News

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is a miracle of filmmaking. George Miller's magnum opus defies logic, spits in the face of death and studio cowardice, and delivers a cacophony of action in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. After years of setbacks, both financial and natural, not only did the movie get made, but it remains one of the best studio blockbusters of all time — and it was rather successful at the Oscars, to boot.

Part of why the action scenes in "Fury Road" look so good is because they were real, and also really dangerous to shoot — including having someone drive a rolling War Rig for real. This is not exactly new for the franchise, of course, as "Mad Max 2" famously had a stunt performer break a leg on screen, and that shot made it to the final film.

Still, as George Miller said in an interview for the book "Blood,...

The studio facilities are facing an anxious few months as crews and indie productions ponder US slowdown.

UK studios are facing a challenging few months as uncertainty about a potential rise in the rate of property taxes for facilities in England and Wales rages on, and the ongoing US writers’ and expected actors’ strikes force a slowdown in the once torrential flow of film and high-budget TV from Hollywood.

Significant business rates hikes of up to 200%-300% are being mooted as a result of increases in the rateable value of these facilities made by the UK’s Valuation Office Agency (Voa). For existing studios,...

Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla has partnered with the UK’s Creative Media Skills Institute.

Iain Smith, the UK producer of Mad Max: Fury Road and Children Of Men, is to help run a filmmaking boot camp for rising talent in Saudi Arabia as part of a new training initiative.

The UK’s Creative Media Skills Institute has partnered with Saudi agency Film AlUla to host a 10-day training programme in northwest Saudi Arabia from February 26.

Smith is among those who will travel to AlUla next month to help educate 25 trainees from the region, who are exploring careers in production...

In today’s Global Bulletin, Amazon Prime Video U.K. scores Lux Vide’s ‘Leonardo,’ HBO Europe unveils release date and first trailer for Swedish docu-series “Pray, Obey, Kill,” Fremantle begins selling Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s “Wellington Paranormal” internationally, and SharpFutures partners with Sky Studios on the new screenwriting training initiative Flip the Script.

TV

Sony Pictures Television has sealed a deal to send one of this year’s most anticipated period dramas, the pan-European co-produced “Leonardo,” to Amazon Prime Video in the U.K. where it will premiere April 16.

“Leonardo” is an eight-part dramatized retelling of the life of the Italian master Leonardo da Vinci, played by Aidan Turner (“The Hobbit” franchise). The series is produced by Lux Vide and Rai Fiction with Big Light Productions in association with France Télévisions and Rtve in Spain.

Other casting includes “The Good Doctor” and “Bates Motel” star Freddie Highmore...

Speakers include producers Iain Smith and Rebecca O’Brien, locations manager Georgette Turner, Calgary film commissioner Luke Azevedo and environmental strategist Ronny Fritsche.

The latest edition of our ScreenDaily Talks webinar series is taking place on Thursday June 25 at 17.00 BST and will explore how international productions are responding to the global challenges of Covid-19, climate change and sustainability.

This episode of ScreenDaily Talks is sponsored by the Calgary Film Commision.

Click here to register

A panel comprising international producers, a leading location manager, a major film commissioner and an environmental strategist will reveal how they have battled the increasingly unpredictable elements...

Speakers include producers Iain Smith and Rebecca O’Brien, locations manager Georgette Turner, Calgary film commissioner Luke Azevedo and environmental strategist Ronny Fritsche.

The latest edition of our ScreenDaily Talks webinar series is taking place on Thursday June 25 at 17.00 BST and will explore how international productions are responding to the global challenges of climate change and sustainability in the Covid-19 era.

This episode of ScreenDaily Talks is sponsored by the Calgary Film Commision.

Click here to register

There is no place in the world where the weather and seasons can now be guaranteed. So how can international productions tackle these challenges?...

ScreenSkills-lead training will be ready to roll out in June.

New training to enable film and high-end television production to resume safely in the UK will be rolled out in June, according to ScreenSkills.

The aim is for everyone working on a production, irrespective of their role, to have access to basic health and safety information to enable them to operate safely in the Covid-19 world.

The basic level of training will take around an hour and be delivered online and free.

Those with departmental or management responsibility may be required to undertake additional training to ensure productions meet industry-designed best practice and government guidance.

Tributes pour in for the veteran producer, best known for his work on films including ‘The Magdalene Sisters’.

Alan J. ‘Willy’ Wands, a producer of The Magdalene Sisters and detective series Rebus, died yesterday in Glasgow aged 67. He had been diagnosed with cancer.

An outspoken advocate of the Scottish production industry, Wands had more than 35 feature film credits and numerous TV drama series to his name.

Born in Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland, he started his career in the 1970s in theatre before moving into screen work as an associate producer on features including Mike Figgis’ 1988 crime drama...

Tributes pour in for the veteran producer, best known for his work on films including ‘The Magdalene Sisters’.

Alan J. ‘Willy’ Wands, a producer of The Magdalene Sisters and detective series Rebus, has died aged 67. He passed away yesterday (May 17) in Glasgow, having been diagnosed with cancer.

An outspoken advocate of the Scottish production industry, Wands had more than 35 feature film credits and numerous TV drama series to his name.

Born in Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland, his early credits were as an associate producer on Mike Figgis’ 1988 crime drama Stormy Monday and David Hayman’s 1990 gritty drama Silent Screen.

The British Film Commission has today begun its consultation on a draft set of protocols for inward investment film and TV production so the U.K. can restart high-end scripted production as soon as lockdown measures are eased.

The Bfc’s recommendations will be incorporated into the BFI’s Covid-19 Taskforce proposals, which will be sent to the U.K. government.

The Inward Investment Recovery Group, overseen by Bfc chair and producer Iain Smith, comprises three ‘Task and Finish’ working groups: Business & Legal Affairs; Visual Effects & Post; and Physical Production.

The main focus for the Physical Production sub-group has been to devise draft production protocols to present to the government, displaying how the inward investment TV and film industry can restart once lockdown measures are eased, and to provide the industry with a framework to mobilize in a co-ordinated and safe way.

The draft production protocols cover best practice on set,...

Jason Connery and producer Bob Last have been appointed to run the large-scale film and TV studio in Leith.

In what Screen Scotland’s executive director Isabel Davis is calling a “hugely significant” move for the Scottish and UK film industry, First Stage Studios Ltd, run by BAFTA-winning producer Bob Last and actor/director Jason Connery, has been appointed to run the new Scottish film and TV studio space in Bath Road, Leith, in Edinburgh.

This is the former Pelamis building, the industrial site where Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War was partly shot.

Screen Scotland is pumping £1m into “the initial set-up,...

Rose Garnett, Andy Leyshon and Daniel Battsek among those praising Roberts’ appointment.

Figures from the production, sales and distribution sectors of the UK film industry have given a positive response to the news (confirmed today) of the appointment of Ben Roberts as chief executive of the BFI.

“He is a very, very sound choice,” said senior UK producer Iain Smith, chairman of the British Film Commission (Bfc), expressing his “delight” at the choice.

“[His appointment] equips the BFI for a very challenging future as the lead organisation of our industry. We are in the midst of enormous change precipitated by the streaming revolution.

Exclusive: The inaugural Turks and Caicos International Film Festival (Tciff) will open with Sundance Audience Award-winning documentary Sea of Shadows, executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Pic follows a group of dedicated scientists, conservationists, investigative journalists, undercover agents and members of the Mexican navy who try to protect endangered sea species from Mexican drug cartels and Chinese traffickers. The Caribbean festival, which will have an environmental focus, runs 15 – 17 November 2019. Jonny Keeling, the executive producer of the BBC Natural History unit which produced hit series Planet Earth, Richard Curtis, and Emma Freud, will be among those taking part in panels. Rob Stewart’s film Sharkwater Extinction will screen at the Festival. There will also be an underwater filmmaking session with cameraman Duncan Brake.

The Production Guild of Great Britain has appointed producer Alex Boden (Cloud Atlas) as its newly appointed chair, as Production Controller Guy Barker steps down after four years in the role.

Global film commissions and industry leaders will converge for the annual conference to be held in St Petersburg, September 13-16.

The Association of Film Commissioners International (Afci) has brought together speakers from Netflix, Universal, Playstation and HBO for its annual Cineposium conference in St Petersburg on September 13-16 to discuss hot topics affecting the screen industry.

The first day kicks off with a session on how the streaming service phenomenon is disrupting the global production and consumer landscape, with speakers including Jay Roewe, Svp West Coast Production at HBO, Ashley Rice, Evp physical production, Legendary Television & Digital Media, and Tomasz Dabrowski,...

Baltasar Kormakur is confirmed to direct.

David Puttnam has stepped down from his role of producer on Arctic 30, a drama about controversial oil exploration in Arctic waters, to chair a House of Lords special committee on ‘Democracy and Digital Technology’.

The committee will research opportunities offered and threats posed to democracy by the digital sector.

Iain Smith will take over from Puttnam as lead producer on Arctic 30 with production scheduled for February or March 2020 in Iceland, following the country’s winter. Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur is confirmed to direct the feature, shooting at his Rvk Studios in Reykjavik.

Further location...

Industry heavyweights back 10-point initiative to boost UK crews.

This evening (June 28), the British Film Institute (BFI) launched the Film Skills Strategy plan, an ambitious new programme with a 10-point plan to tackle skill shortages in the industry.

The BFI will invest £20m of lottery funding over five years into the scheme. It is anticipated this investment will leverage match funding from the industry’s own Skills Investment Fund to fund the action plan.

The programme also aims to address the still chronic lack of representation and inclusion in the workforce at a time when UK film is worth an estimated £4.3bn to the British economy and inward investment is continuing to rise.

Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, BFI chair Josh Berger and BFI CEO Amanda Nevill were at the House of Commons for the launch of Future Film Skills - An Action Plan.

A new BFI-commissioned report revealed significant opportunities for the...

Industry heavyweights back 10-point initiative to boost UK crews.

This evening (June 28), the British Film Institute (BFI) launched the Film Skills Strategy plan, an ambitious new programme with a 10-point plan to tackle skill shortages in the industry.

The scheme will cost £20m of lottery funding over five years.

The programme also aims to address the still chronic lack of representation and inclusion in the workforce at a time when UK film is worth an estimated £4.3bn to the British economy and inward investment is continuing to rise.

Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, BFI chair Josh Berger and BFI CEO Amanda Nevill were at the House of Commons for the launch of Future Film Skills - An Action Plan.

A new BFI-commissioned report revealed significant opportunities for the film workforce with an estimated 30,000 job opportunities likely to be available over the next five years.

Despite all this activity, however, problems...

Second edition of event for aspiring creatives reveals line-up.

Bafta has unveiled the line-up for the second edition of its Guru Live Festival, with speakers including Mad Max: Fury Road executive producer Iain Smith and 45 Years producer Tristan Goligher.

The two-day event will take place at Bafta’s Piccadilly venue in London between May 6-7 and Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts on May 6, featuring creatives from the worls of film, TV and gaming.

Iain Smith, whose credits also include Children of Men. will speak at the Glasgow event, while Tristan Goligher, also the producer of Weekend and the upcoming Lean On Pete, will appear in London.

Other speakers confirmed include writer-directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes On Blindness), and producers Camille Gatin (Girl With All The Gifts) and Oliver Roskill (Under The Shadow).

The events will feature talks on telling stories for film, making a debut feature film, pitching and freelancing...

Author: Jon Lyus

Join Pinewood Cinema at Pinewood Studios and HeyUGuys on Sunday 30th April for a special ‘black & chrome’ screening of Mad Max: Fury Road, featuring an exclusive Q&A with the film’s Executive Producer, Iain Smith, hosted by me.

An acclaimed producer, Iain is known for producing and executive producing such films as Children of Men, The Fifth Element, Spy Game, The Killing Fields and Seven Years in Tibet. As well as enjoying the full monochrome force of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road we’ll be asking Iain about his experience with the film, his work at Pinewood and his career in Film.

One lucky person, who will be chosen at random on the night, will also receive a signed Mad Max: Fury Road Black and Chrome poster from Iain.

Book your tickets now – click here for details Screening Details

Sunday, 30th April

18.15pm | Q...

Gallery: Pictures from the closing night and awards ceremony of the 15th Transilvania film festival; festival hands out industry development prizes.

Romanian director Bogdan Mirică’s feature debut Dogs (Câini) was the winner of the Transilvania Trophy at the 15th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (Tiff) which came to a close yesterday (June 5).

The thriller about a young man from the big city coming to a remote village to sell the land he inherited from his grandfather had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes last month and is being handled internationally by Bac Films International.

The co-production between Marcela Ursu’s 42 Km Film, French producer Elie Meirovitz’s Ez Films and Bulgaria’s Stephan Komanderev’s Argo Film is the fourth Romanian film to win the top prize in Cluj-Napoca after Cristian Mungiu’s Occident at the first edition of Tiff in 2002, followed by two films by Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 East...

The festival will also honour Mad Max: Fury Road producer Iain Smith.

Legendary Italian actress Sophia Loren and Mad Max: Fury Road producer Iain Smith will be guests of honour at the 15th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (Tiff, May 27 – June 5).

The festival kicks off this evening with the world premiere of Romanian director Nae Caranfil’s comedy 6.9. On The Richter Scale.

The festival’s closing gala on June 4 will see Loren [pictured in 2014 short Human Voice] – who is visiting Romania for the first time - receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, while Smith – who came to Romania to produce Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain in 2003 - will be presented with the Transilvania Trophy for Special Contribution to World Cinema on the same evening in Cluj’s National Theatre.

Competition

This year’s 12-strong Competition includes nine first features such as Bogdan Mirică’s Balkan anti-Western Dogs, Iranian director Ali Abbasi’s horror film Shelley, and [link=nm...

Exclusive: Fund backed by Zhongze Asset Management and Varcale Capital Management partners with four UK companies.

The China-uk Film Fund, backed by Zhongze Asset Management and Varcale Capital Management, has formed strategic partnerships with four UK companies, including Duncan Heath’s Independent Talent Group (Itg).

The new fund – which has closed seed funding of $72m (£50m) – has also pacted with media technology company Distrify Media and UK production companies BB88 and Youniverse.

With the fund’s support, Itg is planning to establish an office in Beijing that will manage Chinese talent and provide a platform to elevate Chinese stars to a wider global audience.

“We’ll be looking at management of TV writers, music and sports talent in addition to film,” Heath told Screen at an event in Beijing to announce the partnerships. “We’re also here to learn and find it reassuring that a Chinese entity has invited a British company to get involved in the...

It’s been a couple months since the last edition of What’s Up Doc? placed Michael Moore’s surprise world premiere of Where To Invade Next at the top of this list and in the meantime much shuffling has taken place and much time has been spent on various new endeavors (namely my Buffalo-based film series, Cultivate Cinema Circle). Finally taking its rightful place at the top, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hagedus’ Unlocking the Cage is in the midst of being scored by composer James Lavino, according to Lavino’s own personal site. Though the project has been taking shape at its own leisurely pace, I’d expect to see the film making its festival debut in early 2016.

Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...

Alexandra Bentley wins with thriller based around a hostage crisis on the London Underground.

UK Trade & Investment (Ukti) has announced the winner of a competition aimed at giving the UK’s finest creative talent access to Hollywood heavyweights.

Alexandra Bentley, who co-founded the Philm Company, won an all-expenses paid visit to the Us in the Talent Goes to Hollywood competition 2015 with her spec trailer for the new film she is producing, Baptism.

The action thriller, about a hostage crisis on the London Underground, is based on a novel by Max Kinnings and will be directed by Phil Hawkins.

The visit to the Us will see her attend the Britannia Awards in Los Angeles at the end of this month and be connected to leading industry figures.

Ukti staff will also arrange for one-to-one meetings and mentoring sessions to help Bentley get the most out of her visit.

The judges included Ian Livingstone, the former...

Producer Mairi Bett named Inspiration award winner.

Roy Button, Evp and MD at Warner Bros. Productions, is to receive the Production Guild Contribution to the Industry Award for his outstanding contribution to the development and sustainability of the UK film and TV industry.

The industry veteran will receive the honour at the Production Guild of Great Britain Awards, set to be held on Saturday (Sept 19) at The Grove, just outside of London.

The awards pay tribute to leading UK film and TV industry professionals working in production, locations, VFX, prod-production and assistant directing.

As head of physical production for Warner Bros. Productions, Button is responsible for all of the Us studio’s films based out of the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

He has also been the driving force for the studio’s investment in Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Europe’s largest studio and the production base for films including the Harry Potter franchise, [link...

George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road has been named best film of year by the International Federation of Film Critics.

The federation, comprised of 500 of the world's top critics, will honour Miller its Fipresci Grand Prix 2015..

The award will be presented to the Australian writer/director/producer at the opening ceremony of the 63rd Annual San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 18 in San Sebastian, Spain.

Since its early 2015 release, Mad Max has become one of the best-reviewed films of this or any year, earning a 98 per cent fresh rating on the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, which lists Mad Max: Fury Road as the 12th best-reviewed film of all time.

Miller said he was proud of the Aussie cast and crew, "big time".

"Their skill set, their unfailing grace under pressure. This was a tough movie to make. It's so lovely to have our many labours acknowledged in this way.

Hope everyone has their wallets ready because September 1st is a doozy of a day for home entertainment releases, with over 20 horror and sci-fi titles set to make their debut on Tuesday. For those of you Mad Max: Fury Road fans out there, this is the week you’ve all been waiting for as George Miller’s epic actioner arrives on 3D and 2D Blu-ray as well as on DVD. Scream Factory has a few films they’re releasing this week—Backcountry, The Harvest and Army of Frankensteins—and Anchor Bay Entertainment is keeping busy with a pair of notable releases too—The Curse of Downers Grove (which was penned by Bret Easton Ellis) and Lost After Dark.

Festival favorite Felt is also coming to DVD this week and Universal has put together an Abbott & Costello collection that’s sure to please any classic horror fans out there. Image Entertainment...

Winner to be flown to La and teamed with experts to help realise their project.

UK Trade & Investment (Ukti) has today launched a competition to give the UK’s finest creative talent access to Hollywood heavyweights.

The competition is open to anyone connected to the UK film industry, including writing, production and gaming.

Potential entries could include an idea for the next big franchise, a new film technology or an innovative concept that could create new markets or audiences for film.

Selected by an expert panel chaired by Iain Smith, the winner will be flown to La this October to take part in a tailored business programme of one-to-one meetings with key industry figures in Hollywood, and pitch their big idea to a leading heavyweight from their industry.

Ukti will also work with the winner to perfect their pitch.

The winner will also attend the Britannia Awards on Oct 30 and network with representatives from the Us and...

The fall festival rush is upon us. Locarno is currently ramping up. Venice has released their line-up and Thom Powers and the Toronto International Film Festival team have dropped a bomb with a previously unannounced new feature from powerhouse docu-provocateur Michael Moore. It is truly a miracle that the production of a film such as Moore’s upcoming Where To Invade Next (see still above) managed to go completely undetected by the filmmaking community until it was literally announced to world premiere at one of the largest film festivals in the world. Programmed as a one of the key films in the Special Presentations section at Tiff, the film sees Moore telling “the Pentagon to ‘stand down’ — he will do the invading for America from now on.” Also announced to premiere at Tiff was Avi Lewis’ This Changes Everything, which has slowly been rising up this list, as well as...

Marks first industry-wide census since 2012.

Creative Skillset is giving UK-based film productions the chance to stand up and be counted in the first industry-wide census since 2012.

The census period for the film productions starts today (Aug 3) and film productions are requested to fill in the census questionnaire online at: http://j.mp/Census2015-2fp

The entry process will remain open until Oct 30.

The ‘Employment Census of the Creative Media Industries’ has been running since 1999 and aims to provide a detailed picture of the creative industries.

The census will include details on key occupations, working patterns, gender and ethnicity. Findings from the census also inform government and industry policy and co-investment in developing the skills of people working in these sectors.

Creative Skillset CEO, Dinah Caine, said: “The Creative Skillset 2015 Census is a unique and immensely valuable opportunity to give an accurate overview of the creative media industries in the UK today.

“The findings...

Are you ready to die historic on the Fury Road? If you missed out on one of the films of the Summer, or simply can't wait to see it again, you're in luck. Today, Warner Bros. has revealed details on Mad Max: Fury Road's blu-ray that's coming out in September. Come inside to learn more!

I've not been so enamored with a film, like I have Mad Max: Fury Road, in a very long time. It's just an amazing piece of cinema, andgorgeously crafted. Since the credits rolled I've been dying to take it home on blu-ray. Now, I know exactly when I'll be able to do that. Warner Bros. announced that Fury Road will hit store shelves on September 1st, which just so happens to coincide with the release of the upcoming Mad Max video game...Interesting. It's gonna be one Hell of a lovely day.

In the end,...

It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ Mad Max: Fury Road is continuing to draw moviegoers around the globe, now surpassing $300 million at the worldwide box office. The announcement was made by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Directed, written and produced by George Miller, the feature marks the filmmaker’s return to the post-apocalyptic landscape of his iconic Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky. Domestically, the movie has held firm at the box office since its opening, earning $125.1 million to date.

The widely praised film is also still pulling in big crowds overseas, so far taking in an estimated $177 million at the international box office for a worldwide total of more than $302 million and counting.

Read Tom Stockman’s review Here.

In making the announcement, Fellman said, “‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has proven to be a hit with followers of...

Well folks, after a rather long and brutal winter (at least for me here in Buffalo), we are finally heading into the wonderful warmth of summer, but with that blast of sunshine and steamy humidity comes the mid-year drought of major film fests. After the Sheffield Doc/Fest concludes on June 10th and AFI Docs wraps on June 21st, we likely won’t see any major influx in our charts until Locarno, Venice, Telluride and Tiff announce their line-ups in rapid succession. In the meantime, we can look forward to the intriguing onslaught of films making their debut in Sheffield, including Brian Hill’s intriguing examination of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Sean McAllister’s film for which he himself was jailed in the process of making, A Syrian Love Story, the only two films world premiering in the festival’s main competition.

Riding on rave reviews and huge anticipation around the globe, Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ Mad Max: Fury Road thundered at the worldwide box office with an opening weekend of more than $109.4 million, making it the #1 new release at the global box office.

It is also the biggest opening ever for director George Miller and is already the highest grossing of all the “Mad Max” films. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

George Miller’s return to the world of “Mad Max” was a major draw overseas, where it earned an aggregate estimated $65 million in 68 territories on 16,900 screens. It was #1 at the box office in almost 40 territories, including Australia, the birthplace of the post-apocalyptic anti-hero, as well as such key markets as France, Russia, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Korea, all of Scandinavia,...

The summer is here, and with the arrival of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Jurassic World right around the corner, the heat is really kicking up. Still, no movie has had me as excited as Mad Max: Fury Road.

The trailers have been insane, and no movie in years has sold me so quickly with the theory of wild, adrenaline-rush like this one.

You’ve seen plenty in the trailers to get your mind racing, but the new set of images really give you a lot of information (I think) about how cool this really might be.

Just take a look at this one –

courtesy Warner Bros.

Sure, you’ve seen the idea in the trailer, but just the sheer insanity of everything in this image. If this movie doesn’t turn out to be the most fun of the year, that in itself will be a feat.

Plus, this...

"You're not really in a movie, you're in George's head." In a new featurette from Warner Bros., Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and other members of the cast and crew of Mad Max: Fury Road reflect on what it was like to be a part of the latest grand vision from filmmaker George Miller.

"From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his...

It should come as no surprise that Cannes Film Festival will play host to Kent Jones’s doc on the touchstone of filmmaking interview tomes, Hitchcock/Truffaut (see photo above). The film has been floating near the top of this list since it was announced last year as in development, while Jones himself has a history with the festival, having co-written both Arnaud Desplechin’s Jimmy P. and Martin Scorsese’s My Voyage To Italy, both of which premiered in Cannes. The film is scheduled to screen as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar alongside the likes of Stig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, which will play as part of the festival’s tribute to the late starlet, and Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna’s Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (see trailer below). As someone who grew up watching road races with my dad in Watkins Glen,...

"My world is reduced to a single instinct: survive." With Warner Bros. set to unleash Mad Max: Fury Road in a little over two weeks, a new trailer for the film, appropriately titled "Retaliate", has been released.

Press Release -- "From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

Tom Hardy...

Grammy nominated producer and composer Junkie Xl provides the score for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ post-apocalyptic action-thriller Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and Nicholas Hoult.

Directed by Oscar winner George Miller, the mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, Fury Road is a return to the world of Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky (Hardy). Haunted by his turbulent past, Max teams up with a mysterious woman, Furiosa (Theron), to try and survive a high-octane Road War.

The film opens in theaters worldwide May 15, 2015, and will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015. The “Mad Max: Fury Road” original motion picture soundtrack will be available on WaterTower Music on May 12, 2015, and is now available for preorder on Amazon and iTunes.

For the franchise’s first installment in 30 years, director George Miller took the madness to a new extreme. Junkie Xl explains, “When you’re watching the film,...

"I remember a time of chaos... but most of all, I remember the Road Warrior. The man we called 'Max.'" In anticipation of the Mad Max: Fury Road premiere, the 35+ year history of George Miller's dystopian franchise is celebrated in a new featurette. Also included in our latest round-up is a newly announced Blu-ray from Scream Factory that should please Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross fans, as well as the special features and cover art for Warner Bros.' Innerspace high-definition home media release.

Mad Max: Fury Road: Press Release -- "From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with...

Welcome to the latest installment of Trailer Park, our (semi) regular look at the latest trailers to hit the interwebs. This weeks line-up features a bevy of the latest movie trailers including Masterminds, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue nation, Man Up, Hotel Transylvania 2, San Andreas, Tomorrowland and more…

Masterminds

Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) leads a sterling comedy cast along with Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Owen Wilson (Zoolander) and Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses) in this hilarious true story in which a half-brained night guard at an armoured car company manages to pull off one of the biggest bank heists in Us history.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Oscar-winning filmmaker George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” revisits his own post-apocalyptic trilogy featuring the anti-hero known as Mad Max. Tom Hardy stars in the role of Max Rockatansky, alongside Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Hugh Keays-Byrne and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

"In this wasteland, I am the one who runs from both the living and the dead." A new trailer for George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (hitting theaters May 15th) has been released by Warner Bros. Pictures, complete with a guitar-flamethrower that gives a new meaning to "hot licks."

Press Release - "From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and...

Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...

Exclusive: A Christmas Miracle was in the works before the British filmmaker died in 2012.

The last feature film project from the late Gerry Anderson - creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 - is in advanced development and may move into pre-production later this year.

The $46.5m (£30m) computer animated feature, titled Gerry Anderson’s A Christmas Miracle, was first hatched by the British filmmaker in 2004. Anderson died in 2012.

“It was his baby,” said his son Jamie Anderson, who is producing the film through family company Anderson Entertainment alongside Mark Sherwood.

The original version of the screenplay was completed around 2006. Heavyweight screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) is now in talks to rework the screenplay.

Executive producer is Daniel Pickering and director Mark Woollard, who worked on the 2005 CGI reboot of Captain Scarlet. Veteran producer Iain Smith has been “helping and assisting” on the project.

Some 65% of...

“Everybody’s gone out of their mind. You’re not the only one, Max.” Moviegoers last saw Max Rockatansky roaming the desert wasteland in 1985, but longtime fans of writer/director George Miller’s apocalyptic road rage series will be reunited with the widowed wanderer in May of 2015, when Mad Max: Fury Road hits theaters. You can get a taste of the post-apocalyptic mayhem to come in a new batch of film stills featuring Nicholas Hoult as Nux, Charlize Theron as Furiosa, Tom Hardy as Mad Max, and several more manic characters.

“From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing...

For the second consecutive year, Warner Bros. Pictures International has exceeded the coveted $3 billion mark at the international box office. This benchmark comes on the heels of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, which surpassed $400 million at the international box office this weekend and is still going strong.

Nine Warner Bros. Pictures films have exceeded $100 million internationally, topped by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (with Paramount Pictures), which has taken in an astounding $467 million outside of the U.S. to date, and Godzilla (with Legendary Pictures), which has earned $327 million overseas.

Four titles – Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow (with Village Roadshow Pictures), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (also with Village Roadshow Pictures), and Noam Murro and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise Of An Empire (with Legendary), along with the 2014 spillover grosses from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug...

On Wednesday, the brand new trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road crashed in. Take a look at one of the best trailers you’re likely to see this or next year.

From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes Mad Max: Fury Road, a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

Tom Hardy (“The Dark Knight Rises”) stars in the title role...

“Everybody’s gone out of their mind. You’re not the only one, Max.” Moviegoers last saw Max Rockatansky roaming the desert wasteland in 1985, but longtime fans of director / writer George Miller’s apocalyptic road rage series will be reunited with the widowed wanderer in May of 2015, when Mad Max: Fury Road hits theaters, and you can get a taste of the post-apocalyptic mayhem to come in the film’s new trailer.

“From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary “Mad Max” franchise, comes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe,...

Turkey or no turkey, these next couple of days lucky filmmakers who’ve been selected to screen as part of the Sundance Film Festival will get the invitation notice straight from John Cooper and the Park City programming team, and thus, those that we’re betting have made the cut have also inched up the list a bit. One of those that seem an obvious choice to premiere at the fest is director Steve Hoover and producer Danny Yourd’s Crocodile Gennadiy. Following up their Grand Jury Prize winning Blood Brother with incredible turnaround time, our new most anticipated film tracks the delicate operations of Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a Ukrainian activist, orphanage manager and savior of countless children whose addict parents favor injected cold medicine and alcohol over them. Part heartwrenching domestic drama, part sleuth thriller, the film looks to use the Ukrainian uprising as a backdrop to highlight its protagonist...