Newen Studios Acquires French Producer Marie Guillaumond’s Felicita Film

Sofia Coppola‘s “Priscilla” hits theaters today amid a great deal of buzz, partially thanks to star Cailee Spaeny winning the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival for her title role. But not everyone was thrilled Coppolla announced plans to adapt Priscilla Presley‘s 1985 “Elvis And Me” for the big screen last year.

the devil in disguise.A mere four months before the singer died of complications resulting from a small bowel obstruction, Presley sent two emails to the director begging her to revise the script for “Priscilla,” according to Variety.The bio-pic, which is based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” focuses on the courtship between the infamous pair which began in Germany in 1959.The issue? Priscilla was 14 and Elvis was 24. “My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,” Lisa Marie wrote in a September 2022 email.

The marriage between Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson was certainly controversial and unexpected when it occurred in May 1994. After all, it lasted less than two years before the couple split in January 1996. And now, decades later, we’re learning more about the ill-conceived union.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Before her death earlier this year, Lisa Marie Presley expressed shock and horror over the depiction of her father Elvis Presley in the script for Sofia Coppola’s new film “Priscilla.” Described in two emails obtained exclusively by Variety, the late Presley asked Coppola to reconsider her vision for the character and to spare her family public embarrassment. The messages were sent four months before Presley suffered fatal cardiac arrest in January.

Kendall Jenner is stepping out for coffee.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paris-based company 2425 Films, recently acquired by Mediawan, is working with a pool of rising filmmakers on timely movies, including Charly Delwart’s “1,5 degré,” Ilan Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” and Thomas Kruithof’s “Les Braises.” 2425 Films, founded by Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber, has been thriving with smart, high-concept commercial movies, such as Yann Gozlan’s “La boite noire” and “An Ideal Man,” as well as the thriller “Burn Out.” The company also presented Gozlan’s latest film, “Visions,” a thriller starring Diane Kruger (co-produced by Eagle Team Entetainment) at this year’s Angouleme Film Festival. Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” is a film set in the world of French politics, with a duo of French stars, Marina Fois and Laurent Laffite, who previously co-starred in “Papa ou Maman,” a French hit comedy franchise.

Anna Marie de la Fuente High-concept horror film “Rosario” is getting a stellar cast. David Dastmalchian (“Oppenheimer“), José Zúñiga (“Twilight”), Diana Lein (“Fear the Walking Dead”), Paul Ben-Victor (“The Irishman”) and Emilia Faucher (“CODA”) will join rising star Emeraude Toubia (“Shadowhunters”) in the pic. Penned by Alan Trezza (“We Summon the Darkness”), the story, set in New York, revolves around Rosario (Toubia), a successful Wall Street stockbroker who is trapped in her estranged grandmother Griselda’s apartment during a snowstorm.

EXCLUSIVE: James McAvoy (X-Men franchise), Lucas Bravo (Emily In Paris), Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) and Almudena Amor (The Good Boss) have been set for thriller Turn Up The Sun! which has begun production in the UK under an Equity PACT agreement.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor International sales agency the Playmaker has signed a deal with Blue Finch Film Releasing to distribute the one-shot horror film “Home Sweet Home — Where Evil Lives” in the U.K. and Ireland. Thomas Sieben’s film, which made its world premiere in August at FrightFest in London, has its market premiere at AFM.

Just last month, “Star Wars” fans were treated to the news that Guillermo del Toro was working with Lucasfilm, at least at one point, on a couple of projects, including a solo film about the villainous Jabba the Hutt. Obviously, that was during a time where “Star Wars” was in a state of flux and Lucasfilm was desperately trying to figure out the way of the world under Disney’s ownership.

EXCLUSIVE: Sky Studios has put in development a comedy series about medieval Essex from The Great writer Ava Pickett and Big Talk Studios.

With “All The Light We Cannot See” hitting Netflix next week, Shawn Levy is making the press rounds to promote his miniseries. And that gives him a chance to talk about his upcoming projects, too, like “Deadpool 3” and the “Star Wars” project he has in development.

UPDATE, 8 AM: Christian streamer Minno, along with Slingshot Productions, Sunrise Animation Studios and Angel Studios (The Chosen) have announced a fall release date for Young David, its original animated series about King David as a kid. 

With her new film “Priscilla,” it’s been five features for Sofia Coppola since 2006’s “Marie Antoinette.” And those movies almost never happened, as after that film’s grueling shoot, Coppola nearly stepped away from filmmaking altogether. READ MORE: ‘Priscilla’ Review: Sofia Coppola’s Understated Biopic Lets Us Draw Our Own Conclusions [Venice] IndieWire reports (via Rolling Stone) that while Coppola loved shooting “Marie Antoinette,” the scale of production left her exhausted.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paramount+ in France has acquired “French Roulette – A Mother’s Ordeal,” Vincent Garenq’s (“Guilty”) limited series set in the 1970s. Under the deal, Paramount+ will have exclusive first-window rights in France to the series, which is represented internationally by France TV Distribution, and will premiere it on Dec.

As you’re probably aware, “Star Wars” and Lucasfilm are at an inflection point. Having pivoted towards streaming for several years, “The Mandalorian,” etc., “Star Wars” Celebration earlier this year indicated that the new future would return to cinemas, announcing three “Star Wars” movies by Dave Filoni, one formerly from Damon Lindelof that will include Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker, and a prequel set in ancient Jedi times from filmmaker James Mangold.

EXCLUSIVE: Caylee Cowan (Divinity) has signed on to star opposite Alexander Calvert in Double Exposure, a new indie from writer-director Howard Goldberg, who also produces alongside Laura Nickowitz and Julia Verdin.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Paris-based sales agency and production company Luxbox has sold the French distribution rights to 12 pics of the late Portuguese maestro filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira to Capricci Films, which plans to release the restored films in cinemas across France from 2024. Expressing his pride at adding some of Oliveira’s best films to its catalog, Capricci’s Louis Descombes said: “We had long hoped to be able to give new life to the unique, mischievous and incredibly modern work of the Portuguese filmmaker.” The Bordeaux-based distributor aims to kick off the releases with “Val Abraham” in the spring.

Anna Marie de la Fuente BTF Media and Spain’s AF Films have teamed up to co-produce “Hasta el Fin del Mundo,” the next film of actress Aislinn Derbez (“Miss Bala”), who marks her debut as an executive producer through her shingle Ais Ais Baby. The romantic drama is also the feature debut of Emiliano Castro Vizcarra, who has written and directed numerous shorts, winning multiple awards, including Best Director at the Cineteca Nacional.

Medyapim (“Mother”) and Ay Yapim (“Endless Love”), Madd is at Mipcom not only as Turkey’s top content exporter but also as an innovative industry driver thanks to a raft of deals that take the country’s booming TV business in new directions. The combined firepower of Medyapim that comprises several subsidiaries and partners including MF Yapim, Madd, and Mednova and has a library of more than 10,000 hours of TV content spanning from dramas and sitcoms to feature films and game shows, and Ay Yapım which produces a slew of Turkey’s most beloved dramas, accounts for over 400 hours of original programming per year.