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As Annecy premiere “Spermageddon” continues to rack up sales, even its makers are surprised they got away with its risqué subject matter.

“When we finally got to make it, there were times when I was looking at the screen, thinking: ‘How the hell did we get this movie made?!’” said Tommy Wirkola, who co-directed with Rasmus A. Sivertsen.

“We made it in Europe – that’s how. Years ago, I pitched it in Hollywood and it never went anywhere. When it comes to sex, it’s more delicate over there.”

In the film – sold by Charades and debuting an exclusive clip with Variety – two teenagers have sex for the very first time, unaware the sperm cells are readying for their perilous journey. But despite some suggestive content, “Spermageddon” is not just for grownups.

“We would say it’s like ‘Inside Out’ for adults, but we didn’t want it to be...

Sola Media has acquired worldwide sales rights to CGI animated film “Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Gral,” the follow-up to “Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond,” which Sola Media sold to more than 160 countries.

Sola Media will present “Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Gral” to buyers for the first time at the Cannes Film Market and will unveil first footage.

In the film, best friends Raven and Pinky serve under Captain Sabertooth, the feared pirate and King of the Seven Seas. When Sibylla, the cunning Countess of Gral, attacks their ship, she steals a prized figurehead and kidnaps Pinky – all part of her clever plan to trap Sabertooth and conquer the pirates’ homeland. Now, young deckhand Raven, along with Captain Sabertooth, a dragon and an eccentric cook must stop the Countess and rescue Pinky.

“Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Gral” is produced by Cecilie Tidemann and Ove Heiborg at Qvisten Animation,...

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ looks for piece of the action.

Shark sequel Meg 2: The Trench is the first major challenger to the Barbenheimer supremacy, opening in 544 cinemas at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend.

Meg 2 will look to challenge both its Warner Bros stablemate Barbie, and Universal’s Oppenheimer, while benefitting from the surge in audiences those titles have brought in the past fortnight.

The first title, 2018’s The Meg, started with £3.7m also in early August; and ended on a sharp £15.9m.

Jason Statham returns for the sequel, which sees a research team encounter multiple threats...

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” continued their domination of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a combined £21.4 million ($27.3 million) after their second weekend, per numbers from Comscore.

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” topped the charts for the second week in a row with £13.2 million, and now has a total of £47.9 million. The film is expected to surpass Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which is the year’s current No. 1 film in the territory with £54.4 million, this week.

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” was second with £8.2 million and now has a total of £27.6 million. It is currently the fifth highest grossing film of the year and is expected to move beyond “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (£30 million) into fourth place this week.

In its third weekend, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” earned £1.8 million in third place for a total of £20.2 million. Disney’s “Elemental...

We might be entering the dog days of summer but Hulu isn’t slowing down. The streamer’s list of new releases for August 2023 is a pretty impressive collection of content.

The biggest Hulu original this month is season 3 of true crime comedy Only Murders in the Building on Aug. 8. This time around Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd are joining the already-stacked cast that features Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. This season’s central murder appears to take place at a theater (outside the building) but I think we’ll let it slide.

That’s far from the only worthwhile original in August as Aug. 2 sees the premiere of the third and final season of superb comedy Reservation Dogs. That will be followed by South Korean sci-fi series Moving on Aug. 9, Solar Opposites season 4 on Aug. 14, and A Murder at the End of the World on Aug. 29. Of course,...

Heroes aren’t necessarily what they’re cracked up to be in this gentle watch that has all the right messaging

This sweet, good-natured kids animation from Norway has impeccable Scandi values. It’s a superhero cartoon with the egalitarian message that maybe superheroes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be: all me-me-me and obsessed with their own awesomeness. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone pulled together as a community?

Just Super is set in a small town, home to an 11-year-old girl called Hedvig (voiced by Reilley Ott). The big secret in Hedvig’s family is that for generations the eldest child becomes the town’s superhero, Super Lion. Hedvig’s dad, a strapping specimen of Viking manliness (Jean Luc Julien), is the current incarnation. All the Super Lions wear the same costume that has been handed down since the year dot, a ribbed wool onesie...

Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and director Greta Gerwig visited South Korea early on the promotional tour for ‘Barbie’ (without Ryan Gosling). But their charm failed to translate into strong box office performance in the country and the film opened anonymously in fourth place over the weekend.

“Barbie” earned just $1.19 million between Friday and Sunday and $1.91 million over its opening five days, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Worth just 8% of the nationwide weekend total, “Barbie’s” scores were barely better than fellow new release title “Insidious: the Red Door.” That earned $1.17 million between Friday and Sunday and $1.90 million over five days.

Indeed, the weekend’s highest opener, landing in third ahead of “Barbie” and “Insidious,” was Japanese animation title “Detective Conan the Movie: Black Iron Submarine.” Releasing on Thursday, it earned $1.80 million over the weekend and $2.66 million over its opening four days.

A collective of Afro-German filmmakers and industry professionals have published an open letter raising concerns about what they have described as the selection of “anti-Black” films at the recent Berlin Film Festival.

The group, represented under the title Schwarze Filmschaffende, which loosely translates to Black Filmmakers, identifies three Berlinale titles — Measures of Men, Seneca, and Helt Super! — as projects that depict, amplify, or peddle anti-Black sentiments.

The letter is addressed to the German Minister for Culture and Media, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, Berlinale artistic directors Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, and the German Film Academy.

Opening the letter, the group note that they not only aim to “denounce the existence and handling of these offensive, racist films” but also want to challenge the “systemic errors and the structural anti-Black racism embedded in the German film ecosystem.”

“As Black Europeans, we are therefore deeply concerned and affected by the selection,...

Wouter Knol said he was keen to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest charges.

Matthijs Wouter Knol, director of the European Film Academy (Efa), has stepped down as one of three directors of anti-racism taskforce Artef, following the latter group’s criticism of Norwegian animation Just Super over alleged Blackface, which led to the withdrawal of the film’s international premiere at the Berlinale.

Wouter Knol stepped down both from his Artef director role and the nine-member steering group “with immediate effect” on March 11, according to Efa.

“I hope that any perceived conflict of interest will be eliminated by this action,...

‘Cocaine Bear’ hunts for a fast start; ‘Joyland’, ‘Broker’ hit cinemas.

Shekhar Kapur’s cross-cultural romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? sets a record for widest Studiocanal UK-Ireland opening this weekend, starting its run in 630 locations.

The film, which debuted at Toronto Film Festival in Septemer last year, tops the 607-site opening of Paddington 2 from November 2017.

Set in London, What’s Love Got To Do With It? follows Kazim, a young Pakistani-British man who is having an arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan; and his childhood friend Zoe, a filmmaker documenting the process.

Shazad Latif and...

Festival management, Norwegian Film Institute and anti-racism org Artef have been in talks all week.

Update 16.20 GMT 24/2/23: The Berlinale has commented on the cancellation of the international premiere of Norwegian animation Just Super, stating that the film’s representatives “disregarded” concerns of Blackface raised prior to the screening.

A statement from the festival says it was made aware of “images stereotyping people of colour”, and shared these concerns with production company Qvisten Animation and the Norwegian Film Institute.

“The film’s representatives disregarded these concerns completely” according to the Berlinale statement. It goes on to say that the Monday...