Lionsgate, Media Capital Technologies Sign ‘Significant’ Multi-Year Slate Financing Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Dominique Boutonnat, the president of the National Film Board, France’s most powerful film institution, has received a three-year prison sentence, including two suspended, over sexual assault charges. Boutonnat has stepped down from the CNC in the wake of the verdict on June 28 and is being replaced by Olivier Henrard, Variety has confirmed.

Ariana Grande feels like she’s in her happy era now.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the huge success of Michael Showalter‘s Prime Video rom-com The Idea of You, Showalter and Jordana Mollick‘s Semi-Formal Productions has entered into a multi-year first-look film deal with Amazon MGM Studios, Deadline can exclusively reveal.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “The Tomorrow War” and “The Lego Batman Movie” filmmaker Chris McKay has been tapped to direct an adaptation of Brynne Weaver’s bestselling serial killer romance, “Butcher & Blackbird,” for Lyrical Media and Ryder Picture Company (RPC). The novel isthe first installment of Weaver’s popular “Ruinous Love” trilogy, which was released in October. It became a New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weeklybestseller and was a favorite on BookTok, TikTok’s hub for book lovers.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Barefoot Contessa” star Ina Garten has signed a new exclusive multiyear deal at her longtime home Food Network that includes a Season 5 renewal for her latest show, “Be My Guest With Ina Garten.” The next season of Garten’s Emmy-award-winning cooking talk show set at the East Hampton home she shares with her husband Jeffrey will launch in the fall and boast a guest list that includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Stephen Colbert and Evie McGee Colbert and fellow Food Network star Bobby Flay, among others. Previous seasons of “Be My Guest” have featured Emily Blunt, Jennifer Garner, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci, astronaut Nicole Mann, ballerina Misty Copeland, restaurateur and author Danny Meyer and journalist Frank Bruni.

EastEnders' Freddie Slater, played by Bobby Brazier, might be heading for a "throuple'" situation on the popular BBC One soap. Freddie, who first graced our screens in 2022 as the son of soap legend Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth), has quickly become a fan favourite.

Lexi Carson Film, television and media financing firm BondIt Media Capital has closed a new credit facility of $60 million with the option to increase to $100 million, from Keystone National Group, a private credit fund and investment advisory firm. The new facility is aimed at refinancing an existing credit facility, that has been a key factor in BondIt’s growth over the last six years.

EXCLUSIVE: Narges Rashidi (Gangs of London, The Girlfriend Experience) and Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale, Shakespeare in Love) are the actors who have been secretly portraying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker falsely accused of spying and detained in Iran for six years, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who campaigned tirelessly for her release, in a TV drama, Deadline can reveal.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Variety won eight first-place awards Sunday night at the Los Angeles Press Club‘s 66th annual SoCal Journalism Awards, including a top win for executive editor Brent Lang as entertainment journalist of the year. Variety came into the 2024 ceremony with 74 nominations, representing work published by staffers online or in the weekly print edition during the 2023 calendar year.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has extended comedy writer and showrunner Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz‘s (Gordita Chronicles) overall deal, sources reveal to Deadline.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Madison Wells will produce a documentary focusing on the public and private life of Jacinda Ardern, the trailblazing Prime Minister of New Zealand who helped introduce strict gun laws following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. She also led her country through the Covid pandemic and grappled with issues such as child poverty and climate change. The feature-length film is currently untitled.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Extinction,” the Malaysian-produced animation that is playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has struck its first international rights sales deals. The film was recently picked up by All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based sales agency. All Rights has subsequently licensed the title to Magic Film for the CIS region, to Dazzler Media for the U.K., to Red Cape Distribution for Israel and to Bir Film for Turkey.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Country stars Lainey Wilson, Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan and Trisha Yearwood will be among the recipients of the Special Awards being given out at the annual ACM Honors program in August. The Academy of Country Music will celebrate the honorees during a ceremony taking place at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Aug.

Katcy Stephan Orbital Studios, a film and television production studio specializing in end-to-end virtual production services, has signed with CAA. Orbital Studios leverages cutting-edge technology to create dynamic virtual environments that blend with real-world performance.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi epic “Megalopolis,” which proved to be wildly divisive after its Cannes Film Festival premiere, has finally found a distributor. Lionsgate has signed a deal to distribute the film in theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

Brendan Kelly Liberty Global is buying a stake of Formula E from Warner Bros. Discovery, giving the media company controlling interest in the all-electric version of the motorsport. A publicly traded company led by billionaire John Malone, Liberty Global announced Thursday it is in the process of acquiring WBD’s 25% equity in Formula E, which is in its 10th racing season.

Coronation Street legend Julie Goodyear has been spotted in a rare public outing after revealing her battle with dementia.The soap star left fans stunned last year when her husband Scott Brand announced that she had been diagnosed with the condition. Since then, sightings of the Bet Lynch actress have been few and far between, with her last public appearance dating back to October 2023. However, the former Corrie star recently stepped out for a lunch date with her hubby.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer and “Ghostlight” director Alex Thompson will reunite for a body swap comedy. Think “Freaky Friday” with an indie sensibility. From “Heaven Can Wait” to “Big” and “The Hot Chick,” it’s a familiar genre.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer and “Ghostlight” director Alex Thompson will reunite for a body swap comedy. Think “Freaky Friday” with an indie sensibility. From “Heaven Can Wait” to “Big” and “The Hot Chick,” it’s a familiar genre.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mediawan Kids & Family is unveiling a raft of prestige animated feature projects at the Annecy Film Festival, including “Meow-woof” by Louis Clichy (“Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion”) and “Twisted” by Lino DiSalvo (“Playmobil”). Emmanuel Jacomet, who worked for over a decade alongside Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam on high profile IP’s such as “The Little Prince,” “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Playmobil,” took over the film division of Mediawan Kids & Family under a year ago with the ambition to develop a mix of mainstream franchise-based projects and auteur-driven 2D titles.