News

Exclusive: Luke Wilson (Horizon: An American Saga) and Greg Kinnear (The Present) are set to star in You Gotta Believe, a film based on the inspirational true story of Fort Worth, Texas’ 2002 Westside Little League team. Others on board for roles in the pic from Santa Rita Film Co. include Sarah Gadon (Ferrari), newcomer Michael Cash, Etienne Kellici (Horizon: An American Saga) and Molly Parker (Deadwood).

Directed by Ty Roberts, who previously worked with Wilson on the Great Depression football drama 12 Mighty Orphans, the film currently in production follows a team of Little Leaguers who dedicate their season to a player’s dying father and, in the process, defy all odds to make it to the Little League Baseball World Series championship in a game that became an ESPN classic. Wilson will play the role of the dying father, Bobby Ratliff, with Kinnear as Coach Jon Kelly.

The film...

It’s hard to imagine a football coach starting off with less than real-life hero Rusty Russell (Luke Wilson) does when he arrives at Fort Worth’s Masonic Home in “12 Mighty Orphans”: No shoes for his team, no field for his team and no team. Nothing but potential, you might say, and that’s just enough for an optimist to work with.

A veteran of World War I and an orphan in his own right, Russell took those shortcomings and revolutionized the game. He motivated just enough players to form a team and then innovated the so-called spread offense to take on bigger squads from stronger schools. The “Mighty Mites,” as they came to be known, embody practically everything that underdog sports movies are made of, and director Ty Roberts’ treatment (derived from Jim Dent’s fact-based book) hits nearly all the feel-good notes we’ve come to expect from the genre,...

Austin Nichols has signed with A3 artists Agency.

The actor, known for his roles in One Tree Hill and The Day After Tomorrow, has an extensive and diverse resume of films, TV series and shorts. Nichols’ most recent projects include the Liev Schreiber-led Ray Donovan, the Sundance TV series This Close and NBC’s The Village. The actor’s latest film titles include The Iron Orchard and Lawless Range.

In One Tree Hill, Nichols starred as Julian Baker, a film producer who finds himself entrenched in the lives of the residents of fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. He starred on The CW series from 2008 to 2012.

In 2004, Nichols appeared in Roland Emmerich’s climate change disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow. He played J.D., acting alongside Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum.

He continues to be represented by Silver Lining Entertainment.

Dark Castle Entertainment, HanWay Films and Ingenious Media have partnered on horror film “Seance,” directed by Simon Barrett and starring Suki Waterhouse.

Set in an all-girls boarding school haunted by a vengeful spirit, Waterhouse plays Camille, a young woman who arrives at the Fairfield Academy following one of the student’s untimely and violent death.

Dark Castle, HanWay and Ingenious are jointly producing together with Addictive Picture’s John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman and with Tomas Deckaj. Alex Mace is producing and Hal Sadoff will executive produce for Dark Castle. The film is fully funded by Dark Castle, HanWay and Ingenious. Dark Castle and HanWay have retained worldwide rights and will commence sales at the upcoming American Film Market.

“Seance” is based on a screenplay by Barrett and marks the third collaboration between the filmmaker and HanWay, who have also worked closely on Barrett’s films “The Guest” and “You’re Next,...

Dark Castle Entertainment, HanWay Films and Ingenious Media have partnered on Simon Barrett’s (V/H/S) upcoming feature Seance.

Set in an all-girls boarding school haunted by a vengeful spirit, the horror film will star Suki Waterhouse (Assassination Nation) as Camille, a young woman who arrives at the Fairfield Academy following one of the student’s untimely and violent death.

Silver Pictures subsidiary Dark Castle, HanWay and Ingenious are jointly producing together with Addictive Picture’s John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman (Hold The Dark) and Tomas Deckaj. Alex Mace is producing and Hal Sadoff will executive produce for Dark Castle.

Pic is fully funded by Dark Castle, HanWay Films and Ingenious. Genre specialist Dark Castle and UK sales firm HanWay have retained worldwide rights and will commence sales at the upcoming American Film Market.

Based on a screenplay by Barrett the project marks the third collaboration between the filmmaker and...

If you know me at all, you know I love a good sports movie or series. There’s just something about an underdog story that gets me right in the feels, especially one that’s true. And boy do we have an underdog story for you! Luke Wilson has been hired to star in the drama 12 Mighty Orphans, directed by Ty Roberts (The Iron Orchard).

The story is being adapted from the book by Jim Dent, “based on the true story of a group of Fort Worth orphans who vie for the state championship and rally a broken nation at the height of the Great Depression.” Here’s the full rundown from Deadline:

Wilson will play Coach Rusty Russell, a WWI vet with a troubled past he can trace to his mother leaving him in an orphanage when he was a child. Looking for redemption by trying to turn...

Exclusive: Luke Wilson has been set to star in 12 Mighty Orphans, the Ty Roberts-directed drama adapted from the Jim Dent novel based on the true story of a group of Fort Worth orphans who vie for the state championship and rally a broken nation at the height of the Great Depression.

Wilson will play Coach Rusty Russell, a WWI vet with a troubled past he can trace to his mother leaving him in an orphanage when he was a child. Looking for redemption by trying to turn around the fortune of other orphans, he accepts a job as the head football coach to a Texas orphanage/high school. Through dedication, he redirects his players’ feelings of loss and humiliation into a dominant team that played in the Texas state championship. Roberts wrote the script with Lane Garrison.

Mike De Luca will produce with Houston Hill, who acquired the...

Exclusive: When producer Michael De Luca made a lifestyle decision to split time between Hollywood and Texas, you had to figure the Captain Phillips and Social Network producer would make the most of his time and find a homegrown story from the latter locale with movie potential. Sure enough, De Luca Productions is teaming with Santa Rita Film Co. and has set a fall production start for the independently financed drama 12 Mighty Orphans. An adaptation of a novel by Jim Dent, the drama tells the true story of a group of Fort Worth orphans who vie for the state championship and rally a broken nation at the height of the Great Depression.

Ty Roberts will direct a script he co-wrote with Lane Garrison. De Luca will produce with Houston Hill, who acquired the rights through Santa Rita Film Co, which produced The Iron Orchard, which Roberts directed from a script he wrote with Garrison.

Ever since its publication in 1966, Tom Pendelton’s novel “The Iron Orchard” has been embraced as a cult favorite by many movers and shakers in the Texas oil industry — and, of course, by many more who thrill to accounts of success and excess in that storied realm — largely because of its brutally authentic yet unmistakably sympathetic portrait of a West Texas wildcatter who traverses a dramatic arc of rags to riches to really bad behavior.

Not surprisingly, there have been a few previous attempts to adapt the book into a Hollywood-huge movie. (Paul Newman and George Peppard were among the names floated for those unmade epics.) But, appropriately enough for a tale about a maverick oil man in the Lone Star State, it has taken an independent production outfit and Texas-tied filmmakers to finally bring the project to the screen. After a tour of regional festivals, the project opened first in its home state Feb.

While possible winners “Roma,” “Vice,” “Free Solo,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Green Book” could get a box-office boost from Sunday’s Oscar finale, the specialized world’s primary reliance on awards contenders is drawing to a close. That leaves room for other players to take center stage. Specialized mainstay Roadside Attractions is releasing “Run the Race” for Christian audiences, while MGM is widening its platformed “Fighting With My Family.” Both placed in the Top Ten, but neither is likely to find most of their business at art houses.

With a couple of niche releases (“Wrestle” in New York and “The Iron Orchard” in Texas) there isn’t much new this week to add to excitement at core theaters. However, expansions of “Everybody Knows” (Focus) and “Arctic” (Bleecker Street) both show some interest. Both should be able to expand further as screens become plentiful.

In the middle of the awards hoopla,...

Welcome back to the weekly box office report! Each Sunday, expect a look at what made the most money in theaters, as well as just how all of the new releases fared. This week, on Oscar weekend, an animated sequel and franchise ender in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World entered the marketplace, hoping to slay all ocompetition and become the box office champion, along with almost no other new releases as competition. How did it do? Let us take a look right now at just that… The top spot this weekend, unsparingly, went to the third entry in the How to Train Your Dragon series. Yes, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is our new box office champion. That was no surprise whatsoever. Slightly surprising was that it was the best opening for the franchise to date, as it took in an estimated $55.5 million. The...

Specialty audiences must be concentrating on Oscar-watching prep. New releases did not have any breakouts, while holdovers had mixed results. The best per-theater average specialty debut goes to Oscilloscope’s Wrestle, which had an exclusive New York bow for $7,100. Incidentally, the company’s second weekend holdover, Catvideofest 2019, ranked up there in a slow Awards weekend, grossing $12,250 in two theaters for a $6,125 PTA.

The widest specialty debut this weekend is Roadside Attractions’ faith-family drama Run The Race, which had the weekend’s highest gross at over $2.27M. The title by Chris Dowling averaged $2,664. Bollywood comedy Total Dhamaal from Fip played 202 North American theaters, taking in $835,000 for a $4,135 PTA. And The Iron Orchard by newcomer Ty Roberts skirted the New York/L.A. template, opting to open closer to its roots in eight north Texas locations, grossing $49,250 for a $6,156 average.

Oscilloscope touted its 100% Rt rating and other critical kudos for its weekend...

With the Academy Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards set for this weekend, higher profile Specialty newcomers are mostly taking a step back. Roadside Attractions however is going for a nearly wide roll out of family-faith-drama Run The Race, a genre it has had success with in the past. Bollywood is also stepping out in North America in a couple hundred locations with comedy Total Dhamaal, in conjunction with a release in over 50 countries. Oscilloscope is opening San Francisco Film Festival debut doc Wrestle by Suzannah Herbert and co-director Lauren Belfer with an exclusive New York run this weekend before heading to L.A. And newcomer Santa Rita Film Co. is opening upstart drama The Iron Orchard in north Texas locations this weekend before opening New York, L.A. and other select cities March 1.

Run The Race

Director-writer: Chris Dowling

Writers: Jake McEntire, Jason Baumgardner

Cast: Tanner Stine, Kristoffer Polaha,...

In today’s film news roundup, Cybill Shepherd’s “Being Rose” gets acquired, Booboo Steward gets a lead role, Itvs reaches a Sundance milestone, and oilfields drama “The Iron Orchard” gets a release.

Acquisition

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Rod McCall’s romance “Being Rose,” starring Cybill Shepherd, James Brolin, and Pam Grier, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film will be available in theaters and on demand on Jan. 4. Shepherd plays an ex-cop diagnosed with serious health issues who goes on a road trip in a wheelchair to search for her estranged son. Along the way, she falls in love with Brolin’s cowboy character, who has come to a crossroads of his own.

“I consider ‘Being Rose’ the crown jewel of my career,” Shepherd said. “Rod McCall, who wrote and directed the film is one of the finest directors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.

Story examines complexities of young relationships.

Ryan Keller’s Us-based Instrum International has launched international sales here on the coming-of-age drama Summer Night, which UTA Independent Film Group represents for North America.

Joseph Cross directs from a screenplay by Jordan Jolliff about the complexities of young relationships starring Lana Condor, Analeigh Tipton, Justin Chatwin, Victoria Justice, Callan McAuliffe, Elena Kampouris, and Ella Hunt.

Tara Ansley, Joseph Cross, and Audrey Tommassini served as producers, while the executive producer roster includes James Ponsoldt, Andrew Cross, James Cross, Nick DeKay, Jane Evans, Lucas Evans, Constance FitzMaurice, Stephen Fowler, Brian Gimlett, Lauren Gimlett, Nicholas Hertz,...

Exclusive: Super Troopers co-creators Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme are reorganizing their roster for their forthcoming comedy Tacoma Fd. Hassie Harrison will step into the series-regular role of Lucy, who was played by Kirby Bliss-Blanton in the pilot.

Tacoma Fd is a new half-hour comedy from truTV set in a firehouse in the titular wettest city in America. Light on blazes that need extinguishing, they are firefighters who are always ready to fight fire — but in this wet city, they find themselves tackling the less glamorous elements of the job. Leading the fire house crew are Chief Terry McConky (Heffernan) and Captain Eddie Penisi (Lemme). Broken Lizard members Hefferman and Lemme are coming off the comedy feature sequel Super Troopers 2.

Harrison’s Lucy will play McConky’s daughter and is the first female firefighter ever assigned to his station. Tough and athletic, she is a rookie firefighter that is...