News

Comedy legend Mel Brooks and “Sex Education” star Asa Butterfield have joined the voice cast of the upcoming animated feature “The Land of Sometimes.”

Based on an original audiobook by Francesca Longrigg with a screenplay by Tony Nottage, “The Land of Sometimes” follows twins Alfie and Elise as they embark on adventures with mystical creatures after being transported to a magical island by the Wish Collector. The story explores themes of family and self-discovery.

Brooks and Butterfield join the previously revealed cast that includes Ewan McGregor (“Obi-Wan Kenobi”), Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”), Alisha Weir (“Matilda: The Musical”) and Jessica Henwick (“Glass Onion”). The film also features one of the final performances from the late “Monty Python” alum Terry Jones.

Leon Joosen (“Saving Santa”) is directing the project. The film is from Two Daughters Entertainment and Nottage Productions. Bonnie Arnold (“How to Train Your Dragon”) and Alan Yentob (“Billy Elliot...

Exclusive: Viva Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Hitpig!, a new animated feature starring Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis, for release in theaters nationwide on November 1. Check out a trailer for the film above.

Based on the New York Times bestseller Pete & Pickles from Berkeley Breathed, the film follows a clever bounty hunting pig (Sudeikis) who catches escaped animals and returns them to their owners. The next job for Hitpig is his biggest yet: returning a dancing elephant named Pickles (Lilly Singh) to a maniacal Vegas showman (Rainn Wilson), for a million bucks. The mission quickly escalates into a wild adventure around the world, and when danger looms, it’s up to Hitpig to save the day, though he can’t do it alone. Eventually, he must realize that some things are more important than a paycheck, coming to discover that friends are the greatest bounty of all.

Produced by Aniventure,...

Exclusive: Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) is set to direct Tenor by Night, a live-action comedy musical fantasy based on the Chinese-themed stage musical of the same name, created and produced by James Chiao.

Written by Peter Barsocchini (High School Musical franchise), the film is described as a whimsical, cross-cultural comedy about a Chinese American businessman who gives up his dreams of becoming a world-famous singer to build a successful mannequin business to support his family. Through a series of magical misadventures, a group of mannequins are brought to life which leads to a second chance to fulfill his dreams.

The project is believed to be the first Chinese-themed musical coming up for production in Hollywood since Flower Drum Song in 1961. Hope is for it to draft on the success of such recent Chinese American-themed box office hits as Everything Everywhere All at Once and Crazy Rich Asians. Casting for the pic is now underway.

The UK’s Gfm Animation is handling international sales on family animation HitPig, that features a starry voice cast including Jason Sudeikis in the titular role, alongside Lilly Singh, RuPaul, Hannah Gadsby and Rainn Wilson.

It’s based on Pulitzer Prize winning author Berkeley Breathed’s characters, with HitPig a rugged pig bounty hunter who makes his living catching escaped animals for big cash. His next target is a naïve, free-spirited elephant who has escaped the clutches of an evil showman. Soon, an unlikely partnership is forged.

Producers are Adam Nagle and Dave Rosenbaum of Aniventure, alongside CG animation by Cinesite.

The founders of FameBit (which Google acquired and later turned into YouTube BrandConnect) have launched a new app that pairs writers and animators together to create what it calls a “read-watch” experience in storytelling.

Storiaverse, which launched earlier this month, taps writers to submit their works, then matches accepted stories with artists who animate sections of those stories. The end result, with writing and animation combined, lets Storiaverse users swipe up on a story to watch animated clips as they’re reading.

Agnes Kozera, one of the aforementioned FameBit co-founders and now co-founder and chief content officer of Storiaverse, said in a statement that the platform was inspired by “the popularity of graphic novels and shows like Love, Death & Robots,” which “demonstrate the changing creative landscape and increasing demand for animation among digital natives in adulthood.”

“We are thrilled to merge animation with exceptional writing to allow writers and animators...

Exclusive: Korean American comedian, writer and producer Cathy Shim is the latest to join the cast of the film K-Pops! from first-time director and eight-time Grammy winner Anderson .Paak (who also stars). She will play Diamond, the energetic iconic host of a K-pop competition show in Seoul, and .Paak’s hard-to-please boss.

K-Pops! follows a washed-up musician from Los Angeles who attempts to reinvigorate his career by joining a band for a K-Pop competition show in Seoul and discovers that his long-lost son has the chance to front one of the country’s hottest new groups. He jumps at the opportunity to capitalize on his son’s stardom for his renaissance but ultimately learns that fatherhood is much more fulfilling and meaningful.

Scripted by .Paak and Khaila Amazan, K-Pops!‘ producers are Greg Silverman and Jon Berg on behalf of Stampede Ventures, Jaeson Ma on behalf of Est Studios, Park on behalf of Big Dummie,...

Chris Pratt embodies the world’s most sarcastic yet endearing orange feline in the trailer for “The Garfield Movie,” premiering in theaters on May 24, 2024.

The new animated feature introduces new characters to comic creator Jim Davis’ universe, including Samuel L. Jackson as Vic, Garfield’s father. Both Pratt and Jackson have been honing their voice acting chops, with Jackson playing another animated cat in “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” and Pratt portraying Mario in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

In the trailer for “The Garfield Movie,” Pratt’s lovable fat cat explains how he adopted his owner, John. Before he dives into a tray of lasagna, he warns the audience, “I apologize in advance. The eating you’re about to see will not be pretty. And if you have young children, this would be a good time for them to leave the room.”

Pratt’s “Garfield” film is...

VFX and animation company Cinesite has taken a majority stake in Andy Serkis’s performance capture and virtual production outfit The Imaginarium Studios, Variety can confirm.

Formed in 2012 by the “Lord of the Rings” star, the studio boasts a “revolutionary” approach to mo-cap that includes industry-wide innovation and has seen it collaborate on projects including “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” “Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3” and Netflix’s “Dance Monsters,” among other projects. The studio boasts facilities at both Pinewood in the U.K. and Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Ga.

Under the terms of the deal, The Imaginarium Studios will become a Cinesite partner company, retaining its culture, brand and facilities. CEO Matthew Brown will continue to lead the company’s staff.

The deal marks the latest collaboration for Cinesite and Serkis, who also runs production company The Imaginarium Productions with producer Jonathan Cavendish (“Bridget Jones’s Diary”). The two companies are...

At the Cannes Film Festival last year, Ukraine was on everyone’s mind. In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the festival and its Cannes Film Market imposed a blanket ban on any Russian delegations or film companies connected to the Putin government.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even opened the festival, speaking from Kyiv via live video and calling on the global movie industry to take a stand for his country and against the aggressor nation. “Cinema must not be silent,” he said.

Cannes’ position hasn’t changed. At his pre-festival press conference on Monday, Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux, pointing to the Ukraine flag pin on his lapel, reminded the international press the French festival still stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The market ban on Russian delegates and companies with ties to the Kremlin is still in place.

The studio boycott of Russia — Disney,...

Argentina, 1985 Leads 2023 Platino Awards Nominations

Santiago Miter’s political thriller Argentina, 1985 leads this year’s Platino awards nominations with 14 nods, including Best Director, Screenplay, and Best Ibero-American Fiction Film. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest pic Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths trails with six nominations alongside Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts and Lullaby by Alauda Ruiz De Azúa. On the TV side, the Colombian series Noticia de un kidnapping also notched six noms. This year’s Platino awards take place on April 22 at the Ifema Municipal Palace in Madrid. Check out the full list of nominations here.

Aniventure Taps CAA animation specialist Joe Della Rosa

Aniventure, the London-based family-focused animation company behind productions such as Riverdance: The Animated Adventure and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, has appointed CAA veteran Joe Della Rosa as its chief commercial officer. Della Rosa will oversee sales and the...

Michael Cera was known for so long as the awkward dweeb bumbling around both the independent circuit and the Judd Apatow stratosphere. And to some, he’ll always be Evan from Superbad or Paulie Bleeker from Juno or George Michael from Arrested Development (although you’ll have to act fast if you want to see it). But Michael Cera knows it’s easy for viewers to pigeonhole him, even if he doesn’t quite understand what the term “typecasting” entails.

“I guess I don’t really know what typecast actually means,” Michael Cera told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it could either mean the work that you do or the way that people perceive you. And those are two different things. When you think about the big roles people know me for, then I guess it’s kind of easy [for] people to categorize me in their brains. And I understand that.

Horror delights, rom-coms and a new sci-fi series starring Christoph Waltz are just a few of the highlights arriving on Amazon Prime Video in February. This month sees the debut of the second and final season of “Carnival Row” on Feb. 17, while Feb. 24 is when “The Consultant” – a “Severance”-like thriller series starring Waltz and directed by “WandaVision’s” Matt Shakman – drops.

In terms of new original Prime Video movies, on Feb. 10 there’s “Somebody I Used to Know,” a romantic comedy starring Alison Brie who co-wrote the script with her husband Dave Franco (who serves as director).

And you’ll find last year’s buzzy horror hit “Smile” on the streaming service on Feb. 21, while “Mad Max: Fury Road” filmmaker George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” arrives on Feb. 17.

That’s not to mention noteworthy library additions like “A.I.,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Almost Famous.

February is the shortest month of the year but Prime Video is paying that no mind with its jam-packed list of new releases for February 2023.

This really is an uncommonly stuffed month on the Amazon streamer and it all starts with a handful of Amazon Originals. Amazon’s original offerings kick off with the release of Dave Franco-directed romcom Somebody I Used to Know on Feb. 10. That is followed by Carnival Row season 2 – a gritty fantasy crime drama is set in a world of steampunky fairies. The show stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne and this batch of episodes will be its swan song. Meanwhile The Consultant on Feb. 24 is a dark comedy workplace thriller starring Christoph Waltz.

The biggest hits this month, however, might just be some recent cinema faves. If February is for lovers, Amazon didn’t get the memo as there are quite a few horror movies of note here.

Local film ‘Everything Under Control’ also performed strongly.

Box office in Hong Kong continued to show signs of recovery over Chinese New Year, with local films A Guilty Conscience and Everything Under Control leading the charge.

From January 21-24, total box office in Hong Kong reached 6.5m (HK50.86m), up 18.6 on the same Chinese New Year period in 2020 but still down 17.3 on pre-pandemic 2019.

Courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience was comfortably out front, accounting for almost half the total box office, taking 3.13m (HK24.47m) from its first four days of release. Its cumulative box office as of January 25 stood at...

Cinema box office in Hong Kong rebounded over the recent Chinese New Year holiday period. They failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels, but local titles performed strongly.

Data from Hong Kong Box Office Limited showed gross revenues between Saturday and Tuesday amounted to HK50.89 million (6.52 million). That is a 19 improvement on the equivalent four-day period in 2020, when Covid was just starting to arrive in the city and revenues fell to HK42.89 million (5.50 million). But the number was still 17 below the 2019 figure of HK61.47 million (7.88 million).

Cinemas in the territory were closed during Lunar New Year holidays in both 2021 and 2022 due to the government’s anti-covid measures.

Unlike mainland China, Hong Kong has no film import quotas and does not operate blackout periods when foreign films cannot be released. The holiday period chart for Hong Kong contains a mix of local, U.S. and Japanese and none of the films that...

Fast growing, London-based VFX and animation studio group Cinesite said today it’s clinched a 235 million funding package as it continues to expand.

The firm’s longtime bankers NatWest and Barclay’s led the financing — a package of transactions that includes, debt, equity and mezzanine lines from existing shareholders.

Cinesite will use the fresh funds “to accelerate its growth by offering clients greater creative capacity, allowing the company to enter new geographies and business segments while building on its studio partnership model to expand its talent base & global footprint.”

Outside of London, Cinesite has facilities in Montreal and Vancouver and alongside partner studios in Berlin, Munich (Trixter), Belgrade, Skopje (FX3X), Montreal (Squeeze Animation & L’Atelier Animation), Quebec City (Squeeze), Mumbai (Assemblage Entertainment) and Vancouver (Image Engine), enabling it to scale to thousands of VFX & animation artists worldwide.

The deal with Assemblage was announced last month, marking Cinesite’s first foray into Asia.

December is here, and some holly jolly cheer along with some spooks and scares will come to Amazon Prime Video in the form of newly added shows and movies.

Prime Video Original Christmas rom-coms on the way include “Something From Tiffany’s” — out Dec. 9 — starring Zoey Deutch and Kendrick Smith Sampson about strangers who cross paths unintentionally, discovering they might be meant for each other instead of their significant others as well as “Your Christmas or Mine?” — out Dec. 2 — starring Asa Butterfield, Cora Kirk, Alex Jennings, David Bradley, Harriet Walters, Daniel Mays, Angela Griffin, Natalie Gumede, Lucien Laviscount and Ram John Holder.

For those still nursing a Halloween hangover, Nikyatu Jusu’s horror film “Nanny” starring Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan and Sinqua Walls arrives Dec. 16, and suspense thriller “Three Pines,” adapted from Louise Penny’s best-selling series, arrives Dec. 2, starring Alfred Molina. There’s also the finale of “The Peripheral” starring...

In anticipation of the kick-off of the first round of Oscars voting on December 12, the academy released the titles of the features that were deemed eligible to compete in three categories: animated, documentary and international.

This voting only runs for four days, with the shortlists in 10 categories released on Dec. 21. The nominations in these, and the other 13 categories, will be revealed on Jan. 24, 2023. The 95th Academy Awards are March 12, 2023.

Animated Feature (27 entries)

Voting on this award is restricted to academy members from any branch who volunteer to be on the screening committee and attest to having watched their assigned entries. Members rank their top five choices and a multi-step system of counting winnows the various contenders down to the final five nominees.

“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”

“The Bad Guys”

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”

“Charlotte”

“DC League of Super-Pets”

“Drifting Home”

“Eternal Spring”

“Goodbye, Don Glees!”

“Guillermo del Toro...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named the Animated, Documentary and International Features eligible for consideration at the 95th Academy Awards.

27 animated features have been placed before voters, along with 144 documentary features and international features from 92 countries.

Shortlists for Documentary and International Feature will be announced on December 21st, with Oscar nominations to be unveiled on January 24th. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 12. Check out the lists of titles continuing along their journey toward Oscar below.

Animated Feature Film

“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”

“The Bad Guys”

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”

“Charlotte”

“DC League of Super-Pets”

“Drifting Home”

“Eternal Spring”

“Goodbye, Don Glees!”

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Inu-Oh”

“Lamya’s Poem”

“Lightyear”

“Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be”

“Luck”

“Mad God”

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”

“Minions: The Rise of Gru”

“My Father’s Dragon...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the list of eligible films for the animated, documentary and international feature categories for this year’s 95th Oscars. Among the films in the running are Amazon’s documentary “Good Night Oppy,” Netflix’s German remake “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Apple’s animated collaboration with Skydance, “Luck.”

Both major and independent studios are well represented across the board. A24 is going forth with confidence after its NYFCC win for animated gem “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” which qualified for consideration. Documentaries are littered with harrowing stories from Neon (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”), Sony Pictures Classics (“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb”) and IFC Films (“Bad Axe”).

The international feature category has the strongest slate of contenders in years, including Belgium’s “Close,” Denmark’s “Holy Spider,” France’s “Saint Omer,...

It’s been a big year for Prime Video. From The Boys season 3 to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to even the terrible games presented on Thursday Night Football, there were many hits to satisfy Jeff Bezos’ bottom line. How is the Amazon streamer planning on closing out 2022? Why, with another potential hit, of course!

Amazon Prime Video’s list of new releases for December 2022 is highlighted by the return of an old favorite. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan season 3 premieres all eight episodes on Dec. 21. This time around John Krasinki’s CIA analyst will be dealing with a potentially nuclear conflict with Russia. The only other original TV series of note this month is Three Pines on Dec. 2. The mystery series stars Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

Over on the movie side of things, Prime Video is bringing forward a major holiday tile on Dec.

Chinese-made crime thriller “The Tipping Point” leaped to the top of the mainland China box office over the weekend with an 8.8 million three-day haul.

The film, directed by Hong Kong’s David Lam (“Z Storm”), is adapted from real events and sees a newly-appointed detective called on to investigate the death of a female school student who had fallen from a building. The policeman discovers a ring of corruption involving the city’s major businessman. The film stars Zhou Yiwei, Qin Hailu, Julian Cheung and Eric Tsang.

New releases into Chinese theaters have been scarce for several weeks as distributors remain cautious about the weakness of the market outside holiday peak periods and nearly all foreign titles are excluded.

“The Tipping Point” claimed a 69 share of the overall box office market over the weekend, according to data from consultancy and research firm Artisan Gateway. Last week’s new release “Serendipity...

New Release Wall

“Bodies Bodies Bodies” (Lionsgate): A band of post-adolescent rich kids turn on each other, with violent consequences, in this wildly comic murder mystery. What’s perhaps most wickedly delightful about Halina Reijn’s satire with a body count is the way it plays out like a Gen Z Twitter fights, in real time, with weapons, proving that you can poke at internet culture even in a house where a thunderstorm has knocked out the WiFi.

Also available:

“Bullet Train” (Sony) Assassin Brad Pitt meets many, many other assassins and ne’er-do-wells on a bullet train, and they try to kill each other quickly.

“Beast” (Universal): Man-vs-Nature thriller with Idris Elba trying to protect his daughters from a very large lion intent on protecting his own territory.

“Breaking” (Decal/Bleeker) John Boyega resurrects the spirit of “Dog Day Afternoon” in this true-life bank-robbery drama from Abi Damaris Corbin and Kwame Kwei-Armah.

In a scene midway through “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Michelle Yeoh frantically runs away from a woman who is swinging her leashed lap dog in the air like a bola. She grabs a two-liter bottle of orange soda, chugs it in one go, and taps an earpiece to gain the powers of an alternate version of her character…one endowed with the powers of a teppanyaki chef.

Amazingly, that isn’t even in the top 10 weirdest things that happen in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the frantic, bizarre, and deeply heartfelt sci-fi film directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert that became the first art-house hit of the post-pandemic era — and proved that at 60, Michelle Yeoh is still one of the world’s most formidable performers.

As beleaguered laundromat owner Evelyn Wang, Yeoh is the center of a cosmic tale that rails against existential doom, declaring that in the infinity of the multiverse,...

It was a case of haves and have-nots for box office newcomers this weekend, with Paramount’s “Smile” beating box office expectations with a 22 million opening from 3,645 theaters while Universal’s “Bros” fell well short of its projections with just 4.8 million from 3,400 locations.

“Smile,” which was projected for an opening in the high teens against its 17 million production budget, actually saw a slight 4 increase in grosses from Friday to Saturday, beating industry estimates which had predicted a slight decrease after the film earned audience scores of B- on CinemaScore and a 69 positive rating on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak.

While those scores could signal a more frontloaded box office run, the word-of-mouth among hardcore horror fans still seems to be running pretty strong and giving “Smile” a chance to match the 23.6 million opening of Universal/Blumhouse’s “The Black Phone” from earlier this year if Sunday numbers also beat projections.

The hilarious family animated film Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, from Paramount Pictures, is available now to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada. The exciting action-adventure stars Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais and Samuel L. Jackson.

Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank also stars Mel Brooks, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh, Cathy Shim and Kylie Kuioka.

A down-on-his-luck hound Hank (Michael Cera) finds himself in a town full of cats who need a hero to defend them from a ruthless villain’s (Ricky Gervais) evil plot to wipe their village off the map. With help from a reluctant teacher (Samuel L. Jackson) to train him, our underdog must assume the role of town samurai and team up with the villagers to save the day. The only problem… cats hate dogs!

Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank is directed by Rob Minkoff,...

Of course, “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount/19.99) is the #1 film on all VOD charts its first week and probably will be for a good while — but it wasn’t the only success. As theatrical attendance hit new lows with no new product and aging summer hits, this might have been the biggest revenue weekend ever for home viewing platforms.

The VOD sites are now benefiting from the theatrical play summer hits including “Maverick,” “Nope” (Universal/19.99), and “DC League of Super-Pets” (Wbd). among debuting releases — none of which are available on the studios’ streaming sites. Meanwhile, Netflix seems to be counter-programming with a heavily original lineup that includes titles that may have once been intended for theaters.

Of note — “Maverick” is for sale as a digital download initially, not just a 48 hour rental. At this point after release, this would be normally, but usually after an earlier period of rental only. “Spider-Man: No Way Home...

Paramount Pictures new martial arts animated comedy feature, “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank”, directed by Rob Minkoff and Mark Koetsier, loosely based on director Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” (1974) is now streaming on Paramount+:

"...A scrappy dreamer of a dog aspires to one day be a bonafide Samurai.

“But in a world of cats, he's not sure it'll ever happen - that is until a nefarious warlord hustles him unwittingly into becoming the samurai for a local town…”

Cast includes Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Michelle Yeoh and Mel Brooks.

Click the images to enlarge…...

In a strategic move by Universal, “Jurassic World: Dominion” (19.99) kept “Elvis” (Wbd/19.99) from two clear weeks at the top of VOD charts. Next week, all other game plans will be moot: “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount/19.99) comes to PVOD rental platforms Tuesday and will undoubtedly dominate for the foreseeable future.

Meantime, Netflix viewers continue to confound their overlords by preferring to watch the streamers’ less high-profile original films rather than the more expensive star-branded ones. “Look Both Ways” with “Riverdale” star Lili Reinhart as a college senior thinking through alternatives for her future knocked off Jamie Foxx’s “Day Shift” (now #3).

“Jurassic” will come to Peacock on September 2, with both the release version and one with extended scenes. The studio released the latter to PVOD this week. It was treated differently by different platforms — Google Play lists the two separately (at #2 and #3), while Vudu and iTunes combined revenues, landing it at #1 at the former,...

Kylie Kuioka began her professional acting career at the age of 8 playing a Royal Child in The King and I Broadway National Tour. Recently, Kylie lent her voice to the role of Emiko the female protagonist in the animated feature film Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, and when she met Star Trek and costar George Takei - there's only one way to greet him.

After more than 15 years, America’s most iconic cat is finally returning to the big screen.

In 2024, we’re looking forward to the release of “Garfield,” the long-awaited film starring Jim Davis’ iconic comic strip character. The movie will, incredibly, be the first fully-animated theatrical project starring the lasagna-eating grouch, who first appeared in newspaper comic sections in 1978. Although the franchise has remained enormously popular in the decades since its launch, Garfield’s only theatrical films were two live action/CGI projects starring Bill Murray as the character. After the second film, “A Tale of Two Kitties,” bowed in 2006, the franchise remained off the bigscreen for years, in favor of direct-to-dvd films and television shows.

News of Garfield’s animated return first broke in 2016, when Alcon Entertainment secured the exclusive rights to developing animated features based on the character. Although the project remained dormant for several years, 2021 saw an uptick in news about the film,...

The world’s most famous fat cat is coming to theaters soon. “Garfield,” an animated film starring Chris Pratt as the famous Jim Davis comic strip character, will premiere in theaters Feb. 16, 2024.

In addition to Pratt, the film will also star Samuel L. Jackson as a brand-new character to the Garfield universe, Vic, who is the father of the orange feline. The plot that will bring Garfield’s father back into his life remains under wraps. Although no other cast members have been announced, the film will presumably feature classic characters from the franchise, including his owner Jon Arbuckle and dim-witted puppy Odie.

The animated movie represents the latest big screen outing for the iconic lasagna-loving misanthrope. Bill Murray famously voiced the character in two live-action and CGI-hybrid films, 2004’s “Garfield: The Movie” and its 2006 sequel “Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.” The two films received largely negative reviews, but were both commercially successful.

Photo: ‘Paws of Fury’ A Background On ‘Paws’ ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ is a 2022 film that was directed by the trio of Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier, and Rob Minkoff. The story follows Hank who is a dog who lives in a world that is seemingly inhabited only by cats and dogs. In this world cats and dogs live separately due to hate for one another but Hank, who is an aspiring samurai, travels to a small cat village where he is appointed Samurai by the evil Ika Chu. Ika Chu hopes that Hank will not be able to protect the small town and that the town will succumb to a variety of attacks executed by Ika Chu so that Ika Chu can obtain the perfect view from his palace as the view is currently obstructed by the small village. Hank then is trained by an old samurai...

Both Jordan Peele’s Nope and Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder were bested by newcomer DC League of Super Pets which took the top spot of the box-office weekend by 4.5 million.

The animated heroes of the DC League of Super-Pets> debuted atop the box-office weekend bringing in 23.0 million. This bested last weekend’s top film, Nope, which took in 18.5 million in its second weekend of release to lift it’s total to 80.6 million. Meanwhile, Thor: Love and Thunder was pushed to third place with 13.1 million in its fourth weekend of release. The Marvel film now sports a grand total of 301.5 million. Similarly slipping a spot to finish in fourth place over the weekend was the animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru. The film took in 10.9 million in its fifth weekend in release to bring it’s total to 320.4 million. Holding steady in fifth place was Top Gun: Maverick,...

“DC League of Super-Pets” lifted off with 2.2 million in Thursday previews, as the Warner Bros. animated superhero comedy looks to unseat Jordan Peele’s “Nope” from its perch atop the box office charts.

Over the weekend, “DC League of Super-Pets” is aiming to rack up between 20 million to 25 million when it opens in 4,300 North American theaters. That should be enough to outpace “Nope,” a twisty horror-thriller about aliens that was the No. 1 movie when it debuted last weekend, earning a sizable 41 million. However, “Nope” is expected to suffer a 60 drop in its sophomore frame, which would bring its haul to 15 to 16 million.

“DC League of Super-Pets'” initial results compare favorably with other recent movies aimed at family audiences. Last spring’s animated adventure “The Bad Guys” earned 1.2 million in previews before nabbing a 24 million opening, while “Jungle Cruise” picked up 2.7 million from previews before racking up 35 million in its inaugural weekend.

After a slower July at the movies, it’s “DC League of Super-Pets” to the rescue.

The Warner Bros. animated superhero comedy may not be closing out the month with a bang, but it will at least manage to lead domestic box office charts. Over the weekend, “DC League of Super-Pets” is aiming for 25 million to 30 million when it opens in 4,300 North American theaters, which should be enough to dethrone Jordan Peele’s “Nope” as the No. 1 movie in the country. Peele’s UFO thriller, which opened last weekend to 41 million, is expected to decline by roughly 60 with 15 to 16 million in its sophomore outing.

Movies aimed at family audiences have been a mixed bag at the pandemic-era box office, with Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” scoring a mighty 300 million domestically to date and Paramount’s “Paws of Fury” flailing with 14 million domestically. In terms of brand awareness, “DC League of Super-Pets...

Click here to read the full article.

DC League of Super-Pets doesn’t waste any time getting to super-level cutesiness. The opening moments of the animated film feature a puppy licking a baby’s face. Of course, this isn’t just any baby and puppy. It’s the infant Kal-El and his pet Krypto, and if you need further explanation as to whom Kal-El will grow up to be you just aren’t the target audience for this animated excursion into the DC Universe.

Not that the target audience will recognize all the serious star power that has been lined up for this pull-out-the-stops effort. Besides such A-list topliners as Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, the roster includes John Krasinski, Keanu Reeves, Kate McKinnon and Olivia Wilde, among many others. Major names have been recruited even for bit parts, including Alfred Molina, Lena Headey, Keith David, Busy Philipps and Dan Fogler,...

The Mighty Thor was unseated by writer/director Jordan Peele’s latest film, Nope, which debuted atop the box-office weekend, besting the second-place film by almost double.

Receiving generally positive reviews, Nope worked the weekend to earn 44.0 million and claim the title of top film. In a somewhat distant second place was last weekend’s top film, Thor: Love and Thunder which added 22.1 million over the last three days to bring its grand total to 276.2 million for its first few weeks in release. The debut of Nope also pushed Minions: The Rise of Gru to third place with 17.7 million. This gives the animated film a four-week total of 297.9 million. Meanwhile, Where the Crawdads Sing also lost ground as it dropped a spot to finish in fourth place with 10.3 million over the weekend. The films now lays claim to a two-week tally of 38.3 million. Top Gun: Maverick fell to fifth place with 10.0 million.

There was only one new movie in wide release this weekend. It was expected that Jordan Peele’s “Nope” would do quite well, being the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s follow-up to 2019’s “Us” and 2017’s “Get Out,” both which grossed 175 million domestically. Starring Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”), Keke Palmer (“Lightyear”), Steven Yuen (“Minari”) and breakout star Brandon Perea, the sci-fi thriller made 6.4 million in Thursday previews starting at 4pm, which added to Friday’s gross for a first day of 19.7 million in 3,785 theaters.

According to Sunday estimates, “Nope” made just 44 million in its first weekend, which may be substantially less than “Us,” which opened with 71 million, but really, it’s not bad for a fully original feature film not based on prior material. Critics generally liked the movie, giving it 83 on Rotten Tomatoes with audiences ranking it lower with only 71 giving the movie a thumbs up. Even worse for Peele’s...

This marks the company’s fourth acquisition.

UK-based animation and visual effects studio Cinesite has acquired Montreal-based studio L’Atelier Animation.

L’Atelier will retain its brand and senior management team, with general manager Benoit Blouin working with Cinesite Animation COO Brad Wald to integrate the two companies.

Cinesite hopes the deal will help it meet production demands in Quebec and elsewhere.

This marks Cinesite’s fourth acquisition, following Vancouver’s Image Engine in 2015, Nitrogen Studios in 2017 and German VFX studio Trixter in 2018.

Cinesite’s credits include Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank and The Addams Family franchise. The company is...

Cinesite has acquired Montreal studio L’Atelier Animation, the outfit behind hit 3D animation films “Leap!” and “Fireheart.”

Cinesite, which has operations in London, Montreal and Vancouver as well as VFX partner studios Trixter in Germany and Image Engine in Vancouver, said the deal will expand its creative and production capacity to meet demand in Quebec and elsewhere. The L’Atelier Animation management team led by general manager Benoit Blouin will work with Cinesite animation COO Brad Wald to integrate the two companies and expand their Montreal footprint.

L’Atelier Animation specialises in feature-length 3D animation and series. Established in Montreal since 2012 it’s best known for “Leap!” (Caramel Films/Quads), which had some 110M in international box office revenues. It’s most recent production is “Fireheart,” (Entertainment One) produced by Les Films Seville, Anton, Main Journey, Caramel Films, and M6 Films Snd, featuring Olivia Cooke, Kenneth Branagh and William Shatner.

Click here to read the full article.

VFX House Cinesite has added Montreal’s L’Atelier Animation to its expanding studio network in Canada and Germany, the company said Wednesday.

Terms of the acquisition deal were not disclosed. But Cinesite, headquartered in the UK and having moved from creating digital visual effects to feature animation on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and other tentpoles, has acquired a Montreal studio specializing in feature-length 3D animation and series.

Pending regulatory approvals, Cinesite is acquiring 100 percent of the studio, with senior L’Atelier Animation management staying on to lead the business under its own branded name. L’Atelier Animation general manager Benoit Blouin and Cinesite Animation COO Brad Wald will jointly work to merge the two companies and steer animated work to Montreal.

L’Atelier Animation is the fourth studio to join Cinesite after it acquired Image Engine VFX and Nitrogen Studios...

Universal’s Nope, one of the few remaining tentpoles in a rebounding summer box office, looks to provide a lift this weekend with an estimated 50M start at 3,700 theaters with an eye at guys 17-34.

Nope is the third genre film from Get Out Oscar winner Jordan Peele, and while its start in U.S./Canada will be above that of his 2017 debut film, Get Out (33.3M), it will be under the filmmaker’s 2019 title Us (71.1M). The movie is produced by Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. Us repped a record opening at the domestic B.O. for an original R-rated horror movie. No critical reviews have registered on Rotten Tomatoes yet for Nope. Critics went nuts for Get Out at 98 Certified Fresh and also enjoyed Us at 93 certified fresh. Audiences gave Get Out an A- CinemaScore while they graded Us a B.

Nope follows horse rancher siblings Oj Haywood and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) who discover something wonderful, and harmful, in the skies above their property. Adjacent to their ranch sits Jupiter’s Claim, a family-fun theme park and petting zoo predicated on the white-washed history and aesthetics of the California Gold Rush, owned and operated with evangelical pride by Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star who is saddled with a tabloid-tragic backstory that he has spent a lifetime trying to escape. He’s seen the spectacle in the sky, too, and peddles it to his theme park denizens.

Of Peele’s trio, Nope has the highest budget at 68M after California incentives (the pic was shot in the Agua Dulce desert in northern Los Angeles County), ranking ahead of Us‘ 20M production cost before P&a and Get Out‘s thrifty 4.5M. Peele shot Nope in Imax. Both of those movies were bigtime cash cows for Uni, with Us seeing 119M profit and Get Out 124.8M.

Nope is also the longest movie to date in Peele’s canon at 2 hours and 15 minutes, ahead of Us (1 hour 56 mins) and Get Out (1 hour 44 minutes).

Universal started the campaign exactly one year from Nope‘s debut with the release of an enigmatic teaser poster. During Super Bowl Lvi, the studio released the first trailer during the live broadcast which quickly became the No.1 trending topic on Twitter, YouTube and Reddit. Social Media analytics firm RelishMix reported that the 24-hour online traffic for Nope hit close to 22M, ahead of Sony’s Uncharted (12.5M) and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (11.7M) and Disney/Marvel’s Moon Knight series (9.5M).

Additionally, Nope became the first R-Rated movie to receive support from NBCUniversal’s Symphony program, which promotes Universal’s select tentpoles throughout the conglom’s sister brands and businesses. Such pushes included the Jupiter’s Claim attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood along with spots running across such NBCUni shows as American Ninja Warrior, America’s Got Talent, Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, NASCAR and WWE Raw.

Even though Nope‘s opening will exceed last weekend’s wide release starts of Where the Crawdads Sing (17.2M) and Paws of Fury (6.3M), don’t expect this weekend’s total box office for all movies to best the same respective frame from 2019. That’s when Disney’s ‘live-action’ Lion King opened to a massive 191.8M, sending all ticket sales to 263.9M, which was then the second-highest grossing weekend of 2019 after the April 26-28 frame which grossed an all-time record of 402M thanks to the 357.1M Avengers: Endgame opening.

Again, what we’re lacking here at the 2022 box office is more wide releases, and we’re about to head into a fall full of adult counter-programming, not tentpoles.

by Nathaniel R

Despite a steep drop in sales Thor Love and Thunder held the top spot over the weekend;  A nearly 70 drop from mountains of gold still means you're raking it in! Thor was also the only wide release to hold on to all of its theaters since the studios actually released new movies this weekend (Gasp) with Where the Crawdads Sing (which did well), Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, and Paws of Fury all arriving in wide release and aiming for different audiences. With Elvis, Minions, and Top Gun still attracting moviegoers, there was really something for everyone at the multiplexes. We need more lineups like that if moviegoing is ever going to be healthy again, regardless of the wildly varying quality of the 10 films in wide release.

Weekend Box Office

July 15th-17th...

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While there are some caveats, it was an all around pretty damn good weekend at the box office. Marvel and Disney get to say they spent another week on top with "Thor: Love and Thunder" (even if it did suffer a huge drop), "Where the Crawdads Sing" overperformed, several other hits managed to hold like gangbusters, with only perhaps "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" serving as an outright disappointment. But even that comes with an asterisk or two attached to it.

Let's have a closer look at those numbers, shall we?

According to Box Office Mojo,...

The post Thor: Love And Thunder Falls Hard At The Box Office, Where The Crawdads Sing Beats Expectations appeared first on /Film.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe again claimed the box-office weekend as Thor: Love and Thunder held onto the top spot, vanquishing the second-place film by 20 million.

For the second consecutive weekend, Thor: Love and Thunder stood atop the box-office weekend as it added another 46.0 million to raise its two-week total to 233.3 million. This bested second-place finisher Minions: The Rise of Gru by 20 million as the animated sequel brought in 26.0 million over its third weekend in release to give it a grand total of 262.6 million to date. Meanwhile, debuting in third place with 17.0 million was Where the Crawdads Sing. This pushed <em<>Top Gun: Maverick to third place with 12.0 million. However, since the film has amassed 618.0 million during its first eight weeks in release, odds are no one is worried about the drop to fourth place. In its fourth weekend, Elvis added 7.6 million to lift its total to 106.2 million and a fifth place finish.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review — Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier and Rob Minkoff, written by Ed Stone, Nate Hopper, Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor and Alan Uger and starring Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Samuel [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank (2022): Michael Cera Voices a Samurai Warrior Dog in an Energetic Animated Tale...

“Thor: Love and Thunder” (Disney) as #1 dropped 68 percent from its opening weekend, tying with “Black Widow” for worst fall of a Marvel title. Second place at the box office went to weekend three of Universal’s very strong “Minions: The Rise of Gru” — but the real news belongs to #3, which went to the week’s sole new major release “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony). It grossed 17 million, at the high end of its expectations.

Part of that underestimation may come from the industry’s default-defeatist attitude toward films that target an older female audience. With source material from a massive bestseller, “Crawdads” also had built-in interest beyond most adult-oriented dramas — even with the film’s mixed-to-negative reviews. It currently stands at 44 on Metacritic.

If “Crawdads” can sustain a decent multiple‚ as its A- Cinemascore suggests, the film could yield one of the year’s most net-positive results. The “Thor” production budget,...

It’s another blowout this week as Thor: Love and Thunder brought in 46 million, trouncing the new competition in its second weekend and bringing its total to 233 million domestic and 498 million worldwide. While these are undoubtedly strong numbers, it isn’t all good news for the 29th MCU film, as its 68 drop was one of the steepest falls the franchise has seen. The ten day cume is still the best yet for a Thor solo film, but it seems that the relatively so-so word of mouth on this, as signified by its B+ CinemaScore compared to its predecessor Thor: Ragnarok’s, is hurting the box office.

Are audiences tiring of the MCU brand? Thor 4 is the fourth film in the franchise to drop greater than 65 in its second weekend, and all four of those titles have been from roughly the past year. On top of that, the past year has...