Croatia’s Drugi Plan, Germany’s Nadcon, Italy’s Fabula Team Up on Geopolitical Eco-Thriller ‘Greater Adria’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Catherine Bray Night time in Rome. Wildfires rage on the horizon of the vast city.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent France’s UFO Distribution has acquired French rights to Venice Horizons entry “An Endless Sunday” by first-time Italian director Alain Parroni from Fandango Sales. The film will segue from Venice to Toronto where it screens in the fest’s Discovery section.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Sea Beyond,” the Naples-set prison drama that has become a pop culture phenomenon in Italy, has been bought by U.S. streamer MHz Choice for North America.

Returning for the third installment in the gritty action saga, The Equalizer 3 aims to deepen the mysterious world of Robert McCall. With Denzel Washington’s undeniable charm at its helm and Antione Fuqua’s seasoned direction, the film promises a continuation of its intense street-justice narrative. Yet, does it deliver the high-octane thrills we’ve come to expect, or does it falter under the weight of its own legacy? In addition to Washington, the film also stars Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Andrea Scarduzio, and Remo Girone. Richard Wenk returns as screenwriter.

In a cinema that has plenty of offerings when it comes to guys with guns, what givesSony and Escape Artists’ Equalizer series with Denzel Washington that extra zhuzh?

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian. Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chilean indie Equeco, led by Pablo Calisto, is a triple threat at the 19th Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic), with three projects participating in the annual event running August 20-27. Vying for the top prize in the official competition is Equeco’s “Historia y Geografia,” which debuts its teaser trailer exclusively on Variety. Equeco is also embarking on its most ambitious project, “Il Cileno” by Sergio Castro San Martín, a historical drama in co-production with Italy’s Dispàrte, a Rome-based independent production company founded in 2015 by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti.

Naman Ramachandran International sales agent Films Boutique has revealed the first sales and a trailer for Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz’s “Explanation for Everything,” which will world premiere at the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand. Films Boutique has sold the film to I Wonder Pictures for Italy and Filmtett for Romania.

Kylie Jenner painted Italy red in a look suited for a pin-up princess on Tuesday night.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic One briny-deep thriller that does not have sharks, other aquatic predators or even human ones, German director Max Erlenwein’s English-language “The Dive” manages to work up considerable tension nonetheless. It’s closer in gist to “127 Hours” than most other underwater suspense films, hinging on a similar type of physical entrapment — only the survivable timespan here is of course much reduced, because the imperiled characters have a limited oxygen supply. While perhaps not quite striking enough in style or incident to leave a lasting impression, this very well-crafted remake of co-writer Joachim Heden’s 2020 Norwegian feature “Breaking Surface” should particularly impress with its underwater photography on the big screen.

Emiliano De Pablos Chile’s Latente Films is teaming with Argentine outfit HD Argentina and Germany’s Orinokia to produce Chilean writer-director Sergio Castro San Martin’s project “Mil pedazos” (“A Thousand Pieces”), selected for the San Sebastian Festival’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum this September. A creator and co-director of TV series such as Amazon Original “La Jauria” and Disney+’s “Llévame al cielo” – both produced by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fábula – Castro San Martín’s feature debut, “The Mud Woman,” had its world premiere at the 2015 Berlinale.

Angelique Jackson Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez, whose debut feature “The Settlers” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has signed with CAA for representation. Set in 1901, “The Settlers” centers on Segundo, a mixed-race Chilean, who rides south on an expedition led by a former Boer War English captain and an American mercenary to fence off land granted to Spanish landowner José Menéndez. Their mission soon turns into a “civilizing” raid.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that centre-back Cristian Romero is available for Saturday's clash with Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Manchester United will accelerate their efforts to sign Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina, according to reports.

Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, and Usher hanging out together in a European escapade. This assembly of notable figures embarked on a captivating retreat that unfolded against the picturesque backdrop of Dubrovnik, Croatia.These personalities took to the city with elegance and exclusivity, strolling along Dubrovnik’s bustling main street.

Woman’s Day even claims that Chiara has already met the indomitable Danish queen who is apparently keeping a close eye on her grandson and eventual heir. Quite what she will make of Chiara and her family will be interesting to learn.

Netflix is clearly determined to play the major studio game of big star-driven action franchises. Extraction and its current sequel, The Gray Man (with the promise of more), Red Notice, and many others represent big screen type entertainment designed ultimately for people to watch on their couches at home. This kind of stuff, while skillfully and expensively executed still works best at IMAX rather than your living room but the streamer is convinced they will goose subscriptions so expect more of it, and movies like Heart Of Stone , a convoluted spy thriller loaded with James Bond-style action set pieces but with a wonder woman in the name of Gal Gadot in the center of it all. Taking a cue from Charlize Theron’s Netflix franchise, The Old Guard, this is a female-driven enterprise where the men, namely Jamie Dornan’s complicated bad guy, take a back seat for the most part. In fact this is a Gadot vehicle all the way.

Prime Day was just last month, Amazon just announced a second major savings event — Prime Big Deal Days — scheduled for October 2023. The mega sales event, which is exclusive to Prime members, will kick off the holiday shopping season.

Naman Ramachandran Streamer Disney+ will launch its ad-supported subscription plan across several European countries in November. The ad-tier was launched in the U.S. in December 2022.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, trying to swing its streaming business into the black, has set substantial price hikes for Disney+ and Hulu standalone premium plans in the U.S. — while also rolling out a heavily discounted Disney+/Hulu ad-free combo bundle. As of Oct.