‘Petrov’s Flu’ Producer Hype Film Signs First-Look Deal With Leading Russian VOD IVI (EXCLUSIVE)

**Minor spoilers ahead for “Black Widow.”** Marvel‘s “Black Widow” had plenty of Easter Eggs and a big standout was the prison arm wrestling scene when David Harbour‘s Red Guardian snaps the wrist of a large fella that was willing to call him out on his tall tales of battling against Captain America, who is pointed out to be frozen at this point time.

Christopher Vourlias Mubi, the London-based streamer and theatrical distributor that’s been on a buying spree this week in Cannes, has acquired the rights for North America, U.K., and a host of other territories for Kira Kovalenko’s “Unclenching the Fists,” which took home the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Variety can reveal.Set in a former mining town in Russia’s North Ossetia region, “Unclenching the Fists” is the story of a young woman, played by Milana

Jon Burlingame It’s a pretty rare occasion when the director of a superhero movie sits down with the composer to talk about music and neither of them ever uses the word “action” or even “superhero.”Instead, “Black Widow” director Cate Shortland and composer Lorne Balfe talked about the backstory of Natasha Romanoff and her sister, Yelena Belova.

Alexander Rodnyansky (“Beanpole,” “Leviathan,” “Loveless”), Variety can reveal.The deal is for a slate of both Russian-language and multilingual shows for Apple TV Plus, set both inside and outside Russia, and creatively led by both Russian and international writers and directors.Although the pact is with Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based AR Content, which he set up three years ago to finance the development of feature films and television, it is his production expertise and experience in Russia that

Christopher Vourlias Germany’s Sola Media has acquired sales rights across a host of territories for “Finnick,” an animated feature from leading Russian animation studio Riki Group, Variety has learned. The companies will be introducing the film to buyers during the Cannes Film Market.The CGI-animated comedy follows the adventures of 13-year-old Christine, who befriends the young prankster Finnick — one of the furry invisible beings known as Finns — in unlikely circumstances.

EXCLUSIVE: Russian film promotion body Roskino has launched a new export initiative, Russian Content Worldwide, in a bid to aid development of international relationships and interest in the Russian content market. The initiative was launched at the Russian Pavilion in Cannes this week and is direct response to the growing global interest in Russia’s film and television sector.

Kevin Feige told ET on the red carpet ahead of 's premiere. So, while the first film in the studio's fourth Phase is outwardly a swan song for its titular superheroine — an ending for Scarlett Johansson's superspy and Avenger — the movie is equally about setting up what comes next.Or as producer Brian Chapek put it, «This movie needed to do two things: The most important thing was celebrate Natasha's legacy.

Moscow-based Ilya Stewart is one of the international film industry’s rising stars. After founding production co Hype in 2011 with Murad Osmann, the pair have rapidly grown the outfit into one of the hottest names in Russia across commercials, music videos, and feature films. Unsurprisingly, TV is also now in the company’s sights.

Marvel‘s “Black Widow” finally releases this week and will likely be the final MCU outing for actress Scarlett Johansson.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorTop Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who was Oscar nominated for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” is reteaming with Zvyagintsev for his first English-language film, and with Kantemir Balagov, who directed “Beanpole,” best director winner in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2019.

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Stranger Things and Black Widow.As seen at the climactic end of the third season of the Netflix sci-fi phenomenon, Harbour’s character – police chief Jim Hopper – finds himself locked up in a Soviet prison.As revealed in a new interview with Harbour in the Guardian, a few months after finishing up filming on Stranger Things season three, Harbour was offered a role in Marvel‘s Black Widow, which would also see him locked up in Russia.Harbour says he had to reveal the news to Stranger Things

William Shatner is speaking out against a comment made by the editor-in-chief of Russian state-funded television news network, RT.

The 90-year-old actor will host the new show later this month on RT America, whose parent network RT — formerly known as Russia Today — was in 2017 described by US intelligence agencies as part of “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine.” Since then, it has been registered as a “foreign agent” in the US.RT announced the show on Tuesday with a promo that said Shatner will seek to “answer fascinating and timely questions that pique the natural interest of everyone, but that the establishment media