Gravitas Ventures Acquires Horror Thriller ‘I’ll Play Mother’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Hugh Grant is set to star in his first horror movie in over 30 years in the new A24 production Heretic – check out the creepy trailer below.The actor may have made his name in charming romantic comedies in the 1990s and 2000s, but later this year he will be taking on an altogether more menacing role.‘Heretic’ comes from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who created and wrote the original A Quiet Place film in 2018, and have since directed Haunt and 65.Watch the trailer for Heretic here:Grant plays Mr. Reed in the film, a seemingly harmless man who answers the door to two young Mormon missionaries, played by Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets, The Boogeyman) and Chloe East (The Fabelmans, True Blood).As the trailer shows, he invites the young women into his home on the pretence that his wife is in the kitchen.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to “The World According to Allee Wilis,” a new documentary about the musical powerhouse best known for writing the “Friends” theme song and Earth Wind & Fire’s “September.” The film, which is directed by Alexis Spraic, had its world premiere at SXSW and has been hitting the festival circuit. It most recently screened at the Provincetown Film Festival, and will next be showcased at Frameline.

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has picked up North American rights to the documentary adventure film, Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey, produced and directed by Australian filmmaker, Rob Murphy. The film will be available on all VOD platforms on June 25, after screening at major world festivals and a theatrical run across Australia and Los Angeles based Laemmle Theatres last year.

EXCLUSIVE: Limonero Films has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Blue Carbon, an innovative environmental-themed documentary produced by MAKE Waves Media that features the participation of Grammy-nominated music producer and DJ Jayda Guy, Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and Brazilian musician Seu Jorge. Limonero, based in London and Barcelona, will launch sales of the film at Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s largest documentary-focused market, which kicks off today in La Rochelle, France.

Nearly two years ago, Eminem and Snoop Dogg shared a music video for a new collaborative song called “From The D to tha LBC.” The visuals featured characters in the style of the Bored Ape Club, a Web3 collective that had become synonymous with the NFT craze that saturated popular culture. For some, the digital tokens and their cryptocurrency marketplaces were the next stage in the intersection of art and commerce.

Katcy Stephan A lot of people have reached out to Hamet Watt after watching HBO’s “MoviePass, MovieCrash.” Some have congratulated him on having his journey told through the film, while others have offered condolences after learning how things really went down at the company. The MoviePass co-founder isn’t dwelling on the negative, though. “I don’t feel like a victim,” Watt tells Variety.

Selome Hailu In 2015, Netflix acquired the indie horror film “Circle,” which saw 50 strangers trapped in a room and forced to decide who would be the one survivor through a series of votes and debates about the worth of each human life. Nearly a decade later, with the “12 Angry Men”-inspired project having become something of a cult hit, two producers of the film have reunited to create a sequel, “Circles.” Per the official logline, “17 years after being pawns in a cruel game of psychological warfare, the survivors of an invasion face a new threat.” Michael Nardelli, who starred in “Circle” as lone survivor Eric, and Brent Stiefel are re-teaming to produce the sequel.

EXCLUSIVE: Dread, the L.A.-based distribution and financing company of Epic Pictures, has acquired North American rights to Korean action film A Man of Reason from Acemaker Movieworks. The feature directorial debut of veteran actor Jung Woo-sung will have a limited theatrical release on July 5 before heading to VOD.

EXCLUSIVE: British filmmaker Paul Raschid has added veteran Italian filmmaker Dario Argento (Suspiria, Inferno, Deep Red) and actor Franco Nero (Django Unchained, The Pope’s Exorcist, John Wick) to his latest interactive project The Run.

Lexi Carson Vertical has acquired Conor Soucy‘s directorial debut “Dead Whisper” and will debut it in select theaters on July 5, and on AppleTV and Prime Video, beginning July 9. The horror/thriller film “Dead Whisper” stars Samuel Dunning (“Tim Travers and the Time Travelers Paradox”) and marks the first on-screen role for Rob Evan, whose previous credits include Broadway’s “Les Misérables,” and “Jekyll & Hyde.” The rest of the cast’s ensemble includes Tana Sirois, Samantha Hill, Codey Gillum, Chris Goodwin, Dhane Ross, Hester Wilkinson and Bruce Winant.

Jamie Lang Paris-based Loco Films has secured global sales rights to “Rock Bottom,” an animated feature exploring the life and music of British artist Robert Wyatt that will world premiere in the main competition at next week’s Annecy Festival. “Rock Bottom” is a trippy portrayal of the romance between Bob, a famous rock musician, and Alif, a talented visual artist, delivered through lush and vibrant rotoscoped 2D animation.

Jamie Lang Celebrated Spanish filmmaker María Trénor’s debut feature “Rock Bottom” will premiere in the main competition at this year’s Annecy Festival, and she has given Variety exclusive access to the film’s first trailer. Produced by leading Catalan producer Alba Sotorra, the film is inspired by the life and music of U.K. artist Robert Wyatt.

EXCLUSIVE: Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones, Hercules, Strike Back) and George Blagden (Vikings, Black Mirror, Versailles) have signed on to star in The Run, the latest interactive feature project from British filmmaker Paul Raschid. 

Eva Longoria is premiering her new series. “Land of Women,” based on the beloved novel written by Sandra Barneda, follows Longoria as an affluent New Yorker that’s forced to leave the city and move in with her mother after her husband gets involved in a scandal. Eva Longoria shares how she’ll implement diversity grant from Lauren Sanchez and Jeff BezosEva Longoria reminisced about early career castingsThe series, which will air on Apple TV+, has shared its first trailer.

Selena Kuznikov Animation company GKids has acquired theatrical, video and digital transactional rights to anime series “Dan Da Dan.” With production from the acclaimed animation studio Science SARU (“Devilman Crybaby”, “Inu-Oh,” “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” “The Colors Within”), the series is the directorial debut of studio veteran Fuga Yamashiro. Composer kensuke ushio (“Chainsaw Man,” “Devilman Crybaby,” “The Colors Within”) additionally joins the production for the score.

EXCLUSIVE: In advance of its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, scheduled for June 6th, the supernatural horror film The Damned, marking the feature directorial debut of Thordur Palsson (The Valhalla Murders), has locked in North American distribution with Vertical. The film will be released later this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired North American rights from StudioCanal to Wake Up, a horror thriller from the filmmaking trio RKSS (Turbo Kid), which it will release across the U.S. and in Canada later this year.

As Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone mulls the terms of a merger between her conglom and Skydance, the network/studio/streaming service trotted out their best and brightest CEO troika this early AM in annual global stockholders meet to tout their hit parade of 14 billion dollar revenue earning franchises across all mediums, their assurance to cut $500 million in overhead, and maximize shareholder value and profits.

Lionsgate UK has locked a deal with Zygi Kamasa’s True Brit Entertainment to release the Ian McKellen pic The Critic. 

EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical distribution rights to the Michael Douglas-narrated documentary America’s Burning, directed by bestselling writer David Smick and produced by Ian Michaels.