Every week, I get several press releases, screening invitations and other notifications from a handful of studio contacts. While I won’t be sharing any information regarding my screening invites, some of the press releases might be of interest to my readers, so I thought I’d start sharing them in toto with all of you. These could include new image galleries for various films or important updates to upcoming releases from various smaller studios and art house production companies.

• Press Release: Hyde Park-Image Nation Finance ‘Midnight Sun’ with Hugh Hudson at Helm
• Press Release: 42 West Upcoming Films Update

Press Release: Hyde Park-Image Nation Finance ‘Midnight Sun’ with Hugh Hudson at Helm

HYDE PARK-IMAGE NATION TO FINANCE ‘MIDNIGHT SUN’

Hugh Hudson Set to Helm Arctic Adventure

Los Angeles, CA – (May 1, 2012) – Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment and Image Nation Abu Dhabi will finance and co-produce the Arctic adventure MIDNIGHT SUN. Directed by Hugh Hudson (CHARIOTS OF FIRE, GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES), the film is from a script by Hudson and Bart Gavigan. Jake Eberts (DANCES WITH WOLVES, GANDHI) and Brando Quilici (Iceman Autopsy) will produce alongside Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ashok Amritraj (GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE 3D).

Hyde Park International will introduce the project at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, and will represent worldwide rights. The project has already generated significant interest among buyers, including Medusa, which has purchased Italian rights, and Alliance Atlantis, which has purchased Canadian rights.

MIDNIGHT SUN is a four-quadrant family adventure film in the vein of FREE WILLY and DOLPHIN TALE, set amongst the ice fields of Northern Canada. The hero is a young boy, Luke, who defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother. Luke is aided by Muktuk, a half Inuit and half Canadian, who knows the terrain where polar bears live like the back of his hand. But they are soon separated on the floating ice of the high Arctic, and Luke and the cub are left to protect themselves from bear attacks, giant icebergs, and vicious windstorms.

BAFTA and Emmy award-winning cinematographer Doug Allan will lens the wildlife and natural elements of the picture, with production design by Andrew Sanders (CHARIOTS OF FIRE, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST).

The scheduled start date is November 2012, with locations in the Canadian Arctic and Manitoba.

About Hyde Park-Image Nation:
In 2009, Hyde Park Entertainment and Image Nation Abu Dhabi partnered on a $250 million financing deal to develop, produce and distribute feature films. The latest film under the partnership was GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE 3D with Sony, which opened worldwide in February 2012, grossing over $130 million. Hyde Park and Image Nation Abu Dhabi also extended their partnership to create a strategic alliance with Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA). Under this deal, Hyde Park-Image Nation Singapore was launched in 2010 to fund multiple films worth an estimated production value of $75 million. In 2011, Ashok Amritraj took over as CEO of National Geographic Films, which joined forces in a new venture with Hyde Park-Image Nation. The venture will produce feature films, documentaries and television series designed to entertain and inspire family audiences around the world.

About Jake Eberts
Eberts has financed or executive produced over 50 films, including CHARIOTS OF FIRE, GANDHI, THE KILLING FIELDS, HOPE AND GLORY, DRIVING MISS DAISY, DANCES WITH WOLVES, BLACK ROBE, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, CHICKEN RUN, PRISONER OF PARADISE, JOURNEY TO MECCA, OCEANS and THE ILLUSIONIST. These films received 65 Oscar nominations, including 9 for Best Picture, winning 37 Oscars, including 4 for Best Picture.

Eberts is currently serving as executive producer of Louis Schwartzberg’s Hidden Worlds, Jon Long’s Extreme, and the 3D IMAX film Jerusalem. He is Trustee Emeritus of the Sundance Institute, and Media Advisor to Participant Media.

About Brando Quilici
An independent Italian filmmaker, Quilici’s career spans over 20 years, during which he has worked on many programs for many American networks, including the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel , PBS NOVA, and European networks such as France 5, France 2 , ZDF, Rai, UK Channel 4, and UK Channel 5. He has won many awards including prizes at the Jackson Hole and Jules Verne Film Festivals. His Production company, HD Productions, is based in Rome.

Press Release: 42 West Upcoming Films Update

Below are the new films added to the upcoming films list sent out by publicity firm 42 West

SURF THE MUSICAL

Director Kristin Hanggi is most known for directing and developing the international smash-hit Rock of Ages which was nominated for five Tony Nominations including Best Direction of a Musical. Kristin serves as the creator and director of the Surf The Musical, an all new show featuring the music of The Beach Boys which begins performances this June at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas.

Ms. Hanggi’s other productions include acclaimed pop opera Bare, produced by Dodger Theatricals, which was rated the #1 production in New York by Zagat audiences and ran to sold-out audiences in Los Angeles and off-Broadway. For Bare, she received the Ovation Award Best Musical, LA Weekly Award Best Musical, and Robby Award Best Director and the show continues to be produced all over the world. Ms. Hanggi also directed the initial production that launched the Pussycat Dolls, “Pussycat Dolls Live at the Roxy” with Christina Applegate, Carmen Electra and special guests Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Brittany Murphy, Nikka Costa and Charlize Theron.

Other stage productions include: And the Curtain Rises at the Signature Theater; the 2007 winner of the New York’s Fringe Festival, Catch The Fish; Brian Crano’s play Twelfth Premise (LA Times Critics Pick); the Los Angeles Premiere of Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi (2001 Ticketholder Award, Best Production; 2001 Ticketholder Award, Best Director; 2001 Robby Award, Best Director of a Play); Crane, Mississippi (LA Times Critic’s Choice, Backstage West Critic’s Pick); the New York and Los Angeles productions of the underground cult-hit Ann E. Wrecksick and the Odyssey of the Bulimic Orphans; Greystone (Los Angeles Theater History Project at LATC); Wayside (LA Weekly Pick of the Week). Additionally, she directed “len Mary Glen Rose: Women Do Men, a benefit for “Step-Up” and the Revlon/UCLA Breast Cancer Center at UCLA’s Royce Hall starring Susan Egan, Amy Brenneman, Teri Garr, Vicki Lawrence, and Jean Smart, among others.

As a screenwriter, she has recently adapted the hit book series, Dear Dumb Diary into a musical movie, which she is also directing, under Executive Producer Jerry Zucker. She is also attached to direct Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List starring Hayden Panettiere.

She is developing The Outsiders as a theatrical musical for Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion for Laurence Mark, Barry Kemp, and Peter Schneider.

Kristin graduated with her Masters from USC after receiving her Bachelors from UCLA in Theater.

A CAT IN PARIS

June 1, 2012- new English language version in theaters

Dino is a cat that leads a double life. By day he lives with Zoe, a little girl whose mother is a detective in the Parisian police force. But at night he sneaks out the window to work with Nico, a slinky cat burglar with a big heart, whose fluid movements are poetry in motion as he slips and swishes from rooftop to rooftop across the Paris skyline. The cat’s two worlds collide when young Zoe decides to follow Dino on his nocturnal adventures – and falls into the hands of Victor Costa, a blustery gangster planning the theft of a rare statue. Now cat and cat burglar must team up to save Zoe from the bumbling thieves, leading to a thrilling acrobatic finale on top of Notre Dame. A Cat in Paris is a warm and richly humorous love letter to classic noir films and the stylized wit of the Pink Panther cartoons – and Dino the cat manages to steal the show with little more than a subtle swish of the tail and quiet mew.
Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol.

41

AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH, DEBUTS JUNE 14, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
——–
A Film By Jeffrey Roth;
Executive Produced By Jerry Weintraub
——–
The first documentary to tell George Herbert Walker Bush’s story in his own words, the exclusive HBO presentation 41 is a rare, intimate glimpse at the life and times of the 41st president of the United States. Featuring unprecedented access to Bush as he reflects on the highs and lows of his life from his beloved summer home in Kennebunkport, Me. and presidential library in Texas, 41 debuts THURSDAY, JUNE 14 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), commemorating the president’s 88th birthday on June 12.

Other HBO playdates: June 14 (3:50 a.m.), 17 (noon), 18 (9:00 a.m.), 20 (12:45 p.m. 12:30 a.m.), 23 (2:00 p.m.) and 29 (6:15 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: June 20 (9:15 p.m.), 25 (2:15 p.m., 11:15 p.m.) and 30 (noon)

One of the most experienced politicians ever to achieve the presidency, George H.W. Bush shares anecdotes from his childhood, family, service in World War II and political career, including his roles as U.S. envoy to China, director of the CIA and vice president of the United States in the Reagan administration, as well as his term as president.

Written and directed by Jeffrey Roth, 41 was filmed over a 17-month period, from Sept. 2009 to Feb. 2011. The film is executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, a long-time personal friend of the Bushes, and himself the focus of “His Way,” an acclaimed HBO documentary.

NY Contact: Nicolette Aizenberg, 212-774-3686 or Nicolette.Aizenberg@42West.net

30 BEATS

Written By / Directed By / Produced By: Alexis Lloyd
Release Date: July 20, 2012 in NY/LA/additional TBD markets and VOD

Paz de la Huerta (THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, BOARDWALK EMPIRE), Justin Kirk (ANGELS IN AMERICA, WEEDS), Lee Pace (CAPOTE, THE HOBBIT), Thomas Sadoski (OTHER DESERT CITIES, Aaron Sorkin’s THE NEWSROOM) and Jennifer Tilly headline an ensemble of New Yorkers whose lives interconnect via a string of life‐changing sexual encounters during a summer heat wave. The international cast also includes Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite (FAREWELL), Peruvian Jason Day (MANCORA), French actress Vahina Giocante (LILA SAYS, 99 FRANCS), Ben Levin and Condola Rashad (RUINED and STICK FLY).

30 BEATS follows ten characters drawn into a ring of love and desire, each one caught beyond his or her control in a chain reaction of seduction, impulses and self‐discovery. The screenplay was inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s play LA RONDE. The film was written and directed by Alexis Lloyd, produced by Alexis Lloyd, Molly Conners, Carl Ford and Lloyd and executive produced by Susan Batson, Ronald Guttman and Pierre Lagrange.

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION

September 14, 2012
Action/Horror

The wildly successful film franchise adaptation that has grossed nearly $700 million worldwide to the popular video game series, Resident Evil, returns in its highly anticipated fifth installment, RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION in state-of-the art 3D.

The Umbrella Corporation’s deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race’s last and only hope, ALICE (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella’s most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.

Written and Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Produced by: Jeremy Bolt, Paul W.S. Anderson , Robert Kulzer, Don Carmody, Samuel Hadida
Executive Producers: Martin Moszkowicz, Victor Hadida
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillroy, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Colin Salmon, Johann Urb, With Boris Kodjoe and Li Bing Bing

This film is not yet rated by the MPAA. For future ratings information refer to http://www.filmratings.com. Credits not final

THE WORDS

RELEASE DATE: September 21, 2012
Written & Directed by: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Produced by: Jim Young, Tatiana Kelly, Michael Benaroya
Cast: Bradley Cooper (Limitless), Jeremy Irons (Margin Call), Dennis Quaid (Footloose), Zoë Saldana (Avatar), Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy), Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia series)
LOGLINE:
In The Words, an aspiring writer claims another man’s long lost work as his own only to find there are steep consequences when ambition is valued above life’s most fundamental, impassioned three words.
SYNOPSIS:
A multi-layered romantic drama with an all-star cast, The Words centers on Rory Jansen, a talented writer with a beautiful wife and mounting internal and external pressure to achieve success. What he chooses to do in order to fulfill his ambition has the potential to cost him everything, and he soon finds himself repeating the mistakes of someone in the past. Now, the worlds of two men living in different times threaten to converge as both are forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for placing ambition before love.

DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

(September 21, 2012)
(Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Producer: Lisa Immordino Vreeland

DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, an enduring icon whose influence changed the face of fashion, beauty, art, publishing and culture forever. During her fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion,” she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie O and coined some of fashion’s most eloquent proverbs such as “the bikini is the biggest thing since the atom bomb.” She was the fashion editor of HARPER’S BAZAAR where she worked for 25 years before becoming editor in chief of VOGUE followed by a remarkable stint at the Met’s Costume Institute where she helped popularize its historical collections.

Release Date: September 21, 2012

LUV

A Film by Sheldon Candis
Starring Common and Michael Rainey Jr.
Co-starring Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Meagan Good and Michael Kenneth Williams
Release Date: September 28, 2012 or October 5, 2012

N.B. LUV HAS NO PERIODS AND IS NOT AN ACRONYM.

Eleven-year-old WOODY WATSON is a timid Baltimore orphan who dreams of a better life — and his absent mother who may or may not be in North Carolina fighting drug addiction. Woody also reveres his uncle VINCENT as the father figure he never had. A street hustler and former drug dealer, Vincent’s fresh off an eight-year stint in prison and wants a new direction.

When Vincent bypasses his nephew’s school one day and offers to show Woody how a man handles his business, Woody jumps at the opportunity to join his uncle on a field trip of life lessons.

With a foreclosed warehouse property, Vincent plans to open his own crab shack restaurant. However, when he is denied a bank loan the legitimate way, the temptations of Vincent’s old life working for Baltimore crime boss MR. FISH return to haunt him. A day once bright with optimism quickly spirals downward into a world of violence. Coming of age all too fast by day’s end, Woody starts to doubt his hero and ultimately must decide where he stands.

END OF WATCH

September 28, 2012

END OF WATCH is a powerful story of family, friendship, love, honor and courage starring Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as young Los Angeles police officers Taylor and Zavala as they patrol the city’s meanest streets of south central Los Angeles.

Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds entirely through footage from the handheld HD cameras of the police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras, and citizens caught in the line of fire to create a riveting portrait of the city’s most dangerous corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay.

RELEASE DATE: September 28th, 2012
RUNNING TIME: TBD
MPAA Rating: TBD
DISTRIBUTOR: Open Road Films
PRINCIPAL CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, Frank Grillo, Natalie Martinez
DIRECTOR: David Ayer (Street Kings, Harsh Times)
WRITER: David Ayer (Training Day, The Fast and the Furious)