FBI: International is bigger than ever!
11.04.2024 - 18:35 / deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Isabel J Kim’s debut novel Sublimation, which has been causing quite a stir in publishing and television circles, has landed at Universal International Studios.
The USG-studio acquired the rights to the literary science fiction novel in a highly competitive situation and is planning a series adaptation.
Assemble Media, the IP creation and production company, brought the book to publishers before shopping the adaptation rights for television. Kim’s book scored her a seven-figure three-book deal for the North American publishing rights after a six-publishing house auction.
That deal was brokered between Macmillan’s Tor Publishing Group Senior Editor Carl Engle-Laird and Steven Salpeter at Assemble Media, which is behind movies including The Forgiven, starring Jessica Chastain, Ralph Fiennes and Matt Smith, and Gia Coppola’s Mainstream.
Salpeter, who is President of Literary and IP, principal Jack Heller and Caitlin de Lisser-Ellen, VP of Production and Development, worked with UIS’ Global Scripted Series team and will serve as exec producers alongside Kim.
The book is set in a world where a process called “instancing” splits a person into two distinct copies: one who migrates and one who remains. The story unfolds when a woman who migrated returns to Seoul and must face her other self, while her childhood friend’s New York self draws her into a conspiracy to control the future of instancing, bringing both versions of him back into her life with global repercussions.
USG’s Creative Acquisitions and IP Management team, led by Jordan Moblo, was behind securing the rights to the novel.
Kim is a Korean-American speculative, science fiction, and horror writer based in New York City. She is a Shirley Jackson Award
FBI: International is bigger than ever!
Derek Ferguson has warned Rangers captain James Tavernier he must learn from Jordan Henderson and his Saudi Pro League misstep.
Thania Garcia Música Mexicana artist Carin León has announced his international “Boca Chueca Tour,” slated for this fall. León will kickoff the trek later this year after making debut appearances at both Coachella and Stagecoach. The “Boca Chueca Tour” will hit major cities across North America and Europe, including a night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, two nights at the United Center in Chicago, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, and BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, leads the way in nominations for the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab films, winners of which will be announced during the Cannes Film Festival. The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.
FBI: International is having some major casting shakeups.
EXCLUSIVE: Rotterdam competition title Small Hours of the Night from Daniel Hui (Demons, Snakeskin) and SXSW premiere Adrianne & The Castle by Shannon Walsh (The Gig is Up, Illusions of Control) have landed international reputation via non-fiction agency Indox.
EXCLUSIVE: Sunrise Films and Vertigo Releasing have acquired North American and UK distribution rights on the Danish horror-thriller The Girl in the Trunk. The film will be released on digital download across both territories on May 28.
EXCLUSIVE: June Zero, the latest from writer-director Jake Paltrow (Young Ones, The Good Night, De Palma) and producers Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Bad Education), Miranda Bailey (Swiss Army Man, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and David Silber (Incitement, Junction 48), is set for theatrical release in New York on June 28, Los Angeles July 5 and nationwide July 12 by Cohen Media Group.
The Tribeca Festival on Tuesday announced its lineup of short narrative, documentary, and animated films, as well as music videos for 2024.
Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter A24‘s political thriller “Civil War” is resonating not just in red states and blue but overseas, too. Alex Garland’s film, starring Kirsten Dunst as a photojournalist who traverses a violently divided United States, has grossed $45.7 million in North America and $20 million internationally. Global ticket sales stand at $67.3 million through Monday, and it’s projected to cross $70 million on Tuesday.
EXCLUSIVE: Film Movement has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the acclaimed documentary Obsessed with Light, which explores the influence of one of the most remarkable figures in American arts – dancer-choreographer Loïe Fuller.
Stormy Daniels Doc Finds Global Distribution
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Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Reel Works, the New York-based organization that helps people train for jobs in entertainment, will host its inaugural MediaMKRS entertainment summit on April 12 featuring speakers and representatives from Paramount Global, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, IATSE International, CUNY, The Mayor’s Office, and more.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Prime Video has announced the full cast for action comedy show “Costiera” set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast being directed by Emmy-winner Adam Bernstein (“30 Rock,” “Breaking Bad”) and featuring Jesse Williams (“Take Me Out”) as the lead. The ensemble cast for the English-language series being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide comprises British actor Jordan Alexandra (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” “The Winter King”) (pictured, center); Spain’s Alejandra Onieva (“Alta Mar”) (pictured, left); Italy’s Maria Chiara Giannetta (“Blanca”) (pictured, right); Antonio Gerardi; Tommaso Ragno (“Nostalgia”); Amanda Campana; Pierpaolo Spollon; Britain’s Sam Haygarth (“Jojo Rabbit”); and France’s Jean-Hugues Anglade (“Sink or Swim”).
Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.
Katcy Stephan Two-time Oscar winner Renée Zellweger is set to return to one of her most beloved roles in Universal Pictures’ and Working Title’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s best-selling novel. Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson are confirmed to return alongside franchise newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall. The film will be directed by Michael Morris (“To Leslie,” “Better Call Saul”).
Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan co-production Snow in Midsummer and Swedish title Sons took top prizes in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Worldwide box office is headed for a marginal decline of 3% in 2024, a setback that follows three years of recovery from a pandemic era low in 2020. Gower Street Analytics, a distribution and exhibition industry consultancy, forecasts that worldwide box office this year will aggregate at $32.3 billion, down by more than $1 billion from the $33.9 billion earned in 2023. “A $32.3 billion global box office in 2024 would represent an approximate 5% decrease year-on-year (a 3% decrease at current exchange rates) from 2023. The 2024 revised estimate is 18% lower than an average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019),” Gower Street said. The forecast comes on the eve of CinemaCon, the annual National Association of Theater Owners convention, being held in Las Vegas April 8-11. While Gower Street’s forecast is for a marginal decline, it actually represents a more than $1 billion improvement on its previous $31.5 million forecast for 2024.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Cinecittà Studios, which have been undergoing a radical overhaul since 2021, recently released their fiscal 2023 results, which saw the Rome-based facilities turn a profit for the second year in a row after bleeding red ink for years. The iconic studios are being managed by Nicola Maccanico, a former Warner Bros.