Screen News

HEADLINES Disney to buy Lucasfilm for $4.05bn; new Star Wars in 2015 John Cusack to star in Cargo's Stephen King adaptation Cell Clive Owen, Morgan Freeman to star in The Last Knights Sierra/Affinity to start AFM talks on The Keeping Room Celluloid Dreams boards sales on Bone Tomahawk

US NEWSLETTER 10/31/12

ScreenDaily is now available to paid subscribers only. ACTIVATE your subscription today to gain full access to ScreenDaily or click here to subscribe to ensure you don’t miss out. NEWS Disney to buy Lucasfilm for $4.05bn; new Star Wars in 2015 The Walt Disney Company is to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05bn in stocks and cash - and is planning to release Star Wars: Episode 7 in 2015. John Cusack to star in Cargo's Stephen King adaptation Cell EXCLUSIVE: The star is getting back into the Stephen King business after the global hit 1408. New York and LA-based Cargo Entertainment arranged financing on Cell and president of distribution Mark Lindsay will introduce what is expected to become one of the buzz titles of the AFM to international buyers. Paradigm represents US rights. Clive Owen, Morgan Freeman to star in The Last Knights EXCLUSIVE: Bill Johnson’s IF Entertainment arrives at its first AFM with the action adventure The Last Knights Of AKO. Sierra/Affinity to start AFM talks on The Keeping Room The Civil War era thriller will star Olivia Wilde, Hailee Steinfeld and Nicole Beharie. Wind Dancer Films will finance and produce with Gilbert Films and Anonymous Content. WME Global arranged financing and represents North American rights. Celluloid Dreams boards sales on Bone Tomahawk Wild Side has made a preemptive mid-six figure swoop on French rights to the AFM horror Western to star Kurt Russell, Peter Sarsgaard, Richard Jenkins and Jennifer Carpenter. CAA and UTA co-represent the package and US rights. Synchronicity maiden slate to include Elijah Wood in Cooties President of international distribution Ruzanna Kegeyan arrives at the market with the first three titles since The Solution Entertainment Group and LA-based Siren Studios launched the genre production and sales outfit last summer. Exclusive Media brings JFK drama Parkland to AFM Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton and Jacki Weaver have signed on to the JFK feature Parkland. Exclusive Media will finance, jointly produce with Playtone and handle world sales. Kaleidoscope sees plenty in Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing EXCLUSIVE: UK outfit takes world sales rights (excluding US) to Joss Whedon’s update on Shakespearean comedy. TF1's Wolves strike in Germany, Japan, Russia, Middle East Other buzz titles on TF1 International’s AFM slate include The Brass Teapot and Before The Winter Chills. Dylan Wilcox named svp acquisitions at Relativity Media The veteran executive will report to Relativity president Tucker Tooley and production president Robbie Brenner. Christine D'Souza moves to WME Global EXCLUSIVE: The highly regarded executive will operate alongside Graham Taylor and the core independent financing and packaging team. Recreation Media to commence sales on Dark Feed Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired all US rights to writer-directors Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen’s directorial debut horror film Dark Feed. Ariel Veneziano’s Recreation Media will introduce to international buyers at AFM. Lightning strikes bundle of sales on AFM slate The Santa Monica-based production and sales company has licensed action title Dead Drop, Liam Hemsworth wartime romance Love And Honor and comedy Struck By Lightning to Pinnacle Films/All Interactive Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand. The Sapphires trio reteam on thriller Six Mile Bottom EXCLUSIVE: Goalpost Films and Goalpost Pictures re-team with writer Keith Thompson on historical thriller. Cinedigm, Alloy Digital strike digital distribution EXCLUSIVE: Digital distributor and theatre conversion specialist Cinedigm Entertainment Group has struck a deal with Alloy Digital to deliver packaged content from the latter’s SMOSH and Clevver YouTube channels to ancillary platforms. IN FOCUS Through the window Recent VoD releases in the US have underlined the potential of shrinking release windows for independent distributors. Geoffrey Macnab explores the UK market, where excitement about multiplatform releasing is tempered by a wariness of alienating exhibitors. COMMENT Argo continues as a frontrunner; Flight shows an irresistible Denzel Washington Screen’s US editor Jeremy Kay also surveys where Lincoln, The Life of Pi and The Sessions stand in the awards race so far. INTERVIEW Ian Lewis, Sky Movies As it moves into production, Screen talks to Sky Movies head Ian Lewis about the company’s varied innovations. Alex Gibney Screen talks to Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney about new film Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, about paedophilia in the Catholic Church, which yesterday picked up the Best Documentary prize at the London Film Festival. REVIEWS Red Dawn Dir: Dan Bradley. US. 2012. 94mins GFP Bunny Dir/scr: Yukata Tsuchiya. Japan. 2012. 82mins The Black Square Dir/scr: Hiroshi Okuhara. Japan. 2012. 144mins Tug Of War! Dir: Nobuo Mizuta. Japan. 2012. 111mins Flashback Memories 3D Dir: Tetsuaki Matsue. Japan. 2012. 72mins LATEST BLOG TOPICS Anyone for a round of blood? Halloween, Netflix style. Watching 'Withnail' with The Queen The bizarre experience of sitting in the cinema with royalty. Straughan: 'I know that I don’t know anything' BAFTA-winning screenwriter [pictured] spoke at the BFI Southbank last night as part of the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriter Lecture Series. BOX OFFICE Argo rules US charts in third weekend on $12.4m A weak session at the box office saw Warner Bros’ Academy Awards frontrunner climb to the top of the pile to reach a respectable $60.8m while stablemate Cloud Atlas led the new arrivals and opened in third place on $9.4m. The Circuit Viennale - Vienna International Film Festival Images from the first weekend of the festival, which runs to Nov 7.