Sony Pictures Full-Year Profit Swings To $1.67B

While “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was a juggernaut at the international box office, earning a massive $1.89 billion globally, it wasn’t 100% certain that “Spider-Man 4” would be moving forward with returning cast members or director Jon Watts. Without contracts signed or a public announcement from the studio, it’s hard to completely bank on everyone coming back.

Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP) is set to remake Ariel Winograd’s Argentinian comedy Mama Se Fue De Viaje (Ten Days Without Mom) in Turkey and South Korea.

William Earl Variety and Sony Pictures Television return with their month-long immersive experience, the Variety / Sony Pictures Television Virtual FYC House, aimed to capture the attention of TV awards voters. The interactive, 3D experience kicks off with a special preview night for a select audience and then will open to a wider audience on June 2 through June 27.The virtual event features original content, keynote conversations and panels with top contending talent from the studio.

Manori Ravindran International EditorFilm financier Amcomri Entertainment and Ireland’s Studio Atlantic have struck a multi-picture production deal.The pact comes ahead of the release of Studio Atlantic’s latest production, “The Gates,” a Victorian period horror starring John Rhys Davies, Richard Brake, Elena Delia and Michael Yare, which is currently being sold in Cannes by Amcomri Entertainment’s sales arm 101 Films Intl.The deal will see Amcomri Prods. co-finance a slate of movies and become an official financing partner of Studio Atlantic, with 101 Films Intl.

EXCLUSIVE: Laura Fitzpatrick has joined Sony Pictures Imageworks as Vice President, New Business. In her new role, she will be responsible for third party VFX business development and strategic planning for long-term growth. She will also oversee worldwide sales, marketing and client engagement, reporting to Executive Vice President Michelle Grady. Upcoming projects Fitzpatrick will have a hand in include the animated features The Sea Beast and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn one of the first major deals of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped on Un Certain Regard title “All The People I’ll Never Be.” The distributor has picked up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.The film, which is written and directed by Davy Chou (“Diamond Island”), will be re-titled as “Return to Seoul.” It premieres in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights and other territories to “All The People I’ll Never Be,” a film from writer and director Davy Chou that is playing in the Un Certain Regard section on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. SPC is also planning on re-titling the movie in English, “Return to Seoul,” which is the translation of its actual title in French. In addition to North America, the distributor also acquired rights to the film in Latin America, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.“All The People I’ll Never Be” is the story of a 25-year-old woman who, on an impulse, returns to South Korea for the first time where she was born before being adopted and raised in France.

Ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, the Davy Chou directed and written feature All the People I’ll Never Be has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.

Davido has shared a new track titled "Stand Strong," the first single from his fourth studio album, due out later this year, title and release date TBA. It's an upbeat, inspirational jam about persevering in the face of adversity — a soundtrack for pushing past your quotidian troubles.

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the hot project for international buyers for next week’s Cannes Market. Sony Pictures has preemptively acquired US rights to Miramax’s Here, a film adaptation of the celebrated Richard McGuire graphic novel that will reunite the Forrest Gump team: Academy Award-winners director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and star Tom Hanks, with Robin Wright also starring. It’s the quartet’s first time back together since the 1994 film classic, which won six Oscars including Best Picture.

Katherine Tulich Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel has renewed its film and TV supply deal with Hollywood studio Sony Pictures. The multi-year agreement covers new release movies, library titles and TV series.Foxtel, which is owned by News Corp. and Telstra, will be able to play the content on its pay-TV channels as well as its 2020-launched streaming service Binge.Sony has enjoyed a succession of movie hits in the past year.

Rebel Wilson is all smiles at a special screening of her new film Senior Year at The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills on Tuesday (May 10) in West Hollywood, Calif.

Sony Pictures saw its fourth quarter profits reach $84 million (11 billion yen), up significantly from when the film division posted a loss of $2.7 million the same quarter a year prior. And the Japanese conglomerate’s film division completed its fiscal 2021 with $1.67 billion overall (217.4 billion yen) operating income, up 55% from the previous year.

EXCLUSIVE: Luis Gnecco (The Two Popes), Claudia Ramírez (Nice Sunday) and Juan Manuel Bernal (Perfect Obedience) will lead the upcoming thriller Confessions, from Sony Pictures International Productions, Alameda Films and Zamora Films, which has wrapped production in Mexico. Also amongst the cast is Ana Claudia Talancón (The Crime of Padre Amaro), who will make a special appearance.

EXCLUSIVE:  Jonathan Gist has joined Sony Pictures Entertainment as Executive Director of Global Intersectional Marketing, supporting all of the studio’s labels, including Columbia Pictures, 3000 Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Affirm Films and Sony Pictures Animation.

EXCLUSIVE: Wolfe Releasing has acquired North American rights to the Italian LGBTQIA+ dramedy Blessed Boys (La Santa Piccola) from Minerva Pictures, ahead of its North American premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Festival on June 11th, with plans to release it in theaters and on digital this fall.

Eternals” was vile, “Black Widow” was OK, “Shang-Chi” was a lot of fun) has been joined by one of the worst films so far in the bloated 27-movie franchise — not to mention one of the worst of the year — “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”That, unbelievably, is a movie title and not a doctoral student’s 250-page dissertation.Running time: 126 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language.) In theaters.Now we have a firsthand idea of what it was like to witness the fall of the Roman Empire.

China and Hollywood used to seemingly have a healthy, symbiotic relationship. Hollywood released massive blockbusters in the Asian nation, they made massive bank, audiences were happy, and presumably Chinese theater owners were doing quite well for themselves, along with Hollywood often got massive box office boosts from the country.

Wilson Chapman editorEpix’s four-part docuseries “Fall River” and Oxygen’s “Cold Justice” were among the key winners of CrimeCon’s first annual Clue Awards, announced on Saturday night at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.The event took place during CrimeCon, a live event for true crime content creators, industry professionals and fans. Law & Crime network founder, NewsNation host and ABC chief legal analyst Dan Abrams hosted the ceremony.Winners of the awards were selected from a panel of over 30 true crime professionals, ranging from executives at NBC, iHeart Media and Spotify, to authors and podcast hosts.In the television categories, Epix received the award for best docuseries, for its Blumhouse Television and Pyramid Productions series “Fall River.” The series, which was directed and produced by James Buddy Day, ran in May 2021 and centered on a series of crimes in Fall River, Mass., where three young women were killed in 1979.

EXCLUSIVE: The Goldbergs star Wendi McLendon-Covey has signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the hit ABC comedy series. Under the pact, McLendon-Covey will develop for the studio across all platforms.