Music Box Films Takes North America On Babak Jalali’s Sundance Immigrant Drama ‘Fremont’

Matt Johnson’s film BlackBerry about the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone passed $1.7 million its second week out with an estimated three-day gross of $525k in 595 theaters.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent CAA Media Finance has come on board to handle sales in North America on Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” the first film from Sudan to launch from the Cannes Film Festival. CAA will be working in tandem with Egypt-based producer Ali El Arabi’s Ambient Light Films, which holds North American rights for the timely drama that premiered on May 21 in Un Certain Regard. “Goodbye Julia” takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan. It revolves around two women, one from the north, the other from the south, that are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities.

EXCLUSIVE: Egyptian-U.S. company Ambient Light has acquired North American sales rights for Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title Goodbye Julia.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount’s Republic Pictures label has acquired North American rights to dystopian drama-thriller The End We Start From, starring BAFTA and Emmy winner Jodie Comer (Killing Eve).

Christopher Vourlias XYZ Films has acquired North American sales rights to “StayOnline,” from Ukrainian director Anton Skrypets, which uses the innovative Screenlife format to tell the story of a young Kyiv woman who risks her life to help a boy whose parents have gone missing after the Russian invasion. “StayOnline” was co-written by Skrypets and Eva Strelnikova, who also served as director of photography. It was produced by Marina Kvasova and Alla Lypovetska of the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP). The film begins when a young woman volunteering in Kyiv is given one of the thousands of laptops donated by ordinary Ukrainians to support the war effort. She’s asked to install a sensitive military application and deliver the laptop to her brother serving on the frontline.

Post Malone has shared a clip from the music video he filmed in Scotland for his latest single Mourning. The rapper - whose real name is Austin Richard Post - shared a snippet from the upcoming clip as he declared his love for our country.

EXCLUSIVE: Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) has acquired North American rights to Carol Ray Hartsell’s Hamptons-set indie romantic comedy Love… Reconsidered for a Valentine’s Day 2024 release.

EXCLUSIVE: Here at the Cannes Film Festival, Mubi has taken rights in North America, UK, Italy, Latin America, Turkey, India and Benelux to Un Certain Regard movie The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Fast X,” the 10th installment in Universal’s high-octane franchise, is revving up to lead global box office charts. The movie is projected to open to $60 million or more in North America and at least $220 million at the international box office. Based on those estimates, “Fast X” is looking to capture $280 million worldwide in its first weekend of release. In terms of domestic box office projections, a soft start around $60 million is below the latest entry, 2021’s “F9: The Fast Saga,” which kicked off to $70 million and ended its theatrical run with $173 million in North America. And that was at a time when COVID era restrictions meant only 80% of theaters were open and attendance hadn’t yet rebounded. It also lags way behind pre-pandemic “Fast” installments, including 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” ($98 million debut), 2015’s “Furious 7” (a series-high $148 million debut) and 2013’s “Fast and Furious 6” ($97 million debut).

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International MUBI has acquired all rights for Kevin Macdonald’s John Galliano documentary from Newen Connect. The film “High & Low — John Galliano” has sold to MUBI for North America, U.K. and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux, Turkey and India. The streamer and distributor will reveal its theatrical release plans and streaming dates in the near future. Macdonald’s credits include the Oscar-winning “One Day in September,” “Touching the Void,” “The Last King of Scotland,” “Whitney” and, most recently, “The Mauritanian.” Widely recognized as one of the most influential and successful fashion designers of our time, Galliano dressed the most beautiful and famous women in the world for almost 15 years at Givenchy and Dior. He reinvented the fashion industry by transforming his runway shows into immersive fantasies and helped turn high-fashion from an elitist niche into a multi-billion-dollar global business.

Genesis Owusu has announced his awaited sophomore album, ‘STRUGGLER’, alongside a new single and music video.Announced today (May 18), ‘STRUGGLER’ is set to arrive on August 18 via Ourness/AWAL – preorder the album here. ‘STRUGGLER’ is accompanied by a new single, ‘Leaving The Light’, and its music video.The Bose x NME C23 artist’s upcoming album will serve as a thematic successor to his debut album ‘Smiling With No Teeth’. While ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ chronicled Owusu’s battles with depression and racism, ‘STRUGGLER’ will see him grapple with overcoming his demons.Genesis Owusu said of the album via a press statement: “The struggler runs through an absurd world with no ‘where’ or ‘why’ at hand.

Music Box Films has acquired the US distribution rights to “The Crime is Mine” (“Mon Crime”). François Ozon (“Swimming Pool,” “8 Women,” “Frantz”) directs the comedy of errors starring newcomers Rebecca Marder and Nadia Terezkiewicz, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, and André Dussolier.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Music Box Films has bought U.S. rights to “The Crime Is Mine” (“Mon Crime”), a period comedy by French helmer François Ozon (“Swimming Pool,” “8 Women”). “The Crime Is Mine” stars Rebecca Marder and Nadia Tereszkiewicz, who just won the Cesar Award for female newcomer, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon and André Dussolier. Music Box Films plans a theatrical release for later this year, followed by a home entertainment rollout. Adapted from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, “The Crime Is Mine” follows struggling actress Madeleine (Tereszkiewicz), and her best friend and roommate Pauline (Marder), an unemployed lawyer in 1930s Paris. Madeleine ascends to fame after standing trial for the murder of a movie producer, with Pauline serving as defense counsel and media circus ringmaster. Upon Madeleine’s acquittal, a new life of fame, wealth and tabloid celebrity awaits — until the truth comes out.

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based Lion Heart Distribution has acquired North American rights to Allan Piper’s horror-comedy eVil Sublet co-starring All In The Family star Sally Struthers and Jennifer Leigh Houston.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to the sci-fi comedy “Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out” from Visit Films. The film world premiered at Sundance in January and was presented to international buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. Vertical has slated a summer release for the pic. “Aliens” centers on Itsy Levan, who is devastated by her parents’ decision to leave the city and buy a fixer upper in the middle of nowhere. Her life seems over until she meets her space-obsessed neighbor Calvin Kipler, who has spent most of his life awaiting the next arrival of Jesper’s Comet— partly because of his obsession with astronomy, but mostly because the last time it came, aliens abducted his parents. Calvin is now preparing to finally get abducted with them.

EXCLUSIVE: A24 has acquired domestic rights for John Crowley’s We Live in Time starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh from Studiocanal. The pic is shooting in London.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucy J. Mukerjee has joined Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith’s media company Firelight Media, geared toward nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color, as the new director of its flagship Documentary Lab.

Mubi has acquired 11 films by Lars von Trier for North America, including the director’s Dogme 95 entry The Idiots. It will release a new uncut 4K restoration of the film June 16 theatrically timed to its 25th anniversary, followed by an exclusive streaming release.

The Cure have finally begun their tour of North America – their first in seven years – with a career-spanning setlist that features several rarities, new tunes and fan favourites.The first show of the tour, which took place on Wednesday (May 10) in New Orleans, saw Robert Smith and co. perform a whopping 29 songs, complete with not one but two encore sets.The Cure’s expansive setlist featured two rarities – ‘A Thousand Hours’ and ‘Six Different Ways’, both of which were last performed in 1987.

EXCLUSIVE: Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to the revenge flick Til Death Do Us Part starring Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Jason Patric (The Lost Boys), Natalie Burn (Black Adam) and Orlando Jones (The Time Machine), slating it for an exclusive release in theaters nationwide this summer.