Sony Pictures Television Strikes LatAm Deal For Erotically-Charged Thriller ‘Amor Bandido’; CineNova Releasing Takes U.S. Rights From FilmSharks

EXCLUSIVE: IFC Films has acquired North American rights to sci-fi thriller Vesper (formerly known as Vesper Seeds) directed by Lithuania’s Kristina Buozyte and France’s Bruno Samper.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorReligion of Sports, the sports media production company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra, announced $50 million in Series B funding.With the new investment, which brings the company to about $63 million raised to date, Religion of Sports plans to develop new intellectual property — including expanding into areas beyond sports like entertainment, business and music — as well as scale its creator network and increase global strategic partnerships.The Series B round was led by Shamrock Capital, with participation from Cerro Capital and previous investor Elysian Park Ventures (the investment arm of the L.A. Dodgers).

Two days after news broke that Isabela Merced joins the cast of Sony Pictures’ next ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off, “Madame Web,” the film adds another actor to its ranks. This time, it’s the first male actor in the female-heavy ensemble and quite the intriguing addition: French star and actor of Algerian descent, Tahar Rahim.

Cineflix Rights Goes On Scripted Sales Spree

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel, India and Italy, and aboard airlines and ships worldwide, to the animated film The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, from writer-director Sylvain Chomet. The deal for Chomet’s English-language feature follows SPC’s distribution of his past films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.

Pablo Sandoval World premiering at the Cannes ACID showcase, “Polaris” explores the intimate relationship between two sisters, Hayat and Leila. The film, set between the isolated Northern Sea and warm, well-connected France, aims to bring a human perspective to this tale of sisterhood set against dramatic land- and seascapes.“Polaris” marks the doc feature debut of Spain’s director Ainara Vera whose experience includes workings a first AD and co-editor on several of Victor Kossakovsky’s productions, including the Berlinale 2020-selected  “Gunda.”Vera and Hayat met on the shoot of another Kossakovsky movie, “Aquarela,” during which the two fostered a bond, with Hayat serving on Kossakovsky and Vera’s sailors crew.

Diego Boneta has had an incredible year. The Mexican actor is not only starring in Father of the Bride which hits HBO Max on June 16th, the actor, singer, and producer signed an overall deal with Prime Video with his production company Three Amigos. Beginning 2023, Boneta will produce and star in a full slate of shows in development while also creating movies, series, and more.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMyke Towers. Camilo and Sony Discos are among the big winners at the ASCAP “El Premio” Latin Music Awards, which take place virtually through Tuesday.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno) has boarded Jenny Mollen’s City of Likes as executive producer of the series adaptation, which is in development with Sony Pictures TV and The Nacelle Company. Announced in 2021, the project falls under Nacelle’s first look comedy deal with Sony TV. The book will be released by NacelleBooks on June 14.

review out of the festival praised Hansen-Løve’s attention to detail in depicting the challenges of ushering a loved one through an illness of someone near the end of his life. “With ‘One Fine Morning,’ Hansen-Løve turns her attention, and ours, toward the challenges, both tiny and immense, of loving someone through a decline such as this — one that’s not a death, just yet, but rather a disabling event, an experience that is as perplexing for Georg as it is for his family and former students,” Katie Walsh wrote for TheWrap.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSony Pictures Classics has nabbed “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Love’s critically acclaimed drama starring Lea Seydoux at Cannes on the heels of its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight. Les Films du Losange, the indie film powerhouse, has now sold the film in 50 territories.The deal is for North American, Latin American and Middle East rights to the film.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA crew of thieves including Tokyo, an ex-soldier, unite under the leadership of a mastermind known as the Professor to plan an unprecedented heist – stealing money yet to exist! If that sounds familiar, it should.The twist is that Netflix hit series La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) has been given a cool Korean favor.First-look footage is now available. And the K-drama reinterpretation “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area Part 1” premieres from June 24.The plot twist is that Korea is on the verge of unification and there is a Joint Security Area – located where today’s North and South Korea are divided – which contains a mint that becomes the focus of the action.

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.

HGTV and Food Network are bolstering their lineups.

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.

Dua Lipa is setting her priorities straight, following her split with ex-boyfriend Anwar Hadid. The successful singer has revealed that she is “single and content” and does not want to focus on anything else but herself at the moment.After going on her long awaited Future Nostalgia Tour, the singer says she wants to have time to work on her confidence and learn how to be there for herself, which is why she has decided to go on dates with herself, even if the public comments on it.“Some people on the internet were like, ‘Oh, Dua went out for dinner on her own, blah blah, I do this all the time,’” she explained during her recent interview with Vogue.“And I think that’s amazing if you do it all the time.