Strand Releasing Acquires North American Rights to ‘Fantastic Machine,’ Sundance Documentary Produced by Ruben Östlund (EXCLUSIVE)

Gkids has acquired North American rights to Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, the Japanese maestro’s latest feature which Toho is releasing today in Japan as Kimitachi wa Do Ikiruka (How Do You Live?). The Boy and the Heron is now the official international title. This all-rights deal marks a continuation of Gkids’ long-standing relationship with the Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli; Gkids will release the original story written and directed by Miyazaki theatrically laster this year.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Strand Releasing has acquired the North American rights to Pierre Creton’s “A Prince,” a French film which world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. “A Prince” won the SACD Prize from France’s Writers’ Guild for the best French-language film at Directors’ Fortnight. Represented in international markets by Andolfi, “A Prince” follows a horticultural student, Pierre-Joseph, whose sexual encounters with his botany teacher and mentors lead to a unique hybrid tale of science, sex and meditation. “We’re thrilled to be handling ‘A Prince,’ Creton’s work is such a rarified vision that fits so well with the Strand Releasing brand, we look forward to taking this out to some of the top festivals across North America,” said Marcus Hu at Strand Releasing. 

Following her recent health scare, Madonna has canceled her summer and fall North American tour, with plans to reschedule the dates later.

Madonna is speaking out after her recent hospitalization.«Thank you for your positive energy, Prayers and words of healing and encouragement,» Madge shared in an Instagram update on Monday. «I have felt your love.» The 64-year-old artist continued, «I'm on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.»The «Like a Prayer» singer is recovering after she spent several days in the ICU due to a bacterial infection.

Thania Garcia Madonna’s “Celebration” tour has been delayed again after being postponed after the singer developed a serious bacterial infection. The tour was originally scheduled to begin July 15 in Vancouver though the 64-year-old was rushed to the hospital on June 24 due to the infection, according to an Instagram post from her manager Guy Oseary. For the first time since her hospitalization, Madonna addressed the tour and her health writing that she was “on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.” She additionally added that she was going to reschedule the North American leg of the tour and bein in October in Europe.

Lil Uzi Vert has shared details of their upcoming headlining tour of the United States in support of their third studio album, ‘Pink Tape’.The tour, announced on Friday (July 7), will begin on October 21 at The Armory in Minneapolis. It will continue for another month, wrapping in Philadelphia at the city’s Wells Fargo Center.

Thania Garcia Lil Uzi Vert will be performing in venues across the U.S. later this fall for the newly-announced “Pink Tape” tour in support of their latest, 26-track album album “Pink Tape.” The 17-date trip will be Uzi’s first headlining jaunt since 2018’s “Endless Summer Tour,” and is slated to begin on Oct. 21 in Minneapolis, before making numerous stops across major cities like Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, New York City, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Denver, among other cities. They will close the tour with a special hometown performance in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on Nov. 22. “Pink Tape,” the follow-up to the rapper’s 2020 record, “Pluto x Baby Pluto,” is expected to be one of the top rap releases of the year when it arrives on U.S. charts next week. It features guest verses from Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Bring Me The Horizon and more.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Pham Thien An’s debut feature “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.” The Vietnamese drama appeared in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight section and was winner of the Camera d’Or. The company plans a theatrical release as well as a digital and home video releases on all major platforms after the film makes multiple stops on the international film festival circuit. “The sudden death of his sister-in-law brings unexpected responsibilities to Thien (Le Phong Vu), who is reluctantly tasked with bringing his five-year-old nephew Dao to their countryside hometown. On the road, Thien is drawn into a search for his long missing older brother, haunted and spurred forward by a series of sublime dreams that reignite suppressed memories, forbidden desires, and specters of his own youth. What began as a journey home becomes a pilgrimage marked by visual splendor and mystical overtones, a quest for understanding and certainty in a Vietnam that seems unable to provide any clear answers. As Thien battles with his own existential question of what is worth living for, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell interrogates the persistence and complexity of faith, not only in the spiritual but in the delicate beauty of earthly existence,” said Kino Lorber by way of a long synopsis.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The days of elastic budgets are over. The documentary arena is feeling the great contraction in the volume of content ordered by the largest networks and streamers as the entertainment industry reckons with its spending binge of the past decade. The high-end nonfiction and documentary production community benefited enormously from the spike in demand for episodic series and evergreen films. In recent months, filmmakers, producers and buyers say strictures have tightened on producers to deliver highly accessible, easily promotable documentary content. “Crime, food, music sports”: that’s how director and cinematographer Nicola Marsh describes the hot subject areas for docu makers in the present writers strike-disrupted marketplace.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Aya Films has acquired U.K. rights to “Mami Wata,” which world premiered in the World Cinema – Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival, and won the Cinematography Award. Variety is debuting the teaser exclusively ahead of the film’s appearance in the Horizons section of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Aya Films will release the film in the U.K. in the fall. Dekanalog will release the film theatrically in North America in the fall as well. International sales are handled by Alief. The producer is Oge Obasi for Fiery Film Company Ltd. Brett Walker, president of Alief, said Justine Atkinson of Aya Films “showed the most passion, determination, flexibility and marketing know how above everyone else in her territory.”

Hulu has acquired the U.S. rights to Jake Johnson’s feature directorial debut Self Reliance, in a competitive deal with MRC and Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of indie distributor Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to “Sleep.” The horror-thriller, which sounds designed to make you rethink your thoughts about sleepwalking, recently had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s critics week. It was directed and written by Jason Yu, who worked with Korean filmmaking legends Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong before making his feature directing debut with “Sleep.” Magnet will release the film early next year. The director’s previous collaborator, Bong, called “Sleep,” “the most unique horror film and the smartest debut film I’ve seen in 10 years.” So that’s some high praise from the director of “The Host” and “Parasite.”

Ricky Gervais is crossing the pond and heading to the U.S. and Canada for four huge shows in June, July and August as part of his massive, international ‘Armageddon Tour.’That includes back to back gigs at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Friday, June 30 and Saturday, July 1.Want to see Gervais live as he prepares material for his 2024 Netflix special?Well, thankfully, you can still pick up last-minute tickets for the five-time Golden Globe host’s pair of Big Apple gigs.They’re not particularly cheap though.At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on seats was $158 before fees on Vivid Seats.Should you choose to see the funnyman in Canada come August, you’ll find much more affordable inventory.Based on our findings, some tickets started at $60 USD before fees for those shows.For more information on catching the original Michael Scott — David Brent, for those in the know — live, keep reading.We’ve got everything you need to know and more below.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete calendar including all Ricky Gervais tour dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available for each show can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time.

Yungblud has announced that he has dropped the ticket prices for his upcoming North American tour to make it affordable for fans.The Doncaster pop-punk star took to social media to share that he will be offering a limited amount of tickets to his forthcoming North American tour for the price of $20 (£15.70), which includes fees.His decision to offer the discounted tickets was to provide a way for as many people as possible to be able to come to the upcoming leg of his world tour this summer.A post shared by YUNGBLUD (@yungblud)In a video posted to his official social media accounts, Yungblud – whose real name is Dominic Harrison – shared: “I know a lot of you out there right now can’t afford tickets to live shows, and I see it and I read it every day, and it breaks my heart.”“I don’t want some one to not be able to come to a show because they can’t afford it,” he continued. “That just hurts, so I just said to myself I’ve got to try my best to do something about it,” he added.He continued: “I know a lot of you out there have paid full price for tickets, but I want to let you know that every single penny I have earned from this tour I have put back into you guys and put back into this so we can make tickets available for this price.”“I am not making anything off this tour now, because this is what it’s about.

Doja Cat has announced her first-ever North American arena tour kicking off later this year, with Ice Spice and Doechii as support – find the full schedule below and buy tickets here.The singer and rapper will kick off ‘The Scarlet Tour’ on October 31 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with stops planned for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, Miami, Brooklyn, Toronto and many more, closing out the 24-date trek at Chicago’s United Center in Chicago on December 13.Pre-sales will start next Wednesday (June 28) at 10am local time, before general on-sale goes live Friday (June 30) at 10am local time from here.The news comes one week after the artist unveiled her new single ‘Attention’, her first solo release since her 2021 album ‘Planet Her’.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Rachel Zegler and Emily Mortimer are in talks to join the cast of “Paddington in Peru,” the third opus of the beloved bear’s adventures. Set to start filming on July, the third installment film will also star Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin. Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton will also be back as the voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy, respectively. Filming locations will include the UK, Peru and Colombia. The movie will mark the feature film directorial debut of Dougal Wilson, and reteams Studiocanal with Heyday Films following their collaboration on the first two films of the Paddington franchise. Studiocanal is fully financing and will distribute in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand as well as through partners in China and Japan. Sony Pictures will distribute in the USA, Canada and other key international territories including Latin America.

Gorillaz have cancelled their upcoming US tour dubbed ‘The Getaway’, with ticket providers citing “scheduling conflicts”.The tour was announced only last month and was set to see the Damon Albarn-fronted cartoon band play four shows in support of their eighth and most recent album ‘Cracker Island’.Now, the September gigs have been cancelled, with ticket providers sharing a statement. “Due to scheduling conflicts and circumstances beyond our control, the previously announced Gorillaz shows in September have been cancelled,” they said.“Refunds will be issued automatically at your point of purchase and will be processed as quickly as possible, there is nothing further for you to do at this time.

Röyksopp have announced new North American and European tour dates for 2023 – find all the details below and buy tickets here.Back in February, the Norwegian electronic duo – Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland – embarked on their European ‘True Electric’ tour, which saw them stop off in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Prague, Berlin and Oslo.Now, they have announced a US tour and second European leg kicking off later this year, which will follow a summer of festival dates.Check your inboxes today for pre-sale access to the «True Electric» 2023 Fall North American tour! General sale tickets online 23rd June 10AM local time

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong action film “The White Storm: Heaven or Hell” will have its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival, where it is a late addition to the line-up. The festival runs July 14–30, 2023 at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Directed by Herman Yau, the film sees Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok and Sean Lau (aka Lau Ching-wan) appear together for the first time. It is set in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region famous for drugs production and trafficking. Kwok plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a drug cartel led by a notorious Thai drug lord (Lau). In classic heroic bloodshed fashion, the two develop a bond of brotherhood. The cop’s only hope of escaping the treacherous jungle region and his ambiguous morality is to somehow contact the superintendent of the Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau, who has solemnly sworn to demolish the cartel once and for all.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Joanna Arnow’s “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed.” The film, which recently world-premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section and is executive produced by Sean Baker, is a comedy about a 30-something New York woman, who is played by Arnow. It follows her as time passes in her long-term casual BDSM relationship and low-level corporate job, and chronicles her quarrelsome Jewish family.  Critics liked Arnow’s witty and fresh take, with Variety calling it one of the festival’s true discoveries and hailing the filmmaker as “a raw, intimate and more importantly extremely funny new talent.“ The film is Arnow’s narrative feature film debut following shorts including “Bad Dancing,” which won the Berlinale Silver Bear, “Laying Out,” and the feature doc “I hate myself:).”