News

Meg Ryan’s highly anticipated return to the rom-com genre in “What Happens Later” has secured an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA, according to an updated list of projects.

David Duchovny also stars in the romantic comedy. Bleecker Street is releasing the film on Nov. 3.

Ryan, rom-com royalty from “When Harry Met Sally” to “Sleepless in Seattle,” also directed the film. Based on Steven Dietz’s play “Shooting Star,” the film follows two ex-lovers, Bill and Willa, who are snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Their reunion becomes unexpectedly prolonged when their flights to Boston and Austin are delayed.

The film’s official synopsis is as follows: “Indefinitely delayed, Willa (Ryan), a magical thinker, and Bill (Duchovny), a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives...

Meg Ryan’s much-anticipated return to the rom-com, What Happens Later, has landed an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA ahead of its Nov. 3 theatrical release.

Bleecker Street is releasing the film nationwide, which stars David Duchovny and Ryan as a former couple who get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. The synopsis of the film reads: “Indefinitely delayed, Willa (Ryan), a magical thinker, and Bill (Duchovny), a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.”

The film is seen as a nod to Ryan’s longtime collaborator Nora Ephron, who directed the star in Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, among other titles.

Ryan directed What Happens Later,...

Exclusive: Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) and Justin Bartha (National Treasure) are among the stars set for the upcoming comedy Nuked, which Deena Kashper wrote and is directing, in her feature debut.

The film watches as several couples gather at a luxurious estate for a cannabis-infused birthday dinner party — only to get sudden phone alerts about a nuclear missile headed straight for them. Their stress and panic unfolds into a wake-up call for everyone involved.

Others set for the pic, produced by Tandem Pictures and Hardball Entertainment, include Lucy Punch (Motherland), George Young (Falling for Christmas), Tawny Newsome (Star Trek: Lower Decks), Ignacio Serricchio (Lost in Space), Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock), Stephen Guarino (Eastsiders) and Natasha Leggero (Broke). The film being made with sustainable production practices is currently being shot in Arkansas.

Julie Christeas (Black Bear) is producing for Tandem, with Daryl Freimark (House of Darkness) of Hardball. Bartha is exec...

Exclusive: Hbcu Go — the free-streaming digital platform of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, which serves as the leading media provider for the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities — has set a new promotional partnership with the award-winning indie Freedom’s Path, starring Rj Cyler (The Harder They Fall) and Gerran Howell (1917).

As part of the release for the film — opening in 200+ AMC and Regal theaters nationwide beginning February 3, in commemoration of Black History Month — Hbcu Go will launch Hbcu Go Give 365, a community giving initiative intended to inspire and engage the Black community to lean in and provide much-needed funding to Hbcu higher learning institutions. The platform will kick off its initiative by inviting students, alumni, faculty and other members of the Hbcu community to attend screenings across the country, also donating a portion of ticket sales from Freedom Path‘s theatrical release directly to HBCUs that support the arts.

Rockhill Studios has joined Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions along with Everywhere Studios to produce the movie adaptation of Rachel Lloyd’s critically acclaimed novel Girls Like Us. Julie Lynch is on board to pen the script.

“We at Rockhill Studios know that Girls Like Us is a must-tell story, and there’s no better team to collaborate with and bring it to the screen than with JuVee Productions and Everywhere Studios,” Rockhill CEO Blake Elder said.

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale is Lloyd’s true story about falling prey to the world of commercial sex trafficking and escaping to dedicate her life to fight that very industry, resulting in new laws to support those affected.

“JuVee Productions’ legacy is to tell the stories of the underserved and the invisible,” said Davis and Tennon. “Girls Like Us is important...

Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has taken North American rights to Martha Stephens’ feature film To the Stars, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

Set in a god-fearing 1960s small town in Oklahoma, To the Stars follows bespectacled and reclusive teen Iris as she endures the booze-induced antics of her mother and daily doses of bullying from her classmates. She finds solace in Maggie, the charismatic and enigmatic new girl at school, who hones in on Iris’ untapped potential and coaxes her out of her shell. When Maggie’s mysterious past can no longer be suppressed, the tiny community is thrown into a state of panic, leaving Maggie to take potentially drastic measures and inciting Iris to stand up for her friend and herself.

Manchester by the Sea‘s Kara Hayward stars along with Liana Liberato (The Best of Me), two-time Veep Emmy winner Tony Hale,...

CAA represents Us rights; deal expected soon.

International Film Trust (Ift) has boarded sales rights to Sundance selection To The Stars and will kick off talks with buyers in Cannes.

CAA represents Us rights and a Us deal is expected soon. Ift head of international Todd Olsson will present colour and black-and-white versions of the film to international buyers on the Croisette.

Martha Stephens (Land Ho!) directed the coming-of-age story about a shy farmer’s daughter in 1960s Oklahoma who strikes up a friendship with a lively city transplant that will change their lives forever.

Kara Hayward (Moonrise Kingdom) and...

Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Malin Akerman, Shea Whigham and Tony Hale are starring in the independent coming-of-age story “To the Stars.”

Producers announced Wednesday that production has wrapped in Oklahoma for “To The Stars,” with “Land Ho!” director Martha Stephens helming from a script by Shannon Bradley-Colleary. The story, set in the 1960s, centers on the powerful friendship forged between a shy farmer’s daughter (played by Hayward) and Liberato’s reckless new girl.

Lucas Zumann (“20th Century Women”), Jordana Spiro (“Ozark”), and Adelaide Clemens (“Rectify”) round out the cast.

“Land Ho!” premiered at Sundance, was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, and won the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

“To the Stars” is produced by Kristin Mann (“Midnight Special”) and Laura D. Smith (“It Follows”) in partnership with Erik Rommesmo of Northern Lights Films, Carlos Cuscó and Emerson Machtus of Foton Pictures and Kerri Elder and Blake Elder of Rockhill Media.