Is ‘Yellowjackets’ based on a true story?

Emiliano De Pablos U.S. distribution company Dark Star Pictures, Mexico’s Mantícora Distribution and Spain’s La Dalia Films announced at Cannes a strategic deal to launch genre label Antídoto Horror Factory.  The venture, unveiled at the Marché du Film’s new genre-focused Fantastic Pavilion, will develop, produce, distribute and sell a minimum of four genre feature films in the next four years, starting pre-production in 2023. Dark Star will take North American rights; Mantícora, Latin American territory, and La Dalia, Spanish rights. “For the rest of the world, the partners will mutually agree to the most suitable sales representation,” said Antídoto Horror Factory partners in a statement.

Yellowjackets is set to return for a third season.Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the mystery thriller series follows a girls’ football team in 1996 who, while travelling to a tournament in Seattle, crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and are left stranded for 19 months. Between their attempts to survive, the show also jumps to their adult lives in the present day.The show’s first season received seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards last year, including Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci.Other members of the cast include Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty and Juliette Lewis.An official date has yet to be announced.

Quentin Tarantino is back at the Cannes Film Festival this year for a special screening in the Directors’ Fortnight.

William Earl Podcast network Audio Up and graphic novel publisher and merchandiser Z2 are partnering to produce the fictional “Neon Empire.” Described as “one part ‘8 Mile’ with a dash of ‘Once Upon a Time in America,’ the story is a dark send-up of Nashville’s music business featuring original music from top country artists. Based on a central character called Kountry Boi, the “hick-hop” star goes from rags to rap riches while coming to terms with his own troubled past. The idea was developed by Audio Up founder Jared Gutstadt, who played an early instrumental role in the development of real-life genre-hopper Jelly Roll. “Country music is changing, and the new outlaws are defining this town,” said Gutstadt, who is in the process of building a Nashville outpost for his company. “Until now, it was unheard of to have country acts with tattoos on their face who refused to conform to the strict guidelines and cookie-cutter approach of Music Row. This new world has yet to be explored in fiction, and Neon Empire is an expose of this creative, hyperkinetic, and often violent world. This is fiction rooted in a reality that I’ve been dying to reveal. Z2 is the perfect conduit and partner to bring this to life.”

Khloe Kardashian and the kiddos! On Wednesday, star put on a private advanced screening of for her and Tristan Thompson's daughter, True Thompson, as well as her sisters and brother's kids. The magical night under the sea was the coolest experience for Khloe and the children, who were treated to Little Mermaid dolls, popcorn buckets and other themed decor.On her Instagram Story, Khloe shared a couple vids from Disney's live-action movie, which stars Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy as Ariel and Ursula.

Cannes Film Festival, auteur Quentin Tarantino revealed more about his upcoming 10th (and possibly final) feature film, “The Movie Critic.” All audiences have known so far is that it would follow a titular film reviewer in the 1970s, which many speculated would be about famous female critic Pauline Kael. But he confirmed in an interview with Deadline that the story will focus on a male film critic living in California, based on a real person who wrote reviews in a porno magazine in 1977. “He wrote about mainstream movies and he was the second-string critic,” Tarantino said.

McKinley Franklin editor Strong Studios is set to develop a new crime series “Hall Mills Murders,” based on the chilling 1922 murder case that swarmed American culture, Variety has learned.  The eight-episode series will spotlight the murders of Edward Wheeler Hall, an N.J. priest, and Eleanor Millis, Hall’s mistress. Hall and Millis were found in the countryside, appearing to be cuddling in each other’s arms. However, it was quickly uncovered that the lovers were murdered, with their love notes shredded at their feet.  “We are thrilled to announce that the ‘Hall Mills Murders’ project will allow Strong Studios to significantly ramp up our production pipeline,” stated David Ozer, CEO of Strong Studios. “This sordid story and murder trial led to a three-ring media circus that is recognized to this day as the first of its kind in America to saturate news coverage on a daily basis. We know audiences are fascinated by true crime, and given this is the story that started it all, we have no doubt it will generate interest among broadcasters and streamers, and most definitely with audiences when we premiere.”

Yellowjackets season two reaches its conclusion this week (May 26).Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the mystery thriller series follows a girls’ football team in 1996 who, while travelling to a tournament in Seattle, crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and are left stranded for 19 months. Between their attempts to survive, the show also jumps to their adult lives in the present day.The show’s first season received seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci.Other members of the cast include Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty and Juliette Lewis.The ninth episode will be available on Paramount+ from Friday May 26 at 12am PT/3am ET in the US.

Prime Video has given a series order to Butterfly, from Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD and BOOM! Studios, publisher of the graphic novel of the same name created by Arash Amel. Kim is set to star as the lead in the six-episode series, with Ken Woodruff (The Mentalist, Gotham) set as showrunner and co-creator for the adaptation alongside novelist Steph Cha. This marks Lost alum Kim’s first solo lead TV role.

Vivo Film (“Le Quattro Volte,” “Miss Marx”) has boarded André Ristum’s action drama “Tecnicamente Dolce” (“Technically Sweet”), based on a screenplay by Italian legend Michelangelo Antonioni, teaming with Gullane Filmes, Brazil’s biggest independent film production house. The news comes as “Carnival Is Over,” the awaited thriller drama by “Narcos” director Fernando Coimbra, whose “A Wolf at the Door” was one of the standout Brazilian feature debuts of the last decade, has now entered post-production, shaping up as one of the big arthouse titles to hit festivals from Brazil next year.

Marta Balaga Natacha Kaganski has joined Luxbox as festivals and acquisitions manager and Solène Colomer has been named sales & marketing coordinator.   Previously, Kaganski spent four years as acquisitions manager at Wild Bunch, where she handled deals for the French and international market as well as coordination for multi-territories deals with the Wild Bunch group, such as Germany, Spain and Italy.  She was involved in films likeVenice winner “Happening” by Audrey Diwan, Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” or “Leila’s Brothers,” also taking part in first Wild Bunch productions.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Live sports streaming service DAZN and social analytics firm Videocites have forged a partnership to fight rampant sports content piracy in the social media sphere. Dubbed “The Netflix of Sports,” DAZN is a leading premium live sports platform with a footprint comprising Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Japan, Canada, U.S. and the U.K. The company boasts that Videocities’ cutting-edge technology will now enable DAZN to automatically remove 98% of the thousands of pirated streams detected on social media within minutes with unprecedented efficiency, it said in a statement. NBA Equity is an investor in Videocites which has several offices around the world, including in Tel Aviv and one recently opened in New York.  

By James Humphrey

Imad Mughniyeh killed thousands of people with car bombs — including 220 Marines stationed in Beirut in 1983 — before he himself was blown to bits in Syria 25 years later.The story of Mughniyeh an Islamic Jihadist dubbed “The Man of Smoke,” is dramatized, for the first time and in detail, in “Ghosts of Beirut,” a four-part Showtime series mixing real, documentary-style on-camera interviews with scripted drama that goes inside the joint CIA/Mossad operation to track down and assassinate Mughniyeh … or so the story goes, since US and Israeli officials have never officially confirmed their agencies’ roles in sending him to kingdom come.“Ghosts” was created by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, who also developed the hit Netflix series “Fauda,” in which Raz stars as Israeli Defense Force team member Doron Kavillio. (Raz himself was a commando in an IDF counter-terrorism unit.)Raz and Issacharoff also co-wrote “Ghosts of Beirut,” filmed in Morocco, with Joëlle Tauma and Greg Barker (who directed all four episodes).

Tom Sandoval reportedly has a new lady in his life after his alleged split from Raquel Leviss.

Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) marked its 10th anniversary yesterday, reflecting on a decade of life-saving service to communities in every corner of Scotland.

A tale as old as time? Peacock’s Based on a True Story explores America’s current obsession with true crime — and questions the danger that comes with trying to take things into your own hands.

Sony Pictures Classics announced today they have acquired all rights in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within those territories to Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s upcoming Bossa Nova-themed animated film, “They Shot the Piano Player.” Sony Classics plans to release the film at the end of the year to qualify for year-end awards consideration.A true international production, the film is produced by Cristina Huete of Trueba PC (“Chico & Rita”) in Spain, along with Serge Lalou for Les Films d’Ici (“Josep”) in France, Janneke van de Kerkhof for Submarine Sublime (“Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles”) in the Netherlands, and Humberto Santana in Portugal. It is executive produced by Nano Arrieta of Atlantika and Fabien Westerhoff of Film Constellation.From Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, who previously directed the Oscar-nominated “Chico & Rita,” “They Shot the Piano Player” is narrated by Jeff Goldblum.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, two of the directors behind the Oscar-nominated animated feature Chico and Rita, is set up for a fall awards push from SPC.

Kaley Cuoco is on the case in the brand new trailer for her upcoming Peacock series, Based on a True Story.