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MK2 Films has lured key European buyers with “The Good Boss,” starring Javier Bardem. The film started shooting last month in Spain.

Described as an offbeat satire with darkly comedic elements, “The Good Boss” is being produced by Fernando León de Aranoa through the label Reposado P.C. and Mediapro Studio.

The major distributors that have boarded the movie include Bim in Italy, Alamode in Germany and Austria, Cascade in the Cis and Baltics, and Spentzos in Greece. MK2 launched sales on the movie during the Toronto Film Festival.

Discussions are underway in other territories, according to Fionnuela Jamison, head of international sales at MK2 Films.

Bardem stars in the film as a seemingly benevolent owner of a family factory who thinks he could be up for another local award for business excellence. In order to improve productivity within a week and win, the boss will cross every line imaginable,...

Javier Bardem is set to return to his native Spain to star in new feature “The Good Boss,” reuniting with director Fernando León de Aranoa, The Mediapro Studio and many of the social themes of 2002’s “Mondays in the Sun,” a movie that sealed a young Bardem’s acting reputation.

France’s MK2 Films, the Paris-based production, sales and exhibition company, has acquired international sales rights to the film, described as an offbeat satire with darkly comedic elements.

Produced by Fernando León de Aranoa’s own label, Reposado P.C., and The Mediapro Studio, the film will begin shooting this October.

Announced on the eve of 2020’s Toronto Film Festival, the ironic dramedy has Bardem in the lead role as the titular good boss, a charismatic and seemingly benevolent owner of a family factory who thinks he could be up for another local award for business excellence.

In order to...

This year’s pandemic-altered Venice Film Festival will include a record number of competition films directed by women, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. And two of those are also the only Hollywood studio films to make the competition lineup — Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”

In all, eight of the 18 competition features have a female director — an improvement from last year, when just two made the cut.

“Nomadland,” a drama starring Frances McDormand released by Searchlight Pictures, will simultaneously premiere through the Toronto Film Festival as well as through the New York Film Festival and the now-canceled Telluride fest (at a special drive-in screening in Southern California). Sony’s “The World to Come” stars Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston.

Also Read: Frances McDormand's 'Nomadland' to Get Joint World Premiere From Venice and Toronto Film Festivals

Other top titles screening out...

With Telluride Film Festival forced to cancel their yearly event, what is now the first of the major fall festivals, Venice, has announced their complete lineup. Along with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which was revealed yesterday, the lineup includes more of our most-anticipated films of the year, including Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Abel Ferrara’s Sportin’ Life, Lav Diaz’s Genus Pan, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, and more.

There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.

In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...

Prominent Chinese actress Zhao Wei (aka Vicki Zhao) has been banned for five years from holding senior positions in any listed company in China. The ruling was made by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The punishment relates to the failed 2016 takeover bid announced by Tibet Longwei, a company controlled by Zhao and her husband, Huang Youlong, for 29% of Zhejiang Wanija. The pair were found to have “disrupted market order” and to have benefited from a “celebrity effect” when they announced their bid, but did not have the financial resources to go through with it.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission had previously punished the pair with a five-year ban from trading on the Shanghai market and a $170,000 (RMB1.2 million) fine for the same offense. The latest, additional penalty reflects their release of false information during the bid.

Zhao made her name with 1990s TV series “My Fair Princess.” She has...

Everything seems to be on track for cinema’s final months of the year. Sure, that demented clown ruled the box office for a couple of weeks, but Ben and Jake are here now with some real “Oscar bait” flicks that will usher in the season of serious film works. Hmm, not so fast. Looks like another comics-inspired franchise is blasting into the multiplex. Now, the Jla and Thor are still many weeks away, but this series is more Bond and Bourne than Marvel and DC. Oh, and it’s from graphic novel/ movie adapter veteran Matthew Vaughn. He injected most welcomed energy to the Marvel mutants with X-men: First Class in 2011, just a year after spicing up that genre with the R-rated Kick-ass. His follow-up in 2014 was the “origin/training” tale of a super-secret (“veddy veddy” hush-hush, you know) organization whose operatives are impeccably dressed, well-mannered gentlemen (think TV’s John Steed…...

On Saturday Universal Pictures launched The Mummy Day, inspired by the upcoming action-adventure. Audiences of all ages were invited to visit the enormous 75-foot, 7-ton sarcophagus, which was revealed at the Hollywood & Highland gateway in Los Angeles. It was an impressive feat to celebrate this fun, summer film which opens in theaters, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on June 9.

The Mummy star Tom Cruise was joined on stage by his fellow co-stars Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella and Jake Johnson and director Alex Kurtzman. They invited participants to enjoy The Mummy Vr Zero Gravity Stunt Experience and The Mummy Escape Game at the complex.

The largest single vertical structure ever assembled at the gateway, The Mummy sarcophagus measures 75 feet in height, 28 feet in width and weighs an astonishing 15,000 pounds.

This extraordinary feat of engineering took two firms a total of eight weeks to construct, and scores of workers more than 160 hours to install.

Universal Pictures has released the final trailer for their upcoming summer monster movie, The Mummy. Check it out now.

Universal Pictures’ The Mummy Day, inspired by the upcoming action-adventure, will launch at 12 P.M. Pdt on Saturday, May 20.

Audiences of all ages are invited to visit the enormous 75-foot, 7-ton sarcophagus, which will be revealed at the Hollywood & Highland gateway in Los Angeles. As well, The Mummy star Tom Cruise will be joined on stage by his fellow co-stars and director Alex Kurtzman to invite participants to enjoy The Mummy Vr Zero Gravity Stunt Experience and The Mummy Escape Game at the complex.

The Mummy arrives in theaters, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on June 9.

The largest single vertical structure ever assembled at the gateway, The Mummy sarcophagus measures 75 feet in height, 28 feet in width and weighs an astonishing 15,000 pounds. This extraordinary feat of engineering took two firms a total of eight weeks to construct,...

Collapsing buildings, flipping cars, Sofia Boutella throwing Tom Cruise across a forest…watch The Mummy cast show off their insane stunt skills.

Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy.

Universal Pictures announced today that The Mummy Day, inspired by the upcoming action-adventure, will launch at 12 P.M. Pdt on Saturday, May 20.

Audiences of all ages are invited to visit the enormous 75-foot, 7-ton sarcophagus, which will be revealed at the Hollywood & Highland gateway in Los Angeles. As well, The Mummy star Tom Cruise will be joined on stage by his fellow co-stars and director Alex Kurtzman to invite participants to enjoy The Mummy Vr Zero Gravity Stunt Experience and The Mummy Escape Game at the complex. The announcement was made today by Nick Carpou, President of Distribution, Universal.

The Mummy arrives in theaters,...

Carrie Fisher is dead. If I can't get my head around that inconceivable fact, it's because her voice is still in my head. Her smarts and her humor, both fueled by curiosity. Her laugh bubbling up like her honesty – both unfakable. Carrie, always the smartest person in the room. And the most fun. That could be intimidating. She knew it.

When we first met, she was already Princess Leia, Star Wars royalty even in that ridiculous bun. I made a joke about it, and Carrie looked disappointed. She wasn't hurt...

Before I get started, I wanted to say I hope you enjoyed or are continuing to enjoy every Holiday you may have or are celebrating. I had a merry Christmas myself despite some people simply wishing me a “happy holidays!” I don’t know how I got through it either. And since this is my last column of 2016, a preemptive happy new year to you all as well.

Now that we got that out of the way, these last few days or so have been rough for science fiction, comic book, and music fans. Carrie Fisher, who has been enjoying a career renaissance, had suffered a massive heart attack and as of the time I’m writing this is in stable condition, but is still in intensive care. We wish her a full and speedy recovery.

Peter David, one of my favorite comic book writers as well as a seasoned...

Two words could be used to describe comics in 2015: scandal and rebirth. The scandals happened off the pages at both companies large and small, and the rebirth happened in the comics themselves.

Graphic Policy reported that former Dark Horse Comics editor-in-chief Scott Allie bit writer Joe Harris (X-Files Season Ten) at the Boom! Studios party at San Diego Comic Con, and he was demoted to “executive editor” even though an assault of this kind would be grounds for dismissal at almost any other company. There was also another ethical breach at Dark Horse when The Rainbow Hub journalist Emma Houxbois reported that former Bleeding Cool editor Hanna Means-Shannon broke a Dark Horse-related story while it was under embargo and didn’t disclose the fact that she was taking a job with the company.

Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso’s dismissal of African-American comics fans and creators when asked why...

Magic Mike; Ted; Brave; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

After what seemed like a lifetime leaning "quirkily" against people and inanimate objects in the posters for dismal, money-spinning rom-coms, Matthew McConaughey rediscovered his mojo this year with two movies that reminded us why we first sat up and took notice of him in Dazed and Confused, Lone Star and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. In William Friedkin's Killer Joe, he built upon the career resurrection hinted at in The Lincoln Lawyer, playing a slimy, murderous Texan working both sides of the law.

He dazzles once again in Magic Mike (2012, Lionsgate, 15) as the leader of a male striptease troupe whose routines boast none of the coy amateurism of The Full Monty. Inspired in part by the real-life experiences of beefcakey co-star and producer Channing Tatum, this Steven Soderbergh-directed romp continues the director's ongoing love affair with upmarket exploitation cinema.

It’s Kristen vs Selena! Who do You think should play Snow White?

Our loyalties are so torn! After getting ourselves super excited over the news Kristen Stewart might be playing Snow White now we hear that she may be competing against Selena Gomez. And we can totally see Selena being perfect for the role too! Which amazing girl should the studios choose?

According to DisneyInfonet Selena has been asked to attend February auditions for the Disney Princess role. The report says Selena, 18, and Kristen, 20, are director Rupert Sanders’s favorites at the moment, although IMDb has Alicia Vikander listed as the rumored lead.

The girls are apparently auditioning alongside Leighton Meester, Nicole Anderson and Miranda Cosgrove who are all trying out for various parts in the film.

We’ve reached out to Selena’s rep and will keep you posted on any more news we hear!

In the meantime,...

Precious (15)

(Lee Daniels, 2009, Us)

Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey. 110 mins.

It sounds like a relentlessly depressing pile-up of miseries: the tale of a 1980s Harlem teenager who's poor, lonely, overweight, undereducated, abused by both parents, and pregnant for the second time by her father. And it gets worse after that. But, mercifully, this doesn't play by European social realist rules, throwing in flourishes of fantasy and even comedy, and offering glimmers of hope, real and imagined, to lighten its heroine's unenviable burden. It's still a harrowing watch, powerfully performed and earnestly authentic, but even as it wallows in the gutter, it's looking for the stars.

The Princess And The Frog (U)

(Ron Clements, John Musker, 2009, Us)

Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos. 97 mins.

Another Disney Princess™ for the merchandising range, sorry, cinematic tradition, and the first African-American one. True to latter-day Disney form, she's capable and motivated – until she's turned into a frog,...

Read Part 1 of our interview right here.

[Spoiler Warning - This interview does contain discussion of the film's kills and plot. Be warned!]

There's a lot to like about Stewart Hendler's breezy and bloody Sorority Row. Sharp-eared viewers will notice the Sorority is located at Rosman College--named after writer/director Mark Rosman, who made the original House On Sorority Row. "Of course," smiles Hendler. "It's only right that we pay tribute to the guy who started it all!"

While it delivers the scares, Row is frequently laugh out loud funny and surreal. Case in point: The movie also has the jaw-dropping sight of Star Wars' Princess Leia, acclaimed actress/writer Carrie Fisher, chasing the killer with a double-barrelled shotgun!

Fango: Carrie Fisher is great as the alcoholic House Mother...How the hell did you get her to do it?

Stewart Hendler: "I lucked out, that's how I got Carrie Fisher. She was obviously the easy first choice for us...I mean, come on,...

Summit Entertainment is criticized for 'watering down horror' with their Twilight franchise. Those critics will eat their words when they see Sorority Row, a full-on '80s slasher throwback with a high body count and black sense of humor.

A loose adaptation of the minor classic House On Sorority Row (no head-in-a-toilet this time), it's the story of a Sorority prank gone wrong. With one of their own dead, the girls of Theta Pi are ready to confess. Lead sister Jessica (Leah Pipes) convinces them to hide the body instead, noting "I would rather not spend my child-bearing years in lock-up!"

Set to marry a Senator's son, Jessica and the rest of the girls have bright futures upon graduation. Unfortunately, a hooded maniac shows up with their murder weapon and begins picking them off one by one.

That's a standard slasher movie plot of guilt and revenge, but Sorority Row...

The last time I was in this cavernous building, it was 2000 and I was a beleaguered employee. Back then, it was the Wrs Film and Video Lab, notorious as the house that processed the original negative of Night Of The Living Dead.

Before it was a film lab, it had been a meat-packing plant—and a slaughterhouse. All of this seems appropriate, if not ironic, because right now, the space that used to house a bank of bulk VHS tape-transferring decks is now a grand dining room, complete with a spiral staircase winding up to a balcony. Overhead hangs a delicate crystal chandelier. In the corner is a Christmas tree. And in just a few moments, a hooded figure is going to hurl a flaming Molotov cocktail at an unfortunate girl’s head.

Wrs, the lab, is no more. Now it’s the home of all the interior sets for Sorority Row.

The last time I was in this cavernous building, it was 2000 and I was a beleaguered employee. Back then, it was the Wrs Film and Video Lab, notorious as the house that processed the original negative of Night Of The Living Dead.

Before it was a film lab, it had been a meat-packing plant—and a slaughterhouse. All of this seems appropriate, if not ironic, because right now, the space that used to house a bank of bulk VHS tape-transferring decks is now a grand dining room, complete with a spiral staircase winding up to a balcony. Overhead hangs a delicate crystal chandelier. In the corner is a Christmas tree. And in just a few moments, a hooded figure is going to hurl a flaming Molotov cocktail at actress Caroline D’Amore’s head.

Wrs, the lab, is no more. Now it’s the home of all the interior sets for Sorority Row.

By Matt Singer

What happens when you put the classic Cinderella story together with a modern setting or flip the protagonists' sexes? A whole lot more than bippity-boppity-boo. In honor of the new film "Year of the Fish," a self-proclaimed "Cinderella in a Chinatown massage parlour," here are five more unique reinventions of this durable fairy tale popularized by French author Charles Perrault in 1697. Read quickly, though: at the stroke of midnight, this article turns back into zeros and ones.

"Ever After" (1998)

Directed by Andy Tennant

The Brothers Grimm are called before the Grand Dame of France (Jeanne Moreau) to set the record straight on the "real" Cinderella, who had no magical benefactors or means of conveyance, though she did get some wardrobe support from Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey). Actually named Danielle De Barbarac (Drew Barrymore), she was living in servitude to her stepmother, Baroness Rodmilla (Angelica Huston) when...