortlisted for Irish Academy Awards this year, after a record-breaking production year for the Irish industry. The work...

Exclusive: Rebecca Eskreis has signed on to direct ClearMind, a thriller about the dark side of Virtual Reality therapy and the slippery slope of using simulated life to avenge the real.

The film scheduled to enter production in Northern California next spring is the second from Eskreis, whose feature directorial debut, What Breaks the Ice, was recently released in theaters, on demand and on digital platforms via Cinedigm. 30 Miles from Nowhere’s Seana Kofoed penned the screenplay and will produce with River Place Production’s Kristin Tegtmeier Higgins (The Boy’s Gone). Miriam Hoffman is handling casting.

Eskreis is represented by Sara Alexander of Alexander Creatives and Stuart Rosenthal at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.

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Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American VOD rights to The Xrossing, an Australian coming-of-age thriller from director Steven J. Mihaljevich. The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios...

Back in the summer of 1985 a couple of rambunctious Irish lads—one 10, the other 13—were out and about in their Dublin neighborhood, up to their usual tricks. No worries there—they had promised their mums they’d return for supper.

“Aye, sure we will, ma,” had they said, or words to that effect, before they went rambling. But instead of coming back for dinner, they set out on an adventure, a romp that would take them from Dublin across the Irish Sea to Wales, on to London and then New York. All without the benefit of a ticket, a passport, any form of ID. The story of their escapade made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic.

“They decided that they would go on a little wander,” notes Garret Daly, director of Nothing to Declare, an Oscar-contending short documentary on the singular odyssey of Keith Byrne (the younger of the...

It's an old adage that comedies don't succeed outside their native markets. But, as with the American Pie series, some do break through. Why?

In last week's After Hollywood, discussing whether horror was the most universal genre, I touched on its opposite number, comedy; in particular the old adage that comedies rarely travel well. The American Pie franchise – the fourth instalment Reunion is making its bows now – has been held up as an exception to that rule. A decent international opening last week – No 4, netting $19.3m from an initial 28 countries – reheats the idea that the 13-year-old franchise might have the deep-dish filling of global appeal.

The world, apparently, is happy to be united by affable coming-of-age tales with incidents of pastry-based humiliation. A universal storyline and some farce; it obviously doesn't take that much. So the more I think about the adage, the more I'm sceptical: maybe comedies aren't so travel-sick after all.

By Bruno Chatelin

HollywoodNews.com: I am simply amazed by the combinations of historical records broken by the French film industry last year And wanted to take a moment to share the salute with you, and them.

- 2011 was one of the best Cannes selection in years, in my view, with Awards everyone agreed to be well deserved and well balanced.

- 215 M admissions, a record (going back to 1966 levels, pre facebook, pre TV, pre world Cup audience…)

- Record percentage of cinema attendance 65.6% of French population saw a film: crisis what crisis?. (“Let us go to the movies to forget”…)

- Record 41% of Box Office take from local films, “cocorico”, “Rien à déclarer,” “Intouchable”s… 16 film scored over a million admissions

- 18,4 M admissions and counting…for “Intouchables”, amazing score for a good comedy with good positive human feelings and attitude (5% of benefits go to a charity!)

– 28 oscar nominations...

2011's highest-grossing films were global hits, but Hollywood's franchise machine still moves faster and harder than anyone

2011's international box-office chart was predictably topped by the grand starburst when a boy wizard became a man. But a boy reporter, 14 places further down a list completely dominated by Hollywood, had the keenest eye for the nature of the forces now terraforming mainstream cinema, and in the years to come. Steven Spielberg's version of Tintin is only just getting a shot at Us hearts, but it's still striking how much of its business it has done overseas: more than 80%. As others have already noted, this seems to be one of the first blockbusters engineered to appeal to the rest of the world first and the Us second.

Even if they weren't as bold about it, most of the top 10 international films (ie all markets except the Us) knew which way the wind was blowing.

Daniel Radcliffe in the biggest domestic hit of 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 In 2011, Hollywood movies should earn the major studios $10.2 billion at the North American box office. That's down 3.5% from 2010, according to Hollywood.com. An estimated 1.28 billion tickets have been sold this year, which represents a 4.4% decline from 2010 and the lowest figure since 1995, the year of the talking pig Babe and Mel Gibson's Braveheart, when admissions totaled 1.26 billion. Among the suggested reasons for the downturn there are some that make perfect sense and some that are ludicrous. The weak U.S. economy matched with high ticket prices is almost undeniably keeping people away from movie houses. In fact, that has happened in the past, most notably during the height of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, when the majority of the big Hollywood studios posted heavy losses. Indeed, several almost went bankrupt. The...

We won't waste too much time on the American box office today as it's the usual stories: an animated film tops the charts (don't make me say the name), Bridesmaid barely dipped and Midnight in Paris is zooming up the "all time Woody Allen lists". On this last bit I wish we had "adjusted for inflation" charts at the ready. Those inevitable stories about it passing Hannah and Her Sisters at the box office are going to be annoying because $40 million in 1986 is a helluva lot more ticket-buying action than $41 million in 2011, you know? I'm guessing that Annie Hall, which really captured mainstream attention, would reign supreme if you adjusted for inflation. [updated: yep, Annie Hall is #1]

And yes I normally do a new drawing for the box office but I hate drawing cars and the only picture I'd like to conjure in that realm is Cars 2's "Mater" squished flat in a compactor.

'French cinema's obsession? France'

Outside France, French cinema is still regarded as upscale and arthouse. Our films are renowned for their limpid lack of action, which French cineastes proudly contrast with whizz-bang Hollywood fare. It's a hangover from the 1950s, when the Nouvelle Vague's unique and sophisticated aesthetic was admired all over the world.

Yet French cinema has another, much more commercially successful side, one that is far removed from Godard or Truffaut. Last year's biggest French-made box-office hit in France was Guillaume Canet's sprawling comedy drama Les Petits Mouchoirs (Little White Lies); only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows got more derrieres on seats. This year, Rien à Déclarer (Nothing to Declare), directed by the humourist Dany Boon, has sold almost 8m tickets.

These hits are often characterised by a shift of scenery from the capital to the provinces, and many echo a political debate that's been...