XYZ & NZ Outfit Tavake Acquire Rights To Legal Prostitution Story ‘Madame Mom’

EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Travis (The Kominsky Method), Tamala Jones (Rebel), Emily Mitchell (What We Do in the Shadows), Skywalker Hughes (Joe Pickett), Drew Powell (The Unbreakable Boy) and Amy Acker (9-11: Lone Star) have signed on to star alongside Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson in Kingdom Story Company’s film Ordinary Angels, which Lionsgate will distribute.

Charli XCX has shared a video for new single ‘Used To Know Me’ – you can watch it below.Taken from the pop star’s recently released fifth album ‘Crash’, the new track tells the catchy story of a post-breakup revival, and borrows from the 1990 house hit ‘Show Me Love’ by Robin S.“You used to know me, now you don’t/ You used to hypnotize me, did it so easy/ I’m finally free from your control/ I don’t need a kiss goodbye, I’m on my own tonight,” Charli sings on the song’s chorus.‘Used To Know Me’ comes alongside a video directed by Alex Lill, that sees Charli switch through a series of colourful scenes and outfits. The video comes under the creative direction of Imogene Strauss and with choreography from Nathan Kim.You can check out the video below: In a four-star review of ‘Crash’, NME‘s El Hunt wrote: “Since the beginning, we’ve seen Charli XCX trying on many guises, whether she’s referencing new-wave on ‘Sucker’ or teaming up with SOPHIE to craft an alien new interpretation of pop on her 2016 EP ‘Vroom Vroom’.“One emotion that her music will never evoke is boredom, and even when her sights are trained on infiltrating mainstream pop, she’s still an artist with a knack for surprising.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S.-based Wonder Street and New Zealand-based Stripe Studios have struck a deal to team on a slate of unscripted TV series, kicking off the partnership with Snow Patrol as well as New Zealand Gold Diggers.

Disney Plus is already home to two seasons of American Horror Story. All of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s award-winning horror series will soon be available on the streaming service.

Katherine Tulich Netflix’s global hit drama series “Clickbait” was conceived and shot in Melbourne but the settings were California. If it were commissioned today, it would more likely have kept an Australian accent too.“Clickbait was commissioned out of the global team, but now that the ANZ team is operating, we are here to make Australian stories,” said Que Minh Luu, Netflix director of content, Australia and New Zealand recently.

Sam Heughan gave fans an update on the second season of his hit travel show Men in Kilts.

A knitted hug that started out as a gift for her son has proven to be a global success story for a mum from Royton. During the Covid-19 lockdown Claire Calverley-Smith and her whole family were shielding after being sadly diagnosed with a very rare type of blood cancer a few years ago.

Clayton Davis New Zealand-born actor, director and producer Russell Crowe had one of the most incredible runs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, quickly becoming a huge star in Hollywood. With a career that started opposite George Takei in “Blood Oath” (1990), he’s delivered a treasure trove of unforgettable performances over the last three decades.After making a name for himself in Australia with nominations and wins at the country’s equivalent to the Oscars for “The Crossing” (1990), “Proof” (1991) and “Romper Stomper” (1992), his debut in American cinemas began opposite Denzel Washington in Brett Leonard’s sci-fi flick “Virtuosity” (1995) as the virtual reality entity turned serial killer android SID.

EXCLUSIVE: Ringside Studios, the outfit owned by European media company and distributor Newen, has closed its latest acquisition by taking a majority stake in UK company Joi Productions via its investment arm Ringside Media.

Outlander fans rushed to congratulate Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish after their show Men in Kilts was noinated for a host of awards.

Richard Madeley went full " Alan Partridge " as he compared Russian war crimes to an old legal story about a man on a bus.

EXCLUSIVE: Producers Andrew Bendel and Alistair Maclean-Clark of Blue Horizon Productions have optioned the memoir Sea Dragons, Yvonne Foley’s story of how she believed she had been abandoned in Liverpool by her Chinese father as a child only to find out many years later that he and other sailors had been deported.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) and Reacher breakout Alan Ritchson have signed on to star in the film Ordinary Angels from Kingdom Story Company, which Lionsgate will distribute.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBruce Tuchmann-backed Rialto International has launched a branded on-demand streaming service in Japan, focused on independent film, and housed on Amazon’s Prime Video Channels platform.Rialto Channel launched in 1999 in New Zealand, where it was initially branded as The Sundance Channel. It established itself as an award-winning and industry-leading indie film destination for over twenty years.In Japan, the Rialto-branded venue will feature current and iconic independent films.

Ed Meza @edmezavarSpanish director Ángeles Reiné celebrates family, neighborhood friendships and soccer in her a feel-good comedy “Héroes de Barrio” (“Football Heroes of the Block”).The film, Reiné’s sophomore feature following 2019’s “Salir del ropero” (“So My Grandma’s a Lesbian!”), which screens at the Malaga Festival, follows financially-strapped Seville bar owner Luis, who seeks to impress his young daughter Paula by pretending to be pals with Joaquin, the beloved and charismatic real-life captain of the Real Betis football club. At the same time, he’s angling to get back together with Paula’s mom, the love of his life, who now lives with her new and much wealthier boyfriend.

We have confirmed that "West Side Story" star Rachel Zegler has been invited to the Oscars after all.There’s word out there that the Academy has invited her to be a presenter, however, they won’t confirm. What is clear is that the actress’ production schedule in London on the Disney movie "Snow White" has loosened up so that she can head to Los Angeles and watch the show live instead of in sweatpants and her boyfriend’s flannel from her couch, as she indicated on Instagram over the weekend to her followers who were enraged to hear that the actress be a no-show.  Rachel Zegler initially told fans on social media that she wasn't invited to this year's Academy Awards despite her film being nominated.