EXCLUSIVE: Sunrise Films and Vertigo Releasing have acquired North American and UK distribution rights on the Danish horror-thriller The Girl in the Trunk. The film will be released on digital download across both territories on May 28.
06.04.2024 - 19:11 / variety.com
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CANNES — “Where Are You?” a screen asked behind speakers at a MipTV panel for “Destination X,” one of the most-awaited new formats in the world. Some audience members at the panel, may have been asking the same thing.
Co-commissioned by the BBC and NBCUniversal as part of their international formats pact, “Destination X” is designed as their weekly water cooler replacement for “The Traitors,” whose 11 territory launches in 2023 were the most of any format in the world, according to “Tracking the Giants,” a report by analysts K7. Presented Saturday morning at MipTV “Tracking the Giants” branded “The Traitors” Format of the Year.
So its follow-up has been greeted with huge anticipation, an industry audience packing out the boutique auditorium Palais Stage at Cannes Palais des Festivals during MipFormats to attend a panel, ‘Destination X’ Case Study – Building a Global Format With NBCUniversal and BBC. What they didn’t get, however – and what many were surely looking for – were visuals of the new show, any instance of its tone, pace, style or specific manifestations of scale.
Featuring Ed Havard, NBCUniversal SVP non-scripted and Syeda Irtizaali, BBC editor of unscripted, what the panel did deliver, however, was a sense of the excitement of the business model behind the new format. An event reality adventure competition, “Destination X” sees around 10-12 contestants – the number doesn’t seem as yet to be sure – driven around different international destinations on a bus with blacked-out windows.
They play a series of challenges and are fed endless red-herrings and a few clues to guess their location. The contestant who marks an “X” on the map furthest from the real location
.EXCLUSIVE: Sunrise Films and Vertigo Releasing have acquired North American and UK distribution rights on the Danish horror-thriller The Girl in the Trunk. The film will be released on digital download across both territories on May 28.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival will honor Jane Campion with its Pardo d’onore Manor award. The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema will celebrate the revered auteur from New Zealand on Aug.
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Lexi Carson The international distribution company Glass House Distribution has acquired the worldwide rights to “The Private Eye,” a mystery, comedy and romance. The film was written and directed by Jack Cook and stars comedian Matt Rife. Glass House Distribution will represent the movie at the Cannes Film Festival in May with all territories available.
Annika Pham Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed Spain and Portugal with AMC Networks International Southern Europe, on the Finnish suspense disaster drama “Seconds”, Variety has learned exclusively. One of REinvent’s MipTV highlights, “Seconds,” made a strong debut on Finnish pubcaster Yle this week, according to head of drama, Jarmo Lampela. “It will easily go over the average viewing target,” he said.
Katcy Stephan Two-time Oscar winner Renée Zellweger is set to return to one of her most beloved roles in Universal Pictures’ and Working Title’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s best-selling novel. Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson are confirmed to return alongside franchise newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall. The film will be directed by Michael Morris (“To Leslie,” “Better Call Saul”).
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Federation Studios has acquired distribution rights to “The Morning After,” an eight-part comedy series headlined by up-and-coming British actor Amara Okereke (“In the Lost Lands”). It filmed on location in Cape Town in South Africa. The show is produced by Paris-based company Paradoxal and Cape Town-based outfit Both Worlds, which previously partnered on “Recipes for Love and Murder.” The series is co-produced by SWR, ARD FabFiction and Prime Video Africa.
Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Germany’s Beta Film is bringing the love story between a Dutch prince and a beautiful Argentinian financier to the Croisette. The world premiere of “Máxima” screens out-of-competition at Canneseries on April 9 after being teased at the London TV Screenings in late February.
The global box office saw some encouraging rebound in 2023, and is off to a better than expected start in the first quarter of this year, but there’s been concern about a downward trend in per capita admissions, and not just because of the strikes’ disruption to the Hollywood theatrical pipeline, but audiences’ moviegoing tendencies have changed coming out of Covid. How to solve?
EXCLUSIVE: The company that sells The Traitors format around the world and the Japanese broadcaster behind Ninja Warrior and Takeshi’s Castle have teamed up to create a physical gameshow.
K.J. Yossman “Ginny & Georgia” exec producer Holly A. Hines has partnered with former Eric Jarboe, former COO of the Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), to launch new L.A.-based film and TV studio Happy Accidents.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. At a March 3 rally in Los Angeles, Matthew Loeb, international president of IATSE, argued that AI has the potential to make union members’ jobs easier.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Mario Van Peebles has been tapped to direct “That’ll Be the Day,” the story of how Buddy Holly and other musicians of the late 1950s helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and influence the wider societal and cultural landscape, including the civil rights movement. Music has been central to much of Van Peebles’ work, from his 1991 gangster movie “New Jack City” to his work on “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” which he co-executive produced for Hulu.
Annika Pham On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on Viaplay’s premium Nordic scripted content.
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The Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is coming off a successful — and at times turbulent — 26th edition, wrapping “amidst an explosive ambiance with episodes of violence and intolerance.”
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with a retrospective featuring classic titles spawned by the Hollywood studio between the dawn of sound and the late 1950s. The Locarno retro, titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures,” is being curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past and organized in partnership with Switzerland’s Cinémathèque Suisse.
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Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia, where popular anime characters such as “Captain Tsubasa” and “Dragon Ball” protagonist Son Goku have been engrained in the culture for decades, is taking its love affair with Japanese manga content to the next level. In late March, just a few weeks after the death of “Dragon Ball” creator Akira Toriyama, it was announced that the world’s first theme park dedicated to the megahit Japanese manga and animation franchise will be built in Qiddiya, the massive entertainment and tourism project outside the Saudi capital of Riyadh through a joint venture between Qiddiya and Japan’s Toei Animation.