Sundance: Sony Pictures Classics Buys ‘Living’ Remake Starring Bill Nighy

Naman Ramachandran The 36th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will open with Alli Haapasalo’s “Girl Picture” and close with Kevin Hegge‘s documentary “Tramps!” “Girl Picture,” which won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance in January and will screen at the Berlinale next week, follows three girls at the cusp of womanhood. Over three consecutive Fridays, two of them experience the effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she’s never experienced – pleasure.Feature documentary “Tramps,” world premiering at the festival, looks at how in London in the 1980’s, an onslaught of art students arriving in the city resulted in a unique cross-fertilization of British art, fashion, music and film culminating in a group known as The New Romantics.

Ellise Shafer The SF Studios comedy “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, has been acquired by Sony Pictures for $60 million.The sale marks the largest deal to date at the virtual European Film Market, surpassing Netflix’s $55 million acquisition of “The Pale Blue Eye” last year. Directed by Marc Forster, “A Man Called Otto” sparked a fierce bidding war with Sony ultimately coming out on top with the film’s worldwide rights. It will be released in theaters.Based on Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel “A Man Called Ove,” the film tells the story of Otto (Hanks), a grumpy and strict widower who upholds the rest of his neighborhood to his staunch rules.

Sony Pictures Television and WarnerMedia have extended a content deal that will see the likes of Spider Man: No Way Home and Ghostbusters: Afterlife made available on HBO Max and HBO channels across Central Eastern Europe.

Sony Pictures Classics has pushed back the theatrical release date for Eva Husson’s romantic drama Mothering Sunday, starring Odessa Young, by a month—from February 25 to March 25. It will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, on the heels of a one-week, awards-qualifying run in Los Angeles in November of 2021, before expanding to other markets over the following weeks.

David Bowie‘s The Man Who Fell To Earth.The classic sci-fi movie, based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel of the same name, marked one of Bowie’s most memorable roles, as Thomas Jerome Newton – an alien posing as a human in an attempt to save his home planet.Nighy joins Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris and Rob Delaney who were all previously announced for the Showtime series.“I was honoured to be invited to play the part of Thomas Jerome Newton that glorious David Bowie made so famous,” said Nighy in a statement to Deadline.“I was keen to work with Chiwetel and Naomie again. I think the story is terrific and brilliantly expressed.

Bill Nighy (Love Actually) has been tapped to star opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris in Showtime’s The Man Who Fell To Earth drama series, based on the Walter Tevis novel and the cult classic 1976 film starring David Bowie. Nighy will play the role played by Bowie in the film in the series, which comes from Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet and John Hlavin. It will premiere later this year.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBill Nighy has signed on to star in the upcoming Showtime series version of “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” Variety has learned.Nighy joins previously announced cast members Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Jimmi Simpson, Rob Delaney, Sonya Cassidy, Joana Ribeiro, Annelle Olaleye, Kate Mulgrew and Clarke Peters in the series.Based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name and the film that starred David Bowie, the series will follow a new alien character named Faraday (Ejiofor) who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.Nighy will play Thomas Newton, the main character of the novel and the character played by Bowie in the film version. Newton was the first alien to arrive on earth over 40 years ago. Alone and desperate, Newton summons Faraday to complete his original mission.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“The Sound of Philadelphia,” a documentary on the 1970s “Philly Soul” sound and its masterminds Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, is coming from Warner Music Entertainment, Warner Chappell Music, and Imagine Documentaries, in partnership with Jigsaw Productions, the companies announced on Wednesday. The lushly orchestrated but soulful sound — exemplified by songs like “Love Train” by the O’Jays, “If You Don’t Know Me Now” by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, “Me and Mrs.

EXCLUSIVE: The story of Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell, who created the sound of Philly Soul, is to be chronicled in a new feature documentary.

Refresh for latest…: With a major assist from the phenomenal global box office performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony Pictures Entertainment has recorded a third-quarter profit of $1.314 billion, up a staggering 570% from the comparable period in 2020. Revenues saw a 122% increase to $4.063 billion versus the same quarter the previous year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSony’s pictures division achieved net profits of $1.3 billion in the three months to December 2021, boosted by a return to theatrical releasing and the blockbuster performance of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The $1.31 billion figure compares with profits of $194 million in the equivalent quarter of 2020, and with profits of $288 million in the preceding three months to end of September 2021.Parent company, Sony Group’s net profits grew by 20% in the three months to December 2021 hitting JPY461 billion. Sales were up by 13% to JPY3.03 trillion.The bumper results, unusually, made the pictures division the largest contributor to Sony’s consolidated net profits.

EXCLUSIVE: Teresa Hsiao, co-creator, executive producer and showrunner of Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, has signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop comedy and animation for cable streaming platforms via her Red 136 Productions.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterIFC Films and the AMC Network-owned digital platform Shudder purchased North American rights to “Watcher,” an eerie thriller that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.IFC Midnight, the company’s genre division, plans to release the film in theaters and on VOD (beginning with the horror-centric streamer Shudder) in 2022. The exact date has not been set yet.Chloe Okuno directed “Watcher,” a suspenseful story about a young woman who moves into a new apartment with her fiancé gets the creepy sense that she’s being observed.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has acquired exclusive South Asia media rights for the 2022 Asian Games taking place later this year at Hangzhou, China. SPN will have the rights to broadcast the games across its sports channels in India and the subcontinent including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives, and on streamer SonyLIV through Sept. 2023.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights to “Living,” the film from Oliver Hermanus starring Bill Nighy that made tis premiere at the Sundance Film Festival out of competition.The film is a new take on Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film “Ikiru” and is written by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Nobel Prize-winning author. Sony Pictures Classics also picked up rights to the film in Latin America, India, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Germany, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and airlines worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, is near a deal to be acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSony Pictures Television has promoted Jennifer Turner to head of its TriStar Television, effective immediately.As the new executive vice president of the banner, Turner aims to expand the creative universe for TriStar Television, canvassing both coasts for fresh perspectives and projects that align with the label’s mission to champion diverse, authentic characters and underrepresented voices, per Sony. She will report to Jason Clodfelter, co-president of Sony Pictures Television Studios, and work closely with TriStar Television senior vice president Christina Jokanovich and director Alex Villalta.Turner, who is filling the position left vacant by Kathryn Busby following her move to Starz, will be based in New York while also traveling regularly to Los Angeles.