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This is the fictional story of five strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting murdered… My Little Eye. And if you haven’t seen this one, it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.

Reality shows are nearly unavoidable these days, but back in the ‘90s they were still rare. Aside from MTV’s The Real World and episodes of Cops, we hadn’t been exposed to much reality programming yet. And when word started leaking out about the development of shows like Big Brother and Survivor, they sounded odd. A little twisted, potentially dangerous. Big Brother was offering the chance to watch its contestants on 24/7 live streams. Survivor was taking its contestants out to isolated locations and leaving them to provide basic survival necessities for themselves. While the concept of Big Brother just seemed weird,...

The Fithian Group, launched last fall by longtime NATO chief John Fithian, has developed a data-driven, digital theatrical distribution marketplace it hopes will revolutionize how independent filmmakers and rights-holders book and release movies in theaters.

An early version of the platform, called Attend, rolls out Stateside in the first quarter of 2025. The U.S. and Australia will be initial markets.

Dozens of filmmakers and producers from Sean Baker to Steven Soderbergh Patty Jenkins and Ted Hope are supporting the concept, signing on to an Attend statement “that modern, democratic, data-driven marketplace providing an efficient and effective way to distribute all genres of film directly to theatres and audiences is a vital need for our industry and art form.”

Powered by entertainment tech firm Vista Group, the marketplace allows filmmakers to upload details and materials for their films directly onto the platform. Exhibitors can search the database, and Attend recommends movies.

Citing a need to boost the supply line to the challenged exhibition sector, a trio of former top lobbyists has announced a data-driven, digital theatrical distribution marketplace designed to transform how independent filmmakers and rights-holders book and release theatrical films.

The Fithian Group –which waslaunchedin November 2023 by former National Association of Theatre Owners executives John Fithian, Patrick Corcoran, and Jackie Brenneman – said the upcomingAttend platform is designed to allow filmmakers to connect their films directly to theatre owners and help with the logistics of booking.

It comes at a time when the number of theatrical releases has beenshrinking, exacerbated by...

Citing a need to boost the supply line to the challenged exhibition sector, a trio of former top lobbyists has announced a data-driven, digital theatrical distribution marketplace designed to transform how independent filmmakers and rights-holders book and release theatrical films.

The Fithian Group –which waslaunchedin November 2023 by former National Association of Theatre Owners executives John Fithian, Patrick Corcoran, and Jackie Brenneman – said the upcomingAttend platform is designed to allow filmmakers to connect their films directly to theatre owners and help with the losgistis of booking.

It comes at a time when the number of theatrical releases has beenshrinking, exacerbated by...

Citing a need to address challenges to exhibition and boost the supply line to theatres, The Fithian Group has announced a data-driven, digital theatrical distribution marketplace that it says could revolutionise how independent filmmakers and rights-holders book and release theatrical films.

Called Attend, the platform is designed to allow filmmakers to connect their films directly to theatre owners at a time when the number of theatrical releases has beenshrinking, exacerbated by a shift in supply to streaming, and the enduring impact of the Hollywood strikes andpandemic.

The Fithian Group– which waslaunchedin November 2023 by former National Association of Theatre Owners executives John Fithian,...

The former leader of theater-owner’s group NATO has a new way to get your independent film into movie theaters — one intended to cut out the middleman.

John Fithian is launching an online marketplace to connect filmmakers directly with exhibitors. The platform is called “Attend,” and it puts the “intelligence” into its artificial intelligence. Attend’s tech, powered by the Vista Group, pairs filmmakers with the specific theaters best suited to their movie. For exhibitors, Attend is a portal to a broader range of content. This way, filmmakers retain the rights to their movie, and exhibitors keep control over their screens.

Sorry about all of that, distributors.

A filmmaker uploads details about (and assets from) their films directly into Attend, including metadata and other specifics. The platform’s AI will match the movie with theaters based on their customer data, local demographics, and affinity groups.

Attend will launch an alpha phase in the U.

Exclusive: Filming has wrapped in Wales on Mr. Burton, the upcoming biopic about the man who inspired screen legend Richard Burton.

Independent Entertainment has sold UK and Ireland rights to Icon Film Distribution, which will release the film theatrically in 2025 to coincide with the centenary of Burton’s birth.

As we first revealed, the film will tell the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins. The latter dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Mr. Burton recognized the raw talent in his pupil, and made it his mission to fight for him, becoming his tutor, strict taskmaster and eventually his adoptive father. Actor Burton would go on to be nominated for seven Oscars and was well...

Charlize Theron starred as the immortal mercenary Andy in Netflix’s The Old Guard in 2020. The critical acclaim and popularity of the film resulted in the streamer greenlighting a sequel, The Old Guard 2. The sequel film completed filming in 2022, but a delay in post-production work halted the film’s progress. Theron is confident in the project and shared that it would soon hit the screens.

Charlize Theron in The Old Guard | Netflix

The Old Guard 2 is one film that the actress looks forward to in her future filmography. It is also possible that the films could be made into a trilogy, with the second film leaving scope for a third potential film. Interestingly, she has less hope for her Marvel return as she revealed that she hadn’t gotten a call from the studio.

Charlize Theron Says The Old Guard 2 Will Be Back Soon Charlize Theron in...

The Charlize Theron action film The Old Guard was a hit for the Netflix streaming service when it was released in 2020, but the sequel The Old Guard 2 has had an unexpectedly bumpy ride while making its way out into the world. It went into production back in 2022, and filming had to be halted briefly after a fire broke out at the film studio where the movie had been shooting; Rome, Italy’s historic Cinecittà Studios. Then there was a shake-up at Netflix during post-production, so the project got shut down for a while – but Theron has told Variety that The Old Guard 2 is now back on track and coming soon.

Theron said, “Netflix went through quite a changeover. We got kind of stuck in that and our post-production shut down, I think, five weeks into it. They were going through a lot of changes, and I totally understand it.

Charlize Theron insists “The Old Guard 2” will be released “soon.”

The Oscar winner explains that the action sequel, which wrapped shooting about two years ago, has faced a lengthy delay due in part to a change in Netflix leadership. “Netflix went through quite a changeover,” Theron told me at her Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Block Party on Saturday. “We got kind of stuck in that and our post-production shut down, I think, five weeks into it.”

The actors and writers strikes are also said to have kept the film from being on schedule. Even so, Theron never worried that the movie could be shelved.

“They were going through a lot of changes, and I totally understand it,” she said. “We finally picked it back up and I’m really excited about it.”

The first “Old Guard” was released in 2020, with the streamer announcing that it reached 72 million households in its first four weeks.

Exclusive: Rising Brit actor Harry Lawtey (Industry), who will have a key role in upcoming sequel Joker: Folie A Deux, has been set to star as a young Richard Burton in UK feature Mr. Burton, which will also star BAFTA winner Toby Jones (Mr Bates vs. The Post Office) and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown).

The film will tell the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton (Jones) and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins (Lawtey). Richard dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Mr. Burton recognised the raw talent in his pupil, and made it his mission to fight for him, becoming his tutor, strict taskmaster and eventually his adoptive father. Richard Jenkins would go on to become Richard Burton, the...

Exclusive: Filming is due to get underway in late spring on Mr Burton, an upcoming biopic about the man who inspired screen legend, Richard Burton.

The film will tell the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins. Richard dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Mr Burton recognised the raw talent in his pupil, and made it his mission to fight for him, becoming his tutor, strict taskmaster and eventually his adoptive father.

BAFTA winner Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), fresh off his acclaimed performance in momentous UK TV series Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, will star in the title role, with Oscar nominee Lesley Manville playing ‘Ma Smith’, Philip...

In the 26th episode of Deadline Strike Talk — which for below the liners signifies half a year without a paycheck that hasn’t come from Uber fares or waiting tables — host Billy Ray hits on a zeitgeist theme that gets voiced a lot by people who just feel that the business isn’t as remotely as exciting or near as much fun as it was before the folly that signatories put themselves into by chasing Netflix as it became the preeminent streamer. The result has put just about every other streamer pursuit in a position of being money losers that have strained the economics, and accelerated the demise of those conglomerates’ traditional networks, and so many other things.

Ray begins by addressing the fear that informs so many moves in Hollywood, and is anathema to great creative work. Joining him are two Hollywood veterans, John Ptak and Marc Evans. While they flourished in different areas,...

Martin Clunes & Louis Ashbourne Serkis Land ITV Drama

Martin Clunes has landed his next ITV drama, playing a farmer confronted with dark forces seeping into his rural community opposite Andy Serkis’s son. Out There will depict the stealthy, surreptitious invasion of the land Nathan Williams cherishes, with devastating consequences as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers. The show also starring Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Nathan’s son Johnny is being penned by Ed Whitmore and Marc Evans and produced by Doc Martin star Clune’s Buffalo Pictures, which he runs with Philippa Braithwaite. “Out There couldn’t be more different from Doc Martin” he said. “It’s pretty dark, but definitely a story worth telling.” Clunes also worked with Evans and Whitmore on hit ITV drama Manhunt.

BBC Policy Boss Scores Premier League Role

The BBC’s policy boss Claire Sumner...

The “Old Guard” sequel starring Charlize Theron doesn’t even have an official release date, but a third installment may already be brewing. “There’s an ending to No. 2 that kind of demands a No. 3, which makes me very happy,” producer Marc Evans told me at the premiere of “The Mother,” Netflix’s new Jennifer Lopez action movie.

In “The Old Guard 2,” Theron reprises her role as the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries, and Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli return as gay couple Joe and Nicky. “You’re going to see more story of Joe and Nicky,” Evans assured.

After pandemic delays, filming began on the sequel, with Victoria Mahoney directing, about a year ago. Asked if Theron was contracted for a third movie, Evans would only say, “Charlize is a producer on the movie and deeply supportive of the franchise.”

“The Old Guard,” directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood,...

In The Mother, Jennifer Lopez embraces every aspect of motherhood.

On Wednesday evening, the cast and creators of Netflix’s upcoming action drama gathered in Los Angeles for the film’s premiere. The story follows Lopez as a military-trained assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she’s never met from dangerous criminals out for revenge.

“I remember when I wasn’t a mother, I didn’t understand that at all,” Lopez, who also serves as a producer on the film, told The Hollywood Reporter about becoming a parent. “I remember apologizing to friends of mine at that time who had kids — I was like, ‘Why don’t you do this and this?’ And then once I had [kids], I was like, ‘I’m so sorry; I had no idea.’

The actress continued, “This movie, in particular, I love because it really thinks about: What kind of mother are you?...

Jennifer Lopez and the team behind “The Mother” are already thinking about a sequel.

“I think it would be ‘The Daughter,’” Lopez told me Wednesday night at the premiere of the new Netflix action thriller.

In the film, Lopez plays a former assassin who is pulled back into her deadly work when her 12-year-old daughter’s (Lucy Paez) life is put in danger.

Paez agreed. “The sequel will definitely be ‘The Daughter,’” the young actor said.

Not only does Lopez’s character kill at least a couple dozen men in the movie, but the actor’s impressive stunt work also includes motorcycle chases and gunfights while riding a snowmobile. “I was achy, but not hurt,” Lopez said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done an action movie like this. I do a lot of my own stunts because I’m athletic. But I have kids so I’m not going to risk anything.

Jennifer Lopez felt “very empowered” by her latest role in “The Mother”.

In the upcoming Netflix film, the actress portrays “a deadly female assassin” who will do anything to save her daughter “while on the run from dangerous men,” as per the official synopsis.

For the role, Lopez, 53, took on a great amount of physical training including weapon training and fight training, as well as learning how to ride a motorcycle and a snowmobile.

She told Et Canada’s Morgan Hoffman that taking on the role of the Mother felt “very empowering.”

Read More: Jennifer Lopez Reveals Who Would Win In A Showdown — Her ‘The Mother’ Character Or Ben Affleck’s ‘Batman’

“You know, I would think I would have got a role like this when I was in my twenties. And to get it now is even like triple empowering,” she said. “And so doing all the fight training,...

If you’re coming for an assassin’s daughter, you better be ready for that assassin to come for you. Of course, that’s kind of the bad guy’s whole intention in the first trailer for the new Netflix film “The Mother.”

That assassin is played by none other than Jennifer Lopez, and apparently, she’s ruffled more than a few feathers. As the footage opens on her in a hospital bed, she’s told that, after getting several FBI agents killed, the only thing she can do to keep her daughter safe is to leave her behind.

And so, reluctantly, she does. But, as is almost always the case with dangerous assassins, her past catches up to her — and her daughter. When the girl gets kidnapped as part of an effort to lure Lopez’s character back in, she offers an ominous warning.

“I’m a killer, but I’m also a mother,...

Mother’s Day is on the horizon, and it’s natural to celebrate those who give their all to their families. Mothers like Sarah Connor, Ripley, and Charlie Baltimore carry on the tradition of action heroines that are lionesses protecting their cubs from the threats of predators. Jennifer Lopez seeks to join the badass mothers with her new action thriller, The Mother. Netflix has just dropped the trailer showcasing Lopez’s new physical prowess to take down all comers threatening to hurt her daughter to get to her.

The official synopsis from Netflix reads,

A deadly female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.

The cast includes Lopez as the titular Mother. Lucy Paez, from films Silencio andThe Exorcism of Carmen Farias, plays Zoe, the Mother’s 12-year-old daughter. Omari Hardwick, known for Kick-Ass,...

Jennifer Lopez is a killer and a mother in Netflix’s upcoming action movie, titled “The Mother,” coming to the streamer on (when else?) this Mother’s Day weekend.

In the newly released trailer, the international singer, dancer and actor stars as a former killer who left her old life and family behind to protect her now 12-year-old daughter. The trailer reveals that the FBI cut a deal with Lopez after several agents were killed and two dangerous men were still on the loose. After her daughter is kidnapped many years later, Lopez’s character must come out of hiding and re-enter her life to save her. Along the way, she tortures, shoots, stabs and headbutts the kidnappers’ men, and she teaches her daughter how to survive in the face of danger.

“I’m a killer, but I’m also a mother,” Lopez says in the trailer, perfectly encapsulating the film in one line.

Feature incarnation of the Idris Elba cop drama sees a ropey but savage snuff-porn plot get too much explicit attention

Neil Cross’s smash-hit BBC TV crime drama now gets its own standalone feature film, with Idris Elba returning as the troubled London police officer John Luther, effectively continuing the story from the end of the fifth season. This may well play very effectively to the show’s fanbase and there’s certainly an alpha supporting cast including Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis and Hattie Morahan.

But I have to say – and those squeamish about spoilers and cliches had better look away now – that without the extended context of longform TV, the greater emphasis on explicit, violent horror is a bit exhausting. The serial-killer accessories feel hand-me-down; the Scandi noir touch is spurious and storylines in the movies about evil criminal plans to livestream snuff-porn are frankly always lame and implausible.

Exclusive: Philip Glenister and Steffan Rhodri are to front a factual-based drama for the BBC.

Filming on Steeltown Murders (working title) has begun in and around South Wales, with Life on Mars and State Play actor Glenister and Gavin and Stacey and In My Skin‘s Rhodri in the lead roles as Dci Paul Bathell and Phil ‘Bach’ Rees. Ed Whitmore (Manhunt) is the writer.

Severn Screen, one of the co-producers on ITV’s high rating 2021 series The Pembrokeshire Murders, is producing in association with All3Media International.

The four part-drama is set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, contrasting the policing methods of the 1970s with the forensic breakthroughs of the early Noughties. It centers on the hunt to catch the killer of three young women in Port Talbot, Wales, and the how the mystery — the first case of its kind — was solved 30 years after the crimes thanks to pioneering DNA evidence.

Jennifer Lopez buffs up, throws on fatigues and gets out the ammo to keep her daughter safe in the new Netflix film, “The Mother.”

“The Mother,” tells the story of a female assassin (Lopez), who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before while on the run from dangerous men.

The video above shows Lopez in a remote cabin in the woods in the dead of a snowy winter. She’s building her muscles, prepping for the fight of her life. Or to be more specific, the fight for her daughter’s life.

“She needs protection right now,” she says of her daughter. And nothing will stop this Mama Bear from doing just that. She’s got the would-be kidnappers in her gun’s crosshairs and has absolutely no problem with pulling the trigger. “If there’s trouble,” she says grimly, “come find me.

Netflix Offers Free Euro Capitals Walking Tours To Highlight Iconic Show Locations

For fans wanting to eat a croissant at Place de l’Estrapade like in Emily in Paris or experience a Callao money heist in Callao from La Casa De Papel, Netflix is providing the service from July 11-17. The streamer has teamed with Sandeman’s New Europe Tours in London, Paris and Madrid for a series of free guided walking tours that share history and details of the cities — including visits to the locations of iconic scenes from its international shows and films. The walks will also include behind-the-scenes insights from filming.

BBC Orders Adoption Story ‘Lost Boys And Fairies’ From Duck Soup

The BBC has commissioned Lost Boys and Fairies, a story of queer adoption from Welsh writer Daf James. BBC Drama and BBC Cymru Wales are uniting on the four-part series, which is from Leeds-based indie Duck Soup Films.

Uma Thurman and Henry Golding are set to join Charlize Theron in Netflix’s “The Old Guard 2.”

The “Kill Bill” and “Crazy Rich Asians” stars join previously announced returning cast members Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who reprise their roles from the original movie. “The Old Guard” followed a covert team of immortal mercenaries who have to fight to keep their identity a secret when they find themselves exposed and an unexpected new member is discovered.

It’s yet to be revealed how Thurman and Golding play into the new story, but both stars certainly have action experience. Following his breakout performances in “Crazy Rich Asians,” “A Simple Favor” and “Last Christmas,” Golding entered the realm of high-octane movies with “Snake Eyes” and “The Gentlemen.” The actor will next be seen in the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion,...

Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) have joined the cast of Netflix and Skydance’s anticipated comic book sequel, The Old Guard 2. They’re set to star alongside returning cast members Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

One of Netflix’s most popular films to date with 186 million hours viewed in its first 28 days of release, The Old Guard debuted on the streamer in July of 2020. The film based on the graphic novel series created by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández followed a covert team of immortal mercenaries that were suddenly exposed, fighting to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member was discovered. Details with regard to the sequel’s plot have thus far been kept under wraps, but the project appears to be gaining momentum, with its first castings since its...

Click here to read the full article.

Uma Thurman and Henry Golding have joined Charlize Theron in The Old Guard 2, Neflix’s sequel to its hit 2020 action movie.

On top of Theron, the new installment is bringing back original cast members KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor as it adapts the comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez.

Victoria Mahoney, the history-making Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker second unit director, will direct the feature. Mahoney replaced Gina Prince-Bythewood who helmed the first movie but bowed out last August citing other commitments.

The initial movie remains one of the most watched original movies on Netflix, having 186 million hours viewed in its first 28 days of release. It follows a group of immoral warriors who meet a new one of their kind, even as repercussions from their centuries-old way of life catches up...

Uma Thurman and “Crazy Rich Asians” star Henry Golding are set to join Charlize Theron in the cast of Netflix’s “The Old Guard 2.”

The film is the sequel to Netflix and Skydance’s 2020 action film about a covert group of mercenary killers, all of whom are immortal and have been fighting for centuries but have to fight to keep their identities secret when a new immortal member of their team is discovered.

Thurman and Golding join the previously announced cast of those returning from the original, including Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

No character details were revealed for either Thurman or Golding, and plot details for the sequel are still under wraps.

Also Read:

Uma Thurman to Play the President in ‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ Adaptation

Victoria Mahoney is taking over the directing duties on “The Old Guard 2” from Gina Prince-Bythewood,...

Marc Evans is exiting as president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group, likely at the end of the year, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. He is expected to become a producer on the lot, the individual added. Deadline first reported his exit plans. Evans, a 14-year veteran of the studio, is a well-respected creative executive who previously served as Paramount’s president of production, a role he took on in 2010. Under his leadership, Paramount released prestige films including “Fences,” “Arrival,” “Silence,” “The Big Short” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” But more recently, he also led the group through high-profile.

Paramount’s motion picture group president Marc Evans promised during ComicCon today that the studio will be working even more closely with its sister Viacom TV brands, the most immediate of which is Nickelodeon. While we already knew about Sherlock Gnomes opening on January 12, the studio has also moved its Amusement Park big toon from July 13, 2018, to August 10 next year. In addition, a new untitled Nick-Paramount property will debut on March 22, 2019, along with the Sp…...

Paramount’s Motion Picture Group President Marc Evans announced that the studio’s 2018 animated release “Amusement Park” is headed to Nickelodeon as a TV series. The TV series is aiming to launch in 2019, said Nickelodeon Chief Marketing Officer Pam Kaufman, who joined Evans on stage at CinemaCon 2017 in Las Vegas Tuesday. The project is a Ilion Animation Studios production that Paramount will distribute, and has a voice cast that includes Mila Kunis, Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Ken Jeong and Jeffrey Tambor. Also Read: Dwayne Johnson Calls 'Baywatch' Cast the 'Avengers of the Beach' Viacom CEO Bob Bakish gave...

Exuberant studio session on Tuesday showcases R-rated comedy, sci-fi, adult thrillers, satire.

George Clooney and Matt Damon, Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Hopkins, Alexander Payne and none other than former Us vice-president Al Gore were among the celebrity highlights of a high-wattage studio presentation on Tuesday.

Mark Damon introduced “one of the very best directors in the world” Alexander Payne to cue up 10 minutes of footage from the satire Downsizing.

The footage dazzled the crowd and drew sustained applause at the end. Damon and on-screen wife Kristen Wiig volunteer for a ground-breaking social experiment in which they are reduced to the size of dolls.

“Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution for overpopulation and climate change, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink people down to five inches tall,” Payne, who is editing the film now, said. “What people soon realise is it’s actually a way to consume more.” The...

So that's what the Transformers writer's room is going to look like, eh? While I don't tally the worth of a writer based on how many news stories they break, I will admit that I was deeply irritated when the story was first written about the notion of Akiva Goldsman spearheading a team of writers to develop "Transformers" sequels. I'd been tipped about it a few weeks earlier, and I was trying to get a second source I trusted, either at the studio or on the agency side of things. I pushed, and while I was sure the story was right, I couldn't run it. Excruciating. Part of my hesitance was that I didn't want to be wrong on a story like that because it's a threat more than anything. Goldsman and Bay breaking story together? Holy cow. Now Deadline's got a list of names they say are the final hires,...

This story first appeared in the May 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Writers are feeling a bit more love these days. Studios are buying pitches and spec scripts in what literary reps call one of the busiest bursts of development activity in recent memory: "There's been a much more receptive market in the past four months than in the previous four years," says Kaplan/Perrone's Sean Perrone. Insiders say recent studio executive shuffles are a major reason for the action. With Tom Rothman at Sony, Marc Evans at Paramount and Stacey

read more...

Underneath Safe House's over-reliance on flashback and cheap tricks lies a beautifully directed, strongly performed drama...

This review contains spoilers.

We’ve reached the halfway point in this new ITV drama starring former Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston, and the dramatic moments of the previous instalment hang heavy throughout Safe House episode three.

During part two’s denouement, we were introduced to new character Gemma Underwood. And then we were quickly unintroduced to her as she was murdered by the villain of the piece, Michael Collersdale (played very devilishly by Peter Ferdinando). Her link to the ongoing events with the Blackwood family (who have been stashed away in the lake district in the titular safe house along with Eccleston’s Robert after an attack by Collersdale) is revealed - she’s the sister of mother Ali (Holby City’s Nicola Stephenson).

As we discover over the course of the proceedings,...

Misdirection is a hand played throughout Safe House, which is elevated by a fascinating cast and strong direction...

This review contains spoilers.

From ITV comes yet another Monday night drama to add to their roster of impressive output in recent times.

Safe House, from writer Michael Crompton (who recently penned ITV’s excellent Code of A Killer), sees Christopher Eccleston play ex-policeman Robert who has left the force behind him with his wife Katy, played by Marsha Thomason, for a quiet life in the beauty and tranquility, not to mention solitude, of the Lake District.

We quickly discover Robert left the police due to the the execution of a witness he was protecting, an event which continues to haunt him. He’s visited by his former colleague and friend Dci Mark Maxwell, Paterson Joseph, with a proposition for the couple.

Keen to “rehabilitate” his friend Robert, Mark suggests that the...

Paramount has promoted Elizabeth Raposo to Executive Vice President, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. The former Senior Vice President now shares the same title as Geoff Stier and they are both on par with Peter Kang, who is also Evp, Production. It is the latest executive move at the studio after Marc Evans was named head of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group last month. Also Read: Paramount Names Bob Buchi President of Worldwide Home Media Distribution Evans replaced Adam Goodman and his ascent had been speculated as soon as Goodman was let go a few weeks earlier.

Across the pond... Marsha Thomason ("White Collar") and Paterson Joseph ("The Leftovers," "Law & Order: UK") will join Christopher Eccleston ("The Leftovers," "Thor: The Dark World") in a new ITV network 4-part drama series titled "Safe House" from Eleventh Hour Films, which is described as "a tense thriller set in the beautiful wilderness of the Lake District." The cast will also include Jason Merrells, Nicola Stephenson, and Peter Ferdinando, and is set to premiere on Monday April 20th at 9pm, it has been announced. Created and written by Michael Crompton, and directed by Marc Evans, the 4-part drama...

Across the pond... Marsha Thomason ("White Collar") and Paterson Joseph ("The Leftovers," "Law & Order: UK") will join Christopher Eccleston ("The Leftovers," "Thor: The Dark World") in a new ITV network 4-part drama series titled "Safe House" from Eleventh Hour Films, which is described as "a tense thriller set in the beautiful wilderness of the Lake District." The cast will also include Jason Merrells, Nicola Stephenson, and Peter Ferdinando, and is set to premiere on Monday April 20th at 9pm, it has been announced. Created and written by Michael Crompton, and directed by Marc Evans, the 4-part drama...

Paramount is set to absorb its microbudget genre label Paramount Insurge into the main studio and strip President Amy Powell of her film responsibilities, TheWrap has learned. The move appears to be part of Paramount’s ongoing consolidation, according to insiders. Powell will continue to focus on Paramount’s TV and digital operations but insiders tell TheWrap that Insurge executives will join Paramount’s feature team and report directly to Marc Evans, the newly-installed president of Paramount Motion Picture Group. Powell will continue to report to Vice Chairman Rob Moore on digital efforts and Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey for TV.

A Welsh let's-put-on-a-play drama pinches ideas from Glee to likable effect

Marc Evans's Hunky Dory is sentimental, sweet-natured and daft as a brush. It is set in a Welsh secondary school in the boiling hot summer of 1976; the whole film is shot in a Hipstamatic retro-nostalgia glow. Minnie Driver is Viv, the free-spirit English teacher trying to turn the kids on to Shakespeare, and to do this, she gets them all together for a school production of The Tempest using the music of, erm, David Bowie. Along the way, the emotional temperature rises to match the sweltering heat outdoors: kids fall in and out of love, and wonder if they might be gay, and there are ideas pinched from Glee, backdated to the era of Fame. It's all very silly, and that teenage school orchestra sounds suspiciously accomplished. Yet, in its goofy way, Hunky Dory is likable, and Robert Pugh...

The programme for the 55th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, celebrates the imagination and excellence of international filmmaking from both established and emerging talent. Over 16 days the Festival will screen a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres . There will also be screenings of 110 live action and animated shorts. Many of the films will be presented by their directors, cast members and crew, some of whom will also take part in career interviews, masterclasses, and other special events. The 55th BFI London Film Festival will run from 12-27 October.

Special Screenings

Opening the festival is Fernando Meirelles’ 360, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Weisz is also the star of Terence Davies’ closing night film, The Deep Blue Sea, alongside a cast which includes Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston.

From the 12th to the 27th of October the 55th BFI London Film Festival brings its annual box of delights to the capital. Earlier today the full programme was announced, and it look like being another fine year.

We already know that Fernando Meirelles’ latest 360 will open proceedings on the 12th and fifteen days later Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea will bring the festival to a close but there are many more great films to come and see in London this October.

There was a familiar feeling creeping across the audience this morning that a lot of the films had, like last year, already played elsewhere but this is only a small consideration when you consider the scope of the festival’s remit. To bring a vital, fresh and horizon-expanding series of features, shorts and documentaries is no easy task, and while the more well known films have played...

Artistic director Sandra Hebron has announced the line-up for the 55th BFI London Film Festival this morning where they will screen “a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres” plus “110 live action and animated shorts”.

We are already knew Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s erotic drama play 360 written by Peter Morgan and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz would open the festival and that The Deep Blue Sea, which incidentally is another adaptation of a play (Terence Rattigan’s) and also stars Rachel Weisz, will close it. Of Time and City’s Terrence Davies directed that movie which also stars Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.

Now we know the in-between stuff from the Gala & Special Screenings and there’s a wide selection of extremely interesting films;

George Clooney is bringing his political thriller The Ides of March that...

The full line up for the 54th BFI London Film Festival was announced in the Odeon, Leicester Square this morning, with a number of highly anticipated films set to light up the capital this October.

The festival runs from the 13th to the 28th of October and will begin with Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s haunting masterpiece Never Let Me Go, and will close with Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours which stars James Franco.

Announcing the roster were Artistic Director Sandra Hebron and the Director of the British Film Institute, Amanda Nevill.

HeyUGuys will be all over the festival this year, it looks like it will be one to remember.

Click here to view the full calendar

The 54Th BFI London Film Festival Programme Launch

London, Wednesday 8 September: The programme for the 54th BFI London Film Festival, launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, showcases an array of...

Paramount has purchased a New York Times article, "Mystery on Fifth Avenue", for a feature that J.J. Abrams will produce through his Bad Robot shingle. Writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky have been hired to adapt it into a film, with Marc Evans overseeing for the studio.

The Times feature, which ran Thursday and was written by reporter Penelope Green, describes an Upper East Side luxury apartment on Fifth Avenue that the occupants had redesigned to include hidden compartments, messages, puzzles, poems, codes and games for their four preteen kids.

The parents, Steven Klinsky and Maureen Sherry, are Wall Street financial experts and purchased the 4,200-square-foot, 1920s co-op with views of Central Park in 2003 for $8.5 million. Soon after, they hired young architectural designer Eric Clough, who devised an elaborately clever "scavenger hunt" built into the apartment that involved dozens of historical figures, a fictional book and a soundtrack. (Many of the secrets were included without the parents' knowledge, either.)

Forbes and Wolodarsky, repped by ICM (which also handles rights for the Times), have TV comedy backgrounds -- Forbes wrote on "The Larry Sanders Show" and Wolodarsky on "The Simpsons". They most recently wrote the Rainn Wilson comedy "The Rocker", due for release in August from Fox Atomic, and worked on "Monsters vs.

Rogue Pictures and Intrepid Pictures have picked up the movie rights to Couriers, a series of action graphic novels, and have set writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach to adapt.

Written by Brian Wood and illustrated by Rob G, the series follows the adventures of two gun-toting mercenary couriers named Moustafa and Special who take on jobs other couriers do not, such as intelligence, large cash transfers, protection, assassinations and blockade-running.

Three graphic novels have been published so far by AiT/PlanetLar, and the series has been praised for its Hong Kong movie and Japanese animation-influenced kinetic art style and action set pieces.

Marc Evans and Trevor Macy of Intrepid are producing.

Intrepid has a multiyear production and co-financing deal with Rogue. The company's credits include this past weekend's The Hitcher, co-produced with Platinum Dunes, and the upcoming comedy Balls of Fury, made with Spyglass.

Grillo-Marxuach, repped by ICM and attorney Jaime Mandelbaum, was a writer and supervising producer on ABC's Lost and is working on NBC's Medium. His writing credits include Charmed and Boomtown.

Colin Firth and Mena Suvari have signed on to Trauma, a psychological thriller set to shoot in London and on the Isle of Man, Variety reports. Helmed by Marc Evans (My Little Eye) and co-financed by BBC Films, the supernatural drama revolves around a man (Firth) who awakens from a coma to find that his wife apparently died in the same accident that left him unconscious for years. Soon, he's haunted by images of his dead wife, and a neighbor (Suvari) helps him get in touch with his wife through a medium, with surprising results. Shooting starts at the end of April, with Warner Bros. set to take on U.K. theatrical and video rights.