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Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal will bring viewers back to the world of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2009) when the sequel film in which they star lands in theaters Nov. 22. Mescal will portray Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, from the first film, and Neilsen will reprise her role from the 1992 film.

Those planning to see Gladiator II in theaters when it comes out may be looking to review the first film, which won Best Picture at the 2001 Academy Awards. For details on where to watch Gladiator, read on.

Where is Gladiator streaming?

Ridley Scott’s first Roman Empire film, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and Connie Nielsen, will be available to stream on Prime Video starting Nov. 1. The film is also available to stream on Paramount+ and Fubo. It is available to rent on Apple TV+, Fandango At Home, Spectrum and Microsoft.

What is Gladiator about?

Ridley Scott...

Exclusive: Gladiator and Amistad writer David Franzoni is turning his graphic novel about Alexander the Great into a scripted series.

Franzoni is working with Graphic India and Starlings Television to adapt the upcoming ‘Alexander Immortal’, which is releasing in 2025.

The graphic novel tells a lesser-known story of the historical legend. Per the synopsis: “Driven by an unyielding ambition, Alexander the Great set out to conquer the known world, his legendary army unstoppable. But as he plunges into the heart of India, a land alive with mystical secrets and fierce warriors, Alexander faces his deadliest challenge. Here, amidst epic battles and ancient wisdom, he discovers that the true conquest is not of empires but of his own soul.

“Alexander The Great defeated every army that opposed him, conquered every city that defied him, yet his most profound struggle was with his own inner darkness,” said Franzoni. “Our graphic novel explores his...

Back in 2000, director Ridley Scott took us back to 180 Ad for Gladiator, which told the story of Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe), who is favored by Emperor Marcus Aurelius to be his successor because his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule. Commodus disagrees, so he murders his father, has Maximus arrested, and has Maximus’s wife and son killed. While Commodus establishes himself as the new emperor, Maximus escapes from captivity – only to be captured again, this time by slavers who sell him off to become a gladiator. Soon he’s fighting in front of Commodus in Rome’s Colosseum… and it all builds up to Commodus challenging Maximus to a duel. Gladiator was a major box office success and racked up multiple Academy Award wins, including Best Picture. So there was already talk of a sequel in 2001, but it ended up taking more than...

Russell Crowe’s one of the greatest cinematic works was riddled with script issues right from the beginning. Ridley Scott’s Gladiator had a difficult production owing to the multiple script rewrites and the death of actor Oliver Reed before the production was completed. Crowe was frustrated with the script throughout the film, but fans only remember iconic lines from the actor in the film.

Russell Crowe in a still from Gladiator | Universal Pictures

Crowe at one point complained about the “trash writing” on the film and shared that his lines were garbage. However, he was so confident in his skill that he claimed he could make it work. The result was some amazing dialogue delivery from A Beautiful Mind actor, including his iconic vengeance speech.

Russell Crowe Considered The Writing On Gladiator as Garbage Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Gladiator | Universal Pictures

Ridley Scott‘s...

TF1 Studio/ Newen Connect has picked up international sales rights to “Sarafina!,” the iconic South African musical-dance-drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992.

“Sarafina!” was the first major film to be made in South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela from his 27-year prison term. The film tells of the strength of the young women who made their mark during South Africa’s long journey to freedom.

A restored version of the film will play in the Cannes Classics section this Sunday. It is a digitally remastered ‘producer’s cut’ which was created in partnership with Imax and includes never-seen-before footage.

The film was produced by Anant Singh through his Videovision Entertainment and directed by Darrel James Roodt from a screenplay by Mbongeni Ngema and William Nicholson. It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, Mbongeni Ngema, John Kani and Somizi Mhlongo.

“ ‘Sarafina!’ is as entertaining and...

The success of Ridley Scott's 2000 battle epic "Gladiator" might be seen as a little baffling. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards in the early months of 2001, and would win Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Costumes, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects. This was in spite of the film receiving only vaguely positive reviews from most critics (it currently holds an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Stephen Hunter, in his review in the Washington Post, called the film a disappointment, and the L.A. Weekly's Manhola Dargis called it "ultimately pointless." Roger Ebert gave the film a mere two stars. Overall, "Gladiator" is something of a slog, featuring a dishwater-dull color palette and a perfunctory story that offers little drama and no surprises. These days, "Gladiator" occasionally pops up on lists of the worst Best Picture winners. 

"Gladiator" was, however, a massive hit, so it clearly tapped into a...

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

On June 23, 2018, a young Thai soccer team and their coach became trapped in a cave when an early monsoon hit. Director Ron Howard became entranced by the harrowing 18-day ordeal to rescue them, and decided that he needed to tell the story on film.

“I honestly felt that this was a movie for this moment,” Howard said during a panel for the Amazon Studios movie at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles event. “I thought it was an object lesson on what is possible, that you could cross these cultural barriers and make something really remarkable happen. If you tried to write this, no one would ever believe it, and yet it happened.”

Written by William Nicholson, Thirteen Lives tells the story of the...

Ron Howard is no stranger to the challenges of filmmaking, having built his career crafting movies that unfold in fiery infernos (“Backdraft”) and doomed whaling ships (“In the Heart of the Sea”) and literal outer space (“Apollo 13”). Telling such tales in the most accurate way possible requires exhaustive and exacting production requirements and Howard’s most recent film, “Thirteen Lives” is no exception.

The biographical drama is inspired by the events of the Tham Luang cave rescue, in which 12 junior football players, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach were trapped several miles into a partially flooded cave system, and the global effort required to save them.

But from the start, filming on “Thirteen Lives” was special. “I never had less complaining while making a difficult movie than I had on this film,” Howard said during a virtual screening of the film as part of TheWrap’s 2022-2023 Awards Season Screening Series.

As awards season shifts into high gear, acclaimed directors, actors, producers, screenwriters, composers, animators and more — headlined by the likes of directors Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Ryan Coogler — joined Variety for the virtual FYC Fest, dedicated to highlighting this year’s most celebrated films. Over the course of multiple panels, Variety editors and writers spoke with the creatives behind some of this year’s biggest awards season contenders about how their critically-lauded films came to be.

Here are the six biggest takeaways from this year’s virtual FYC Fest.

‘Big’ Movies Don’t Have to Be Action Blockbusters

During the Making of “The Fabelmans” panel, director Steven Spielberg was joined by many of the film’s creatives, such as producer Kristie Macosko, editor Michael Kahn and more, to talk about how they brought the longtime director’s autobiographical story to life. During the conversation, they discussed the film’s...

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In late 2018 — not long after John Volanthen and I helped free the 12 boys of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach, Ekkaphon Chanthawong, from the flooded caves in the Tham Luang cave system in July of that year — producers P.J. van Sandwijk and Gabrielle Tana approached me about making a film about the rescue mission. At the time, we had no idea who the director would be or what the screenplay would look like, but we began to talk to a script researcher for what would eventually become Thirteen Lives.

Once screenwriter William Nicholson was on board, director Ron Howard got involved and MGM decided to fund it. My diving partner and I had a Zoom call with Ron in which he shared his vision of what he wanted, and it was in September that Ron telephoned to say he’d gotten...

There was a great rush by Hollywood for the rights to the young soccer players, their coach and the divers involved in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand. Ron Howard’s feature take, Thirteen Lives, made it to the finish line first at MGM, and the 2x Oscar winning filmmaker tells us how that came to be on today’s Crew Call.

It helped that the pic’s producer P.J. van Sandwijk was also behind the documentary about the same subject, The Rescue, made by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Howard was struck by the script by 2x Oscar nominee William Nicholson which provided surprising twists and turns not known by many.

“My documentary experience in recent years was going to serve me well, and it did,” says Howard about his approach to the feature version of the widely covered media story, “I didn’t want it to feel like it was staged,...

“How are we going to create this world that so many people witnessed on their televisions over the summer of 2018, when they were glued to this event and not knowing what the outcome was going to be at that time” reveals production designer Molly Hughes about the challenge of designing the intricate and realistic caves featured throughout the action drama “Thirteen Lives.” For our recent webchat she adds that, “for me it was really about more than geographical authenticity. It was about storytelling authenticity, cultural authenticity and technical authenticity. If we were unclear about how these divers really did this and if we weren’t sure of our scuba skills and how all of that worked, then we would’ve been called out on it.” We talked with Hughes as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022/2023 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

The Tham Luang cave rescue, which saw 12 members of a Thai youth soccer team and its 25-year-old coach rescued from a flooded cave after being trapped for 18 days, was destined to become a Hollywood film. The combination of dangerous weather, human ingenuity, and international cooperation was the kind of story that most screenwriters can only dream of coming up with themselves.

Much like the rescue that inspired it, “Thirteen Lives” is a complex work of technical mastery. At IndieWire’s Consider This Brunch, director Ron Howard, editor James D. Wilcox, supervising sound editors Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate, and composer Benjamin Wallfisch participated in a panel moderated by IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill. They broke down the work that went into the complex shoot, explaining that getting the details of Thai culture right was as important as all the technical specificity of recreating the rescue. Most notably, much of the film is in the Thai language.

With “Thirteen Lives,” Ron Howard delivers his cinematic interpretation of the story of the stranded Thai soccer team that commanded the world’s attention in the early summer of 2018. Howard’s film joins other projects — including the 2021 National Geographic documentary “The Rescue” and Netflix’s upcoming limited series “Thai Cave Rescue” — that covered the incredible true story of the skilled divers that rescued the team.

The screenplay comes from “Unbroken” and “Everest” screenwriter William Nicholson. Producers include P.J. van Sandwijk, Gabrielle Tana, Karen Lunder, William M. Connor, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. Executive producers include Jon Kuyper, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Marie Savare, Michael Lesslie, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth.

For fans of Ron Howard or those still fascinated by the suspenseful true story, here’s how to watch “Thirteen Lives”:

Also Read:

Here’s What’s New on Amazon Prime Video in August 2022 When Does “Thirteen Lives” Premiere?...

Watching “Thirteen Lives, Ron Howard’s new docudrama, is a lot like having deja vu all over again — all over again. It’s the third film in four years based on the seemingly impossible rescue of 12 trapped children and their soccer coach from a flooded cave system in Thailand in 2018, and although it’s extremely competent, it fails to add a new perspective to the story or a distinctive approach to its telling.

Hot on the heels of Tom Waller’s 2019 drama “The Cave” and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s award-winning 2021 documentary “The Rescue,” Howard’s film stars Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell as Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, two highly experienced cave divers who traveled to the Tham Luang Nang Non cave after an unexpectedly early start to monsoon season trapped 13 people deep in its recesses, behind incredibly long, narrow, dangerous underwater caverns.

The Thai government had...

Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive track from Benjamin Wallfisch’s score for Ron Howard’s survival drama Thirteen Lives, which is slated for release on all major digital platforms via Milan Records tomorrow, as the film becomes available for streaming on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The feature from MGM, Bron Creative, Imagine Entertainment, Storyteller and Magnolia Mae recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave network during an unexpected rainstorm in 2018. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers — uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels — join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks...

Thirteen Lives Review — Thirteen Lives (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Ron Howard, written by William Nicholson and Don MacPherson and starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Paul Gleeson, Tom Bateman, Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Pasakorn Hoyhon, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul and Sahajak Boonthanakit. Ron Howard’s new film, Thirteen Lives, is a tense dramatic movie that [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Thirteen Lives (2022): Ron Howard is Back in Top Form With a Powerful Rescue Drama...

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When Colin Farrell heard that his Thirteen Lives co-star Viggo Mortensen wanted to do the film’s grueling underwater scenes himself rather than rely on a stunt double, he couldn’t resist diving in behind him.

“I couldn’t have Viggo take all the glory,” Farrell joked to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday night at the premiere of the Ron Howard-directed film. “I might have to blame Viggo for that decision but, you know, in for a penny in for a pound. If Viggo’s in, I’m in.”

Easier said than done.

Thirteen Lives, now in select theaters from MGM/UA before a global Prime Video debut on Aug. 5, recounts the true story of an unprecedented global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team after they became trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. A collective consisting of...

Lena Dunham is back. Sharp Stick — the writer/director/actor’s follow to HBO series Girls and her first film since Tiny Furniture (2010) – opens in LA at Landmark’s renovated single-screen NuArt Theatre and at the Quad Cinema in NYC. It expands to 40 to 50 screens next weekend, heading to about 100 thereafter – a mix of AMC, Alamo, Laemmle and Harkins circuits and top U.S. arthouses.

Presales have been strong, said Utopia’s marketing and distribution VP Kyle Greenberg. A handful of showings with Dunham Q&As are sold out, natch. The film, which Utopia acquired out of Sundance, releases on PVOD August 16. Deadline review here.

Dunham writes directs, produces and stars with Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Luka Sabbat, Scott Speedman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Taylour Paige and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Sarah Jo (Froseth) is a sensitive and naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her disillusioned mother (Leigh) and influencer...

Over the course of an engaging (if inevitably repetitive) two and a half hours, “Thirteen Lives” reenacts the incredible rescue effort that captured the world’s attention for several weeks in the summer of 2018: Twelve boys and the assistant coach of a Thai soccer team went exploring the Tham Luang cave when an unforeseen rainstorm forced them deeper and deeper. What should have been a reasonably easy hike instead became a near-death experience, as rising waters and an early monsoon season left them stranded for days, until a handful of the world’s most experienced divers arrived on the scene.

International news coverage ensured that audiences around the globe were aware of the situation, but far fewer know just what it took to get those kids to safety — which explains why this feel-good story has inspired multiple films, from “The Rescue” to “The Cave,” with an even more “authentic...

Howard gives this stunning true story the Apollo 13 treatment but swerves Elon Musk’s grotesque ‘pedo’ comment

Here is Ron Howard’s decent retelling of an amazing true-life story: the Tham Luang cave rescue in northern Thailand in 2018, when international volunteers and Thai Navy Seals battled to rescue 12 teenage boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave. Howard and screenwriter William Nicholson have the tricky job of following last year’s excellent documentary on this subject, The Rescue, by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

Just as with Howard’s other near-disaster-movie Apollo 13, we have the unlucky number right up there in the title. When the 13 were stranded in the cave, caught unawares by the torrential downpour, a colossal mission got under way which involved thousands of volunteers frantically pumping, draining and diverting the rainwater so that they wouldn’t drown, while the authorities tried to think what to do.

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The most haunting frame in Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives shows a huddle of bicycles, hurriedly deposited along the metal fence leading into Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Thailand. They belong to the 12 soccer players (between the ages of 11 and 16) and their 25-year-old coach, who decided to go exploring one muggy day in late June 2018. What the group thought would be a brief post-practice excursion on familiar terrain turned into an 18-day nightmare. Hours after the team entered the underground karstic cavern, it flooded.

Most people know the story of the mission to rescue the soccer team, even if they’re hazy on the details. The news galvanized the international community and drew a captivated, sympathetic audience. Thirteen Lives is not the first attempt to tell the tale. In 2019, Tom Waller premiered his uneven docudrama The Cave at the Busan International Film Festival.

The new poster and featurette from Thirteen Lives that showcases the behind-the-scenes making of the upcoming drama from director Ron Howard has just been released. The film tells the story of how the global community worked together to save the lives of a soccer team and their coach, and the human spirit of collaboration.

Thirteen Lives recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers – uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels – join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the...

Exclusive: This weekend marks four years since 12 members of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach walked into the Tham Luang cave complex in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, and were soon trapped 1000 meters down by rapidly rising floodwaters. Leading to an extraordinary 17-day rescue effort in which the Thai government and its Navy SEALs were assisted by a wave of volunteers from numerous countries who lent their expertise at a time it wasn’t clear if the boys would still be alive. Bringing half-starved boys through the dark and twisty underwater path was extremely dangerous, as evidenced by the death of a Thai Navy Seal diver who ran out of oxygen. We all know the happy ending, but we also knew the Apollo 13 outcome and it didn’t dampen the thrills, emotion and tension. Director Ron Howard has again created a gripping testament to human ingenuity. Viggo Mortensen,...

The international rescue effort of a Thai soccer team in 2018 is now at the core of Ron Howard’s gripping epic based on the incredible true story.

Oscar-winner Howard directs “Thirteen Lives” centered on the mission to bring back 12 boys and their soccer coach who became trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen portray real-life rescue divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, respectively, with Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, and Paul Gleeson also starring. “Thirteen Lives,” penned by William Nicholson, will premiere in theaters for one week starting July 29 before launching globally on Prime Video August 5.

The official logline reads: “Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers, uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels, join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach.

Prime Video has released the trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming film Thirteen Lives. The film hits select theaters exclusively for one week on July 29, Launching globally on Prime Video on August 5.

The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Paul Gleeson, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, Tui Thiraphat Sajakul, James Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Weir Sukollawat Kanaros.

Thirteen Lives recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers – uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels – join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet,...

Amazon and MGM have debuted the trailer for the retelling of the real-life story ‘Thirteen Lives.’

The story focuses on the real-life story of the boy’s football team from Thailand who became trapped in a cave for more than two weeks when heavy rains partially flooded the cave, blocking their way out.

All twelve of the boys were rescued along with their 25-year-old coach, though the effort claimed the life of a retired Thai Navy Seal, Saman Kunan, who ran out of air while saving the kids. Another rescue diver died a year and a half later as a result of a blood infection contracted during the rescue.

To celebrate the global launch of the trailer, director Ron Howard and members of the cast including Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen amongst others came together to open up and express their honour in being able to take part in retelling...

Prime Video has released the first trailer for the ripped-from-the-headlines drama “Thirteen Lives,” Ron Howard’s upcoming film about the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue.

In June and July 2018, the members of a junior football team were trapped for 18 days in Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non cave, after heavy rainfall flooded the cave system and blocked their way out. As the team – who ranged in age from 11-16 years old – and their coach remained trapped for weeks, the situation attracted global interest and an international rescue team was assembled to locate them. Howard’s film will chronicle the events of the rescue, focusing on the efforts of the divers to save the trapped team members.

Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell lead the ensemble cast as Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, the British cave divers who volunteered their expertise to help find the group alongside anesthetist Harry Harris (Joel Edgerton) and...

Ron Howard’s ripped-from-the-headlines drama “Thirteen Lives” has moved to August, with the film launching globally on Amazon’s Prime Video shortly after a limited theatrical release.

Produced and directed by Ron Howard, the film follows the 2018 rescue mission of a Thai soccer team and their coach who were trapped in a system of flooding underground caves. The film’s cast is led by Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen and Joel Edgerton, with a script by William Nicholson.

Previously dated for Nov. 18 2022, the MGM movie is now under the Amazon umbrella after the company closed an 8.5 billion acquisition of the historic film studio in March. As such, film will receive a limited theatrical release in early August before launching on Prime Video weeks later as one of the company’s “summer tentpoles.”

“When we saw ‘Thirteen Lives,’ we got incredibly excited about what this could be on a global premiere, about...

Exclusive: After notching, what I hear, is the best test scores in MGM history, Ron Howard’s Thai cave rescue movie Thirteen Lives is moving from Easter weekend this year, April 15-17 to Friday, Nov. 18 into the aorta of awards season.

The movie, scripted by 2x Oscar nominated screenwriter William Nicholson, is the type of movie that needs a lot of buzz, and I hear the studio will be screening it plenty come the fall. Thirteen Lives earned a 97 in the top two boxes and an 86 definite recommend. MGM and Uar showed off footage from Thirteen Lives at CinemaCon last August.

Thirteen Lives‘ logline: A rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding. Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, and Joel Edgerton star. Pic is produced by William M. Connor, Brian Grazer, Karen Lunder,...

Paramount+ has another exciting project in the works, and it features two award-winning actors!

The streamer on Monday announced the latest addition to its growing slate of Paramount+ original films, new comedyJ erry and Marge Go Large, with Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening set to star.

The flick is inspired by the true story of a retired Michigan couple who help revitalize their community by playing the Massachusetts lottery.

The film will be directed by Academy Award winner David Frankel, and principal production starts this July in Georgia.

It is written by Emmy nominee Brad Copeland.

The film is produced by Academy Award nominee Gil Netter, Levantine Films (Hidden Figures), and executive produced by Kevin Halloran (Ford v Ferrari).

Amy Baer is also attached to produce via MRC Film’s Landline Pictures, the film is the label’s first production.

Netter, Tory Metzger, and Renee Witt from Levantine Films developed...

Paramount Plus is betting the house on “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” the true story of a lotto-scamming couple to be played by Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening.

Director David Frankel will direct the tale of a retired Michigan couple who helps revitalize their community by deftly gaming the Massachusetts lottery.

Emmy nominee Brad Copeland penned the script for the project, one of several straight-to-service titles in the works at the ViacomCBS streamer. Gil Netter, the Oscar nominee behind “The Blind Side” and “Life of Pi,” is producing alongside Levantine Films (“Hidden Figures”). Kevin Halloran (“Ford v Ferrari”) is executive producing.

Landline Pictures, a division of MRC Films, and its leader Amy Baer will also produce. Netter, Tory Metzger and Renee Witt from Levantine developed and packaged the film based on an original article by Jason Fagone for The Huffington Post.

Cranston will play Jerry Selbee, a retiree who discovers...

Following the company’s rebranding in March, Paramount+ is continuing to build on its film development slate, setting Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening to star in Jerry And Marge Go Large . The film is inspired by the true story of a retired Michigan couple who help revitalize their community by playing — and winning — the Massachusetts lottery. The film will be directed by David Frankel with principal production starting this July in Georgia.

The pic is written by Brad Copeland will be produced by Gil Netter, Levantine Films and executive produced by Kevin Halloran. Amy Baer will also produce via MRC Film’s Landline Pictures. The film is the label’s first production. Netter, Tory Metzger and Renee Witt from Levantine Films developed and packaged the film based on an original article by Jason Fagone for The Huffington Post.

The pic is based on the true story of how retiree Jerry Selbee,...

Exclusive: Hulu is doubling down on Margaret Atwood adaptations with a TV version of her book Maddaddam in the works.

It comes as the streamer is set to premiere the fourth season of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale next month and renewed the drama for a fifth season.

Michael Lesslie, who was the lead writer and showrunner of AMC’s spy drama The Little Drummer Girl, will write the pilot script for Maddaddam and also exec produce.

It comes as Deadline understands that Lesslie is no longer involved in Peacock’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica. He previously was set to create, write and exec produce the series for Sam Esmail and UCP.

Maddaddam is an apocalyptic thriller about genetic reinvention, corporate domination and young love. It is a trilogy of novels, first published in 2003, that includes Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and Maddaddam.

At the center of the trilogy,...

Exclusive: It took a village to rescue those 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded Thailand cave in 2018. MGM and Thirteen Lives director Ron Howard have firmed a big international cast to play the heroic rescuers who took part in a dangerous operation that cost one rescue diver — Thai Navy Seal Saman Gunan — his life. All of the boys, and the coach, were saved before floodwaters completely filled the caves.

Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton will star with Weir Sukollawat (Malila), Thiraphat Sajakul (The Serpent), Sahajak Boonthanakit (The Serpent), Vithaya Pansringarm (The Prey), Teeradon “James” Supapunpinyo (Bad Genius), Nophand Boonyai (Only God Forgives), Tom Bateman (Death on the Nile), Paul Gleeson (The Thin Red Line), and Lewis Fitz-Gerald (Pitch Black).

The film will shoot in Australia — with the support of the Australian and Queensland Governments — and also Thailand. Production begins this month. Thirteen Lives will be released theatrically in the U.

The Writers Guild of America Awards announced their nominations where big boosts were given to films like “Judas and the Black Messiah” from Shaka King, “Palm Springs” from Max Barbakow and “The White Tiger” from Ramin Bahrani.

Missing from the lineup, that was eligible, are “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” in the original screenplay category and “First Cow” and “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” in the adapted.

The full list of nominations is below:

Original Screenplay

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros) – Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King, Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas “Palm Springs” (Hulu/Neon) – Screenplay by Andy Siara, Story by Andy Siara & Max Barbakow “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features) – Written by Emerald Fennell “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios) – Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder, Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) – Written by Aaron Sorkin...

Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives, based on the Thai caves rescue, is the latest in a string of international projects coming to Australia, due to shoot in the Gold Coast from March.

The Federal Government has splashed $13 million to lure the Imagine Entertainment/MGM project via the Location Incentive Program, with the expectation it will inject $90 million into the economy and create 435 jobs for cast and crew, as well as 3,400 extras. The Queensland government has also provided support via its production attraction program.

Penned by the Oscar-nominated writer William Nicholson (Gladiator), Thirteen Lives will depict the true story of the 2018 Tham Laung cave rescue of a boys’ soccer team, trapped in a cave by heavy rain and flooding.

After the team was stuck for days with no supplies and falling oxygen levels, a group from all over the world came together to to save the boys, including expert divers from Australia and the UK.

Exclusive: Origin Pictures’ David Thompson, producer of Catherine The Great, The Woman In Gold and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, is teaming with Sixth Sense Productions’ Richard Harding (The First Grader) on feature sports biopic Tether about celebrated blind athlete Henry Wanyoike.

The film will tell the remarkable story of the promising Kenyan runner who was struck blind after complications from a mild stroke at just 21. Following a painful period, he joined a rehabilitation program, which helped him rekindle his passion for running. Wanyoike would go on to make history as the first African to win a Paralympic gold medal when he won the 5000m at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.

The film’s title refers to the process by which a blind runner is connected to a guide by a tether on their wrists, which the guide uses to subtly indicate, without breaking stride, when to turn, accelerate or avoid an obstacle.

“It’s an honor just to be nominated” is the overused line that many Oscar nominees have said over the years, particularly after a loss. Though that’s true, winning a coveted statuette is the real prize.

The highest-profile overdue veteran actor competing for an Oscar this season is Glenn Close, the wisecracking Mamaw in Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy.” With seven previous nominations (the most of any living actor without a win), Close, who has delivered win-worthy turns in “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Fatal Attraction” looks to finally have her moment. Her most recent loss, for 2018’s “The Wife” to Olivia Colman in “The Favourite,” was felt in awards enthusiast circles. With what seems a thin roster of supporting actress contenders this year, Close is in the running once again, looking to go against Colman’s work in “The Father.”

Close’s co-star Amy Adams is playing the same card this year in “Hillbilly Elegy.

‘City of Lies.’

Last weekend’s broad new releases in Australian cinemas included a US crime thriller that was completed in 2018, a political satire that went straight to digital in the US and a melancholy UK drama about a marriage breakdown.

Not surprisingly, ticket sales languished as André Rieu’s Magical Maastricht – Together In Music was the only new title to post a decent per screen average.

Through Sunday, the national box office for the year to date stands at $330 million – a catastrophic 67 per cent decline on the $1.01 billion racked up in the same period in 2019.

Tellingly, the highest-grosser at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace last weekend was the Netflix-commissioned Rebecca, a remake of a 1940 Alfred Hitchcock classic adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic novel.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, the romantic thriller starring Lily James and Armie Hammer follows a young newlywed who arrives at her widower husband...

‘Dirt Music.’

The launches last weekend of Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music and Alister Grierson’s Bloody Hell underline the challenges facing independent films in a theatrical market that is severely weakened by the Victorian shutdown, limits on seating capacity and the absence of Hollywood tentpoles.

Universal mounted a substantial marketing campaign for Jordan’s romantic drama based on the Tim Winton novel, while Grierson’s dark comedic thriller opened on 50 screens across the Event Cinemas, Birch Carroll & Coyle and Greater Union circuits.

Starring Kelly Macdonald, Garrett Hedlund and David Wenham, Dirt Music grossed $188,000 on 201 screens and $300,000 including previews, more than a year after its world premiere in Toronto.

Exhibitors were disappointed. “I would definitely have expected more from a high profile Aussie film based on a best seller,” Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Gm Alex Temesvari tells If.

Majestic Cinemas’ CEO Kieren Dell says: “Dirt Music has been struggling; I...

If the company displayed more “pandemic pragmatism” it could look very different.

Today (October 5), Cineworld confirmed what had become rumoured over the weekend: it is temporarily closing its 536 Regal cinemas and 127 UK sites, including the boutique Picturehouse chain, which it has owned since 2012.

Without the studio pipeline of product, the Cineworld statement said the exhibitor cannot supply its UK and US customers with “the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theatres against the backdrop of Covid-19”.

The decision, in other words, was out of its hands: after the recent round of postponements including...

Annette Bening and Bill Nighy, in new film Hope Gap, join a venerable coterie of movies online about marital ups and downs in later life

The marital study is a staple genre of grownup cinema, yet film-makers generally like to keep it young. From Scenes from a Marriage to Blue Valentine to last year’s Marriage Story, film history is riddled with strong, searing portraits of couples on the right side of middle age weathering various emotional crises. Raise the age of the protagonists above 50, however, and the drop-off is significant, as if every older relationship settles into a comfy-slippers routine that isn’t worth dramatising.

Hope Gap, which began streaming on Curzon Home Cinema on Friday, is among the exceptions. Writer-director William Nicholson’s staid, reserved study of a sixtysomething couple unravelling on the eve of their 29th anniversary is affecting in spite of the somewhat stifled, magnolia-walls nature of its film-making.

The two actors talk about their new film, Hope Gap, and along with co-star Josh O’Connor and director William Nicholson, share their thoughts on honesty, fidelity and the perils of talking at breakfast

Bill Nighy would like you to know that he is not a professional agony uncle. “If I start talking as if I’m an expert on sexual relations, call a cab,” he says, down the phone, from under a tree, familiar drawl mixed with a snort. Same goes if you want to talk about faith. “I’ve had no contact with the supernatural or made any connections with other dimensions. I don’t have any answers. I don’t get out much. And, what with the pandemic, I obviously get out even less.”

Trouble is, to discuss Nighy’s new film – about the abrupt end of a long marriage – is to wade immediately into Dear John territory.

To celebrate the release of Hope Gap, the new drama starring Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, and Josh O’Connor, we sat down with the film’s creator to chat about the deeply personal film.

Grace (Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy), married for 29 years, live in a small seaside town near a cove under the cliffs called Hope Gap. When their son Jamie (Josh O’Connor) comes to visit for the weekend, Edward informs him that he plans to leave Grace, that same day.

The film, which is based on one of Nicholson’s plays – The Retreat From Moscow – is based around the acclaimed writer’s parents’ marriage and being stuck in the middle when it started to dissolve. Nicholson told us about returning to the director’s chair two decades later, the sad lessons he learned from his first experience that wasn’t a happy experience for him and why now...

Russell Crowe’s road-rage drama “Unhinged” expanded to 380 sites and increased its take by 31% to collect £178,821 at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office, according to final figures released by Comscore.

The Altitude Film Distribution title has now taken £962,191 in four weeks of release.

Disney’s “Onward” was in second position with £142,108 from 369 locations, a leap of 54%, for a total of £6,226,845.

In third place, Warner Bros.’ 10th anniversary rerelease of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” declined 43% to £117,415, from 441 sites, for a two-week total of £432,449.

In its fourth week and in fourth place, Vertigo U.K.’s “100% Wolf” grew 25% to £105,518 from 380 locations, for a total of £498,737.

In fifth place, another Vertigo title, Matteo Garrone’s “Pinocchio,” starring Roberto Benigni, slid 9% in its second week, taking £99,277 from 456 sites, for a total of £324,179.

The biggest climb in the top 10 was Universal’s “Jurassic Park” rerelease that rose 133% to reach £67,626 from 239 locations in 7th place.

Austrian broadcaster Orf and Germany’s Zdf have commissioned a three-episode season two for period crime drama “Vienna Blood,” produced by Endor Productions — a Red Arrow Studios company — and Mr Film. After successful season one runs in the U.S. and U.K., both PBS and BBC Two are on board as well.

Screenwriter Steve Thompson returns to continue adapting Frank Tallis’ best-selling books. Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Robert Dornhelm (“Anne Frank: The Whole Story”) will lead direct.

Production is scheduled to begin on location in Austria next month with stars Matthew Bared and Jurgen Maurer returning to their roles as Doctor Max Liebermann and detective Oskar Reinhardt, who together investigate a series of unusual murders in the Austrian capital city.

Season one was BBC Two’s second best-performing drama of 2019, while episode one was Orf’s top-rated Friday-night broadcast of the year. The series is also broadcast in France,...

French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1872 painting of gladiators and spectators, “Pollice Verso,” remains one of the defining portraits of ancient Rome. With its depiction of two fighters in the Colosseum, one standing and the other vanquished, pleading for mercy, it works as a paradox: The viewer is given both a sense of moral superiority over the distant past and a discreet delight as the crowd lowers their thumbs in bloodlust, demanding death. Historically accurate or not, it sets imaginations aflutter, and it alone convinced Ridley Scott to direct Gladiator.

Producer Douglas Wick remembers that well. After all, it did lead to him winning an Academy Award for Best Picture. But long before that 2001 Oscar night, he and Walter F. Parkes, studio head of DreamWorks Pictures, were sitting in Scott’s office, trying to convince the eclectic filmmaker behind Alien and Blade Runner about the virtues of a screenplay … all the while Scott,...

Annette Bening, Bill Nighy and Josh O’ Connor are ready to deal with some serious family issues in the drama Hope Gap. Screen Media Ventures and Roadside Attractions released the film today on digital platforms after having to pivot from their originally planned March 5 theatrical release due to the pandemic –because the show must go on.

Directed by Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Nicholson and based on his Tony Award-nominated play, The Retreat From Moscow, Hope Gap made its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival before hitting the festival circuit.

Hope Gap follows the lives of Grace (Bening) and Edward (Nighy), who have been married for 29 years, as they navigate through stages of shock, disbelief and anger, to a place of hope. They live in a small seaside town near a cove under the cliffs called Hope Gap — hence the title of the film. When their son Jamie (O’Connor...

Hope Gap Roadside Attractions/Screen Gems Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: William Nicholson Screenwriter: William Nicholson based on his play “The Retreat from Moscow” Cast: Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, Josh O’Connor Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 5/5/20 Opens: March 6, 2020 In one scene Grace (Annette Bening) sighs […]

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