Sony Pictures Entertainment Unveils Its First LED Virtual Production Stage (EXCLUSIVE)

Technicolor Creative Studios has teamed with state-of-the-art virtual production company NantStudios on the creation of a new virtual production stage, which will open as part of its 60,000 square-foot Creative Hub in Culver City in 2023.

Producer Matt Jackson and his production company Jackson Pictures have signed a multi-year first look deal with Fifth Season — the global film and TV studio previously known as Endeavor Content, which has been behind such decorated titles as Apple TV+’s Emmy-winning series Severance and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Oscar-nominated Netflix drama The Lost Daughter. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Amazon Prime Video has scored a pair of deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony to bolster its programming in France with premium titles. The agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery gives Prime Video the first-window rights to exclusive TV series from Warner Bros. Discovery in France, including “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” the first two seasons of “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” Ava DuVernay’s miniseries “DMZ” and “Peacemaker” Season 1. Also part of the pact are library TV titles, on a non-exclusive basis. These include “Legacies” (Seasons 1 through 3), “Pretty Little Liars,” “Fringe,” “One Tree Hill,” “The Originals” and “Shameless.”

Marta Balaga Italian production company Lux Vide, also behind “Medici” and “Leonardo,” will make its first move into unscripted TV with “Italian Food Tour.” TikTok’s “Condiment Claire” Dinhut and chef Max Mariola will co-host the 12-episode show, exploring culinary – and cultural – characteristics of various Italian regions. Introduced to international buyers during MIA Market, “Italian Food Tour” will start shooting in the spring. Antonio Azzalini has been tapped as showrunner. “At Lux Vide, we like to promote our country. Also because Italians are so bad at marketing,” CEO Luca Bernabei tells Variety at the show’s unveiling in Rome. The company was acquired by Fremantle in March.

K.J. Yossman Entertainment One (eOne) have sold their first Soanish language series “Operación Marea Negra” to over 60 territories including the U.S. and Mexico (Roku), Austarlia (SBS), Latin American (AMC Networks Intl), Canada (TELEUS) and Spain (Disney-owned FOX channel). The four-part series is based on the true story of Europe’s first intercepted narco-submarine in November 2019, when three smugglers crossed the Atlantic in a home-made sub-aquatic vessel carrying more than 3,000 kilos of cocaine. After boarding in the middle of the Amazon, they sailed to Europe while enduring terrible conditions including hunger, engine problems and storms before finally being captured on the Galician coast by the Civil Guard.

Sydney Sweeney is ready for a new project! The ‘Euphoria’ star will be starring in a new ‘Barbarella’ film. And while the production is still in early stages, it was recently confirmed by a close source at Sony Pictures.The 25-year-old actress also seemed to have confirmed her involvement in the project, sharing a photo on Instagram with the caption “time to save the universe,” with original artwork from the 1968 character.Sydney is currently booked and busy, filming ‘Madame Web’ and acting alongside Dakota Johnson in the Marvel adaptation.

Clayton Davis Thirty years ago, former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom created the independent arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment with full autonomy to produce, acquire and distribute films from cinema’s notable auteurs. In the decades since, Sony Pictures Classics has picked up 158 Oscar nominations and 37 statuettes (41 in total for films helmed by Barker and Bernard). It has also made history: Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) earned 10 Oscar nominations, the most ever for a non-English-language movie, and went on to win four trophies, including foreign language film.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Streaming soon on Roku devices: your front door? Roku is expanding beyond its streaming-media players, Roku-branded TVs and home-entertainment speakers with the launch of an array of new smart-home products. The smart-home products include security cameras, video doorbells, smart lightbulbs and smart plugs. Walmart is the exclusive bricks-and-mortar retailer for the Roku Smart Home line, which will be available in nearly 3,500 Walmart stores in the U.S. beginning Oct. 17. The smart-home products also will be sold via roku.com and walmart.com. At launch, customers with Roku devices will be able see who is at their door with their the Roku video doorbell. Users will also be able to view live streams from their Roku cameras or use a Roku voice remote to bring up video feeds.

J. Kim Murphy Sydney Sweeney has found another film project to add to her slate, setting plans to star in a new “Barbarella” movie for Sony Pictures, a source close to the project confirmed. The film remains in early development, with no director, producer or writer currently attached. Sweeney seemed to confirm her involvement with the project through an Instagram post late Tuesday afternoon. The actress shared an image of original artwork from the original 1968 space opera, with a caption: “time to save the universe.”A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney) Sweeney has become somewhat of a marquee talent at Sony Pictures, with the actress co-starring alongside Dakota Johnson in the Marvel Comics adaptation “Madame Web.” The studio also landed the rights to “The Registration,” an adaptation of Madison Lawson’s thriller of the same name. Brad Fuller is producing, while Sweeney is attached to star.

EXCLUSIVE: Sydney Sweeney isn’t done staying busy with Sony Pictures, as sources tell Deadline the Emmy-nominated Euphoria and The White Lotus actress is attached to star in a new Barbarella movie for the studio. The film is based on Jean-Claude Forest’s French comic book series that was turned into a 1968 movie starring Jane Fonda.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Nordisk Film, the deep-pocketed Copenhagen-based Scandinavian film powerhouse, has launched an advanced LED virtual production stage. Named the Shortcut LED Stage, the venue will provide advanced virtual production services for TV, film, commercial shoots, music videos and live events from Scandinavian banners that are owned by Nordisk Film, as well as other companies around the world. The first film productions that have used the Shortcut LED Stage include “Boundless,” the next opus in the “Department Q” franchise, as well as Ole Bornedal’s psychological thriller “Nightwatch – Demons are Forever,” among other projects.

Naman Ramachandran For the first time in its 37-year history, the SXSW festival in Austin will host South Asian House, an initiative to celebrate South Asians from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives as well as accomplished members of the diaspora. The initiative, scheduled for the first weekend of SXSW on March 11 and 12, 2023, will feature programming around film and television, dance and music, technology, business, fashion, comedy and climate change from a South Asian world view across plenaries, sessions, panel discussions, workshops, art exhibits, book launches and music concerts. It will take place in the 4th Street neighborhood of downtown Austin, near the Austin Convention Center event headquarters.

Expanding their family! Joy-Anna Duggar confirmed she is pregnant with her and husband Austin Forsyth’s third child.

Production is underway on an official documentary about Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time.

Naman Ramachandran Banijay‘s planned acquisition of Sony Productions Film und Fernseh Produktions GmbH Germany (Sony Pictures Television Germany) from Sony Pictures is now complete. Following customary closing conditions, Banijay Germany has secured 100% stake in the company. The label, founded in 1995, will now operate as Noisy Pictures GmbH, with Astrid Quentell and Mirek Nitsch remaining in leadership positions. Sony Pictures Television Germany’s successful shows include “Die Höhle der Löwen,” which has been on Vox since 2014; drama-comedy “Der Lehrer,” which has played nine seasons on RTL and won numerous awards; and ZDF crime series “Heldt.”

There’s a brand new Tarzan movie on its way!

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Frost, who recently left his post as President of Sony Pictures Television Studios, has set up a production company, Bristol Circle Entertainment, and has signed a first-look TV production deal with the indie studio. Under the pact, Frost is executive producing the high-profile new series from Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan, starring Rhea Seehorn, which just landed at Apple TV+ with a big, two-season straight-to-series order.