Movie News

“Aquaman” actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in final negotiations to join Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” sources tell Variety.

His casting in the historical drama follows the news that the long-awaited film is finally moving forward with Paramount Pictures on board for domestic distribution and Cross Creek signing on to finance and co-produce alongside Amblin Partners.

The movie is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven men charged by the federal government with conspiracy and inciting to riot, a result of the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation intended to undermine the U.S. government.

Abdul-Mateen will play Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, who was one of the original eight that were charged. Seale’s case was eventually severed from the other defendants, leading to the “Chicago Seven” moniker. He was bound and gagged

Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions have signed a five-year exclusive production deal with Universal Pictures, Donna Langley, Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, announced Tuesday.

Peele and Universal have collaborated on his 2017 film “Get Out” and his 2019 film “Us,” both of which he produced, directed and wrote. “Get Out” still holds the record as the highest-grossing movie ever for a feature debut from a writer/director with an original screenplay.

“Us” had the highest-grossing opening ever for an original horror film, the highest-grossing opening ever for an R-rated film, and the highest-grossing opening for a live-action original since 2009’s “Avatar.” Peele previously signed a first-look deal with Universal in 2017.

Under the new deal, Universal will develop Peele’s next two original films, which Peele and Monkeypaw will also produce under their banner. Monkeypaw’s credits include Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,

Walmart's online VOD service, Vudu, has revealed the cast and release date for its first original film, Adventure Force 5.

The film, directed by Michael Younesi, stars Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Ernie Hudson, Dylan Arnold, Tate Birchmore, Donald Bowen, Lexee Davis, Marleik “Mar Mar” Walker and Kartik Ash.

Adventure Force 5 follows video game- and comics-obsessed brothers Joey and Jack Zapata (Bowen and Birchmore, respectively) as they and their friends embark on an adventure when a mysterious swarm of flying creatures, Terra Borgs, invade their quiet beach town. Arnold (Halloween, Mudbound) plays the egomaniacal young genius who invented the creatures ...

One of the greatest writers in history, Charles Dickens will now have another one of his books turned into a film in the form of “The Personal History of David Copperfield.” The director, Armando Iannucci, best known for his film “The Death Of Stalin” as well as directing the British TV series “I’m Alan Partridge,” is now bringing the vision of Dickens to life with what was probably one of his best books, “David Copperfield.”

Read More: ‘Personal History Of David Copperfield’ Will Open 2019 London Film Festival

Iannucci spoke to Deadline about why he wanted to do a film based on a Dickens novel, particularly David Copperfield.

Continue reading ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ Trailer: Armando Iannucci’s Reimagining Of Classic Dickens Novel at The Playlist.

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

Scroll down for latest entries

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

New York Comic-Con is almost underway, and with it comes a new assortment of pop culture art from our favorite artists. The folks at Bottleneck Gallery will have quite a collection of new prints coming to the convention, and we’re proud to exclusively debut Matt Ferguson‘s eagerly anticipated print for Tim Burton‘s Batman from 1989. […]

The post Exclusive: Matt Ferguson’s Nycc ‘Batman’ Poster Cleans Out Axis Chemicals with a Bang appeared first on /Film.

The Personal History Of David Copperfield has a diverse cast to reflect reality of Victorian London

Armando Iannucci wanted to “rip up the rules” of costume drama when adapting the Dickens classic David Copperfield, which the satirist says shares similarities with Martin Scorsese’s riotous tale of greed and excess, The Wolf of Wall Street.

The Personal History Of David Copperfield, which premiered at the Toronto film festival, is Iannucci’s third film and he decided to make it after re-reading the novel a decade ago, finding it “cinematic, funny and experimental”.

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows. In this edition, find out how to make an alcoholic version […]

The post The Morning Watch: Make Alcoholic Ecto-Cooler, Shameless ‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ Promos on ABC & More appeared first on /Film.

This year’s edition of the BFI London Film Festival, which starts today, marks Tricia Tuttle’s first in an official capacity as artistic director after she stood in last year while her predecessor was on sabbatical. So what does she have planned?

Tuttle looks back at last year’s performance with satisfaction when, with a total audience of more than 200,000, per screen attendance rose by 12% to an average paid occupancy of 72%, and overall capacity of 84%. This she ascribes to “a strong year for films driving audience interest,” which she believes she’s matched this year with, among 229 feature films, “The Personal History of David Copperfield” opening the festival, and “The Irishman” closing it, and gala screenings including “Knives Out,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “The King” and “Jojo Rabbit.”

Among the festival’s world premieres are Wash Westmoreland’s “Earthquake Bird,” starring Alicia Vikander, Gerard Johnson’s “Muscle,” Michael Caton-Jones’ “Our Ladies,

Kew to handle TV and digital rights to some new projects from ‘Green Book’ producer.

Green Book producer Participant has struck a multi-year distribution tie-up with Kew Media Distribution (Kmd).

The deal hands Kmd global TV and digital rights to limited new projects from Participant, mainly across documentary and narrative feature films.

La-based Participant mainly produces big-budget features such as Spotlight, Green Book and Roma but recently moved into TV.

Jeff Skoll’s outfit is a co-producer on Mammoth Screen’s forthcoming BBC adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses and was also behind Netflix’s Central Park Five

Former Goldcrest, Cornerstone Films exec Catherine Quantschnigg to head sales division.

Noah Media Group, the UK-based sports documentary firm, has launched an international sales division and has kicked off business with UK deals for cricket feature The Edge.

The documentary, directed by Barney Douglas (Warriors), was released theatrically in the UK this summer and is now available on Amazon Prime Video with the BBC taking exclusive TV rights in 2020.

The indie has previously best been known for producing sport documentaries such as Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans, which played at Cannes in 2015, and Netflix film Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager.

The event will also host a masterclass for delegates.

Production Finance Market, the UK financing event run by Film London, has selected four projects under its inaugural ‘Ones To Watch’ initiative, and named Monumental Pictures producer Alison Owen as its keynote speaker.

The ‘Ones To Watch’ scheme was unveiled earlier this year during Cannes Film Festival and will spotlight projects currently in development, co-selected by Film London and the BFI London Film Festival.

The four selected projects are The Panopticon to be directed by Jim Loach, produced by Lindsay McGee and Alysia Maciejowska and executive produced by Camilla Bray; The

Kew Media Distribution has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Participant, the L.A.-based company behind “Spotlight,” “Green Book” and “Roma,” to start handling global television and digital rights on some new projects from Participant.

As part of the deal, Kew Media will distribute Participant’s socially and politically engaged documentaries and narrative feature films, as well as content from Participant’s library.

Some titles listed in the deal include the Sundance Award winners “3-1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets” and “Circumstance,” the Oscar-nominated documentary “Food, Inc.,” the Emmy-nominated “Pressure Cooker,” and the SXSW Festival winner “The Great Invisible” and “The World According to Sesame Street.”

“We do all we can to ensure that our programming combines the power of a good story, well-told, with opportunities for real world impact,” said David Linde, the CEO of Participant. “Reaching audiences around the world is central to the success of our work, and

The film will play at the London Film Festival this week.

Ireland’s Wildcard Distribution has acquired the UK and Irish rights to Alex Gibney’s latest documentary Citizen K, in advance of its screening at the London Film Festival.

Wildcard, which handled the theatrical release of Gibney’s No Stone Unturned last year, acquired the rights from Kew Media and is set to release the film in Irish and UK cinemas in December.

In the Us, the feature, which was financed by Amazon, will be released in Los Angeles in late November by Greenwich Entertainment, effectively placing it in

’Paddington’ collaborators are in early development on a film version of the classic children’s books alongside the Astrid Lindgren Company.

Studiocanal and Heyday Films, who previously collaborated on Paddington, are in early development on a film version of Pippi Longstocking, alongside the Astrid Lindgren Company.

Pippi Longstocking is the main character in the classic series of children’s books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, with the first book published in 1945. The books have been translated into 77 languages with over 65 million copies sold worldwide.

David Heyman is producing for Heyday with Jeffrey Clifford and Rosie Alison.

The Stockholm-based Astrid Lindgren

A parade of patriotic films is set to march into Chinese cineplexes this month, crowding out Hollywood fare in a display of how firmly the entertainment industry remains under the control of the government. China may be the world’s second-biggest movie market after the U.S., but as far as its Communist rulers are concerned, politics trump economics.

The National Day holiday, which extends from Oct. 1-7, is one of the country’s peak moviegoing periods, and typically marks a time when authorities impose an unofficial blackout on foreign titles so that local ones get a boost. This year, the holiday has thundered in with even greater fanfare — and censorship — because 2019 marks a key milestone for the Communist Party: the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic after a bloody civil war. That has resulted in a theatrical lineup stocked with overtly nationalistic films approved by

Pippi Longstocking is coming to the big screen. Studiocanal and Heyday Films, who partnered on the successful “Paddington” features, have joined forces with the Astrid Lindgren Company to work up the project.

Longstocking, with her iconic red hair, freckles, strength and free spirit, is the main character in an eponymous series of children’s books by legendary Swedish author Lindgren. Pippi is the strongest girl in the world and totally independent. She is also generous and kind, and she loves to have fun, qualities the producers said are more relevant than ever.

The first three Pippi chapter books were published from 1945 to 1948, followed by three short stories and a number of picture book adaptations. They have been translated into 77 languages and sold more than 65 million copies.

“In David Heyman, with his impressive track record of bringing great literary works to the screen, together with Studiocanal, we are confident that we

With key deals secured for ’Military Wives’ and ’The Father’, co-founder Tim Haslam says market is robust for the right projects.

UK-based sales, financing and packaging outfit Embankment Films has revealed a raft of deals out of Toronto for Peter Cattaneo’s comedy-drama Military Wives and The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

Military Wives proved the first major acquisition at this year’s Tiff, selling to Bleecker Street for the Us after being circled by a number of distributors following a Special Presentations screening.

It has now sold to Leonine, the new German indie media group founded by

The esteemed designer, who died this week, left behind a career of work on some of Hollywood’s biggest and most-loved films

This Monday marked the death of main title designer Wayne Fitzgerald at the age of 89. One of the great movie and television craftsmen of the past half century, if you don’t recognize Fitzgerald by name, you’re probably still familiar with his body of work, which included a filmography boasting more than 450 credits and which earned him three Emmys over the course of his career.

Related: The seminal film posters of Bill Gold – in pictures

The title of the new documentary “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life” bounces off the title of the essay that Sacks published in The New York Times on Feb. 19, 2015 (“My Own Life”), days after he’d received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. It‘s a deceptively plain title. For Sacks, in his impish way, was suggesting that his own life, if you looked at it closely enough, might bear more than a passing resemblance to the idiosyncratic and richly freakish lives he chronicled in his case-study portraits that were really a form of wide-eyed literary biography.

Sacks wrote about people in extreme states — of sensory and neurological damage, of awareness and sheer being. And “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,” directed by the redoubtable Ric Burns (“Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film”), is a portrait at once tender and thrilling, a movie that presents us with a man who led an eccentrically defiant,