Annecy Competition Title ‘Snotty Boy’ Picked Up By Picture Tree International (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCharades has closed major sales on Denisa Grimmova and Jan Bubenicek’s stop-motion feature “Even Mice Belong to Heaven” ahead of its world premiere at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival.Based on Iva Procházková’s book, the feature was made in stop-motion with more than 100 puppets, 82 characters and 84 animated decors.

The New Yorker, in which she wrote about crying inside her local Korean grocery store after her mother passed away from terminal cancer. The book found Zauner reckoning with her relationship with her mother as well as time spent in Seoul with her grandmother.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaCAA has signed filmmaker Karen Cinorre, who made her debut with the action fantasy film “May.”The film, which Cinorre also wrote and produced, was recently acquired by Magnolia Pictures. The indie studio recently announced that it plans to release “Mayday” this fall.“Mayday” premiered in the U.S.

Big Boi has shared a rare video of himself rehearsing and performing while in high school aged 16.You can see the video below, which first sees Big Boi, aka Antwan Patton introduced as ‘Outkast’ and rehearsing with friends at Tri-Cities High School in Atlanta, Georgia.The footage then shows a snippet of a proper performance by the young rapper and two other students in front of DIY staging.A post shared by Big Boi (@bigboi)It was around this time at high school that Patton first met his Outkast

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“F9,” the latest installment of Universal’s action-packed “Fast & Furious” franchise, is the teased “planetary blockbuster” heading to the Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned.Starring Vin Diesel, John Cena and Michelle Rodriguez, the highly anticipated movie is already a major international B.O. milestone, having grossed over $250 million worldwide, including $203 million in China (as of June 6).

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentMoroccan director Aziz Tazi’s thriller “Night Walk,” featuring a turn by Mickey Rourke, has scored a slew of international sales prior to its U.S.

Always acquisitive music rights firm Reservoir has acquired legendary hip hop record label Tommy Boy Music in a deal reportedly worth $100 million.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAnimated feature film “Lamya’s Poem” has its world premiere next week in competition at Annecy Film Festival. Variety speaks to the director, Alex Kronemer, and debuts the first clip from the film.WestEnd Films, whose library includes Oscar-nominated animation titles such as “The Breadwinner” and “Song of the Sea,” is selling the film and will screen it during the Pre-Cannes Screenings, June 21-25.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that there was no conflict of interest between his administration and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s filmmaking work, following a Sacramento Bee report that donors to her nonprofit also were companies that have lobbied his administration.

Aisling Bea has just reached another milestone in her career and she was asked to host the finale of the latest season of the British comedy chat show Have I Got News For You.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentIFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to “Bergman Island,” the English-language debut of Mia Hansen-Løve (“Things to Come”) which will world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island, ahead of the film’s world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

K.J. Yossman Sony Pictures Television has hired Michaela Fereday as senior VP of scripted production.Based in the U.K., she will begin her new role next week, reporting into senior VP of international co-productions, Brendan Fitzgerald.As senior VP of scripted production, Fereday will focus on productions coming out of Sony Pictures Television International Production, as well as overseeing premium scripted series commissioned abroad and produced in the U.K.

Boy George has shared a new single, ‘The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread’.The track was released alongside a film clip co-staring Boy George and Samantha Renke, the latter of whom also served as its director.Take a look at the video below.In a press statement, Boy George noted that his collaboration with Renke has been a long time coming.“As soon I finished this song I had only one person in mind to be in the video,” he said.

EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Bay Jones (Dear Evan Hansen) is set for a recurring role on the second season of CBS comedy The United States of Al, starring Adhir Kalyan and Parker Young, from Chuck Lorre, David Goetsch and Maria Ferrari.

While the nightmare child from hell genre has received its due (“Problem Child” and “Dennis The Menace” being two prominent troublemakers), perhaps none is as demented and strangely twisted like 1994’s Orion Pictures’ notorious bomb and mostly-disregarded comedy “Clifford.” Upon its release, “Clifford” was a widely derided comedy, savagely panned by critics and ignored by audiences.

Amazon snatched up MGM. Disney has Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Marvel Studios.

Bow Wow and Soulja Boy have teased their upcoming Verzuz battle, saying that the competition is going to be “bigger than life”.Verzuz is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on.