Just In Time For AFM: Imagine & Ron Howard Mount True Crime Thriller ‘Origin Of Species’

Ron Howard was as transfixed as the rest of the world in 2018 when a massive international rescue effort came together to save 12 Thai youth soccer players and their coach who were trapped in a flooded underground cave. 

is receiving an outpouring of public support. Nearly six months after losing a highly publicized brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, more than 130 people and organizations specializing in women’s rights advocacy, domestic violence, and sexual assault awareness have signed an of support for Heard.

EXCLUSIVE: Christian Gudegast (Den of Thieves) has closed a deal to direct the thriller Crown Vic for MadRiver Pictures. 

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Television is developing a thriller drama for Netflix based on The Washington Post story “A U.S. murder suspect fled to Mexico. The Gringo Hunters were waiting,” by Kevin Sieff.

Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Impact has closed $15 million in series B funding.The online professional network for film and TV crews targets challenges faced by industry productions.More to come …

To compose the music for Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives — the true story of the global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team — composer Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, the It movies) had hoped to traverse all of northern Thailand to absorb the culture, knock on doors and ask folks if they wanted to play something for him.

EXCLUSIVE: First Run Features is promising “a robust awards campaign” for The Quiet Epidemic, after acquiring U.S. distribution rights to the documentary about Chronic Lyme and tick-borne disease.

Magnolia Pictures has snapped up U.S. rights to Master Gardener — the latest starry feature from Academy Award nominee Paul Schrader (First Reformed), which world premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival and most recently screened at the New York Film Festival. Pic is slated for release next year.

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Moring’s Double Dutch International will launch worldwide sales at AFM for Midday Black Midnight Blue — a feature drama marking the feature directorial debut of The Queen’s Gambit actress Samantha Soule and The Conners scribe Daniel Talbott.

Only Murders in the Building co-creator John Hoffman is taking on Siegfried and Roy for his next project.

EXCLUSIVE: Other Angle Pictures is launching sales on the crime thriller Double Down South, starring Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates. Other Angle will present the completed film to buyers at AFM next month. 

EXCLUSIVE: Leila George (Animal Kingdom) is set to star alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Disclaimer, a new psychological thriller series from Alfonso Cuarón for Apple TV+.

This week’s guest is Joel Edgerton.

Ozuna is the new owner of Los Brujos de Guayama. According to the information handed to HOLA! USA, the Governing Board also approved the request to transfer the franchise to the municipality of Manatí, to be renamed Los Osos de Manatí (Manatee Bears).Una publicación compartida por Brujos de Guayama BSN (@losbrujosbsn)“Being in charge of a Puerto Rico National Superior Basketball franchise has been one of my greatest dreams, for which we have been working for some time,” Ozuna said.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features Editor Though his movies have made billions at the box office and he’s been awarded pretty much every major accolade, from the Oscars to the Emmys to a Grammy, Ron Howard has achieved an honor even more rare: He’s maintained his reputation as one of the nicest guys in the business. It’s why the team behind Fox’s animated hit “The Simpsons” got such a kick out of portraying Howard as the ultimate Hollywood stereotype in his several appearances on the show. Howard would show up, often clad in a baseball cap and bathrobe while sipping a martini — even at a movie premiere or going to a special zoo for famous people. (For the record, Howard knew how his cartoon doppelgänger would be drawn: “I was in on the joke,” he assures Variety.)

A day after President Joe Biden drew criticism from conservatives on social media for giving unsolicited dating advice to a young teen girl in California, the president is again in hot water for claiming the "economy is strong as hell." The comment came during a conversation with a reporter at a Baskin Robbins in Portland, Oregon, who asked the president if he had any worry about the strength of the U.S. dollar amid rising inflation. With a chocolate chip ice cream cone in his hand, Biden answered: "I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar.