‘DreamQuil’: Elizabeth Banks & John C. Reilly To Star In A.I. Thriller, HanWay Film Shopping It At Cannes Market

EXCLUSIVE: Avatar Entertainment is in Cannes launching The House on Tifton Lake, a Mexican horror starring Vadhir Derbez (Sense8, The Seventh Day).

EXCLUSIVE: V Channels And Blairwood Entertainment have formed a partnership to present a slate of genres films collected under the title ‘V Channels Originals’ for world sales at the Cannes market, which ends this week.

Christopher Vourlias A record number of African films are premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — including two titles in the main competition and four more in Un Certain Regard — promising a robust turnout on the Croisette from a continent that doesn’t often find itself being feted on world cinema’s grandest stage. Perhaps a more noticeable shift, however, has been taking place in and around the Palais des Festivals, where participants at the Cannes Market are opening their arms — and their checkbooks — to an industry just beginning to realize its potential. Witness the delegation of international film financiers, including Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth and Convergent Media Capital’s Michael Cleaver, gathered on a recent, rainy morning to talk shop at a full house at the Pavillon Afriques. Or check the scene at the Palais des Festivals nearby, where three representatives of the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) assembled at the Africa Pavilion (no relation) to discuss the bank’s billion-dollar fund for the cultural sector.

EXCLUSIVE: New indie film financier Mizzel Media is launching in Cannes with what we understand to be a healthy six-figure investment in feature The Girl From Köln, the next film from Holy Spider and The Tale outfit One Two Films.

EXCLUSIVE: Shia LaBeouf has joined action thriller Mace, directed by Jon Amiel from a script by David Chisholm. Trevor Jackson (Grown-ish, Superfly) will co-star. Myriad Pictures is shopping the project to buyers here in Cannes this week. 

EXCLUSIVE: Mind the Gap Productions is in Cannes launching sales on The Effects of Lying, a comedy-drama starring the likes of Ace Bhatti (Bohemian Rhapsody, Line of Duty), Laila Rouass (Spooks) and Mark Williams (Harry Potter franchise).

EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Alba (Sin City), Russell Harvard (Fargo), and Daniel Durant (CODA) are attached to star in sports feature film Flash Before the Bang, inspired by the true story of an all-deaf high school track and field team in 1980’s Oregon.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a fun cast: Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus), Emmy winner Brian Cox (Succession) — both of whom are having career moments — Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), and BET Awards winner Gabrielle Union (The Inspection) have been set to star in crime comedy Riff Raff.

Apple Original Films on Tuesday unveiled the theatrical and streaming release dates, as well as first-look photos for its true-life dramedy The Beanie Bubble, starring Zach Galifianakis (Baskets), Elizabeth Banks (Call Jane), Sarah Snook (Succession) and Geraldine Viswanathan (Cat Person). The film marking the feature directorial debut of Emmy nominee Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash, Jr. will premiere in select theaters on July 21st before bowing globally on Apple TV+ on July 28th.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is launching sales in Cannes on thriller Boneyard, the true crime thriller starring Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Oscar winner Mel Gibson.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first look at Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) and Vincent Cassel (La Haine) in action-thriller Damaged, which wrapped this spring in Scotland.

EXCLUSIVE: Dark star Louis Hofmann, one of Germany’s most in-demand young actors, is joining Bella Ramsey (The Last Of Us), Dominic West (The Crown), Ruth Negga (Loving), Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter) in period drama Monstrous Beauty, which HanWay is selling at the Cannes market ahead of a planned September shoot.

EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Izzard, Antonia Thomas, and John Hannah have joined Emile Hirsch in the psychological thriller Past Life from director and Grimmfest head Simeon Halligan.

EXCLUSIVE: Cocaine Bear filmmaker Elizabeth Banks has urged industry professionals to “hold the line” and support striking writers, particularly around issues such as the use of AI as her thriller Dreamquil, which explores the dangers of artificial intelligence, launches at the Canes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Gillian Anderson and Jason Issacs will star in the film adaptation of Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir The Salt Path. Marianne Elliott, the Tony Award and Olivier Award winning theater artist, is to make her screen directing debut on the project which will be a nice one in the Cannes market for Rocket Science. Black Bear has already snapped up UK rights.

EXCLUSIVE: New Europe Film Sales has unveiled fresh deals for Danish director Ulaa Salim’s sci-fi drama Eternal.

Oscar winner Al Pacino (The Godfather), Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), Oscar nominee John Travolta (Pulp Fiction), BAFTA winner Shia LaBeouf (Honey Boy), NBR Award winner Rebecca Pidgeon (Heist) and Golden Globe nominated singer and actress Courtney Love (The People vs. Larry Flynt) are set to star in the thriller Assassination, we can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE: Palisades Park Pictures (PPP) will be representing global sales for action-thriller Duchess from director Neil Marshall (Hellboy).

Naman Ramachandran Juno-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian pop singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes’ original song “Something Big” will feature on the soundtrack of upcoming 3D animated family feature, “Butterfly Tale.” Montreal and Madrid-based international sales and distribution company Pink Parrot Media will represent the film at the upcoming Cannes film market. “Butterfly Tale” is set along the diverse, picturesque, and ever-changing backdrop of the great Monarch butterfly migration. It tells the tale of Patrick, a gutsy and loveable yet inept, one-winged butterfly who stows away in a milkweed trailer in order to be part of the journey of a lifetime. With his best friend, a goofy caterpillar named Marty, and Jennifer, a butterfly who is afraid of heights, Patrick becomes an unlikely hero. But first, he must face his fear, embrace his uniqueness and triumph over adversity while battling changing weather patterns, humans and three evil birds bent on revenge.

Daisy Ridley will eventually return to the “Star Wars” universe as Rey for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy‘s “Star Wars: New Jedi Order” films, but until then, the actress needs to fill her calendar with other roles. And Ridley has some good ones on the way, including “Magpie,” which she recently finished shooting.