Good morning, In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
15 trailers
4 International Oscar Picks
2 Alex Gibney acquisitions
1 Juliette Binoche directorial debut
Let’s go!
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Yesterday, 15 trailers were released. While there’s no record for most trailer drops in a single day, this might be a new high.
If you were to watch them all back-to-back, they would run 30 minutes and 10 seconds.
With the recent case of IFC expanding its release of Good Boy, based on the success of its trailer, and Amazon MGM promoting its 400 million trailer views for Project Hail Mary, these newcomers are worth a deeper examination.
As a benchmark, let’s look at the best trailer ever made: Todd Field’s Little Children.
It soaks in the subtext of the film and unleashes it in the form of roiling tension through well-chosen closeups, sparse dialogue, and some of the best match cuts of all time.
Don’t believe me? Check it out here.
While the new trailers include a bountiful amount of studio projects (Netflix, Prime, Searchlight) featuring a wide range of stars (Mark Wahlberg, Keira Knightley, Jessica Chastain, Ethan Hawke), the most profound trailer comes from an indie film called Memory of a Princess.
Let’s dive into the 15:
https://theindustry.co/p/15-trailer-breakdown
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Prime Video is developing Dorothy, a YA, music-infused Wizard of Oz.
Cobra Kai creators in talks for Knight Rider remake at Universal.
Alex Gibney lands double deal: Hulu takes his Luigi Mangione doc; Bleecker Street picks up his doc Musk.
Paramount Comms EVP David Bittler exits after 25 years.
Netflix promotes Jinny Howe to Head of UCAN Scripted.
Acid and Tender (The Penguin) hires Rachel Jacobs as Head of TV/Film.
Joel Sill, pioneering music supervisor (Easy Rider, Forrest Gump), dies at 78.
Zack Stentz (Thor) adapting Murder As A Fine Art for TV.
Rhea Seehorn joins indie hostage thriller Eleven Days.
Juliette Binoche’s directorial debut In-I In Motion to premiere at San Sebastián.
TIFF Market project A Murder Uncorked stars Emma Roberts.
Sony Pictures Classics acquires Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas.
Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water lands at The Forge.
Trudie Styler directs Rose’s Baby with Antonio Banderas.
Norway selects Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value as Oscar entry.
Former ITV CEO Stuart Prebble dies at 74.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Prime Video is developing Dorothy, a YA, music-infused contemporary retelling of The Wizard of Oz. It's got a massive star-studded cast including husband and wife super music duo Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani.
There is not much in terms of plot announcements or first looks, but another Oz project, Wicked: For Good, amassed 113M viewers in 24hrs.
Dorothy is a smart project to take on while the global momentum for this fantastical universe is so prominent.
The Cobra Kai creator trio is in early discussions for a film remake of the popular NBC series Knight Rider for Universal.
That’s an interesting choice, as the show centered on a crime-fighter (David Hasselhoff) teaming with an AI-powered car (trailer). But rather than take the techno route, I believe the creators (Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg) will tap into what makes Cobra Kai so great: a deep nostalgia for a non-digital era.
It’ll be interesting to see how they square this.
Double Gibney Pick-up:
Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear) has had his Luigi Mangione Documentary land at Hulu. The doc will follow the alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the surrounding media firestorm that followed. Filming is currently underway.
Bleecker Street picked up Gibney’s Musk documentary for the US. Described as an incisive BTS portrait of Elon Musk, this should give us a peek at the most notable/notorious public figure in recent times. After theaters, it’ll head to HBO.
Tidbits:
Four executive hires/fires:
Paramount
Netflix
The Penguin Prod Co
A+E Studios
Major financing and entertainment investment company, Media Capital Technologies (The Long Walk), is launching a new theatrical distribution label, Row K Entertainment. The new company will focus on distributing wide releases from high-profile filmmakers with global appeal.
Banijay Rights expands Mr Bean: The Animated Series to North America via its FAST channel to Samsung TV Plus in the U.S. and Canada. For all you Bean heads here's the entire first season, go nuts.
Thor (2011) screenwriter Zack Stentz will adapt Murder As A Fine Art, a historical thriller based on David Morrell’s trilogy book series for TV. Stentz will serve as a writer, showrunner, and EP through his Electric Brain Entertainment (Frostbrite).
Joel Sill, the pioneering music supervisor behind Easy Rider, Flashdance, Forrest Gump, and over 150 films, has died at 78. His soundtracks reshaped cinema’s musical storytelling.
Renewals/Sequels:
Netflix’s most-watched film of all time, KPop Demon Hunters (236M views), is in early talks for a sequel.
Hulu’s Deli Boys (for S2)
Netflix’s Trainwreck (for S2)
S1 was Poop Cruise
Release dates:
HBO’s I Love LA
Creator: Rachel Sennott
Cast: Sennott, Odessa A'zion, Elijah Wood
Release: Nov. 2
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Rhea Seehorn has joined indie hostage thriller Eleven Days, directed by Peter Landesman, starring Taylor Kitsch, Diego Luna, and Jason Isaacs (White Lotus S3).
The film adapts William T. Harper’s Eleven Days in Hell which recounts the 1974 Huntsville Prison siege, where ruthless inmate Federico Carrasco held hostages for eleven tense days.
Production begins in September in Texas.
Seehorn’s career is poised to surge with her undisclosed role in Vince Gilligan’s upcoming Apple TV+ series Pluribus.
Mini Tidbit:
Spanish actress Verónica Echegui has passed away after being diagnosed with cancer. Her breakout film, I am Juani (2009), catapulted her career, particularly in Spanish cinema, and she most recently led the Apple TV series Love You to Death (trailer). The award-winning actress and filmmaker leaves us far too soon
MGM+’s hit sci-fi horror series From casts Julia Doyle (Astrid and Lilly Save the World) in a regular role in its upcoming fourth season. Doyle will play a sheltered pastor’s daughter with production currently ongoing in Nova Scotia..
USA Network drama Anna Pigeon has added Kim Coates (Tig in Sons of Anarchy) as a recurring character. Coates will play a rich, bad boy landowner.
From Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to Mother Teresa. Noomi Rapace plays Mother Teresa in Venice’s Mother. First look image of Rapace.
FESTIVALS
Juliette Binoche’s directorial debut is In-I In Motion. The film will center on her creation of a dance theater piece, In-I (2008). I wasn’t familiar, but apparently Binoche stepped away from her acting career for 6 months to produce this work of art with renowned choreographer Akram Khan.
The result is highly fluid, sexual performance raging with a ferocious energy that further emblazons Binoche as a true artist (performance trailer).
MK2 Films (Anatomy of a Fall) has taken international sales. Premiering out of competition at San Sebastián and Busan.
Interestingly, Binoche was great in the role of a documentary filmmaker/editor in HBO’s The Staircase. Maybe that’s life imitating art.
Venice:
Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard's (20,000 Days on Earth) newest project, Broken English, has been picked up for international sales by Global Constellation (Lucky Lu) and North American sales by Cinetic.
The Venice Out of Competition doc is on Marianne Faithfull, a British pop star whose drug abuse in the 60s led to a period of inactivity, until her return to form with her album Broken English, which was much darker.
The directors have a hybrid style that combines music, film, and theater. This blended film has re-enactments with George MacKay and Tilda Swinton.
TIFF Market:
A Murder Uncorked
Cast: Emma Roberts
Prod: Vincent Newman (We’re the Millers)
Wri: Karen McCullah (Legally Blonde)
Synopsis:
Follows a struggling actress who loses her TV detective role and takes a job at a prestigious Napa Valley winery, where she must solve a murder while protecting her love interest.
Frequent Emma Roberts, financier Contentious Media (About Fate) is financing. Planning to shoot in 2026.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
One of the longest and most successful director-distributor relationships in international film is Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar and Sony Pictures Classics. They are back with Bitter Christmas. SPC just picked up North American rights.
The drama follows a work-obsessed woman who, after the passing of her mother, spontaneously decides to travel with a friend to the island of Lanzarote.
The Oscar-winning and heavy-hitting festival duo have collaborated on:
All About My Mother (1999)
Best Screenplay winner Talk to Her (2002)
Pain & Glory (2019)
Almodóvar’s first English-language film, The Room Next Door (2024)
Almodóvar frequently blends comedy with deep emotional and existential themes, creating introspective, almost meta, films that look at how life and fiction overlap.
Projects between the two seem to not only be critically and commercially well-received, but also benefit both parties as Almodóvar gets expansive U.S. distribution and Sony gets an auteur-driven, arthouse box office film.
Bitter Christmas has just wrapped production.
Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, has been picked up by The Forge. The film premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and will get an Oscar run and a December release.
It’s a cool pick-up for The Forge, which released a great trio of arthouse films last year:
Black Dog
Premiere: Cannes
Prize: Cannes’ Un Certain Regard
Nomination: The Gotham Awards Best Director
Nomination: Indie Spirit Award Best International Film
Resynator
Premiere: SXSW
Prize: SXSW Documentary Audience Award
Features: Beastie Boys, Peter Gabriel, Fred Armisen
Sujo
Premiere: Sundance
Prize: Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Mexico’s official Oscar submission
All three films are deep meditations on death as a force of psychic renewal on the living.
The Chronology of Water stars Imogen Poots and Thora Birch. Produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free.
Widely known indie producer Trudie Styler (prod. Snatch, Moon, The Evening) is back in the directing chair. Her upcoming romantic dramedy Rose’s Baby, which she also produces, has unveiled its stacked cast:
Antonio Banderas
Richard E. Grant
Forest Whitaker
This is her first time back in the director’s chair since her debut Freak Show (2017), which also dealt with complex familial dynamics. Follows a set of dysfunctional parents (Banderas) attempting to come together for their child’s well-being.
Maven Screen Media founder Celine Rattray (The Kids Are All Right), a longtime partner with/ Styler, also produces.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The Oscars International Feature Film race is getting serious as more countries announce their official selections.
Norway picks Cannes Grand Prize winner Neon’s Sentimental Value (trailer) from director Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World).
Jordan has selected the multi-generational drama All That’s Left Of You (teaser trailer) as its entry, which revolves around a Palestinian family over the course of several decades up until the present day. From Cherien Dabis’ (dir. 6 eps of Only Murders in the Building) new drama. Watermelon Pictures (TIFF’s The Teacher) has picked up North American rights.
Belgium’s selection is Young Mothers (trailer), the 13th feature from directing duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Two Days, One Night). The film centers on five young women living in a temporary shelter for underage mothers and won Best Screenplay at this year’s Cannes.
Sundance film The Things You Kill (trailer) is Canada’s entry to this year’s Best International Feature Film category. Alireza Khatami (Cannes’ Terrestrial Verses) picked up a World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for his police drama.
Former ITV CEO, Stuart Prebble, has passed away at 74. After leaving ITV, Prebble started his own indie TV company, Liberty Bell, which produced BBC2’s hit conversational comedy series Grumpy Old Men (2003-06).
Trinity CineAsia will release Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback in UK-Irish cinemas. This anime movie was a blockbuster hit in the long-running (28th) Detective Conan film franchise and has already grossed $112M globally. In cinemas on September 26. Trailer here.
ON THIS DAY
1964. Red Desert wins Venice Golden Lion.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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