Rani Mukerji Celebrates Victory Over Cynics With Box Office Success of ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Editors note: This review was originally published May 22 after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film opened in New York on Wednesday and today in Los Angeles.

Jamie Oliver and Jools, his wife of almost 23 years, have renewed their vows in a “special, funny and romantic ceremony” in the Maldives.The 47-year-old TV chef and the former model, 48, married in a church ceremony in Essex in July 2000 and have five children. Oliver, who rose to fame as The Naked Chef in the late 90s, shared the news on Instagram where he posted pictures from the beach ceremony and wrote: “Morning all, Me & @‌joolsoliver got married again ! “Yep After 23 years together, we thought it would be a special moment to celebrate renewing our wedding vows before the kids all start leaving the nest.

Marta Balaga Norwegian animation “Pesta,” directed by Hanne Berkaak, will head to the Frontières Platform in May. Directed at genre film professionals, the event is organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival with the Cannes’ Marché du Film. The film, set in 1349 during the outbreak of the Black Plague, will see two teenagers, Astrid and Eilev, fighting for their forbidden love among the apocalypse as Astrid, a nobleman’s daughter, struggles with her growing desire for “the outcast heathen.”  Granted development funding from the Norwegian Film Institute, “Pesta” is produced by Mikrofilm’s Tonje Skar Reiersen and Lise Fearnley. It’s also named after a shadowy figure from Norwegian folklore, a personification of the plague itself.

Naman Ramachandran Ayan Mukerji will direct “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe. Mukerji previously directed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva,” which was one of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2022, grossing $52 million. He debuted with coming of age film “Wake Up Sid” (2009) and followed up with romcom “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” (2013). Created by producer Aditya Chopra, the spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017), and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The latest instalment in the universe, “Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is the biggest Indian hit of the year so far, grossing $130 million. The four films have together grossed some $300 million.

Naman Ramachandran The next magnum opus from Amazon Prime Video India is “Jubilee,” a period piece that charts the growing pangs of India and the rise of the country’s Hindi-language film industry that would come to be known by the term Bollywood in later years. Beginning around the months in 1947 when the subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan, the dramatis personae in the series include studio boss Srikant Roy (Prasenjit Chatterjee), his movie star wife Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari), trusted aide with acting ambitions Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana), talented refugee Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) and courtesan Nilofer (Wamiqa Gabbi), whose worlds collide.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix is set to reteam with Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin, the creators of the popular crime comedy series “Lilyhammer,” on a new Norwegian program, with the working title “Salmon Island.” The series is set up at leading Norwegian production banner Rubicon and will be helmed by Marit Moum Aune (“Made in Oslo”), who also serves as a conceptual director on the series. “Salmon Island” takes place in a small coastal community in Norway and revolves around two families who are sworn enemies in the global salmon industry. The contemporary series delivers a portrait of the fish farming business, weaving together comedy and drama.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland praised teammate Jack Grealish for his personal performance in the convincing win over Liverpool on Saturday.

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney believes Manchester City's recent experience of the Premier League title run-in will see them pip Arsenal this season.

Naman Ramachandran Ajay Devgn headlines “Maidaan,” a soccer themed film that is based on a true story. Set between 1952-1962, the golden era of Indian soccer, the film follows the story of an unknown hero who created history and records for India that have not been surpassed even 60 years later. “‘Maidaan’ is my personal favorite. I rarely say this, its one of the best films I’ve done. It has shaped up very well. Every department of the film, the storytelling, the direction, the performances, everything looks outstanding,” Devgn told Variety. Devgn plays the role of a sports coach. “It’s a sports coach, but sports is the backdrop. Basically, it’s a very human story of a man and his struggle and his dreams and his family. So that’s lovely,” Devgn said.

Naman Ramachandran Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” shot its way to the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £5.3 million ($6.5 million) opening weekend, according to numbers released by Comscore. In its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Shazam! Fury Of The Gods” collected £1.09 million in second place for a total of £4.09 million. In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Creed III” earned £731,273 and now has a total of £12.8 million after four weekends. Paramount’s “Scream VI” grossed £597,937 in fourth place in its third weekend for a total of £6.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Allelujah” that took £463,973 in its second weekend for a total of £2.02 million.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary specialist Autlook Filmsales closed a raft of sales at a vibrant market during the Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX. “Subject,” directed by Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera, got picked up by Sweden’s SVT, Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Norway’s VGTV, The Netherlands’ VPRO, Israel’s Yes Doc, and Madman for Australia and New Zealand. Dogwoof released the film early this month in the U.K. “Subject” is an examination of the relationship between nonfiction filmmakers and their subjects. It raises important ethical questions during a golden of age for documentaries, when docs are screened by millions of viewers. The film re-visits protagonists of some of the most viewed documentaries of today – “The Staircase,” “The Square,” “Hoop Dreams,” “The Wolfpack” and “Capturing the Friedmans.”

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent LILLE, France — Headed by a commanding performance from Navid Mohammadzadeh, superbly shot and packing arguably the best opening scene of any series in Series Mania main competition, Navid Javidi’s “The Actor” won the Grand Prize at Series Mania on Friday night. The top Series Mania award for the “The Actor” also proves vindication for the Festival which this year has broadened its geographical reach in an effort to discover new narrative modes and styles. Consistently subordinating narrative to mood, “The Actor” certainly wins on that score. Main scribe John Kåre Raake (“The Quake”) and co-scribe Linn-Jeanethe Kyed (“Bø”) scooped best writing for “The Fortress,” a banner upcoming Viaplay title produced by Norway’s Maipo Film and sold by TrustNordisk, which delivers a telling political cautionary tale for our times, a chic isolationist parable thriller set in an alternative Norway which has built a wall to keep foreigners out. When a virus strikes, it becomes a prison.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While she retired prematurely at the age of 39, Brigitte Bardot has left an indelible mark on France’s popular culture in the 1960’s and 1970’s. With her wild blonde mane, smoky eyes and pouty lips, Bardot became a symbol of a modern and effortlessly sexy French woman, and a style emblem that continues to inspire current trends. The event series “Bardot,” which is penned and directed by Daniele Thompson (“The Queen Margot”) and Christopher Thompson (“La bûche”), world premiered at Series Mania Festival to unanimous praise and has been pre-sold by Federation nearly worldwide. “‘Bardot’ is like the French ‘The Crown’ because Bardot embodied France, and through her journey we reminisce about many parts of France’s history and popular culture in the 1950’s and 1960’s,” Federation’s boss and “Bardot” producer Pascal Breton told Variety.

Naman Ramachandran New history documentary series “Queens That Changed the World,” that shines a light on some of the world’s most powerful female rulers, has scored a raft of worldwide sales. Channel 4 has acquired the series for the U.K. The series is produced by Woodcut Media who brokered the deal with Channel 4, and is distributed worldwide by Abacus Media Rights who have already pre-sold it to streaming service BBC Select (U.S. and Canada) and broadcasters SBS (Australia), AMC Networks International (Spain and Portugal), Viasat World (CEE, Scandinavia, Baltics, CIS), NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden), Czech TV (Czech Republic) and HOT8 (Israel).

Erling Haaland and Man City face a wait to see if the striker will be fit for the return of Premier League football after the striker pulled out of international duty with Norway.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian Canadian actor Giacomo Gianniotti, who played Dr. Andrew DeLuca on “Grey’s Anatomy,” is set to star in “Inganno,” Netflix’s Italian adaptation of the U.K. TV series “Gold Digger” that starts shooting this week on the Amalfi coast. The taboo-breaking show – which was dubbed a “toyboy thriller” by the British press – depicts the passionate and turbulent relationship between an older woman and a man who is half her age. In this case the affair disrupts and subverts Italian social and family norms. A “Gold Digger” adaptation for Indian audiences is also reportedly in the works. “Inganno,” which means “deceit” in Italian, is being directed by Neapolitan auteur Pappi Corsicato whose “The Seed of Discord” competed at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. Corsicato’s visual style is often compared to Pedro Almodovar, of whom he has been an assistant.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent LILLE, France — The gauntlet thrown down by the opening stretches of Viaplay banner title “The Fortress,” one of nine series in main competition at Series Mania, is to believe that this is fiction.  News footage plays of a pandemic, then a war; huge protests rage around the world as Norway’s prime minister addresses his nation to announce that Norway is building a wall to keep everybody else out. That’s been done before (Israel) and in metaphorical terms (Brexit).  Cut to nine years later: Norway is a bucolic paradise, Sweden next door a refugee camp hell, until strange bacteria kills fish and then humans, and Norway will, foreseeably, need international help and “what starts as a wall, ends as a prison,” comments Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay Group chief content officer.

The Miami Open tennis tournament kicks off this week and Denmark’s Holger Rune and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas were just two of the ATP stars who volunteered during the Miami Open Unites campaign on Monday (March 20) in Miami, Fla.

Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth are one of Hollywood’s favorite couples. The two have been together for years and often share updates and photos of their kids, India, 10, Sasha and Tristan, 9. As the family celebrated the twins 9th birthday, Hemsworth shared a photo of Pataky laughing and shoving their faces into some cake.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Mobile 101, a Nokia Story,” a series about the dramatic rise and fall of the Finnish phone company, has been acquired by Disney+ and Walter Presents in multiple territories. The series was produced by Finland’s Rabbit Films and is represented in international markets by the outfit. The six-part series, which sheds light on how a small Finnish company specializing in rubber boots became the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer at the turn of the 21st century, has been picked by Disney+ Italy, Netherlands and Belgium. Walter Presents, meanwhile, bought it for the UK & Ireland. RUV Iceland has also acquired season one of the series.