‘Drive To Survive’ Producer Box To Box Films Scores Multi-Million Dollar Investment From Bruin Capital

It’s been quite a while since there has been significant discussion about a Netflix film appearing at Cannes. The reason being that Cannes’ rules claim that a film that plays in competition at the event has to have a theatrical rollout in France.

Naman Ramachandran Award-winning artist Justin Anderson’s debut feature “Swimming Home” has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Variety has secured access to the first clip from the film. The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), whose marriage is dying when Kitti (Ariane Labed), a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their sunny holiday villa in Greece, is invited to stay.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French mini-major Pathé has acquired Les Films des Tournelles, the production company founded by Anne-Dominique Toussaint whose recent credits include Louis Garrel‘s Cesar-winning “The Innocent.” Besides Garrel, Les Films des Tournelles has worked with a flurry of auteurs on some of their most successful films, including Riad Sattouf’s “The French Kissers,” which won the Cesar for best first film in 2010; Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel”; Emanuele Crialese’s “Respiro”; Valeria Golino’s “Miele”; and Mona Achache’s “The Hedgehog.” “The Innocent” won two prizes at last year’s Cesar Awards and screened at Cannes on the 75th anniversary of the festival. Toussaint has also worked with Philippe Le Guay and Emmanuel Carrère.

A man from Wigan who started driving to AUSTRALIA in a truck with only his dog for company found love just a fortnight into his trip. Bobby Bolton, 31, fell head over heels after meeting a 'good looking' French woman on a hilltop in Saint-Tropez.

So, here we are in mid-January, and though we’re staring down the barrel of a tough year ahead, it’s not all wintry doom and gloom on an international box office (and combined global) level. 

EXCLUSIVE: Hera Pictures, the indie behind Jodie Comer-starrer The End We Start From and Sky/Starz’ upcoming Mary & George, is developing a TV version of Joanna Quinn’s hit novel The Whalebone Theatre.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Asian film directors including Josh Kim, Fukada Koji and Patiparn Boontarig line up to pitch their in-development projects at the March edition of the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Leading directors Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Lu will also be on the ground at HAF, operating as producers. So too will established producers Yamamoto Teruhisa (“Drive My Car”) and Michael J.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has preemptively acquired rights to The Women, a new book from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah, which is up for publication by St. Martin’s Press in February.

Winter doldrums and a closing night be damned: Shucked just had a very good week, with news of a planned movie adaptation and its best-ever Broadway gross of $1,111,038.

EXCLUSIVE: Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki has achieved his best global box office in a decade with Cannes Jury Prize winner Fallen Leaves which has racked up a total gross of $12.4M, according to figures released by its producers.

EXCLUSIVE: Primetime Emmy award-winning VFX expert Sophie Leclerc is returning to France after more than two decades in L.A. to co-head Rodeo FX’s new Paris office in the role of executive producer.

French cinema saw its fortunes rise at the international box office in 2023 after three difficult Covid-19 and post pandemic years, according to the annual report of export agency Unifrance released on Tuesday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Newen Connect has closed a raft of sales on “Kina & Yuk,” a live action family adventure from the team behind “Ailo’s Journey,” ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase. Directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky (“Ailo’s Journey”), the feature is a wild arctic tale following two foxes who are separated by the melting polar ice and must overcome a number of dangers in the hope of being reunited and raise a family together. The movie was released in French theaters by UGC on Dec.

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka continues its sweet run, crossing the $500M mark globally this weekend. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $505.3M including $329.1M from the international box office and with Korea, which has a fondness for Hollywood musicals, still to release at the end of the month.

EXCLUSIVE: German director Wim Wenders has scored his best box office performance in 15 years with Japan-set, comeback feature Perfect Days, according to collated figures released by sales agent The Match Factory.

In a lull for specialty openings early in the new year, three foreign-language films are taking a shot. The Settlers, winner of the Cannes Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize, and Inshallah A Boy are Cannes alumns and Oscar submissions from, respectively, Chile and Jordan (neither short-listed in a competitive field). Driving Madeleine is a crowd pleasing French film.

You might hear the title, Driving Madeleine (French title: Une Belle Course), and then read the logline about a driver taxiing a 92-year old woman around Paris and instantly think “Aha! It is a French Driving Miss Daisy!” Well, having absolutely nothing to do with that 1989 Best Picture Oscar winner that so memorably starred Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, the two films do have something in common. They are both irresistibly cast with exceptional veteran stars who each grab the heart and never let go.

EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 has organized a U.S.-UK student exchange program for its latest project from The Great British Bake Off producer Love Productions.

10 years on from her explosive breakthrough in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie has had the moment of her career with Barbie, a project she shepherded to the screen as a producer long before she claimed the lead role. After more than a billion dollars at the box office, Barbie has entered the zeitgeist, and Robbie is ready to take a victorious breath, finds Joe Utichi.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s box office revenue rose in 2023 to €495 million ($542,000) while the country’s admissions tally reached 70.5 million, representing a roughly 60% increase compared with 2022. Though Italian moviegoing figures – announced Wednesday in Rome by national box office compiler Cinetel – mark a substantial leap forward, they are still down roughly 23% compared with the country’s average box office intake during the period between 2017 and 2019. Prior to the pandemic, the benchmark of a good year was considered 100 million admissions.