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It’s another year of high-profile animated sequels, led by Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys 2,” and Nickelodeon/Paramount’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Square Pants” and the “Untitled Smurfs Animated Film.”

But there are plenty of attention-grabbing originals in 2025: “Pixar’s sci-fi “Elio,” DreamWorks’ “Dog Man,” Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol,” and Laika’s highly anticipated “Wildwood” (a tentative release). In addition, Netflix delivers another diverse slate: “In Your Dreams,” “K-Pop: Demon Hunters”, “Lost in Starlight” (the streamer’s first Korean-language animated film), “Plankton: The Movie” (with Nickelodeon), “Pookoo” (with Skydance Animation), and “The Twits” from Roald Dahl. Plus, Crunchyroll/Sony Pictures offer the theatrical anime event of the year with “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” (“Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”).

Additionally, there are three Oscar-qualifying holdovers from 2024: “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” “The Colors Within,” and “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie...

France was one of the first countries to require streamers to invest in the local film and TV production sector. Three years on, its impact is being felt.

A comprehensive study from the Cnc and French audiovisual regulatory authority Arcom published in late November revealed the impact of the introduction of the European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avmsd) in France on the country’s film and TV sector.

The Avmsd requires the US streamers to invest at least 20% of their annual turnover in local film and TV. According to the report, it has given the French industry a nearly $1.05bn (€1bn) financial boost.

France was one of the first countries to require streamers to invest in the local film and TV production sector. Three years on, its impact is being felt.

A comprehensive study from the Cnc and French audiovisual regulatory authority Arcom published in late November revealed the impact of the introduction of the European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avmsd) in France on the country’s film and TV sector. The Avmsd requires the US streamers to invest at least 20% of their annual turnover in local film and TV. According to the report, it has given the French industry a near $1.05bn (€1bn) financial boost.

Since the success of “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train,” which grossed nearly $50 million domestically in 2021, it’s been clear that anime will continue to be a major player at the specialty box office for years to come. Now, with Toho International’s acquisition of one of the medium’s top American distributors, Gkids, competition for the eyes and dollars of anime fans is about to step up.

It’s a natural fit for the two companies to be joining forces. Last December, Toho and GKids made box office history by pushing two Japanese-produced films into the top 3 at the U.S. box office on the same weekend. For Toho, it was “Godzilla Minus One,” the first ever film from cinema’s oldest franchise to win an Oscar, earning $56.4 million in America.

For GKids, it was Hayao Miyazaki’s likely final film — and also Oscar winner — “The Boy and the Heron,” which...

A folie a deux is defined as a shared delusion between two people in close association. So maybe the idea that the “Joker” sequel would perform as well as its predecessor was always meant to be suspect.

Over the weekend, “Joker: Folie a Deux” crashed with audiences after finding little support among critics. The Todd Phillips musical drama about the famed Batman villain earned less than $37.8 million at the domestic box office, a far cry from the record-setting $96 million with which the original debuted in 2019. That film grossed a then-record $1.079 billion worldwide, the most money ever for an R-rated release at the time. Now, the expectations are that “Joker: Folie a Deux” might not top $300 million. The project earned a D-grade from ticket buyers on CinemaScore, a service that polls moviegoers about their theatrical experience. Critics, many of whom thought the first film was subpar, eviscerated the sequel too — the...

"I'm already proud of you, Marcel." Sony Pictures Classics has revealed the first teaser trailer for a French animated film called Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, the latest creation from Sylvain Chomet. You already know his other films - The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist. This is his latest feature since Attila Marcel in 2013. He also directed the animated short at the start of Joker: Folie à Deux about his shadow. His new film follows the life of Marcel Pagnol, a playwright, novelist, and a filmmaker who became one of the world's most inventive & prolific artists in the mid-20th century. Based on Pagnol's book, examining his entire life from childhood through his successful career in France and beyond. No US release date is set - expected in early 2025. This teaser features an English-language voice cast with what sounds like Tom Hiddleston as the voice of Marcel, though they...

While his work was recently seen worldwide with crafting the opening animated sequence of Joker: Folie à Deux, Sylvain Chomet is also hard at work on his next feature. Set to arrive in 2025, a long 15 years after his previous feature The Illusionist, The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol follows the life of the acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. Ahead of next year’s release, Sony Pictures Classics has now released the first teaser for the latest work from The Triplets of Belleville director.

Here’s the synopsis: “In 1955, 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol is a well-known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker. When the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine commissions a weekly column about Pagnol’s childhood, he sees this as a great opportunity to go back to his artistic roots: writing. Realizing his memory is failing him and deeply affected by the disappointing results of his last two plays, Pagnol starts doubting his ability to pursue his work.

Love is in the air for Joaquin Phoenix’s clown prince of chaos in this bold but indulgent comic book musical – lifted by Gaga’s weapons-grade charisma

Is Todd Phillips trolling us? For the sequel to his divisive but wildly successful double Oscar-winning 2019 picture, Phillips tears up the formula. The gritty panache of Joker’s “making of a murderer” narrative and the subsequent extravagantly violent crime spree is replaced by two hours and 20 minutes of a musical romance/courtroom drama mashup. Oh, and there’s also a Looney Tunes-style animated prologue created by The Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet. The influences of the first film – few movies have borrowed so obviously and profligately from Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy – are largely discarded. Joker: Folie à Deux, which features Lady Gaga alongside returning star Joaquin Phoenix, draws instead from pictures such as Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart...

There’s a lot of promise in the idea of a musical starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga playing the Joker and Harley Quinn, especially in the latter being portrayed as the ultimate unstable fangirl, and giving Arthur Fleck something to hope for as he goes on trial for the murders committed in Joker. Imagine what John Waters or Paul Thomas Anderson would do with that premise. Hell, we don’t even have to imagine an animated take, as Joker: Folie à Deux’s one true masterstroke of sinister, madcap joy is starting with a short recap of Arthur Fleck’s story created by The Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet.

When that short is over, though, we get the Todd Phillips version, which is largely anchored to stone-faced reality for 130-plus excruciatingly withholding minutes. In grappling with the implications of its story, Folie à Deux’s every attempt at showcasing cleverness,...

“Folie à deux” means a kind of shared madness — possibly two extreme hearts on similar wavelength or maybe a clash inside one disturbed person’s head. When Arthur Fleck aka Joker meets Harleen “Lee” Quinel aka Harley Quinn in director/co-writer Todd Phillips’ audacious and head-spinning follow-up to his billion-dollar-grossing 2019 origin story, Joker: Folie à Deux is maybe all of that.

The first trailer for this new film, which could be called a musical but really is so much more than that one hook, used the underlying theme of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” and perhaps that ultimately is what Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver are trying to say. This meeting of the minds between Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) and Lee (Lady Gaga) is indeed an odd love story in a world losing control.

An early inspiration for the filmmaker and his star,...

Joker: Folie à Deux to Open with Looney Tunes-Inspired Animated Sequence - Main Image

The highly-anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux is going animated on its opening sequence with a Looney Tunes-inspired sequence.

Fans have been looking forward to the upcoming film as it will bring back Joaquin Phoenix to reprise his Oscar-winning role and he will be joined by Lady Gaga, who is set to portray Harley Quinn.

The trailers they released so far have revealed that the sequel will take a different route as it would feature musical elements. As it turns out, it will also tackle another style as it kicks off Arthur Fleck's next journey.

Joker 2 Opening Sequence Will Be Inspired by Looney Tunes

In a recent profile of Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips, it was revealed that the sequel will feature an animated opening sequence.

The film will begin with...

If you think the idea of making Joker: Folie à Deux a musical is a bizarre choice, wait until you hear what Todd Phillips has in mind for the film’s opening. In addition to featuring musical elements, Phillips plans to open the highly-anticipated sequel with a Looney Tunes-inspired animated sequence.

Before you freak out, know that Phillips recruited top-tier talent for this bold choice. The legendary French artist and animator Sylvain Chomet helped Phillips create the animated sequence. If Chomet’s name sounds familiar, he’s the director of 2003’s The Triplets of Belleville and 2010’s The Illusionist, two positively brilliant and award-winning animated features.

In addition to Chomet’s animated sequence, Joker: Folie à Deux includes a “variety show sequence” with Joker and Harley presenting a Sonny and Cher-like dynamic. These elements are part of Todd Phillips’ radical approach to Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to 2019’s box office-breaking Joker.

A quick perusal of social media shows some fans are still processing the idea that Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to Todd Phillips’ billion-dollar-grossing favorite of edgelords everywhere, is going to be a musical. The marketing is being a little coy about it, too, with only snippets of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck humming a few bars of Burt Bacharach to himself, or Lady Gaga’s Harleen Quinzel playfully quoting Judy Garland’s “Get Happy.” But yes: Joker 2 is expected to be a full-throated, song-in-its-heart, toe-tapper.

That departure from the first film is one of the most curious and appealing things about Phillips and Phoenix returning to the well of a project that seemed fairly insular five years ago. However, we now have confirmation that isn’t the only tip of the hat to Hollywood’s Golden Age, and specifically toward Warner Bros. at that. Indeed, according to a new report in Variety,...

Variety has sat down with Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips to learn more about the sequel to his and Joaquin Phoenix's 2019 hit, Joker (which lost its crown to Deadpool & Wolverine as the highest-grossing R-Rated movie ever this past weekend).

Apparently, Phillips and Phoenix started mulling over follow-up ideas pretty early on, with one being to take the Clown Prince of Crime to Broadway. Literally!

"When we started really thinking about it, we realized it takes four years to put something like that together. And is Joaquin really going to give six months of his life to do that every night onstage?" the filmmaker explains. "Then we thought about doing it at the Carlyle as sort of a smaller thing. But Covid hit."

Instead, Joker: Folie à Deux opens with a "Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon" animated by The Triplets of Belleville's Sylvain Chomet before becoming a "full-blown...

Back when the first "Joker" movie was coming out in 2019, it's safe to say that pretty much everybody lost their collective minds in every sense of the phrase. After its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, early reactions painted the R-rated comic book movie as everything from the next coming of Jesus Christ himself to the single worst experience ever committed to the medium of film to, incredibly enough, a "dangerous" work that would inevitably lead to real-world violence ... somehow. It was easy to see how Joaquin Phoenix's mentally-unwell character known as Arthur Fleck might've actually had a point when he said, "Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?" But forget all that, because the original movie apparently has nothing on what the sequel has in store for us right from the jump.

"Joker: Folie à Deux" marks director Todd Phillips' follow-up effort set...

Jonas Trueba’s The Other Way Around has received the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The comedy-drama – which has the Spanish title Volveréis – was selected by a jury of four exhibitors from the Europa Cinemas network.

An eighth feature for Spanish filmmaker Trueba, The Other Way Around follows a couple who decide to throw a party to celebrate their separation after 15 years as a couple.

The jury said, “Humorous and cleverly written, the film’s circular structure manifests generosity of spirit in its inspiring look at human relationships. It is a pleasing beacon of positivity,...

Picturehouse Entertainment has made its first animation pickup, acquiring UK-Ireland distribution rights to Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol.

The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol follows the life of Pagnol, a playwright, novelist and filmmaker who became one of the world’s most inventive and prolific artists in the mid-20th century.

The film is currently in production ahead of completion in 2025. It is produced by Ashargin Poire and Valerie Puech for What the Prod. Co-producers are Lilian Eche’s Bidibul Productions, Adrian Politowski’s Align and Aton Soumache for On Classics (Mediawan Kids & Family), in...

The Simpsons has successfully adopted various animation styles over the years to pay tribute or parody other animated projects. From adopting Fritz the Cat's style to Sylvain Chomet's tribute, the show has showcased its flexibility while retaining its distinct characters. Notable animation shifts include parodies of Schoolhouse Rock, Rick & Morty crashing in, and a tribute to Primal, seamlessly blending different styles.

The Simpsons has a very distinct animation style that's been successfully bringing in audiences for over three decades, but the show has also never been afraid to shift animation styles to either pay tribute, directly parody, or take inspiration from other animated films and shows. The Simpsons has been on the air for 35 seasons, and has endured numerous changes in pop culture and shifting tastes in animation. One of the show's most consistent ways of poking loving fun at the rest of the animation industry over the...

Alanté Kavaité’s third film The Islanders, about a woman taking care of a group of elderly people on a remote island off the coast of France, has been acquired by Elle Driver, which will start selling the film at the EFM.

The Islanders is now in post. It stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz with Dali Bensallah, Daphné Pataki and veteran talents Miou-Miou and Patrick Chesnais. Tereszkiewicz won the Cesar breakout award in 2023 for roles in Forever Young and The Red Island. Bensallah’s credits include Athena.

Kavaité’s credits include the coming-of-age story The Summer Of Sangaile, for which she won...

Mediawan Kids & Family, a leading European youth animation studio working with filmmakers Sylvain Chomet (“The Triplets of Belleville”) and Joann Sfar (“The Rabbi’s Cat”), is ramping up its international distribution pipeline with the acquisition of three premium series: “Maddie + Triggs,” “The Specials” and “Idefix and the Indomitables.”

“Maddie + Triggs” is an inclusive preschool musical comedy series produced by Turnip + Duck, an award-winning Irish studio. A spinoff of a popular podcast aimed at children aged 4 to 7, the series was pitched at Cartoon Forum in 2022 and commissioned by the BBC’s kids’ network CBeebies in the U.K. and RTÉjr Ireland’s Children’s broadcast service. The series is animated by the Bristol-based indie Sun & Moon Studios. “Maddie+ Triggs” follows the adventures of Maddie, a visually impaired 7-year-old girl, and her dog Triggs, who find music through the sounds of everyday life.

“Today, there is more awareness and appreciation of difference than ever before,...

Mubi has unveiled their February 2024 lineup, featuring Roy Andersson’s little-seen 1991 short World of Glory, Nicole Holofcener’s Lovely & Amazing starring Catherine Keener with an early Jake Gyllenhaal performance, and special Black History Month selections: Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer, Kasi Lemmon’s Eve’s Bayou, Carl Franklin’s One False Move, and more.

Check out the lineup below, including recently added January titles, and get 30 days free here.

Just-Added

American Movie, directed by Christopher Smith | Festival Focus: Sundance

Pieces of April, directed by Peter Hedges | Festival Focus: Sundance

The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Festival Focus: Sundance

But I’m a Cheerleader, directed by Jamie Babbit | Festival Focus: Sundance

Secretary, directed by Steven Shainberg | Festival Focus: Sundance

Medicine for Melancholy directed by Barry Jenkins | First Films First

Antiviral, directed by Brandon Cronenberg | First Films First

Shithouse, directed by Cooper Raiff | First Films First

Age of Panic,...

Following part one of our 2024 preview, we’re counting down our 50 most-anticipated films of the year.

50. The Actor (Duke Johnson)

Duke Johnson, one half of the directing duo behind Anomalisa, makes his solo directorial (and live-action) debut with The Actor. For being based on the posthumously published novel from Donald E. Westlake, a synopsis points towards an amnesia thriller with André Holland as a New York City actor beaten and stranded in 1950s Ohio. Gemma Chan and Toby Jones co-star. As a state native I’m intrigued how they shot Budapest for small-town Ohio––the two don’t exactly scream perfect matches, but I won’t doubt the movie magic before I see it. Anomalisa was a wholly original stop-motion feature; we’re intrigued how Johnson continues that creativity in the live-action realm. – Caleb H.

49. Presence (Steven Soderbergh)

Steven Soderbergh has flirted with horror before––2018’s Unsane in particular nearly...

Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” which gets a theatrical release from Neon at an as-yet-unannounced time this year, was one of the animated delights of 2023. The Spanish/French hand-drawn dramedy (adapted from Sarah Varon’s wordless graphic novel) concerns the bittersweet friendship between lonely Dog and Robot, which he buys for company, in a version of ’80s Manhattan populated with animals. It’s garnered awards buzz in a longshot quest for an Oscar nomination this season.

After premiering at Cannes, “Robot Dreams” earned the Annecy Contrecham Award along with The Animation Is Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize. It was also selected as the runner-up for Best Animated Film by both the Los Angeles and Boston Film Critics groups.

Although the Spanish director was enamored with the graphic novel when he read it in 2010, he didn’t consider turning it into an animated feature until after making two live-action films,...

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we take a look at Stromae's Carmen directed by Sylvain Chomet. Sylvain Chomet made a big impression with his first feature, Les Triplettes de Belleville, one of the best animated features of the early aughts. Chomets style as an animator can be best described as "master of caricatures". He pushes the bodily aesthetics of his characters to such an extreme, like a good caricaturist, that they literally seem to embody their bodily differences. Someone who is lanky, is not just lanky, he is gaunt. A waiter who bends over backwards to please, literally does so, having a back so curved that he seems more like...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The financing and development platform at Tiffcom will take place in person for the first time.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) has revealed the 15 projects selected for financing and development at Tiffcom, the content market of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The 4th edition of Tgfm will take place in-person for the first time from October 25-27, having launched during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when all industry activity took place online.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Projects include The Fox King by Malaysia’s Woo Ming Jin, whose revenge thriller Stone Turtle premiered in competition at Locarno in...

While at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, Mediawan Kids & Family unveiled a raft of new youth-centric shows, including “Karters” and “Witch Detectives,” on top of a licensing pact with DeAPlaneta Entertainment.

Spearheaded by animation veteran Julien Borde, Mediawan Kids & Family is a division of the international film and TV powerhouse Mediawan whose recent acquisitions include Brad Pitt’s Plan B.

Mediawan Kids & Family is partnering up with Warner Bros. Discovery Emea on the production and distribution of its animated series “Karters” for the linear and non-linear services of Warner Bros. Discovery. The action-packed series will premiere on Cartoonito for Emea, and will be distributed by Mediawan Kids & Family Distribution worldwide except Latin America.

Both “Karters” and “Witch Detectives” are being produced by Aton Soumache’s topnotch Method Animation (“The Little Prince”), whose credits include “The Three Musketeers.” “Witch Detectives” has already been boarded by TF1 and Super Rtl.

Written...

“One buyer said they received 138 scripts at the market,” said Orange Studio’s Charlotte Boucon.

France’s sales companies arrived in Cannes with busy slates, rich with festival titles and market packages. Nearly two weeks on and Screen finds out how business has been for them.

When it comes to French films, buyers in general seem to be both more restrained about rushing to scoop up titles and pay big money up front, yet at the same time are looking for more audacious titles with unique subjects to woo younger audiences.

“We’re seeing the adrenaline again that’s been...

The Paris sales outfit is also handling Pablo Berger’s ‘Robot Dreams’ in Official Selection.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Elle Driver has added Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ Apathy, now in pre-production, to its line-up heading into Cannes.

Apathy is a drama exploring the real-life phenomenon of ‘resignation syndrome’, a catatonic state that has affected around 700 refugee children in Sweden, sparking a wave of concern among doctors and politicians. Told from the perspective of a family, Apathy follows the parents as they struggle in their daily lives and gives a voice to the children. The multi-territory co-production is produced by France’s...

The Paris sales outfit is also handling Pablo Berger’s ‘Robot Dreams’ in Official Selection.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Elle Driver has added Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ Apathy, now in pre-production, to its line-up heading into Cannes.

Apathy is a drama exploring the real-life phenomenon of ‘resignation syndrome’, a catatonic state that has affected around 700 refugee children in Sweden, sparking a wave of concern among doctors and politicians. Told from the perspective of a family, Apathy follows the parents as they struggle in their daily lives and gives a voice to the children. The multi-territory co-production is produced by France’s...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including David Easteal’s The Plains (one of the best films we saw on the festival circuit last year), Christophe Honoré’s Winter Boy, Koji Fukada’s 10-part series The Real Thing, Bruce Labruce’s Saint-Narcisse, and more.

Additional highlights include three films by Joan Micklin Silver, additions to their Lars von Trier series, Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville, Sally Potter’s Orlando, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, and more.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

April 1 – Henry Fool, directed by Hal Hartley

April 2 – Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman

April 3 – The All-Round Reduced Personality – Redupers, directed by Helke Sander | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema

April 4 – Saint-Narcisse, directed by Bruce Labruce

April 5 – Jaime Francisco, directed by Javier Rodríguez | Brief Encounters

April 6 – Hester Street, directed by Joan Micklin...

Animation is a medium of movement. Shapes, lines, light, and colors come to life. Filmmakers constantly find new ways to move those elements on-screen in the hopes they will move you. The technology has evolved exponentially since "Humorous Phases of Faces," the first publicly known animation, debuted in 1906. Innovations have transformed how animators draw, paint, photograph, render, and edit their films. New generations have transformed how animators utilize the medium to express themselves.

Animation is the freest form of expression in cinema. Live-action filmmakers are limited by their technology, while animators can draw anything that comes to mind. That freedom allows filmmakers to explore difficult subjects while keeping them approachable and accessible to children and adults. They can be about the nearing of death, fear of loneliness, overcoming depression, violent revolution, and the creation of Earth. We put together a list of 14 movies that used innovative styles and technology to...

Mediawan Kids & Family, the youth entertainment division of the European powerhouse, has acquired a majority stake in Wildseed Studios, the British production company behind “The Last Bus” and “Hungerford.”

The deal marks the first international acquisition of Mediawan Kids & Family, a leading purveyor of animated series and features including “The Little Prince” and “The Little Nicholas,” which premiered at Cannes.

Wildseed Studios was founded in 2013 by Jesse Cleverly (“Eastern Promises”), former head of co-productions and acquisitions at BBC Children’s, and Miles Bullough (“Shaun the Sheep”), former head of broadcast at Aardman Animations. The company’s track record includes a number of hits such as the Netflix live action series “The Last Bus,” the award-winning feature film “Hungerford,” the children’s animation series “Dodo” for Sky Kids and the animated comedy “Counterfeit Cat” for Disney Channel. Upcoming titles include the Sky Kids Special “Ama’s Story.”

“Wildseed Studios is a renowned and well-established U.

The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman discusses hiring fans to create new couch gags. Selman started off on the show’s writing staff, eventually becoming an executive producer in 2005; as of 2020, he serves as one of The Simpsons’ co-showrunners. Groundbreaking as the first successful adult animated series since its premiere, The Simpsons is currently airing season 34.

Now, Selman explains to GQ why The Simpsons sometimes hires fans to create new couch gags, a running visual joke during the show's opening credits. He emphasizes how important it is to “embrace” fans and their ideas and how it allows the show to stay connected to a “new generation” in a meaningful way. One example he shares is of a gag in which the Simpsons family members are depicted as teenage versions of themselves throwing a house party. See Selman’s full quote below:

Another cool thing we’ve done with the couch gags...

It is fair to assume Criterion could plunder the world of licensed film to build an ultimate noir playlist; credit, then, for focusing sharp and nabbing deep cuts. The Criterion Channel’s November / Noirvember program will be headlined by “Fox Noir,” an eight-title program with Otto Preminger deep cut Fallen Angel, three by Henry Hathaway, Siodmak, Dassin, Kazan, and Robert Wise, and while retrospectives of Veronica Lake and John Garfield will bring some canon into the fold, I’m mostly thinking about that potential for discovery.

Following “Free Jazz,” Bob Hoskins, and Joyce Chopra programs, the other big series is a 30-year survey of Sony Pictures Classics: Sally Potter, Satoshi Kon, Panahi, Errol Morris, Almodóvar, Haneke, Mike Leigh, just a murderer’s row. Streaming premieres include 499 and A Night of Knowing Nothing, two recent epitomes of I Wish I Had Seen That; Criterion Editions comprise Cure, Brazil, Sullivan’s Travels,...

Animation project directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Elle Driver has swooped for the rest of the world on Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol.

The Paris-based sales outfit has boarded the animated feature for all territories excluding North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel and Italy, which were pre-bought by Sony Pictures Classics in May.

The film’s titular character was one of France’s most prolific and popular playwrights, filmmakers and novelists of the 20th century who has sold 150 million books translated into 50 languages.

The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol explores Pagnol’s imaginative world...

Animation project directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Elle Driver has swooped for the rest of the world on Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol.

The Paris-based sales outfit has boarded the animated feature for all territories excluding North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel and Italy, which were pre-bought by Sony Pictures Classics in May.

The film’s titular character was one of France’s most prolific and popular playwrights, filmmakers and novelists of the 20th century who has sold 150 million books translated into 50 languages.

The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol explores Pagnol’s imaginative world...

Tragedy struck the film community in Scotland last week when it was announced that the Edinburgh International Film Festival as well as the Filmhouse cinemas in Edinburgh and Aberdeen were all shutting down due to financial strain. Reaction to that news has been more muted in the United States, in part due to specific phrasing of the situation: The film entities have “ceased trading” and gone “into administration.”

In practical terms, that means that the oldest continuously operating film festival in the world and two treasured arthouses that inspired generations of movie lovers were deemed financially insolvent. More than 100 people immediately lost their jobs. Reports circulated that staffers at the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen were unaware of the development until a government representative showed up to change the locks.

The development has been chalked up to a range of issues, including a 50-percent dip in audience attendance in the wake...

Roc Espinet

“I’m a big fan of 2D, keeping a handcrafted look and strong emotions, like in Ghibli movies. Having said that, I always want to complement it with a contemporary narrative concept and bold and crazy camera movements,” Catalan animator Espinet says. He’s a regular collaborator of Alberto Vázquez and has worked as an animator and layout artist for HBO (“Deadly Class”) and Amazon (“Niko and the Sword of Light”).

A pick-up from Latido when in in development, “Girl and Wolf” is Espinet’s debut feature, currently in pre-production and based on Espinet’s eponymous graphic novel. Produced by Sygnatia Films and Hampa Studio, it tells the story of an innocent girl who grew up in a medieval orphanage besieged by wolves. Espinet is also developing “Colossal Jane,” set up at Nexus Studios, a comedy series “where musicals, ghost hunting, Kung Fu and womanhood meet in a super energetic way,...

Mediawan, the fast-rising pan-European production and distribution group behind “The Little Prince,” has launched a new division, Mediawan kids & family, to ramp up its activities dedicated to youth entertainment content and become a global one-stop shop.

Unveiled during the Annecy Animation Film Festival, this new division will bring together Mediawan’s topnotch labels, including Aton Soumache’s thriving banner Method Animation, whose track record spans 25 years and comprises worldwide hits such as “Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” (co-produced with Zag) and “Robin Hood – Mischief in Sherwood; On Classics, the banner behind the BAFTA-nominated, Cesar-winning “The Little Prince,” which sold 50 million tickets worldwide. On Classics is also behind “Little Nicolas – Happy as can be” which world premiered at Cannes in the Special Screenings section and is competing at Annecy.

Spearheaded by Julien Borde, an animation industry veteran who previously held senior positions at WarnerMedia and France Televisions, Mediawan kids...

If you're into animation, you've probably seen "The Triplets of Belleville," and if you're into the "Belleville," Sony Pictures Classic has both your back and your wallet. The production and distribution company has officially secured the rights to the "Belleville" writer and director Sylvain Chomet's latest film. So start planning your watch party (or take some time to catch up on Chomet's work), because you know this one is going to be a wild (and a sweet) ride. What else would you expect from Chomet?

Chomet's latest work is titled "The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol," and as you can probably guess, it tells the story of...

The post Sony Pictures Classics Lands New Movie From Triplets of Belleville Director appeared first on /Film.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel, India and Italy, and aboard airlines and ships worldwide, to the animated film The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, from writer-director Sylvain Chomet. The deal for Chomet’s English-language feature follows SPC’s distribution of his past films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.

The latest film from the four-time Academy Award nominee and BAFTA winner is set in 1955 follows 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol—one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century. An author with 150 million books sold worldwide and translated into more than 50 languages, Pagnol was also a well-known and acclaimed playwright and filmmaker prior to his passing in 1974.

When the editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine commissions a weekly column about the acclaimed playwright and filmmaker’s childhood, he sees this as a great opportunity to go back to his artistic roots: writing.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Sylvain Chomet’s “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol,” an animated feature about the life of the legendary author Marcel Pagnol.

Chomet is the BAFTA-winning, four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “The Triplets of Belleville” and “The Illusionist” which were both distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

The deal covers all rights for North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, Middle East, Israel, India, Italy, and

worldwide airlines and ships at sea in all languages.

“‘The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol’ completes the animated feature film trilogy started with ‘The Triplets of Belleville’ and ‘The Illusionist’ (both enormous successes and evergreen titles for Sony Pictures Classics),” said SPC.

“Sylvain Chomet is one of the great masters of animation in the world. It is a pleasure and privilege to be back in business with Sylvain and to expand Sylvain’s audience wider than ever,” added the company.

A modern fable, the...

“Welcome to Siegheilkirchen” not only honors Manfred Deix, one of Austria’s most revered cartoonists and satirists, it also marks the country’s first ever animated feature film.

Unspooling in Gala Premieres at the Zurich Film Festival, the film follows a kid whose immense talent for drawing gives him an outlet for his discontent while growing up in a small conservative Austrian town, where Nazi sympathy is still very prevalent. Deix initially worked on the project as art director before his death in 2016.

For Marcus H. Rosenmüller, “Welcome to Siegheilkirchen” has been long in the making. It was the first animated film for the celebrated German filmmaker, who joined the project nearly a decade ago after producers Josef Aichholzer and Ernst Geyer convinced Deix of making a film based on his work and partly inspired by his life.

Development on the film took several years and the process became a learning experience for Rosenmüller,...

Mediawan Group has acquired a majority stake in Hugo Selignac’s Chi-Fou-Mi, the thriving Paris-based outfit behind Cedric Jimenez’s “Bac Nord” which world premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The deal follows Mediawan & Leonine Studios’s joint acquisition of Drama Republic, a major U.K. TV production banner, which was announced the start of Cannes by Mediawan’s co-founder Pierre-Antoine Capton and Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel.

The acquisition of Chi-Fou-Mi underscores Mediawan’s drive to become a major purveyor of premium content; and will solidify Mediawan’s footing in the French film business.

Chi-Fou-Mi is a 10 year-old company boasting an access to A-list French talent and a track record with popular and ambitious French films such as Gilles Lellouche’s “Le Grand Bain,” Antonin Baudry’s Omar Sy starrer “Le chant du Loup,” Jeanne Herry’s “Pupille,” Romain Gavras’ “Le Monde est à toi” and...

Universal Music France and Mediawan’s Method Animation are joining forces on “Jam,” a animated music anthology which will showcase the greatest talents in both music and animation.

Co-developed with Universal Music France’s original contents department, the 15-part series will be directed by Michael Gracey, the revered helmer of “The Greatest Showman,” and is being created by Method Animation’s roster of talent, including Robert Valley, Félicie Haymoz, Sylvain Chomet and Joann Sfar.

These artists will getting an unprecedented access to Universal Music Group’s musical library and will be interpreting iconic songs that have crossed cultures and generations to deliver tales for family and adult audiences.

“Jam” fits Method Animation’s new mandate to come up with inventive animation projects skewed towards young adults.

“We are thrilled to partner with Universal Music France to create ‘Jam,’ the first ever music anthology for

animation. This partnership allows us to...

First image from Sylvain Chomet for his vast project on Marcel Pagnol revealed at Annecy Festival of Animation Photo: Annecy Film Festival

A long cherished project by Sylvain Chomet, the film-maker who shot to prominence with The Triplets Of Belleville as well as the Scottish-set The Illusionist, has been unveiled with a teaser clip at the Annecy Festival of Animation.

Described by showbiz Bible Variety as “a modern fable,” the biopic will chart the life of Marcel Pagnol, the legendary French novelist, playwright and film director who grew up in Marseille and whose fabled Provence set trilogy Marius, Fanny And César, and other classics, were set in the region.

Sylvain Chomet receiving his honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh during his sojourn in Scotland to make The Illusionist Photo: Dawn Marie Jones / French Film Festival UK

Pagnol was prolific during the Thirties and Fifties. His books have sold 150 million...

Sylvain Chomet, the BAFTA-winning, four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “The Triplets of Belleville” and “The Illusionist,” has partnered up with Mediawan’s On Kids & Family on his next directorial outing, “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol.”

The ambitious film is being co-developed and produced by What The Prod, the outfit created and headed by Ashargin Poiré and Valérie Puech, with veteran animation producer Aton Soumache at On Kids & Family. The project is being presented at Annecy Film Festival with a well-polished, English-speaking teaser.

A modern fable, the animated biopic will chart the epic life of Pagnol, a celebrated French novelist, playwright and filmmaker who grew up in a middle-class household in Marseille and became one of the world’s most inventive and prolific artists from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Throughout his long career, Pagnol’s books were translated into more than 50 languages and sold more than 150 million units. Pagnol also...

Video Version of this Article Photo/Video: The Triplets of Belleville/Hollywood Insider YouTube Channel Prior to the modern age of microphones and monologues, silent filmmakers pioneered the art form of Cinema with an emphasis on heightened body language and facial expression. Before the 1920s, it was common to depict an entire cosmos of emotional narrative from facial gestures and movement alone. As presented in the animation ‘The Triplets of Belleville’, little to no dialogue is actually needed to deeply move the audience or to illustrate a powerfully impactful story. While its premise is mostly comedic, within the film lies a tragic darkness--distilled only by the heroic gestures of righteousness, kindness, and love. Related article: Pixar Drawing Tutorials: The Animation Studio Uses YouTube to Tackle Self-Isolation Related article: Top 10 Family Guy Characters | Who Makes The Cut? Meg Griffin, Peter Griffin, Stewie, Quagmire? Most of the narrative is conveyed through pantomime and song,...

The Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings are continuing next month with a selection of new releases, retrospective, series, and more. Leading the pack is, of course, a horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, featuring ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (pictured above), Tobe Hopper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more.

Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.

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,...