$13 Million Family Entertainment Film ‘School of Magical Animals 2’ Acquired by Global Screen – Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)

Olympics premiered on Monday, shown to reporters and other invited guests in the Japanese capital.The work of Japanese director Naomi Kawase, the 120-minute film looks at the Olympics primarily from the point of view of the athletes — but not just the winning athletes.After Tokyo, the film will be shown on Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival in the Bunuel Theater, named for Spanish-born iconoclastic filmmaker Luis Bunuel.“The Olympics are not just about getting prizes, being first and going after a victory that is right before you in the moment,” Kawase said in a recent interview. “I tried also to depict the pursuit of becoming winners in life.”Kawase has also made another film looking at events away from the athletes, which called “Side B.” It will debut in Japanese cinemas on June 24.

Christopher Vourlias Rising South African filmmaker Thati Pele, the director of the hit Netflix teen drama “Blood and Water” and the streamer’s new original series “Savage Beauty,” is preparing her first feature film, which will be produced by the team behind the Oscar-shortlisted LGBTQ drama “The Wound.”“Brace Yourself” unspools on a failed romantic island getaway, where straitlaced orthodontist Dr. Shaloba Molefe decides to kidnap her unravelling family and won’t let them leave until they love her again.

This means that the MCU now has the top two highest totals for any Hollywood film since theaters reopened, as “Doctor Strange 2” is now only second to the $1.89 billion total of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” It should also pass the totals of last year’s Chinese blockbuster hits “Hi, Mom” ($822 million) and “The Battle at Lake Changjin” ($902 million) in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: A New Era” has opened to $16 million from 3,820 theaters — a record screen count for Universal’s specialty wing — and earned a global opening of $51.7 million.

Christopher Vourlias The Hungarian film industry is booming, with a record 241 domestic productions — including feature films, shorts, documentaries and TV series — produced in 2021. Here’s a selection of top projects in the pipeline or being sold during the Cannes Market:As Long as the Grass Grows Director: Áron Gauder Producer: Réka Temple (Cinemon Entertainment) Annecy main prize winner Gauder (“The District”) spins an alternative creation myth, in which mankind is but one of many creatures in the animal kingdom, and offers a hopeful story that it’s not too late to correct course and save the planet.Blockade Director: Ádám Tősér Producer: Tamás Lajos (Film Positive Productions) Based on the true story of the country’s first democratically elected prime minister, the film follows József Antall’s journey from a freedom fighter during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to the infamous 1990 taxi blockade that shook the nation.

Naman Ramachandran New York-based Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells’ feature debut “Aftersun,” premiering at Cannes Critics’ Week, aims to achieve a balance of joy and melancholia in equal measure.Framed as a look back at a father-daughter holiday at a Turkish resort in the late 1990s, with occasional mini DV footage adding to the period texture, the film is an ode to nostalgia with hints of something far darker.Wells’ first short, “Tuesday” (2015), was about the loss of her father, which happened when she was a teenager. “I wanted to explore a different period in that relationship, like a young father and his daughter on holiday.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorErotic love story “99 Moons,” which has its world premiere in Cannes’ ACID sidebar today, has kicked off international sales. Berlin-based M-Appeal is handling the rights to the film, which is directed by Jan Gassmann.Arthouse VOD platform Filmin has taken the rights in Spain, and arthouse distributor StraDa Films has taken the films for Greece. France and Latin America are in negotiation.

CUBE Entertainment has announced that K-pop girl group CLC‘s official activities as an act have ended.The South Korean entertainment label published a notice earlier today (May 20), announcing the impending termination of the K-pop girl group’s fanclub forum, named CLC U CUBE.In the notice, the label attributed the reason for its closure to the conclusion of CLC’s activities as a group. This is notably the first time the label have confirmed that the girl group are no longer active as a K-pop act, following CLC’s long absence.“First of all, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all of you for always loving and supporting CLC over the last seven years,” wrote CUBE Entertainment.

The 2022 Cannes Film Festival opened amid concerns around journalistic independence. Now there are concerns regarding jury independence.

JD Linville Zürich-born writer, director and burgeoning auteur Jan Gassmann (“Chrigu,” “Europe, She Loves”) will bring his newest film, “99 Moons,” to the ACID sidebar at Cannes, and with it a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives of lovers in head-on collision. Produced by Reto Schaerli and Lukas Hobi at Zodiac Pictures in co-production with Swiss public broadcaster SRF, the film follows Bigna, a 28-year-old disaster prevention scientist and her chance encounter turned love affair with Frank, a 33-year-old DJ.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, which is presenting six movies at the Cannes Film Festival, will be attending the market with a pair of hot new titles, French director Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” and Israeli helmer Maya Dreifuss’s “Highway 65.”“Anatomy of a Fall” stars Sandra Hüller, the critically acclaimed German actor of “Toni Erdmann,” as an enigmatic German novelist who is arrested after the mysterious death of her husband at their chalet in the French Alps. The court case examines every aspect of the relationship she had with her husband, while her visually impaired son is called to testify as a witness.The movie will re-team MK2 Films with Triet, whose latest film “Sybil” competed at Cannes.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBen Stassen’s nWave Studios (“The Son of Bigfoot,””Sammy”) is set to produce “The Inseparables,” a $25 million animated feature based on an original idea by Joel Cohen et Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story.”The feature is being jointly produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente in Spain.Cohen and Sokolow penned the feature with Cal Brunker, Bob Barlen (“Paw Patrol,” “Bigfoot”), Matthieu Zeller and Jérémie Degruson.Degruson, who previously directed some of nWave Studios’ biggest animated hits “The House of Magic,” “Bigfoot Junior” and Bigfoot Family,” is on board to helm “The Inseparables.”The animated buddy movie follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend, as they cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The movie will be delivered in July 2023 in both 2D and 3D formats.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, P!nk, The Chicks, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Flume, Paramore and Lil Nas X all set to perform headline sets across the six-day festival. As it has for the past eight IRL editions, ACL ’22 will be held over two weekends in October. Each will feature a vastly different bill, though many acts – including the likes of Diplo, Wallows, The War On Drugs, Conan Gray, Spoon and Japanese Breakfast – will perform sets on both weekends.Other names appearing on both line-ups include Sofi Tukker, Omar Apollo, Arlo Parks, Pinkpantheress, Nathaniel Rateliff And The Night Sweats, The Midnight, Oliver Tree and Genesis Owusu. 39 names are down to perform exclusively during the first weekend, with standouts including Lil Durk, Carly Rae Jepsen, Rag ’N’ Bone Man, Slayyyter, James Blake, Manchester Orchestra and Muna.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorVariety has been given exclusive access to the first teaser for Norwegian drama “War Sailor,” which follows two Norwegian sailors whose merchant ship is attacked by German submarines at the outbreak of World War II. Beta Cinema will be selling the film at the Cannes Market. The film centers on Alfred Garnes, a working-class sailor, who has recently become the father of a third child, and his childhood friend Sigbjørn Kvalen, known as Wally.

South Korean director Park Chan-wook is set to premiere his new film, “Decision to Leave,” at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. A detective murder mystery with a romantic twist, the film is widely regarded as one of the most anticipated premieres of the festival.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the newest timeline-altering tentpole in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, captured a huge $265 million in its international box office debut.Those mighty ticket sales represent the second-biggest opening weekend overseas in pandemic times. Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still stands as the highest-grossing COVID-era debut with $340 million internationally.The second “Doctor Strange” film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the goatee-rocking sorcerer, generated $185 million in North America over the weekend, bringing its global tally to a massive $450 million.

Another reunion in the works. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning to attend Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee, but the festivities will look a bit different than they have in the past.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTop European industry players including senior executives from Pathé Films, Mikros, Wild Bunch Distribution and Warner Bros. have joined forces to launch a one-stop-shop production banner called N9ne Studio.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentJan Motjo’s Beta Group is making a bold bet on Spain, both its content and market, launching Beta Fiction Spain, a TV-movie production house which will also offer production services in Spain and run a theatrical distribution operation.The new entity will be headed by two of the best-known and reputable film-TV execs in Spain: Mercedes Gamero, the former head of Atresmedia Cine, the film production-acquisition arm of Atresmedia Cine, and one of the most powerful movie producers in Spain; and Pablo Nogueroles, the former SVP at Warner Bros. Pictures International España.

EXCLUSIVE: Park Chan-wook’s anticipated Cannes Competition title Decision To Leave has sold to arthouse streamer, theatrical distributor and producer Mubi in what we understand to be the company’s biggest film deal to date.

John De Mol’s ‘Million Dollar Island’ Set For Australian Remake On Seven