‘Barbenheimhofer’ Drives German Box Office Bonanza as Comedy-Crime Movie ‘Rehragout Rendezvous’ Enters the Fray

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dust to Dust,” a low-key crime thriller, topped the mainland Chinese box office over the weekend, despite only being released on Saturday. The film, directed by Jonathan Li, recounts how 21 years after a major armed robbery, a video of the crime resurfaces and causes the police to reopen their investigation. It had its world premiere in June, in competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival. With Da Peng, a former talk show host, required to age significantly for the lead role, the film earned $22.2 million (RMB160 million) in just two days, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Oppenheimer story is set to debut in London this month.Operation Epsilon, written by playwright Alan Brody and directed by Andy Sandberg, is based on the true story of 10 German nuclear scientists who were captured by British and American authorities near the end of the Second World War.Based on transcripts of secretly recorded conversations from their captivity, it’s believed the scientists were working on nuclear weapons for Germany and were unaware of the progress made by American scientists, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Manhattan Project.Speaking to Herald Tribune about the play, Sandberg said: “This is the other side of the Oppenheimer story, what was going on in Germany.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Film Constellation has sealed a first raft of pre-sales in key territories on French female-led revenge feature “Animale,” directed by Emma Benestan (“Fragile”) and starring César winner Oulaya Amamra (“Divines”). The pre-sales include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom) and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon). Wild Bunch Distribution will release “Animale” in French theaters next year.

Gregg Goldstein Domestic distributor Bleecker Street is in negotiations to acquire rights to “Fackham Hall,” a British spoof of “Downton Abbey” and other costume dramas. Sales outfit The Veterans is pre-selling international territories. And as international buyers face a potential drought of Hollywood product due to strikes, the market is offering other promising presale titles.

Lea Michele treated the final-night audience of Broadway’s Funny Girl to an extra song Sunday, performing “My Man,” popularized by Fanny Brice in 1921 but not included in the musical’s original score.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The international trailer for “A Whole Life,” which will have its world premiere in the Gala section of the Zürich Film Festival (Sept. 28 to Oct. 8), has debuted with Variety (below).

Though Labor Day is upon us domestically — and its somewhat equivalents in many overseas markets to mark the end of summer — the hits keep coming as holds this session were strong on the season’s leaders while a new entry surprised. To wit, and starting with the latter: Sony/Escape Artists’ The Equalizer 3 blazed to a $60.6M global start this weekend, to clock the franchise’s best opening ever. Of that, the $26.1M debut in 49 international box office markets was also a new record bow for the Denzel Washington-led series.

Variety said the receipts were boosted by showtimes in premium large format auditoriums, and the flick is on track for the second-highest Labor Day weekend opening in historyThe Post praised the movie stating that unlike the first two “dark” and “pathologically unpleasant” films, the third “lives up to the ever-deepening talent of its leading man.”The summer’s biggest blockbuster, “Barbie,” continued to pull in audience, netting $2.5 million Friday.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Stella. A Life.,” which stars Berlinale best actress award-winner Paula Beer, has been sold to France, Scandinavia and Australia. The film will have a market screening at Toronto Film Festival, and will have its world premiere with a Gala Screening at the Zurich Film Festival.

Good Night, Oscar, the Oscar Levant bio-play starring Sean Hayes, and El Mago Pop, the Broadway debut of Spanish illusionist Antonio Díaz, ended their limited Broadway engagements on upswings last week, with the former selling out for its best week take of $1,147,057 and the magician conjuring a big $2,717,000 to break the house record at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with an unusually busy 13-performance week.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After braving a massive backlash over her fiery political speech at the Cannes Film Festival, French director Justine Triet has succeeded in luring wide audiences in local theaters with her Palme d’Or winning film “Anatomy of a Fall.” A courtroom drama exploring the collapse of a marriage and a mother-son relationship, “Anatomy of a Fall” has scored the best B.O. score at the French box office for a Palme d’Or winner since “Blue is the Warmest Color,” the 2013 erotic drama starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian. Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The flick, which CNN said “moves, ironically, too slow to deliver as a big-screen attraction,” tells the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player who became a professional race car driver. “Barbie,” which is now officially the highest-grossing movie of the year in North America, remained in second place, with $4 million in sales.She beat out “Blue Beetle,” which earned $2.6 million and landed in third place.The DC Comics film, which was in the No.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor First Hand Films has taken international sales rights to German director Julia Fuhr Mann’s documentary “Life Is Not a Competition But I Am Winning?,” which will premiere in Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. Variety is debuting its trailer exclusively.

Not only can “Barbie” be anything, she can do anything too, so it seems.

Ilker Çatak’s drama The Teachers’ Lounge will represent Germany in the Best International Film Category at the 2024 Oscars.

Michaela Zee Craig Schulz, the son of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz, is hopeful a new movie based on the comic strip will happen.

Blue Beetle has made its box office debut!

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Post called the superhero movie — which stars Xolo Maridueña of “Cobra Kai” fame — “refreshingly spry.”The Ángel Manuel Soto-directed film is on track to rake in $25 to $27 million in North America this weekend alone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.It has already made history by being the first live-action superhero film centered around a Latino protagonist.It managed to beat out “Barbie,” who reigned at the box office for the four Fridays since its opening on July 21. It landed in second place with $6.2 million in sales.The fantasy comedy will be available to stream at home on Sept.

Editor’s note: Dade Hayes and Jonathan Bing are co-authors of Open Wide: How Hollywood Box-Office Became a National Obsession. Hayes is Deadline’s Business Editor and Bing is Chief Communications Officer at Vice Media Group.