Oscar-Winner Rodney Rothman and Adam Rosenberg Launch New Entertainment Company ‘Modern Magic’

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorStefan Ruzowitzky, who won an Oscar for “The Counterfeiters,” is at the Locarno Film Festival on Friday for the world premiere in the iconic Piazza Grande venue of his crime thriller “Hinterland.” He speaks to Variety about the film, which Beta Cinema is selling worldwide.“Hinterland” centers on a former Austrian prisoner of war, Peter Perg, who returns home to Vienna in 1920. Everything has changed.

EastEnders star Sid Owen, who played Ricky Butcher on the popular BBC soap, has revealed Hollywood megastar Al Pacino nearly adopted him when he was 13.The unlikely duo made a film together in 1985, and it turns out life could have taken a very different path for the London-based actor.The Godfather great played youngster Sid’s father in the period epic Revolution. After discovering his teen co-star’s mum had tragically died, the now 81 year old Al considered adopting him instead.

EXCLUSIVE: After winning the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic has been signed by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the Hello Sunshine sale. Last month, the Journal reported Hello Sunshine could sell for as much as $1 billion.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAhead of the film’s world premiere at Locarno Film Festival, Variety has been given exclusive access to the debut trailer for “Hinterland,” the crime thriller from Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky, who won the Foreign Language Film Oscar with “The Counterfeiters.”The film is a center-piece of the festival with a prestigious first weekend primetime premiere on Friday, Aug. 6 in the event’s iconic open-air venue, Piazza Grande.

Diane Ademu-John (The Haunting of Bly Manor) has been tapped as the new showrunner for HBO Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood, Deadline has confirmed. She replaces Jon Spaihts, who stepped down in November 2019 to focus on writing the script for the new Dune feature film.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Dune” television series prequel at HBO Max has found its new showrunner.Variety has learned exclusively that Diane Ademu-John has boarded “Dune: The Sisterhood” in the role of writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Jon Spaihts had previously been attached to run the series, but he stepped down in November 2019 to focus on writing the script for the second of the “Dune” reboot films.The show was ordered straight-to-series at HBO Max in June 2019.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorManagement company the Core Entertainment and Universal Music Canada have announced a joint venture “designed to offer Canadian artists a collaborative and integrated approach to releasing music worldwide,” according to the announcement.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentMultiple Oscar-winning Chinese-American director Chloé Zhao, whose “Nomadland” launched from the Venice Film Festival last year, is set to return to the Lido as a member of the upcoming fest’s main jury, which will comprise four women and three men.As previously announced, “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, another recent multiple Oscar winner, will preside over the jury of the event’s upcoming edition.They will be serving jury duty on the Lido alongside

Former MGM Co-President of Production Adam Rosenberg has partnered with Oscar winner Rodney Rothman (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) to launch Modern Magic, a media company focused on creating “event entertainment” for the 21st-century audience, across animation and live-action.

was a life-altering experience that forever changed what I thought was possible. We’ve started Modern Magic to keep going and see what else a motivated, ragtag group of artists can accomplish when they take the leap,” Rothman said.

Love Island’s series seven is well under way, and as we get to know a whole host of new faces, it got us wondering where the old islanders are now. One such Love Island star is Adam Maxted of series two fame, who got together with Katie Salmon while on the show, but the pair split soon after.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Deauville American Film Festival is set to reteam with Cannes to showcase five movies that have played on the Croisette during its next edition and will launch a mini-strand dedicated to anticipated French movies.Cannes joined forces with Deauville last year following the cancellation of its physical edition due to the pandemic.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMika Brzezinski, Nicolle Wallace and Jonathan Capehart are among the MSNBC anchors taking on new programming duties — but not on MSNBC.MSNBC will expand its streaming-video channel, renamed “The Choice From MSNBC,” by adding several hours of new daily programming to the entity, and developing new shows.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeOscar winner Matthew A. Cherry (“Hair Love”) is partnering with director/writer Chaz Bottoms to adapt Bottoms’ animated short “Battu: An Animated Musical” into a series.

It is very important for a teenage girl to stay ‘calm’ to be herself or she gets turned into a rather active huge red panda that is bigger than some buildings. Pixar’s latest outing by the Oscar-winning director of ‘Bao’ Domee Shi is an exciting story about a teenage girl’s struggle.

While Pixar employees have reportedly grumbled that Pixar films have been going straight to Disney+ during the pandemic and post-pandemic, the animated studio is having a banner year and is not slowing down. Having just come off the Oscar-winning “Soul” in March (which won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score), Pixar then released “Luca,” the Italian seaside, sea-monster friendship film.

Naman Ramachandran The Netherlands Film Fund and the Swedish Film Institute are among eight European public funders that are launching ‘New Dawn,’ an inclusion and equality production fund that aims to support under-represented groups in the world of film. Apart from the Netherlands and Sweden, the other founder funding bodies are from Slovenia, Denmark, Finland, French and Flemish Belgium, and Luxembourg.