Peter Kujawski Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Today Focus Features opens Tár, the strikingly original return of Todd Field, in four locations in NY and LA. The film premiered at Venice winning star Cate Blanchett Best Actress as musician and conductor Lydia Tár. Early this week, it seemed to mesmerize a sold-out Allice Tully Hall at the New York Film Festival.

CinemaCon attendees Wednesday got a first look at Focus Features’ second film with Robert Eggers, Nosferatu, a dark and gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her which causes untold horror in its wake.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Think the market for adult-focused specialty films is dead? Peter Kujawski, chairman of Focus Features, explains why you’re wrong on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” As the film biz gathers in Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon, Kujawski, an industry veteran who has headed NBCUniversal’s Focus Features unit since 2016, discusses the state of moviemaking and exhibition and he walks through the key lessons learned from the strike-challenged 2023 box office. Takeaway No.

Angelique Jackson It’s not every day you see a studio head riding a Harley. But that’s precisely where you could find Focus Features’ chairman Peter Kujawski on Wednesday night in Downtown Los Angeles at the trailer re-launch for “The Bikeriders.” Technically, Kujawski was revving the engine of the Harley-Davidson Jumpstart, a ride simulator.

We are getting the first look at Lily-Rose Depp in her upcoming horror movie Nosferatu!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Robert Eggers‘ long-in-the-works remake of “Nosferatu” will haunt theaters next Christmas. Focus Features has scheduled the movie for Dec. 25, 2024.

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

EXCLUSIVE: New Regency‘s Jeff Nichols-directed crime drama The Bikeriders, which was at 20th Century Studios, is getting acquired by Focus Features. Focus is taking global rights to the pic, reteaming them with New Regency who they partnered with on 2022’s The Northman. A 2024 theatrical release is planned. Universal will distribute the movie overseas.

J. Kim Murphy Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Jeff Nichols‘ “The Bikeriders,” ending a short period of producer New Regency shopping the finished film to studios.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the 33rd annual Gotham Awards Ceremony, taking place live and in person on Monday, November 27, 2023 in New York City, The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced the winners of its fifth annual Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase.

More movies potentially for next year’s starved 2024 theatrical release calendar: Focus Features has taken U.S. distribution rights to Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front filmmaker Edward Berger’s papal thriller Conclave. The movie’s starry cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Carlos Diehz, Lucian Msamati, Brían F. O’Byrne, Merab Ninidze, Sergio Castellitto and Isabella Rossellini.

Universal Pictures may have had some big guns to play with at CinemaCon with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” and David Leitch’s “The Fall Guy,” but its mini-major division, Focus Features, wanted a little bit of the spotlight.

A platoon of titles hits the specialty circuit this weekend, getting in ahead of steamroller Avatar: Way of Water and the year-end deadline for Oscar eligibility. This is a soul-searching, what-lies-ahead moment for a market still much too inconsistent for comfort, but that can be pondered later. At the moment, indie distributors are quite busy “with all these movies, and these plans to release theatrically. We are not going anywhere,” said one executive.

The 32st annual Gotham Awards is underway, and Deadline is updating the winners list live from in-person event at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan.

Veteran studio executives Peter Kujawski and Jason Cassidy will receive an Industry Tribute at the 32nd annual Gotham Awards ceremony, taking place live and in person at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Monday, November 28.

Clayton Davis With audacious directors, courageous actors and unforgettable stories that have touched the lives of cinephiles on a global scale, Focus Features has been a fixture in the Hollywood firmament for two decades.Since its inception, 14 Focus films have been nominated for best picture: “The Pianist” (2002), “Lost in Translation” (2003), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Atonement” (2007), “Milk” (2008), “A Serious Man” (2009), “The Kids Are All Right” (2010), “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013), “The Theory of Everything” (2014), “Darkest Hour” (2017), “Phantom Thread” (2017), “BlacKkKlansman” (2018), “Promising Young Woman” (2020) and “Belfast” (2021).Marking the 20th anniversary of its first theatrical release, Variety is ranking the 30 best Focus Features films so far.In the summer of 2002, the arthouse studio released its first feature, “Possession,” a romantic drama with Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. Directed by Neil LaBute and adapted from the novel by A.S.

Focus Features has re-teamed with Indian Paintbrush on Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and will handle domestic distribution on the film while Universal International handles foreign.

“I have very little to say except that I think it very charming and kind of you all to give us your Sunday night,” said a disarming Julian Fellowes at the NYC premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era last Sunday. Distributor Focus Features – and the broader industry — hopes audiences will give the film many more Sunday nights, and other days and dayparts, jumpstarting the return to theaters of older demos.

EXCLUSIVE: When Downton Abbey first burst on the scene in 2010, the Julian Fellowes-created series quickly drew audiences and made headlines for its unique spin on the traditional British period drama. This was not your grandmother’s upstairs/downstairs look at the upper crust, rather its take on the aristocracy gave contemporary audiences characters and storylines they could relate to with strong women, quotable dialogue and tons of heart.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterFocus Features has lined up an emotional tribute reel and some primo swag to celebrate its 20 years of prestige indie filmmaking.The Comcast-owned unit run by Peter Kujawski released a heart-tugging compilation featuring its most celebrated movies –including the Oscar-nominated “Brokeback Mountain,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Lost in Translation,” “Milk,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “Phantom Thread” and this year’s contender “Belfast.” In its lifetime, Focus has stacked 143 Academy Award nominations and netted 26 wins. Fourteen of those noms have been for best picture.In addition to unveiling a new logo marking the milestone, the studio is gifting talent, filmmakers and industry insiders with Away luggage packed with a selection of 20 Focus titles, Lingua Franca sweaters embroidered with iconic lines from their biggest hits, and, naturally, champagne.

Focus Features, Peacock and Jordan Peele’s MonkeyPaw Productions have acquired worldwide rights to the megachurch satire starring Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall.

"It's the witching hour here," says Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski during a late-afternoon Zoom from his home office in Toluca Lake, as the tail of an indeterminate animal whizzes by. "This is when the dogs start to go crazy and then the children go crazy with the dogs and it just …," he trails off.

Gregg Goldstein “There’s going to be strain on the marketplace,” says Peter Kujawski, Focus Features chairman.