Roco Films and Gathr Launch Documentary Speakers Bureau (EXCLUSIVE)

Mark Shelmerdine, the veteran producer who revived London Films as an indie powerhouse and played a pivotal role in the development of the international TV distribution market, died October 26 in Santa Barbara surrounded by his family. He was 78.

While audiences wait for the arrival of “Poor Things” in theaters next Friday, don’t forget that Yorgos Lanthimos already has his next movie in post-production. And IndieWire reports that it has a new title, too.

It's December, which means the festive season is officially upon us. If you're on the hunt for some new Christmas films to watch, then Netflix has you sorted.

We're officially into December, the season of festive movies, hot chocolates and cosying up in front of the fireplace.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Martin Moszkowicz is to step down as chairman of the executive board of Constantin Film, the producer of the “Resident Evil” franchise and one of Germany’s leading distributors, with deputy chairman Oliver Berben taking over the role. At his own request, Moszkowicz is to let his contract expire on Feb. 29, 2024, and he will then continue to work as a producer for Constantin Film from March 1, 2024.

Scream” franchise lost two stars this week, putting the seventh film in the series in a creative conundrum, according to sources familiar with the project. Variety broke the news that Melissa Barrera was fired by Spyglass, the film’s producer, in recent days over social media messages that it deemed to be antisemitic (specifically, posts regarding the Israel-Hamas war). That decision was made after the company was notified that Jenna Ortega, whose star has risen considerably since she joined the beloved Wes Craven horror series, would not return due to a scheduling conflict with the second season of her smash Netflix hit “Wednesday.” Barrera and Ortega play sisters in the films.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Action movie icon John Woo is not watching superhero movies, he recently told The New York Times in an interview ahead of the release of “Silent Night.” Woo, the Hong Kong director acclaimed for films such as “The Killer” (1989), “Hard Boiled” (1992) and “Face/Off” (1997), said he much prefers “real cinema” like Martin Scorsese movies. “I’ve never liked watching movies with big special effects, or anything based on comic books,” Woo told the publication. “I prefer Martin Scorsese’s movies, that kind of cinema.

Will Tizard Contributor Indie and art film producer Jon Kilik, unlike many, remains hopeful for the personal, mid-budget movie for grown-ups. “Those are the films directors love to make and audiences still love,” says Kilik, being feted this week at Poland’s Camerimage cinematography festival for work of special visual sensitivity.

K.J. Yossman It sounds like the plot of a classic Hollywood disaster movie: a quiet fishing town on the coast of Iceland is threatened when a long-dormant volcano suddenly awakens, causing thousands of earth tremors that have ruptured roads and wrecked houses while residents attempt to flee the impending lava.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alibaba, China’s e-commerce and entertainment giant, revealed a 9% revenue improvement and a return to profits in the three months to the end of September, the second quarter of its financial year. The group, which is in the process of breaking itself up into six separate businesses, had revenue of RMB225 billion ($30.8 billion). Net income of RMB26.7 billion ($3.66 billion) compared with a net loss of RMB22.5 billion in the same period last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Specialty distributor Ariztical Entertainment has acquired the North American rights to New Zealand-set wholesome gay love story ‘Mysterious Ways.’ Ariztical plans a multi-platform digital release in 2024. Written and directed by New Zealand’s Paul Oremland, the film follows a media storm that threatens the marriage between a Vicar, portrayed by Richard Short (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) and his Samoan boyfriend, portrayed by Nick Afoa (“The Lion King”), after they announce their intentions to have a traditional wedding in the church.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MetFilm Sales has acquired worldwide rights, excluding Iceland, to Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson’s directorial debut “The Home Game,” which picked up the audience award at both Nordisk Panorama and the Icelandic Documentary Film Fest Skjaldborg. The film is set to have its North America Premiere at DOCNYC this week and the MetFilm team will be introducing it to buyers at IDFA. Twenty-five years ago, in a small fishing village in Iceland (population: 369), one man built a soccer field at the foot of a volcano, dreaming of a home game in the national FA Cup.

Alison Herman TV Critic SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers from “Unmortricken,” the fifth episode of “Rick and Morty” Season 7. Dan Harmon is, by his own admission, “allergic to serialized, canonical stuff.” But the “Rick and Morty” co-creator told Variety that he resisted that impulse for “Unmortricken,” the episode that brought Season 7 of the Adult Swim animated sitcom to its halfway point on Sunday night. Not only does “Unmortricken” check in on the series’ overarching story for the first time since the Season 6 premiere (which aired over a year ago); it also sees the grisly death of a character once built up as the show’s arch-antagonist, even as it gives another an unprecedented level of power within the “Rick and Morty” universe.

marvel at, and Variety has taken on the nearly impossible challenge of ranking the 40 best characters in the Marvel universe in film and on television. For this list, nothing is off limits: the MCU, Sony’s “Spider-Man” series, Fox’s “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” movies, New Line’s “Blade” trilogy and Netflix’s mini TV universe of street-level heroes — they all count.

Ellise Shafer U.K. entertainment unions Bectu and Equity are celebrating the tentative agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP that is set to end the longest actors strike in Hollywood history. In an announcement on Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA said that the 118-day strike would officially end on Thursday at 12:01 a.m.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Video game fans got a huge surprise when Nintendo announced Nov. 7 that it is developing a live-action film based on The Legend of Zelda alongside Sony Pictures. The film is being directed by Wes Ball, best known for helming three “Maze Runner” movies.

Scotland’s Film and TV industry as grown considerably in the last 10 years, and continues to do so creating new and exciting opportunities for crew roles behind the scenes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading European artists, including Maria Choustova (“Donbass”), Sergei Loznitsa (“Donbass”), Pawel Lozinski (“Film balkonowy”) and Radu Jude (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”), have taken a stand to support the Israeli film community as it seeks to rally voices and help free over 220 hostages in Gaza. These names penned a heartfelt letter addressing the resurgence of antisemitism across Europe and the significant part that European artists must play in raising the alarm. The letter will be sent to the European Film Academy with a request to circulate it among its 3,000 members ahead of the European Film Awards ceremony on Dec.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Archstone Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales rights to “Don Q,” a comedic tribute to mafia movies that stars Armand Assante, no stranger to the genre from his work in HBO’s “Gotti” and “American Gangster.” It was written and directed by Claudio Bellante. Sales for the film kicked off this week at AFM. The film follows Assante’s character, who thinks of himself as a Don Corleone but is really more of a Don Quixote.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In advance of Thursday’s release of the recently completed “Now and Then,” which is being billed as the final new track that will ever be finished and released under the Beatles‘ name, fans are hearing portions of the song — and more of the story behind it — in a 12-minute mini-documentary, “Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song,” that premiered on Disney+ Wednesday afternoon. The doc includes footage from the 1995 recording session in which Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison first had a quickly aborted go at adding parts to a John Lennon demo that had been supplied to them for Yoko Ono.