Distribution, Licensing Giant Telepool, Owned by Will Smith’s Westbrook, Moves Into Lead Producing Movies, Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Twenty emerging producers from across Europe have been selected to take part in European Film Promotion’s promotion and networking platform Producers on the Move before and during the Cannes Film Festival. The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by EFP’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped” (Rapito), which has its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film starts in 1858 in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, when the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Picture Tree Intl. has come on board to handle the international sales of black comedy “Shooting Blanks,” written and directed by Žiga Virc (“Houston, We Have a Problem!”). The Slovenian film looks at what happens when a family goes to war with itself. The film is in post-production. PTI will present a first private market screening at the Marché du Film in Cannes. Vida’s father France worships his father, a hero of the partisan resistance. When a German supermarket chain decides to build a new store in his hometown, demolishing a statue of his father in the process, France declares war on this new “enemy.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Munich-based sales agency Global Screen has acquired romantic drama “Falling Into Place” for worldwide theatrical distribution. The English-language film is written and directed by Aylin Tezel, one of Germany’s leading young actors, and stars Tezel (“7500”) and Chris Fulton (“Bridgerton”). The directorial debut is set in Scotland on the Isle of Skye and in London. It is an honest and poetic portrait of today’s 30-somethings caught between the fear of commitment and the desire for self-improvement. Like all great love stories, it is not just about the love between two individuals, but also about the dreams and anxieties of a whole generation.

The Daily Show has had a busy six months after host Trevor Noah surprised everyone by announcing he was stepping down after seven years.

For those who haven’t heard the news, it was announced this week that Facebook Watch would be ending its original series programming — meaning the popular talk show Red Table Talk would be de facto canceled (and in need of a new home). The news no doubt came as a disappointment to the legions of viewers who enjoyed watching Jada Pinkett-Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris take on very candid conversations about the hottest of topics. However, there’s one person who is glad Red Table Talk is gone (for now at least) – and that person is Nick Cannon.

Meta will no longer pull up a seat at the red table. Jada Pinkett Smith and her daughter Willow Smith’s Red Table Talk has been canceled.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Shiv’s the boss! On “Succession,” Sarah Snook plays the youngest Roy daughter Siobhan “Shiv” Roy, who isn’t sitting idly by while her newly minted co-CEO brothers run the media empire Waystar Royco — and neither is Snook with her Emmy chances. Variety has learned exclusively that Snook will be submitted into the lead drama actress category for this year’s Primetime Emmys, changing from her supporting bids for the three previous seasons. “Succession” is exhibiting its finest writing, directing and acting of the show’s short history. With each new weekly episode, Snook has shined dramatically, becoming the season’s clear standout of the large, sprawling ensemble. This campaign shift could now firmly cement her as the presumptive front-runner for the most coveted television prize for acting.

The Bad Boys are back.

Spider-Man: No Way Home” to tout from his studio’s 2022 box office record. But that didn’t stop him from cheering on theater owners from the Caesars Palace stage and mocking those who predicted their demise.“For the past three years, as the punditocracy pissed on your business, we at Sony held fast,” Rothman boasted.

While no footage was offered, Sony did take time in the CinemaCon presentation to tease the next installment in the “Bad Boys” franchise. Sony’s opening presentation featured Will Smith and Martin Lawrence stumbling through an intro with confusion about whether they were happy or unhappy not to be at CinemaCon. The film is four weeks into shooting, and the brief joke pre-taped bit concluded with the stars introducing Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Josh Greenstein who came to the stage and bragged about 23 theatrical releases for the coming year, emphasizing a wide variety of movies beyond just conventional blockbusters.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Will Smith and Martin Lawrence kicked off CinemaCon by talking up their return to “Bad Boys” business. “We’re hype, we’re excited,” Smith told the crowd of movie theater owners. He apologized for not being able to be in Las Vegas for the annual convention of the exhibition industry…well, kinda. “We’re not sorry we couldn’t be there,” Lawrence admonished him, noting they were four weeks into film the fourth film in the franchise. “We glad we not there because we here and they’re paying us to be here,” Smith said.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Roman Roy is now co-CEO of Waystar RoyCo on HBO’s “Succession,” so it’s only natural that actor Kieran Culkin followed suit with his Emmy campaign. Culkin, who plays the sarcastic and jokey Roman on HBO’s hit drama series, confirms to Variety exclusively he will be submitted for the lead drama actor category at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. This marks a category switch for the actor, who previously submitted in the supporting categories for the three previous seasons. Roman has come to the forefront during this fourth and final season of the show, leading the way on the Waystar-GoJo deal with his siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Shiv (Sarah Snook).

EXCLUSIVE: Keshet Studios, the U.S. division of the Israeli media company behind scripted series including NBC’s La Brea, is moving into unscripted.

EXCLUSIVE: Welcome to Earth with Will Smith producer Nutopia is pushing further into the returning formats game with the hire of a new Creative Director in the UK.

Will Smith has shared footage from his emotional experience from watching his daughter WILLOW’s set at Coachella.Having spent recent years becoming popular in the rock sphere off the back of her 2021 Travis Barker-assisted pop-punk album ‘lately i feel EVERYTHING’ and her 2022 boundary-pushing fifth album ‘COPINGMECHANISM‘, the 22-year-old WILLOW took to the desert to make her Coachella debut where her father, the actor and rapper Will Smith was in the audience.Posting to his Instagram feed, he showed off his pride in her performance with two posts.A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)He captioned one “WILLOWCHELLA!” and, in another post, he confessed he “can’t stop crying!”A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)All of WILLOW’s family have embarked on musical careers: the Oscar-winning actor Smith was a Grammy award-winning rapper prior to his breakthrough role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, mother Jada Pinkett Smith was once in nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom, and her brother Jaden Smith has followed suit has released acclaimed albums such as 2017’s ‘Syre’ and 2020’s ‘CTV3: Cool Tape Vol.3’.Coachella also saw Jaden accompanied WILLOW on stage to perform the siblings’ collaboration, ‘Summertime In Paris’.Got to witness a really special moment at Coachella — Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, and a proud father.

Will Smith was in proud dad mode on Sunday as he took in daughter Willow Smith‘s Coachella set.

Will Smith was in proud dad mode on Sunday as he took in daughter Willow Smith's Coachella set. The 54-year-old actor shared a video to his Instagram page from the heart of the audience while Willow, 22, performed on stage at the Mojave tent. Will was grinning from ear-to-ear in the clip, which he titled «WILLOWCHELLA!!» At one point during her show, Willow invited her 24-year-old brother, Jaden Smith up to perform their collaboration, «Summertime in Paris.»Willow released her latest album,, in October.A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)The Smith family are hardly strangers to the Coachella world.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Picture Tree Intl. has picked up international sales duties on “Manta Manta: Legacy,” directed by and starring Til Schweiger. The action comedy is a sequel to the first “Manta, Manta” feature film from 1991, with a market premiere for both movies planned at the Cannes Film Market. Released by Constantin Film Verleih on March 30, “Manta Manta: Legacy” has reached over 800,000 admissions and was the number one movie in Germany in its opening week. Produced by Bernd Eichinger, Peter Zenk and Martin Moszkowicz, and directed by Wolfgang Büld, the first movie launched the acting career of Schweiger in a newly reunified Germany. Generating more than 1.2 million theatrical admissions, the film went on to be the most successful film on German commercial television.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back.