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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France-based multinational Studiocanal has launched Cultivator Films to facilitate local co-productions in Australia and will kick off with book-to-film adaptation “Kangaroo.” “Kangaroo” is scripted by Harry Cripps (“The Dry,” “Penguin Bloom”) and directed by Kate Woods (“The Lincoln Lawyer,” “The Umbrella Academy,” “The Good Lord Bird,” “Looking for Alibrandi”). Eastern Arrernte emerging director Samantha Laughton is set as a director’s attachment. Slated to start production in Alice Springs in the first half of 2024, “Kangaroo” is a Northern Territory-inspired story based on Chris Barnes, aka ‘Brolga,’ who is the founder of the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs. Cultivator Films Australia is led by Studiocanal’s Australia and New Zealand CEO Elizabeth Trotman.

Some shows get canceled after a few seasons. Some only last for a few weeks. And then, there are those that get yanked from broadcast after a single night’s airing.

Florence Pugh is the latest celeb victim of an unidentified flying object! No, we don’t mean an alien encounter — we’re talking about some d-hole in the audience flinging something at her face!

Selome Hailu NBC saw solid ratings on Wednesday night with the airing of two Christmas specials Airing from 8-10 p.m. on Nov. 29, the annual “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special reached an audience of 7 million people when accounting for three days of delayed viewing across NBC, Peacock and digital platforms.

William Earl This awards season’s premier contending filmmakers, talent and artisans will gather for exclusive panels at Variety FYC Fest on Dec. 6 in Los Angeles from 9 a.m.

Suits is a phenomenon!

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. You don’t have t wait until summer vacation to escape to Saltburn. Emerald Fennell’s buzzy sophomore film, which premiered in theaters in November, will arrive on Prime Video on Dec.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Baz Luhrmann has discovered a surprising result of his stint as head of jury at the Red Sea Film Festival: empathy for film critics. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never been forced to sit and watch three to four movies a day,” Luhrmann tells Variety.

was hit in the face by an unidentified flying object during a press appearance in Brazil on Sunday. The incident happened at CCXP 2023, so the moment was captured on camera and subsequently on social media.In clips, Pugh can be seen wincing upon impact and mouthing either “wow” or “ow” before bending over to retrieve the item.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.None of Florence Pugh's cast mates were in the line of fire, but costars Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler can be seen reacting as the object glances off the side of her face.It remains unclear what hit Pugh, but it does appear to have been thrown in her direction from the audience: a dangerous fan trend that appears to be coming back in a post-pandemic world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” was cruelly defeated at the mainland Chinese box office, where it opened in only fifth place on its opening weekend. Chinese crime thriller “Across the Furious Sea” headed the mainland China charts for a second weekend, earning $20.0 million (RMB142 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. “Napoleon” earned just $2.8 million ($19.6 million) in China, according to the firm whose figures are generally considered as final, not estimates. The film earned generally mixed to positive reviews, but only a middling score of 6.6 out of 10 from users of the Douban movie fan site. But it appears that Chinese audiences found the travails of an ancient French emperor to be too much of a specialist topic.

Robert Ne Niro took the stage at the Kennedy Center on Sunday and, looking out at the balcony box where honoree was sitting, told him of his career, “I had no idea you had done so much. And you’ve done it all is such a relatively short amount of time. You’re only 75. That means you’re just about six years away from being the perfect age to be elected president.”

Christopher Nolan is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film.

Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan is being accorded a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute. “The fellowship recognizes Nolan’s extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most successful and influential film directors, constantly pushing the limits of what large-scale filmmaking can be whilst retaining a reverence for the history of the medium and the primacy of cinema-going,” the BFI said in a statement. The fellowship will be presented to Nolan at the BFI chair’s dinner in London on Feb.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Former Monty Python member, animator and visionary director Terry Gilliam told Variety at the Red Sea Film Festival on Sunday that he wants Johnny Depp to play Satan in his new film “Carnival at the End of Days.” Gilliam summarized the plot as: “God wipes out humanity and the only character who wants to save them is Satan, and Johnny Depp plays Satan.” Gilliam was attending the screening at Red Sea of a double bill of the documentaries “Lost in La Mancha” and “He Dreams of Giants,” both of which document Gilliam’s cursed and grueling attempt to make the film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” The film ultimately premiered in Cannes in 2018, starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver. The producer of the documentaries, Lucy Darwin, was also on stage with Gilliam to explain to the audience how she went from being a publicist on “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” to a producer via Gilliam’s encouragement.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Queen Bey is the new box office queen. “Renaissance,” a concert film written, directed and produced by Beyoncé, topped the domestic box office with $21 million in its opening weekend, slightly ahead of expectations. These ticket sales rank as one of the best debuts for a concert film, joining the company of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” (far and away the biggest with $92.9 million), 2008’s “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” ($31.1 million), 2011’s “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” and 2009’s “Michael Jackson: This Is It” ($23.2 million).

Cardi B made her runway debut in the Balenciaga Fall 2024 Fashion Show, and she did so in front of a star-studded audience.

Strictly Come Dancing fans were left amazed during Saturday's live show (December 2) when they spotted Tom Hiddleston and his partner Zawe Ashton in the live studio audience at Elstree Studios. Following the professional's impressive opening routine for Movie Week, Strictly hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly were introduced to the ballroom.

Strictly Come Dancing fans were left double checking they weren't seeing things as they spotted a very famous face in the audience. The BBC One dance contest returned to screens on Saturday night (December 2) for the all-important quarter-finals.

Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Nonsense” outros just keep getting better!

Anna Marie de la Fuente Habanero Film Sales has snapped up documentary “I Trust You” (“En vos confio”) from Juan Pablo Gugliotta and Nathalia Videla Peña’s Magma Cine (“The Distinguished Citizen,” “1976”) in one of the more significant of multiple deals struck at a hectic Ventana Sur (VS) in Buenos Aires. Directed by Agustin Toscano, whose “The Owners” and “The Snatch Thief” participated in Cannes’ Critics Week and Directors’ Fortnight sidebars in 2013 and 2017, respectively, “I Trust You” follows former nuns Susana and Nélida who have been incarcerated at the Tucumán Women’s Prison since 2006, accused of a crime they insist they did not commit.

Fans were shocked recently when it was revealed that the average age of The CW‘s viewers is 58 and now data for all five broadcast networks has been revealed.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” is taking over the box office after grossing $11.5 million on its opening day from 2,539 locations, a figure that includes a strong $5.1 million in Thursday previews. Putting that next to the massive October debut of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” it’s shaping up to be the first year on record that two concert documentaries have opened at the top of domestic charts.

“The work that exhibitors have done in this market is nothing short of exceptional,” Luke Vetere, Managing Director of Majid Al Futtaim Distribution, one of the largest theatrical distributors in the MENA region, told a crowd of industry figures this morning at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Mexican Rigoberto Pérezcano’s “Lovers Fare Goodbye,” a poignant, exquisitely shot tale of star-crossed young love dominated prizes at Primer Corte, Ventana Sur’s key arthouse pic competition. The prize and dozens of others were announced Friday at Latin America’s most important film-TV mart-meet.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Are multiverses consistent with Christian theology? Personally, I have my doubts, but in Angel Studios’ religious-minded sci-fi thriller “The Shift,” the notion that there could be infinite parallel realities offers an original, outside-the-box model to test its main character’s faith. Here’s how it works: A churchgoing man named Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) meets and marries his dream woman, Molly (Elizabeth Tabish), only to have his happy life whisked away from him by a steely-eyed stranger who calls himself “the Benefactor” (Neal McDonough).

EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama has acquired North American distribution rights to A Storm Foretold, a documentary about Trump adviser Roger Stone that becomes more urgent as the 2024 presidential election inches closer with every passing day.

Gerry Turner saw his second chance at love come to fruition on Thursday night when he proposed to a very lucky lady on the inaugural season finale of The Golden Bachelor. 

French director Maïwenn and Johnny Depp hit Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival on Friday for a special screening of period romance Jeanne du Barry followed by a Q&A.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The year is coming to end, but not without some major original films debuting on Netflix, Prime Video and more top streaming platforms. Whether it’s potential new holiday classics (Prime Video is launching the Eddie Murphy holiday comedy “Candy Cane Lane” this month) or potential new franchises (Zack Snyder returns to Netflix for the start of his space opera saga “Rebel Moon”), streaming is offering up a ton of original fare this month bolstered by star power such as Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and more. Disney+ already added the first four “Indiana Jones” movies to its streaming library in May, but now comes the arrival of the fifth installment, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which marks Harrison Ford’s final outing as the iconic archeologist and adventurer.

Valerie Wu Intern What is a TV “comedy” in 2023? In an era of blurred genres, it’s not so cut and dry anymore. Opening Variety’s “A Night in the Writer’s Room,” Variety’s Michael Schneider asked the nine comedy writers on stage to raise their hand if their show features a death.