Phil Tippett’s Experimental Animated Feature ‘Mad God’ Sells To Key International Territories

A24 acquired North American rights to Charlotte Wells’ feature debut breakout Aftersun following its bow in Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival last May. Today, we have the first trailer for the award-winning drama — check it out above. A24 releases in North America on October 21.

What to watch: 7 movies & shows to stream this week - Sep 2What To Watch: 7 movies & shows that feature Queen ElizabethDiego Luna is back on Star Wars. Luna previously starred on “Rogue One,” one of the most beloved Star Wars prequels and solo stories, and returns to reprise his role of Cassian Andor, a rebel who ends up being instrumental in the fall of the Galactic Empire. “The Kardashians” can never stay off the air for too long.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Les Films du Losange has closed a raft of major deals on Kasja Naess’s animated feature “Titina” which is produced by the teams behind the Oscar-nominated film “The Triplets of Belleville” and Oscar-winning short “The Danish Poet.” “Titina” will world premiere at Animation Is Film Festival, which takes place Oct. 21-23, and is produced by GKids, in collaboration with Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Variety. Budgeted at $8.5 million, the Norwegian animated movie was produced by Mikrofilm (“The Danish Poet”) and Vivi Film (“The Triplets of Belleville”). The film tells the real-life story of a fox terrier that accompanied her master on an expedition to the North Pole in an air balloon in the 1920’s. It will be released in Norway by Norsk Film Distribusjon, and in France by Les Films du Losange.

Married At First Sight UK expert Paul C Brunson has hit back at criticism of the matchmaking process on the show, after fans said he and his fellow relationship experts had got it “all wrong”. Speaking exclusively to OK!, Paul said that he, Mel Schilling and Charlene Douglas are thinking carefully about the partnerships and “matching them based on all sorts of different things”. Fans had criticised the experts for putting April, 32, and dad-of-four George, 40, together after April said she didn’t want children, while others took to social media to claim they had got this year’s matches “all wrong”.

Kevin Hart’s “Die Hart 2: Die Harder” has added John Cena, Ben Schwartz and Paula Pell to its cast. Additionally, Nathalie Emmanuel is set to return to the series.“Die Hart” and the upcoming second season follow Hart as he plays a fictional version of himself. Tired of being the comedic sidekick, he decides to train at an action school to become a leading man.The second season of the Roku comedy began production on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Naman Ramachandran The roles of three key Paramount International Markets executives have been considerably enhanced by the company. Katherine Liu, who in her previously role of executive VP of strategy and operations for international streaming at Paramount, was responsible for developing and executing a strategic and operational vision for the international growth of the company’s streaming footprint across five continents, will now serve as executive VP and COO, Paramount International Markets. In her new role, based in New York and reporting into Pam Kaufman, president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products and experiences, and Naveen Chopra, CFO, Paramount Global, Liu will focus on the growth of Paramount’s hybrid operating model and the creation of strategic value across businesses in direct-to-consumer and TV Media, including Paramount+ and Pluto TV, pay TV networks and broadcast free-to-air. 

Rachel Bloom, Keegan-Michael Key and Judy Greer hit the red carpet for the premiere of their new series, Reboot, held at the Fox Studio Lot on Monday (September 19) in Los Angeles.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Christophe Honoré’s “Winter Boy,” which is having its international world premiere in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Sept. 19, has been sold to major territories by Pyramide. “Winter Boy” had its North American premiere at Toronto. Described as Honoré’s most autobiographical film to date, “Winter Boy” stars rising French actor Paul Kircher as a teenager struggling to cope with the death of his father. The movie also stars Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lacoste. Pyramide International, whose sales team is headed by Agathe Mauruc, has closed deals for the film with Palace (Australia, New Zealand), Axia (Canada), Brazil (Pandora), Vercine (Spain), Salzgeber (Germany, Austria), Adok (Switzerland), Athena (Benelux) and Taiwan (Hooray Films). Several other deals are in negotiations.

CBS is preparing to set sail with The Real Love Boat by sharing the cold open of its new dating show aboard a Princess Cruises ship.

Season 3 of HBO comedy series Hacks will have a surprising pause in the action, the shows’ creators revealed on the Emmys red carpet Monday.

Angelique Jackson The hottest sales title at the Toronto Film Festival is officially off the market, with Focus Features landing worldwide distribution rights to Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” in a deal worth roughly $30 million. Paul Giamatti stars in the Christmas-themed film that reunites the actor and director for the first time since their Oscar-winning 2004 hit “Sideways.” It will hit theaters in Christmas 2023. In “The Holdovers,” Giamatti portrays Paul Hunham, a universally disliked professor at a prep school called Deerfield Academy. With no family and nowhere to go around the holidays in 1970, he stays on campus to supervise students who couldn’t go home. After a few days, only one person is left: a troublemaking 15-year old named Angus, a good student whose bad behavior always threatens to get him expelled. Along with the school’s head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose own son was recently lost in Vietnam, the three form an unlikely bond as they spend Christmas together during two very snowy weeks in New England. The cast also includes Carrie Preston, Gillian Vigman and Tate Donovan. David Hemingson wrote the film’s script script.

EXCLUSIVE: The biggest deal ever made at Toronto will be on a film that is not in the Toronto Film Festival roster. I’m hearing that Focus Features is tying up a $30 million worldwide rights deal with Miramax’s Bill Block and CAA Media Finance for The Holdovers, after a discreet screening here for buyers held Sunday. Focus will give the film a theatrical release, and Middle East is the only turf not covered in the deal. The film marks the reteam between director Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti, who teamed memorably in the 2004 wine-tasting road trip comedy Sideways, a film that won Payne and Jim Taylor Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay. David Hemingson wrote The Holdovers script.

Christopher Vourlias Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has closed a raft of deals on the animated feature film “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower,” from directors Rémi Durin and Arnaud Demuynck. The children’s animated feature, with graphics by Paul Jadoul, tells the story of Yuku, a little mouse who lives with her family in the basement of a castle and decides to embark on a quest to find the legendary Himalayan flower. The film, which premiered at the Annecy fest and played in the Locarno Kids strand of the Locarno Film Festival, is produced by Artémis Prods. (“Mandibules”) and co-produced by Vivement Lundi! (“Flee”), La Boîte Prods. (“March of the Penguins”), Les Films du Nord and Nadasdy Film. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Paolo Virzì (“Human Capital,” “Like Crazy”) is in Venice where his dystopic drama “Siccità,” which means drought in Italian, is premiering out-of-competition. The innovative pic, which features an A-list ensemble cast comprising Monica Bellucci, Sara Serraiocco (“Counterpart”) and Silvio Orlando (“The Young Pope”), is set amid a protracted drought caused by climate change in the Italian capital where the Tiber has dried up. Virzì spoke to Variety about how “Siccità” germinated during COVID-19 and was shot amid tight pandemic protocols. Excerpts. You worked with novelist and screenwriter Paolo Giordano on the concept and the script for this film. How did the collaboration start?

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of Oscar-winner Phil Tippett’s directorial debut Mad God, the film’s producers Tippett Studio and Ultra 8 Pictures are teaming up on Tippett Productions, a new Canadian-based venture.