Author: SD

The Cannes Film Festival has added four new titles to its Official Selection. Bi Gan’s Résurrection joins the Competition lineup. It is a sci-fi detective movie starring Jackson Yee and Shu Qi, with Les Films du Losange handling sales.  Martin Bourboulon’s 13 Days, 13 Nights will play out of competition. Based on the book by Commander Mohamed Bida, it follows the evacuation of the French embassy in 2021 when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. Roschdy Zem, Lyna Khoudri and Sidse Babett Knudsen star.  Eugene Jarecki’s documentary The Six Billion Dollar Man about Julian Assange will play as a special screening. And finally Lise Akoka and…

EXCLUSIVE: Playtime has scored international sales rights to Andrea Di Stefano’s My Tennis Maestro starring Pierfrancesco Favino about a young athlete who bonds with his unconventional coach. It is produced by Italy’s Indiana Production, Indigo Film and Vision Distribution in collaboration with Memo Film, Sky, and Playtime. Now in post-production, Vision Distribution will distribute in Italy and Universal pictures will release in France. Playtime will show first images from the film in Cannes. The €11m ($12.5m) film follows a 13-year-old tennis hopeful feeling pressure from his father’s weighty expectations who sets off for a training tour and life-changing journey along the Italian…

Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback, the latest entry in Japan’s popular long-running anime film franchise, earned $24.1m (¥3.43bn) from 2.31 million admissions over its three-day opening weekend (April 18-20) – a new record for the franchise. The previous record was set by Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram, which earned $23.5m (¥3.35bn) on 2.27 million admissions across its opening weekend in April 2024. That film ended up being Japan’s top-grossing film of 2024 with a total of $110.9m (¥15.8bn). The new release was leagues ahead of the weekend’s second place title, Doraemon The Movie: Nobita’s Art World Tales, which took $655,000 (¥92m).…

Worldwide box office: May 2-4 RankFilm (distributor) 3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1 Thunderbolts* (Disney) $162.1m $162.1m $86.1m $86.1m 53 2 Sinners (Warner Bros) $43.4m $236.7m $10.4m $57m 72 3 A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros)  $40.3m $873.4m $26.6m $475.2m 79 4 The Dumpling Queen (various) $16.8m $26.1m $16.8m $26.1m 5 5 The Accountant 2 (Warner Bros)  $16.6m $65.7m $7.2m $24.6m 73 6 A Gilded Game (various) $11.1m $16m $11.m $16m 4 7 Detective…

EXCLUSIVE: Indonesian animated feature Jumbo has smashed records to become the third highest grossing local film of all time in the country, recording 7.49 million admission after four weeks on release. The first animated feature produced by Jakarta-based Visinema Studios follows a chubby boy who gets bullied and nicknamed Jumbo by his peers. When a fairy appears asking for help, the two embark on an adventure to reunite her with her family and look for a stolen book written by the late parents of the boy. The film opened on March 31 during the week-long Hari Raya Puasa holiday and…

South Korean crime thriller Yadang: The Snitch took the top spot at the South Korea box office on its opening weekend (April 18-20), ending The Match’s short reign and accounting for nearly 70% of all tickets sold. Released on April 16, Yadang: The Snitch took $4.11m from 608,149 admissions across 1,832 screens, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service. Its cumulative gross stands at $5.26m from 786,077 total admissions. Directed by Hwang Byung-gook, the story revolves around the intertwined ambitions of a drug broker played Kang Ha-neul of Netflix hit Squid Game, a prosecutor played by…

Production spend in the UK in the first quarter of 2025 was nearly three times the spend of the equivalent period in 2024, according to figures published today (May 1) by the BFI. The number of films starting principal photography during the first quarter of 2025 was 37, 15 more than was first reported for the first quarter of 2024, with a production spend of £632m.  This is the third highest first quarter since records began in 2003, and nearly three times the £211m that was reported for Q1 2024 productions. There were 15 inward investment films in production in…

Worldwide box office: April 25-27 Rank Film (distributor)  3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1  A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros)  $60.5m  $816.6m  $37.8m  $436.6m 79 2   Sinners (Warner Bros)  $59.6m  $161.6m  $13.5m  $39.1m 72  3   Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith (Disney)  $42.2m  $42.2m  $17m  $17m 35  4   The Accountant 2 (Warner Bros)  $38.2m  $38.2m  $13.7m  $13.7m 72  5   Until Dawn (Sony)  $18.1m  $18.1m  $10.1m  $10.1m 61  6   Detective Conan: One-eyed Flashback (Toho)  $12.9m  $47.4m  $12.9m  $47.4m 1  7   The Amateur (Disney)  $8.7m  $80.6m  $4.9m  $46.7m  53  8   Thudarum (various) …

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has hired Pulsar Content co-founder Marie Garrett as SVP sales and acquisitions to handle multi-territory sales with a particular focus on co-productions. The Paris-based executive will report to XYZ partners Nate Bolotin and Aram Tertzakian. Garrett is no longer with Pulsar Content, which she co-founded with Gilles Sousa, serving as managing director since 2019. “We’ve been working with Marie on successful projects for several years, including Blumhouse’s Deep House, and have been continually impressed with her taste and her relationships with both buyers and filmmakers alike. We’re thrilled to have her join the XYZ team,” said XYZ…

In devastating news on the eve of Cannes, Bleecker Street founder and CEO and independent community stalwart Andrew Karpen has died of brain cancer. He was 59. Karpen was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2024 and died in hospital in Connecticut on Monday. Longtime friend and Bleecker Street president Kent Sanderson said, “Our industry has lost a giant. Andrew taught us all so much, foremost of which is the value of kindness, honesty, and family above all else. His leadership and courage will inspire all of us at Bleecker Street for the rest of our lives.” The popular East Coast native founded Bleecker Street in…