Disney Needs ‘Course Correction’ Away From Political Messaging, Says ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Aladdin’ Director

Marta Balaga Spanish Animation is ready for more international collaborations in the near future, but there is one stipulation: “Passion is mandatory,” said Hampa Studio’s Álvaro García González. Behind “The Treasure of Barracuda,” the company is currently eyeing Latin America. “Anybody who makes animation needs passion.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prince Albert II of Monaco opened the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival Friday, accompanied by a panoply of stars led by Morgan Freeman, “SEAL Team’s” David Boreanaz and “Bridgerton’s” Simone Ashley. The opening ceremony took place under stormy skies at the Grimaldi Forum, where the world premiere of limited series “The Gray House” opened the event.

Annika Pham Under the auspices of Comunidad de Madrid and the prestigious ECAM film school, the four day ECAM Forum co-production market got off to a flying start with its inaugural session, closing June 13 with an awards ceremony at Madrid’s historical Matadero cultural space. One of eight features in work in progress, the creative documentary “Gods of Stone” (“Deuses de Pedra”) by the Spanish Iván Castiñeiras Gallego scooped the new Comunidad de Madrid award and its €15,000 ($16,000) cash prize earmarked towards its post-production.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language film debut “The Room Next Door” for key international territories, including the U.K., Spain, Italy, Germany and Latin America. Starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and John Turturro, “The Room Next Door” will also be released by Warner Bros.

Take a first peek at Sandokan, a new international adaptation of Emilio Salgari’s historic saga about the adventures of a titular pirate who, with his motley crew, fights against colonial powers in Southeast Asia. Scroll down for more.

Annika Pham Toronto-based Syndicado Film Sales has picked up international rights to “Petroleo,” the fiction debut of doc Spanish filmmaker Álvaro F. Pulpeiro, lauded worldwide for his sensory and lyrical filmmaking, most recently displayed in the CPH:DOX-selected “So Foul a Sky.” The Galician-born filmmaker said the project was significantly influenced by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s unfinished book “Petrolio,” will draw inspiration “from Michelangelo Antonioni’s “The Passenger” (1975), the visual intensity of “Apocalypse Now” (1979) and the digital noir of “Miami Vice” (2006).” “Petroleo” will compete for the €30,000 ($32,700) Filmin Award for best title in the Film to Come section at the inaugural ECAM Forum co-production market, unspooling June 10-15 in Madrid.

Annika Pham Programmers from Sundance, Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, Toronto, and Rotterdam, sales agents such as Goodfellas and Coproduction Office and U.S. distributor Magnify Pictures are among 50 top international guests expected at the inaugural ECAM Forum co-production market in Madrid, which is due to unspool June 10-14.

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. 

Annika Pham Leading Barcelona-based production outfit Oberon Media (“Wild Flowers, “Holy Mother”) has confirmed co-financiers on “The Turtles” (“Los Tortuga”), the anticipated sophomore feature by the multi-prized Spanish filmmaker Belén Funes (“A Thief’s Daughter”). Besides sales agent Film Factory Entertainment and Spanish distributor A Contracorriente Films who came on board at an early stage, the round of co-financiers includespublic broadcasters RTVE for Spain, TVC (Televisió de Catalunya) for Catalonia and Andalusia’s Canal Sur, as well as Spanish pay TV/SVOD operator Movistar Plus+.

Spanish outlet El País while at the Animayo International Summit in Gran Canaria last week.The director, who also helmed 2009’s “The Princess and The Frog” alongside co-director Ron Clements, got onto the subject of wokeness at Disney by bringing up criticism that the film about a Black princess was woke. “We weren’t trying to be woke, although I understand the criticism,” Musker said, following with commentary that the more recent films seem to be opting for message over story.“The classic Disney films didn’t start out trying to have a message.

Brits jetting off this half term are being warned to stick to strict rules on liquids and laptops in their hand luggage. Travel Association ABTA has urged UK holidaymakers to follow the guidance to help “avoid any potential delays and confusion”.

Maryam Touzani, whose latest movie “The Blue Caftan” won a flurry of awards and was shortlisted in the Oscar’s international feature race, is set to make her Spanish-language debut with “Calle Malaga.” Jean-Christophe Simon‘s Films Boutique will handle International sales on the project. “Calle Malaga” reteams Touzani and Films Boutique for the third time, having previously collaborated on arthouse hits “Adam” and “The Blue Caftan.” A character-driven film written by Touzani, “Calle Malaga” revolves around Maria Angeles, a 74-year old woman who belongs to the Spanish community of Tangier and enjoys the quietness of her life in the colorful Moroccan costal town.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In 2009, nine production companies were operating in the Canary Islands using ZEC preferential tax rates for being established here. Flash forward 15 years, there are now 31 companies doing live action.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Boosted by world-class incentives, Spain’s Canary Islands has attracted the shoots of some of the higher-profile movies on earth from “In the Heart of the Sea” to “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Eternals.” Now, however, a homegrown Canary Islands cinema is bursting onto the scene, a Canary Island New Wave cinema lifting off, hitting festivals and making ever more insistent production news. If a date can be attributed to the event, it may be March’s Malaga Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: One of the market’s biggest-budget projects, the Will Smith action-crime thriller Sugar Bandits, has sealed multi-million dollar deals across the world for AGC ahead of a planned September start date.

Another Manchester footballing legend has emerged. They have the feistiness of City's Mike Doyle in his battling heyday and a unique sartorial style to match the once boutique-owning George Best and Mike Summerbee, or the iconic David Beckham and Eric Cantona.

Imax has committed screens around the world to show Francis Ford Coppola‘s magnum opus “Megalopolis,” the company’s CEO Richard Gelfond confirmed at a Cannes Film Festival event on Thursday. The film’s trailer, which debuted on Tuesday, said that “Megalopolis” would be coming to Imax theaters this year — but it was not specified that the release would be global. The run-up to the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed epic at Cannes on Friday has been filled with anticipation and controversy, partly because “Megalopolis” has yet to secure a U.S.

Jamie Lang International sales and distribution outfit Pink Parrot Media has closed several key deals for Doce Entertainment and Mr. Miyagi Films’ animated kids and family feature “Hanna and the Monsters.” Agreements have been made with World Visions for CIS, Boxoo for South Korea, Front Row for the Middle East, GPI for the Baltics, Cinetel for Hungary, Wediacorp for Turkey and Movie Company for Benelux.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Principal photography has begun on “The Captive,” a historical epic from “The Others’” Alejandro Amenábar, starring Julio Peña (“Berlin”) as “Don Quixote” author Miguel de Cervantes, a prisoner of Ottoman corsairs, seen in a very first still from the film, alongside Alessandro Borghi (“Suburra”), playing his captor, which has been shared in exclusivity with Variety. Paris and London-based production, finance and sales house Film Constellation handles worldwide sales.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Spanish writer and director Claudia Costafreda is on a roll. “Cardo” and “Veneno” have both been selected as Variety’s best international TV shows in their respective years and went on to find great success domestically and internationally, the latter landing distribution deals with major streamers such as HBO Max.