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‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch … Red Sea Media Acquires 2 Titles For Marché du Film
Red Sea Media has acquired worldwide rights, excluding North America, for two new titles: horror-thriller Sacrilege and comedic horror pic Hell Baby. Red Sea will introduce both at the upcoming Marché du Film. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Sacrilege is produced by Rick Dugdale of Enderby Entertainment through Enderby’s horror division Tony-Seven Films, Sean E. DeMott through Execution Style Entertainment and Chris M. Bonifay through Limb from Limb Pictures. Sacrilege is about a family who takes back their son 3 years after he is kidnapped & brainwashed by a devil worshipping cult. Now, he would like nothing more than to watch them get murdered. With the cult surrounding their cabin, the family must fight for their lives while trying to undo the damage. No cast has yet been announced. Hell Baby tells the story of an expectant couple who move into a haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans — a house with a demonic curse. Things spiral out of control and only the Vatican’s elite exorcism team can save them — or can they? Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Riki Lindhome, Rob Huebel, Michael Ian Black, Paul Scheer, Keegan Michael Key, Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon star. Darko Entertainment’s Hell Baby was written and directed by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon and produced by Jeff Culotta, Ted Hamm, Sean McKittrick and Peter Principato. READ MORE »
Cannes Briefs: Red Sea Media Picks Up 2; UMedia & ‘Amazing Mr Jones’; Ealing Metro Re-Brands; Lionsgate UK’s Buying Spree; Weinstein Co. Presents Short Film Series
Hot Trailer: ‘Fruitvale Station’
Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) stars in Fruitvale Station as Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old Bay Area man whose fatal 2009 shooting by Oakland BART police sparked outrage and protests against police brutality. The Weinstein Co. nabbed Ryan Coogler’s directorial debut out … Read More »
Cannes: Weinstein Co. Bringing Tim Burton To Town For ‘Big Eyes’ Brunch
EXCLUSIVE: A few weeks ago, I reported that The Weinstein Co. would screen footage of its upcoming fall films at a special event in Cannes. Further ramping up the company’s use of the … Read More »
Hot Teaser Trailer: ‘The Grandmaster’
The Weinstein Co. release acquired from Annapurna Pictures hits theaters August 23 with an abridged title (formerly The Grandmasters). Tony Leung stars in the Wong Kar-wai action drama as legendary martial artist Ip Man. Zhang Ziyi and Cung Le co-star. Here’s the … Read More »
Cannes: Weinsteins’ ‘Grace Of Monaco’ To Screen Footage; Whither The Studios?
We’re six days from definitively learning the Cannes Film Festival lineup while hopefuls await a call from fest chief Thierry Frémaux in the hours just preceding Thursday’s announcement. Of the high-profile possibilities, we reported last month that Nicole Kidman-starrer Grace Of Monaco would not be ready, and while that intel remains correct, I’m now hearing that footage from the film will turn up on the Croisette. It’s possible it could be part of an officially sanctioned event, but I understand that has yet to be determined.
By Hollywood standards, if that Weinstein Co. footage were to be an official part of the proceedings, it could be one of the most high-profile parts of the selection since the major studios are largely sitting this one out. With the exception of Warner Bros., whose Baz Luhrmann-directed The Great Gatsby is opening the festival, I’m hearing that either the timing has not aligned or that upcoming studio films don’t jive with Cannes as a platform. “It’s a great place if you have something to promote… But it’s expensive, so it has to be the right thing for the movie,” one insider tells me. Estimates put the cost of an official red carpet Cannes screening and fête at up to $3M and beyond.
Cannes is still considered by Hollywood to be a useful marketing tool, but could it be that’s becoming truer outside of the official selection? Witness TWC, which last year rented a plush room in the Majestic Hotel to screen about 20 minutes of footage from three of its fall films – Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook and The Master. The move turned out to be a prescient means to whet the appetite for pictures that TWC was confident would be awards contenders later in the year. If the company repeats that select screening effort – which I understand it might do in a much bigger way – the top picks for this year look to be Salinger, the Shane Salerno feature doc about the Catcher In The Rye author; August: Osage County, John Wells’ Meryl Streep/Julia Roberts-starrer; One Chance, David Frankel’s pic about Britain’s Got Talent’s first winner Paul Potts; Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, the biopic starring Idris Elba, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler.
The above formula proved fruitful for TWC last year in a non-official capacity. However, for the U.S. majors, appearing in official selection is viable to launch Europe, but doesn’t mean much domestically, I’m told by someone who’s been down the road before. Another believes that to merit the whole red carpet pomp & circumstance “it has to be the right movie for the right audience because all eyes are on you. It is not the right place to toe dip… If you’re not going to deliver above expectations, why put yourself in the position?” Even DreamWorks Animation, long termed by Frémaux as a “friend of the festival” and which usually bows a movie in Cannes, won’t be there this year, I understand. Its upcoming Turbo rolls out in Europe in the fall. Typically, high-profile movies that open in Cannes are released theatrically quite quickly after the festival or are films that benefit from a very long lead critical campaign. Read More »
Harvey Weinstein Reacts To Venice Jury
I spoke to Harvey Weinstein in Toronto after The Weinstein Company’s The Master won 3 big awards at the Venice Film Festival and about the latest jury scandal there. Weinstein explained that the panel wanted to give The Master the top Golden Lion prize and also acting awards. But when … Read More »
‘The Sapphires’ Opens Strong In Australian Debut
Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney.
Australian musical The Sapphires rang up $A2.3M ($2.4M) in its debut Down Under this weekend, ranking 2nd behind the The Dark Knight Rises in its 4th frame and ahead of the opening … Read More »
Abigail Breslin Heading To ‘August: Osage County’
EXCLUSIVE: Abigail Breslin is set to be Julia Roberts’ daughter in August: Osage County. The Oscar nominee will play Jean Fordham, the 14-year old angry and acerbic pot smoking child of Roberts’ Barbara character in the … Read More »
Juliette Lewis In Talks For ‘August: Osage County’
EXCLUSIVE: Juliette Lewis is in negotiations to join August: Osage County. The actress would play the role of Karen, the self-deluding youngest daughter, in the dark family comedy … Read More »
Weinsteins Ordered To Show ‘Escape From Planet Earth’ To Filmmakers Suing For $50M
They didn’t get to make Escape From Planet Earth but the producer and the director suing the Weinstein Company for $50 million will get to see it soon. “Brian Inerfeld, Tony Leech and their counsel (collectively “Plaintiffs) shall … Read More »
Christina Ricci To Go ‘Around The Block’ In Sarah Spillane’s Australian Indie
Freelance journalist Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney
Continuing a mini-boom in Australian films tackling indigenous themes, Around the Block starts shooting in Sydney on Monday. Christina Ricci stars as … Read More »
The Weinstein Co Acquires French Culinary Comedy ‘Haute Cuisine’: Cannes
EXCLUSIVE: Continuing its steady pace of pick-ups, The Weinstein Co has acquired French comedy Haute Cuisine from Wild Bunch. The Christian Vincent-directed pic is based on the true story of Danièle Delpeuch who was the private cook to late French … Read More »
Cannes Film Festival: Distributors To Watch
Buying is already getting underway in Cannes with films acquired on the eve and first day of the market. There is a lot of quality product out there and many distributors with already packed slates are eager not to miss an opportunity. Execs are calling it a buyer’s market, but one important company may be sitting this one out. Here’s a look at some key players in town this year:
The Weinstein Company: Harvey Weinstein often sets the pace of the market here in Cannes. When he spends, everybody else seems to also. If that holds true this year, it will mean vibrant activity on the Croisette. On the eve of this year’s Cannes, The Weinstein Co announced it had picked up Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires, the Australian feel-good film that’s screening in official selection. They’re also close to a deal on hunt for Bin Laden pic Code Name Geronimo. The company has 2 pictures in the competition, Lawless, which it acquired last year (when it was still called The Wettest County In The World), and Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly (which also used to go by a different name, Cogan’s Trade). The timing of the Sapphires announcement is reminiscent of the Weinsteins’ pick-up of The Artist last year. TWC has a packed roster for 2012, but COO David Glasser tells me, “Last year we had a busy slate going into the market and we ended up buying. We’ll buy for this year if the picture is there, but we also have a keen eye for 2013.” Last year, TWC’s deal on The Artist came after the company already had Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master in its pocket, but that didn’t stop pick-ups of The Iron Lady and Lawless. “We’re as aggressive as the product allows us to be,” says Glasser. TWC also has August Osage County with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts and David O Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook coming up.
Related: Cannes 2012: Producers To Watch
Lionsgate: Patrick Wachsberger is looking ahead to 2014. The takeover of Summit by Lionsgate which was announced in January has had the international biz concerned the consolidation would eliminate an important supplier of product as well as an important US partner. Wachsberger tells me at Cannes he doesn’t think “we’re up to a lot and the why of it is we have something like 18 movies to release. So, frankly, we have no need for product. Of course if there’s something really great, we’ll go for it.” The ‘new’ Lionsgate also recently greenlighted a handful of movies that includes sequel RED 2, the Dirty Dancing remake and has Hunger Games follow-up Catching Fire which is finalizing deals in the remaining foreign territories. Wachsberger says that the influx of new sales companies with such a variety of product leads him to wonder where the films are going to go domestically. “There’s not that many companies. We might have great opportunities of picking up movies that we like, but buyers are going to be able to tell distributors they’re going to have to put up their own P&A. For us and the other domestic distributors it’s gonna be fantastic.” He adds that for 2014, “we definitely need product. We’re loaded for 2012 and I don’t think we have any room left for 2013, but you always find room for something great.”
Related: Cannes 2012: Directors To Watch
Weinstein Co Acquires Aussie Pic ‘The Sapphires’: Cannes
May 15, 2012 – New York, NY – The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that they have acquired from Goalpost Film worldwide rights, with the exception of the UK & Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, Israel, Portugal and airlines, to THE SAPPHIRES. The film, directed by acclaimed Aboriginal actor and theater director Wayne Blair, stars funnyman Chris O’Dowd (BRIDESMAIDS, FRIENDS WITH KIDS), Deborah Mailman (RADIANCE, OFFSPRING), who was the first Aboriginal actress to win the AFI Award for Best Actress, Jessica Mauboy (BRAN NUE DAE), an Australian pop artist who was the runner-up on Australian Idol in 2006 and breakout stars Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell. The screenplay was written by Aboriginal playwright Tony Briggs, whose mother and family members were part of The Sapphires group, and Keith Thompson. Warwick Thornton, previous winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for SAMSON AND DELILAH, is the film’s Director of Photography. The announcement was made today by TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein, COO David Glasser, and Co-SVPs of Acquisitions Negeen Yazdi and Dan Guando.
Ex-Weinstein Biz Affairs Exec Laine Kline Moves To Fox International Prods
LOS ANGELES (May 3, 2012) __ Former Weinstein Company executive Laine Kline has joined Twentieth Century Fox as senior vice president of business affairs Fox International Productions. The announcement was made today by Fox’s executive vice presidents of business affairs Stephen Plum and Mark Resnick, to whom Kline will report. At Fox International Pictures, Kline will negotiate many of the company’s development, acquisition, co-productions, partnerships, financing and tax driven agreements and structures.
Hot Trailer: Tom Hardy In ‘Lawless’
With buzz already building for Tom Hardy‘s high-profile turn as uber-villain Bane in Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight Rises, the Weinstein Co. today unveiled the trailer for his starring vehicle, Lawless. Joining Hardy in the Depression-era crime drama are Shia LaBoeuf, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman and Jessica Chastain.
Hot Trailer: Justin Bieber Sings For ‘Bully’
Here’s a new trailer for Bully that features Justin Bieber singing the Diane Warren tune “Born To Be Somebody”. After The Weinstein Company submitted a slightly edited Bully to the MPAA ratings board, that version was rated PG-13 and TWC is rolling it out nationwide tomorrow.
MPAA Upholds R Rating On ‘Bully’
Weinstein To Take On MPAA ‘Bully’ Rating
The Weinstein Co won its appeal of the MPAA’s rating for Blue Valentine last year, but the distributor missed this one today. The filmmakers and Harvey Weinstein were looking for a PG-13 rating so they could show the documentary about bullying to middle … Read More »
Weinstein Co To Expand ‘My Week With Marilyn’ Ahead Of Oscars
New York, NY (February 17, 2012) The Weinstein Company announced today that they are expanding MY WEEK WITH MARILYN into 600 theaters nationwide. This will give audiences a chance to see for the first time or
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