The Labour Party’s first budget has brought mixed results for the U.K. entertainment industry. While the film and TV sector welcomed an increase in the tax incentive for VFX spend, grassroots music venues have been hit by a huge reduction in the amount of tax relief they enjoy, potentially putting a number at risk. U.K. […]

Armie Hammer’s exile from the film industry appears to be over. The actor — who hasn’t acted in more than three years following sexual assault allegations that arose in 2021 — has landed a key role in upcoming Western “Frontier Crucible.” From “Bone Tomahawk” and “Dragged Across Concrete” producer Dallas Sonnier, the film comes from Sonnier’s Bonfire […]

Prague-based sales outlet Filmotor has secured international rights for Lebanese director Raed Rafei’s documentary “Tripoli / A Tale of Three Cities,” which has its world premiere in the Frontlight section of IDFA film festival. In the film, queer director Rafei returns to Tripoli in Lebanon to confront a hometown that once rejected him. He interviews […]

The EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival has revealed the final three contenders in its main competition. This includes a pair of high-profile sequels: “Dune Part 2,” lensed by Greig Fraser, who won the cinematography Academy Award for Part 1 of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s scifi novel; and “Gladiator II,” shot by John Mathieson, […]

The first look of Éanna Hardwicke as Manchester United and Ireland soccer legend Roy Keane alongside Steve Coogan as his embattled Irish national manager Mick McCarthy, has been revealed from upcoming comedy biopic “Saipan.” The film — first announced earlier in the year by Variety — chronicles one of the most infamous moments in Irish sporting history, […]

Upcoming feature film “Flavia,” a family adventure about a precocious young detective, has sold across Europe, including to Sky in the U.K. The film, which features “The Hobbit” star Martin Freeman opposite Molly Belle Wright (“Deep Water”) as the eponymous detective Flavia, has started principal photography, with a first look image showing the duo alongside […]

Hollywood’s most notable bombs are — sadly — just as well-known as its biggest hits, a factor that a new book joyously celebrates.  From British film critic Tim Robey, “Box Office Poison” digs up the dirt on some of cinema’s wildest misfires, from grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, going behind the […]

Munich-based Studio 100 Intl. has teamed up with Mexican animation studio Lunch Films to develop animated family feature “Halloween vs Day of the Dead.” The film, which will blend 2D and 3D animation, will be directed by Celso Garcia, founder of Lunch Films and repped by the Gotham Group. Garcia’s credits include “The Thin Yellow […]

Grup Mediapro, the Barcelona-based global holding, including The Mediapro Studio, is launching and will manage a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) sports rights brokering fund, targeting established and emerging sports. The new fund was announced Tuesday in Madrid at a Mediapro 30th anniversary celebration, which catches the company in expansive mode, coming less than a week […]

Billy Zane is set to make the trek to Italy’s Torino Film Festival which has secured the world premiere of hotly anticipated indie film “Waltzing With Brando” directed by Bill Fishman  in which Zane plays Marlon Brando during the period when he was preparing to star in “The Godfather” and “Last Tango in Paris.” “Waltzing With Brando,” […]

Industry veterans gathered at the Tokyo International Film Festival’s (TIFF) annual Motion Picture Association (MPA) seminar to discuss the evolving landscape of filming in Japan and the impact of emerging technologies on global production, with participants highlighting both opportunities and challenges in attracting international projects to the country. Japan’s location incentive scheme, which offers reimbursement […]

Independent Chinese film distributor Road Movies has already tasted success with a succession of imported Japanese animation films. But the company says that China’s youth market is best accessed through a vastly broader strategy that embraces IP, fandom, events, retail and merchandizing. “Our aim is to be a Chinese Disney – not in scale. But […]

The new co-production treaty signed between Japan and Italy is being touted as a significant step towards reintegrating Japan’s film production industry with those overseas countries. The agreement – signed in June and activated in August – was directly referenced on Monday by Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and has colored the programming of this […]

Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and late great Moroccan actor Naïma Elmcherqui are set to be celebrated with career tributes by the Marrakech International Film Festival. Elmcherqui, who was one of Morocco’s best-loved personalities, died in Casablanca on Oct. 5. After becoming a household name during the 1960s and 70s working with Moroccan theatre director and […]

A feature debut exploring The Philippines’ underground punk scene and social activism is participating at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, which is part of the Tokyo International Film Festival’s TIFFCOM market. “Ria,” directed by award-winning short filmmaker Arvin Belarmino, centers on 25-year-old Ria, who lives in a punk commune facing demolition while caring for her diabetic […]

Paz Vega-starrer “Death Has No Master,” a Venezuela-set thriller from director Jorge Thielen Armand, is participating in TIFFCOM’s Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, as the producers seek to secure the final 30% of the film’s $1.2 million budget. The film, which previously participated in the Venice Production Bridge’s Gap-Financing Market, stars Vega as a woman who returns […]

Modern Films has taken on the film adaptation of Jessica Au’s award-winning novel “Cold Enough for Snow,” with theater veteran Jemima James set to make her feature directorial debut. The project is at TIFFCOM’s Tokyo Gap-Financing Market. The source material, which won the inaugural Novel Prize from publishers Fitzcarraldo Editions, New Directions and Giramondo, follows […]

Hong Kong-based sales firm Cappu Films will use TIFFCOM, the rights market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, to launch world sales activities on two films that were recently at the Busan festival. Psychological thriller “Waterdrop,” was winner of two awards at the Busan festival earlier this month while crime comedy “So It Goes” […]

Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” dominated the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £4.3 million ($5.6 million) debut weekend, according to numbers from Comscore. Universal’s animated feature “The Wild Robot” maintained momentum in week two with £1.9 million for a £6.4 million cume. Also in its sophomore session, Paramount’s horror sequel “Smile 2” took […]