EXCLUSIVE: After smashing records in Vietnam, Tran Thanh’s hit romance drama Mai has now set a new milestone for an opening weekend at the international box office, becoming the first Vietnamese title to score a $1M debut outside the home market.
06.03.2024 - 11:08 / deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: It was a moment of high drama befitting a premium TV series and yet was playing out in real time in front of the people of Poland.
Just days before Christmas, when the nation should have been winding down for the holidays, the TVP national broadcaster’s news operation was abruptly taken off air and bosses unceremoniously fired as Donald Tusk‘s Civic Coalition took power from the ruling Law & Justice (PiS) party after eight years in opposition.
Protests were sparked by outgoing Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, police were summoned and some Polish news channels, briefly, went black. The departing Kaczyński branded the new Tusk government’s move “illegal” but the new leader pushed on, dismissing senior management and boards, and pledging to create new news outlets that would be balanced.
This was no simple changing of the guard, however. More than two months on, Deadline has revisited the Polish media landscape to find one in a total state of flux, with the public broadcaster struggling for money and ideas, and light at the end of the tunnel not yet visible. A chasm has opened up in the heart of Polish news and broadcasting, one that competitors are happy to occupy in TVP’s place.
“This is the consequence of treating Polish public TV as a wh*re,” says Michal Rogalski, director of one of the most premium shows to have emerged from the Central European nation in recent years, TVP’s Bay of Spies. “Whoever pays, takes the institution,” he adds. TVP didn’t respond to several Deadline requests for comment.
What happened on that fateful day on December 20 is broadly seen as the result of eight years of TVP’s news operation acting as a nakedly propagandist mouthpiece for the right-wing PiS.
TVP is state-controlled
EXCLUSIVE: After smashing records in Vietnam, Tran Thanh’s hit romance drama Mai has now set a new milestone for an opening weekend at the international box office, becoming the first Vietnamese title to score a $1M debut outside the home market.
Guy Lodge Film Critic As a general movie rule, when a group of happy weekenders head to a woodland cottage for a bit of rest and relaxation, the great outdoors has some grisly surprises in store for them. In “Who By Fire,” however, the horrors all come from inside the house — or more specifically from the people themselves, many of whose worst impulses and insecurities are unleashed by their tranquil surroundings.
The Kills have added new shows to their upcoming 2024 UK and Europe tour.The indie duo consisting of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince will return to the UK this spring to tour their latest album ‘God Games‘. The pair have just wrapped up their US leg touring with support act Heartworms.Now, The Kills have announced some new dates to add to their upcoming UK/EU tour.
Series Mania was Warner Bros. Discovery’s European roll-out timeline for Max, announced Thursday at the climax of the Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues. The most keenly anticipated session was nearly Series Mania’ Forum first: a Netflix showcase hosted by a confident Larry Tanz who significantly proved the only goal streamer exec to drill down on volume commitment.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor A panel moderated by the European Audiovisual Observatory at Series Mania Tuesday looked at four key trends in series production in Europe. Warning Signs?Gilles Fontaine, EAO’s head of department for market information, said there were warning signs of a downward trend in the number of seasons being produced, first in the U.S.
A young mom from the UK is raising money for her boob job after her ex made fun of her!
With a solid offshore hold, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is closing in on $500M globally. The overseas weekend brought in $51.2M across 73 markets, a 40% drop versus last session (-37% excluding China). The international box office cume through Sunday is $289.4M, and worldwide the running total is $494.7M. The latter figure means the film has already surpassed Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune worldwide.
Christopher Vourlias Iranian filmmaker Farahnaz Sharifi‘s “My Stolen Planet,” an intimate family portrait of life during Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, won the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on Sunday, bringing a close to an emotional and politically charged week in Greece’s second city. Using both the director’s personal archives and 8mm recordings of strangers’ lives, the film — which world premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand — uses an essayistic style to present the joy and vitality of life in Tehran in the 1970s, in contrast with the oppression imposed on the Iranian people by the country’s hardline regime.
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have today (March 15) announced details of a UK and European tour – check out the full dates below.The tour will take place this autumn and follows on from the recent announcement that the band will release a new album this summer, ‘Wild God’. The band will kick off their tour on September 24 in Oberhausen, Germany, and will end in Paris, France on November 17.
The Zone Of Interest, Jonathan Glazer, made reference to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East during his Oscar acceptance speech.The film, which focuses on the Nazi commandant Rufolf Höss and his family who live next to Auschwitz concentration camp, won two Academy Awards yesterday (March 10), for Best Sound and Best International Feature.Filming took place in Auschwitz, known for being one of the most prolific and notorious concentration camps. Operated by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, approximately 1.3million inmates were imprisoned there, and 1.1million killed.Taking to the stage to accept the award for Best International Film, Glazer spoke about the difficult themes in the film and their relevance today.
Ricki Lake showed off her slimmed-down figure as she attended the GBK Brand Bar Pre-Oscar event in Beverly Hills on Friday. The TV personality was glowing as she styled her grey hair in a choppy bob, showing off her weight loss in a flattering pair of slim-fitting jeans and a strappy top.
Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here taking you through what has been a whirlwind of a week in international TV and film. Do not stop here — please do read on. And sign up here.
FRIDAY UPDATE: Dune: Part Two added 42 international box office markets on Thursday, taking the offshore cume on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to $20.8M in a total 55. This includes two full-days of play and previews in those markets.
Former HBO Europe execs Johnathan Young and Ioanina Pavel have resurfaced with their own indie.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Playmaker has closed a raft of pre-sales deals on “Ploey 2 – The Legend of the Winds,” which was presented to international buyers for the first time at the European Film Market this month. The Playmaker screened an exclusive first-look teaser at its booth in Berlin as well as a promo for attending buyers.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Sundance queer drama “Sebastian,” directed by up-and-coming Finnish-British director Mikko Mäkelä, has been bought by Kino Lorber for U.S. distribution, along with a string of international buyers. Represented in international markets by LevelK, the film made its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Underscoring the enduring popularity of crime drama, Abacus Media Rights (AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company, has announced a slew of sales on two titles, led by Showmax Original “Catch Me a Killer,” a true crime drama with “Game of Thrones’” Charlotte Hope playing South Africa’s first and most famous serial killer profiler. Hope also headed “The Spanish Princess,” as Catherine of Aragon. AMR has moreover closed further deals on fiction drama “Scrublands,” a scripted drama about the real reasons for a country town massacre.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has revealed multiple distribution deals for two Berlinale competition titles: German director Matthias Glasner‘s “Dying,” which won the festival’s Silver Bear for best screenplay, and Russian director Victor Kossakovsky‘s documentary “Architecton.” “Dying,” which stars Lars Eidinger, Lilith Stangenberg and Corinna Harfouch, also picked up the Guild of German Arthouse Cinemas and the Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award. Variety‘s review describes the film as “a profoundly affecting exploration of life and loss.” The Match Factory closed deals for the film in France (Bodega Film), Italy (Satine Film), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Norway (Selmer Media), Poland (Aurora), CIS (Provzglyad), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF MegaCom Film), Hungary (Cirko Films), Greece (Cinobo), Romania (Freealize), Taiwan (Andrews Film) and South Korea (Pancinema).
Alex Ritman “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories. HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Polish public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) has added feature film “Shattered Games” to its international sales slate alongside rom-com film “The Love Buzz” and historical series “The Bay of Spies.” “Shattered Games” explores Poland’s rich history and influence in the game of chess. The Polish national chess squad, known as the “Golden Team” in Poland, won the world chess championship in Hamburg in 1930, and was renamed by the German press as the “Bombenmannschaft” or “Bomber Crew.” “The matches the team played are still to this day described in chess textbooks as examples of masterful moves and games,” TVP said in a statement.