Luxbox Closes First Sales on ‘Puan,’ from ‘Rojo’s’ Benjamin Naishtat, ‘A Family Submerged’s’ Maria Alche (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney was desperate to find a way to make “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,”the first feature-length animated movie ever made, actually feel like a feature-length movie. He’d been doing his best to ignore the naysayers who christened the very idea of the film as “Disney’s folly.” But they did trigger a nagging concern for the 35-year-old studio chief: Audiences might reject an animated movie if it remained stuck in the realm of the flat, two-dimensional shorts that had propelled Mickey Mouse to worldwide celebrity.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ROME — Film Factory Ent. – a sales agent on “Wild Tales,” “The Clan,” “Close Your Eyes” and “The Kings of the World” – has boarded “Jokes & Cigarettes” (“Saben Aquell”), the latest movie from Spain’s David Trueba which is fast-emerging as one of Spain’s late year Goya Award contenders after a San Sebastian sneak-peek and the bow of a trailer.

Angelina Jolie stars in “Maria”, the new film by Pablo Larrain. Larrain is a Chilean director who’s made his mark in the industry while making these types of films: artistic biopics centered on important female figures in our culture, like “Spencer”, which shows a fictitious portrait of Princess Diana at a pivotal point in her life, and “Jackie”, trailing Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of her husband’s death. Both films have resulted in the lead actress getting nominations for the Academy Awards.

Lior Raz has joined the frontlines in Israel to help the innocent victims amid attacks by Hamas forces.

Ellise Shafer Angelina Jolie transforms into legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the first images from Pablo Larraín’s biopic “Maria.” The “Jackie” and “Spencer” director’s latest film will “explore the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva,” according to its official description. “Based on true accounts, ‘Maria’ tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.” As “Maria” is an independent film with an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, production is set to take place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.

Filmmaker Pablo Larraín (Jackie) has revealed two first photos of Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in his new film that will explore the life of the legendary singer, often described as the original diva.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Yanet, lateish twenties, opens her eyes, looks in the mirror, takes in air, straightens two braids of hair, hold her head in her hands, purses her lips, is called for her stage test. She begins to sing. “People say I have to change, but I don’t care at all.

Love Island winner Jess Harding has been seen for the first time in public since her split from boyfriend Sammy Root, who she won the ITV2 dating show with two months ago. Jess, 23, cut a casual figure as she arrived in Manchester on Thursday with fellow Islander Ella Barnes, 22, as the pair headed to an event together. She went make-up free as she sported grey leggings and a white cropped jumper, with a headband pushing her blonde locks out of her face.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fusion Entertainment has signed on to manage Joanna Arnow, an acclaimed acclaimed writer, director, actor and editor whose narrative feature debut “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” impressed audiences and critics when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight section.The film was later acquired by Magnolia Pictures. It will be released domestically in 2024 after having its U.S.

Here’s your first look at This Town, the latest TV drama from Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes creator Steven Knight, starring Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, Anatomy of a Scandal), Nicholas Pinnock (Life, Marcella), and David Dawson (My Policeman, The Last Kingdom). 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Mexico’s Mónica Lozano, producer of Alejandro González Iñarritu’s “Amores Perros” and Eugenio Derbéz’s “Instructions Not Included,” has boarded “Cepeda,” an envelope-pushing Mexico-set procedural, turning on a Mexican cop who’s an Indigenous woman and great at her job. Development over the last two years has been financed by Acuña’s Chile-based Promocine.

Actress Joan Collins has paid tribute to her “first boyfriend”, as fellow actor David McCallum sadly died at the age of 90.The Scottish actor, who starred in the 1960s hit spy drama The Man From U.N.C.L.E. had died of natural cases in New York City, his son Peter announced on Monday 25 September. Following the announcement, Joan took to social media to share a throwback picture with David as she revealed she is “so sad” to hear about his death.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent SAN SEBASTIAN — In a first big deal to be announced during this year’s San Sebastian Festival, Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s biggest independent and international creation-production-distribution powerhouses, has acquired Cimarrón, the Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico-based production house and services company. Of “highly significant value,” TMS said Friday, the deal looks set to consolidate TMS’ presence in Latin America and beyond.

Christopher Vourlias Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland has remained defiant despite a wave of vicious political attacks and online hate speech as she prepares to release her Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” in Poland on Sept. 22.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Mexico’s Katina Medina Mora, director of Netflix hits ‘Emily in Paris’ and ‘Firefly Lane’ and Apple TV+ standout “Swagger,” is teaming with Chile’s Julio Rojas, creator of podcast phenom “Caso 63,” to direct and co-write with Rojas “Freeland.” Medina Mora, Rojas and “Freeland” producer Nestor Hernández, a former Sony and HBO development exec for Latin America, will attend the San Sebastian Film Festival, which kicks off on Sept. 22, to present the project.

Hugh Jackman went about his business one day after he and his wife of nearly three decades announced they are separating. The “Wolverine” star was spotted out and about Saturday morning in New York City walking alone and lookin

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The political backlash surrounding Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” hasn’t kept the movie from being a hot seller. The film explores the injustice and terror perpetrated at the Polish-Belarusian border from the perspective of refugees, Polish activists and border guards.

Naman Ramachandran Jessica Chastain will receive the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Icon Award. Chastain will present her latest film “Memory” at the festival alongside director Michel Franco and co-star Peter Sarsgaard on Oct. 1.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The popular sitcom “Modern Family” is picking up some new real estate — while keeping its other homes. Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS cable network will start showing a three-hour block of the landmark comedy, which ran on ABC for 11 seasons between 2009 and 2020.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Alicia Moncholí, winner of the New Directors of Asturias Award for her latest short, “Campolivar,” is developing her first feature film, the coming-of-age drama “Weekends,” just announced as one of the five titles in development set to be presented at the Second Spanish Screenings on Tour. They unspool at Rome’s MIA forum, which takes place Oct.