Jeff Friday Media Acquires Feature Film ‘Lucid Summer’; ABFF Alum Khaled Ridgeway To Direct

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video has opted not to order a second season of I Know What You Did Last Summer, a modern take on the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan and the 1997 film adaptation.

Penske Media has acquired The American Pavilion, the Cannes Film Festival fixture which for over three decades has provided communications, hospitality, media center and a seaside meeting place for global attendees of the Cannes Film Festival. PMC is the parent company of Deadline. The American Pavilion was founded and will continue to be run by Director Julie Sisk.

Meet cute! Jessica Chastain’s grandmother Marilyn Herst did not hold back when she got the opportunity to make a lasting first impression on Bradley Cooper.

Blame it on the booze. Andy Cohen doesn’t think his drunken New Year’s Eve shenanigans are something to be ashamed about — despite the mixed reactions from viewers.

EXCLUSIVE: Gentleman Jack producer Lookout Point’s investment in Shane Allen and Kate Daughton’s Boffola Pictures technically valued the new comedy indie at £4M ($5.4M), Deadline can reveal, while Lookout posted a £3.2M ($4.3M) loss for the Covid-impacted 2020/21 financial year.

Guillermo del Toro has been directing movies since 1986 with his first short film Doña Lupe. Many were familiar with his horror films in the 1990s but it wasn’t until 2006 Pan’s Labyrinth that made him a household name. 

Dozens of Scotland's most wanted criminals were successfully tracked down by crimebusters.

“Licorice Pizza” with special menu items, 70mm screenings, a programming series and an interactive photo op at the Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan. The film, which stars Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper and Benny Safdie, will expand to theaters nationwide on Christmas Day, Dec.

Eve Barlow Guest ColumnistFor Variety‘s Writers on Writers, Eve Barlow pens a tribute to “Licorice Pizza” (screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson).You can smell the acne on Cooper Hoffman’s chin. You can feel the heat on the pavement as Alana Haim sprints toward a feeling.

EXCLUSIVE: Annabelle Dexter-Jones (Succession, Cecile on the Phone), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, The Autopsy of Jane Doe), Dylan Gelula (Shameless, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Oliver Cooper (Red Oaks, Mindhunter) and Tyrese Gibson (Fast & Furious franchise) have signed on to star in Helen’s Dead, a murder mystery film from director K. Asher Levin (Slayers, Dig) and the newly formed genre production company Stoked Film Group, which will enter production in Santa Fe, NM this month.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe KVIFF Group, a Czech Republic-based media group built around the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, has acquired a majority stake in Aerofilms, a leading arthouse distributor in the Czech Republic.The purchase, which was executed via the the group’s distribution arm, KVIFF Distribution, continues its expansion, seen most recently with the launch of the KVIFF TV streaming platform, and fueled by investment by Rockaway Capital.

EXCLUSIVE:  Deadline has learned that Emmy-winning The Handmaid’s Tale actress Ann Dowd has joined the Amy Rice-directed political thriller The Independent, which Relativity Media and Rogue Pictures have also acquired North American rights on.

The Goonies-inspired drama that was previously set up at Fox has moved to Disney+.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Television Academy has launched a review of its Interactive Media Peer Group, “to ensure both the peer group and the Academy are reflecting and representing the future evolution of the television industry.”In a letter sent on Tuesday evening to Academy members, the org noted that the peer group was launched 20 years ago “for the burgeoning new and digital media pioneers of television, with a focus on advancing interactive arts and sciences and

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorRichard Leibner, the long-serving agent who has backed some of the best-known news anchors in the U.S., is making some headlines of his own: He’s retiring after decades on the job.The veteran talent representative intends to step away from his role as partner at United Talent agency at the end of the year, according to a memo sent to staffers by Jay Sures, co-president of the agency.

EXCLUSIVE: Screen Media has acquired worldwide rights to Family Squares—the comedy formerly titled Shoot the Rooster—from Unbound Media.

EXCLUSIVE: Good Morning, Monster, the memoir from Canadian psychologist Catherine Gildiner is being turned in to a podcast series with film and TV adaptations also planned.

nominees for the TV categories, the Critics Choice Association shared the full list of nominees for the film awards, all of which will be recognized during the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards. and lead this year’s contenders with 11 nominations each, including Best Picture.