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San Francisco, March 23 (Ians) Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox Internet browser, has introduced a new startup called Mozilla.ai, which the company hopes “will build a trustworthy and independent open-source AI ecosystem”.

The company said that it is initially investing $30 million to build this new startup.

“The vision for Mozilla.ai is to make it easy to develop trustworthy AI products. We will build things and hire/collaborate with people that share our vision: AI that has agency, accountability, transparency and openness at its core. Mozilla.ai will be a space outside big tech and academia for like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers and builders to gather,” Mark Surman, the executive president of Mozilla and the head of Mozilla.ai, said in a blogpost.

Moreover, the company stated that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralised and trustworthy AI ecosystem — a...

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows. In this edition, get a look at the visual effects used […]

The post The Morning Watch: ‘Away’ VFX Breakdown, Adam Savage’s First Lightsaber Prop Replica & More appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Producer Matt Kaplan and his Ace Entertainment have teamed up with The Prodigy filmmaker Nicholas McCarthy for the upcoming feature White Smoke.

The project is set up at Paramount Players where Kaplan and Ace Entertainment have a first look deal. Production is expected to begin later this year.

White Smoke follows a renowned neuroscientist who is summoned by an inner circle of cardinals to diagnose a bizarre case of possession inside the Vatican.

McCarthy wrote the script and will direct with Kaplan producing. The script is based on an original screenplay by Mark Bianculli and Jeff Richard.

McCarthy’s horror pic The Prodigy was the first original feature production for the newly rebooted Orion label at MGM. The film starred Taylor Schilling and Jackson Robert Scott (It). McCarthy also recently rewrote and shares writing credit on Bodycam for Paramount Players and director Malik Vitthal. McCarthy is repped by CAA and Morris Yorn.

Exclusive: Producer Matt Kaplan’s Ace Entertainment has acquired life rights to the true story of a 12-year old who tricks his family, steals his mom’s credit card and runs away to Bali for the trip of a lifetime. The project, which Paranormal Activity 3 & 4 directors Henry Joost and Rel Schulman are attached to direct, is described as Home Alone meets Catch Me If You Can.

Brendan O’Brien is writing the screenplay. The story about the Sydney, Australia boy went viral last year and was covered by The Guardian, The Independent and The Washington Post. Reports protected his real identity, using the pseudonym Drew in their write-ups.

The untitled project is set up at Paramount Players where Kaplan and Ace Entertainment have a first look deal. Kaplan will produce alongside Joost and Schulman who will produce through their shingle Supermarché. O’Brien will executive produce.

Joost and Schulman directed the hit documentary,...

The filmmakers that brought us the super popular movie adaptation of the Ya book To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before are now set to bring another New York Times bestselling novel to the screen.

Producer Matt Kaplan and director Michael Fimognari are teaming back up to adapt Replica. Author of the book, Lauren Oliver, who worked with Kaplan on the 2017 adaptation of her novel Before I Fall, penned the screenplay.

THR offers the following synopsis for the story:

Gemma, who is stuck visiting her workaholic father in coastal Florida, where she reconnects with her childhood crush Jake. One day, they witness an explosion in the marshes, and when a desperate girl climbs aboard their boat who looks exactly like Gemma and claims to be a Replica from the Haven Institute, Gemma and Jake are pulled into a conspiracy beyond their imagination.

Replica is set to begin production in 2020. Have you read this book?...

The filmmakers behind the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series are readying another Ya adaptation.

Producer Matt Kaplan and his Ace Entertainment banner will reteam with To All the Boys I've Loved Before 2 director Michael Fimognari for a feature adaptation of Lauren Oliver's New York Times best-selling novel Replica.

The story follows Gemma, who is stuck visiting her workaholic father in coastal Florida, where she reconnects with her childhood crush Jake. One day, they witness an explosion in the marshes, and when a desperate girl climbs aboard their boat who looks exactly like Gemma and claims to be ...

The filmmakers behind the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series are readying another Ya adaptation.

Producer Matt Kaplan and his Ace Entertainment banner will reteam with To All the Boys I've Loved Before 2 director Michael Fimognari for a feature adaptation of Lauren Oliver's New York Times best-selling novel Replica.

The story follows Gemma, who is stuck visiting her workaholic father in coastal Florida, where she reconnects with her childhood crush Jake. One day, they witness an explosion in the marshes, and when a desperate girl climbs aboard their boat who looks exactly like Gemma and claims to be ...

Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston have a Herculean task this weekend: Taking on “Aquaman.”

Hart and Cranston co-star in Stx Films and Lantern Entertainment’s “The Upside,” one of the three movies opening nationwide on Friday that will have to compete with reigning box office champ, “Aquaman.” And unless a new title (the other two releases being Sony’s “A Dog’s Way Home” and Entertainment Studios’ “Replica”) pulls off a surprise, it looks like the King of the Seven Seas will rule yet again.

Warner Bros.’ comic-book tentpole “Aquaman” — starring Jason Momoa and directed by James Wan — has generated over $943 million worldwide and is well on its way to crossing the $1 billion mark. If the aquatic blockbuster sees a similar decline to last weekend, it could add another $15 million to $18 million domestically in its fourth week of release. “Aquaman” has earned a solid $259 million in the States, but overseas...

Holy shit! Two things I love dearly are coming together to make the constant existential crisis we laughingly refer to as "life" somewhat bearable: Rifftrax is going to be doing an exclusive riff on an unreleased film from director James Nguyen, the mastermind behind the bad movie classic Birdemic. The film is a sci-fi take on Hitchcock's Vertigo called Replica. Here's how... Read More...

The RiffTrax gang of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett are back again, this time taking on Replica, an as-yet-unreleased film from the writer/director of Birdemic: Shock And Terror, James Nguyen. The former Mystery Science Theater 3000 jokesters and director Ngyuen talked exclusively with The A.V. Club about Replica, intentional camp, and why filmmakers let these guys put their films through the wringer.

“There’s probably been some release for everything we’ve done,” Nelson says on the unprecedented move of taking on a film that’s never been released to the public. “We had a strong suspicion that Replica would be good. We heard from Mr. Ngyuen that, unlike his other films, this one was more of an immature vision and that made us lick our chops. ‘Wait a minute, there’s a film that’s worse than Birdemic?’”

According to Nguyen, Replica is “a story...

There's something charming about the unflagging optimism and excitement of filmmaker James Nguyen. His third self-financed film, "Birdemic: Shock and Terror," was intended to be a terrifying thriller in the vein of his idol, Alfred Hitchcock. Instead, its unintentionally hilarious trailer has been making the rounds on the Internet and garnering attention from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, which called the film "the best worst movie of all time," and the hosts of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!," who hosted the film's L.A. premiere. It's even earned comparisons to another film that built a cult following off being bad, Tommy Wiseu's "The Room."The 42-year-old Nguyen took four years to make his epic, which centers on a couple (Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore) attacked by birds of prey. He financed the film, which cost less than $10,000, through his day job as a software salesman in Silicon Valley.