Vertical Acquires ‘Breaking Fast’; Malcolm Goodwin To Star In ‘They Whisper’ – Film Briefs

Amanda N'Duka pmc-editorial-managerEXCLUSIVE: American Pie and American Beauty actress Mena Suvari will star in Inheritance, a family film from Mustard Seed Entertainment.John K.D. Graham wrote and directed the film, which follows estranged siblings returning to their familial estate to claim the inheritance their mother left behind.

RLJE Films has acquired the North American rights to “The Opening Act,” a comedy starring “Silicon Valley” actor Jimmy O.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorEXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has picked up the documentary The Great American Lie from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and advocate Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.The doc examines the roots of systemic inequalities through a unique gender lens. With America facing widening economic inequality and stagnant social mobility, the documentary explores an inspiring path forward.

CNBC was the first outlet to report the news.The retail juggernaut didn’t offer many details on how it would integrate with TikTok, but its interest comes as TikTok appears to be racing towards a deal in the near future. Earlier on Thursday morning, TheWrap reported Oracle has taken the lead position to acquire TikTok’s assets in a deal worth more than $20 billion.Walmart did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsMartin Owen’s sci-fi comedy Max Cloud has landed at Well Go USA, as the entertainment group secured the film’s North America distribution rights.Max Cloud, from the Let’s Be Evil and Killers Anonymous director, brings viewers back to an age of classic video games as a teenager named Sarah (Isabelle Allen) finds herself living in a virtual world populated by the her favorite game’s most infamous villains and bosses.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThese are boom times for hit songwriters, with catalogs being snapped up by Hipgnosis, Shamrock and others — and the latest big acquisition comes from Spirit Music Group, which announced that it has acquired the publishing catalog of Grammy-nominated songwriter and former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsEXCLUSIVE: Bryan Bertino’s The Dark and the Wicked has landed at AMC Networks siblings RLJE Films and Shudder In a North American deal ahead of the horror film’s world premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on Friday. It is now set for a U.S.

Dave McNary Film ReporterMONDAY, AUG. 24The American Film Institute and Universal Pictures have launched a week-long “Black Stories Matter” series with  “BlacKkKlansman,” “Get Out,” “Girls Trip,” “Loving” and “Straight Outta Compton” available for free through Aug.

The American Film Institute and Universal Pictures are partnering on a week-long AFI Movie Club event, “Black Stories Matter.” Following the recent collaboration honoring Spike Lee and his film Do the Right Thing, the series will spotlight Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Malcolm D. Lee’s Girls Trip, Jeff Nichols’ Loving and F.

Also Read: A 'Madagascar' Prequel Series Is Coming to Peacock and Hulu - Watch the Trailer (Video)“When I started this film, I thought that I was telling the story of Harry Belafonte’s historic achievement as the first African American to host a full week of late night television,” director Yoruba Richen said in a statement.

Amanda N'Duka pmc-editorial-managerEXCLUSIVE: Camila Mendes has joined STX’s after-market sneakers high-stakes feature drama American Sole, which Deadline first told you about yesterday.American Sole follows two twenty-somethings (Pete Davidson and O’Shea Jackson) with mountains of college debt who use the fast cash of after-market sneaker reselling to achieve their American dream.

Well this is a bit of an unexpected crossover!

Amanda N'Duka pmc-editorial-managerSobini Films, the production company behind soon-to-released Shields Green biopic Emperor, said it will donate $1 for every digital transaction during the first month of film’s release to the NAACP.

Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorEXCLUSIVE: Hell On Wheels creators Joe Gayton and Tony Gayton have signed with APA.The sibling writing/producing duo created the praised historical drama series Hell On Wheels, which aired for five seasons on AMC.

Constantine Maroulis’ reality TV ties appear to extend to the Bravo universe. Real Housewives of New York City viewers discovered the former American Idol contestant is the man Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Tinsley Mortimer all dated — a revelation hinted at during the Thursday, August 13, episode.Viewers took to Twitter after Luann, 55, showed Ramona, 63, a photo of an American Idol “winner” on her phone during a car ride in Mexico.

Also Read: 'Queen & Slim': How Film's British Stars Immersed Themselves in Americana“The Upper World” is the first in a planned series of novels. Penguin UK and HarperCollins US are expected to publish the book in mid-2021 and early 2022 respectively.Fadugba has a Master’s from Oxford University where he published in Quantum Physics and was a Thouron scholar at University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorEXCLUSIVE:  Greenwich Entertainment has picked up the North American distribution rights to Eytan Fox’s Israeli drama Sublet with a plan to release the movie in 2021.The deal was negotiated by Greenwich’s Ed Arentz and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.The movie, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, stars Tony Award-winning and Emmy-nominated John Benjamin Hickey and features the debut of Niv Nissim.  Sublet

Matt Grobar Assistant Editor, AwardslineOn Most Dangerous Game, Christoph Waltz embarked on his first American project made for the small screen, earning his first Emmy nomination for the series, which had initially sparked some skepticism on his part.Created by Scott Elder, Josh Harmon and Nick Santora, based on a classic short story by Richard Connell, the action-thriller centers on Dodge (Liam Hemsworth), a Detroit everyman up to his eyeballs in debt, who is looking to secure the financial