Chris Jericho’s Wrestling Action Horror Film ‘Dark Match’ Sales to Be Launched at Cannes Market by Blue Finch (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Political drama-thriller Words Of War, led by an ensemble including Maxine Peake, Ciarán Hinds, and Jason Isaacs, is heading to this month’s Cannes Market. 

Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) are set to lead thriller Head Games, to be directed by Anthony Mandler (Monster) from a script written by Colin Liddle (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels).

Naman Ramachandran Raven Banner Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market for Steven Kostanski‘s latest feature “Frankie Freako.” Kostanski’s previous feature “Psycho Goreman” premiered at SXSW in 2020 and gathered a cult following worldwide. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as “‘The Toxic Avenger’ remade by the Robert Rodriguez of ‘Spy Kids.'” “Frankie Freako” is described by Raven Banner as Kostanki’s homage to the practical-FX-driven monster horror-comedies of the 1980s like “Gremlins 2” and “Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College.” It tells the story of workaholic yuppie Conor Sweeney (“The Editor,” “Father’s Day”) whose perfect life is turned upside down when he accidentally unleashes a trio of tiny trouble-makers into his home, led by the maniacal rock-n-roll party monster Frankie Freako.

EXCLUSIVE: Director Haifaa Al Mansour is returning to her native Saudi Arabia for the shoot of crime feature Unidentified, exploring the reality of women amid the current period of immense social change in the country.

EXCLUSIVE: The English-language adaptation of Momo, one of the best-loved fantasy books by The Neverending Story writer Michael Ende, has set a buzzy cast, with Alexa Goodall (A Gentleman In Moscow) taking the lead role of the young orphan girl Momo. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China- and Netherlands-based sales firm Fortissimo Films has picked up the international rights to new Chinese sports feature film “Wild Punch.” It will launch the film in territories outside mainland China next week at the Cannes Market. Co-directed by well-established director Yu Lik-wai and Wang Jing (“The Best Is Yet to Come”), “Wild Punch is a sports and action drama about a top mixed martial arts athlete who has passed the peak of his career and faces competition from his young and gifted trainee. Both with something to prove, the two will have to face each other in the ring. Yu has directed four feature films, including Cannes competition title “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Venice title “Plastic City.” He is also well-established as a cinematographer who has worked on films including “Still Life,” “A Touch of Sin,” and “Mountains May Depart” by Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye’s “Love and Bruises” and Ann Hui’s “A Simple Life.” “Wild Punch” is produced by Momo Pictures, the subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Zhiwen Group, which is best-known for its Momo instant messaging mobile application.

2021 Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau returns to the Cannes Film Festival this year, but not in competition. Instead, Variety reports that she’ll be on the Croisette shopping her next project, entitled “Alpha,” with FilmNation and Charades handling its sales.

EXCLUSIVE:Here’s a buzzy one. Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables) and Emmy winner Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) are attached to star in new movie The Death Of Robin Hood, we can reveal.

Enid Blyton adaptation The Magic Faraway Tree has found key cast in the shape of two-time Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider Man) and two-time Emmy winner Claire Foy (All of Us Strangers).

Princ Films boards ‘Isabel’s Garden’ For Cannes Marche Du Film 

Louis Leterrier (Fast X) will direct and produce 11817, a sci-fi horror film scripted by Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying) that is being presented to buyers at Cannes by Rocket Science.

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) and Nick Jonas (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle) are set to star in musical comedy Power Ballad from Once and Sing Street director John Carney, we can reveal.

Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac are set to star in thriller Flesh of the Gods from director Panos Cosmatos (Mandy).

Simon Curtis’ upcoming comedy Encore, about a group of veteran actors whose passion for their profession is reignited through a retirement home production, has gathered a quartet of Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy winning stars for the ensemble cast.

EXCLUSIVE: Linda Hamilton (The Terminator) and Abbie Cornish (Three Billboards) have come aboard to star opposite Kal Penn in Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, a new film from writer-director Thane Economou (The Wedding Party) that will launch sales at the Cannes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: VMI Worldwide has acquired worldwide sales rights on Breed of Greed starring Gina Gershon (Showgirls). 

EXCLUSIVE: Film finance and sales company Concourse Media has acquired international rights to the psychological period thriller Long Shadows and will launch sales at the upcoming Cannes market.

EXCLUSIVE: Cameras have started rolling in Sofia, Bulgaria, on the survival-thriller Savage Hunt from Dutch filmmaker Roel Reiné (Halo). 

Naman Ramachandran “Joyguru,” a fictionalized account of the life of Indian mystic artist and music icon Parvathy Baul, will launch sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Parvathy Baul is a leading exponent of the syncretic Baul minstrel music tradition that is hugely popular and culturally influential across eastern India and Bangladesh. Written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Soumyajit Majumdar (“#Homecoming”), the film will follow folk music icon Radhika Das Baul and popular Bollywood film music director Ritwik during their unlikely collaboration for a pioneering music album of Baul songs transcreated in Hindi, where they form a unique bond, a few days before her sudden and mysterious disappearance from her ashram near Shantiniketan, India.

EXCLUSIVE: Noomi Rapace is set to star in psychological thriller Reckoner, written and directed by Nissar Modi (writer of feature Z For Zachariah) who will be making his movie directorial debut.