‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’: Disney Confirms French Theatrical Release Despite “Anti-Consumer” Windows

The clocks have gone back in the UK, meaning longer, darker nights and the sense summer is long gone. Happily, there’s plenty of news to keep us occupied. Jesse Whittock here taking you through the first Insider of the month. Let’s go.

France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak told a film industry gathering on Thursday that new windowing rules, which came into force in February, were already retrograde in the fast-changing film, TV and streaming landscape, and need to be updated rapidly.

France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak appeared to suggest in a radio interview on Monday that a further softening of the country’s strict media chronology rules could be on the cards for the global platforms.

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/New Line DC’s Black Adam in its second offshore frame saw a strong hold, down just 45%. It added $39M from 76 offshore markets to take the running international box office total to $139M for a global cume through Sunday of $250M.

EXCLUSIVE: France tv distribution has unveiled a first round of deals for best-selling French writer Gilles Legardinier’s feature directorial debut Mr. Blake At Your Service!, reuniting John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant on the big screen.

EXCLUSIVE: Indian Two Time Grammy Award composer and environmentalist Ricky Kej has signed to compose the original music for American-Bangladeshi writer-director Asif Akbar’s spy action-thriller MR-9 featuring Frank Grillo as a villain.

A little girl brought Strictly judge Shirley Ballas to tears at the Pride of Britain Awards.

Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s Black Adam began rolling out at the international box office on Wednesday, and through Thursday has rocked to $13.8M from 57 markets. Today adds the UK and Spain as overseas release continues.

Photographer: Sheryl Nields; Editor: Serena French; Stylist: Anahita Moussavian; Fashion Assistants: Madeleine Shepherd, Gillian Hormel; Photo Editor: Jessica Hober; Hair: Christian Marc at Forward Artists; Makeup: Sarah Yuslan at The Visionaries Production: 3Star Productions

European Film Academy will honor Italian director March Bellocchio for his mini-series Exterior Night at its 35th European Film Awards ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.

Naman Ramachandran Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio will be presented with the European Film Academy’s Award for European Innovative Storytelling for his miniseries “Exterior Night.” The director will be guest of honor at the 35th European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 10 at Reykjavik. In “Exterior Night,” Bellocchio returns to the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978, a subject that he tackled in his feature film “Good Morning, Night,” for which he received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2003 European Film Awards. The academy has also revealed nominations in several categories for the awards.

It looks like Cara Delevingne is doing well — and back to being a total smokeshow!

Angelique Jackson Prepare for more Black lady hilarity as Robin Thede’s Emmy-winning HBO comedy series “A Black Lady Sketch Show” has started production on its fourth season. Created by and starring Thede, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” was renewed in June following a strong third season that netted two Emmys — one for outstanding picture editing for variety programming (a trophy the series has won in back-to-back years, with editors Stephanie Filo, Bradinn French, Taylor Joy Mason and S. Robyn Wilson honored for Season 3) and outstanding directing for a variety series (Bridget Stokes). The first three seasons of the sketch series have garnered 13 Emmy nominations and three wins.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Disney has confirmed that it will release “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in theaters in France on Nov. 9 in spite of the country’s strict windowing regulations. The company previously decided to forgo the theatrical roll out of “Strange World” in France on Nov. 23 in favor of a launch on Disney+. The bold move was seen as an attempt to put pressure on upcoming negotiations to amend the windowing rules which are expected to kick off in January. Under the current guidelines, which were established by the French government just nine months ago, Disney’s pay-VOD window is set at four months, and subscription-based streaming window at 17 months after films debut in theaters. The only way to bypass those French rules entirely is to forgo a release in cinemas.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Six-time Primetime Emmy award-winner Frank Doelger, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome,” and Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Beta Film and ZDF Studios, have started production on surveillance drama thriller “Concordia,” set in an experimental utopian community. ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions and Hulu Japan have signed up as partners for the six-part series, shot in English and directed by Barbara Eder (“The Swarm,” “Barbarians,” “Cop Stories”). Doelger helms as executive producer and showrunner, alongside the executive producers Ute Leonhardt, Rafferty Thwaites, Jan Wünschmann and Robert Franke. Shooting takes place at various locations in Rome, Northern Italy, and Leipzig in Germany.

Frank Doelger is helming a surveillance drama set that counts broadcasters ZDF, MBC and France Télévisions and streamer Hulu Japan as partners.

Lise Pedersen At a time when heritage cinema is booming – thanks to outstanding progress in conservation standards and a growth in demand – Lyon’s Lumière heritage film festival Lumière is playing a leading role in uncovering long-forgotten cinematic gems.  “Dans la Nuit” (“In the Night”), widely considered one of the last, if not the last major French silent film, is one of them. It is the only film shot by French actor Charles Vanel, perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s acclaimed “The Wages of Fear,” which won both the Golden Bear and the Palme d’Or in 1953. Vanel also stars in the film, alongside Russian-French actress Sandra Milovanoff, who became a silent film era casualty as her Slavic accent was considered unsuitable for talkies. 

EXCLUSIVE: Buffalo 8 has set a November 4 release date on Prime Video for James Hemings: Ghost In America’s Kitchen. The historical documentary follows the profound life of James Hemings, the first American to train as a chef in France, who at 8 years old was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson.