Shudder Lands Slasher Film ‘In a Violent Nature’ Ahead of Sundance Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India‘s streaming service has had a record 2023 with 22 series and three feature films commissioned, the most since it launched in 2016, and a high level of consumer engagement. India continues to top the charts when it comes to Prime member engagement with Prime Video, the service informs Variety. No other Prime territory has a higher percentage of Prime members watching Prime Video each month than India and Indian content trended in the top 10 on Prime Video worldwide for 47 of the last 52 weeks, securing 15% of the total top 10 slots.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor U.K. based sales and distribution outfit Blue Finch Films has boarded worldwide rights to thriller “Steppenwolf” from writer-director Adilkhan Yerzhanov, whose credits include the Cannes selected titles “The Owners” and “The Gentle Indifference of the World.” The film will have its world premiere at next month’s International Film Festival Rotterdam as part of the Big Screen Competition. “Steppenwolf” is a brutal story of an unlikely duo who will stop at nothing to find what they are looking for.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “Arctic Convoy,” a Norwegian naval thriller that is set in the middle of World War II. The film is from the producers of “The Wave” trilogy, so it’s a homecoming of sorts given that Magnolia released all three installments of that series.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Discovery-owned Eurosport has acquired streaming rights in 54 countries to Olympic refugee documentary “We Dare to Dream” by Waad Al-Kateab, the Oscar-nominated Syrian director of “For Sama.” “We Dare to Dream” is the story of the refugee Olympic team that competed at the 2020 games in Tokyo, which featured stateless athletes from Iran, Syria, South Sudan and Cameroon who swim, run and fight their way to safety in host nations across the world. It’s told through the personal prism of Al-Kateab while she is coming to terms with the reality that she can never return to Aleppo, where she shot “For Sama.” The doc premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June and had an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run at New York City’s IFC Center in October.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fathom Events, the company best known for bringing theater, opera, live events and concerts to screens, is currently on track for gross revenues of over $93 million. Despite the fact that the exhibition space has yet to fully recover from the Covid pandemic, Fathom is enjoying the best year in its history — it will surpass sales from 2019, previously the highest-grossing year in company history, by 116%.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Apple Studios has emerged victorious in a bidding war for “Two For The Money,” a hot package that has attached Oscar-winner Charlize Theron and ex-007 Daniel Craig. Justin Lin, who oversaw several “Fast & Furious” films, is set to direct and produce.

Naman Ramachandran Ena Sendijarević’s “Sweet Dreams,” Netherlands’ submission in the Academy Awards international feature category, has secured North American distribution via Dekanalog. The film had its world premiere at Locarno, where it won the Pardo for best performance for Renée Soutendijk (“Suspiria”) and the second prize of the junior jury. The film debuted in North America in Toronto’s Centrepiece section and won the Silver Hugo new directors award at Chicago.

Naman Ramachandran The first image that the word ‘Bollywood’ conjures up is one of song and dance. And Netflix’s “The Archies” promises to be a prime example of that. “The Archies” is a 1960s-set feature film adaptation of the Archie comics, which are hugely popular on the Indian subcontinent.

Surprise! Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has another new secret project in the can, his second in half a year. His latest, never publicly announced, is a mystery thriller called “Presence,” which will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024.

Earlier today, the lineup was finally announced for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Once again, Sundance has cemented itself as the premier festival in the U.S.

The Sundance Film Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary in January and it’s no surprise that some legendary Park City filmmakers are returning with new films for the 2024 edition. Among the alumni are Steven Soderbergh, whose landmark film “Sex, Lies and Videotape” debuted at the 1989 fest; Debra Granik, whose Best Picture nominated “Winter’s Bone” won the Grand Jury Dramatic prize at the 2010 festival; and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who will premiere their fourth movie at Sundance following 2006’s “Half Nelson,” 2008’s “Sugar” and 2015’s “Mississippi Grind.” READ MORE: “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” Top 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards Soderbergh’s latest effort is “Presence,” starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and Julia Fox.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China and Netherlands-based Fortissimo Films has picked up international sales rights to anticipated Chinese blockbuster movie “If You Are the One 3.” To be released on Dec. 30 in China, the picture is directed by Feng Xiaogang as the second sequel in his anti-romance comedy franchise, about a rich businessman and an air stewardess, which kicked off in 2008 and earned a follow-up in 2010.

Edward Berger To Address Israel’s Sam Spiegel International Film Lab

K.J. Yossman Canal+ is launching in the Netherlands, offering a mix of live TV and streaming on one platform.

England came back from two goals down to beat the Netherlands and keep their hopes of advancing to the knockout stages of the UEFA Women's Nations League alive.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fusion Entertainment has signed Bria Vinaite, an actress who got her breakout role as a woman living on the economic fringes in Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project.” The Lithuania-born actress was discovered by filmmaker Baker when she was working in the fashion industry and cast in the lead part of a struggling single mother raising her daughter in a motel. Her performance earned Vinaite multiple award nominations from critics groups including Chicago Film Critics Association and San Diego Film Critics Association.

Tatiana Siegel For the past few years, Joel Silver has kept a relatively low profile, his most recent credit on the little-seen “SuperFly” remake of 2018. Still, the hard-charging producer behind some of the biggest hits of the ’80s and ’90s was attempting to mount a comeback. And his prospects looked promising with a series of feature film and TV projects at Amazon that were based on Donald E.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

K.J. Yossman Raw TV, the production company behind “The Tinder Swindler,” have set a new true crime documentary with Amazon Prime Video about the 1978 murders of Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton. Titled “Dead in the Water,” it follows the story of Farmer and Frampton, a young British couple who went missing in 1978 after going backpacking in Central America.

Saban Films said Wednesday that it has acquired U.S. rights to Knox Goes Away, a thriller directed by and starring Michael Keaton. The pic, which bowed at this fall’s Toronto Film Festival, will aim for an early 2024 theatrical release in the U.S