XYZ Boards Global Sales Rights To Frank Grillo Action Pic ‘Hounds Of War’, First Look Revealed — Cannes Market

Carole Horst Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson star in “57 Seconds,” a thriller based in the world of tech and big pharma. The film is directed by Rusty Cundieff (“Tales From the Hood,” “Chappelle’s Show”), and written by Macon Blair (Netflix’s “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance), and is based on the acclaimed story by British author E.C.

Frank Grillo is set to star in Liam O’Donnell’s horror-thriller Merciless, which Sentient Pictures International is shopping here in Cannes this week. The company also has announced that Columbian actor Juan Pablo Raba (Peppermint, Narcos) has been tapped to lead Antonio Negret’s new action thriller Sombra.

EXCLUSIVE: The starry indie film packages keep on coming in Cannes with news we can reveal that Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Oscar winner Robert De Niro (Joker), Scott Eastwood (The Fate of the Furious) and John Leguizamo (John Wick) are set for under-the-radar action movie Tin Soldier, which begins filming next week in Greece.

Universal Pictures has entered into a first-look production deal with “The Notebook” author Nicholas Sparks to bring three of his more recent novels to the big screen, starting with last year’s runaway hit “The Wish.” Sparks and Anonymous Content will partner to produce three feature films for Universal, each one based on one of his most recent books, though only a film based on “The Wish” was announced on Tuesday. Zack Hayden will produce “The Wish” on behalf of Anonymous Content with oversight by Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead and CCO David Levine, alongside Theresa Park, Sparks’ longtime literary agent and collaborator, and Universal Pictures’ Vice President of Production Development, Lexi Barta.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) has entered into a first-look production agreement with Universal Pictures, which will see him produce three features for the studio alongside Anonymous Content.

Manori Ravindran International Editor“Snowpiercer” producer Tomorrow Studios has struck a first-look deal with Frank Spotnitz’s London-based production company Big Light Prods.Under the deal, Tomorrow Studios will tap into Big Light’s network of established and emerging writers and its pursuit of IP for projects to produce together under one development slate.Big Light Prods. specializes in returning and limited dramas for the global market.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentParis-based company Kinology has secured international sales to “Il Sol Dell’Avvenire,” from Italian auteur and Cannes regular Nanni Moretti. Pic is currently shooting in Rome.The deal between Kinology and Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, which is producing in tandem with Moretti’s Sacher shingle and RAI Cinema, marks the first time Kinology has handled a Moretti pic.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWestEnd Films has closed a series of new deals on “Out of the Blue,” an upcoming thriller that brings together Neil LaBute and Diane Kruger.Rights for the film, which LaBute writes and directs, have gone to Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), France (Metropolitan Filmexport), Germany (Koch Films), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Italy (Eagle Pictures), Middle East (Phoenicia Pictures) Israel (Forum Film), Poland (Galapagos Films), Greece (Spentzos Film), former Yugoslavia (Investacommerce) and Portugal (Nos Lusomundo). WestEnd is also sharing a moody first-look image.Kruger, best known for her performances in “Inglourious Basterds” and “Troy,” leads an ensemble that also includes Ray Nicholson (“Promising Young Woman”), Hank Azaria (“Love & Other Drugs”) and Chase Sui Wonders (“Genera+ion”).

Peacock today unveiled They/Them, a new Blumhouse pic starring Kevin Bacon (City on a Hill), Anna Chlumsky (Inventing Anna), Carrie Preston (Claws), Theo Germaine (4400), Austin Crute (Call Your Mother), Monique Kim (What/If), Anna Lore (All American), Cooper Koch (Power Book II: Ghost) and Darwin del Fabro (Dangerous Liaisons), which will debut on the streamer on August 5th.

Wilson Chapman editorA new horror film about the terrors of conversion therapy is coming to Peacock. “They/Them,” a horror film produced by venerable production studio Blumhouse and starring Kevin Bacon, will be hitting the streamer Aug. 5.Bacon stars in the film as Owen Whistler, the director of a conversion therapy camp named Whistler Camp, which attempts to “turn” LGBTQ+ teenagers straight and cisgender.

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the hot project for international buyers for next week’s Cannes Market. Sony Pictures has preemptively acquired US rights to Miramax’s Here, a film adaptation of the celebrated Richard McGuire graphic novel that will reunite the Forrest Gump team: Academy Award-winners director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and star Tom Hanks, with Robin Wright also starring. It’s the quartet’s first time back together since the 1994 film classic, which won six Oscars including Best Picture.

“Virgin River” gets its season 4 release date.

Sam Aston and his wife Briony have welcomed a baby girl into the world – OK! can exclusively reveal. Announcing the birth of their second child, a sister for their 20 month old son Sonny, Coronation Street actor Sam and yoga teacher Briony told us of their happiness at becoming parents of two. They told OK!: “Our beautiful girl has arrived." The couple also shared their first sweet snap of their new bundle of joy.

Newly minted Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) joins the cast of HBO’s Westworld as a recurring guest star for the upcoming eight-episode fourth season, which premieres June 26 and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

First pictures of the brand new Love Island villa have been unveiled, revealing tradesmen are already hard at work to get it up to top shape ahead of the ITV show's return on 6 June.The new Mallorcan mansion boasts six bedrooms and sits at the foot of a big hill in a rural area of the island. Rustic in appearance, the rock-walled abode has two floors with a large outdoor area complete with what appears to be a pool. Currently under construction, the house has a tractor on the premises in the photos while scaffolding can be seen in various areas.

Exclusive: The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is right around the corner (things kick off on May 17), and that means the Olympics of filmmaking with the best filmmakers worldwide competing for the coveted Palme d’Or. One of those filmmakers will be Iranian-Danish film director and screenwriter Ali Abbasi, whose new film “Holy Spider” will play in the official competition section during the festival.

Exclusive: The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is right around the corner (things kick off on May 17), and that means the Olympics of filmmaking with the best filmmakers worldwide competing for the coveted Palme d’Or. One of those filmmakers will be Iranian-Danish film director and screenwriter Ali Abbasi, whose new film “Holy Spider” will play in the official competition section during the festival.

K.J. Yossman Frank Grillo will fight a group of “terrifying, deadly creatures” in upcoming feature “The Dagon.”Brad Anderson (“The Machinist”) is set to direct the thriller, working from an original screenplay by Peter Mattei (“Outsiders”).In “The Dagon,” Grillo (“Kingdom”) will play Jack, a father who lives an isolated rural life alongside his family.

Frank Grillo (Kingdom) has signed on to star in the thriller The Dagon, from director Brad Anderson (The Machinist), which will soon head to Cannes. Independent Entertainment’s Head of International Sales Sarah Lebutsch will handle international at the Marché du Film, co-representing North American rights with CAA’s Nick Ogiony.

Jennie Punter “The Queendom,” one of 20 projects presented at Hot Docs’ marquee market event, the Forum, has won the First Look first prize of Can. $25,000 cash, one of three pitch prizes announced Thursday at the festival.The documentary and science-fiction hybrid—about three Indigenous scientists, all women, who decide to partner with mushrooms to fight for their territories—is directed by Otilia Portillo and produced by Paula Arroio Sandoval for Mexico’s Oscura Producciones S.A.