Samuel Goldwyn Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has taken North American rights on Tarik Saleh’s Cairo Conspiracy, which formerly was known as Boy from Heaven. Sweden’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where Saleh won the Best Screenplay prize. Samuel Goldwyn is planning an early-2023 release.

Liam Neeson crime thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners opens on 896 screens this weekend, joined by Sean Penn in Asphalt City — the Godzilla vs. Kong of the specialty market?

Martin Scorsese accepted the PGA’s David O. Selznick Achievement Award tonight and took the Hollywood & Highland Ovation Ballroom down memory lane — about 60 years ago, when he accepted a PGA award for his student film, It’s Not Just You, Murray!, at the ripe age of 22 years old.

In a meditative and heartfelt speech, Barbra Streisand accepted the SAG Life Achievement Award on Saturday by paying tribute to the industry’s roots and extolling her abiding passion for the craft.

We’ve all heard of the first screenings for Oscar contending movies during Thanksgiving weekend, i.e. American Hustle and Joy in years past, however, to literally hold a glittery world premiere post-Turkey day is a rare feat. But that’s exactly what 32x Grammy winner Beyoncé did tonight with her AMC-distributed concert documentary movie Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé which made its grand debut at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Joan Evans, an actress who was the goddaughter of Joan Crawford, died Oct. 21 in Henderson, Nevada, according to her son, John Weatherly. No cause was given.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films has signed a worldwide catalog deal with Concord Originals for rights to three Rodgers & Hammerstein films. The distribution pact involves two classic Hollywood films, 1958’s “South Pacific” and 1955’s “Oklahoma.” It also includes a filmed Royal National Theatre production of “Oklahoma!” that was staged in 1998 and starred a pre-Wolverine Hugh Jackman.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kim Jee-woon’s black comedy “Cobweb,” which debuted this year at Cannes, is set for a U.S. theatrical release in early 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first trailer for Liam Neeson crime-thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners, which debuts tomorrow at the Venice Film Festival.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to the “The Three Musketeers,” a two-part adaptation of the swashbuckling French adventure story by Alexandre Dumas. The two films were shot back-to-back, with the first film “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” released in France this past April, earning $35 million at the international box office. The sequel “The Three Musketeers: Milady” will open in the country on Dec. 13. The period epic boasts a top-shelf ensemble of European stars such as Francois Civil (“Call My Agent!”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Pio Marmaï ((“Happening”), Eva Green (“Casino Royale”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). Both films were directed by Martin Bourboulon, with screenplay by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to “In the Land of Saints and Sinners,” a new thriller starring Oscar nominees Liam Neeson and Kerry Condon. The studio is planning to release the film in theaters this fall. “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” unfolds in a remote Irish village, where a damaged Finbar (Neeson) is forced to fight for redemption after a lifetime of sins. The question is what price is he willing to pay, as he finds himself drawn into a lethal game of cat and mouse with a trio of vengeful terrorists. Neeson has starred in dozens of films, including “Schindler’s List,” “Taken,” and “Batman Begins.” Condon was nominated for nearly every award imaginable for her supporting performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin.” The starry ensemble also includes Colm Meaney (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Oscar-nominee Ciaran Hinds (“Belfast”), Jack Gleeson (“Game of Thrones”), Desmond Eastwood (“Normal People”) and Sarah Greene (“Bad Sisters”).

Lionsgate has pushed up the release date for its Gerard Butler-led action-thriller Plane by two weeks. The film previously scheduled for January 27 will now open wide on January 13, 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has announced its promotion of Miles Fineburg to VP, Acquisitions and Sales. 

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up North American rights to Kyra Sedgwick’s second feature directorial, Space Oddity, based on Rebecca Banner’s Black List script.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films president Peter Goldwyn has weighed in on the backlash to India’s selection of its competitor for this year’s best international film race at the Oscars, calling candidate “The Last Film Show,” which it will release in North America, “a really strong contender.” Directed by Pan Nalin (“Samsara,” “Valley of Flowers”), the Gujarati-language film is the story of a nine-year old boy pursuing his dreams in cinema. It debuted at the Tribeca Festival in 2021 and has since played fests in Palms Springs, Seattle and Mill Valley. “Last Film Show” will have its commercial release in Gujarat, India on Oct. 14, 2022, giving it the necessary qualifying theatrical run in its home territory.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to the drama Manifest West, starring Lexy Kolker (Shooter), Annet Mahendru (Father Stu), Milo Gibson (Under the Stadium Lights), Tim Heidecker (Spin Me Round) and Michael Cudlitz (Clarice), slating it for release in theaters and on digital platforms this fall.

Where do great movies come from? When Netflix started creating its own shows a decade ago, Ted Sarandos and his colleagues put that question to select creatives around town. It was a smart exercise – but most respondents insisted there was no answer.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThe Motion Picture & Television Fund, celebrating its 100th anniversary, might be the most active, admired — and most misunderstood — organization in Hollywood. Silent screen star Mary Pickford started the philanthropic org under the name Motion Picture Relief Fund (it was renamed in 1971).Over the century, entertainment’s biggest heavyweights gave support.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to Alexander Jeffery’s feature A Chance Encounter—formerly known as Molto Bella—slating it for release in theaters and on digital this fall.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund on Friday said it will continue its yearlong centennial celebration with “100 Years of Hollywood: A Celebration of Service,” an event June 18 in West Hollywood that will feature musical performances and tributes. Jodie Foster, Harry Northup, Yvette Nicole Brown and more are set to appear at the event at The Lot at Formosa, along with musical guests set to include Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Tori Kelly, and Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“Bonnie is legendary for her boundless energy on the Crosiette,” AGC Studios head Stuart Ford said of his marketing head Bonnie Voland, whose 40th Cannes Festival was celebrated by Ford and friends at an elegant beachside cocktail on Friday evening.“This is my 15th Cannes with Bonnie Voland and I’m not sure I still have the energy to keep up with her,” he confessed in a speech in her honor at the cocktail.Voland has had a rich career to date, – she insists she’s certainly not done yet –  graduating as a French major at Hunter College, and working as an actress in Paris before first attending Cannes in 1982 for Passion – The Magazine of Paris. She ran the Toronto Festival press office in the mid-eighties, then worked in Los Angeles for Samuel Goldwyn, Buena Vista International and Chris Blackwell’s Island Pictures, and created her own PR agency and consultancy B.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to the coming-of-age film C.R.A.Z.Y., which launched the career of the late Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club), making the film accessible to U.S. audiences for the first time since its run on the festival circuit in 2005. The film will hit theaters on June 3rd, following promotional screenings at prominent LGBTQ+ film festivals across the country.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to Grandave International’s romantic comedy Divorce Bait, with plans to release it in theaters and on digital platforms this fall.

Smart-TV maker Vizio, which had its IPO nearly a year ago, reported fourth-quarter results below Wall Street expectations, with revenue slipping 14% from the same period in 2020.

EXCLUSIVE: Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed two significant deals on Omerta 6/12, a Finnish action thriller.

Films from Belfast to Drive My Car, from The Worst Person In The World to Nightmare Alley saw ticket sales pop after Academy Award nominations and as distributors kick into high gear for this weekend and beyond, juggling theater counts and ramped up media campaigns that now have a shiny new imprimatur.

Minamata, the Andrew Levitas film starring Johnny Depp, is getting a U.S. theatrical release this weekend with 27 runs, a full year after it was first skedded for U.S. screens.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment’s family film Dakota, starring Abbie Cornish (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Lola Sultan (Netflix’s Yes Day), William Baldwin (Backdraft), Patrick Muldoon (The Comeback Trail) and Tim Rozon (Surreal Estate), for release in limited theaters beginning April 1, with a platformed theatrical rollout to follow.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Plaza Catedral, the Oscar-shortlisted film from writer-director Abner Benaim, which looks to represent Panama at the 94th Academy Awards, in the category of Best International Feature. The company’s release plan has not yet been disclosed.

Filmmaker Anthony Hemingway has signed on to direct a present-day remake of the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife” from Bassett Vance Productions and Anthony Hemingway Productions.The film will be based on the 1996 movie of the same name, which was directed by Penny Marshall and starred Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance. Having previously acquired the film rights from Samuel Goldwyn, BVP closed the deal for Hemingway to direct and produce the film.

Naman Ramachandran Protagonist Pictures has closed sales on several key territories, including the U.S.

A man of formidable ego, Samuel Goldwyn once confided that, while he’d basically invented Hollywood, he disliked the word “movie.” It sounded “dopey and made-up,” he told me.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has closed a raft of sales on Leah Purcell’s Australian revenge tale “The Drover’s Wife,” and Alex Camilleri’s “Luzzu” which world premiered at SXSW and Sundance, respectively. After selling North American rights to “The Drover’s Wife” to Samuel Goldwyn, Memento has sold “The Drover’s Wife” to the U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: Cheryl Ladd is headlining the country music driven feature A Cowgirl’s Song which Samuel Goldwyn will distribute worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE: The Thinklab Media and Kapers Animation have revealed first images from “Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow”, the animated noir-ish family thriller now in production in Spain for expected completion in Summer 2022.  Director is Julio Soto Gúrpide (Deep) with a screenplay by Rocco  Pucillo who won the 2013 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for it.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Margate House Films’ Edge Of The World (previously known as Rajah), starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), Josie Ho (Dream Home) and Dominic Monaghan (Lord Of The Rings).