As Market Grows, German and Scandi Producers Look to French Investment Scheme to Protect Independence

The Last Kingdom is back to Netflix after fans have waited for two years to see the fifth season. The last season aired in April 2020 and fans is eager to get binge-watching this new instalment which will help to explain the story of the captured Saxon.

K.J. Yossman Studiocanal has boarded Thomas Vinterberg’s TV debut ‘Families Like Ours’ as a co-producer and distributor.Varety first broke the news last April that Oscar-winning Danish director Vinterberg (“Another Round”) was re-teaming with Danish production outfit Zentropa on his first television drama.Studiocanal previously distributed “Another Round” in the U.K.“I have worked with Studiocanal in the past and greatly enjoyed the process,” said Vinterberg.

Fremantle has acquired 70% of Lux Vide, the 30-year-old Italian producer of Medici, Leonardo and Coco Chanel.

The stars came out for the Dior fashion show in Paris!

Steven Spielberg is developing a film based on one of Steve McQueen’s most iconic film roles, Frank Bullitt, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.Josh Singer will write the screenplay. The film will not be a remake but a new story with the Bullitt character at the center.

Joe Wright’s Cyrano twirls onto 797 screens, the highest-profile specialty release in weeks (as the market awaits Focus Features The Outfit with Mark Rylance and Sony Pictures Classics Mothering Sunday). But the well reviewed period musical romance from UAR starring Peter Dinklage is landing in a tough place. Industry estimates anticipate a low single digit opening given the inconsistent reception for movie musicals and the fact that its key older demos, especially women, have been the slowest to return to theaters.

EXCLUSIVE: The documentary film team at Netflix might be popping champagne corks together right about now, if Covid didn’t inhibit the whole in-person office scenario. They’ve got a lot to celebrate.

The final episodes of Netflix‘s hit Ozark will premiere on April 29 and the streamer dropped a first look teaser above.

Naman Ramachandran Projects from France-Iran and India were the big winners at this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market, which is part of the European Film Market.The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with €20,000 ($22,628), went to the producers of Caractères Productions from France, and Honare Khiyal from Iran for their project “My Favourite Cake” by directors Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam. The VFF Talent Highlight Award with prize money of €10,000 went to director Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls.” The film is to be produced by Pushing Buttons Studios, an outfit founded by Indian actors Ali Fazal (“Death on the Nile”) and Richa Chadha (“Gangs of Wasseypur”) and co-produced by Sanjay Gulati and Pooja Chauhan of Crawling Angel Films (2020 Berlinale selection “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs”) and Claire Chassagne of Dolce Vita Films (2019 Venice and Cairo winner “A Son”).

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first look at Oscar winner Penelope Cruz in Italian drama L’immensita, which is in post-production.

EXCLUSIVE: European film giant Pathé, which owns more than 1,000 cinema screens across the continent, will always be a theatrical-first business. That doesn’t mean it can’t also move with the times.