Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Focus Features’ Departure, Greg Kwedar’s Return, and Greengrass on fire.
Let’s go!
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A big thank you to all the folks who have invited The Industry out to TIFF events, screenings, and panels.
Focus Features is finalizing the first film acquisition of TIFF 2025 for $10-$15M.
It’s not their typical prestige fare (think Conclave, The Holdovers, Tár). Instead, it’s a horror called Obsession, by a first-time feature director with a mostly unknown cast.
This may seem odd, but it tracks with what I heard yesterday, at a TIFF panel with Donna Langley (Chairperson: NBCU, parent company Focus Features), who said:
“I’m seeing a shift in horror. Auteur directors are turning to horror. Not horror as we came to know it in the past decade. It’s the weirder the better.”
Langley has been energized by Sinners, Longlegs, and Focus Features’ own recent horror success, Nosferatu, which made $181.7 million on a $50M production budget.
It seems the industry has not yet hit the saturation point with horror. Roughly 35 horror films will be widely released in the US in 2025. That’s up 25% from last year’s 28. And up 80% from 2017-2023’s average. With production companies like Focus and even Bleecker Street adding horror to their slates, we can expect to see a lot more.
We may even start seeing elements of horror bleed into more typical prestige fare.
Take Focus Features' new historical drama Hamnet (Dir: Chloé Zhao, Cast: Jesse Buckley, Paul Mescal). I saw the premiere at TIFF yesterday, and it surprised me with its horror elements. Jesse Buckley’s performance as William Shakespeare’s tortured wife taps into the dark forces of nature (see still above).
Seen alongside Nosferatu, the still images above feel strangely cohesive. NBCU under Langley is adept at recognizing audiences’ hunger for these stories and is now actively hunting them.
For More:
Hamnet trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix boards Greg Kwedar’s Saturn Return starring Rachel Brosnahan.
James Vanderbilt (Dir: Nuremberg) sets untitled Paramount techno-thriller.
Cliffhanger reboot now stars Pierce Brosnan & Lily James.
Fede Álvarez will not direct the new Alien film.
Lionsgate & Daniel Grodnik ink 3-year co-financing / first-look deal.
Prime Video orders Life is Strange series.
LaToya Morgan (Duster) inks first-look deal with Universal Television.
Paramount+ buys BBC Studios series Reunion.
Cinema Guild picks up Berlin/TIFF title Dry Leaf.
Father Mother Sister Brother wins Venice top prize.
Creative Arts Emmys: Max’s The Penguin wins 8; Apple’s The Studio wins 9.
Anthony Hopkins stars in TIFF market project A Visit to Grandpa’s.
David Dastmalchian stars in The Shepherd, which has been sold to Magnolia.
Sean Penn boards Brazilian Oscar entry Manas as producer.
Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale secures UK/Irish distribution.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
A couple of projects I’ve been hearing about while at some of the TIFF parties:
Cast: Rachel Brosnahan, Will Poulter, Charles Melton
Dir/co-writer: Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing)
Co-Wri: Clint Bentley (Train Dreams)
Prod Co: Plan B
Distributor: Netflix
Synopsis:
A Chicago love story follows two college sweethearts over a decade as they navigate the complexities of adulthood and fate tests their youthful dreams.
Brosnahan is actually from Chicago; I went to high school with her.
If you want to get a deeper insight into Clint and Greg’s fruitful creative partnership, we did a workshop with them on Train Dreams and Sing Sing: https://theindustry.co/p/workshop-with-oscar-nominated-writer-5b8
Dir: Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You)
Cast: Naomi Ackie, Keke Palmer, Will Poulter, Demi Moore, LaKeith Stanfield
Prod Co: Annapurna Pictures
Distributor: Neon
Synopsis:
Follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.
LaKeith’s agent told me his role is so batshit insane he nearly couldn’t believe it.
James Vanderbilt (Nuremberg) has set up his next project at Paramount, an untitled big-budget techno thriller centered on world leaders’ response to a mysterious craft crash-landing in the Arctic.
Vanderbilt will write and direct, but he has a few projects to complete first: his historical drama Nuremberg (premiered at TIFF), his recent Fountain of Youth collaboration with Guy Ritchie, and his producing duties on Ready or Not 2 and the next Scream. Only then will he get a breath to move on to his interesting take on sci-fi.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (500 Days of Summer, The Disaster Artist) are taking another pass at the script for Dynamic Duo, a DC animated film showcasing generations of Batman's sidekick Robin, featuring the first two Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd.
With plans to blend puppetry, miniatures, animatronics, and CGI. All it needs is the perfect script. Gunn has been very adamant that anything in his DCU is script-first and has been willing to cut previous projects. It's nice to see he is holding that standard even for lighter animated fare.
Tidbits:
Lionsgate and producer Daniel Grodnik (prod: Pierce Brosnan’s Fast Charlie) entered into a three-year co-financing and first-look deal with the latter’s producing partner Jeffrey Reisner via their Golden Eagle Movie Studios. Their last partnership was for the supernatural John Malkovich movie Mindcage (2022), and their first film together again is the upcoming Samuel L. Jackson comedy The Honest Liar.
Film financing and packaging agent Kristen Konvitz is taking her expertise to WME Independent. Previously at UTA, ICM, and former head of production at Stay Gold. Some of Konvitz’s credits include TIFF 2024’s winning Bonjour Tristesse, the Sundance drama Palm Trees and Power Lines (2022), and, most recently, Tribeca’s Sovereign.
Prime Video orders another video game adaptation, this time Life is Strange, an emotional choice-driven narrative game about a teen who can rewind time. Charlie Covell will serve as showrunner with LuckyChap, Story Kitchen, and Square Enix producing. Original game trailer
Mini Tidbit:
The Conjuring: Last Rites won the box office with a hearty $83M domestic and $187M worldwide. This is over double the opening weekend of the previous three films.
Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) has turned in a script for an Alien: Romulus sequel, but also simultaneously announced he will not be directing, instead staying on as a producer and is currently in the process of finding a director who can “nail it”.
Opposite J.J. Abrams, the co-creator of HBO’s Duster LaToya Morgan (wri: Shameless) gets a first-look deal with Universal Television. Through her TinkerToy production banner, Morgan will produce new shows, like in-development drama The Paris Window.
Amazon’s VP of global video advertising and partnerships, Krishan Bhatia, is leaving the company after just one year. During his time, he helped develop the company’s systems of audience measurement.
The new Cliffhanger reboot is now starring Pierce Brosnan and Lily James (first look photo), after the original film’s lead, Sylvester Stallone, dropped out. There’s also been a sequel announcement. Full details here.
Trailers:
Mubi’s Die My Love
Dir: Lynne Ramsay
Release: Nov
New Years Rev
Premiere: TIFF
Prod: Green Day
The Librarians
Premiere: Sundance
Starz’s The Couple Next Door (S2)
Release: Sept 19
Utopia’s Are We Good
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Russell Crowe is going to get nominated for an Oscar. I just saw the TIFF premiere of Sony Pictures’ Classics Nuremberg, and it’s his best role in 20 years. He plays Hermann Göring, the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany.
The Sony team at TIFF described it to me as a more accessible/entertaining version of Judgment at Nuremberg.
It follows a psychologist (Rami Malek) who tries to deconstruct Crowe’s Göring, leading up to the Nuremberg Trials that saw the Nazi leaders on trial for their war crimes.
Crowe as Göring is charming, hyper-intelligent, and scary. At the film’s Q&A, Crowe stated:
“He’s the first person you’d invite to a dinner party.”
Crowe, in the role, is the smartest person in the room, and it takes Richard E. Grant, Leo Woodall, Michael Shannon, and Rami Malek combined to outwit him.
David Dastmalchian is a frightening stranger. Magnolia Pictures (The Shoplifters) has bought the U.S. rights to The Shepherd, a new thriller feature set for an expansive theatrical release.
Official Synopsis:
In the desolate Nevada night, a young woman (Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell) in labor fleeing an abusive past has her escape hijacked by a frightening stranger (Dastmalchian) hiding an ominous threat in the back of her car.
Filming is expected to begin sometime this fall.
Signature Entertainment (Femme) has acquired The Cure, a Vaneast Pictures psychological horror starring none other than David Dastmalchian, for U.K. and Irish rights.
Ex Machina (2014) meets Videodrome (1983), Dastmalchian stars opposite Ashley Greene as biotech billionaire parents who harvest their daughter’s blood for secretive reasons. Blending the horror leadership of Late Night with the Devil (2023, trailer) and the futuristic landscapes of The Blade Runner 2049 (2017, scene), Dastmalchian seems to be fully equipped for the role of complicit parent in this genre film.
The Cure is in post-production.
Tidbits:
Sydney Sweeney is getting major attention in Christy but Ben Foster is just as impressive. I didn’t even recognize him in the role as Sweeney’s boxing coach and eventual husband. His desire to control her training regimen begins to extend to all other aspects of her life in a way that rolls from creepy to dangerous. Black Bear is releasing domestically on Nov 7th.
Mini Tidbits Casting:
Jennifer Taylor
Djimon Hounsou
Corey Hendrix (The Bear)
For those casting updates, click here.
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
Venice Film Festival Winners:
Golden Lion (first place)
Father Mother Sister Brother
Dir: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver
Distributor: MUBI
Silver Lion (2nd place)
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Distributor: Watermelon Pictures
EP: Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix
The Special Jury Prize (3rd place)
Below the Clouds
Dir: Gianfranco Rosi (previous Golden Bear winner)
Best Director
Benny Safdie (The Smashing Machine)
Distributor: A24
For the full list of winners, including Best Actor and Actress, click here.
Creative Arts Emmys winners. These are the Emmy Awards for below-the-line craftspeople and co-stars. Max’s The Penguin won 8 Creative Arts Emmys, and Apple TV+’s The Studio won 9.
Check out the list of winners here and here. Including Julianne Nicholson, Bryan Cranston, and Obama.
TIFF Market:
A Visit To Grandpa’s
Cast: Anthony Hopkins
Dir: DJ Caruso (xXx 3)
Sales Rep: WestEnd Films (Green Room)
Synopsis:
A boy's summer with his eccentric grandfather on a Welsh farm transforms from expected boredom into magical adventures filled with wild tales and imaginative mischief.
Foster
Dir: Timothy Woodward Jr (Prime’s Studio City)
Cast: James Franco, Ron Perlman
Sales Rep: Top Film Distribution
Venice Buys:
Italian distributor Minerva Pictures (Neon’s The Secret Agent) picked up Venice Critics Week's A Dance in Vain.
TIFF Buys:
Paramount+ buys BBC Studios’ Reunion about a deaf guy who commits a horrible crime but is let into a much-changed world. The show will air Sept 12th on Paramount+. Canada’s CBC also picked up the show.
The Cinema Guild (A Traveler’s Needs) picks up Dry Leaf for US distribution. The film premiered at Berlin in 2021 and at TIFF and Locarno this year. Trailer. Release: 2026.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A lot of great indie filmmakers at TIFF.
More in-depth write-ups will follow, but Paul Greengrass (although not exactly an indie director) brings his stylistic sensibility to The Lost Bus (Apple TV+).
With two Bourne movies under his belt, Greengrass adds chaos to this film, even when Matthew McConaughey isn’t driving a school bus filled with 23 children through a raging Californian wildfire (trailer). Even the opening sequence of McConaughey going about his daily route feels chaotic, with telephoto wide shots and a shaky camera.
Sean Penn is boarding another international project, this time the acclaimed Brazilian film Manas trailer that premiered at Venice last year.
Penn is producing alongside Oscar director Walter Salles (dir. I’m Still Here) and Palme d’Or-winning brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Two Days, One Night). Attracted to humanitarian storytelling, Penn’s most recent international venture was Superpower the 2023 Ukrainian doc.
Tidbits below on:
Bleecker Street
Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale
A Useful Ghost
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