TORONTO, CANADA, September 11, 2017 – Focus Features has acquired international rights to Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed directorial debut Lady Bird, company chairman Peter Kujawski announced today. A24 and IAC Films are partners on the movie. Focus will be handling distribution in all territories outside of North America. Lady Bird has emerged as one of the biggest breakouts of the fall season, winning rave reviews from its screenings at both the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals. Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill are the producers.

“With Lady Bird, Greta has proven herself to be both a brilliant illusionist and a towering filmmaker. She tricks us into believing this is an intimate story about a specific character, time, and place until the culmination of the laughter and the tears makes you realize it’s actually a grand epic that is as universal, relatable and emotionally powerful as any story of mothers and daughters that has ever been put on film,” said Focus Chairman Peter Kujawski. “We couldn’t be more honored to team with Greta and our friends at A24 and IAC to share her incredible work with audiences around the world.”

In Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird’s father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.

By Creative Media Times

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Another prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, went to “Foxtrot” from Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz, while the Best Director went to French filmmaker Xavier Legrand for his family drama “Custody.”

Here’s the full list of winners:

Golden Lion:
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize:
“Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion for Best Director:
Xavier Legrand, “Custody”

Volpi Cup for Best Actress:
Charlotte Rampling, “Hannah”

Volpi Cup for Best Actor:
Kamel El Basha, “The Insult”

Best Screenplay:
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh
Continue reading →

By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures[

That is also the biggest preview gross for an R-rated film, beating Deadpool’s $12.7 million. Though New Line and Warner Bros. pic most likely won’t open as high as Deadpool’s $132 million over the weekend given that the wise-cracking superhero opened on a President’s holiday weekend, last night’s number is already the highest preview for a horror pic and for a film released in September.

Multiple weekend media forecasts suggest the film will open around $80 to $85 million, but don’t be surprised if “IT” goes above those estimates and if numbers hold, the film will obliterate multiple records.

The movie is also riding high with critics, currently at 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and 71 on Metacritic, both solid scores for the genre.

The film arrives at a perfect time after weeks of sluggish boxoffice business, and as well as months of high anticipation following record breaking trailer views.

Directed by Argentinian filmmaker Andrés Muschietti, the film tells the story of eight children in Derry, Maine, who are terrorized by the demonic Pennywise the Dancing Clown played by Bill Skarsgard.

By Creative Media Times

Labor Day weekend is here and its time to look back at the films that ruled the summer box office season. The season’s box-office has been trailing last year’s receipts for the past several weeks now, and the lack of marquee title last month exacerbates the slump. There’s a few franchise films that seemed sure bets on paper that eventually fell short, and there’s also some big budget studio films that relied on overseas market to recoup production costs.

As bad as that sounds, its not all bad news. Three superhero film came to save the day as Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spiderman: Homecoming all ending up in the top 3, Christopher Nolan’s high-risk gamble Dunkirk lived up to expectations, while Edgar Wright’s original, modestly budgeted film Baby Driver crossed $100 million.

Movie-going business is also expected to rebound next weekend, as analyst project an unusually high turnout for New Line/Warner Brothers release of Stephen King’s “IT”, with projections as high as $70 million, an extremely high bar for the horror genre. “IT” will be followed by more potential hits such as “Mother!”, “Kingsman The Golden Circle” and “Ninjago” all throughout September, proof that in the movie business, even with all the talk of box-office slump, there is always next week to look forward to.

Here’s the top 10 grossing films of summer 2017 at the US boxoffice:

[table id=1 /]