‘Hanu Man’ Indian Superhero Film Emerges as Hit, Adds Screens in North America (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Taylor Sheridan‘s upcoming Paramount+ series “Land Man” has added four new series regulars, Variety has learned exclusively. Kayla Wallace (“When Calls The Heart”), frequent Sheridan collaborator James Jordan (“Yellowstone”) Mark Collie (“Nashville”) and Paulina Chávez (“The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia”) have all joined the series alongside previously announced lead Billy Bob Thornton and fellow series regulars Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph and Jacob Lofland.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Concrete Utopia,” the highly regarded drama-thriller that was South Korea’s Oscars contender and one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, has scored a streaming release in North America. Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has licensed exclusive rights to the film in the U.S. and Canada and will begin streaming it to North American audiences from Friday.

EXCLUSIVE: VMI Releasing, the North American distribution arm of VMI Worldwide, has hired Dan Fisher as Executive Vice President. 

EXCLUSIVE: HanWay Films will represent international sales at next month’s EFM on Berlinale Competition title La Cocina. Fifth Season co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.

Naman Ramachandran “Emergency,” written, directed and produced by Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut, has set a release date. The film focuses on one of the most controversial periods of post-Independence Indian history from 1975 to 1977 when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a nationwide state of emergency. During that time civil liberties and press freedom were curtailed and elections were canceled.

Glen Powell is getting some very special support at the premiere of his new Netflix movie!

Anna Marie de la Fuente Latin America is about to get an array of new thematic channels, thanks to a strategic partnership between Canal+ Group’s Thema America and SPI Int’l. SPI Int’l’s popular channels FunBox UHD, FilmBox Arthouse, Gametoon, FightBox, DocuBox, Fast&FunBox, FashionBox, Erox, Eroxxx, and 360TuneBox, will be distributed across the region via Thema America, which will represent and distribute the channels.

GroupM, the media investment arm of ad agency giant WPP, has named Sharb Farjami as its North America CEO.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sharb Farjami will take the reins of the North American operations of GroupM, the media-investment giant that is part of WPP. Farjami had been CEO of North American for Wavemaker, one of the big media-buying units of GroupM..

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Dahomey,” a documentary directed by Cannes prizewinner Mati Diop (“Atlantique”) and slated for the Berlinale competition, will be represented internationally by Paris-based Les Films du Losange. The feature marks the directorial comeback of the French-Senegalese talent after winning the Grand Prize at Cannes with “Atlantique” in 2019.

Alicia Silverstone was a bright light in the otherwise maligned 1997 superhero movie “Batman & Robin,” playing Batgirl opposite George Clooney’s Batman. Although Clooney has distanced himself from the role in previous years, he showed up in 2023’s “The Flash” in a multiverse cameo. While Silverstone was at the Variety Studio presented by Audible to discuss her new Sundance film “Krazy House,” she was asked about whether or not she’d put the cape back on.

and so are we — but Mitski sure isn’t.Fans of the wistful indie icon will be pleased to hear that she’s added 15 August and September shows featuring special guests Laufey, Lamp, Alvvays, Arlo Parks, Ethel Cain and Wyatt Flores on select dates to her 2024 ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We Tour.’On the first leg of the tour, Tamino, Sunny War, Julia Jacklin and Sarah Kinsley will serve as Mitski’s support acts.With the addition of the second North American leg of the tour, the 33-year-old singer-songwriter now has 51 U.S. concerts lined up this year; that includes seven consecutive New York City and Brooklyn gigs at the Beacon and Kings Theatre this February.“In our efforts to make the show experience extra special, we found beautiful, seated theaters to play over multiple nights, rather than one giant venue per city, in the hopes of offering a more intimate experience to the audience,” Mitski shared on Instagram.And if you’d like to hear her 2023 album “The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We” as well as favorites like “Nobody,” “Washing Machine Heart” and more in intimate settings live, you can grab tickets for all 50+ Mitski shows as soon as today.Although inventory isn’t available for the newly announced August and September concerts on Ticketmaster until Friday, Jan.

German studio Constantin Film has greenlit The Canoe of Manitou, a sequel to Manitou’s Shoe, one of the most successful German-language movies ever. Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig returns to write, star and direct.

Ben Croll Film Movement will give “A Nice Jewish Boy” a home – several, in fact, as the New York-based distributor has picked up North American rights to Noé Debré’s bittersweet comedy with plans for both festival and theatrical plays later this year. Charades’ Hélène Espeisse brokered the deal with Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg.

Bush have appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform their hit song, ‘Glycerine’.On the Tuesday night (January 16) episode of The Tonight Show, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale performed the track alone backed by a string section. With a distorted electric guitar in hand, the frontman sang the 1996 ballad with heartfelt emotion.

Angelique Jackson Award-winning nonfiction filmmaker and writer Brett Story has signed with CAA ahead of the world premiere of her latest documentary, “Union.” Story co-directed the feature with Stephen Maing about the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island, as they take on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in a fight to unionize. “Union” will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan.

Callum McLennan Continuing their alliance into 2024, EO Media, led by Ezequiel Olzanski and SPI International, a Canal+ company, have secured all rights for Latin America, including Brazil, to a star-stacked slate of movies from topline talent such as Keanu Reeves, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon and fanbase stalwart Jean Claude Van Damme. As star talent continues to mark apart titles in a crowded marketplace, the new nine-pic distribution lineup also features Alec Baldwin, Diane Keaton.

Two women have been jailed for nearly 13 years each after kidnapping a woman and forcing her to eat glass and faeces.

Mike White‘s The White Lotus is rounding out its Season 3 cast with Milos Bikovic (South Wind), Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest), Morgana O’Reilly (Neighbours), Lek Patravadi and Shalini Peiris (The Arc) in the Thailand-set new installment.

Can a child overcome his fears? Netflix’s “Orion And The Dark” explores how the scariest things could actually help someone find happiness. The film revolves around a kid whose fearfulness has stifled his life.