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MPX Films has acquired LGBTQ rom-com “Things Like This” for an early 2025 release, TheWrap can exclusively reveal. The project from filmmaker and star Mark Talisman marks the freshman distribution company’s debut film. It is also Talisman’s directorial debut.

The indie project will launch in partnership with Big Picture Collective Studios (Bpc).

“Today’s feature film distribution world is dominated by macro industry trends, often sidelining the unique opportunities of independent content. By leveraging our expertise, we aim to empower and elevate visionary talents like Max Talisman to bypass these barriers and engage directly with their audiences across all screens and windows,” Mpx founders James Andrew Felts and Ryan Bury said in a statement.

“Things Like This” stars an ensemble cast including Joey Pollari (“American Crime”), Jackie Cruz (“Orange is the New Black”), Charlie Tahan (“Ozark”), Cara Buono (“Stranger Things”), Eric Roberts (“The Dark Knight”), Nicholas Hamilton (“It”), James Leon...

Stars: Tim DeZarn, Adam Budron, George Henry Horton, Emily Rafala, Olivia Scott, Danielle Harris | Written by George Henry Horton, Ryan Scaringe | Directed by George Henry Horton

Project Dorothy opens with 1990s vintage footage of a huge factory with robotic machinery, smiling faces in the offices, and lots of forklifts. But something went wrong in this industrial paradise, we hear a voice talking about evacuation, followed by the sound of unseen people running and screaming. Then a final “I love you” as the lights go out.

Then “Many Years Later” two men James and his younger accomplice Blake are on the run after a bank robbery gone wrong. They were hired to get a laptop in the safe deposit box, and they got that. But James also got a bullet in the leg. Needing a place to hide, they break into a familiar looking building.

Just as the cop looking for...

This year’s brand new horror releases roll on in the third full week of 2024, and we’ve got five new ones headed our way this week. Some only in theaters, others now available at home.

Here’s all the new horror releasing January 15 – January 21, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

The latest original horror movie from Dread is Last Night at Terrace Lanes, a bowling-themed horror movie that was just released onto VOD outlets this past Tuesday, January 16.

Last Night at Terraces Lanes, filmed at an abandoned bowling alley, was written by Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield) and directed by Jamie Nash.

In the new indie horror movie, “When a bloodthirsty cult invades a bowling alley on its final night of operation, a high schooler on a date from hell, must join forces with her survivalist dad to fend off the crazed murderers.

Gravitas Ventures is excited to unlock their 2024 slate with the North American VOD release of Project Dorothy, a new sci-fi thriller from director George Henry Horton starring scream queen Danielle Harris. Project Dorothy is out now on Cable and Digital VOD, including Prime Video, Vudu, Vubiquity, Cox, and Comcast.

Project Dorothy was directed by George Henry Horton, from a script by Ryan Scaringe and Horton. Horton produced for Liberty Atlantic Studios and Scaringe under his Kinogo Pictures shingle. Project Dorothy stars genre icon Danielle Harris as the titular AI, alongside Tim DeZarn (The Cabin in the Woods), Adam Budron, Emily Rafala (“Katy Keene”), Olivia Scott, and Horton.

James and Blake, small-time criminals, flee the police and take refuge in an abandoned scientific facility. Their attempt to restore power activates an AI, Dorothy, responsible for the former occupants’ demise. They realize their predicament is worse than evading the law; they must...

‘The Repair Shop’ Outfit Ricochet Signs Damon Pattison

The Repair Shop outfit Ricochet has signed up British indie vet Damon Pattison as its Creative Director. Reporting to MD Joanna Ball, Pattison will be responsible for developing, pitching and securing new commissions across all genres for the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outfit. Pattison, who replaces Katy Thorogood, most recently ran Banijay-backed Beyond’s UK production arm but it was shuttered last year. He previously worked for BBC Studios and Keo Films, and set up Lucky Day Productions in 2007, which was sold to Zodiak Media Group. Ricochet makes smash BBC series The Repair Shop along with the likes of Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped and Discovery’s Woodland Workshop. “Damon’s experience, energy and creativity, is precisely what we need in a Creative Director,” said Ball.

Netflix Australia Exec Exits To Sbs

Netflix Australia creative exec Nakul Legha has exited to Sbs.

Gravitas Ventures has announced the North American VOD release of Project Dorothy, a new sci-fi thriller from director George Henry Horton starring Danielle Harris.

Project Dorothy debuts on Cable and Digital VOD January 16, 2024.

Watch the official trailer below.

“James and Blake, small-time criminals, flee the police and take refuge in an abandoned scientific facility. Their attempt to restore power activates an AI, Dorothy, responsible for the former occupants’ demise. They realize their predicament is worse than evading the law; they must use their streetwise instincts to thwart Dorothy’s escape into the world.”

Project Dorothy was directed by George Henry Horton, from a script by Ryan Scaringe and Horton.

Horton produced for Liberty Atlantic Studios and Scaringe under his Kinogo Pictures shingle

Project Dorothy stars genre icon Danielle Harris as the titular AI, alongside Tim DeZarn (The Cabin in the Woods), Adam Budron, Emily Rafala (“Katy Keene”), Olivia Scott, and George Henry Horton.

Emma Jade, Alyssa Nicole and Noor Dabash have lead roles in the psychosexual thriller Iconic, the feature film debut from writer-director Matthew Freiheit.

The indie, which has just wrapped production in Los Angeles ahead of a planned 2024 release, stars Jade as makeup guru Rose, who faces hate mail from a rival artist played by Roxette Arisa, in addition to dealing with a violent stalker. After falling into a toxic love spiral with Lily (Nicole), Rose slides down a dangerous rabbit hole of drugs, paranoia and jealousy until she hits an unimaginable rock bottom.

The ensemble cast for Iconic includes Davi Stefond, Chris Bourdreaux, Cherish Waters and celebrity fashion photographer Reinhardt Kenneth. Tyler Stone composed the film’s score.

Freiheit and Carisa Arellano are producing under their production company Good Trip/Bad Trip, alongside Gabriel Dos Santos for Respect The Funk, with Connor Haines and Respect the Funk’s Nathan Doherty joining as co-producers.

Sales to commence at EFM in Berlin next February.

Motion Picture Exchange (Mpx) has acquired worldwide sales rights to the completed queer rom-com Things Like This from Malibu, Bro Productions directed by and starring LGBTQ+ activist Max Talisman from Super Dark Times and Orange Is The New Black.

Mpx will commence sales around EFM in Berlin next February on the feature directorial and writing debut by Talisman, who stars alongside a cast which includes Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight).

Things Like This follows two men with the same name who begin to fall in love in New York City, unaware...

Exclusive: Filmmaker Walter Hill was honored with a Tribute Ceremony in France on Tuesday evening, which marked the opening night of the International Thriller Film Festival – Reims Polar.

A retrospective of Hill’s films are being shown at the festival, which runs through April 10, including The Warriors, 48 Hrs., starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, Extreme Prejudice, Last Man Standing and Bullet to the Head, starring Sylvester Stallone. The filmmaker attended a screening of his film Southern Comfort in Paris earlier this week, and will be presenting a masterclass moderated by Jean-Francois Rauger, who serves as Head of Programming at La Cinémathèque française.

Hill’s many other credits include the Westerns The Long Riders, Geronimo: An American Legend and Wild Bill. He co-produced Alien and served as producer or exec producer on its three sequels, winning an Emmy and DGA Award in 2005 for the pilot of HBO’s Deadwood. He also directed AMC’s Broken Trail,...

Exclusive: WWE star Natalie Eva Marie is set to star alongside Randy Couture, Neal McDonough, former WWE tag team champion Oleg Prudius, Bai Lin and former UFC Lightweight champion Rashad Evans in Phoenix, an action-thriller from Tadross Media Group, Bulldog Brothers Entertainment and director Daniel Zirilli that has entered production in Miami.

Phoenix centers on Fiona “Phoenix” Grant (Marie), a U.S. Army veteran Sergeant who is teaching hand-to-hand combat skills in Afghanistan when she receives word that her father, Everett Grant (Couture), a prominent security specialist, has been killed in Florida. The police report says it was suicide, but Fiona doesn’t believe it. Encouraged to take a leave of absence by her commanding officer (McDonough), she heads back to the U.S. and soon learns that the prime suspect is Maxim Vasiliiev (Prudius), a ruthless local drug kingpin with an army of mercenaries and enough legal, political and business...