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Alex Ritman U.K.-based film production and distribution company Sovereign is expanding across the Atlantic with the launch of a distribution arm in the U.S. With a plan to release two to three titles a year theatrically and across VOD platforms, the first film slated for release from the new entity is Laurent Nègre’s World War II thriller “A Forgotten Man,” which Sovereign also produced. Set in 1945 after the surrender of Nazi Germany, the story follows the Swiss ambassador (played by Michael Neuenschwander) after he leaves Berlin, but finds himself haunted by his past.

Alex Ritman Distribution and production banner Signature Entertainment has promoted two of its most senior execs. Elizabeth Williams, previously director of acquisitions and TV, has been upped to chief commercial officer.

Jurassic World continues to expand!

BreAnna Bell Hulu has acquired “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” the streamer announced on Monday. The four-part series marks the first-ever docuseries on the band’s history with full cooperation from all past and present members of Bon Jovi. It also promises to give viewers a glimpse at the life of the frontman behind the music.

Ben Croll Recently honored as one of Unifrance’s 10 to Watch, Franco-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui will build on the rugged eeriness of her 2023 Sundance jury prize winner “Animalia” with “Tarfaya” – a slow-burn thriller that mines Morocco’s sweeping landscapes for ambient unease. Named for (and inspired by) a remote, coastal town on the country’s Saharan border, “Tarfaya” imagines a not-too-distant world of extreme atmospheric swings, of severe heat giving way to more intense storms, all while daily life trudges on.

J. Kim Murphy Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler are reuniting once again, with both attached to an original genre film still shrouded in secrecy.

Ellise Shafer “Small Things Like These,” a historical drama starring Cillian Murphy, is set to open this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Tim Mielants from a script by Enda Walsh, the film will have its world premiere in the festival’s competition on Feb. 15.

A new horror podcast is on its way from iHeartPodcasts, Aaron Mahnke’s production banner Grim & Mild and creator/writer Carlos Foglia (Wolfpack, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol). The scripted audio thriller Consumed, inspired by Mahnke’s novel of the same name, will consist of 12 episodes with the first two set to premiere on January 31.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Salaud Morisset, the Paris- and Berlin-based sales and production outfit, has closed deals on “Excursion,” Una Gunjak’s feature debut which won the Jury Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Salaud Morisset, which also co-produced “Excursion,” has closed sales deals with Angel Films (Denmark), Filmin (Spain), Zero em Comportamento (Portugal), Access Cinema (Ireland), JUNO11 Distribution (Hungary), Hakka Distribution (Tunisia), Fivia (Slovenia), MCF MegaCom (Montenegro & North Macedonia), No Blink Film (Bulgaria) and Silver Screen (Romania).

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A former masseuse filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging that she was coerced into having sex with James Dolan and was also sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. The woman, Kellye Croft, alleges that Dolan pressured her to have sex after a massage appointment while she was working on an Eagles tour in 2013. She alleges that Dolan ignored her resistance and then summoned her to his room several more times on the tour, pressuring her to have sex.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Treasure,” a father-daughter road trip drama starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, has sold worldwide rights to Bleecker Street and FilmNation Entertainment. The movie, formerly titled “Iron Box,” will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Bleecker Street and FilmNation Entertainment, which recently teamed on “Waitress: The Musical,” will co-distribute the movie theatrically later this year in the U.S.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent European production powerhouse Mediawan has bought a majority stake in Misfits, the prestige U.K. company whose anticipated documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will play at the Sundance Film Festival.

Alex Ritman Paris-based sales house Charades has acquired international sales rights to “In a Violent Nature,” the debut feature film from writer and director Chris Nash that is set to premiere in Sundance‘s Midnight Section on Jan. 22.

Alex Ritman Production has now started on “AlGaid,” the latest feature from fast-rising Saudi Arabian production house Telfaz11, which smashed local box office records with their first two local releases, “Sattar” and “Mandoob.” Directed by Hussar Alhulwah and shooting in the sprawling production hub of Neom, “AlGaid” unfolds against the backdrop of the early 20th-century Arabia desert and is described as blending the revenge genre with Bedouin soap opera tropes. The film was penned by Saudi novelist and writer Ahmed Alhokail.

Naman Ramachandran “Baahubali” star Prabhas has set horror film “The Raja Saab” as his next project. The film is directed by Maruthi Dasari, mostly known as just Maruthi, whose credits include horror-comedy “Prema Katha Chitram” (2013), romantic comedy “Mahanubhavudu” (2017) and comedy-drama “Prati Roju Pandage” (2019). It is being produced under the People Media Factory banner with T.G.

EXCLUSIVE: Psychological thriller She Came Back (formerly known as Maternal), starring Anne With An E and Stranger Things actress Amybeth McNulty, has set a domestic release through Tricoast Worldwide.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter FX has ordered a pilot for the half-hour comedy “Snowflakes.” The project boasts an impressive lineup behind the camera. Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw are the writers and executive producers, with Nick Kroll executive producing under his first-look deal with FX Productions. Karey Dornetto will also executive produce along with Alicia Van Couvering, president of Kroll’s Good at Business production banner, and Jonathan Krisel, with Krisel also directing.

K.J. Yossman “Riverdale” star Lili Reinhart has boarded Vincent René-Lortie’s short film “Invincible” as an executive producer. She will exec produce via her production banner Small Victory Productions, which she founded with her producing partner Catherine Hagedorn, who serves as the company’s SVP of production.

Alex Ritman French TV giant Banijay has sold back the production arm of Beyond International — the Australian producer and distributor best known for “Mythbusters” it fully acquired in Dec. 2022 — to the company’s managing director, Mikael Borgland.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. After she made her first appearance in the Disney+ original series “Hawkeye” in 2021, the superhuman Echo has been a fan-favorite. So much so that Marvel Studios gave the character her own miniseries, which drops on Tuesday, Jan.

Jaden Thompson Netflix has released the trailer for the upcoming mystery series “3 Body Problem,” set to premiere on the streamer on March 21. The trailer was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas. From creators David Benioff, D.B.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Tina Fey is set to star in a series adaptation of the film “The Four Seasons” at Netflix, Variety has confirmed. The film was released in 1981. It was directed by and starred Alan Alda with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou also among the cast members.

J. Kim Murphy Universal is making some modest waves to start off the 2024 box office, with the studio’s release of Blumhouse Productions’ new horror film “Night Swim” looking to land in second place in its opening. The PG-13 shocker earned $5.2 million across its opening day and preview screenings and is now projected to earn about $12.5 millionacross the three-day frame.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Martha Stewart didn’t talk to CNN for a new original documentary series the news outlet has produced about her. But she’s still the star of the show. “The Many Lives of Martha Stewart” is a four-part series produced by CNN Studios, a division devoted to longer-form and enterprise programming in the wake of a strategic decision made in 2022 to scale back big ambitions to compete in the documentary arena.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Herman “Hy” Levine, a 48-year veteran of the film industry who rose through the marketing ranks at Universal and Disney, died Dec. 27 in Rockville, Md. after suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the Trafford Centredemanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Crowds of demonstrators flooded the shopping destination waving flags and clutching banners.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Colman Domingo is having a banner year thanks to acclaimed performances in “Rustin” and “The Color Purple,” the latter of which opened to a triumphant $18 million on Christmas Day. But things were considerably different for the actor back in 2014. Despite being a Tony nominee for “The Scottsboro Boys,” Domingo couldn’t get his screen acting career off the ground.

Hear the word ‘Ibiza’ and images of a sun-soaked party-island spring to mind - not a town in North Yorkshire and a mediaeval castle. But that’s the nickname that Skipton received this year.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In a comeback worthy of “Succession”‘s patriarch Logan Roy, French billionaire Vincent Bolloré has re-emerged from a fictive retirement to engineer a strategic overhaul of his listed media empire, Vivendi. After seemingly passing on the reins of Vivendi to his sons Yannick and Cyrille last year, Bolloré stepped back in with a plan to split the French conglomerate into three businesses – pay TV group Canal+, advertising banner Havas and an investment vehicle comprising Lagardere Group — that would each be listed separately at the Paris stock exchange.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Sony has dated an untitled Apple Original Films production starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum for July 12. Formerly known as “Project Artemis,” it’s set to screen in premium large formats with Columbia Pictures distributing. Meanwhile, the George Clooney-Brad Pitt starrer “Wolfs,” also from Apple Original Films, will open Sept.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Count of Monte-Cristo,” the new period epic from the team behind “The Three Musketeers,” is getting ready to hit the market after its five-month shoot wrapped this month. Producers Dimitri Rassam at Mediawan-owned banner Chapter 2 and Pathé have unveiled a first still of the movie (above), which stars Pierre Niney as the iconic title character.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Actor and producer Benjamin Bratt has joined the Oscar hopeful documentary short “Wings of Dust” as executive producer. The “Poker Face” star boards the project with his brother Peter Bratt and Alpita Patel, all under their production banner 5 Stick Films. “Wings of Dust” took the 2023 gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, telling the story of a Peruvian indigenous journalist who risks his life to protect the natural resources of ancestral lands.

Jaden Thompson Byron Allen’s media company Entertainment Studios, also known as Allen Media Group (AMG), is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, a major milestone for one of the most visible Black-owned media companies in the U.S. AMG has championed several diversity-related initiatives over the years, including the recent launch of the streaming service HBCU Go.

, not to mention a modern-day beauty and fashion mogul. But for me she truly became an icon this week when she shared a photo of her scantily clad husband on Instagram.

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.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent RTL Group has reached a deal to sell RTL Nederland, the leading Dutch commercial TV group and owner of the local streaming service Videoland, to DPG Media, a multimedia company active in Benelux and Denmark. The sale of RTL Nederland is subject to regulatory approvals and a consultation with labor unions.