Dark Comedic Crime Thriller ‘Mandoob’ Picked Up by MPM Premium Ahead of Toronto Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Neo Sora’s concert documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” a standout at the Venice Film Festival, has sold for theatrical distribution in North America to Janus Films ahead of its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. The theatrical release will be followed by a Blu-ray Disc release on the “Janus Contemporaries” label. This is the latest deal inked by London and Paris-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation, following a slew of sales to Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Midas Filmes), Germany and Austria (Rapid Eye), Scandinavia (NjutaFilms), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), South Korea (Media Castle), China (JL Vision Films), Hong Kong and Macau (Edko Films), Taiwan (Cai Chang) and Singapore (Anticipate Pictures).

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Classics is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Daddio, the Christy Hall-directed two-hander starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. The film established itself as a bright spot in its premiere at Telluride and then at Toronto. SPC will get North America, Latin America and territories throughout Europe and Asia.

Naturally, when you see the names Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson in the cast list of a film, people are going to get excited.

EXCLUSIVE: Twilight actors Kellan Lutz and Cam Gigandet are reuniting on screen for the first time in action crime-thriller Desert Dawn.

Naman Ramachandran Toronto Film Festival gala presentation “Thank You for Coming” is that rarity – a Bollywood sex comedy that also serves as a patriarch-bashing women empowerment tale. Bhumi Pednekar stars as Kanika Kapoor, a Delhi food blogger and serial monogamist, who has spent her adult life seeking a satisfying love match, both emotionally and physically, but has never had an orgasm.

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has boarded MENA distribution of Palestinian drama The Teacher, which enjoyed a buzzy world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Japan rugby union team on Sunday thrashed tournament newcomers Chile 42-12 on the first weekend of the freshly kicked-off Rugby World Cup. But in 2015, Japan were the underdogs and yet pulled off a surprise result against rugby titans South Africa. In the first ever match between the two nations Japan won 34-32, due to an 80th minute try. “The Brighton Miracle,” a docu-drama capturing and re-constructing that shock match, has been picked up by Blue Sky Media.

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.

Carole Horst Minhal Baig’s “We Grown Now,” which bowed Sept. 8 at TIFF, follows Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), two 12-year-old boys living in Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing project. It’s 1992 and the boys have loving homes overzealous and racist police, crime and an unthinkable tragedy burst through their childhood bubble.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Memento Distribution has picked up French distribution rights to Gabor Reisz’s ‘Explanation for Everything’ following its world premiere in Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival. The deal was closed by Films Boutique.

EXCLUSIVE: We’re getting an exclusive first look at Paramount+’s Finestkind from Oscar winner Brian Helgeland, starring Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Foster and Toby Wallace, ahead of its premiere Friday at the Toronto Film Festival. The film is set for a November premiere exclusively on Paramount+.

PIXY have announced their upcoming 2023 ‘Last Night in the Dark City’ tour of Europe.Today (September 8), PIXY announced on social media that they will tour Europe later this year. Their new ‘Last Night in the Dark City’ Europe tour will feature 12 shows over late-November and early-December.The K-pop girl group’s forthcoming concerts will kick off on November 19 at La Sala in Madrid, Spain.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent London and Paris-based Film Constellation has taken international sales on Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky’s hotly anticipated Saudi-set travel movie “Hajjan,” ahead of its Toronto Film Festival world premiere. “Hajjan,” which will launch from Toronto’s Discovery section, is a followup to Shawky’s first feature “Yomeddine,” which had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety is debuting an exclusive clip from Farah Nabulsi’s thriller “The Teacher,” starring Imogen Poots (“The Father”) and Saleh Bakri (“The Band’s Visit,” “Wajib”). The film will have its world premiere on Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival in the Discovery section.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first trailer for Liam Neeson crime-thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners, which debuts tomorrow at the Venice Film Festival.

Comedian Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross star in holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane. In addition to Murphy and Ross, the film also stars Jillian Bell, Ken Marino, Nick Offerman, Robin Thede, Chris Redd, D.C. Young Fly, and Anjelah Johnson-Reyes.

Christopher Vourlias Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević’s Locarno prizewinner “Sweet Dreams,” a droll satire set on a sugar plantation in colonial-era Indonesia, has released its first trailer. Athens-based production and sales outfit Heretic has given Variety exclusive access ahead of the film’s North American premiere in the Centerpiece section of the Toronto Film Festival (see below).

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).

The question of whether or not technology has killed the classic crime thriller has popped in and out of the discourse as the years saw pocket watches morph into sci-fi-looking gadgets capable of getting one both dinner and a first-class ticket to Dubai in the space of a couple of minutes.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Aya Films has snatched all U.K. and Ireland rights to the Dominican Republic’s “Ramona” from Paris-based film company Alief SAS ahead of its BFI London Film Fest premiere. The docu-fiction hybrid, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Berlinale’s Generation 14Plus sidebar, will have its U.S.