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A lush Italian villa becomes the backdrop for sex, deception, and betrayal in the new thriller Electra. The Apprentice's Maria Bakalova stars in the film, which is the debut feature from Hala Matar. An intriguing premise deserves an equally intriguing poster, and Electra certainly has that. Collider can exclusively reveal the first poster for the film, which will hit theaters on May 2, 2025.

The film centers around two journalists who travel to an isolated Italian villa to interview a famous musician and his partner. However, everything is not as it seems, and all four of them soon become ensnared in a web of deceit. Matar is the first Bahraini woman to make a feature film in history, and her film is an exploration of "the dangers of leaving wounds unhealed and the masks we wear to belong—how avoiding the hard work of self-confrontation only deepens the fracture."

She collaborated...

A dramatic thriller starring “The Apprentice” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” breakout Maria Bakalova has sold to Level 33 Entertainment for domestic theatrical release.

The sales and distribution entity will take “Elecrtra” out day and date on May 2. The film marks the directorial debut of Hala Matar, an influential filmmaker in the worlds of high fashion and music videos. Matar is also credited as the first Bahraini woman in history to complete a feature film.

“Electra” is described as a potboiler in the vein of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Saltburn.” Bakalova stars with Abigail Cowen (Netflix’s “Fate: the Winx Saga”) and Jack Farthing (“Spencer,” “Rain Dogs”). Daryl Wein, a producer and script co-writer on the project, also co-stars.

Packaged and shot in Italy, “Electra” follows two journalists who travel to the lush Italian villa of a famous musician and his partner for an interview, but all is not as...

A year and a half ago, it was announced that production had wrapped on an erotic thriller called The Bird and the Bee, which reunited star Alicia Silverstone with both her Reptile co-star Karl Glusman and her King Cobra director Justin Kelly. Now, Deadline reports that Shout! Studios has secured exclusive distribution rights to the film, which is now going by the title Pretty Thing, in the United States and Canada. This deal includes “theatrical, home entertainment rights, and ancillary rights for cross-platform releases.” Shout! is planning to bring Pretty Thing to theatres and “all major entertainment platforms” later this year.

Scripted by Atlantis actor Jack Donnelly, the film was shot under a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement during the 2023 strikes. The story centers on a successful executive (Silverstone) as she fights back a scorned younger lover (Glusman) who takes his obsession too far.

Pretty Thing is coming our way from Yale Productions.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston will team up with Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone for Lone Wolf, a new action thriller. Cranston remains best known for his role as anti-hero Walter White in the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking Bad, which concluded in 2013. Gladstone, meanwhile, had her breakout last year with Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, which earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

Deadline now reports that Cranston and Gladstone will star together in Lone Wolf, an action-thriller to be directed by Mark Pellington (Arlington Road). Tom Chilcoat wrote the script for the film, which will feature Gladstone as a troubled combat veteran recruited by Cranston's contractor character for a covert plot to assassinate a politician. After realizing that it was a set-up, Gladstone's character must take on shadow agents in order to protect her son. Pellington describes the film as a "character-based thriller.

Exclusive: Oscar nominees Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo) have been set to star in action-thriller Lone Wolf.

Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) is set to direct from an original screenplay by Tom Chilcoat. Ted Hope and his Double Hope banner is producing alongside Christine Vachon and her Killer Films, in association with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions. Backing comes from Rabbits Black.

The conspiracy thriller will follow a troubled vet (Gladstone) struggling with addiction who is recruited by a contractor (Cranston) for a covert government plot to assassinate a high-level politician. After learning she’s set to take the fall, she must utilize all of her skills to outwit the shadow agents to protect the future of her son.

Great Escape is handling sales with the UTA Independent Film Group jointly handling domestic at the upcoming American Film Market.

Executive producers include Sean Krajewski,...

Exclusive: Ahead of the AFM, LA-based Great Escape is launching sales on horror film Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, the first project on the Terror Town genre slate from producer Joe Swanberg and Yale Productions.

Michael Gilio, whose screenwriting credits include MGM’s Dark Harvest and Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, stars in the movie.

From first-time feature director Aidan Leary, the film will get its world premiere next month at the Leeds International Film Festival in the UK.

The synopsis reads: “Something really bad happened to James Jensen when he was a kid. While hosting the latest episode of his children’s series ‘Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round,’ his repressed memories begin to emerge, threatening his sanity, and possibly his life. Will Monkey and the Playground Pals help James recover his lost memories, or have they been withholding something from him all along? Where is the Post Lady hiding?...

North American distribution rights to Mena Suvari-starring zombie horror-comedy film “All You Need Is Blood,” have been picked up by Level 33 Entertainment.

The company is planning to launch the film on the Kino Studio app on Oct. 12. Following the Kino premiere, the film will be available across all customary VOD outlets.

The film had its world premiere at last year’s Sitges Film Festival and has been a hit on the genre festival circuit ever since, including winning the Fangoria Award at Make Believe Seattle.

“All You Need Is Blood” is the debut feature of writer/director Bucky Le Boeuf. The story involves Bucky, a 16-year-old aspiring director who dreams of becoming the next arthouse auteur sensation. After a strange meteor crash lands in his backyard and turns his deadbeat father into a brain-eating zombie, Bucky and his friends seize the opportunity to create the ultimate horror flick,...

Exclusive: Ryan Guzman (9-1-1) has joined the new action thriller Midnight from Yale Productions and Night Fox Entertainment. Guzman’s “pivotal” role is being kept under wraps.

He joins the previously announced cast of Rosario Dawson, Alexandra Shipp and Milla Jovovich. In addition to starring, Dawson also produced the film with Shipp and Jovovich as executive producers. The Joshua Otis Miller-directed production recently wrapped in Connecticut

Written by Lamont Magee and Jeff Byrd, Midnight follows a young, blind woman (Shipp) as she is hunted by a group of international criminals (Jovovich) searching for a package they believe was given to the woman by her federal agent sister (Dawson). However, the assailants quickly realize that the woman, though unable to see, may be far more dangerous than expected.

Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman produce the film for Yale Productions in collaboration with Dawson and Leah Elizabeth Rucinski, as...

Exclusive: Alexandra Shipp (Anyone But You), Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka) and Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) will topline Midnight, a new action thriller from first-time feature filmmaker Joshua Otis Miller and Yale Productions.

Dawson is also a producer on the pic, which has wrapped production in Connecticut.

Written by Lamont Magee and Jeff Byrd, Midnight follows a young, blind woman (Shipp) as she is hunted by a group of international criminals (led by Jovovich) searching for a package they believe was given to the woman by her federal agent sister (Dawson). However, the assailants quickly realize that the woman, though unable to see, may be far more dangerous than expected.

The film is produced by Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions in collaboration with Dawson, Leah Elizabeth Rucinski, and Timothy Christian and Rab Butler of Night Fox Entertainment. Other producers include David Gere, Chelsea Vale, and Beth Bryant. Michael Day co-produced.

Actor Clark Duke made his feature directorial debut with the 2020 crime film Arkansas (you can read our 8/10 review at This Link), and now Deadline reports that he has just wrapped production on his second feature, a comedic thriller called Stranglehold, which also happens to be set in Arkansas. The cast includes Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars), Justin Long (Barbarian), Jake Lacy (Apples Never Fall), and Ron Perlman (Hellboy).

Described as “a Southern-fried siege, with shades of Dog Day Afternoon and Die Hard,” while also being “in the vein of the Coen Brothers’s oeuvre,” Stranglehold follows Bailey (Benson), an exotic dancer with big dreams. She and her Army vet husband Tim (Lacy) are fed up with their lives of barely getting by in small-town Arkansas, so they decide to rob the strip club that employs her. Clark Duke wrote the screenplay with Chandler Duke and Billington Garrett.

Coming our way from Yale Productions,...

Exclusive: Actor-turned filmmaker Clark Duke (Arkansas) has wrapped production on Stranglehold, a new comedic thriller in the vein of the Coen Brothers’s oeuvre for Yale Productions. Cast for the pic includes Ashley Benson (Wilderness), Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (Apples Never Fall), Justin Long (Barbarian) and Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman (The Instigators).

Written by Chandler Duke, Billington Garrett and Clark Duke, the film is billed as a Southern-fried siege, with shades of Dog Day Afternoon and Die Hard, which centers on Bailey (Benson), an exotic dancer with big dreams. She and her Army vet husband Tim (Lacy) are fed up with their lives of barely getting by in small-town Arkansas, so they decide to rob the strip club that employs her.

Producers include Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael Day of Yale Productions, along with Clark Duke. Exec producers are Rabbits Black’s Lawrence Minicone, Ronnie Exley, Jeremy Ross,...

Filmmaker Joe Swanberg was a major figure in the mumblecore film movement, and as the years have gone by he has also earned several credits in the horror genre, whether by taking acting roles in films like A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next, The Sacrament, and Blackout, or by directing the werewolf movie Silver Bullets and contributing a segment to the anthology film V/H/S. Now Swanberg has increased his number of horror credits by five, as Deadline reports that he has teamed with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Entertainment to produce a slate of five horror films – all of which have already wrapped filming! Four of the titles are Helldorado, Kenneled, Yellow Eyes, and Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round. The fifth movie is currently simply known as the Untitled Jae Matthews Project.

Written and directed by Kansas Bowling (Cuddly Toys and the Troma release B.

Exclusive: Producer Joe Swanberg has partnered with Yale Entertainment’s Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman to produce a slate of five new horror films, each of which has now wrapped production.

Titles produced under the pact included Helldorado, Kenneled, Yellow Eyes, Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, and Untitled Jae Matthews Project.

Jesse Korman’s Yellow Eyes

Written and directed by Kansas Bowling (Cuddly Toys), Helldorado watches as Queho, a Native American serial killer with a checkered past, takes out the people of a struggling mining town in the stark deserts of Nevada one by one, with the town Deputy right on his tail.

Written by H.K. Moore and directed by Jay Burleson (The Nobodies), Kenneled follows a destitute dog walker who finds a wealthy client who saves him from financial ruin. But this is no ordinary dog…

Written by Mickey Solis and directed by Jesse Korman, Yellow Eyes...

The children of two Hollywood icons are set to collide in the darkly comic psycho thriller Clawfoot, which is coming to us from director Michael Day, screenwriter April Wolfe, and Yale Entertainment, the company behind the awesome Becky. Francesca Eastwood (Awake), a daughter of Clint Eastwood, and Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), a son of Mel Gibson, star in the film, which we first heard about at the end of September in 2022. If you’ve been wondering what happened with Clawfoot, we have a positive update to share today: Deadline reports that Vertical has acquired the U.S. distribution rights and are planning to release the film on July 19th!

Clawfoot sees Francesca Eastwood taking on the role of an upper-class suburban housewife who is psychologically terrorized by a manipulative contractor (Milo Gibson) remodeling her bathroom… until she partners with her Bff to turn the tables and a twisted battle of...

Exclusive: Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to Clawfoot, a darkly comic psycho thriller from Yale Entertainment starring Francesca Eastwood (Outlaws & Angels), Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) and Olivia Culpo (I Feel Pretty).

In the film, which will be released July 19, an upper-class suburban housewife (Eastwood) is psychologically terrorized by a manipulative contractor (Gibson) remodeling her bathroom… until she partners with her Bff (Culpo) to turn the tables and a twisted battle of wits ensues with deliciously unexpected results.

Marking the directorial debut of Michael Day, whose producing credits include last year’s Uma Thurman-Samuel L. Jackson reteam The Kill Room and Lionsgate’s Rogue Warfare trilogy, the film is written by April Wolfe (Blumhouse’s Black Christmas). Oliver Cooper (Project X) and Nestor Carbonell (The Morning Show) also star.

Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Entertainment produced alongside Day. Exec producers include Lee Broda, Colby Cote,...

Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to “Bucky F*cking Dent,” a father-son story set against the 1978 Red Sox vs. Yankees pennant race.

The movie was written, directed by and stars David Duchovny. It also happens to be based on Duchovny’s 2016 best-selling novel of the same name. The cast of “Bucky F*cking Dent” includes Logan Marshall-Green (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), Stephanie Beatriz (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), Jason Beghe (“Chicago P.D.”), Evan Handler (“Californication”) with Daphne Rubin-Vega (“In the Heights”) and Pamela Adlon (“King of Staten Island”). The film is produced by Yale Productions’ Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman, as well as Duchovny.

“Bucky F*cking Dent” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. The release date is slated for later this year.

The film follows Ted (Marshall-Green), a failed writer-turned-Yankees Stadium peanut seller who moves back home after learning of the failing health of his Red Sox-obsessed father, Marty (David Duchovny). While...

Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Antonio Banderas (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) lead the cast of the upcoming serial killer thriller Cult Killer, which Saban Films and Sony Pictures are teaming up to give a theatrical release this Friday, January 19th. With that release just hours away, we’ve gotten our hands on a violent Exclusive clip from the film that shows Banderas teaching Eve’s character some self-defense moves – which she also has to try to put to use in the clip. You can check it out in the embed above.

Directed by Jon Keeyes from a screenplay by first-time feature writer Charles Burnley, the film has the following synopsis: A Pi (Antonio Banderas) and his partner (Alice Eve) are drawn into a web of intrigue when they start tracking a serial killer targeting a wealthy family with a dark secret.

Eve and Banderas are joined...

Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Antonio Banderas (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) lead the cast of the upcoming serial killer thriller Cult Killer, which Saban Films and Sony Pictures are teaming up to give a theatrical release on January 19th. With that release date right around the corner, a trailer for Cult Killer has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Directed by Jon Keeyes from a screenplay by first-time feature writer Charles Burnley, the film has the following synopsis: A Pi (Antonio Banderas) and his partner (Alice Eve) are drawn into a web of intrigue when they start tracking a serial killer targeting a wealthy family with a dark secret.

Eve and Banderas are joined in the cast by Shelley Hennig (Obliterated), Paul Reid (Boy Eats Girl), and Olwen Fouéré (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

When we first heard about this project, it was going...

Exclusive: Reptile co-stars Alicia Silverstone and Karl Glusman have been set to lead The Bird and the Bee, a sexually charged thriller that marks Justin Kelly’s third film for Yale Productions, on the heels of Welcome the Stranger and gay porn world-set crime drama King Cobra.

Written by Atlantis actor Jack Donnelly, the film was shot under a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement and wrapped production this week. Pic follows a successful executive (Silverstone) as she fights back a scorned younger lover (Glusman) who takes his obsession too far.

Producers included Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, and Jesse Korman of Yale Productions, as well as Scott Levenson and Lexi Tannenholtz. Exec producers included Jason Kringstein, John Wollman, Michael J. Rothstein, Jeffrey Tussi, Jeremy Rothstein, and Jodie Lazar, as well as Brian Unger, Gigi Lacks,...

Exclusive: Buffalo 8 on Tuesday announced its acquisition of worldwide rights to Rule of Thirds, an indie thriller written by and starring Will Hirschfeld, which it plans to release this fall.

Also starring Ashley Moore (I Know What You Did Last Summer), the film directed by Patrick Flaherty (Dyad) centers on a successful high-end fashion photographer (Hirschfeld), scouting a new model (Moore), who watches as their instant connection leads to dangerous consequences.

Additional cast for the pic includes Jonathan Kowalsky (upcoming Road House), Darren Pettie (Super Pumped), George Carroll (The Town), Deneen Tyler (Dallas Buyers Club), Ron Yuan (Mulan) and Twan Kuyper (Alone at Night). Fashion model and social media influencer Kuyper financed and produced the project via his new outfit, Movon Films.

“We are thrilled to partner with this talented filmmaker team for distribution,” said Buffalo 8’s Head of Production, Adam Harris Engelhard, in a statement to Deadline. “Our company...

Exclusive: Mark O’Brien (Your Honor) will exec produce and star in the coming-of-age drama Topper from 1A Motion Pictures and Bad Lad Productions, which has wrapped production in Detroit. Others set for major roles include Paul Johansson (God Is a Bullet), Amanda Clayton (City on a Hill), and actor-comedians Jimmy Shubert (Entourage), Bryan Callen (Warrior) and Erik Griffin (Workaholics).

The first feature written and directed by actor Kevin McNamara (Why Women Kill) follows Topper (O’Brien), a hard-drinking middling comedian with a seemingly endless capacity for self-sabotage. Topper receives news that his estranged father (Johansson) is terminally ill and begrudgingly returns to Detroit to sell the family home, which was never much of a home to him.

While back in Detroit, the friends he left behind — Lucas (Callen), Cooper (Griffin) and Ray (Shubert) — aren’t shy about pointing out how far he has drifted off course, despite showing early promise as a young comic.

Saban Films has secured global distribution rights to the crime thriller “Clean Up Crew” in all territories but Spain and Italy.

“The Survivalist” helmer Jon Keeyes directs Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Oscar winner Melissa Leo and Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas in the tale of a crime scene clean-up crew that finds a briefcase full of cash on a routine job. The discovery sends them unwittingly into battle with mobsters, hitmen and a corrupt government hellbent on the briefcase’s return.

The cast is rounded out by Ekaterina Baker (“The Protégé”), Andy Kellegher (“Game of Thrones”) and Laurence Kinlan (“Ned Kelly”). The project hails from Yale Entertainment and was produced by the label’s Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael J. Rothstein, with Richard Bolger and Conor Barry from Hail Mary Pictures. Additional producers include Richard Clabaugh, Stephen Braun and Kurt Ebner.

Executive producers include Scott Levenson, Jason Kringstein, Lee Broda,...

Antonia Banderas starrer “Clean Up Crew” has added three to its cast.

Ekaterina Baker (“The Protégé”), Andy Kellegher (“Game of Thrones”), and Laurence Kinlan (“Ned Kelly”) have joined the action-crime thriller, which “The Survivalist” helmer Jon Keeyes is directing.

As well as Banderas, Ireland-based “Clean Up Crew” stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers (“Velvet Goldmine”) and Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”). It was written by Matthew Rogers.

In the film, Rhys Meyers and his co-stars play a crime scene clean-up crew. One day, after discovering a briefcase full of cash, they find themselves at loggerheads with a gang of ruthless mobsters, led by crime boss Banderas as well as hitmen and corrupt government agents, all of whom are determined to get their hands on the briefcase.

Yale’s Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael J. Rothstein produce alongside Hail Mary Pictures’ Richard Bolger and Conor Barry. Richard Clabaugh, Stephen Braun and Kurt Ebner also produce.

Exclusive: Saban Films has picked up worldwide rights (except Italy) to Yale Entertainment’s thriller The Last Girl.

Directed by Jon Keeyes (The Survivalist) and written by Charles Burnley, The Last Girl recently wrapped production in Ireland and stars Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness), Shelley Hennig (Teen Wolf) and Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory).

Saban is planning an early 2023 release for the feature, which follows a private investigator (Eve) who’s forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer (Hennig) in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor (Banderas), who is implicated in the crimes.

The pic is produced by Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, and Michael J. Rothstein for Yale, as well as Richard Bolger and Conor Barry from Hail Mary Pictures, and Richard Clabaugh.

The deal was negotiated by Jonathan Saba from Saban Films and...

Production wrapped recently in Ireland

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Melissa Leo and Antonio Banderas have joined Yale’s action crime thriller Clean Up Crew which recently wrapped production in Ireland.

The company’s sales arm Great Escape led by Nick Donnermeyer will handle international rights and introduce the title in Toronto next month.

The film follows a crime scene clean-up crew who discover a briefcase full of cash and unwittingly get into battle with mobsters, hitmen and corrupt government agents who will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Leo and Rhys Meyers play members of the clean-up crew while Banderas portrays a ruthless crime boss.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Oscar winner Melissa Leo and Antonio Banderas have signed onto the Yale Entertainment action-crime thriller Clean Up Crew from director Jon Keeyes.

The Ireland-based production recently wrapped, and Yale’s recently-launched sales banner Great Escape, led by Nick Donnermeyer, will handle foreign rights and introduce the title at next month’s Toronto Film Festival.

Pic follows a crime scene clean-up crew, which includes Rhys Meyers and Leo’s characters, who discover a briefcase full of cash, unknowingly sending them into battle with mobsters – led by a ruthless crime boss, played by Banderas, as well as hitmen, and corrupt government agents who are hellbound to get the dough back. Clean Up Crew was written by Matthew Rogers. Yale’s Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael Rothstein will produce alongside Richard Bolger and Conor Barry from Hail Mary Pictures, and Richard Clabaugh, Stephen Braun and Kurt Ebner.

“We...

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Melissa Leo and Antonio Banderas will all star in “Clean Up Crew,” an action-crime thriller that will be presented to buyers at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The film from director Jon Keeyes (“The Survivalist”) and produced by Yale Entertainment recently wrapped production in Ireland. Yale’s recently launched sales banner Great Escape, led by Nick Donnermeyer, will handle the film’s international sales rights.

“Clean Up Crew” follows a crime scene clean-up crew played by Rhys Meyers and Leo that discovers a briefcase full of cash, unknowingly sending them into battle with mobsters as led by a ruthless crime boss played by Banderas. The mobsters, hitmen and other government agents will now unleash hell to get the briefcase back.

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Matthew Rogers wrote the script. Yale’s Jordan Yale Levine,...