Danny Perkins Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Studiocanal, the European powerhouse behind “Paddington,” has created a genre label dedicated to the development, production and distribution of horror, thriller, sci fi and action films and TV series. The company has hired Jed Benedict, a well-known executive who previously worked for the U.K. distribution banner Elysian Film Group, to run the new label.

EXCLUSIVE: UK Director Ben Gregor says his upcoming adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree will tap into children’s post-pandemic anxiety and retreat into screens as it celebrates the joy of being outdoors in nature, in a subtext that will chime with parents worldwide.

Elysian Film Group, Anonymous Content, and Bleecker Street have jointly acquired UK rights to The Boy and the Heron, the latest feature from celebrated Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.

EXCLUSIVE: The Veterans is launching international sales on upcoming UK period comedy Fackham Hall at Toronto and has unveiled first members of the ensemble cast.

The 10th Sundance Film Festival: London runs July 6-9 and will feature an industry section with keynote sessions led by A24 Execs Harpa Manku and Tom Lazenby and new London Film Festival head Kristy Matheson.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Is Take That back for good? “Greatest Days” — the screen adaptation of the British pop act’s stage musical “The Band” — has unveiled its first trailer, with a U.K. and Ireland release date set for June 16. News of the movie’s release comes just a week after the band was revealed as one of the acts set for King Charles’ coronation concert next month. The group will also perform at a London premiere for “Greatest Days” on June 15. The performance will be broadcast alongside previews of the movie, which will screen at cinemas around the country on June 15.

French sales powerhouse company Wild Bunch International (WBI) and Studiocanal UK have embarked on a legal battle in the U.K. High Court over rights to Studio Ghibli films in the territory.

The challenge and opportunity of transatlantic production was the subject of a session at the Zurich Summit this morning, with the panel comprising Bert Hamelinck, head of films and global MD at Belgian-U.S. film and TV group Caviar, CAA Media Finance’s Benjamin Kramer, Elysian Film Group CEO Danny Perkins and Hype Studios founder Ilya Stewart.

Former Lionsgate film chief Patrick Wachsberger, Carol producer Christine Vachon, Neon CEO Tom Quinn and SPC bosses Michael Barker and Tom Bernard will be among industry executives taking part in the Zurich Summit tomorrow [Saturday 24] in Switzerland.

EXCLUSIVE: Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani and Tobias Gutzwiller are officially launching production label Zurich Avenue, which will sit under the banner of their finance company SPG3.

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: ‘Get Ready For It’! Man-band Take That have shot a cameo scene for the Greatest Days film that features hits from the group’s song book.

EXCLUSIVE: Relight My Fire! It required a little Patience but Take That movie Greatest Days, which will star Aisling Bea, has set its cast and financiers ahead of shoot next month. The question now is: Could It Be Magic?

Tim Dams Senior producers and distributors took to the stage at the Zurich Summit to debate the future of film distribution.Amid the rise of the streamers, collapsing theatrical windows and the shuttering of cinemas during the pandemic, they stressed the need for flexibility when planning the best way to release movies.Danny Perkins, the CEO and founder of Elysian Film Group, said: “There’s more change than ever. There is flux.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterKris Thykier’s Archery Pictures, which has credits including the upcoming Colin Firth-starring Mincemeat and Sky Atlantic series Riviera, is teaming with Elysian Film Group, the banner formed by ex Studiocanal UK boss Danny Perkins, to create a new label focused on producing comedy for the UK theatrical market.Mews Films will be run by MD Kurban Kassam, who has credits including Sally Potter’s The Party.

Naman Ramachandran Archery Pictures, the U.K. outfit behind the Julia Stiles-fronted Sky Atlantic series “Riviera,” has teamed with Danny Perkins’ Elysian Film Group Distribution to form comedy label Mews Films.Mews, a production label housed within Archery Pictures, will focus on developing a slate of comedy movies for the domestic U.K.

Ruth Wilson, Cush Jumbo and Rosamund Pike are in negotiations to star in Greatest Days, the film adaptation of the stage musical The Band. Sierra/Affinity is shopping the music-driven project about the English boy band Take That to international buyers starting at the Cannes virtual market.

By Tom Grater

By Leo Barraclough

By Andreas Wiseman

The first few days of the Berlinale saw U.S. entertainment giants make another significant land grab across the globe, this time over the Atlantic.