Gianni Amelio’s Homophobia-Themed Drama ‘Lord of the Ants’ Reaches Top Italian Box Office Spot After Venice Bow

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The life of global porn icon Rocco Siffredi is the subject of a new Netflix original series titled “Supersex,” which has started shooting in Rome. The seven-episode drama is freely inspired by the real life of Siffredi, who has more than 1,500 hardcore films to his name. But, in an interesting career twist, Siffredi has also shot two arthouse pics, Catherine Breillat’s “Romance” and “Anatomy of Hell.” His Budapest-based Rocco Siffredi Prods. is a porn industry powerhouse. Siffredi was also the subject of the documentary “Rocco,” directed by French duo Thierry Demaiziere and Alban Teurlai, which screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Live sports streaming service DAZN has struck a deal to buy global sports media business ELEVEN Group, which holds rights to the top soccer leagues in Portugal and Belgium.  The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will boost DAZN’s offerings in Italy, German-speaking markets and Spain, where it already holds top league domestic soccer rights. Additionally, ELEVEN has a presence in Taiwan and other Southeast Asian markets, which will give DAZN a greater foothold in that region where the service is already market leader in Japan, the company said in a statement. The deal also includes ELEVEN-owned Team Whistle, which is a short-form original social media content provider said by DAZN to have over 700 million followers across its channels. Team Whistle is estimated to bring total revenue of around $300 million a year, DAZN said.

"Don't Worry Darling" did not disappoint at the box office, darling. Olivia Wilde's sophomore release earned $19.2 million domestically, nabbing the top spot across theatrical releases nationwide.

The run-up to the release of “Don’t Worry Darling” has been filled with tabloid headlines about the filming of the movie, most notably over an alleged feud between Pugh and director Olivia Wilde. Meanwhile, critics have mostly panned the film with a 38% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The next three weekends are favorable for “The Woman King,” with upcoming releases including Warner Bros’ “Don’t Worry Darling,” which has received mixed reviews, Universal’s LGBT comedy “Bros,” and the Sony family film “Lyle Lyle Crocodile.” There won’t be a theatrical release with the sort of action and intensity that “Woman King” offers until “Halloween Ends” on October 14, so it will have plenty of time to build word-of-mouth both as a female-fronted historical film among Black and female audiences and potentially as an exciting action film among crossover demographics. It will need to do so as the film still has to turn a profit against its $50 million production budget, which was co-financed by TriStar and eOne.

according to BoxOffice Mojo. It’s projected to earn $9 million this weekend, according to Variety.In second place, taking in $2 million in its debut, was the Hindi-language action flick “Brahmastra Part One: Shiva”Brad Pitt’s “Bullet Train” came in third, with $865,000 in ticket sales.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Paolo Virzì (“Human Capital,” “Like Crazy”) is in Venice where his dystopic drama “Siccità,” which means drought in Italian, is premiering out-of-competition. The innovative pic, which features an A-list ensemble cast comprising Monica Bellucci, Sara Serraiocco (“Counterpart”) and Silvio Orlando (“The Young Pope”), is set amid a protracted drought caused by climate change in the Italian capital where the Tiber has dried up. Virzì spoke to Variety about how “Siccità” germinated during COVID-19 and was shot amid tight pandemic protocols. Excerpts. You worked with novelist and screenwriter Paolo Giordano on the concept and the script for this film. How did the collaboration start?

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent With “Chiara,” Susanna Nicchiarelli’s portrait of Saint Clare of Assisi – the 13th century saint born into a wealthy family who at age 18 became a nun after hearing St. Francis preach – the Italian director completes her trilogy of female biopics, segueing from “Nico, 1988” and “Miss Marx,” which both launched from Venice’s Horizons section. With “Chiara,” she makes the leap into the main Venice competition. Nicchiarelli spoke to Variety about what drew her to portraying this prototypical feminist and directing “My Brilliant Friend” star Margherita Mazzucco in the pic’s titular role. Excerpts. What drove you to want to tell us this story about St. Clare?Well, first of all, I was always passionate about Saint Francis. I have a very strong memory when I first saw Franco Zeffirelli’s “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” I was at school when they showed it to us and this boy, this man, taking his clothes off in front of the Bishop. That was a very strong image. Francis’ battle speaks to us just as much today because it’s a battle for poverty, against social injustice. It’s about being on the side of the poor, of those who are different, and the injustices of a society in which very few have everything and then most have nothing. So, this was their battle. The medieval society was like that. It’s not so different from the way it is now.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “I see a lot of rich people here!” said Jodie Turner-Smith as she took to the stage to open the Venice Film Festival AmfAR gala and auction held Wednesday evening in the Arsenale, a former shipyard complex on the edge of the city’s Grand Canal. Urging guests to be generous, Turner-Smith, who looked stunning in a yellow corset top, reminded everyone that, “It’s easy to forget that AIDS still remains one of the world’s most serious health threats.”  Though undoubtedly lower key than the event held at Cannes, AmfAR Venice had its fair share of glamour and star power with Heather Graham, Patricia Clarckson, Marisa Tomei and Rachel Brosnahan among chairs. 

Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern hit the red carpet together for the premiere of their new movie, The Son, during the 2022 Venice Film Festival on Wednesday (September 7) in Venice, Italy.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Stefano Sollima, who is known in Hollywood for “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” “Without Remorse” and TV show “Gomorrah,” is back behind camera on a contemporary Rome-set crimer titled “Adagio.” Shooting started Sept. 5 on “Adagio” which features an ensemble cast of Italian A-listers comprising Pierfrancesco Favino (“Nostalgia”), Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”), Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”) and Adriano Giannini (“The Ties”). “I am eager and full of enthusiasm about finally returning to depict my city after all these years. Rome has changed, and so have I,” Sollima said in a statement for Variety. He went on to describe “Adagio” as a dark story of revenge and redemption, which will be the last chapter of my Roman criminal trilogy.”

Guy Lodge Film Critic Gianni Amelio was in his late sixties when he came out as gay a few years ago. The announcement preceded the release of his documentary “Happy to Be Different,” which worked toward an overriding sunniness in contemplating the trials and challenges of being gay in Italy at various points in the 20th century. In turning to a gay-themed narrative project, Amelio narrows the focus and dims the mood: “Lord of the Ants” takes as its subject the gay Italian author Aldo Braibanti, and the social and legal opposition he faced over his sexuality in mid-1960s Rome. Solemn, stately and perhaps a little stifled, it’s the kind of queer statement you might expect from a veteran filmmaker who wasn’t until relatively recently out and proud, and is rather poignant for that.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Francesco Zippel’s Sergio Leone doc, which premieres on Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival, is the first portrait of the Italian master made with full support of his children Raffaella and Andrea. Titled “Sergio Leone: The Man Who Invented America,” the high-profile doc is premiering in the Venice Classics section for docs on cinema. It features an impressive list of voices holding forth on what makes Leone special for them. Among these are: Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Giuseppe Tornatore, Frank Miller, Darren Aronofsky, Damien Chazelle and Robert De Niro (see clip). But aside from Leone’s visionary talent as a director what emerges is that as his career escalated from the so-called “Dollars Trilogy” to “Once Upon a Time in the West” through to his final masterpiece, “Once Upon a Time in America,” Leone’s life was steeped in two inextricably linked passions: film and family. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Prominent arthouse sales company The Match Factory has closed multiple sales on Italian auteur Gianni Amelio’s Venice competition title “Lord of the Ants” ahead of its Venice premiere on Tuesday. The Match Factory has sealed deals on Amelio’s latest work – which is a biopic of Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law – that will ensure the film’s theatrical release in: Australia/New Zealand (Palace Films); Japan (Zazie Films); Spain (Surtsey Films); Sweden (TriArt Film) and Greece (Ama Films). Further deals are in negotiation, the company said. Braibanti was convicted after a complaint from his partner’s father, who later forced his son to be treated with electroconvulsive therapy in an ill-conceived attempt to rid him of his homosexuality. The Fascist-era law that punished Braibanti, which made it a crime to lead innocent or unwary people “morally” astray, was repealed in 1981.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Last year Andrea Scrosati – who is group COO and continental Europe CEO of Fremantle – was at Venice with two films. This year Fremantle’s got six pics launching from the Lido, three of them in competition, which is a larger contingent than any of the U.S. studios or streamers.  Fremantle’s business model, which involves a cluster of companies mostly across Europe that they either fully own or are majority investors in, has been bearing fruit on their film side. Their output has grown “from 8 to 32 delivered movies in two years,” Scrosati says.  And the multi-pronged company’s Venice lineup – which includes Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All,” Emanuele Crialese’s “L’Immensità,” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter” – is a reflection of that.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Iranian cinema is having a great year despite the many impediments film directors face there, including being jailed. Reflecting this burst of irrepressible cinematic energy, after strong showing of Iranian cinema at Berlin, Cannes and Karlovy Vary, Venice has five films from the country, two of which are in competition. Also, Leila Hatami, star of Cannes festival jurist Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation,” is a member of Venice’s main jury panel. “We have never received so many submissions from Iran, and many of them are good,” says Venice chief Alberto Barbera. He notes that “the paradox is that this is happening at a time when the Iranian regime is among the most rigidly conservative and repressive in the world,” and is responding to uprisings sparked by the country’s harsh economic conditions by re-incarcerating directors such as Jafar Panahi, whose latest film “No Bears” launches from Venice, fellow dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, and others “who try to freely express their opposing points of view.”

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Marvel Comics flick, which stars real-life couple Tom Holland and Zendaya, is projected to rake in $6.1 million on this four-day weekend, per Variety.“Bullet Train” is still chugging along — holding onto second place with $1.1 million in sales. It was recently announced that the Brad Pitt picture already has an accompanying line of Funko Pop dolls, which will be available for purchase in January.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Top international news agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, are up in arms against the Venice Film Festival over what they claim are restrictions to access footage of the fest’s star-studded red carpet activities and press conferences. In past years, the agencies have been able to give their clients more or less unlimited amounts of Venice footage, excluding live feeds. Upon arrival on the Lido this year, with no forewarning, agency video teams collected their red carpet accreditation on opening day and were then handed a form to sign telling them there is a 90-second limit, the groups allege. The 90-second limit is allegedly due to Italian media regulation that was always in existence, but is only being enforced this year.