Magnolia Acquires Worldwide Rights to Edinburgh Title ‘Neon Spring,’ Reveals Teaser (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Open Road Films has acquired North American rights to Marlowe, a noir crime thriller that stars Liam Neeson atop an ensemble that includes Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ian Hart, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior and Francois Arnaud. Neil Jordan directed the film from script by The Departed’s William Monahan. The film will be released theatrically December 2 through Open Road/Briarcliff Entertainment.

It is Taylor Sheridan’s world, and we’re all just livin’ in it, especially if it’s the world of anything related to Paramount. The Academy Award-nominated creator/writer/showrunner’s “Yellowstone” hit series returns for season five on Sunday, November 13.

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

EXCLUSIVE: The Outlaws star Charles Babalola is set to headline Showtime’s King Shaka, (fka Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation), executive produced by Antoine Fuqua.

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has acquired worldwide rights to the English-language horror-thriller Sound of Silence, directed by Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar and Stefano Mandala — the Italy-based filmmaking trio otherwise known as T3. The independent studio has slated the film for a domestic release next spring.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Danish international sales and aggregation outfit LevelK has boarded the thought-provoking drama “Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” by award-winning Portuguese director Marco Martins, which world premieres in main competition at next month’s San Sebastian Film Festival.  Hailed by Variety as “a powerful study of intense grief,” Martin’s debut feature, “Alice,” won the Prix Regards Jeune at Cannes in 2005. The story unravels three months before Brexit, as hundreds of migrants descend on the UK village of Great Yarmouth seeking work in the region’s turkey processing plants. Once there, Tânia greets them with matronly authority, taking charge as innkeeper, accountant, and fixer. As she’s forced to deceive them, her conscience grows heavy and she dreams of a brighter, seemingly unattainable, future transforming derelict hotels into modern retreats for elderly tourists.

Swedish video game company Embracer Group has acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

EXCLUSIVE: Showmax content chief Yolisa Phahle has revealed how co-producing with international partners has helped the South Africa-based streamer compete with fierce SVoD competition, as a first trailer for its epic fantasy drama Blood Psalms is today unveiled. You can watch it her below.

Joanna Gaines is gearing up to release a very personal new project.

“Hunt” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight section and follows two Korean Central Intelligence agents tasked with finding a mole within the agency and who uncover a plot to assassinate the country’s president. Jung-jae directed, wrote and produced the movie and stars alongside “Squid Game” co-star Heo Sung-tae.

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has snapped up domestic rights to Hunt, the feature directorial from Squid Game Emmy nominated star Lee Jung-jae, which made its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight section.

EXCLUSIVE: The New York-based Visit Films has acquired world rights excluding Canada to the video store dramedy I Like Movies, which will debut as part of the Discovery program at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video has added Israeli dramas Kvodo and Just for Today to its service in the U.S.

Holly Jones Paris-based sales company Alief has swooped on international sales rights to horror-political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”), the awaited fiction feature debut of Argentina’s Santiago Fillol, co-scribe on Oliver Laxe’s Cannes winners “Mimosa” and “Fire Will Come.”Co-written by Fillol, “Matadero” world premieres this week in Locarno’s main International Competition.The film takes a stark look at a historic tale through the maniacal lens of U.S. filmmaker Jared (Julio Perillán), as he shoots a big-screen version of a 19th-century text by Argentine writer Estaban Echeverría, exploiting the times and their trappings to create a piece of cinema meant to dig itself into the collective consciousness.

MBC Studios, the high-end production arm of Saudi media and entertainment giant MBC Group, has announced shooting is underway on the fantasy-adventure Rise Of The Witches, its biggest show to date featuring a local cast and crew.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has an exclusive track from Benjamin Wallfisch’s score for Ron Howard’s survival drama Thirteen Lives, which is slated for release on all major digital platforms via Milan Records tomorrow, as the film becomes available for streaming on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Magnolia Network is making some moves!

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterChip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network lineup, including all five seasons of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” will begin streaming on HBO Max in September, Variety has learned exclusively.According to a WarnerMedia source, “select” titles from Magnolia Network will come to the streamer Friday, Sept. 30, as part of a page featuring “curated” content from the Gaineses, which includes “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” “Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines” and “The Lost Kitchen,” among other series.The former HGTV superstars launched their Magnolia linear and streaming channel in partnership with Discovery last year, before Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia.Industry sources say that a new series “Fixer Upper: The Castle,” which centers on the Gaines’ overhauling their 100-year old castle in Waco, Texas, will premiere on HBO Max, along with the linear Magnolia Network and Discovery+, on Oct.

K.J. Yossman “Sex Education” fans can breathe easy.

new cocktail bar 63rd+1st have teamed up with celebrity chef Tony Singh to create a limited-edition food menu to its city centre restaurant, just in time for the city's busiest time of the year. Having recently opened on Frederick Street, in the heart of the capital, 63rd+1st have already built up a huge following, offering seasonal cocktails within a Manhattan-style venue.