Australia’s Foxtel Renews Sony Pictures Content Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel, India and Italy, and aboard airlines and ships worldwide, to the animated film The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, from writer-director Sylvain Chomet. The deal for Chomet’s English-language feature follows SPC’s distribution of his past films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSony Pictures Classics has acquired Sylvain Chomet’s “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol,” an animated feature about the life of the legendary author Marcel Pagnol. The deal covers all rights for North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, Middle East, Israel, India, Italy, and worldwide airlines and ships at sea in all languages.Two of Chomet’s previous films, “The Triplets of Belleville” and “The Illusionist” were also distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

review out of the festival praised Hansen-Løve’s attention to detail in depicting the challenges of ushering a loved one through an illness of someone near the end of his life. “With ‘One Fine Morning,’ Hansen-Løve turns her attention, and ours, toward the challenges, both tiny and immense, of loving someone through a decline such as this — one that’s not a death, just yet, but rather a disabling event, an experience that is as perplexing for Georg as it is for his family and former students,” Katie Walsh wrote for TheWrap.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCinema box office this year in North America is poised to overtake theatrical revenues in China, the country that has been the world’s largest movie market for the past two years.Before the latest weekend, gross revenues in the year to date stood at $2.38 billion for the North American compared with $2.43 billion for China, according to data from ComScore.U.K.-based research firm Gower Street Analytics forecast that the North American figure would overtake China’s revenues over the weekend or early this week. That reflects business growth in North America and the current reversal in China, where anti-COVID measures are causing renewed cinema closures.Gower Street says that some 85% of global cinemas are now open for business, compared with pre-pandemic levels.

EXCLUSIVE: Entering the second week of the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures Television has snapped up multi-territory Latin American rights to FilmSharks’ Amor Bandido, with Raymond Murray’s CineNova Releasing taking U.S. rights.

Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP) is set to remake Ariel Winograd’s Argentinian comedy Mama Se Fue De Viaje (Ten Days Without Mom) in Turkey and South Korea.

A new Ocean’s Eleven film starring Margot Robbie is in “active development” at Warner Bros., Deadline can confirm. Four-time Emmy winner Jay Roach is looking to direct the pic, which is not yet greenlighted.

William Earl Variety and Sony Pictures Television return with their month-long immersive experience, the Variety / Sony Pictures Television Virtual FYC House, aimed to capture the attention of TV awards voters. The interactive, 3D experience kicks off with a special preview night for a select audience and then will open to a wider audience on June 2 through June 27.The virtual event features original content, keynote conversations and panels with top contending talent from the studio.

Manori Ravindran International EditorFilm financier Amcomri Entertainment and Ireland’s Studio Atlantic have struck a multi-picture production deal.The pact comes ahead of the release of Studio Atlantic’s latest production, “The Gates,” a Victorian period horror starring John Rhys Davies, Richard Brake, Elena Delia and Michael Yare, which is currently being sold in Cannes by Amcomri Entertainment’s sales arm 101 Films Intl.The deal will see Amcomri Prods. co-finance a slate of movies and become an official financing partner of Studio Atlantic, with 101 Films Intl.

EXCLUSIVE: Laura Fitzpatrick has joined Sony Pictures Imageworks as Vice President, New Business. In her new role, she will be responsible for third party VFX business development and strategic planning for long-term growth. She will also oversee worldwide sales, marketing and client engagement, reporting to Executive Vice President Michelle Grady. Upcoming projects Fitzpatrick will have a hand in include the animated features The Sea Beast and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn one of the first major deals of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped on Un Certain Regard title “All The People I’ll Never Be.” The distributor has picked up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.The film, which is written and directed by Davy Chou (“Diamond Island”), will be re-titled as “Return to Seoul.” It premieres in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights and other territories to “All The People I’ll Never Be,” a film from writer and director Davy Chou that is playing in the Un Certain Regard section on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. SPC is also planning on re-titling the movie in English, “Return to Seoul,” which is the translation of its actual title in French. In addition to North America, the distributor also acquired rights to the film in Latin America, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.“All The People I’ll Never Be” is the story of a 25-year-old woman who, on an impulse, returns to South Korea for the first time where she was born before being adopted and raised in France.

Ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, the Davy Chou directed and written feature All the People I’ll Never Be has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the hot project for international buyers for next week’s Cannes Market. Sony Pictures has preemptively acquired US rights to Miramax’s Here, a film adaptation of the celebrated Richard McGuire graphic novel that will reunite the Forrest Gump team: Academy Award-winners director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and star Tom Hanks, with Robin Wright also starring. It’s the quartet’s first time back together since the 1994 film classic, which won six Oscars including Best Picture.

After crossing the $200M domestic mark on Monday, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on Tuesday zoomed past $500M global. It is also nearing $300M at the international box office, certain to reach that milestone today.

Sony Pictures saw its fourth quarter profits reach $84 million (11 billion yen), up significantly from when the film division posted a loss of $2.7 million the same quarter a year prior. And the Japanese conglomerate’s film division completed its fiscal 2021 with $1.67 billion overall (217.4 billion yen) operating income, up 55% from the previous year.

Refresh for latest…: For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, Sony Pictures Entertainment saw a 172% increase in operating income to 217.4 billion yen ($1.67 billion). Revenues hit 1,239 billion yen ($9.5 billion), up 55% versus the previous year.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” in theaters now. When Benedict Wong was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016’s “Doctor Strange” as Wong, the titular superhero’s sidekick and fellow sorcerer, the British actor quickly became a fan favorite. Since, Wong has appeared in “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” the animated series “What If…?” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” But with sequel “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” Wong steps into the spotlight as more than just Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) right-hand man, but the Sorcerer Supreme.

EXCLUSIVE: Luis Gnecco (The Two Popes), Claudia Ramírez (Nice Sunday) and Juan Manuel Bernal (Perfect Obedience) will lead the upcoming thriller Confessions, from Sony Pictures International Productions, Alameda Films and Zamora Films, which has wrapped production in Mexico. Also amongst the cast is Ana Claudia Talancón (The Crime of Padre Amaro), who will make a special appearance.

EXCLUSIVE:  Jonathan Gist has joined Sony Pictures Entertainment as Executive Director of Global Intersectional Marketing, supporting all of the studio’s labels, including Columbia Pictures, 3000 Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Affirm Films and Sony Pictures Animation.