News

Shout! Studios has acquired North American distribution rights to family adventure feature “Pet Investigators” from indie European distributor Plaion Pictures.

The deal was negotiated by Shout! Studios’ executive VP Melissa Boag, Mark Balsam, Bruce Eisen of Eisen Law, and Steven Katz, Shout’s VP of business affairs, and film writer and producer Werner Kienberger of Plaion. Sola Media is selling remaining territories at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM).

The family-oriented mystery, directed by Brent Ryan Green from a script by Sebastian Brummer, Werner Kienberger and B. Dave Walters, follows three teens and their canine companion as they investigate a series of neighborhood pet disappearances, ultimately uncovering a bumbling crime ring of animal thieves.

Rising talents Gabriella Sophia Terrero (“The Truth About Santa Claus”), Peyton Jackson (“Best Foot Forward”) and Joseph Lee (“An-de-lu”) lead the cast, with support from television veterans David Faustino (“Entourage”), Corin Nemec (“Parker Lewis Can’t...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to animated feature Into The Wonderwoods, in a deal struck with Paris-based Urban Sales.

The movie brings together the talents of Vincent Paronnaud, co-director of Cannes Jury Prize winner and Oscar-nominated, Iran-set work Persepolis, and Alexis Ducord, who co-directed César-nominated Halloween Theme Park caper Zombillenium.

Their new movie is a based on a comic book by Paronnaud (a.k.a. Winshluss) who adapted it to the big screen and co-directed with Ducord.

The fantastical tale follows the adventures of Angelo, a 10-year-old boy with dreams of becoming an explorer and a zoologist, who is left behind by his distracted parents during a rest stop while on route to see his beloved granny.

When Angelo cuts through the nearby forest in pursuit of his family, he discovers a dark and mysterious world inhabited by strange creatures, some friendlier than others.

Into The Wonderwoods...

Nearly two decades ago, Emily Blunt starred in a supernatural horror film that perhaps doesn't get the attention it deserves. For anyone who has yet to watch the movie, they can do so free of charge first thing next year.

On Jan. 1, Wind Chill will start streaming for free on Tubi. Released in 2007, the movie stars Blunt, the revered Golden Globe winner who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the smash hit film Oppenheimer. Though it follows her more well-known role in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada, Wind Chill was the first movie to put Blunt firmly in the lead. Like many horror films, it was met with mixed reviews initially, scored at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, but has since developed a cult following with many horror fans considering it to be underappreciated.

Related Kingsman Star in Talks to Join Emily Blunt in Steven Spielberg's...

Director E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow Of The Vampire, a sly and meta interpretation of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, poses a question: When is a traditional adaptation of a famous story not enough?

It’s still a pertinent question, almost 25 years after that film’s release. Given that the film...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has snapped up North American rights to the holiday family comedy A Sudden Case of Christmas, starring Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), from Notorious Pictures and Riverstone Pictures in association with WME Independent. The film will roll out across multiple entertainment platforms later this year.

As we were first to report, Vmi Worldwide holds international sales rights and is currently presenting the film to buyers at Cannes.

Directed by Peter Chelsom (The Space Between Us), A Sudden Case of Christmas centers on Lawrence (DeVito), who runs a grand hotel in the mountains of Italy. Every winter, he hosts the extended family for Christmas — but this year, his daughter (Lucy DeVito) and her husband (Wilmer Valderrama) are bringing their 10-year-old, Claire (Antonella Rose), to visit in August.

The young couple comes with shocking news: They are divorcing and...

Exclusive: In a seven-figure deal, Shout! Studios has acquired all North American rights to The Wasp, a psychological thriller starring Academy Award nominee Naomie Harris (Moonlight) and Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), which adapts the play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm.

Written by Malcolm and directed by two-time BAFTA nominee Guillem Morales (Inside Number 9), in his English-language debut, the film will be released in theaters this summer.

In The Wasp, Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer) agree to meet after having not spoken in years. Over tea, Heather presents a very unexpected proposition that will change their lives forever.

Nate Bolotin and Maxime Cottray from XYZ Films produced, with James Harris and Leonora Darby of Tea Shop Productions, Sean Sorensen of Royal Viking Entertainment and Matthew B. Schmidt of Paradise City Films also producing. Julie Dansker and Jordan Fields of Shout! Studios are executive producers. XYZ Films financed in association with Ipr.Vc and Three Point Capital.

Exclusive: Following a competitive bidding situation, Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to The Dead Don’t Hurt, the Western written, directed, produced by and starring Viggo Mortensen (Thirteen Lives) which world premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, where star Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) was honored with the TIFF Tribute Performer Award.

Acquired from Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture Company, Perceval Pictures, and HanWay Films, the film marks Mortensen’s second effort on both sides of the camera on the heels of 2020 father-son drama Falling. Pic will be released across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a wide theatrical launch this summer.

A story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s, The Dead Don’t Hurt centers on Vivienne Le Coudy (Krieps), a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holgen Olsen (Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios and Blue Fox Entertainment have jointly acquired North American rights to the starry new animated feature The Canterville Ghost from Beverly Hills-based sales agent Cinema Management Group, Deadline has learned.

Emerging from a multi-year alliance between Shout! Studios and Blue Fox, the deal sets the film for a strategic rollout across multiple platforms, beginning with a theatrical launch timed for Halloween.

A Stephen Fry-led reimagining of the same-name short story by Oscar Wilde that screened as an Official Selection of the 2023 Annecy Animation Film Festival, The Canterville Ghost tells the story of a modern American family that moves to their recently purchased country home, Canterville Chase in England, only to find it is haunted by a ghost. Effectively, Sir Simon de Canterville (Fry) has been haunting the grounds of Canterville Chase successfully for over 300 years, but he meets his match when he tries to scare out the new arrivals.

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has set a September 28th nationwide theatrical release date for The Kill Room, the darkly comedic thriller from Yale Entertainment that marks the first reteam for Pulp Fiction stars Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson in decades.

Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike) also stars in the pic directed by Nicol Paone from Jonathan Jacobson’s script. Pic tells the story of an art dealer (Thurman) who teams with a hitman (Manganiello) and his boss (Jackson) for a money laundering scheme that accidentally turns the hitman into an overnight Avant-Garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld. Among those rounding out the cast are Debi Mazar (Younger), Dree Hemingway (The Unicorn), Amy Keum (Honor Society), Candy Buckley (Bachelorette), Larry Pine (Succession), Jennifer Kim (Mozart in the Jungle), Matthew Maher (Air), Tom Pecinka (The Survivalist) and Alexander Sokovikov (For All...

Shout Studios acquired North American rights to “The Kill Room,” a thriller starring Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Joe Manganiello.

The distribution and production division of indie Shout Factory has emerged victorious in a bidding war at Cannes Film Festival. Shout Studios plans to release the film in theaters this fall.

“The Kill Room” was directed by Nicol Paone and written by Jonathan Jacobson. The dark comedic-thriller follows an art dealer (Thurman) who teams with a hitman (Manganiello) and his boss (Jackson) for a money laundering scheme. The plan accidentally turns the hired killer into an overnight avant-garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld.

“’The Kill Room’ is a sharp, darkly comic evisceration of the art collecting scene, delivered with wily relish by Uma Thurman and director Nicol Paone. We’re confident this will play very well with audiences who like their entertainment both witty and visceral,...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to screen adaptation The Magic Flute, which is executive-produced by Roland Emmerich.

Directed by Florian Sigl, the movie is a modern reimagining of Mozart’s opera classic. Cast comprises Jack Wolfe (The Witcher), Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus), Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Stéfi Celma (Call My Agent), Asha Banks (Royal Shakespeare Company), Stefan Konarske (Das Boot), Niamh McCormack (The Witcher), Amir Wilson (The Secret Garden), and Tedros Teclebrhan (System Crasher).

French soprano Sabine Devieilhe (Opéra National de Paris), Mexican-French tenor Rolando Villazón, and U.S. bass Morris Robinson are among the ensemble cast.

The adaptation is set in present-day Europe and tells the story of 17-year-old Tim Walker, who is sent from London to the Austrian alps to start his singing scholarship at the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a century old forgotten passageway...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to the sci-fi dramedy Linoleum from Sub_Sequential Pictures, following a competitive bidding situation. The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory is planning a strategic launch of the movie across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a theatrical launch later this year. Pic will be presented at the Cannes Film Market by Blue Fox Entertainment.

The film from writer-director Colin West (Double Walker) follows Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan), the host of a failing children’s science TV show called Above & Beyond, who has always had aspirations of being an astronaut. After a mysterious space-race era satellite coincidentally falls from space and lands in his backyard, his midlife crisis manifests in a plan to rebuild the machine into his dream rocket. As his relationship with his wife (Rhea Seehorn) and daughter (Katelyn Nacon) start to strain, surreal events begin unfolding around...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to Concourse Media’s drama On Sacred Ground, starring William Mapother (Lost), David Arquette (Scream franchise) and Amy Smart (Stargirl), with plans for a strategic launch of the pic across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a theatrical day-and-date debut in the first quarter of 2023. Josh Tickell and Robecca Tickell’s Big Picture Ranch will also screen the film on over 1,000 college campuses, as a means of promoting its underlying message of equality and the importance of upholding indigenous rights.

On Sacred Ground follows Daniel (Mapother), a journalist and Afghanistan War military veteran, and Elliot (Arquette), an oil company executive, who find themselves on opposite sides of the fight during the 2016 construction of the contentious Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, land that is owned by the Lakota “Sioux” Tribe. As the story unfolds,...

“Gulliver Returns,” a Ukrainian-produced animation film, will be released in the U.S. following a deal between Shout! Studios and sales agent All Rights Entertainment.

The film is adapted from the Jonathan Swift 18th century satire “Gulliver’s Travels” and adopts the framing conceived by Ukraine’s actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky’s that Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage.

A new synopsis has world traveler, giant and adventurer Gulliver invited to return to Lilliput, the town he previously saved from the enemy fleet of the neighboring Blefuscu. But when Gulliver returns as an ordinary man, the town folks are less than welcoming. Meanwhile, the invincible Blefuscu armada is at the gates of the city and threatening another attack. Gulliver will have to prove that it is not necessary to be a giant to do great things, but that a little bit of luck, bravery,...

Capping off a string of major sales deals worldwide, L.A.-based Cinema Management Group (Cmg) has sold the U.S. rights of animated feature “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon” to Shout! Studios.

The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory has secured all U.S. rights, including theatrical, home entertainment rights for cross-platform releases.

Shout! plans a strategic rollout of the lauded Peruvian-Dutch co-production across multiple entertainment platforms, starting with select film festivals and a theatrical launch later this year.

“‘Ainbo’ is a strikingly visual animated movie with the relevant theme of environmental conservation and a strong, young female lead character,” said Melissa Boag, Shout! executive VP of kids & family entertainment who expressed confidence that the film would “resonate with everyone who sees it.”

Directed by José Zelada and Richard Claus, “Ainbo” follows the epic journey of Ainbo, a 13-year-old indigenous girl and her quirky but sage spirit guides,...

Exclusive: Shout! Factory has snapped up North American distribution rights to Candid Camera, the hidden-camera show known for its decades-long run as a television pioneer.

The multi-year agreement encompasses thousands of episodes from 1960 to 2013, with the first 100 hand-picked classics heading to streaming service Shout! Factory TV later this year. Shout will have exclusive digital and broadcast rights to the series in the U.S. and Canada, and the company has pledged to announce more plans soon.

Candid Camera premiered in 1948, during the infancy of television as a medium, and went on to produce episodes for CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO and TV Land. Its run on CBS, from 1960 to 1967, was perhaps its most indelible. It introduced the hidden camera concept to television, and creator, producer and host Allen Funt has frequently been called the inventor of reality TV. The show’s payoff included one of TV’s most enduring taglines: “Smile,...

Exclusive: Distribution rights to Alf, the puppet-fronted sitcom that ran on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and spawned an animated series and a cult following, have been acquired by Shout! Factory.

The company, in partnership with Alien Productions, plan to bring Alf titles to digital entertainment platforms in the U.S. Lionsgate, which previously had rights, had brokered a deal for the sitcom to stream on Fox’s ad-supported service Tubi but that agreement ended last fall.

The deal was announced by Shout! founders and CEOs Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; Alien Productions partners Paul Fusco and Brian Patchett. Gene Pao and Jeffrey Peisch, Shout’s EVP of strategy and digital and SVP of programming and new business development, respectively, also took part in the deal.

Alf, per the official logline, centers on Gordon Shumway, a furry, wise-cracking alien from the planet Melmac who crash lands into the garage of the Tanner family.

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to Famm Films’ topical drama I’m Charlie Walker, starring Mike Colter, following a competitive bidding situation. Shout! Factory’s multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm plans to release the film across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a theatrical day-and-date launch later this year.

The film based on a true story picks up in 1971, as two oil tankers violently collide off the San Francisco coast, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil and creating an environmental disaster. Against all odds, trucking and construction entrepreneur Charlie Walker (Colter) is then able to secure one of the most lucrative contracts to clean the coastline threatening much of the San Francisco Bay, with only three trucks, an incredible work ethic and a whole lot of heart. Pic recounts the racial discrimination Walker endured as he tries to save the coastline,...

Corey Large, Timothy V. Murphy, Cullen G. Chambers, Rob Gough, Johnny Messner round out cast.

Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights from The Exchange to Bruce Willis action thriller American Siege, which has wrapped production in Victoria, British Columbia.

Edward Drake directed the story about the sheriff of a wealthy town in the state of Georgia whose loyalties are tested when a hostage crisis uncovers a conspiracy.

Corey Large, Timothy V. Murphy, Cullen G. Chambers, Rob Gough, and Johnny Messner round out the cast. Drake and Large co-wrote the screenplay.

American Siege is a production of 308 Enterprises in association...

Shout! Studios has acquired the North American rights to “Language Lessons,” a love story starring and directed by Natalie Morales and also starring Mark Duplass.

“Parks and Rec” star Morales made her directorial debut on “Language Lessons,” which made its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival before snagging an audience award for Morales at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Shout! plans to release the film across all platforms, beginning with a theatrical release later this year.

Duplass and Morales also co-wrote the screenplay, which is about a man whose husband surprises him with weekly Spanish lessons. When tragedy strikes in his life, his Spanish teacher becomes a lifeline he didn’t know he needed, leading him to develop an unexpected and complicated emotional bond with her.

“Language Lessons,” which earned strong reviews out of Berlin, is described as bittersweet, honest and at times darkly funny in how it...

Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to the platonic love story “Language Lessons” from Duplass Brothers Productions, following a competitive bidding situation. The news comes on the heels of the movie’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and its Audience Award win at the SXSW Film Festival.

“Language Lessons” marks the feature directorial debut of Natalie Morales. It stars and was written by Mark Duplass and Morales, and was produced by Mel Eslyn.

The film follows Adam (Duplass), whose husband surprises him with a gift of a year’s worth of weekly Spanish lessons. But when tragedy strikes, his teacher, Cariño (Morales), becomes a lifeline he didn’t know he needed and the two develop an unexpected and complicated emotional bond.

Shot in secret during the pandemic with a skeleton crew in Los Angeles and Costa Rica, “Language Lessons’ ” exploration of long-distance connection is both of its time and timeless.

Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to Language Lessons, the drama that marks the feature directing debut of Natalie Morales. She co-stars with Mark Duplass, who also penned the script. The pic, which had its world premiere at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and won an audience award at SXSW, will now hit theaters and additional platforms later this year as part of the deal that includes digital, VOD, broadcast, and home entertainment rights.

The film centers on Adam (Duplass), whose husband surprises him with a gift of a year’s worth of weekly Spanish lessons. But when tragedy strikes, his teacher, Cariño (Morales), becomes a lifeline he didn’t know he needed and the two develop an unexpected and complicated emotional bond.

The Duplass Brothers Productions pic was shot with a small crew during the pandemic in Los Angeles and Costa Rica. Mel Eslyn produced it, and Morales,...

Theatrical release earmarked for later in the year.

Shout! Studios has picked up North American rights from ICM Partners to Berlin and SXSW 2021 entry Language Lessons starring and written by Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales.

The Duplass Brothers Productions follows the burgeoning friendship between a gay man and his remote Spanish teacher, and shot in secret during the pandemic using a skeleton crew in Los Angeles and Costa Rica.

Morales directed and Mel Eslyn produced Language Lessons, which earned the Narrative Spotlight audience award at SXSW Online 2021. Morales, Mark Duplass, and Jay Duplass served as executive producers.

Shout! Studios has...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired worldwide rights to Emmy-winning director Nancy Buirski’s documentary A Crime on the Bayou, the third in her trilogy of films that explore vital stories from the Civil Rights era.

Shout! Studios, the distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory, plans a theatrical release for A Crime on the Bayou later this year, followed by a rollout on VOD, digital, broadcast and home entertainment. Egot-winner John Legend is an executive producer of the film that revisits the case of Gary Duncan, who as a Black teenager in 1966 was arrested in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana in a racially-charged incident.

Duncan’s “crime” was to break up a fight between white and Black youths outside a newly-integrated school, during which he “gently [laid] his hand on a white boy’s arm,” setting in motion a prosecution for assault on a minor. Duncan was defended by Richard Sobol, a young Jewish attorney,...

Shout! Studios has secured all distribution rights in North America from Protagonist Pictures to “The Show,” the mystery fantasy feature film written by Alan Moore, the creator of iconic comic-books such as “Watchmen,” “V for Vendetta,” “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” “The Show,” directed by Mitch Jenkins, will be launched across all major platforms later this year.

Tom Burke stars in the film, alongside Siobhan Hewlett, Ellie Bamber, Sheila Atim, Christopher Fairbank and Moore himself.

The pic centers on Fletcher Dennis (Burke), a man of many talents, passports and identities, who arrives in Northampton – a strange and haunted town in the heart of England as dangerous as he is. On a mission to locate a stolen artefact for his menacing client, Fletcher finds himself entangled in a twilight world populated with vampires, sleeping beauties, voodoo gangsters, noir private eyes, and masked avengers.

The North American deal was...

Mon. Feb 8. Universal Pictures Moves Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Marry Me’ to 2022

Universal Pictures has announced Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me” is moving from May 14, 2021 to Feb. 11, 2022.

Lopez stars as musical superstar Kat Valdez and Owen Wilson as Charlie Gilbert, a math teacher—total strangers who agree to marry and then get to know each other. The film is an unlikely romance about two people searching for something real in a world where value is based on likes and followers and will feature original songs by Lopez and Latin music star Maluma.

The film also stars John Bradley (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Michelle Buteau (Netflix’s “Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia”) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (“Mulan”).

Kat Coiro (“Dead to Me”) will direct the film. Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Lopez’s producing partner and Benny Medina will both serve as producers on “Marry Me.”

Shout! Factory and Animation Studio Laika Announce New Entertainment Distribution Alliance

Shout!

Shout! Factory and Laika have signed a multiyear distribution deal that will see Shout! bring the first four films — all Oscar nominees — made by the animation studio to the home entertainment sphere.

Under terms of the pact, Shout! receives U.S. home entertainment distribution rights in all packaged media to Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline (2009). The offerings will include new bonus content, collectible packaging, and specialty releases which are in development.

“We’ve been huge fans of Laika, Travis Knight, and his extraordinary team. Their legendary ingenuity, independent spirit, and compelling storytelling have inspired us and continue to entertain audiences worldwide,” Melissa Boag, SVP Family Entertainment at Shout! Factory, said Monday in a release announcing the deal. “We’re incredibly excited about this new opportunity with Laika and look forward to presenting these beloved films with enlightening extras and lavish packaging to fans and collectors everywhere.

“Linda and the Mockingbirds,” a documentary about Linda Ronstadt making a journey to Mexico to explore her musical roots there, has been picked up for worldwide rights by Shout! Studios, the distribution and production division of the Shout! Factory home video company.

The film was originally slated to premiere at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend. Shout! is promising that the doc will be out later in 2020 via various distribution platforms.

In a follow-up to last year’s Ronstadt documentary “The Sound of My Voice,” “Linda and the Mockingbirds” narrows in on a road trip undertaken by Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and a group of younger musicians made to the Mexican town of Banámichi in the state of Sonora, the birthplace of Ronstadt’s beloved grandfather.

It’s said to deal with border politics, racism and other personal or hot-buttontopics affecting Ronstadt’s and Browne’s companions on the...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired all North American rights to doc feature Woman In Motion, about how Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols helped pioneer the Nasa recruiting program to hire people of color and the first female astronauts for the space agency in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The film also chronicles Nichols’ rise to fame and portrayal of Uhura on Star Trek, which marked one of the first leading roles for an African-American actress in a mainstream TV series. You can check out the engaging first trailer for the movie here.

Directed by Todd Thompson (The Highwaymen), the film features actors, activists, scientists and astronauts including Nichols, Neil deGrasse Tyson, George Takei, Pharrell Williams, Martin Luther King III, Al Sharpton, Vivica A. Fox, Walter Koenig, Rod Roddenberry, Michael Dorn, Guy Bluford, Charles Bolden, Ivor Dawson, Frederik Gregory and Benjamin Crump.

The film was produced by Thompson along with his...

Longtime Kew Media Group exec Steven Katz has landed at Shout! Factory to head up its business and legal affairs.

Named vp of business and legal affairs at Shout, based in Los Angeles, Katz will oversee dealmaking in film and TV acquisitions, development, production, distribution and other company divisions.

He left Kew Media as vp of business and legal affairs in February 2020 as co-founders Peter Sussman and Steven Silver tipped the company into a court-directed bankruptcy, before their assets were sold off. That corporate collapse followed Kew Media in 2017 bulking up by acquiring six TV producers to avoid ...

Longtime Kew Media Group exec Steven Katz has landed at Shout! Factory to head up its business and legal affairs.

Named vp of business and legal affairs at Shout, based in Los Angeles, Katz will oversee dealmaking in film and TV acquisitions, development, production, distribution and other company divisions.

He left Kew Media as vp of business and legal affairs in February 2020 as co-founders Peter Sussman and Steven Silver tipped the company into a court-directed bankruptcy, before their assets were sold off. That corporate collapse followed Kew Media in 2017 bulking up by acquiring six TV producers to avoid ...

Topic Studios has signed Girls Trip co-writer and The First Wives Club series creator Tracy Oliver to a first-look deal for film and TV.

The pact, which begins April 1, comes at a busy time for the multi-hyphenate, who is currently working on First Wives Club, the half-hour comedy based on the movie that she executive produces and showruns. It stars Ryan Michelle Bathe, Jill Scott and Michelle Buteau and will air later this year on Bet.

On the film side, she has the Will Packer-produced Little, which she wrote, hitting theaters April 12 via Universal, and she penned and executive produced Warner Bros’ Ya adaptation The Sun Is Also a Star, which bows May 17 and stars Grown-ish‘s Yara Shahidi and Riverdale‘s Charles Melton. In addition, she is producing a remake of Clueless at Paramount.

“We’re huge fans of Tracy,” said Michael Bloom, CEO of First Look Media/Topic Studios.

Topic Studios is developing a scripted TV series based on Benito Cereno, the 1855 Herman Melville novella about the fictionalized revolt of a Spanish slave ship. The series, which will be adapted to take place in deep space, is created by The Knick scribe/co-executive producer Steven Katz, who will write and executive produced project.

Topic Studios will also executive produce alongside Manage-ment’s Dan Halsted and Corinne Hayoun.

Inspired by the novella — considered one of Melville’s finest works as a commentary on slavery, the nature of man and good versus evil — the series will be a science fiction thriller centered on an accidental encounter between a human commercial ship and an alien slave freighter, where the human captain navigates a world of inter-species slavery in a distant future with frightening parallels to our past.

“Benito Cereno is one of Melville’s most thought-provoking short stories, and Steven has been able to retain its essence,...

The Knick and Manhunt: Unabomber veteran Steven Katz is taking Herman Melville where the author has never been before: outer space.

Katz will adapt Melville's 1855 novella Benito Cereno as a sci-fi thriller about a chance encounter between two vessels — a human commercial ship and an alien slave freighter — in deep space. The project is in development at First Look Media's Topic Studios (Spotlight, Roman J. Israel, Esq.) and does not yet have a buyer.

"Benito Cereno is one of Melville’s most thought-provoking short stories, and Steven has been able to retain its essence, while reimagining it for ...

In just one season, Dr. John Thackery (Clive Owen) has gone from a highly-regarded surgeon to a drug-addled mess when Cinemax's critically-acclaimed series The Knick returns for Season 2 with the premiere episode Ten Knots, debuting Friday, October 16 at 10 Pm Et. While we wait for the season premiere to arrive in just a few short days, the network has released the first clip from this upcoming episode, which shows that Thackery has become quite unhinged. After a surprise visit by Dr. Everett Gallinger (Eric Johnson), Thackery becomes obsessed with the time.

Set in the year 1901, The Knick faces an upheaval, as Dr. John Thackery's absence (due to his hospitalization for cocaine addiction), a dearth of affluent patients, and financial missteps have led to the board's decision to shutter The Knickerbocker Hospital in favor of a new building uptown. In this world of corruption, invention and progress, everyone is searching for the...

Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won the Original Screenplay honor at the recently concluded Writers Guild Awards while Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" took home the Adapted Screenplay trophy. "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swarts" written by Brian Knappenberger won Documentary Screenplay award. The film is not nominated for an Academy award.

In TV land, HBO's "True Detective" won the Drama Series award and FX's "Louie" received the Comedy Series trophy.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 2015 Writers Guild Awards:

Feature Film

Original Screenplay

Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater; IFC Films

Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman; Sony Pictures Classics

The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness; Fox Searchlight Winner

Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy; Open Road Films

Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle; Sony Pictures Classics

Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper,...

The Writers Guild of America announced the TV nominees for the 2015 WGA Awards on Thursday (December 4) morning and several new shows broke into the fields in a big way. And, of course, there were a number of big WGA Award nomination head-scratchers. Specifically, where the heck was FX's "Fargo"? The answer is below. Making perhaps the biggest splash was "Transparent," which earned three nominations and, since "Orange Is The New Black" earned two nods and "House of Cards" pick up one, that meant that Amazon Prime and Netflix are, at least for one award-giving organization, on equal footing as creators of original programming. The Jill Soloway-created "Transparent" is nominated for New Series, where it will go against "The Affair," "The Knick," "Silicon Valley" and "True Detective." "Transparent" and "Silicon Valley" are also up for Comedy Series, going against "Louie," "Veep" and "Orange Is The New Black." Lest you panic...

The Knick, Season 1, Episode 9: “The Golden Lotus”

Written by Steven Katz

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Airs Fridays at 8Pm Est on Cinemax

The Knick has made some strong and effective leaps in the last few episodes, but none have been as big or as game-changing as the revelation of Thackery’s addiction to the Knickerbocker staff, and a host of others in its inner circle.

We first see a desperate Thackery breaking into a pharmacy by shaky fire-light, and when he is subsequently caught, the jig is up for New York’s finest, and most tireless, of surgeons. The way he is framed in in this scene, and the one in his home that follows, offers an insightful view of the wretched creature this man has become. Thackery is shot like a beast skulking in the shadows, and the roar he unleashes upon Elkins when she visits only further solidifies his monstrous state.

The Knick, Season 1, Episode 5: “They Capture the Heat”

Written by Jack Amiel, Michael Begler & Steven Katz

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Airs Fridays at 8Pm Est on Cinemax

Sometimes it’s the simplest things which bring us the greatest of joys. This is the recurring theme that echoes through The Knick as we reach the halfway point for its first season. From a first bike ride to a cold beer with a co-worker, it is the most basic of life’s pleasures that get our characters through another tough week at the Knickerbocker Hospital.

Thackery’s first scene, wherein he awakens just long enough to tell someone he doesn’t know to “go to hell”, serves as a stark counterpoint to the whimsical and optimistic moments that follow. We next see him smiling wistfully as Nurse Elkins cruises by on her shiny blue bike. Though the rest of the episode...

Marvel's Agents of Shield

The first photo is out of British actor Nick Blood as Agent Lance Hunter in the upcoming second season of ABC's "Marvel's Agents of Shield". Describing the character, executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen says: "Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen, Coulson has to look outside of the organization for help, and make uneasy alliances with people like Lance Hunter. Hunter is a mercenary, in it for the money, not the cause. Whether his allegiance is to anyone but himself is still in question." [Source: Et Online]

Son of Sam

Blumhouse Prods. will develop a six-hour mini-series about serial killer 'Son of Sam' for Fox TV Studios ("The Killing"). Steven Katz ("The Knick," "From the Earth to the Moon") penned the script which juxtaposes David Richard Berkowitz’s six killings with the actual police investigation in the mid 1970's in New York City. [Source: Deadline]

The Dangerous Book for...

Blumhouse Productions is moving from the big screen to the small for its latest project, which is based on Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz. Read on for the first details right here.

Deadline is reporting that Jason Blum’s production company is returning to the longform arena with another New York period piece based on a true story: miniseries "Son of Sam." Blumhouse will develop the six-hour mini with Fox TV Studios ("The Killing").

Written by Steven Katz ("The Knick," "From the Earth to the Moon"), "Son of Sam" juxtaposes David Richard Berkowitz’s murder confession of Satan worship and human sacrifice with the actual police investigation of December 1975-1977. For almost two years, the Son of Sam terrorized New York City, killing six people while eluding a massive manhunt and taunting the police with brazen letters. The spree finally came to an end in August 1977 when Berkowitz was...

Jason Blum’s production house is developing a miniseries in cahoots with Fox based on the story of Son Of Sam. Reportedly a six-hour series, the project led by Blumhouse Productions will delve into the inner workings of David Berkowitz and his killing spree in New York City. What’s exciting to us about the show is that it was written by Steven Katz – who also penned Steven Soderbergh’s latest hit The Knick.

The synopsis as revealed by Deadline, goes into further detail:

Son of Sam juxtaposes David Richard Berkowitz’s murder confession of Satan worship and human sacrifice with the actual police investigation of December 1975-1977. For almost two years, the self-proclaimed Son of Sam terrorized New York City, killing six people while eluding a massive manhunt and taunting the police with brazen letters. The spree finally came to an end in August 1977 when Berkowitz was arrested and...

Edited by Adam Cook

Above: a sneak peak of Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, via our Tumblr. A wealth of content from the Melbourne International Film Festival's newly launched Critics Campus has been published here and here. For Rolling Stone, filmmaker James Gray writes on Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now on the occasion of its 35th anniversary:

"The film is indeed self-consciously mythic, and with its transcendent imagery, it enters the cosmic realm. Captain Willard is an enigmatic hero, and we need the narration (written by Dispatches author Michael Herr) to help us know him. Surely the man has his dark side: he kills a wounded Vietnamese woman and hacks Colonel Kurtz to death. But by the end, Willard retains enough of his soul to protect the innocent, childlike Lance (Sam Bottoms), and here we see that the human connection endures. The film's experience expands in this moment,...

I’m really excited for The Knick, a historical medical drama starring Clive Owen and directed by Steven Soderbergh, which Cinemax will be unveiling in August. This is the same network we jokingly call Skinemax, and which features action-packed, nudity-heavy series like Strike Back, Hunted and Banshee. However, The Knick definitely looks like a promising new start for the network in a new trailer for the series.

In the trailer, we’re introduced to the high-pressure, high-stakes existence of Dr. John W. Thackery (Owen), a doctor at New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital in the early twentieth century. As he pushes to expand the known boundaries of modern medicine, he encounters a myriad of personal and professional dilemmas.

The main draw for a lot of viewers will probably be Owen, who looks like he’s perfectly suited for this gritty role, but I’m most excited to see Soderbergh’s direction on the series.

Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips and a combo of The Blues Brothers and Animal House on Blu-Ray, please.

Just because our Don’t Knock the Rock week is over, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep bringing you rocking films, and The Blues Brothers and Animal House definitely rock. Infused and in love with the music that permeates so much of them*, they’re just perfect little slices of cinematic gold. Legendary, I might argue, so what else can I possibly say about these films that hasn’t been said a million times? Nothing. I love them, that is all. (Who doesn’t?)

Which makes this just an alert:

Animal House and The Blues Brothers are out on BluRay today, July 26, with great transfers and cool extras. I think you should buy them. Buy them right this second.

Though I understand that you’re not interested in my saying so.

Adding to its stable of horror flicks, Variety reports that Dimension Films has acquired remake rights to Dario Argento's Suspiria, with an adaptation to be penned by Shadow of the Vampire scribe Steven Katz. The 1977 original Suspiria starred Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who discovers that her dance school is actually a witches' coven; the film gained a cult following for its moody atmosphere, nightmarish lighting and camerawork and a creepy score by Argento himself in collaboration with the Italian band The Goblins.