Shaggy Dog Story ‘Runt’ to Shoot as Movie in Western Australia

BreAnna Bell Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for the season finale of “Power Book IV: Force,” titled “Power, Powder, Respect,” now streaming on Starz. Sometimes kingpins can’t have it all. The “Power Book IV: Force” Season 2 finale aired on Friday night, leaving viewers with more questions than answers as fans await the fates of several power players in Tommy’s (Joseph Sikora) story — but showrunner Gary Lennon isn’t sharing too many answers ahead of what he hopes will be Season 3 renewal.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company have nabbed The Best Christmas Pageant ever which The Chosen creator/producer/director Dallas Jenkins will direct and adapt from Barbara Robinson’s comedic family book and play. Cameras roll next month in Canada for a 2024 holiday theatrical release.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Boy and the Heron” supposedly the final feature film by Japanese animation maestro Miyazaki Hayao, placed on top of the south Korean box office for a second weekend. It held off challenges from a clutch of new releases, including “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Talk to Me.” “The Boy and the Heron” collected $2.49 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

All Rise alumna Lindsay Mendez is set as a series regular alongside Josh Andrés Rivera and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology American Sports Story, Deadline has learned.

Some major casting news for FX’s American Sports Story has just been announced!

The first installment of Ryan Murphy’s American Sports Story anthology series for FX will star Josh Andrés Rivera as Aaron Hernandez and Patrick Schwarzenegger as fellow former NFL star Tim Tebow. The season is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc from the Boston Globe and Wondery.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Josh Andrés Rivera is set to play Aaron Hernandez in “American Sports Story” at FX, Variety has confirmed. “American Sports Story” was originally ordered at FX back in August 2021. It is designed to be a scripted anthological limited series focusing on a prominent event and/or figure in the sports world, but seen through today’s lens and told through multiple perspectives.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films from Japan, Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” won the top prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Friday. Multiple other honors went to films from Korea and Kazakhstan. The 16th edition of the APSA Awards was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and recognized films from eight countries. “Perfect Days,” a gentle comedy drama about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo finding happiness in the everyday, premiered in Cannes and more recently was selected as Japan’s Oscar contender and as the opening title of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Ultra-prolific writer-director, fiercely independent producer, pioneering entrepreneur, self-made studio chief. Any and all of these labels apply to Tyler Perry, though the one he chooses for himself is “Maxine’s Baby” — the same moniker that documentary duo Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz opted to give their motivational profile of the boundary-obliterating multi-hyphenate, who comes off disarmingly humble for someone who’s achieved so much.

Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose are revealing how they met!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s Rialto and the U.K’s Vertigo Releasing have joined forces to launch Galaxy Pictures, a new film distribution company in Australia and New Zealand. The company will focus on “broad-appeal, star-driven commercial pictures that cater to consumers attuned to an increasingly digital landscape.” The two companies have already been cooperating for the past three years and handle 120 titles.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vietnam-based sales agent Skyline Media has closed multi-territory deals for two of its current titles “The Soul Reaper” and “Vietnamese Horror Story.” The deals follow Skyline’s recent trip to Busan’s ACFM and come ahead of its participation as exhibitor at a string of further final quarter sales events – Tokyo’s TIFFCOM, Santa Monica’s American Film Market and Taipei’s Taiwan Creative Content Fest. Folk horror film “The Soul Reaper,” currently in the final stages of post-production, was licensed to GaragePlay for Taiwan and to Westec Media Limited (WML) for Laos, Cambodia and nine other Southeast Asian territories. The film, adapted from Thao Trang’s best-selling horror novel “Lunar New Year in Hell Village” (aka “Tet O Lang Dia Nguc”), is set to be released in Vietnam cinemas on 08 December. GaragePlay is one of Taiwan’s leading distributors, and recently handles releases of “Suzume,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Someday or One Day.” WML is the biggest content distributor in Cambodia and has distributed more than 1,000 titles theatrically since its establishment.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Disney confirmed in June that a third “Hocus Pocus” movie was in development, and now screenwriter Jen D’Angelo confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the latest Sanderson Sisters tale is still in the story development phase following the end of the WGA strike. “We’re still in the story phase, we’re still working on it,” D’Angelo said.

EXCLUSIVE: Shooting has wrapped on Went Up the Hill, the psychological ghost story starring Cannes award winner Vicky Krieps and Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iranian drama film “Empty Nets” was Monday named winner of the AFF Feature Fiction Award at the Adelaide Film Festival. Directed by Behrooz Karamizade, it collected an A$10,000 ($6,320) cash prize.

EXCLUSIVE: Brian Tee (Chicago Med, Expats) is set to produce the anthology limited series The Scapegoat. The project is currently being shopped around to streamers and premium cablers.

Story Mill Entertainment has entered into a partnership with Range Media Partners that will provide a greater reach for Story Mill’s new content and emerging artists platform, while increasing Range’s slate ambitions and production capabilities.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The inaugural edition of the Cinema at Sea – Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival will be held next month (Nov. 23-29) on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taking a positive look at visual impairment, rather than focusing on it as a disability, “Coyote Ugly” star Adam Garcia joins producer and actor Tsu Shan Chambers in the lead roles of “My Eyes,” a drama film now shooting in Melbourne, Australia. When optometrist Alana discovers her daughter has a rare inherited eye disease, she must look into her past to realize her vision for the future. She discovers that a judo athlete with a visual impairment halfway across the world may hold the answers she seeks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief VVS Films, a leading Canada-based film distributor, will expand its operations to Australia and New Zealand. A24’s Nicolas Cage-starring comedy “Dream Scenario” is set as its first title for the new markets and will release on Jan. 1, 2024.