Cannes Chooses Former WarnerMedia Exec Iris Knobloch To Succeed Pierre Lescure As President

EXCLUSIVE: Chernin Entertainment has hired former Red Arrow Studios Chairman and CEO Jan Frouman.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCritics Week, the sidebar dedicated to first and second features which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival, is launching a new award. Called The French Touch Prize of the Jury, the award is being backed by a French organization dedicated to promoting creative and cultural industries.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free Productions has optioned the rights to the acclaimed thriller Outside from bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson for feature adaptation. Acclaimed commercial director Henrik Hansen from Scott’s RSA Films is in talks to direct the project. The novel will be released in the UK on April 28, 2022 and in the US in June 2022.

Cannes Film Festival says it is anticipating in-person industry attendance at its 2022 edition to be “much higher than last year”, with the vast majority of delegates set to make the trip.

Variety has previously reported, “Elvis” Baz Luhrmann’s drama about the rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) and Tom Hanks, will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.Cannes confirmed the premiere on Tuesday, adding that Luhrmann, Hanks and Butler will attend the premiere screening alongside Olivia DeJonge (“The Visit”), who plays Priscilla Presley in the biopic. They also released a new image of Butler as Elvis.The film is set for North American release on June 24 through Warner Bros.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentWarnerMedia Kids & Family EMEA has acquired broadcast rights to “Jade Armor,” a banner martial arts action comedy animated series from France’s TeamTO, one of Europe’s foremost kids entertainment production companies.As part of Cartoon Network’s declared commitment to broadcasting more animation targeting girls, “Jade Armor” will be released on both HBO Max and Cartoon Network in Europe, West Asia and North Africa later in 2022.An instance of platforms’ drive into local animation and diversity which is galvanizing animation in Europe, the new licensing deal builds on last year’s sale of “Jade Armor” to WarnerMedia Kids & Family in the U.S., ensuring classy powerful premium platform distribution for the series. Produced by multi-award winning TeamTO founder Corinne Kouper and co-created by showrunners Chloé Miller whose anime passions shines through in the series, “Jade Armor” turns on Lan Jun, who bucks any kind of gender stereotyping, as Miller noted for Variety: She likes pink but likes to fight and likes to watch soccer games and paint her nails.Martial-arts loving, she also becomes an unexpected and unlikely teen hero when she dons a mysterious jade bracelet, obliging her to learn the ancient secrets of her family and uncover the unexpected, including a cohort of super villains, while navigating the typical challenges of teen life.Kouper and Miller are supported by an all-female key creative team: Head writer M.J.

Cannes has confirmed our scoop from last month by announcing details of the Top Gun: Maverick screening and the Tom Cruise special tribute. This is expected to be the film’s international premiere with the global premiere in San Diego. Press release from the festival below:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTikTok, which as become the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival, has assembled the prestigious jury of its inaugural #TikTokShortFilm, a global in-app competition of vertical shorts.Rithy Panh, the BAFTA-nominated Cambodian filmmaker of “The Missing Picture,” will preside over the international jury, which comprises Basma Khalifa, the Sudanese multi-disciplinary creative, Camille Ducellier, the artist and filmmaker of “Bachi-Bouzouk,” Angele Diabang, the screenwriter and producer of “Un air de kora,” as well as Khaby Lame, the Senegalese-born TikToker and content creator. Eligible short films will be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes in length.

EXCLUSIVE: An influx of U.S. studios and streamers heading to next week’s Mip TV should mitigate the loss of some of the bigger European distributors, according to Lucy Smith, who runs the annual market.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorThe Oscars In Memoriam segment gave viewers a chance to remember the memorable names in film who died over the past year. But every year, viewers are surprised to see that a few recognizable names were omitted.Beloved comedian Bob Saget, who had a small handful of film appearances in movies including Richard Pryor’s “Critical Condition,” drew the most outrage on social media.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentPriya Dogra, president of WarnerMedia Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia (excluding China), took the stage on Thursday to deliver a keynote speech at the Series Mania TV fest in Lille, France, and the message was clear: the U.S. conglomerate is ramping up production in Europe.“Our industry is becoming more global,” said Dogra.

WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia President Priya Dogra has talked up the U.S. media giant’s plan to “ramp up investment in local creative communities across Europe,” with 40 shows in the pipeline for 2023.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAfter several hours of heated debates, Iris Knobloch, the former boss of WarnerMedia France and Germany, has been chosen by the board of the Cannes Film Festival to become its first female president, as Variety has learned . She will succeed Pierre Lescure who was re-elected for a third term in June 2020 and is planning to step down after the upcoming edition.The German-born, Paris-based executive was elected by the board of directors of the Association Française du Festival International du Film, which brings together public authorities and film industry professionals, amid much controversy in France.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentKino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Mathieu Amalric’s “Hold Me Tight,” an engrossing family drama starring “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps. Co-produced and sold by Gaumont, the movie world premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.Adapted from Claudine Galea’s stage play, “Hold Me Tight” follows Clarisse (Krieps), a mother who has abandoned her family for mysterious reasons and is coping with great emotional upheaval.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGeorge Miller’s anticipated fantasy-romance-drama “Three Thousand Years Of Longing” with Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton will world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned.Both Miller and Swinton are Cannes regulars. Swinton appeared in five movies at last year’s festival, while Miller served as jury president in 2016 and his most recent film “Mad Max: Fury Road” played at the fest in 2015.The intriguing plot, for which details are being kept under wraps, revolves around the encounter between a scholar and a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Their conversation, in a hotel room in Istanbul, leads to consequences neither would have expected.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann’s drama of the rock-and-roll legend starring Austin Butler (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) and Tom Hanks, will world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety has confirmed.The movie currently has June 24 release date, which means it couldn’t open the festival unless Warner Bros. Pictures decides to have it bow on May 17 to kick off the milestone 75th edition.

EXCLUSIVE: Streaming service Mubi is getting behind a scriptwriting showcase focusing on projects from women and non-binary writers, which will host its second edition at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Angelique Jackson Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” has been cleared for takeoff with a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival.As Variety predicted earlier this month, the “Top Gun” sequel will screen during the French fest, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.Described by Variety’s Elsa Keslassy as the “planetary blockbuster Thierry Fremaux has been dreaming of since 2020,” the Cannes director first aimed to get the movie secured for an out-of-competition slot before COVID-19 delays upended the film release calendar.Cruise’s long-awaited return to the cockpit had been further delayed by the pandemic, which pushed the movie’s planned release date several times. The film is now set to hit theaters on May 27, while the Cannes Film Festival runs from May 17 to May 28.

Scott Disick clearly has a new love interest in his life!