Author: SD

Lawyers for Paramount president Jeff Shell are reportedly in preliminary talks with the studio over the executive’s potential departure. Shell is being sued by professional gambler R. J. Cipriani, who alleges that Paramount CEO David Ellison’s second-in-command leaked inside information pertaining to the $110bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery. Cipriani filed a $150m lawsuit last month and is also claiming that Shell is in breach of contract relating to a TV show concept, and for unpaid crisis communication fees. Shell countersued claiming extortion and defamation. According to reports the ongoing talks between Shell’s legal team and Paramount could result in…

The combined might of Hoppers from Disney/Pixar and Marsupilami from Pathé was not enough to maintain early 2026 momentum at the French box office as March produced 12.9 million admissions, marking a 28% drop from 17.9 million in February. While March drove a 1.4% year-on-year rise over 12.7 million ticket sales in 2025 – when admissions fell to their lowest March level since 1999 excluding Covid-impacted 2020 and 2021), the first three months of 2026 have produced 46.7 million admissions, up 14.3% over last year. Hoppers – released as Jumpers in France – led the month with more than 1.1 million tickets…

Bong Joon Ho’s debut animated feature Ally has been set for release in 2027, distributed by CJ ENM, Penture Invest and Pathé. It has been known for several years that the Oscar-winning South Korean director of Parasite has been working on an animated film about deep-sea creatures, but details of the project – including its title – have only been revealed today. A first look at the film can be seen above. The family adventure follows Ally, a curious piglet squid living in the uncharted depths of the South Pacific Ocean. She dreams of one day seeing the sun and…

Tessa Ross’ London-based House Productions and BBC Film have joined Justine Triet’s psychological thriller Fonda, which starts shooting in the southwest of France this month. Screen has confirmed the French production will also shoot for a few days in the English countryside, overseen by the UK partners. BBC Film has boarded as a financier.  In France, Screen understands further backing is coming from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and the Landes Department. Cast Fonda has also added Odessa A’zion, Ewan Mitchell, Cherry Jones and Benedict Wong to its cast, alongside the previously announced Mia Goth, Allison Janney, Andrew Scott, Frank Dillane and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. The film is…

Row K, the start-up distributor that launched at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance at CinemaCon next month as it reviews its strategy amid the departure of several top executives. The embattled company is redirecting its focus towards more commercial films after its first release, Gus van Sant’s well-reviewed Venice premiere Dead Man’s Wire, underperformed in January. Last week it emerged that president Megan Colligan and two other senior executives are negotiating their exits. “As we’ve said, the release of Dead Man’s Wire provided an important opportunity to evaluate and refine our strategy as…

Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the North American box office as it reached $22.8m in its second weekend, breaking the nine-year record previously held by Baahubali 2. The Hindi-language action epic produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios added an estimated $4.8m through Moviegoers Entertainment, overtaking Telegu-language Baahubali 2’s $20.2m final gross. Aditya Dhar’s crime story starring Ranveer Singh as an undercover agent who infiltrates the Pakistani criminal underworld dropped 52% against the opening session, earning $1.3m on Friday, $1.9m on Saturday, and $1.5m on Sunday from 987 locations – the same…

HBO Max Polish series Proud won the International Competition grand prize at the 2026 Series Mania festival that wrapped at Friday’s closing ceremony (March 27) in Lille, France. Ignacy Liss took home the best actor prize for his role as young gay man who spends his life partying until a family tragedy leads him to become the caregiver for his sister’s baby. Proud was created by Karol Klementewicz and the producers are TVN Warner Bros Discovery and Magnolia Films. Amanda Jansson was named best actress for Swedish series My Brother. UK dramas triumphed with several awards including best screenplay for Dennis…

A Belgian court has rejected an appeal by Netflix to scrap a law imposing financial obligations on streamers in the country’s French speaking Wallonia-Brussels region. However, in a win for Netflix, the court has referred key questions about the working of the financial obligation to the European Union’s Court of Justice. The Belgian court ruled that Wallonia-Brussels’s investment obligation scheme is “proportionate” and “reasonably justified,” and rejected most of Netflix’s arguments. Netflix’s appeal centred on a new law introduced in the Wallonia-Brussels region that mandates that streamers and broadcasters must invest up to a maximum 9.5% of revenues on Belgian…

Alison Oliver is replacing Daisy Edgar-Jones in the currently-titled Bad Bridgets, the second feature from Kneecap director Rich Peppiatt. Production will get underway in late June on the film. LuckyChap is producing with Peppiatt and Trevor Birney’s Irish company Coup d’Etat. FilmNation is selling the title, having launched it at last year’s American Film Market, with WME Independent representing the US. Bad Bridgets is written by Peppiatt, inspired by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick’s 2023 book Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem, and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women. Set in the 19th century, the film will see a mysterious letter set a…

US talk show host Stephen Colbert is teaming up with The Lord Of The Rings franchise architects Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens on The Lord Of The Rings: Shadow Of The Past. Colbert will co-write the film (working title) alongside Boyens and Peter McGee, Warner Bros and New Line confirmed on Wednesday. WingNut Films is producing in association with Spartina Industries. The action takes place 14 years after the death of Frodo as Sam, Merry, and Pippin retrace the first steps of their adventure. Sam’s daughter Elanor finds a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the…