Supernatural Horror Pic ‘Elevator Game’ Goes Into Production In Canada

Manori Ravindran International EditorWhite Pine Pictures executive Andrew Munger has re-launched his outfit Ultramagnetic Productions with a slate of drama and documentary projects.Munger first operated Ultramagnetic Productions from 1997 to 2004, producing non-fiction projects including “Walmart Nation,” “Campaign: The Making of a Candidate,” “Xanadu: In Search of Domestic Perfection” and “Make Some Noise!” for networks such as the CBC, Discovery, History and Life/Slice. He shuttered the company in 2005 to run television production at World Vision, Canada’s largest non-profit organization, before moving to Toronto’s White Pine Pictures in 2014.After eight years, Munger is stepping down from his role as director of unscripted development at White Pine in order to restart Ultramagnetic.

Distribution sources are saying there’s a chance that Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick could top the box office this weekend in its fifth session with $32 million, a 28% decline week over week.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorGood news for verbose Twitter users: The social network is testing out a new feature that will let people go over the 280-character limit in a single piece of content.With the new feature, called Notes, users can include text — up to 2,500 words — as well as photos, videos and GIFs in posts that can be written, published and shared on Twitter. The Note card will show up in the Twitter timeline as a tweet that contains a preview of what’s in the longer post.The company said it has launched a public test of Notes with a small group of writers from the U.S., U.K., Canada and Ghana, according to a company rep.

Selome Hailu According to data newly released by Netflix, Season 4 “Stranger Things” was viewed for 883.3 million hours between its May 27 debut and June 19. It became the streamer’s most popular English-language season of all time last week, breaking the record previously set by “Bridgerton” Season 2, but has not yet usurped South Korean drama “Squid Game” to become the most popular season overall.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe original “Squid Game” trailer took the green light all the way to a spot on YouTube’s top 10 ads leaderboard for the last 12 months.Coming in at No. 5 on the YouTube global ad ranking, Netflix’s “Squid Game” Season 1 trailer, released Sept. 1, 2021, has nearly 50 million views to date.

Paramount Global’s International CEO Raffaele Annecchino has been placed “on leave,” according to an internal note seen by Deadline.

Netflix’s fading fortunes?The embattled streamer has announced they’re creating a real-life version of the gory South Korean survival show — with production slated to take place in the UK early next year. “Squid Game: The Challenge” is being billed as “the biggest reality competition series ever created” and will feature 456 contestants battling it out for a whopping $4.56 million in prize money. According to a press release put out by Netflix on Tuesday, the staggering sum will be the largest cash prize ever offered on reality television.

If you have ever wanted to play “Squid Game” without fear of plummeting to your death or getting stabbed by your bunkmate, you are in luck.

Selome Hailu Netflix has greenlit “Squid Game: The Challenge,” a reality competition series based on the hit 2021 South Korean drama.The news came from Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV,  at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday. According to Netflix, “Squid Game: The Challenge” will be “the biggest reality competition series ever,” hosting the largest cast and offering the largest lump sum cash prize in reality television history as 456 players compete for $4.56 million.Contestants will go through a series of games inspired by the original show, plus new additions, which are all intended to test their strategies, alliances and character as others are eliminated around them.

Manori Ravindran International EditorKelvin Redvers, the Indigenous Canadian producer who fought the Cannes Film Festival dress code that prevented him from wearing moccasins on its red carpet, is launching a production company, Variety can reveal.Redvers’ new outfit is called Indigifilm, and will focus on developing and producing scripted and unscripted projects in collaboration with international and Canadian creatives.IndigiFilm has already completed filming on its first feature, “Cold Road,” in partnership with Bell Media’s streaming platform Crave. The thriller was written and directed by Redvers — who is part of the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation of the Northwest Territories — and revolves around an Indigenous woman’s harrowing road trip to be with her dying mother in a remote northern First Nation.

Squid Games writer Hwang Dong-hyuk penned a letter to fans to confirm that the hit Netflix show would return for a second season. Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk announced the news on Sunday in a letter to fans, noting that the global popularity of the South Korean show paved the way for a Season 2. He said: “It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year.

Given the massive viewership numbers for the first season of “Squid Game” — more than 1.65 billion views within its first 28 days of release — a second season of the dystopian thriller from South Korea was quickly placed in development.

Getting back in the game. Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk has already started thinking about new games and challenges for the players to take on in season 2.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe Vancouver branch of the Directors Guild of Canada has reached an agreement with the studios, averting a strike that threatened to shut down film and TV production in British Columbia.The union issued a strike notice on April 26, after talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Canadian Media Producers Association reached an impasse. That followed the union’s first-ever strike authorization vote earlier in the month, which passed with 92.2% support.In a statement on Wednesday, the union said it had reached a tentative agreement.“As of this afternoon, the DGC BC has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP and the CMPA,” the union said.