Poppy Playtime Horror Game Gets Manga Adaptation - Main Image
Poppy Playtime has become one of the most well-known horror games in recent years, and soon, it will get a surprise spinoff in Japan. That’s because a Poppy Playtime manga adaptation was announced today.
This new manga was revealed in Ribon magazine. The announcement came with a visual featuring the game’s iconic character Huggy Wuggy.
While it’s not clear what the manga’s story will be, the announcement confirmed that it will be a full-color manga, though it will be a fairly short one.
Poppy Playtime Manga Announced in Shueisha Magazine
Mob Entertainment’s Poppy Playtime is a survival-horror video game series that began with Chapter 1 – A Tight Squeeze, which was released back in October 2021.
Since then, the series has gotten two more chapters, with each featuring a new main enemy. Among the game’s fanbase though,...
Poppy Playtime has become one of the most well-known horror games in recent years, and soon, it will get a surprise spinoff in Japan. That’s because a Poppy Playtime manga adaptation was announced today.
This new manga was revealed in Ribon magazine. The announcement came with a visual featuring the game’s iconic character Huggy Wuggy.
While it’s not clear what the manga’s story will be, the announcement confirmed that it will be a full-color manga, though it will be a fairly short one.
Poppy Playtime Manga Announced in Shueisha Magazine
Mob Entertainment’s Poppy Playtime is a survival-horror video game series that began with Chapter 1 – A Tight Squeeze, which was released back in October 2021.
Since then, the series has gotten two more chapters, with each featuring a new main enemy. Among the game’s fanbase though,...
- 6/4/2024
- EpicStream
In the Canadian cities of Montreal and Winnipeg, a futile tension exists between French and English speakers — doubly silly, since the country is officially bilingual. In his gently satirical “Universal Language,” writer-director Matthew Rankin imagines a rather fanciful solution, where Farsi is now the region’s dominant tongue. Taking his cues from such Iranian classics as “Children of Heaven” and “The White Balloon,” Rankin mixes the humanism of Majid Majidi, Jafar Panahi, et al. with his own peculiar brand of comedy (as seen in the more off-the-wall “The Twentieth Century”), offering a delightful cross-cultural hybrid designed to celebrate our differences.
Though Rankin shows a genuine affection for all things Persian, the first and most obvious hiccup to his premise is that audiences don’t necessarily share his interest or his references. There’s something inherently provocative — and perhaps even triggering to some — about seeing a nondescript Canadian elementary school where...
Though Rankin shows a genuine affection for all things Persian, the first and most obvious hiccup to his premise is that audiences don’t necessarily share his interest or his references. There’s something inherently provocative — and perhaps even triggering to some — about seeing a nondescript Canadian elementary school where...
- 5/18/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
German distributor-producer SquareOne Entertainment, part of rising European film studio Vuelta Group, has acquired German film and TV production, distribution and licensing company Telepool, which was owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.
The news was announced Wednesday by Vuelta Group chairman Jerome Levy and CEO of SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany Al Munteanu.
Munteanu will spearhead the newly combined entity under the SquareOne banner with Michael Heyd serving as CFO/COO.
The newly combined SquareOne entity will boast a library consisting of over 1,200 titles such as “Drive,” “Intouchables,” “The Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” “Imitation Game,” “Lone Survivor,” “Book Club,” “Transporter 3,” “King Richard,” “Maurice the Tomcat” and the recently released “One Life” among others.
“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company,” said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada.
The news was announced Wednesday by Vuelta Group chairman Jerome Levy and CEO of SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany Al Munteanu.
Munteanu will spearhead the newly combined entity under the SquareOne banner with Michael Heyd serving as CFO/COO.
The newly combined SquareOne entity will boast a library consisting of over 1,200 titles such as “Drive,” “Intouchables,” “The Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” “Imitation Game,” “Lone Survivor,” “Book Club,” “Transporter 3,” “King Richard,” “Maurice the Tomcat” and the recently released “One Life” among others.
“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company,” said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada.
- 5/8/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDry Leaf.On Criterion’s Daily, David Hudson has shared a useful roundup of films that might be expected to premiere during 2024. Among the inclusions are: Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho’s first film since Parasite (2019); It’s Not Me, Leos Carax’s latest collaboration with Denis Lavant; and Dry Leaf, the enticing-sounding new film by Alexandre Koberidze (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [2021]), which is said to be about “a photographer who shoots soccer stadiums [who] goes missing.”A list of international filmmakers including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Radu Jude, Ira Sachs, Claire Denis, and Abderrahmane Sissako have signed a letter, published during the holiday season in the French newspaper Libération, demanding (as translated by the Film Stage) “an immediate end to the bombings on Gaza,...
- 1/10/2024
- MUBI
Netflix is finally opening the doors to the newly restored Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood this week, and in a first-look preview ahead of its November 9 reopening, the streamer and its partner, the nonprofit American Cinematheque, highlighted some of the enhancements and a screening schedule through the end of 2023.
The Egyptian will reopen on Nov. 9 with a sold-out screening of David Fincher’s “The Killer,” followed by a Q&a with the director. Throughout November it will showcase a 70mm series that includes titles like Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights.”
Announced today were December screenings for “Days of Heaven,” “L’amour Fou,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Imitation of Life,” “Lone Star,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and a new Netflix film for good measure: a 70mm screening of Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire.”
The screenings of...
The Egyptian will reopen on Nov. 9 with a sold-out screening of David Fincher’s “The Killer,” followed by a Q&a with the director. Throughout November it will showcase a 70mm series that includes titles like Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights.”
Announced today were December screenings for “Days of Heaven,” “L’amour Fou,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Imitation of Life,” “Lone Star,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and a new Netflix film for good measure: a 70mm screening of Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire.”
The screenings of...
- 11/7/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Several more December screenings from the American Cinematheque and Netflix have joined the initial slate of programming at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
From Dec. 8 to 14, classic film buffs can catch the Los Angeles premiere of brand new restorations of “Days of Heaven” and “L’amour Fou.” Also featured is a 50th anniversary screening of “Don’t Look Now” with a 35mm Ib Tech print. A 35mm presentation of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 “Imitation of Life” will be followed by a Q&a with actor Susan Kohner along with a book signing by Foster Hirsch in connection with “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.”
A new 4k restoration of “Lone Star” will include a Q&a with director John Sayles.
From Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, the theater will feature a 70mm run of Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” ahead of its Netflix premiere. Just in time for Christmas,...
From Dec. 8 to 14, classic film buffs can catch the Los Angeles premiere of brand new restorations of “Days of Heaven” and “L’amour Fou.” Also featured is a 50th anniversary screening of “Don’t Look Now” with a 35mm Ib Tech print. A 35mm presentation of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 “Imitation of Life” will be followed by a Q&a with actor Susan Kohner along with a book signing by Foster Hirsch in connection with “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.”
A new 4k restoration of “Lone Star” will include a Q&a with director John Sayles.
From Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, the theater will feature a 70mm run of Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” ahead of its Netflix premiere. Just in time for Christmas,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay and Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
Clear your calendar, L.A. cinephiles! The American Cinematheque has announced the titles for its extraordinary 70mm festival taking place at the iconic Egyptian Theatre in the days after the movie palace reopens following a three-year restoration. Netflix, in partnership with the American Cinematheque, bought the cinema in 2020.
The 516-seat theater, which was the longtime home of the American Cinematheque before the refurbishment, will retain its full ability to project 70mm prints and also be one of only five cinemas in the U.S. capable of projecting nitrate film. That early form of celluloid prints is notable for its astounding sharpness and vivid colors — you’ve never seen Technicolor until you’ve seen it in nitrate — but it’s extremely flammable, which you know if you’ve seen “Inglourious Basterds,” and thus harder to handle for many projectionists today.
The festival “Ultra Cinematheque 70: Hollywood,” running from November 10 through November...
The 516-seat theater, which was the longtime home of the American Cinematheque before the refurbishment, will retain its full ability to project 70mm prints and also be one of only five cinemas in the U.S. capable of projecting nitrate film. That early form of celluloid prints is notable for its astounding sharpness and vivid colors — you’ve never seen Technicolor until you’ve seen it in nitrate — but it’s extremely flammable, which you know if you’ve seen “Inglourious Basterds,” and thus harder to handle for many projectionists today.
The festival “Ultra Cinematheque 70: Hollywood,” running from November 10 through November...
- 11/1/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, starting this weekend with A Lion in the House, Femme Fatale, and Summer Hours, all on 35mm.
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a Saturday-morning 70mm screening of Playtime.
Roxy Cinema
The Third Man, Knock Knock, Klute, and Great Expectations show on 35mm.
Metrograph
An extensive retrospective of the great Robby Müller has begun.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Shinji Somai’s Typhoon Club continues; All That Jazz, Delicatessen, The Holy Mountain, The Lords of Salem, Sleepy Hollow, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
Film Forum
A new 4K restoration of Farewell, My Concubine begins; Shrek plays on Sunday
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Summer Hours, Klute, Gregg Araki & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, starting this weekend with A Lion in the House, Femme Fatale, and Summer Hours, all on 35mm.
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a Saturday-morning 70mm screening of Playtime.
Roxy Cinema
The Third Man, Knock Knock, Klute, and Great Expectations show on 35mm.
Metrograph
An extensive retrospective of the great Robby Müller has begun.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Shinji Somai’s Typhoon Club continues; All That Jazz, Delicatessen, The Holy Mountain, The Lords of Salem, Sleepy Hollow, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
Film Forum
A new 4K restoration of Farewell, My Concubine begins; Shrek plays on Sunday
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Summer Hours, Klute, Gregg Araki & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 9/29/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring The Wild Bunch, Baraka, Playtime, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now in surround sound.
Roxy Cinema
Ahead of The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut Sexy Beast plays on 35mm; Jean Eustache’s My Little Loves screens.
Museum of the Moving Image
Lost in Translation, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and House Party all show on 35mm; Ida Lupino’s Hard, Fast and Beautiful plays on 16mm.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry screens on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; Billy Elliot plays on Sunday
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored,...
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring The Wild Bunch, Baraka, Playtime, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now in surround sound.
Roxy Cinema
Ahead of The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut Sexy Beast plays on 35mm; Jean Eustache’s My Little Loves screens.
Museum of the Moving Image
Lost in Translation, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and House Party all show on 35mm; Ida Lupino’s Hard, Fast and Beautiful plays on 16mm.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry screens on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; Billy Elliot plays on Sunday
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored,...
- 9/15/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, while the 3D classic I, the Jury screens on Friday; Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills continue screening on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; four Laurel & Hardy shorts play on Sunday
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as Sorcerer.
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored, plays in three parts.
Roxy Cinema
A Dennis Hopper series is underway: his great, rarely screened directing efforts Backtrack and The Hot Spot play on 35mm, while a print of Waterworld also screens; The Last Movie shows Sunday.
Museum of Modern Art
A retrospective of the Yugoslav Black Wave is now underway.
Film Forum
An essential retrospective of Ousmane Sembène, featuring 35mm prints and new restorations, has begun, while the 3D classic I, the Jury screens on Friday; Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills continue screening on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; four Laurel & Hardy shorts play on Sunday
Paris Theater
The Paris has reopened with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as Sorcerer.
Bam
The Battle of Chile, newly restored, plays in three parts.
Roxy Cinema
A Dennis Hopper series is underway: his great, rarely screened directing efforts Backtrack and The Hot Spot play on 35mm, while a print of Waterworld also screens; The Last Movie shows Sunday.
Museum of Modern Art
A retrospective of the Yugoslav Black Wave is now underway.
- 9/8/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Paris Theater
The Paris reopens with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 and more.
Metrograph
One of France’s greatest directors and producers, Paul Vecchiali, is subject of a new retrospective that includes Jeanne Dielman and the terrific, too-little-seen Simone Barbès.
Bam
The Thin Red Line, Solaris, and more play in “Intimate Epics.”
Film at Lincoln Center
A retrospective of Korean cinema’s “golden decade” has begun.
Roxy Cinema
Passing the torch to Chapo Trap House‘s Movie Mindset, the 35mm print of Rio Bravo is now playing under their guardianship; Madonna fans can flock to Vision Quest, Who’s That Girl, Evita, and Spike Lee’s Girl 6 on 35mm.
Film Forum
Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills both screen on 35mm; Contempt continues
Museum of Modern Art...
Paris Theater
The Paris reopens with a new Dolby Atmos screen and a 70mm series featuring Playtime, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 and more.
Metrograph
One of France’s greatest directors and producers, Paul Vecchiali, is subject of a new retrospective that includes Jeanne Dielman and the terrific, too-little-seen Simone Barbès.
Bam
The Thin Red Line, Solaris, and more play in “Intimate Epics.”
Film at Lincoln Center
A retrospective of Korean cinema’s “golden decade” has begun.
Roxy Cinema
Passing the torch to Chapo Trap House‘s Movie Mindset, the 35mm print of Rio Bravo is now playing under their guardianship; Madonna fans can flock to Vision Quest, Who’s That Girl, Evita, and Spike Lee’s Girl 6 on 35mm.
Film Forum
Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry and the Tarantino-presented Winter Kills both screen on 35mm; Contempt continues
Museum of Modern Art...
- 9/1/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
One can often tell a cinephile by the rituals they establish. For my part, I begin every summer by revisiting Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953), the feature debut of his most beloved character. I can no longer remember what drew me to this habit outside of a strong association of the season with the smooth jazz theme to the film “Quel temps fait-il à Paris?”, written by Alain Romans. Revisiting the film last summer, I decided for the first time to put on the 1953 version of the movie instead of the 1978 version I usually watch, which is labeled “definitive” by Les Films de Mon Oncle, the foundation responsible for the restoration and rerelease of Tati’s films. Outside of one addition to this later cut, I was unaware of the differences between them, and couldn’t find much information about the original release. Almost immediately, I was shocked to...
- 8/30/2023
- MUBI
If New York has the world’s greatest repertory programming (don’t let any Parisians and certainly no Californians tell you otherwise) recent weeks have been off-beat without the Paris Theater, the brief absence of which ends on September 1. The theater is reopening with a new Dolby Atmos sound system and, for the first time in 15 years, 70mm programming that includes 2001, Lawrence of Arabia, Playtime, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, plus a restrospective of sound-centric movies to give the new speakers a breaking-in––Blow Out, La Ciénaga, and a 35mm print of The Conversation among them.
See the full program below, learn more on the official site, and find a link to the Paris’ newsletter here.
70mm:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Baraka (screening in 70mm for the first time in ten years)
Lawrence of Arabia
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Playtime (screening in 70mm for the first...
See the full program below, learn more on the official site, and find a link to the Paris’ newsletter here.
70mm:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Baraka (screening in 70mm for the first time in ten years)
Lawrence of Arabia
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Playtime (screening in 70mm for the first...
- 8/9/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Netflix is bringing the prized Paris Theater back online after major upgrades, including installing a new Dolby Atmos sound system and the technology needed to play 70mm film for the first time in over 15 years, the streamer announced Wednesday.
New York’s iconic art house cinema at 4 W. 58th Street will celebrate the occasion by hosting “Big & Loud,” a program showcasing classics from across the decades, as well as films for the sonically-obsessed. It runs Sept. 1-7.
The 70mm lineup includes 2001: A Space Odyssey, Baraka, Lawrence of Arabia, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Playtime, Roma and Top Gun.
Dolby Atmos Dcp movies being screened in the “Big & Loud” program include Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, Blade Runner: Final Cut, Da 5 Bloods, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Matrix, Memoria — which has never before screened in Atmos — and A Quiet Place. Other offerings include Blow Out, La Ciénaga, The Conversation...
New York’s iconic art house cinema at 4 W. 58th Street will celebrate the occasion by hosting “Big & Loud,” a program showcasing classics from across the decades, as well as films for the sonically-obsessed. It runs Sept. 1-7.
The 70mm lineup includes 2001: A Space Odyssey, Baraka, Lawrence of Arabia, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Playtime, Roma and Top Gun.
Dolby Atmos Dcp movies being screened in the “Big & Loud” program include Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, Blade Runner: Final Cut, Da 5 Bloods, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Matrix, Memoria — which has never before screened in Atmos — and A Quiet Place. Other offerings include Blow Out, La Ciénaga, The Conversation...
- 8/9/2023
- by Pamela McClintock
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Barbie” will soon be unleashed on an eagerly waiting world, and cowriter/director Greta Gerwig would like to provide you with some context, courtesy of her Letterboxd list of films she watched for inspiration, in a clip you can watch above.
Just looking at the list, you can see where some of the inspiration would come from — the candy-colored musical world of “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie as the titular doll, does bring to mind several of her selections like “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Red Shoes” and “Playtime.” The idea of a character transitioning from one world to another is also pretty apparent in selections like “The Truman Show” and “Heaven Can Wait.”
For “Heaven Can Wait,” Gerwig said that the movie is “extremely high concept, but always human… There’s nothing about it that makes you feel distanced from it. It totally works even though...
Just looking at the list, you can see where some of the inspiration would come from — the candy-colored musical world of “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie as the titular doll, does bring to mind several of her selections like “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Red Shoes” and “Playtime.” The idea of a character transitioning from one world to another is also pretty apparent in selections like “The Truman Show” and “Heaven Can Wait.”
For “Heaven Can Wait,” Gerwig said that the movie is “extremely high concept, but always human… There’s nothing about it that makes you feel distanced from it. It totally works even though...
- 7/18/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Europe has a brand-new media giant.
Vuelta Group, a private-equity fueled company headed by former Canal+ and Goldman Sachs executive Jerome Levy, made a very big launch on the European scene on Thursday, announcing its acquisition of Scandinavian independent film company Scanbox, German distributor/producer SquareOne Entertainment and French international sales company Playtime.
Vuelta (Latin for “to go around”) is planning future acquisitions in France, Italy, Spain and the Benelux region as it looks to build a pan-European television and film studio focusing on the production and distribution of European content across the continent.
The Vuelta launch is a further sign of consolidation in the European indie market, which has already seen several independent producers and distributors subsumed into Pe-backed studios such as Leonine and Mediawan or snatched up by global indie giants like Fremantle and Banijay.
The Veulta setup will see each of its subsidiary companies continue to operate...
Vuelta Group, a private-equity fueled company headed by former Canal+ and Goldman Sachs executive Jerome Levy, made a very big launch on the European scene on Thursday, announcing its acquisition of Scandinavian independent film company Scanbox, German distributor/producer SquareOne Entertainment and French international sales company Playtime.
Vuelta (Latin for “to go around”) is planning future acquisitions in France, Italy, Spain and the Benelux region as it looks to build a pan-European television and film studio focusing on the production and distribution of European content across the continent.
The Vuelta launch is a further sign of consolidation in the European indie market, which has already seen several independent producers and distributors subsumed into Pe-backed studios such as Leonine and Mediawan or snatched up by global indie giants like Fremantle and Banijay.
The Veulta setup will see each of its subsidiary companies continue to operate...
- 7/6/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The film is Picturehouse Entertainment’s second acquisition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Picturehouse Entertainment has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes Competition title About Dry Grasses from France’s Playtime.
Ceylan’s seventh Competition film follows a teacher doing a mandatory stint at a small village in Eastern Anatolia. He loses hope of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in, but an encounter with another teacher could help him overcome his angst.
Co-producers include France’s Arte France Cinéma and Sweden’s Film i Väst — both served as co-producers...
Picturehouse Entertainment has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes Competition title About Dry Grasses from France’s Playtime.
Ceylan’s seventh Competition film follows a teacher doing a mandatory stint at a small village in Eastern Anatolia. He loses hope of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in, but an encounter with another teacher could help him overcome his angst.
Co-producers include France’s Arte France Cinéma and Sweden’s Film i Väst — both served as co-producers...
- 5/23/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Anyone who has watched the Criterion Channel knows that writer-director Ari Aster is a devoted cinephile with broad taste and a deep understanding of how and why movies work. For his latest and most ambitious film, “Beau Is Afraid,” Aster told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast that he tried to leave specific tributes to other movies behind, at least consciously. “I would say that a lot of the influences were unconscious while I was writing it,” he said. “I became aware of them while we were shooting, or even in post.” Aster and his regular cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, talked more about literary references than cinematic ones, but there’s no denying that several of the classics that Aster has “metabolized,” as he put it, found their way into the visual and aural DNA of “Beau Is Afraid.” Here are three key films that influeced Aster and Pogorzelski’s approach.
“Playtime...
“Playtime...
- 5/8/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
If nothing else, “Barry” Season 4 has cemented director Bill Hader’s status as somehow the heir to both Otto Preminger and Jacques Tati. Hader and cinematographer Carl Herse’s camera, like some unholy combination of “Playtime” and “Anatomy of a Murder,” continually embrace patient, wide takes in which horror and comedy unfold one after the other after the other, staying however long it needs to in order to catch the characters out.
The length of a moment and the slow arc of the camera can themselves justify a change in location or a transition, as in Barry’s flashes to his past and to the world he desires in Episode 2, “the bestest place on earth.” But as the camerawork of the show has adapted to Hader’s preference for giving the characters enough rope, so has every other aspect of “Barry” adapted.
For Season 4, this presented production designer Eric Schoonover...
The length of a moment and the slow arc of the camera can themselves justify a change in location or a transition, as in Barry’s flashes to his past and to the world he desires in Episode 2, “the bestest place on earth.” But as the camerawork of the show has adapted to Hader’s preference for giving the characters enough rope, so has every other aspect of “Barry” adapted.
For Season 4, this presented production designer Eric Schoonover...
- 4/22/2023
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
[Editor’s note: This story contains major spoilers for “Beau Is Afraid.”]
Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” has a lot going on: It’s a sprawling, Homeric journey into the troubled psyche of neurotic, middle-aged man (Joaquin Phoenix) and a disturbing, pitch-black comedy about Jewish guilt rooted in that man’s unresolved problems with his mother (alternately played by Zoe Lister-Jones and Patti LuPone), a woman who may or may not be dead. It’s also a claustrophobic dose of surrealist satire of urban life and consumer society, a world overmedicated and undernourished. It has a sprawling dream sequence steeped in profound emotional yearning and a monster that suggests a Phallic interpretation of Jabba the Hutt.
It’s ridiculous, tragic, silly, and absolutely unlike anything else you’ll see this year. All of which makes Aster squirm over the prospects of talking about it.
“I’ve already said way too much here,” the 36-year-old New Yorker said about...
Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” has a lot going on: It’s a sprawling, Homeric journey into the troubled psyche of neurotic, middle-aged man (Joaquin Phoenix) and a disturbing, pitch-black comedy about Jewish guilt rooted in that man’s unresolved problems with his mother (alternately played by Zoe Lister-Jones and Patti LuPone), a woman who may or may not be dead. It’s also a claustrophobic dose of surrealist satire of urban life and consumer society, a world overmedicated and undernourished. It has a sprawling dream sequence steeped in profound emotional yearning and a monster that suggests a Phallic interpretation of Jabba the Hutt.
It’s ridiculous, tragic, silly, and absolutely unlike anything else you’ll see this year. All of which makes Aster squirm over the prospects of talking about it.
“I’ve already said way too much here,” the 36-year-old New Yorker said about...
- 4/14/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Ari Aster’s nearly-three hour journey Beau Is Afraid, described by the filmmaker himself as a “Jewish Lord of the Rings,” will arrive a bit earlier than expected. Now set to debut on April 14 in New York and LA before expanding wide the following week, including IMAX screens, we’ve received more context for what to expect thanks to a new series the director curated for Film at Lincoln Center.
Set to run April 14-20 at the NYC venue, selections include works by Alfred Hitchcock, Jiří Menzel, Guy Maddin, Albert Brooks, Nicholas Ray, Powell and Pressburger, Tsai Ming-liang, Jacques Tati, and more. “This eclectic and unexpected collection of masterworks drawn from seven decades of film history across a range of genres and production contexts sheds light on the inspirations and influences behind one of the most compelling directorial voices in Hollywood today,” notes the press release.
Aster also recently let...
Set to run April 14-20 at the NYC venue, selections include works by Alfred Hitchcock, Jiří Menzel, Guy Maddin, Albert Brooks, Nicholas Ray, Powell and Pressburger, Tsai Ming-liang, Jacques Tati, and more. “This eclectic and unexpected collection of masterworks drawn from seven decades of film history across a range of genres and production contexts sheds light on the inspirations and influences behind one of the most compelling directorial voices in Hollywood today,” notes the press release.
Aster also recently let...
- 3/30/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
- 3/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A few weeks ago, we heard that an English-language remake of the 2014 Austrian psychological horror film Goodnight Mommy will be released through Prime Video on September 16th – and now a trailer has been released online to offer a preview of what this remake has in store for us next month. You can check it out in the embed above.
Naomi Watts (King Kong 2005) stars in this new version of Goodnight Mommy and is joined in the cast by Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti (Big Little Lies), Jeremy Bobb (The Outsider), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Mimesis Nosferatu), and Peter Hermann (Younger). Directed by Matt Sobel (Take Me to the River) from a screenplay he wrote with Kyle Warren, the film has the following synopsis:
When twin brothers (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) arrive at their mother’s (Naomi Watts) country home to discover her face covered in bandages—the result, she explains, of recent cosmetic...
Naomi Watts (King Kong 2005) stars in this new version of Goodnight Mommy and is joined in the cast by Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti (Big Little Lies), Jeremy Bobb (The Outsider), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Mimesis Nosferatu), and Peter Hermann (Younger). Directed by Matt Sobel (Take Me to the River) from a screenplay he wrote with Kyle Warren, the film has the following synopsis:
When twin brothers (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) arrive at their mother’s (Naomi Watts) country home to discover her face covered in bandages—the result, she explains, of recent cosmetic...
- 8/24/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Curated by the IndieWire Crafts team, Craft Considerations is a platform for filmmakers to talk about recent work we believe is worthy of awards consideration. In partnership with Apple TV+, for this edition we look at how production design, score, and direction came together to build the chillingly mysterious corporate world of “Severance.”
The ingenious premise of “Severance” — in which office workers agree to a procedure in which work experiences and memories are “severed” from those outside work, allowing personal and professional lives to remain completely separate — has proven irresistible to audiences tantalized by the issues and possibilities. The premise was equally irresistible, and challenging, for artisans who had to figure out how to bring Lumon Industries and its surroundings to life.
The show’s unique tone, and a genre that sits somewhere between sci-fi, satire, drama, and psychological horror, created intriguing opportunities and obstacles for the filmmakers tasked with getting the balance exactly right.
The ingenious premise of “Severance” — in which office workers agree to a procedure in which work experiences and memories are “severed” from those outside work, allowing personal and professional lives to remain completely separate — has proven irresistible to audiences tantalized by the issues and possibilities. The premise was equally irresistible, and challenging, for artisans who had to figure out how to bring Lumon Industries and its surroundings to life.
The show’s unique tone, and a genre that sits somewhere between sci-fi, satire, drama, and psychological horror, created intriguing opportunities and obstacles for the filmmakers tasked with getting the balance exactly right.
- 8/18/2022
- by Jim Hemphill and Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Mob Games is partnering with Studio71 to develop and produce a film based on its popular video game Poppy Playtime—one the companies hope will be the first in a horror franchise.
The first installment of Poppy Playtime was released by Mob Games in October of 2021. In the game, a former employee of Playtime Co. receives a cryptic message on a VHS tape. The tape prompts him to revisit an abandoned Playtime toy factory following the mysterious disappearance of their entire staff, which happened 10 years prior. From that point forward, the goal of the game is to explore the factory by solving various puzzles while avoiding terrifying enemies in order to uncover the mystery of what happened to the missing staff. Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 was announced this month, with its launch video making it to #3 on YouTube’s trending page.
Studio71 is fast-tracking the project and is already out...
The first installment of Poppy Playtime was released by Mob Games in October of 2021. In the game, a former employee of Playtime Co. receives a cryptic message on a VHS tape. The tape prompts him to revisit an abandoned Playtime toy factory following the mysterious disappearance of their entire staff, which happened 10 years prior. From that point forward, the goal of the game is to explore the factory by solving various puzzles while avoiding terrifying enemies in order to uncover the mystery of what happened to the missing staff. Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 was announced this month, with its launch video making it to #3 on YouTube’s trending page.
Studio71 is fast-tracking the project and is already out...
- 4/27/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
There have been plenty of television shows set in workplaces, but there’s never been one that looks quite like “Severance.” The Apple TV Plus science fiction series is set in the headquarters of Lumon Industries, a mysterious, cult-like company that surgically alters the memories of select employees to split their consciousness in two: their work selves and their outside selves. These “severed” employees work on their own floor in the company building, and it’s a world in itself: a sprawling labyrinth of stark white halls that stretch into eternity, and massive, void-like office rooms with eye-catching green carpeting.
Production designer Jeremy Hindle drew from a wide array of sources when crafting the sets of the series, from the 1967 French film “Playtime” to the aesthetics of pharmaceutical companies. His guiding principle for how Lumon should look was taken from the John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Ill. , designed by...
Production designer Jeremy Hindle drew from a wide array of sources when crafting the sets of the series, from the 1967 French film “Playtime” to the aesthetics of pharmaceutical companies. His guiding principle for how Lumon should look was taken from the John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Ill. , designed by...
- 4/1/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Above: 2021 UK quad poster for 4K restoration of The 400 Blows. Design by The Posterhouse.50,000 Movie Poster of the Day fans can’t be wrong. Yes, just this week my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram—a feed that was a spin-off from this column—surpassed 50,000 followers, which is a little ways off Cristiano Ronaldo’s 411 million and still a tenth of the half a million that Movie Poster of the Day used to have on Tumblr, though I never quite believed those numbers. But I put a lot of faith in my Movie Poster of the Day followers and so every six months I like to collect and rank the most “liked” posters that I have posted in the previous 26 weeks as some sort of bellwether of popular taste.The 400 Blows poster above racked up 3,168 likes earlier this year, making it the third most-liked poster I’ve ever posted (for...
- 3/11/2022
- MUBI
The European Film Market’s traditional home of the Gropius Bau looks eerily empty as event fires up online edition.
The Berlinale’s online European Film Market officially fired up its platform for business on Thursday (February 10) although many sellers have been locked in Zoom meetings since last week.
From February 10-17, the market hosts virtual screenings for more than 750 market and festival titles as well as an online conference programme bannered “Shaping Change”, revolving around the core themes of “future”, “diversity and inclusion” and “sustainable development”.
A handful of sales companies, mainly those with films in Official Selection, will...
The Berlinale’s online European Film Market officially fired up its platform for business on Thursday (February 10) although many sellers have been locked in Zoom meetings since last week.
From February 10-17, the market hosts virtual screenings for more than 750 market and festival titles as well as an online conference programme bannered “Shaping Change”, revolving around the core themes of “future”, “diversity and inclusion” and “sustainable development”.
A handful of sales companies, mainly those with films in Official Selection, will...
- 2/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
With it being seven years since his last live-action film, 2014’s The Grand Budapast Hotel, Wes Anderson is hard at work. Following a Cannes premiere, The French Dispatch finally arrives in limited theaters on October 22 followed by a wide release the following week, and he’s already shooting his next film (recently revealed to have the title Asteroid City) outside of Madrid with Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Rupert Friend, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Hope Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Tony Revolori, and Matt Dillon.
As is the case with all of his work, Wes Anderson synthesizes cinema history in his own specific language and for The French Dispatch he has provided a list of influences. As revealed in a promotional book sent to The Flim Stage and styled after the film’s magazine, 32 films are listed that “provided inspiration to the filmmakers,...
As is the case with all of his work, Wes Anderson synthesizes cinema history in his own specific language and for The French Dispatch he has provided a list of influences. As revealed in a promotional book sent to The Flim Stage and styled after the film’s magazine, 32 films are listed that “provided inspiration to the filmmakers,...
- 10/12/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Making its European debut in International Film Festival Rotterdam’s new talent category Bright Future is “Ok Computer,” a six-part Hindi sci-fi comedy set 10 years in the future.
Featuring an AI-driven “New India” of towering smart holograms and drone superhighways, the Disney Plus Hotstar series stars Vijay Varma (“A Suitable Boy”), Radhika Apte (“Sacred Games”) and Jackie Shroff (“Criminal Justice”), and follows the capers of a hard-boiled detective (Varma) who is called out of retirement when a self-driving car gets hacked, killing a random pedestrian.
The series was produced through Mumbai-based Memesys Culture Lab and created by two of the company’s Goa-based stakeholders: first-time directors Pooja Shetty, a former production designer and architect, and Neil Pagedar, a writer and documentary filmmaker.
Fellow Memesys cofounder Anand Gandhi (“Ship of Theseus”) – an IFFR alumni – also co-wrote the script.
The directorial duo spoke to Variety about the challenge of futuristic world-building in...
Featuring an AI-driven “New India” of towering smart holograms and drone superhighways, the Disney Plus Hotstar series stars Vijay Varma (“A Suitable Boy”), Radhika Apte (“Sacred Games”) and Jackie Shroff (“Criminal Justice”), and follows the capers of a hard-boiled detective (Varma) who is called out of retirement when a self-driving car gets hacked, killing a random pedestrian.
The series was produced through Mumbai-based Memesys Culture Lab and created by two of the company’s Goa-based stakeholders: first-time directors Pooja Shetty, a former production designer and architect, and Neil Pagedar, a writer and documentary filmmaker.
Fellow Memesys cofounder Anand Gandhi (“Ship of Theseus”) – an IFFR alumni – also co-wrote the script.
The directorial duo spoke to Variety about the challenge of futuristic world-building in...
- 6/1/2021
- by Ann-Marie Corvin
- Variety Film + TV
Writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, and actor Larry Fessenden chats with hosts Joe Dante & Josh Olson about some of his favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Habit (1995)
Jakob’s Wife (2021)
Phantom Thread (2017)
The Last Winter (2006)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
The Reptile (1966)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Suspicion (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Dracula (1931)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Mean Streets (1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Playtime (1973)
The Thing (1982)
The Howling (1981)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
An American Werewolf In Paris (1997)
I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Ginger Snaps (2001)
The Terminator (1984)
The Wolfman (2010)
Van Helsing (2004)
The Mummy (2017)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
Wendigo (2001)
Fargo (1996)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Seven (1995)
Man Bites Dog...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Habit (1995)
Jakob’s Wife (2021)
Phantom Thread (2017)
The Last Winter (2006)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
The Reptile (1966)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Suspicion (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Dracula (1931)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Mean Streets (1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Playtime (1973)
The Thing (1982)
The Howling (1981)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
An American Werewolf In Paris (1997)
I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Ginger Snaps (2001)
The Terminator (1984)
The Wolfman (2010)
Van Helsing (2004)
The Mummy (2017)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
Wendigo (2001)
Fargo (1996)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Seven (1995)
Man Bites Dog...
- 4/27/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
It’s that time of year again. While some directors annually share their favorite films of the year, Steven Soderbergh lists everything he consumed, media-wise. For 2020––a year in which he not only Let Them All Talk Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Most Emotionally Resonant Film in Years”>released a new film, but No Sudden Move and Confirms The Knick Return”>shot another––he still got plenty of watching in.
His list includes months-early screenings of Mank (x4!), I’m Your Woman, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Cherry, and The Woman in the Window, as well no shortage of classics and recent favorites, including Time, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Assistant, two films in the Small Axe anthology, and more. After beginning production on No Sudden Move on September 28, he also screened the first cut on November 14.
Check out the list below via his official site.
01/01 Les Miserables (’19)
01/02 Cassandra at the Wedding,...
His list includes months-early screenings of Mank (x4!), I’m Your Woman, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Cherry, and The Woman in the Window, as well no shortage of classics and recent favorites, including Time, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Assistant, two films in the Small Axe anthology, and more. After beginning production on No Sudden Move on September 28, he also screened the first cut on November 14.
Check out the list below via his official site.
01/01 Les Miserables (’19)
01/02 Cassandra at the Wedding,...
- 1/5/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
New York Film Festival closing-night selection “French Exit” is that rare gem of 2020: a high-profile new movie that nobody has seen. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, it is a close collaboration between two old friends, author-turned-screenwriter Patrick DeWitt and director Azazel Jacobs (“The Lovers”). The director lured Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges to star in this comedy confection, adapted by DeWitt from his novel about a once-wealthy widow who leans on her handsome 20-something son for support. When she decamps to Paris with wads of cash after selling off all her worldly goods, it’s understood that her son will accompany her, leaving behind his one-time fiancee (Imogen Poots).
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
- 10/9/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
New York Film Festival closing-night selection “French Exit” is that rare gem of 2020: a high-profile new movie that nobody has seen. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, it is a close collaboration between two old friends, author-turned-screenwriter Patrick DeWitt and director Azazel Jacobs (“The Lovers”). The director lured Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges to star in this comedy confection, adapted by DeWitt from his novel about a once-wealthy widow who leans on her handsome 20-something son for support. When she decamps to Paris with wads of cash after selling off all her worldly goods, it’s understood that her son will accompany her, leaving behind his one-time fiancee (Imogen Poots).
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
- 10/9/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
By Beryl Liu, International InternCannes Competiton’s ‘Summer of 85’’/ ‘Ete 85’, the new film from French director François Ozon, and the first feature from the Cannes 2020 official selection will be theatrically released by Diaphana in France on July 14th.
Additional international territorial rights have already been licensed to September for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Filmladen for Austria and Edge for Sweden.
Playtime (known as Films Distribution until September 2017) is a Paris-based hybrid finance, venture investment, and international sales company active since 1997. Committed to amplifying diverse voices around the world the past 20 years, the company has made a name for itself in the marketplace as a high end sales agency selling feature films to international distributors and broadcasters. Playtime is dedicated to award-winning directors and innovative art-house films from around the world, and to discovering new filmmakers. Playtime is also an active co-producer, under the Playtime Production banner, and has recently...
Additional international territorial rights have already been licensed to September for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Filmladen for Austria and Edge for Sweden.
Playtime (known as Films Distribution until September 2017) is a Paris-based hybrid finance, venture investment, and international sales company active since 1997. Committed to amplifying diverse voices around the world the past 20 years, the company has made a name for itself in the marketplace as a high end sales agency selling feature films to international distributors and broadcasters. Playtime is dedicated to award-winning directors and innovative art-house films from around the world, and to discovering new filmmakers. Playtime is also an active co-producer, under the Playtime Production banner, and has recently...
- 6/24/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
In today’s film news roundup, three projects — “The Culling,” “Atlantis” and “A Savannah Haunting” — are unveiled; “Transhood” wins the Audience Award at AFI Docs; the WGA East announces 15 candidates; and the Visual Effects Society honors five members.
Project Launches
Universal Pictures is developing the thriller “Atlantis with “Jurassic World” director Colin Trevorrow and his Metronome Film Co. with Trevorrow directing and producing.
The project is based on a story about the mythical city of Atlantis by Trevorrow and Matt Charman. Dante Harper, who wrote the original spec script that became Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” will write the script for “Atlantis.”
Metronome and Universal are also collaborating on “Space Opera,” a musical with producer Marc Platt based on Catherynne Valente’s book.
Treverrow’s directing credits include “Safety Not Guaranteed,” “The Book of Henry” and the upcoming “Jurassic World: Dominion.” The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
Project Launches
Universal Pictures is developing the thriller “Atlantis with “Jurassic World” director Colin Trevorrow and his Metronome Film Co. with Trevorrow directing and producing.
The project is based on a story about the mythical city of Atlantis by Trevorrow and Matt Charman. Dante Harper, who wrote the original spec script that became Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” will write the script for “Atlantis.”
Metronome and Universal are also collaborating on “Space Opera,” a musical with producer Marc Platt based on Catherynne Valente’s book.
Treverrow’s directing credits include “Safety Not Guaranteed,” “The Book of Henry” and the upcoming “Jurassic World: Dominion.” The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
- 6/23/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
A central figure in French cinema, Bertrand Tavernier has an encyclopedic knowledge of the craft of filmmaking akin to the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. The sense of history he possesses is seen in both his narrative and documentary, the latter of which is perhaps best exemplified in his recent film My Journey Through French Cinema. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, that 2016 documentary has now received a follow-up expansion with an eight-part series and we’re pleased to debut the U.S. trailer.
Titled Journeys Through French Cinema, the director-writer-actor-producer explores the filmmakers that most influenced him, how the cinema of France changed when the country was German occupation, the unknown films and filmmakers he admires (with a focus on female directors), and much more. From better-known filmmakers such as Jacques Tati, Robert Bresson, and Jacques Demy to ones in need of (re)discovery such as Raymond Bernard, Maurice Turner,...
Titled Journeys Through French Cinema, the director-writer-actor-producer explores the filmmakers that most influenced him, how the cinema of France changed when the country was German occupation, the unknown films and filmmakers he admires (with a focus on female directors), and much more. From better-known filmmakers such as Jacques Tati, Robert Bresson, and Jacques Demy to ones in need of (re)discovery such as Raymond Bernard, Maurice Turner,...
- 12/27/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Bouli Lanners, the Belgian actor-director of “The Giants” and “Eldorado,” is teaming with “Peaky Blinders” helmer Tim Mielants to direct “Wise Blood,” an English-language film that will star “Game of Thrones” actor Michelle Fairley and Julian Glover.
“Wise Blood” is a Belgian-Scottish-French co-production between Versus Production, Barry Crerar, and Playtime, which will handle international sales on the film. The project was first reported in Le Film Français.
On top of writing and co-directing “Wise Blood,” Lanners will star as Phil, a robust middle-aged man living in a Presbyterian community on the Isle of Lewis, in northern Scotland. One night, Phil suffers a stroke, causing him to lose his memory. Millie, a fellow Presbyterian who takes care of him, tells him falsely that they were secretly in love before his accident. As the pair “rekindle” their love affair, Millie fears Phil will one day recover his memory and discover her lie.
“Wise Blood” is a Belgian-Scottish-French co-production between Versus Production, Barry Crerar, and Playtime, which will handle international sales on the film. The project was first reported in Le Film Français.
On top of writing and co-directing “Wise Blood,” Lanners will star as Phil, a robust middle-aged man living in a Presbyterian community on the Isle of Lewis, in northern Scotland. One night, Phil suffers a stroke, causing him to lose his memory. Millie, a fellow Presbyterian who takes care of him, tells him falsely that they were secretly in love before his accident. As the pair “rekindle” their love affair, Millie fears Phil will one day recover his memory and discover her lie.
- 10/21/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Plan B’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner will also deliver a talk.
The line-up of industry events for the 63rd BFI London Film Festival (Lff) has been unveiled, with names including FilmNation’s Glen Basner, Wild Bunch co-founder Vincent Maraval, Fox Searchlight co-chairmen Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula, and Mariette Rissenbeek, who took over as executive director of the Berlinale last year.
Highlights include a series of conversations with leading film executives. Glen Basner will be in London on Oct 3 to talk with BFI deputy chief executive Ben Roberts about FilmNation’s work to date and its expansions into different mediums.
The line-up of industry events for the 63rd BFI London Film Festival (Lff) has been unveiled, with names including FilmNation’s Glen Basner, Wild Bunch co-founder Vincent Maraval, Fox Searchlight co-chairmen Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula, and Mariette Rissenbeek, who took over as executive director of the Berlinale last year.
Highlights include a series of conversations with leading film executives. Glen Basner will be in London on Oct 3 to talk with BFI deputy chief executive Ben Roberts about FilmNation’s work to date and its expansions into different mediums.
- 9/9/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Films tipped from around the world are mostly directed by men.
Word of mouth is building around the titles close to securing a competition slot at the Venice Film Festival next month. The buzz is dominated by films by male directors, with films by female directors looking to be heading for the sidebars. But the announcement is not due until July 25 and there is still time for this to change.
The festival was criticised for only selecting one film by a female director in competition for 2018, Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale. Lucretia Martel has been appointed jury president this year,...
Word of mouth is building around the titles close to securing a competition slot at the Venice Film Festival next month. The buzz is dominated by films by male directors, with films by female directors looking to be heading for the sidebars. But the announcement is not due until July 25 and there is still time for this to change.
The festival was criticised for only selecting one film by a female director in competition for 2018, Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale. Lucretia Martel has been appointed jury president this year,...
- 7/16/2019
- by Gabriele Niola & Jeremy Kay & Tom Grater & Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Netflix has taken most of the world on Spanish crime pic Eye For An Eye by [Rec] director Paco Plaza.
Multi-Goya winner Luis Tosar (Cell 211) stars in the revenge-thriller about a retirement home nurse who becomes entangled with a feared cartel boss discharged from prison and put into his care.
The seven-figure Netflix deal, cut by Film Constellation, is for the world excluding Spain, where Sony will release later this summer, and France. Canal Plus has TV rights in the latter. The pic, currently in post-production, fits well with Netflix’s voracious drive for commercially-minded Spanish-language content and the deal is likely one of the platform’s biggest acquisitions of a Spanish indie movie.
Plaza’s hit 2007 horror [Rec], co-directed with Jaume Balagueró, grossed more than $30M and became a franchise. It was remade as Quarantine, which was released in most markets by Sony. The director’s latest film...
Multi-Goya winner Luis Tosar (Cell 211) stars in the revenge-thriller about a retirement home nurse who becomes entangled with a feared cartel boss discharged from prison and put into his care.
The seven-figure Netflix deal, cut by Film Constellation, is for the world excluding Spain, where Sony will release later this summer, and France. Canal Plus has TV rights in the latter. The pic, currently in post-production, fits well with Netflix’s voracious drive for commercially-minded Spanish-language content and the deal is likely one of the platform’s biggest acquisitions of a Spanish indie movie.
Plaza’s hit 2007 horror [Rec], co-directed with Jaume Balagueró, grossed more than $30M and became a franchise. It was remade as Quarantine, which was released in most markets by Sony. The director’s latest film...
- 5/15/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival competition began today with the premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die,” but top North American distributors can’t afford to be distracted. They serve a market in which only the most carefully calibrated selections will thrive — and those who hesitate will almost certainly lose to the streaming buyers. With some of the best stuff already bought, theatrical distributors are forced to to look toward films that have yet to be shot.
Before the festival, HBO Sports scooped up “Diego Maradona,” British documentarian Asif Kapadia’s follow-up to Oscar-winning Cannes hit “Amy.” And after a 20-year symbiotic relationship, Spc acquired Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” at the script stage two years ago, which now looks like an early contender for top prizes. Spc now has rights to all his films, and will book repertory Almodovar tributes in many cities around the film’s October opening.
Before the festival, HBO Sports scooped up “Diego Maradona,” British documentarian Asif Kapadia’s follow-up to Oscar-winning Cannes hit “Amy.” And after a 20-year symbiotic relationship, Spc acquired Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” at the script stage two years ago, which now looks like an early contender for top prizes. Spc now has rights to all his films, and will book repertory Almodovar tributes in many cities around the film’s October opening.
- 5/14/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Cannes Film Festival competition began today with the premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die,” but top North American distributors can’t afford to be distracted. They serve a market in which only the most carefully calibrated selections will thrive — and those who hesitate will almost certainly lose to the streaming buyers. With some of the best stuff already bought, theatrical distributors are forced to to look toward films that have yet to be shot.
Before the festival, HBO Sports scooped up “Diego Maradona,” British documentarian Asif Kapadia’s follow-up to Oscar-winning Cannes hit “Amy.” And after a 20-year symbiotic relationship, Spc acquired Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” at the script stage two years ago, which now looks like an early contender for top prizes. Spc now has rights to all his films, and will book repertory Almodovar tributes in many cities around the film’s October opening.
Before the festival, HBO Sports scooped up “Diego Maradona,” British documentarian Asif Kapadia’s follow-up to Oscar-winning Cannes hit “Amy.” And after a 20-year symbiotic relationship, Spc acquired Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” at the script stage two years ago, which now looks like an early contender for top prizes. Spc now has rights to all his films, and will book repertory Almodovar tributes in many cities around the film’s October opening.
- 5/14/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Film4 director Daniel Battsek is the industry ambassador this year.
Senior executives from Film4, Playtime and eOne are among the participants in the 2019 edition of Inside Pictures, the international business training and leadership skills development programme from the UK’s National Film and TV School (Nfts).
Among the 20 participants are Frédérique Rouault, director of international sales at French sales agent Playtime; Samanta Roberts, marketing director, film at eOne Spain; and two representatives from Film4 – senior legal and business affairs manager Don McNicholl, and marketing and distribution manager Hannah Saunders.
Daniel Battsek, director of Film4, is the industry ambassador for the programme.
Senior executives from Film4, Playtime and eOne are among the participants in the 2019 edition of Inside Pictures, the international business training and leadership skills development programme from the UK’s National Film and TV School (Nfts).
Among the 20 participants are Frédérique Rouault, director of international sales at French sales agent Playtime; Samanta Roberts, marketing director, film at eOne Spain; and two representatives from Film4 – senior legal and business affairs manager Don McNicholl, and marketing and distribution manager Hannah Saunders.
Daniel Battsek, director of Film4, is the industry ambassador for the programme.
- 4/26/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival is finally in the books, yet another fabulous, frustrating and altogether marvelous gathering in the heart of Hollywood to designed to revel in the history of movies and encourage the continued appreciation of the value of understanding where the movies have come from, how they’ve come to the place they are, and even a moment or two to consider possible futures, both for the path on which the movies find themselves and for the future of the festival itself. As always, I have filed my report on this year’s activities—movies watched, schedules contemplated, favorite people visited—for Slant magazine’s blog The House Next Door—and if I came off in that report a little crankier than usual, that dissatisfaction is borne from love for what Tcmff does so well every year and concern for some of the more commerce-oriented...
- 4/23/2019
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
After bouncing back in 2017, the overseas box office revenue of French movies plummeted by 51% to 237 million euros ($270 million) with 40 million admissions sold, a 52% year-on drop, in 2018.
The provisional box office figures were unveiled by UniFrance during a reception hosted at France’s culture minister during which Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the directors of “The Intouchables” and most recently “C’est La Vie” received the French Cinema Award.
Co-produced and sold by Gaumont, “C’est La Vie” grossed over 15 million overseas and was the second biggest French hit in international markets in 2018, following the EuropaCorp-produced “Taxi 5,” an action-packed film directed by Franck Gastambide.
The other French films ranking in the top 10 of 2018 include Dany Boon’s “La Ch’tite Famille” (Pathé), “Belle and Sebastian, Friends for Life” (Gaumont), the animated film “White Fang” (Sc Films International), “Rolling to You” (Gaumont), “Big Bad Fox & Other Tales” (StudioCanal), “The Young Karl Marx...
The provisional box office figures were unveiled by UniFrance during a reception hosted at France’s culture minister during which Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the directors of “The Intouchables” and most recently “C’est La Vie” received the French Cinema Award.
Co-produced and sold by Gaumont, “C’est La Vie” grossed over 15 million overseas and was the second biggest French hit in international markets in 2018, following the EuropaCorp-produced “Taxi 5,” an action-packed film directed by Franck Gastambide.
The other French films ranking in the top 10 of 2018 include Dany Boon’s “La Ch’tite Famille” (Pathé), “Belle and Sebastian, Friends for Life” (Gaumont), the animated film “White Fang” (Sc Films International), “Rolling to You” (Gaumont), “Big Bad Fox & Other Tales” (StudioCanal), “The Young Karl Marx...
- 1/17/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Playtime, the Paris-based co-production and sales company which will be presenting Francois Ozon’s anticipated “By the Grace of God” in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, has acquired three offbeat French comedies: Geraldine Nakache’s “I’ll Go Where You Go,” “The Bare Necessity” with Fanny Ardant, and Valerie Donzelli’s “Our Lady of Paris.”
“Our Lady of Paris” marks Donzelli’s fifth feature film, following “Marguerite & Julien,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival; “Hand in Hand”; “Declaration of War,” which played at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and earned six Cesar nominations; and “Queen of Hearts.”
Donzelli stars in the film as Maud Crayon, a failing architect and single mom of two who unexpectedly wins the contest to spearhead the renovation of the esplanade of Notre-Dame de Paris, and who has to deal with a pair of exes – both of whom she still has feelings for.
Written by...
“Our Lady of Paris” marks Donzelli’s fifth feature film, following “Marguerite & Julien,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival; “Hand in Hand”; “Declaration of War,” which played at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and earned six Cesar nominations; and “Queen of Hearts.”
Donzelli stars in the film as Maud Crayon, a failing architect and single mom of two who unexpectedly wins the contest to spearhead the renovation of the esplanade of Notre-Dame de Paris, and who has to deal with a pair of exes – both of whom she still has feelings for.
Written by...
- 1/17/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Guest of Honour
Canada’s Atom Egoyan ends a four year break with his sixteenth feature Guest of Honour. Serving as producer alongside Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss. The film is financed through Playtime, Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm. Described as a “twisted psychological thriller,” Egoyan’s cast includes David Thewlis, Luke Wilson, Rossif Sutherland, Laysla De Oliveira, and Gage Munroe. Egoyan’s usual cinematographer Paul Sarossy will be lensing. Egoyan came to prominence with 1987’s Family Viewing, winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Locarno and an Honorable Mention in Berlin’s Forum sidebar for the same title.…...
Canada’s Atom Egoyan ends a four year break with his sixteenth feature Guest of Honour. Serving as producer alongside Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss. The film is financed through Playtime, Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm. Described as a “twisted psychological thriller,” Egoyan’s cast includes David Thewlis, Luke Wilson, Rossif Sutherland, Laysla De Oliveira, and Gage Munroe. Egoyan’s usual cinematographer Paul Sarossy will be lensing. Egoyan came to prominence with 1987’s Family Viewing, winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Locarno and an Honorable Mention in Berlin’s Forum sidebar for the same title.…...
- 1/3/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Aleksandra Terpinska’s “Other People” and Peter Dourountzis’s “Rascal” won the inaugural Arte Kino International Prize at the 10th edition of Les Arcs Film Festival’s Co-Production Village.
The award was given by Remi Burah, who runs Arte France Cinéma and launched in 2016 ArteKino Festival, a European online festival in partnership with the digital service Festival Scope. Each “Other People” and “Rascal” will receive 2000 Euros.
Mixing comedy, drama and musical, “Other People” tells the story of a man who lives with his mum and teenage sister who starts a romance with Iwona, a woman in her early 40’s who cannot cope with her marriage. “Other People” was selected as part of this year’s focus on Poland. Terpinska’s last short “The Best Fireworks Ever” premiered at Cannes’s Critics’ Week and won two awards.
Meanwhile, “Rascal” in a French-language thriller following a charming young man who arrives in...
The award was given by Remi Burah, who runs Arte France Cinéma and launched in 2016 ArteKino Festival, a European online festival in partnership with the digital service Festival Scope. Each “Other People” and “Rascal” will receive 2000 Euros.
Mixing comedy, drama and musical, “Other People” tells the story of a man who lives with his mum and teenage sister who starts a romance with Iwona, a woman in her early 40’s who cannot cope with her marriage. “Other People” was selected as part of this year’s focus on Poland. Terpinska’s last short “The Best Fireworks Ever” premiered at Cannes’s Critics’ Week and won two awards.
Meanwhile, “Rascal” in a French-language thriller following a charming young man who arrives in...
- 12/19/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Mubi is showing Jacques Tati's Jour de fête (1949) and PlayTime (1967) in December 2018 and January 2019 in many countries around the world as part of the series A Holiday with M. Tati.The characters played by director Jacques Tati, in Jour de fête (1949), Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953), Mon oncle (1958), PlayTime (1967), Trafic (1971), and Parade (1974), are rarely the singular focus of their respective film. Sure, his endearing M. Hulot appears in four of these features, and his François, from Jour de fête, is the most prominent resident of that film’s snug provincial hamlet. But Tati’s on-screen persona, whatever his name (he has none in Parade), is often more of an escort, an inimitable figure whose primary function is to introduce surrounding characters by way of his direct and indirect interaction, and to establish the capacity of each film’s essential setting, which is usually enlivened by his mere existence if not his actual relevance.
- 12/18/2018
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.