Sony Japan Executive Bill Ireton Steps Down To Launch Independent Production Venture

EXCLUSIVE: Alona Tal (SEAL Team), Jake Busey (Predators), and Craig Sheffer (A River Runs Through It) have joined Mark Feuerstein, Neal McDonough, Dermot Mulroney, and Christopher Lloyd in Man in the Long Black Coat, from director Salvador Litvak.

The Sundance Institute has today named the jurors who will preside over awards for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 16-person lineup features everyone from CODA star Marlee Matlin to We Need To Talk About Cosby‘s W. Kamau Bell, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, is based on a best-selling manga about two young girls who move to Kyoto to start their training as ‘maiko’ or apprentice geisha. 

So excited to learn more about living in Japan!

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-producer Jason Ning is expanding his relationship with Sony Pictures Television, signing an overall deal with the studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Shochiku has acquired Pan Nalin’s Last Film Show (Chhello Show) for Japan and has set a theatrical release on January 20. Last Film Show is among the 15 films shortlisted for International Feature Oscar and the first Indian title to make the cut in 21 years. 

The 27th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards has announced its nominations in 14 categories, including theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animation features.

Peter Rawley, a longtime ICM talent agent who repped Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Gere and Faye Dunaway and also was head of European production for MGM and a successful indie producer, died January 3. He was 85.

EXCLUSIVE: International formats expert Luci Sanan has left The Story Lab after seven years.

Columbia Pictures has unveiled a sneak look at upcoming film Gran Turismo at the Sony Group Corporation’s 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) press conference in Las Vegas, NV. Based on the Playstation Studios video game, the film will be in movie theaters August 11, 2023.

In 2016, the theme park that saw the biggest jump in attendance in the world was Universal Studios Hollywood. That year, the park’s attendance surged 13.9% to 8,086,000 visits, according to the EA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index. What happened? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that’s what.

Roll up, roll up, it’s our annual list of U.S. and international movies that could have festivals (and audiences) salivating in 2023. As ever, two of our main criteria are that the project is already in production and hasn’t yet been declared for a festival. This isn’t an exhaustive list but a healthy snapshot of some highlights from around the world. Enjoy!

Broxburn Athletic will head into 2023 without a manager after Chris Townsley resigned from his role in the wake of this afternoon’s 5-1 home loss to Linlithgow Rose.

Thom Bell, who helped to create the soul songs style that became known in the 1960s and 1970s as “The Sound of Philadelphia,” died Thursday in Bellingham, Washington. He was 79 and no cause of death was given.

Natalie Engel is stepping down from her post as senior director development, PBS Kids Content.