EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ is staying in business with one of the men behind its latest sports docuseries The Dynasty: New England Patriots.
27.02.2024 - 20:49 / variety.com
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Comic book author Brian Michael Bendis has set a first-look deal with Amazon is already developing three TV series under the new pact based on his previous works: “Jinx,” “Murder Inc.” and “Pearl.” “Jinx” is a crime-ridden love story unfolding on a high stakes treasure hunt, per Amazon’s series description. Our players are: Jinx Alameda, a bounty hunter at the top of her game who’s tired of her grimy life; Goldfish, a charming con man and wanted felon who falls head over heels for Jinx; and Columbia, Goldfish’s loose-cannon partner, who has big criminal dreams.
Their paths join when they’re pulled into a search for missing mob money — a payout so big that it lures them away from the familiar streets of Cleveland, into a dangerous, unpredictable misadventure that will change the course of their lives. “Jinx” is executive produced by Bendis along with showrunners Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon (“Star Trek: Picard,” “Unbelievable”).
Set in an alternate world where five families never lost their stranglehold on the country, “Murder Inc.” follows Valentine Gallo, a newly “made man” whose first task for the mob ends with an explosion—sending him on the run from rival gangsters and the CIA, according to its logline. Dragged into the fray is Jagger Rose, a normally cool, young hit-woman who was tasked with supervising Valentine, and has wound up with a target on her back too.
Just when Valentine thinks his initiation into organized crime couldn’t be more of a disaster, he learns that his mother is conspiring with the FBI, and has promised them–since his birth–that he’ll be an informant. That was definitely not his plan.
EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ is staying in business with one of the men behind its latest sports docuseries The Dynasty: New England Patriots.
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first look at actor Ravi Patel (Wonder Woman 1984, Animal Patrol) suited up in Kiss Of The Con Queen, the true crime thriller inspired by the life of accused fraudster Hargobind Tahilramani dubbed the “con queen of Hollywood” after allegedly impersonating movie executives in an elaborate and high profile fraud scheme.
Rachel Weisz and Polly Stokes are taking their slate to Fremantle.
UPDATED, 10 AM: HBO has released the official trailer for Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show ahead of its debut later this month. Revolving around Carmichael’s personal life, the show is described as a darkly funny documentary series about Jerrod’s tumultuous quest for love, sex, and truth. New episodes of the eight-episode series will debut weekly beginning Friday, March 29 (11 PM). Check out the trailer above.
Expanding their canvas with their John Wick filmmaker even further, Lionsgate has signed a second production deal with Chad Stahelski that will see the filmmaker and his 87Eleven Entertainment label producing original action fare for the studio. It’s a multi-year first look.
An Enemy of the People, director Sam Gold’s Broadway revival of the Ibsen classic starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, is off to a great start, grossing more than $1M last week and playing to stand-room-only crowds.
Brent Lang Executive Editor Paramount Animation has entered an exclusive, multi-year first-look development deal with writer, director and producer Jeff Rowe. The pact extends the relationship between the studio and the filmmaker following the success of last summer’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which Rowe directed and co-wrote. The agreement covers Rowe’s development and directing services, as well as his producing and executive producing work, on both animated and live-action projects.
Ben Croll Originally developed as an eight-episode series, the WWI-era adventure “Lucy Lost” will instead hit the silver screen now that Paris-based powerhouse Xilam Animation has retooled the project as a feature. “Klaus” alum Olivier Clert has boarded as co-writer and director, joining BAFTA-winning screenwriter Helen Blankman for a seaside family tale adapted from “War Horse” author Michael Morpurgo’s 2014 novel “Listen to the Moon.” Xilam has shared this first-look with Variety ahead of the reformatted project’s pitch at Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux.
The largest ever scheme to restore an underwater “wonder plant” to Scotland’s seas has been launched with £2million of funding.
Charli XCX, Green Day and St. Vincent have been confirmed as among the presenters for tonight’s BRIT Awards. The ceremony is taking place at The O2 in London tonight (March 2), and the show will be presented by a trio of hosts – Maya Jama, Clara Amfo and Roman Kemp.
EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm D. Lee’s Blackmaled Productions, is helming a new drama series in development with Peacock titled, Drunk on Love. This latest venture is part of Lee’s first-look deal with Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and marks a step in amplifying the voices of creatives of color within the industry.
EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate Television is reducing the number of its development deals by more than half, sources tell Deadline. The move comes on the heels of Lionsgate’s acquisition of indie TV studio eOne from Harbro, which was completed at the end of December. It follows a two-month review of the combined talent roster of Lionsgate Television and eOne, which I hear included nearly 60 overall and first-look deals. More than 50% of them — across both eOne and Lionsgate TV — have now been cut. A rep for Lionsgate declined comment.
EXCLUSIVE: Blue Fox Entertainment announced on Monday that Hard Miles, its cycling drama starring Matthew Modine (Stranger Things), will hit theaters nationwide on April 19. They also unveiled a series of first look stills, which you can view above and below.
Viewers tuning in for Ireland’s popular The Late Late Show on Friday night saw the country’s rap trio Kneecap performing and sitting down in conversation, wearing pro-Palestine badges and clothing.
SPOILER ALERT! This story contains plot points from Monday’s episode of NCIS.
Marta Balaga Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu and his Bucharest-based company Mobra Films will join forces with Poland’s Kijora Films on “Tales of the Golden Age – The Warsaw Pact,” a follow up to his 2009 sketch comedy referencing urban legends from the Ceausescu regime. Expanding to accommodate stories from different ex-communist Eastern European countries, including Poland, it will be written by Mungiu and directed by Ioana Uricaru.
As the Berlinale gets underway, so does the annual European Film Market and its sales, with several buzzy titles at this year’s trade fair. Among them? Paul Schrader‘s next pic, “Oh, Canada!,” the director’s long-gestating adaptation of Russell Banks‘ 2021 novel “Foregone.” But “Oh, Canada!” had buzz going back to early 2023, when it became clear the film would reunite Schrader and “American Gigolo” star Richard Gere for the first time in over forty years.
Emiliano De Pablos Pink Parrot Media, the Montreal and Madrid-based international sales house, has revealed a flurry of deals for the German-Canadian CG animated fantasy feature “Elli and Her Monster Team!,” which is making its market premiere at the EFM. Underlining the appetite for toon family features by European distributors, the film has been sold to Just Entertainment in Benelux, Bim Distribuzione in Italy, NOS Lusomundo in Portugal, Flins&Piniculas in Spain and GPI for Baltics. “Elli” has also been acquired by Pro Films in Bulgaria, Rocket Releasing for CIS, Forum (Czech Republic/Slovak), MCF Megacom Film (Former Yugoslavia), Cinetel (Hungary), Forum for Poland, Romania and Israel, and Front Row in the Middle East.
Pamela Anderson Backs EarthDay365 Channel
EXCLUSIVE: On Thursday, the Berlin Film Festival will kick off with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, who also produces, and marking the first time an Irish movie opens the Berlinale. In the exclusive first-look at the 1985-set drama (check it out above), Murphy’s family man Bill Furlong comes face-to-face with Emily Watson’s formidable Sister Mary whose convent is concealing dark and disturbing secrets.