Baltasar Kormakur Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Annika Pham Belgian group Lumiere has signed as co-producer – via its production arm Lunanime – and distributor for Benelux of the Icelandic crime drama “Haze” from Iceland’s seasoned showrunner Sigurjón Kjartansson (“Trapped” Season 1 & 2, “Katla”). The eight-part series, produced by Kjartansson’s S800 for Icelandic pubcaster RÚV, will be showcased at Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision among a handful of standout Nordic series in development.

It’s kind of been a minute since we’ve heard from Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur. Starting his career with acclaimed Icelandic films and thrillers like “101 Reykjavík,” “The Sea,” and “A Little Trip to Heaven,” he then graduated to Hollywood filmmaking, taking on commercial action and thriller efforts like “Contraband,” “2 Guns,” and the mountain climbing film “Everest” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and an ensemble American cast.

K.J. Yossman Clémence Poésy and Emily Beecham have joined the cast of eleventh century period drama “King & Conqueror.” Based on Middle Ages figures Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy, the upcoming BBC/CBS Studios series stars “Happy Valley’s” James Norton as Harold and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) as William. Beecham (“1899”) joins as Harold’s wife Edith Swan-neck while Poésy (“In Bruges”) will play William’s wife Matilda.

Clémence Poésy and Emily Beecham have boarded King & Conqueror, CBS Studios‘ big-budget period drama that stars James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features we hear has set a July 12, 2024 limited theatrical release date for Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic-drama Touch.

Focus Features‘ second movie with filmmaker Robert Eggers, Nosferatu, will be hitting cinemas on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024.

James Norton (Happy Valley) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) are set to star in the new CBS Studios period drama series King and Conqueror from creator Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes). The series is based on the 11th-century figures Harold of Wessex (Norton) and William of Normandy (Coster-Waldau) and is set to begin production in 2024.

Lise Pedersen New and boosted tax breaks, plus state-of-the-art facilities and a lean, skilled crew base are drawing a growing number of productions to Scandinavia, a region whose content continues to be in high demand both locally and globally. Denmark remains the exception and does not offer tax incentives or rebates for film and TV production. In addition, its production studios have been hard hit by a war over rights between talent and streamers that brought TV production to a virtual standstill in 2022. Iceland, on the other hand, which upped its tax incentive from 25% to 35% last year, has seen its film industry grow by a whopping 85% over five years. An added benefit for productions is a 25% incentive for music recording, which includes studio costs, travel and lodging.

Based on Olafur Johann Olafsson’s novel released in August, “Touch” follows an elderly Icelandic man named Kristofer (Egill Olafsson) who is forced to shut down his restaurant because of the pandemic. But as the world begins to shut down, he receives a message from a woman named Miko, whom he dated nearly 60 years ago when they were students in London before she suddenly disappeared.

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has boarded Beast and Everest filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic drama Touch, which begins principal photography Sunday in London. Focus will release domestically, with Universal Pictures International handling overseas distribution (excluding Iceland).

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran film executive David Kosse is leaving his post as VP of International Film at Netflix amid a restructure of the company’s European content business. Kosse joined the streamer in 2019, overseeing all international film production and acquisitions with a focus on making and acquiring significant non-English language films with global appeal. He is expected to continue to produce for Netflix and others.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Co-organized with CAA Media Finance, a new San Sebastian Festival Creative Investors’ Conference will see many of the good and great of the international film business descend on September’s fest edition to be pitched 10 higher-budget Spanish movies by their producers.  The Conference will run Sept.19-20. In a cosmopolitan lineup, titles pitched include international co-productions such as “Whalemen (At the Ends of the Earth)” from “Everest” director Baltasar Kormákur as well as the latest from “Amama” helmer Asier Altuna and “Raqa,” from Gerardo Herrero, an Academy Award wining producer for “The Secret in Their Eyes.”  

EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed emerging, young actress Leah Sava Jeffries (Beast, Empire).

Beast (★★☆☆☆) pulls up with a man vs. beast premise straight out of Cujo.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticNo animals were harmed in the making of “Beast.” Frankly, it doesn’t look like any animals were even used in the making of “Beast,” but if you can get past the idea that the two-ton lion threatening Idris Elba and his family in the movie is a singularly frightening combination of ones and zeros, not killer instinct and claws, then “Beast” is a blast.A white-knuckle “When Animals Attack!” movie in the tradition of “Jaws” and “Anaconda,” this big-budget, big-screen release features A-list actors — OK, actor, singular — and a director who knows what he’s doing: Icelandic ace Baltasar Kormákur, who cut his teeth on such nightmare-inducing man-against-nature films as “Everest” and “Adrift.” Here, the threat is a very big, very angry African cat, understandably agitated after a group of poachers slaughtered his pride, that has decided to kill every human that crosses his path. Seriously, the body count in this movie is off the charts.

Baltasar Kormákur’s man vs. lion adventure film “Beast” is positively Spielbergian … late Spielberg, that is.

Idris Elba is getting some support from his family at the premiere of his new movie.

Universal revved up exhibition at its CineEurope presentation today in Barcelona, offering a glimpse at 2023’s Fast & Furious X, including a first look at new cast members Jason Momoa and Brie Larson. The Louis Leterrier-directed 10th installment is currently in production for release next summer.

The first trailer for Idris Elba‘s upcoming movie Beast has been released – and it’s intense!

Ever had a holiday and by some random turn of events, it’s just gone incredibly wrong? Maybe you forgot to pack your swimsuit or that extra pair of underwear. Whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as being chased by bloodthirsty lions.

Marta Balaga Shooting mostly in Iceland and Greenland, the team behind Netflix’s upcoming release “Against the Ice” – now shown in Berlin – had to battle punishing weather conditions and freezing cold, as well as star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.“It was quite challenging, working with Nikolaj. Apart from that, it was alright,” joked actor Joe Cole during the press conference. “My character is quite different from me.

Christopher Vourlias When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Iceland last year, shutting down production on Netflix’s eight-part supernatural volcano drama “Katla,” veteran filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur was quick to rise to the challenge.With the support of the streaming giant, Kormákur came up with measures that would allow the production to get up and running again, introducing frequent testing and devising a color-coded system to control the flow of cast and crew on set.Since then, there’s

Christopher Vourlias When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Iceland last year, shutting down production on Netflix’s eight-part supernatural volcano drama “Katla,” veteran filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur was quick to rise to the challenge.With the support of the streaming giant, Kormákur came up with measures that would allow the production to get up and running again, introducing frequent testing and devising a color-coded system to control the flow of cast and crew on set.Since then, there’s

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDanish “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, his wife Danish-Greenlandic multihyphenate Nukâka Coster-Waldau, who is a former Miss Greenland, and Baltasar Kormákur, the Icelandic filmmaker whose Hollywood credentials include “Everest,” have joined forces to put their promotional muscle behind the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund, established by the International Sámi Film Institute in Norway.The trio of top Nordic talents have come on board as

Universal will be releasing the Baltasar Kormákur directed thriller Beast starring Idris Elba on Aug. 19, 2022. There are no other major studio wide releases currently scheduled for that date. 

Baltasar Kormakur (“2 Guns,” “Everest,” “Adrift”) and his banner, RVK Studios, are teaming up with Icelandic author Olaf Olafsson on the film adaptation of the writer’s bestselling novel “Touching” (“Snerting”).Olafsson, a former executive VP at Time Warner, is a prolific and critically acclaimed author whose books – notably “Absolution,” “The Journey Home,” “The Sacrament” and “One Station Away” – have been published around the world being translated into more than 20 languages.Set amid the

Annika Pham Icelandic production powerhouse Sagafilm and Germany’s Splendid Film are teaming on the major feature project “Operation Napoleon,” to be lensed mostly in English.Budgeted at around €6 million ($7.2 million), the thriller is based on the eponymous best-selling novel by Iceland’s crime master Arnaldur Indriðason, whose earlier novel “Jar City” was successfully filmed by Baltasar Kormákur.Published locally in 2009 and translated into English in 2011, “Operation Napoleon” was awarded a

EXCLUSIVE: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game Of Thrones) and Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders) are leading the cast of Against The Ice, a survival movie being produced by Baltasar Kormákur (Everest) for Netflix.

EXCLUSIVE: Simu Liu has landed his first project after wrapping Marvel Studios’ forthcoming Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The actor is attached to join Mark Wahlberg in Arthur The King directed by Simon Cellan Jones, who is stepping in to helm the adventure pic after Baltasar Kormakur exited due to scheduling conflicts.

There are certain animals that will always scare the crap out of people. Sharks are one.

Dave McNary Film ReporterIdris Elba will star in the survival thriller “Beast” for Universal Pictures with Baltasar Kormakur directing and producing.Universal is keeping the story line under wraps.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: Range Media Partners has locked 17 more clients for the new management/production company. This comes as its lineup of ground floor partners has changed as Lucinda Moorhead, who left UTA to join Range, has decided she will instead stay with the agency and not join the upstart venture.On the heels of its launch earlier this month, the new Range clients range from talent to filmmakers and TV writer/producers.

Andreas Wiseman International EditorEXCLUSIVE: Mark Wahlberg canine adventure pic Arthur The King has moved from Paramount Players to Lionsgate for domestic and will enter the Cannes virtual market on the slate of eOne-backed international sales firm Sierra/Affinity.The film re-teams Wahlberg with his Contraband and 2 Guns director Baltasar Kormakur and is likely to be among the most in-demand projects at the virtual event, not least because international buyers will have the security of knowing

By Nancy Tartaglione