‘Tomb Raider’ TV-Film Universe From Phoebe Waller-Bridge In Works At Amazon Studios

“Argentina 1985’s” director Santiago Mitre spent over two years researching his film on the story of th public prosecutors who took on the country’s brutal dictators. He said his film was able to get the audience thinking about the real-world problems that go on in their own countries. Mitre joined fellow international film directors on a panel that included Jerzy Skolimowski (“EO”), Lukas Dhont (“Close”), Colm Bairéad (“The Quiet Girl”), Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) and Santiago Mitre (“Argentina, 1985”). Roger Durling, the festival’s director moderated the panel.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter The European Film Market kicks off Feb. 16 with a wide assortment of films from sellers around the world. Below is a healthy selection of what’s on offer for buyers. Director: Alex Winter Key cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad, Anthony Carrigan Synopsis: A sister and brother, Megan and Nathan are barely hanging on and their lives are completely upended when they discover a dead body, long buried in their parent’s basement, sending them down a rabbit hole of crime and murder. Producers: Alex Winter, Scott Kroopf, Russell Hollander Sales: Rocket Science (international); CAA Media Finance (domestic)  Director: Jess Varley  Key cast: Emma Roberts, Laurence Fishburne  Producers: Brad Fuller, Eric B. Fleischman, Cameron Fuller  Synopsis: When astronaut Sam Walker (Roberts) returns from her first space mission, she’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth. Sales: Highland Film Group (international); CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group (domestic) 

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Walak and Alisa Tager will be leaving their posts as Presidents of Film & Television at AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content, when their contracts are up in a couple of months.

Her final Food Network bow. Giada De Laurentiis is teaming up with Amazon Studios after more than 20 years as a Food Network personality.

EXCLUSIVE: Celebrity chef, bestselling author and Emmy-winning TV host Giada De Laurentiss (Everyday Italian, Giada at Home) is getting into business with Amazon Studios, signing a multi-year overall unscripted series production deal. Under the pact, De Laurentiis will develop and executive produce with an eye towards starring in original unscripted television programming on behalf of the studio.

Expanding TV universes is the hottest trend right now. Bosch, one of the early adopters with Bosch: Legacy, is forging ahead with two police dramas inspired by the work of bestselling author Michael Connelly, which are in development at Amazon Studios.

If you’re not someone who dreams of Channing Tatum flipping you around like a flapjack in front of an audience of shrieking women, you may scoff at the release of a third “Magic Mike” film. But the first two weren’t without their delights. 2012’s “Magic Mike” was a gritty exposé of the American dream with a side of oiled abs.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is finalizing deals for Criminal, a TV adaptation of Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips’ bestselling crime comic book series, sources tell Deadline.

EXCLUSIVE: Christina Malach, most recently a senior development executive at Amazon Studios, has joined independent studio Media Res as senior vice president of development.  She will report to President of Scripted Series Lindsey Springer.  

Far from a surprise, DC co-Chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran confirmed that Waller, the spinoff of their Suicide Squad HBO Max series Peacemaker, was one of the first TV shows they’ll be hatching under their new DC universe, Chapter One, “Gods and Monsters”.

Once MGM Studios lost the rights to adapt the “Tomb Raider” video game franchise, the future of all the projects in development became very uncertain. Then there was a high-profile scramble for a buyer to make themselves the new home of the IP, and well, it looks like Amazon has landed the rights.

Following her role as a feisty droid in “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” actor/writer/producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) took another plunge into the world of blockbusters to reunite with Lucasfilm for their fifth and final “Indiana Jones” installment. Well, she must have had a bunch of fun on “The Dial of Destiny” as she’s looking to return to familiar franchise territory with a newly announced live-action “Tomb Raider” series at Amazon, a video game franchise very much inspired by likes of “Indiana Jones” but with a modern setting.

The Sundance Film Festival has begun unveiling its Jury and Audience Award winners for 2023.

Three. Frustrating. Years. That’s how much time has passed since the Sundance Film Festival last held an in-person edition in Park City, Utah. (Put it this way: The opening night selection was the Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana, which chronicled the making of her 2018 album of Reputation. So, like, ancient history.) Blame the pandemic, of course. Because of safety fears, attendees couldn’t be in the room for the premiere of the eventual Oscar Best Picture winner, Coda, or cheer along for Questlove and the first screening of his own future Oscar pic, Summer of Soul. No sightings of a random Real Housewives star on the bustling Main Street. No napping during 8:30 AM screenings. No huffing and puffing walking in the snow in the frigid weather at high altitudes. No nothing.

Channing Tatum doesn’t plan on keeping any secrets from his daughter!

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is staying in business with Amazon Studios, renewing her overall deal. Under the pact, Waller-Bridge is developing Sign Here, based on Claudia Lux’s novel.

Amazon Studios is getting into business with Critical Role, the company behind Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina animated series, with a multiyear exclusive overall television and first-look film deal.

A performer at Universal Studios Hollywood at the Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular was hospitalized after an accident during one of the shows at the theme park on Monday, January 23.

Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort, “Air,” will get a global theatrical release from Amazon Studios on April 5, ahead of its global streaming premiere on Prime Video.“Air,” from Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, Mandalay Pictures, and the first project from Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, features what is being described as a “first of its kind arrangement” with Amazon Studios distributing the film globally with Warner Bros. Pictures handling international as part of its distribution pact with Amazon’s MGM.The new movie tells the true story of the partnership between Michael Jordan, a then-rookie with grand ambitions, and Nike’s fledging basketball division.