News

Jennifer Lopez's hunt for an Oscar might finally be coming to a close. After earning rave reviews at its Sundance Film Festival premiere, the movie-musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, executive produced and starring J.Lo as the titular character, has just slotted a Fall 2025 release.

Per Deadline, Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have snagged the Kiss of the Spider Woman's North American release rights following its warm reception. Bill Condon directs and pens the Lopez vehicle, adapted from the Fred Kander and Fred Ebb musical of the same name. Set in the 1980s, the film follows Argentine prisoners swapping fantasies and stories—many performed by the eponymous Spider Woman (aka Ingrid/Aurora)— barely surviving under the nation's dictatorship.

The story has taken on many forms over the years. The original 1976 Kiss of the Spider Woman novel by Manuel Puig predates the musical concept. The songless version...

Gold Derby's top news stories for March 25, 2025. No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal released after attack by Israeli settlers, Yuval Abraham says

Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has been freed after being attacked and detained by Israeli settlers, his co-director Yuval Abraham said on X on Tuesday. "Hamdan Ballal is free and is about to go home to his family," he wrote. In a post on Monday, Abraham said Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers near his home in the West Bank and was taken by soldiers from an ambulance. Jihad Nawajaa, head of the Susiya local council, told Reuters that a group of settlers attacked the Susiya village during a gathering for Iftar, the end of the daily Ramadan fast, on Monday. Ballal, who was injured, was one of three men who were arrested. Ballal's wife Lamia Balall said Monday, "The settlers...

Jennifer Lopez is starring in the upcoming movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman and the film just received a release window!

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have acquired the film following its Sundance premiere earlier this year and the movie will be released exclusively in movie theaters in Fall 2025.

The film is an adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical of the same name and Jennifer received rave reviews for her performance following the Sundance premiere.

Set in Argentina in 1983, with the country’s military dictatorship waging a brutal war against its political opponents, prisoners Valentín (Diego Luna) and Molina (Tonatiuh) find themselves thrown together in a cramped cell. Initially at odds, they begin to bond as Molina narrates the story of his favorite movie, Kiss of the Spider Woman. A colorful fantasia of song and dance starring screen siren Ingrid Luna (Lopez), the film follows a woman attempting...

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Ld Entertainment announced today the acquisition of Kiss of the Spider Woman, from Bill Condon, the Academy Award-winning writer-director known for such films as Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Beauty and the Beast.

This visionary new adaptation is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally and composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Written for the screen and directed by Bill Condon, this visually stunning and emotionally charged adaptation stars Emmy Award nominee Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, and Emmy and Grammy Award-nominated superstar Jennifer Lopez, who also serves as an executive producer alongside Diego Luna.

Produced by Barry Josephson, p.g.a., Tom Kirdahy, p.g.a., and Greg Yolen, p.g.a., the...

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have confirmed their acquisition of North American rights to Bill Condon’sKiss Of The Spider Womanremake that premiered in Sundance and stars Tonatiuh, Jennifer Lopez, and Diego Luna.

‘Kiss Of The Spider-Woman’: Sundance Review

WME Independent and CAA Media Finance negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers and the distributors plan a theatrical release this autumn.

AGC International acquired rights outside the United States and took the film to the EFM in Berlin last month.

Bill Condon’s remake of the Argentina-set drama is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity...

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have confirmed their acquisition of North American rights to Bill Condon’sKiss Of The Spider Womanremake that premiered in Sundance and stars Tonatiuh, Jennifer Lopez, and Diego Luna.

‘Kiss Of The Spider-Woman’: Sundance Review

WME Independent and CAA Media Finance negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers and the distributors plan a theatrical release this autumn.

AGC International acquired rights outside the United States and took the film to the EFM in Berlin last month.

Bill Condon’s remake of the Argentina-set drama is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity...

What we first told you on Sunday is now official: Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment have officially picked up North American on the Bill Condon directed, Jennifer Lopez starring feature musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was one of the most buzzed about titles at this year’s Sundance. A fall wide theatrical release has been set just in time for awards season.

Look for Jennifer Lopez to be out there on the awards season trail, along with the new discovery in this pic, Tonatiuh, who wows as gay prisoner Molina during a 1980s Argentian dictatorship, an inmate who keeps his cellmate Valentín (Diego Luna) alive with stories about his favorite movie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and its actress Ingrid Luna (Lopez). Molina’s stories are portrayed in colorful song and dance. An eight-figure P&a spend is in store to get the word out. Condon is...

The feature adaptation of the Broadway musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Jennifer Lopez and directed by Bill Condon, earned raves at this year's Sundance Film Festival, but word on the sale of the film has been pretty quiet since the festivities wrapped up...until now. With the film having huge awards season potential, a studio has now entered the chat to give the movie a domestic distribution deal that will allow the film to have the full theatrical experience.

Per Deadline, Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in the process of acquiring the domestic rights to Kiss of the Spider Woman. Details of the deal are still being ironed out and need to be finalized, but all reports suggest that it's all coming together nicely for the buzzed-about project. Stuart Ford's AGC is handling foreign sales of the film at EFM while WME and CAA Media Finance co-repped the U.

George Ross Satornino. (Photo via social media)

George Ross Satornino is stepping into the role being vacated by Bill Condon at Comcast and Charter’s joint venture Xumo, The Desk has learned.

Ross Satornino’s title remains Executive Director of Content Planning and Acquisition, but he will absorb the responsibilities of Condon, who served as Xumo’s Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Partnerships until his departure this week, as first reported by The Desk.

Satornino reports to Stefan Van Engen, the Vice President of Content Programming and Partnerships at Xumo.

Condon is departing Xumo after six years with the company, which started as a free streaming television application before evolving into a multi-solutions provider of connected TV hardware and services as a joint venture between Comcast and Charter.

“After an incredible 6 years at Xumo leading both advertising and enterprise sales from the start-up phase through our Comcast acquisition and...

While Sundance didn’t have a plethora of the late night bidding wars we used to see in the good old days of the festival, the weirdness of the Los Angeles fires and the advent of the online platform have kept sales very slow. Over 60 films came into this year’s Sundance looking for homes. As we previously reported, the hope was that even more distributors could get creative.

Below we’ll update all the acquisitions following the festival as they arrive. Here are the movies we think could sell big.

“Predators”

Section: U.S. Documentary

Buyer: MTV Documentary Films

Director: David Osit

Buzz: Another one of our favorite docs out of Sundance, this chilling investigation into Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” series from Peabody-winning director Osit looks into the complicated legacy of the hit show by arguing that we as viewers are complicit in America’s “perverted sense of justice,...

Bill Condon. (Courtesy image)

Bill Condon is leaving Charter Communications and Comcast Corporation’s joint venture Xumo, where he has worked as the Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Partnerships for the past six years.

Condon’s time at Xumo has been spent helping the product evolve from a free, ad-supported streaming television (Fast) service into one acquired by Comcast five years ago and subsequently reincorporated into a joint venture between the cable giant and peer Charter, one that now focuses on building out its own streaming TV platform and consumer and enterprise Fast solutions.

“After an incredible 6 years at Xumo leading both advertising and enterprise sales from the start-up phase through our Comcast acquistion and current joint venture with Charter Communications, I am filled with gratitude for the journey,” Condon said in a statement. “Working alongside passionate, knowledgeable, and empathetic individuals has truly been a career highlight.”

Condon said...

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are understood to be in advanced talks for US rights to Bill Condon’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman remake that premiered in Sundance and stars Tonatiuh, Jennifer Lopez, and Diego Luna.

‘Kiss Of The Spider-Woman’: Sundance Review

AGC International acquired rights outside the United States and took the film to the EFM in Berlin last month. WME Independent and CAA Media Finance jointly represent US rights.

Bill Condon’s remake of the Argentina-set drama is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity and follows two cellmates of vastly differing...

Jennifer Lopez stars in an adaptation of the famous play, Kiss of the Spider Woman, which premiered at Sundance last month. Our Chris Bumbray got to see it and said in his review, “While the premise certainly sounds heavy, Condon infused the film with a lot of Hollywood flash and sizzle. However, the songs and musical numbers are confined to the film within the film, making this more realistic as far as big-screen musicals go. It’s precisely the right way to film it, as the power of the story, which reflects grim, real-world events, isn’t diluted. It’ll be interesting to see if a major studio picks up the movie, as it feels fairly commercial, even if, at its soul, it is a desperately sad story that doesn’t feel far removed from events that still happen all over the world forty years after the story is set.

Three months after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is finally nearing a distribution deal. Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in final talks to take domestic rights on director Bill Condon’s adaptation of the stage musical of the same name, ensuring the Jennifer Lopez-starring drama will see the light of day, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.

Terms of the deal, including release plans and financial figures, were not disclosed.

The Artists Equity-produced film came into Sundance as one of the festival’s buzzier titles due to its cast and pedigree – Condon was behind acclaimed titles like “Chicago” and “Gods and Monsters” — but it drew mixed reviews at its premiere and major buyers like Netflix passed.

The movie, written and directed by Condon, follows the story of the stage musical closely as it chronicles the relationship between queer hairdresser Luis...

The new adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman that stars Jennifer Lopez is close to a sale after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in final negotiations to acquire domestic distribution rights for the musical feature. Diego Luna, Tonatiuh and Tony Dovolani round out the cast for director Bill Condon’s film that hails from Artists Equity and Mohari Media.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is based on playwright Terrence McNally’s stage musical that debuted on Broadway in 1993 and adapted Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name. Condon penned the script, and the film features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.

The project centers on a political prisoner (Luna), whose cellmate (Tonatiuh) creates a fantasy Hollywood narrative involving his favorite star, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).

Producers include Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy and Greg Yolen. Among...

“Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a musical remake from director Bill Condon and star Jennifer Lopez, is finally close to finding a buyer after its buzzy Sundance Film Festival premiere in January.

Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and independent studio Ld Entertainment are circling domestic rights, though a deal has yet to close. It’s unclear how the trio of companies will work together to roll out the film.

This adaptation of Manuel Puig’s novel was one of higher profile projects to debut at Sundance. Set in an Argentinian prison in 1981, the film centers on queer window dresser Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) who is serving time for having sex with a man. To escape the horrors of his imprisonment, he dreams up vivid stories about the cinematic exploits of his favorite on screen diva, an actress name Ingrid Luna (Lopez), including her role of the spider woman, who kills her pray with a kiss.

Exclusive: We hear that Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and Ld Entertainment are in final talks to take domestic rights to Sundance’s most buzzed about movie this year, the Bill Condon directed, Jennifer Lopez feature take of Broadway musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman.

We’re hearing it took a lot for this deal to come together on this net low-$30sM Artists Equity production based on the book by Terrence McNally and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s songs. Stuart Ford’s AGC handled foreign sales at EFM. WME and CAA Media Finance co-repped U.S. rights on the movie.

Tonatiuh and Diego Luna in ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’

Details are still coming together. The pic follows Diego Luna and Tonatiuh as Valentín and Luis, jail cellmates in a military-run 1983 Argentinian. Gay widow dresser, Luis, keeps Valentín’s spirits alive with tales about his favorite actress, Ingrid Luna (Lopez...

After raiding the crown jewels for just about every live-action reboot imaginable, Disney has finally gotten around to the one that started it all, the 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That film represents Walt Disney’s first-ever full-length animated feature.

Originally, Disney’s plan was to rerelease its animated vault treasures every seven years for a new generation of kids, but they got the bright idea to instead remake those films as live-action features. Thus we have had versions of Sleeping Beauty reimagined around evil Maleficent; Peter Pan; Fantasia; Dumbo; Pinocchio; three variations on 101 Dalmatians including Cruella; The Lion King; Jungle Book; Aladdin; Mulan; Alice In Wonderland; The Little Mermaid; and an unfortunate attempt to meddle with my favorite, Lady and the Tramp among others. The best in the live-action genre to date remain Bill Condon’s blockbuster Beauty and the Beast and Kenneth Branagh’s splendid Cinderella.

Exclusive: The Riverdale star is attached to star and will produce under her Small Victory’s first look deal at Amazon MGM Studios, Fake Wedding.

The project, based on Ali and Anthony Garland’s short story, is currently being developed with the twosome penning the screenplay. Fake Wedding follows two broke singles who throw a fake wedding to cash in on the registry and the very real problems the make-believe couple encounters. Scott Glassgold’s 12:01 Films assembled the project and is producing. Verve held the auction and sold the project in the low six figures.

Amazon MGM Studios is becoming quite the house of rom-coms. Recently their Reese Witherspoon-Will Ferrell movie You’re Cordially Invited amassed 827M viewing minutes within its first few days of availability on Prime, putting it at No. 6 on Nielsen’s overall Top 10. The pic debuted on the streamer on Jan. 30. Amazon MGM...

Exclusive: Veteran film and television producer and executive D. Matt Geller has joined Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions as EVP. He will lead the development and production of all scripted content for the company. Geller fills the void left by the recent departure of Braden Aftergood who had been Stallone’s partner at Balboa Prods. since the company’s 2018 launch.

Geller’s background spans development, domestic and international co-productions, packaging and sales. He most recently served as President of Barry Josephson Josephson Entertainment and was an executive producer on the company’s Bill Condon movie Kiss of the Spider Woman starring Jennifer Lopez, which premiered at Sundance. He previously was a senior development and producing executive at Raze. His producing credits also include the 2015 movie Remember starring Christopher Plummer and the series Departure and Four In the Morning.

“Matt combines the knowledge, skill and acumen for getting things properly developed,...

Francis Ford Coppola "won" Worst Director at the Razzie Awards for his ambitious, self-financed epic Megalopolis. And he actually accepted the "honor," letting the Razzies and Hollywood know what he thinks about them in an unfiltered social media post. "I am thrilled to accept the Razzie Award," he stated, "when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!"

Coppola, a five-time Oscar winner, continued, "In this wreck of a world today, where Art is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to Not follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now." He said it was an honor to "stand alongside a great and courageous filmmaker like Jacques Tati who impoverished himself completely...

With weeks to go before a final decision is announced for the future home of the Sundance Film Festival, veteran producer Christine Vachon is weighing in with her vote: Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Oscar-nominated Killer Films co-founder is endorsing the Midwest location over fellow finalists Salt Lake City, Utah and Boulder, Colorado because she has history in the city after making five films there, and she believes it can support a festival of Sundance’s size and scope. That said, Vachon, who has no official sway in the selection, knows she’s just speaking up as someone who is heavily invested as a Sundance lifer. She is aware there are those out there who might read this interview and say, as a direct quote, “What the fuck does she know?”

“I’m not speaking as a know-it-all and not as someone who thinks they could do it better. I don’t think I could.

Just a short few months after last year’s Oscars had ended, Academy CEO Bill Kramer confidently told me the 97th annual Academy Awards broadcast was in many ways planned and well on its way to being locked in terms of what the show would be and how it would be executed. That sounded impressive.

Then the Los Angeles wildfires changed everything.

That was definitely acknowledged in my conversation recently with this year’s returning producers of the Oscars, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan. Each won Emmys for last year’s highly praised show (along with host Jimmy Kimmel and his producer/wife Molly McNearney), the first Oscar show to take a top Emmy in several years.

Related: Where To Watch 30 Of The Oscar Contenders, From ‘Emilia Pérez’ To ‘Conclave’

“I think it might be an AI, but there was that amazing image that was on the internet of the Oscar,...

It’s all quiet on the Berlin deals front as the sales agencies wind down their operations at the European Film Market. By Monday, many offices and stands were almost completely deserted. Deals are being reported but it’s more of a “steady flow” than a gush. That said, most sales agents remain happy that the EFM continues to be an “efficient” place to do business.

AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford tells Variety, “Overseas business has been very solid. International buyers are taking their time, but we’ve been seeing a steady flow of deals closing and fully expect that trend to continue apace, particularly on Bill Condon’s ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ and Noah Hawley’s ‘Nowhere Fast.’”

Oliver Berben, head of German production and distribution powerhouse Constantin Film, comments, “The market at this year’s EFM is okay. It’s a bit quieter than other recent markets that we’ve seen,...

In December 2024, as a film-tv force, Uruguay came of age, co-hosting with Cannes Film Market, Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-tv market, held since 2009 in Buenos Aires.

Easy-to-work and welcoming, Ventana Sur also showcased what Uruguay can bring to the table.

That, as of 2024, is rather a lot and cuts two ways: “Both production services on foreign shoots and international co-productions,” says Marcio Migliorisi, head of international affairs at Uruguay’s film-audiovisual agency Acau.

Put together, they make Uruguay an ever-stronger film-tv hub and port-in-the-storm on a now highly volatile Latin American film-tv scene.

One game changer has been Uruguay’s sky-rocketed international shoot scene.

Since 2019, Uruguay has hosted Keanu Reeves’ “The Conquest,” with troops storming Montevideo’s central Plaza de la Independencia. The country also saw Bill Condon shoot the prison scenes of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and Brazil’s “Senna,” using Montevideo’s airport to create a racetrack.

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, whether you are in a relationship or not, movies play an important role in the day. Whether you want to watch a film curled up with your partner or if you are single and looking for a feel-good movie that gives you hope that one day love will find you too, we have the perfect film for you: one of the biggest hits of Emma Watson’s career.

Hollywood star Emma Watson as Hermione Granger | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

And no, it is not a Harry Potter film that we wish to recommend but rather a remarkable remake of a Disney classic that captures the essence of love in a way that feels both genuine and deeply moving: Beauty and the Beast.

Emma Watson’s Beauty and the Beast is the perfect Valentine’s Day watch Beauty and the Beast (2017) | Credit: Walt Disney Pictures

Valentine’s Day,...

AGC Studios has promoted sales and distribution executive Sara Ghorra to vice president as the EFM gets underway in Berlin.

The executive assumes an enhanced sales remit that adds airlines, China, Japan, South Korea, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Cis and Baltics, and South Africa.

This is in addition to her previous territories including Middle East, Greece, Israel, Iceland, Portugal, Turkey, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Mongolia, India, Singapore, Vietnam and West Indies.

Prior to her movie to the United States in 2021 to join AGC, Ghorra was based in Dubai where she handled film acquisitions...

Screen International is keeping track of the key packages launched before and during the 2025 European Film Market, which runs February 13-19.

Refresh the page for latest updates. Listed in alphabetical order.

Arctic Skies

Morfydd Clark and Ariyon Bakare star in this UFO thriller, to be shot at Steven Knight’s Digbeth Loc. Studios in Birmingham. Writer-directors Elliot and Zander Weaver. Their Elliander Pictures are producing with Lowkey Films.

Int’l sales: Independent Entertainment

Bad Boy

From the producers of Longlegs and M3gan comes a serial killer project financed by C2 in which a dog is the hero. Ke Huy Quan...

The movie musical has morphed drastically over a century. When the musical genre first came to prominence in the sound era of Hollywood, it was a space for revues with little care or thought as to a storyline connecting musical numbers. Eventually, just as the stage musical changed with "Oklahoma!" and "South Pacific," Hollywood morphed in the same way. But it wasn't just that films such as "An American in Paris" or "The Band Wagon" told full stories with song-and-dance numbers; Hollywood went straight to the source to take stage musicals and adapt them into features. Although we're not in a Golden Age of movie musicals the way that things were in the 1960s, there are plenty of big-budget musical adaptations that burst onto the scene, as well as more low-key affairs meant to match their source material, everything from the mid-2000s adaptation of "Dreamgirls" to "Dear Evan Hansen.

In this week’s episode of “Screen Talk,” we take a look at the slow Sundance market as well as the new shape of the Oscar race post-Karla Sofía Gascón’s implosion.

There were a few competitive buys at the tail end of this year’s Sundance: Neon bought horror flick “Together,” Netflix acquired period Denis Johnson adaptation “Train Dreams,” Janus and Sideshow bought art film “Peter Hujar’s Day,” and A24 bought breakout Eva Victor’s “Sorry Baby.”

But so far, no one has picked up Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which awkwardly tries to meld a Kander & Ebb Broadway musical with a prison romance. If a distributor positioned it well, there might be some action for star Jennifer Lopez as a legacy prize, as well as breakout Tonatiuh.

Netflix is making an Oscar play with Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams,” starring Joel Edgerton. And “Sorry...

In their dark, damp prison quarters, Malina (Tonatiuh) and Valentin (Diego Luna) only have each other for company. Valentin is a radical imprisoned for his revolutionary views; Malina is a window-dresser condemned for homosexual activities. Valetin wants nothing to do with Malina, focusing on his work as his cellmate flutters around their modest room trying to make the best out of a bad situation. To Valentin, Malina is a man who lacks substance and morals, living a life without dignity. Their room is decorated with Malina’s posters and trinkets procured by the guards, with his queerness implied to be the payment. “There are privileges in degradation,” he tells Valetin, who responds with disgust. Valentin remarks that Malina shouldn’t “make himself trivial.” Malina flaunts his queerness and Valentin displays no sexuality, but his straightness is implied––at least at first. As the two men slowly warm up to each other,...

While the Sundance Film Festival mulls a big move for 2027, the 2025 program, its 41st edition, kicked off January 23 in Utah, and you can look below for all of Deadline’s reviews from the fest.

Sundance founder Robert Redford promised that audiences “can expect a 2025 program that showcases varied and vibrant filmmaking globally.” Running through February 2, the lineup includes more than 85 features and six episodic projects set to screen in Park City, Salt Lake City and online.

Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest. Click on the movie’s title to read our full take.

Atropia ‘Atropia’

Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition

Director-screenwriter: Hailey Gates

Cast: Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny, Tim Heidecker, Jane Levy

Deadline’s takeaway: Ripe with aughts nostalgia around the Og iPod, frosted lip gloss and Guy Fieri’s favorite flame-printed shirts, Atropia is ultimately a clever meditation on the atmosphere of war...

Exclusive: While it continues to stalk a U.S. buyer, Jennifer Lopez’ Sundance musical-drama Kiss Of The Spider Woman will be tempting international buyers at next week’s EFM for Stuart Ford’s AGC.

AGC will screen the Bill Condon-produced film privately for buyers in Berlin where it’ll be among the bigger-budget projects available. WME and CAA Media Finance are co-repping U.S. rights.

Diego Luna (Andor) and Tonatiuh (Promised Land) star with global icon Lopez (Hustlers), who, along with Condon and Diego Luna, also executive produce. Pic is based on the acclaimed 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig and the Tony-winning Broadway musical of the same name by the multiple Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally and composer/lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb.

The synopsis reads: “Argentina, 1983. With the country’s military dictatorship waging a brutal war against its political opponents,...

"Sooner or later, you're certain to meet, in the bedroom, the parlor or even the street... There's no place on earth, you're likely to miss her kiss." The moment this film ended I knew this performance was one of the best of the festival. But now that I'm finally writing this review after having seen a grand total of 54 films at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival line-up, I feel confident in saying - Tonatiuh gives the best performance in any film at the festival. This 2025 update on Kiss of the Spider Woman is a modern re-imaginging of this iconic story from South America, which was turned into a big Broadway musical in the early 1990s. It is the second film adaption of the 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig, following the 1985 Brazilian film adaptation. Director Bill Condon, who's no stranger to big musicals having made Dreamgirls before, gives...

Agents have been telling us for years now that the pace of the market at Sundance isn’t what it used to be. Maybe it’s time we started taking them seriously. Just as industry people arrived home from Park City last week, everyone checked the proverbial scoreboard and realized not one world premiere feature had been acquired from Sundance. Where are the sales?!?

The next day, Midnight movie “Together” sold in a $17 million worldwide deal to Neon, a number that matches the high mark of last year’s sale of “It’s What’s Inside” to Netflix and puts it in the upper echelon of all-time Sundance deals. It was a true bidding war, with Searchlight Pictures and A24 also in the mix.

Later that day, a journalist at an event asked Netflix’s Bela Bajaria why Sundance was so “dull” and if this was a sign Netflix is changing course on indie movies.

[Editor’s note: When “Kiss of the Spider Woman” breakout star Tonatiuh offered to share his own personal snapshots from his very first Sundance ever, we jumped at the chance to share his inside look at his life-changing experience. What follows are the actor’s own notes on Sundance 2025, and a selection of his photos from the festival.]

The right stories find you at the right time. When “Kiss of the Spider Woman” landed in my inbox, it felt like a calling — not just a role, but a form of cinematic resistance.

Sitting in an audience full of cinephiles — some my heroes, others friends I’ve made over the years in TV and film — was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. No matter how much you believe in a project, no matter how much of yourself you pour into it, you never truly know how it will be received. But standing on stage next to Jennifer Lopez and Bill Condon,...

Bill Condon felt that Jennifer Lopez was perfect to lead the cast of 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'.The 69-year-old director is behind the camera on the movie that is based on the stage musical of the same name and explained that he believed the 'Atlas' star had the range to play "three parts" in the picture.Bill told Collider: "Jennifer plays three parts in the movie. She plays an actress, she plays the lead character in the movie within the movie, and then another character in the movie – she plays Spider Woman, Aurora, and Ingrid. Three separate parts."It is a musical movie, so she has 11 musical numbers, which is spectacular. No one else on Earth could have done this, especially because we shot them all in a four-week period before we went to Uruguay to do the prison part of the movie."The 'Gods and Monsters' filmmaker...

The penultimate Sundance Film festival to run in Park City ended over the weekend ina flurry ofawards.

There was scarcely any on-site activity by way of completedacquisitions, although deals will follow in the weeks and months ahead. And there were genuine discoveries, reflecting the accepted wisdom that Sundance is a complicated beast and is many things to many people.

The big talking point is where will the revered soul of independent cinema house itself starting in 2027. The festival hierarchy will reveal all before long. Screen looks at some of the key talking points to emerge from the festival, which ran...

The penultimate Sundance Film festival to run in Park City ended over the weekend ina flurry ofawards.

There was scarcely any on-site activity by way of completedacquisitions, although deals will follow in the weeks and months ahead. And there were genuine discoveries, reflecting the accepted wisdom that Sundance is a complicated beast and is many things to many people.

The big talking point is where will the revered soul of independent cinema house itself starting in 2027. The festival hierarchy will reveal all before long. Screen looks at some of the key talking points to emerge from the festival, which ran...

Oscar-winner Bill Condon was itching to make Kiss of the Spider Woman 20 years ago while he was still working on the hit adaptation of Chicago. The upcoming film, written and directed by him, is a reimagining of both Manuel Puig's Argentinian novel of the same name and the stage musical crafted by Terrence McNally. It focuses on two prisoners, one being a queer outcast and the other being a tormented revolutionary, as they form a bond while sharing a cell. Part musical inspired by Hollywood's Golden Age and part prison drama, Kiss of the Spider Woman promises to be a unique cinematic experience that is even difficult for Condon to put into words.

Cinema has long been a mirror for political repression, and in Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, that mirror is adorned with glittering sequins, drenched in melancholy, and distorted by the very power structures it aims to critique. A reimagining of Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel (and its stage musical adaptation and Oscar-winning 1985 film), this 2025 film leans into its meta-musical structure, shifting between the grim realities of an Argentine prison in 1981 and the dazzling escapism of Golden Age Hollywood pastiche. It is both a story about survival and a meditation on the ways cinema itself becomes a survival mechanism — how film can be a salve for oppression, a tool of control, or, sometimes, an act of resistance.

But Kiss of the Spider Woman is also a film struggling to find its own footing. Despite a fascinating premise, a powerhouse cast led by Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, and Tonatiuh, and...

A24 has gotten on the board at the Sundance Film Festival. The indie distributor is closing an acquisition deal for Sorry, Baby. Scripted and directed by Eva Victor, the drama premiered Monday night at Eccles. It become the third film in sight of a deal, with more coming. Film was fought over by several suitors, and sold for around $8 million, Deadline hears.

The logline: Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on … for everyone around her, at least. The film stars Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, and Kelly McCormack. Producers are Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, and Barry Jenkins.

UTA Independent Film Group structured the financing and is brokering the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.

That marks the third deal of the festival. Each one has been a struggle, but that was not unexpected given the tenuous state of the indie business, and...

Plot: During the last months of The Dirty War in Argentina, a political prisoner, Valentin (Diego Luna), and a trans prisoner, Molina (Tonatiuh), are forced to share a cell. Despite their differences, the two become friends. However, unbeknownst to Valentin, the warden is forcing Molina to spy on his cellmate, a fact complicated by their growing intimacy.

Review: Kiss of the Spider Woman has a fascinating legacy that spans literature, cinema, and the stage. Originally written as a novel by Manual Puig, it was turned into a taboo-bursting 1985 film, which won star William Hurt an Oscar. Considered boundary-pushing in its frank depiction of homosexuality, it was later turned into a Tony-award-winning musical. Now it’s getting a lavish movie musical directed by Bill Condon. In addition to movies like Gods and Monsters, Condon also directed one of the better stage-to-screen adaptations, Dreamgirls, and does an excellent job with a film...

Cinema has never been shy about self-mythologizing. If ever there were a project that could lay claim to the “magic of movies,” it might be “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The very subject of Bill Condon’s adaptation of the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical is the power of the silver screen to both explain and reshape reality. The problem inherent in such a premise is that a film about the magic of the medium has to also exemplify it, and that’s something this movie musical only achieves in fits and starts.

Continue reading ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ Review: A Musical About Movie Magic Doesn’t Always Conjure It [Sundance] at The Playlist.

At its heart, Sundance is about discovery. Some of our brightest, biggest filmmaking stars — we’re talking Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay, Paul Thomas Anderson, Lulu Wang, Ryan Coogler, Aubrey Plaza, Catherine Hardwicke, Todd Haynes, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Eggers, the Duplass brothers, Michael B. Jordan, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Olsen, Brie Larson, Lakeith Stanfield, Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and many, many more — first rose to acclaim by bringing their work to Sundance.

In 2025, a year that was long-heralded as one all about new discoveries, that tradition only continued. While this year’s lineup included a number of returning names, like Ira Sachs, Amy Berg, Andrew Ahn, Justin Lin, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Cooper Raiff, Kahlil Joseph, Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, David France, Jesse Short Bull, Ryan White, Sophie Hyde, Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine, Meera Menon, and Clint Bentley, there were also a hefty number of newbies joining those filmmaking ranks.

Many Oscar contenders have been dive-bombed over the years, but Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón did herself in: first for complaining about rival Fernanda Torres, then for resurfaced tweets on her now-deleted X account (@karsiagascon). In past posts that went viral this week, she dissed Muslims, George Floyd, and Oscars diversity, among other things. We debate: If Gascón is out of the running, does she bring down her movie as well, which leads the field with 13 nominations?

Ryan Lattanzio is back from Sundance, which Friday announced its awards; he and Anne are both bingeing on the Sundance portal. While some films came in with distribution, the market seems slow. One Midnight entry spawned a bidding war won by Neon for over $16 million, Michael Shanks’ horror flick “Together,” starring husband-and-wife team Alison Brie and Dave Franco, which Ryan enjoyed and believes will hit big at the box office. Neon has...

In 1983 Argentina, under the harsh military dictatorship during the Dirty War, Kiss of the Spider Woman unfolds its story within a prison cell. The setting operates as a stark representation of societal control and human endurance. Luis Molina, a gay window dresser imprisoned for public indecency, shares his cell with Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist revolutionary tortured for opposing the regime. Their shared confinement becomes a space where different worldviews clash and eventually merge.

Molina’s imaginative narratives emerge as a survival strategy, deeply connected to Latin American interpretations of classic Hollywood cinema. His fixation on Ingrid Luna, a fictional screen actress representing cinematic archetypes, transcends simple distraction. These stories reveal how global cultural elements are transformed through local perspectives to create complex personal identities. Director Bill Condon weaves a narrative that shifts between harsh prison reality and vivid cinematic dreams, showing how storytelling becomes a form of psychological resistance.

For a musical so dedicated to celebrating and critiquing the transformative potential of cinematic fantasy, Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman brings relatively little of the kind of overwhelming star power that can truly transport audiences. This isn’t to say that the film is poorly acted or doesn’t understand how to deliver movie magic. In fact, there are few working directors who know better than Condon how to recreate the pizzazz of classic Technicolor musicals without it feeling like pastiche. But despite the material’s highly dramatic potential and handful of show-stopper moments, it too often feels like a well-meaning production that has many of the right elements but misses a cast that could bring it all to life.

Condon adapted Terrence McNally’s book for the Tony-winning 1992 stage musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, which was itself based on Hector Babenco’s Oscar-winning 1985 film of Manuel Puig’s novel.

As countries on both sides of the Atlantic careen uncontrollably towards illiberalism, authoritarian, and fascism, art as an act of resistance, opposition, or defiance gains ever greater importance. That includes an oft-adapted work, such as Manuel Puig’s 1976 postmodern novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was initially banned in Argentina under the then-current military dictatorship, adapted for the stage in 1983 by Puig himself, adapted into an Oscar-winning film helmed by Hector Babenco (Pixote) two years later, adapted into a commercially successful, Tony Award-winning stage musical in 1993, and now, not exactly coming full circle, adapted into a new, stunningly realized cinematic adaptation, written and directed by Bill Condon. Following previous interpretations of Puig’s tale, Kiss of...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

This time last year, industry experts and armchair pundits began the drumbeat for Kieran Culkin’s performance in A Real Pain. The intimate drama about a pair of cousins (Culkin and writer-director Jesse Eisenberg) who travel to Poland to see the ancestral home of their grandmother, who left the country during the Holocaust, was one of several buzzy titles to debut at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was eventually acquired by Searchlight Pictures, given a platform theatrical release last fall, and feted throughout awards season with honors for Culkin. He’s currently the top pick to win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars in March, 14 months after his film’s initial debut. Culkin and Eisenberg, a nominee in the Best Original Screenplay category, are just two of several 2024 Sundance standouts that received bids from the Academy this year, including A Different Man (Best Makeup and Hair) and Best Documentary nominees Sugarcane,...