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Revered festival has unveiled a potentially strong lineup with enough studio/specialty titles toplining A-list stars, including Jake Gyllenhaal (
Everest), Jonny Depp (
Black Mass) and Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (
The Danish Girl), to boost its role as a classy awards-season platform, plus new works by Charlie Kaufman, Alexander Sokurov, Amos Gitai, and Marco Bellocchio, and plenty of other high-caliber international auteurs. Fest begins September 2nd.
(VAR)
Ryan Kavanaugh's company is set to lay off as many as 50 employees this week (and possibly more) as the financially-embattled studio could file for bankruptcy as early as today. The 11-year-old studio, which declined to comment, owes hundreds of million in debt and is scrambling to come up with the money by today. Kavanaugh has been unable to meet a number of payment deadlines, including another key deadline Monday.
(THR)
The Oscar winner has signed on to star in at least eight episodes of Paolo Sorrentino’s new series,
The Young Pope, starring Jude Law. Show follows the early days of a fictional pope, a complicated, conflicted guy, who is worried that his calling will mean losing those close to him and concerned about being abandoned by everyone, even God. But he’s committed to his mission of spreading the church’s word. Keaton will play an American nun.
(EMP)
Pine joins the DC Movie Universe in a multi-picture deal that includes sequel options, after having been rumored to be up for another role, as well: that of Hal Jordan in the upcoming
Green Lantern Corps film, which might also have led to him being in the planned
Justice League films. In
Wonder Woman, he’ll play Steve Trevor who will be no mere love interest for Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince, as there will be plenty of action to keep him busy.
(TW)
The feature helmer who has directed some of the most shocking episodes of
Game of Thrones, will direct the film, said to be in the vein of
Death Wish, that has a script by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrina Benedikt. Marc Helwig will produce through Applebox Entertainment, the shingle that the former literary agent hatched with Marshall. EuropaCorp will fully finance.
(DH)
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow, an executive producer-writer on ABC’s
The Goldbergs, have been tapped to write the script, which will have a comedic tone. John Davis is producing with Ira Napoliello. The 1971 original told of a private detective named John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree, who is hired to find a missing girl in Harlem. The first reboot was in 2000, starring Samuel L. Jackson, who played the nephew of the character.
(HV)
Creator-star Greg Poehler has announced that the network has ended his comedy “due to some craptastically low ratings in the U.S.” The series, which returned to the NBC lineup on July 19, lasted just two weeks into its second season. In its final airing last Sunday, it averaged a mere 0.2 rating in 18-49 and 1.1 million viewers, placing 19th in its time slot.
(TVL)
During an interview at the Television Critics Association press tour, the company’s CCO Ted Sarandos said that it’s fair to expect a new Marvel/Netflix series every six months or so, and suggested that
Jessica Jones will premiere in the fourth quarter of this year. This also means that season two of
Daredevil will almost certainly premiere next spring. Meanwhile, the company also announced that the fourth season of
Longmire will premiere September 10th.
(CS)
Director of
Mud and
Take Shelter had originally seen his new film, the sci-fi flick
Midnight Special, scheduled for November, but it has now been pushed to March 18th. Warner Bros. has replaced the film on the schedule with
Our Brand Is Crisis, starring Sandra Bullock, which is now scheduled to hit theaters on October 30th.
(EW)
Lionsgate and eOne Entertainment have released the latest full-length trailer. Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin and directed by Denis Villeneuve, the action thriller will play at the Toronto Film Festival and then hit theaters September 18th.
(IW)
Paramount Pictures has released the red-band trailer for director Michael Bay’s Benghazi film, which stars John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, and David Denman. It opens in theaters January 15th, 2016.
(COL)
