VFX Company Jellyfish Pictures Expands Into Canada

Naman Ramachandran The international documentary market Sunny Side of the Doc concluded its 35th edition in La Rochelle, France on June 27, drawing 2,100 participants from 68 countries. The four-day event, themed “Mapping the Future,” showcased 90 exhibitors and hosted 250 international decision-makers.

Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Amelie” and “The Intouchables,” two of France’s all-time biggest box office hits, will be re-released by their respective studios, UGC and Gaumont/Studiocanal, during the Olympic Games. With three to four million Olympics fans expected to descend on Paris during the Olympics, French studios are looking to capitalize on the presence of these floods of international visitors and lure them into air-conditioned theaters. These re-released movies will be subtitled in English which will mark a first in France, at least in recent history.

Paramount+ has set a late summer debut date for Season 2 of Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone. The series will premiere on Sunday, September 15 in the U.S. and Canada and across Paramount+ international markets beginning Monday, September 16.

K.J. Yossman Canada’s Sphere Media is set to acquire distributor Abacus Media Rights from Amcomri Entertainment Inc. The deal, which is valued at $24.6 million, is expected to close in mid-August.

Canada’s Sphere Media has acquired Abacus Media Rights, the UK-based distributor that sells Leaving Neverland and Scrublands.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is now available to stream internationally.The first part of the stage production ran in Japan from January to February 2020, with the second part returning in August 2021, and is now available to watch in international territories around the world.As of June 21, viewers in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa can watch on Crunchyroll.An official synopsis for the adaptation reads: “One day in Japan during the Taisho era, Tanjiro, a kind young man who sells coal, finds his family slaughtered by a demon. Worse yet, the only survivor, his younger sister Nezuko, is turned into a demon.“Despite his hopeless situation, Tanjiro makes up his mind to become a Demon Slayer in order to turn his sister back into a human and slay the demon who killed his family.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor In the last decade, the Maltese film industry has undergone radical development, with a strong focus on seeing the island country evolve from a service provider to Hollywood productions to telling their own stories on screen. Speaking with Variety ahead of the second edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival, Maltese filmmakers have highlighted the importance of fostering local talent, rerouting foreign investment into native productions and strengthening bonds with neighboring countries in the Middle East and North Africa. “Things have changed drastically in recent years,” said veteran filmmaker Mario Philip Azzopardi, whose 1971 “Il-Gaġġa” is widely presumed to be the first full-length feature filmed entirely in Maltese.

EXCLUSIVE: Online Canadian film journal Panorama-cinéma has set plans in motion to launch Montreal Critic’s Week (Semaine de la critique de Montréal), a new film festival, at Montreal’s Cinémathèque Québécoise in January 2025.

Emiliano De Pablos The Portuguese TV fiction sector is experiencing growth as it garners international visibility through co-productions and alliances with streamers and foreign broadcasters. With a small domestic market – some 10 million inhabitants – Portuguese TV production is making a virtue of necessity. The region possesses a diversity of TV fiction offerings, ranging from commercial telenovelas to an increasing number of premium TV dramas, and is rapidly opening up to international partnerships.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired Nachiket Pantvaidya as general manager of productions in India. 

Inside Out 2” just scored the biggest box office previews of 2024. Disney and Pixar‘s latest animated outing grossed $13 million in Thursday previews domestically, with $22.3 million worldwide. The family-friendly sequel is projected to launch between $80 million and $90 million this weekend.

James Cameron has dismissed rumours of a rift between him and Kate Winslet after filming Titanic, but admitted the actress was not his first choice for the role of Rose.In a new interview with Variety, the director of the 1997 Best Picture Oscar winner said Winslet’s reputation as “Corset Kate” (referring to her period drama roles) had made him hesitate in casting her.“It seemed like lazy casting,” he said, considering Winslet was known for her performances in films like 1995’s Sense and Sensibility and 1996’s Hamlet — roles perhaps too similar to Titanic’s wealthy socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater.“But then wiser heads prevailed, and I could see what everybody was talking about,” Cameron recalled. Of her performances, he added that Winslet is “very alive.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Iginio Straffi, creator of the six teenage fairies in the hit “Winx Club” TV franchise, is launching a new animated series titled “Mermaid Magic” that will drop globally on Netflix on Aug. 22.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As The CW has changed its financial model under new owners Nexstar, entertainment president Brad Schwartz has relied more on international co-productions from countries like Canada. Speaking on Tuesday at the Banff World Media Festival, Schwartz — who hails from Canada — acknowledged that in the past, Canadian acquisitions on U.S. networks have often been seen in a lesser light.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Eurozoom, a leading French distributor for Japanese animation, has forged a strategic partnership with major French animation producer Special Touch Studios, led by founder and CEO Sebastien Onomo. “We both share the same passion for animation and want to tell bold stories with a particular attention to professional diversity,” said Eurozoom’s CEO-Founder Amel Lacombe, who added that they were jointly working on a six-animation feature lineup. Leading the pack is “Melvile,” directed by Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier.

EXCLUSIVE: Iconic Poirot actor David Suchet will replicate an international expedition crime writer Agatha Christie took in the 1920s in a five-part doc series.

Are you ready for a Slaycation?

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent It’s not just Netflix which is cashing in on the K phenomenon. Federation Kids & Family has clinched a brace of first-wave deals with major international broadcasters on “Gangnam Project,” its new K-pop-inspired tween live-action series.

EXCLUSIVE: BritBox International has named Diana Pessin as its Chief Marketing Officer, while striking U.S. and Canada deals for UK drama The Inheritance.