42 Shakeup: Co-Founder Rory Aitken Exiting As Ben Pugh Becomes Global Production Prez In Company Restructure

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” surpassed the $100 million mark globally in its first weekend of release. The fourth installment in Sony’s buddy cop comedy series, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, has collected $104.6 million, including $48.6 million at the international box office. Moviegoers have embraced Smith’s first major film since he assaulted Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Oscars, though it helped that he returned to theaters with a franchise that has endured over 30 years.

Refresh for latest…: Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die pummeled pre-weekend opening projections, coming in with a $104.6M global bow, including $48.6M from the international box office. While the overseas debut is slightly off 2020’s Bad Boys for Life which did $50.3M in like-for-like offshore markets at today’s exchange rates, that film had strong legs. Either way, Ride or Die‘s start gave some much needed oomph to summer turnstiles. Its launch is 58% bigger than Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Take a first peek at Sandokan, a new international adaptation of Emilio Salgari’s historic saga about the adventures of a titular pirate who, with his motley crew, fights against colonial powers in Southeast Asia. Scroll down for more.

A town hall for Paramount Global employees originally scheduled to take place Wednesday has been delayed until June 25.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A judge on Monday ruled that filmmaker Rory Kennedy does not have to turn over footage from her upcoming Alec Baldwin documentary to prosecutors in his manslaughter case. Kennedy is working on a film about Baldwin and the accidental shooting on the set of his film “Rust.” Baldwin is set to go on trial in July in Santa Fe, N.M., on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Rory Kinnear is joining the cast of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in the Prime Video show’s second season, and we finally know who he will be playing!

K.J. Yossman “The Diplomat” star Rory Kinnear has joined Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany in Joe Barton’s upcoming Sky limited series “Amadeus.” Based on the story of famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sharpe stars as the virtuoso while Bettany plays his fierce rival, Italian composer Antonio Salieri.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is stalling at the international box office with $33.3 million from 75 territories. The fifth entry in director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic series has generated $58.9 million globally in its first weekend of release, a rough start given its $168 million production budget. Domestically, the Warner Bros.

Ummm… is this divorce secretly a cheating scandal??

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Director Francesca Archibugi, whose feminist fascist-era saga “La Storia” was Italy’s biggest TV event of 2023, is set to return behind camera on World War II drama “The Italian Chapel” set in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Inspired by a true story, “Italian Chapel” is centered on a clash between the local Orkney community and prisoners of war who are confined there. Against this backdrop, a secret romance springs up between an Italian prisoner and a Scottish islander.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s regular strand that shines a light on breakout series and films that are shaking up the international market. In a globalized industry, a hit show can come from anywhere and local success stories can become international sensations.

Fremantle has appointed Matt Katrosar as its new senior vice president of global ad sales and strategy.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Disney and 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” conquered the international box office again with $40.6 million in its second weekend of release. So far, the fourth chapter in the “Apes” reboot franchise has generated $136 million overseas and $237 million globally. It currently stands as the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year, behind “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($533 million), “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($561 million) and “Dune: Part Two” ($710 million).

Denmark was a world power in the Middle Ages, conquering parts of the British Isles and Normandy, and holding sway in Norway into the 19th century. Today, the Nordic country bordering the Baltic and North seas is prosperous if smaller, with a population of fewer than 6 million people. But it has become a world power in a new arena — documentary filmmaking. Denmark’s flourishing doc scene has become the envy of the nonfiction community.

Ben Croll Mediawan Rights, the distribution arm of the wider media group, manages scripted, unscripted, format and feature documentary sales, keying European content onto international airwaves. And if initially heritage titles, foreign-language fare and time-tested perennials made up much of the catalogue, the group’s expanding footprint and well-capitalized partnerships promise a new yield of premium fare developed in-house and marked by global ambitions.

Naman Ramachandran India is making a concerted push to become a global production hub with enhanced incentives, diverse locations and a strong presence at Cannes. It is a record year for India at Cannes, with its first title in competition in 30 years, Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” and seven more Indian or Indian-themed films across the festival’s various strands. In addition, the country has a strong Cannes Film Market presence, while the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, on behalf of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), has organized a range of events aimed at global content co-producers, sales agents and distributors at the India Pavilion on the Croisette.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Dr. Bijukumar Damodaran‘s next film “Papa Buka” will commence principal photography in Papua New Guinea in July. The film will follow Indian historians Romila and Anand who go to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to write a book about the Indian soldiers who fought with the British and Australian armies against the Japanese during WWII in the country.

Golf star Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce from his wife Erica on the eve of the US PGA Championship at Valhalla. Court records show the Northern Irish star submitted a “petition for dissolution of marriage” in Palm Beach County in Florida on Monday, 14 May. The pair met in 2012 when Erica was working for the PGA of America at the Ryder Cup after she helped him get a police escort to the course after he misread his tee time for the Sunday singles.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The renaissance of “Doctor Who,” which started its latest season this week, is a 20-year journey that is entwined with the establishment of a thriving TV production scene in South Wales, where it shoots, and the meteoritic rise of the production company Bad Wolf. This dates back to 2003 when writer Russell T. Davies was asked by the BBC’s then head of drama, Jane Tranter, to revive the show and to base the production in South Wales, an area hitherto known for coal mining and heavy industry.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran producers Frida Torresblanco (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Frank Murray (First Reformed) have teamed up to launch Hangtime International Pictures, a new transatlantic production company headquartered in London and New York.