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.
- Image Gallery: Free Birds
- Press Release: Coffee Shop Prank Surrounding Release of “Carrie” Goes Faux-Viral
- Press Release: “The Discoverers” Wins Awards at 18th Annual Genart Film Festival
- Press Release: Freedom to Marry Partners with “Fifth Beatle”
- Press Release: Outfest to Honor Lee Daniels
- Press Release: “Big Sky” Production Begins
- Press Release: 42 West’s Holiday Movie Preview
Image Gallery: Free Birds
Press Release: Coffee Shop Prank Surrounding Release of “Carrie” Goes Faux-Viral
If you haven’t already seen this video, you must be living under a rock. It’s actually quite fun, though not particularly well produced.
Press Release: “The Discoverers” Wins Awards at 18th Annual Genart Film Festival
“THE DISCOVERERS” CO-STARS DEVON GRAYE AND MADELEINE MARTIN RECEIVE EMERGING ACTOR AWARDS AT THE 18TH ANNUAL GENART FILM FESTIVAL FILM’S COMPOSER AARON MIRMAN ALSO RECEIVES SCORE AWARD
October 8, 2013 – On the closing night of the 18th Annual GenArt Film Festival, the festival jury awarded Justin Schwarz’s award-winning THE DISCOVERERS with three more prestigious awards:
Genart(ist) Emerging Actress Award, Madeleine Martin, for her breakthrough performance in The Discoverers
Genart(ist) Emerging Actor Award, Devon Graye, for his breakthrough performance in The Discoverers
The Score Award, Aaron Mirman
The Genart(ist) Emerging Actor Awards are given annually to great emerging acting talent for their breakthrough performances in film. On his young actors Madeleine Martin and Devon Graye, Justin Schwarz says, “It was a privilege working with two great young talents and I’m thrilled their work is getting the recognition they deserve. I knew finding the right Zoe to play off Griffin Dunne was the key to The Discoverers and when Maddy came in to read, I just saw the character come to life. She has a brilliant comic sensibility and she’s one of those rare young actors who can turn from caustic deadpan to heartfelt vulnerable on a dime. Devon brought a really fresh take to the role of Jack. He has this naive innocence that works well in contrast with Griffin and Maddy’s intensity and gets a lot of laughs. He’s also the dreamer that embraces the conceit of the movie, of this family forced on a historical reenactment trek, and it’s great to watch him get seduced by the return to natural world (which is of course helped by his burgeoning romance with co-star Dreama Walker).”
Devon Graye has graced television screens for the last decade, embodying a wide array of characters; last year he went up against Jessica Lange in Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Asylum.” His past film credits include Legendary, Call of the Wild, Husk, Exodus Fall and recently lent his voice to the Liam Neeson starring animated film Khumba. Upcoming credits the independent feature Last Weekend and Dimension’s 13 Sins.
Madeleine Martin is best known for her role as Becca Moody, Hank Moody’s precocious daughter on Showtime’s “Californication.” Additional television credits include guest starring roles on “Criminal Minds,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Hope and Faith” and the starring voice on Disney’s animated series “JoJo’s Circus.” She has appeared in a variety of theater productions, including the original Broadway Production of the Tony Award-winning August: Osage County.
The film’s Score Award celebrates its outstanding use of music. Schwarz explains, “We knew we wanted a handmade score that blended early Americana elements with a modern sensibility that could support the humor and pathos of the film. Aaron [Mirman] not only learned a bunch of new instruments but played many notes himself to create a rich, unique sound.”
Aaron Mirman’s work spans a variety of media. The Discoverers is his first feature film score, following years of composing for television shows on National Geographic, AMC, Nickelodeon, and others, as well as the feature documentary The Greenhorns and a host of short form projects. Mirman is a composer/creative director at the award-winning music production company duotone audio group. He is a graduate of New York University’s Music Technology Program and currently resides in Brooklyn.
All awards were selected by a panel of jurors including, actor and GenArt alumni, Bryan Greenberg; CEO and Founder of Verge, & co-founder of WireImage, Jeff Vespa; Director of the upcoming film Kill Your Darlings, John Krokidas; and Senior Editor at New York Magazine’s Vulture, Kyle Buchanan.
THE DISCOVERERS will be released in spring 2014.
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About The Discoverers
Washed-up history professor Lewis Birch (Oscar® and Emmy nominated Griffin Dunne) takes his begrudging teenage kids – Zoe (Madeleine Martin, “Californication”) and Jack (Devon Graye, “American Horror Story”) – on a road trip to a conference in hopes of putting his career back on track. But, when Lewis’s estranged father Stanley (Emmy® Award-winning Stuart Margolin) goes AWOL on a Lewis and Clark historical reenactment trek, Lewis is forced to make a family detour. The Birch family find themselves on a journey of discovery and connection as they make their own passage west.
The Discoverers is a bittersweet comedy and moving debut feature from writer/director Justin Schwarz led by Dunne’s striking comeback performance. This engaging tale of family dysfunction and rediscovery also features a talented ensemble cast including David Rasche, (In The Loop), Dreama Walker (Compliance), Ann Dowd (Compliance), Cara Buono (“Mad Men”), Becky Ann Baker (“Girls”), Scott Adsit (“30 Rock”), and John C. McGinley (“Scrubs”).
Festival Acclaim / Awards
Jury Prize, Best US/International Narrative Feature – Kansas City International Film Festival
Jury Prize, Best Film – Oxford Film Festival
Achievement in Acting Award, Griffin Dunne – Sarasota International Film Festival
Spark Breakthrough Performance Award, Madeleine Martin – RiverRun International Film Festival
Outstanding Actor Award, Griffin Dunne – Sedona International Film Festival
Genart(ist) Emerging Actress Award, Madeleine Martin – GenArt Film Festival
Genart(ist) Emerging Actor Award, Devon Graye – GenArt Film Festival
The Score Award – GenArt Film Festival
Festivals
Hamptons International Film Festival
GenArt Film Festival
Philadelphia Film Festival
Miami International Film Festival
Sarasota International Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival
Cleveland International Film Festival
Little Rock Film Festival
The Provincetown International Film Festival
Newport Beach International Film Festival
Minneapolis International Film Festival
Nashville International Film Festival
RiverRun International Film Festival
Kansas City International Film Festival
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Sedona International Film Festival
Omaha International Film Festival
Heartland International Film Festival
Oxford Film Festival
TRT: 104 minutes
DIRECTOR / WRITER: Justin Schwarz
About Genart Film Festival
The GenArt Film Festival is a weekend of premieres that spotlight some of the most talented emerging filmmakers in North America. GenArt’s roster of events and programs are tailored to give up-and-coming filmmakers a platform to propel them into the spotlight. GenArt has helped launch the careers of countless influential filmmakers including Brad Anderson, Richard Shepard, George Ratliff, Jesse Peretz, Adrienne Shelly, Tim Blake Nelson, Cary Fukunaga, Drake Doremus, as well as actors such as Rooney Mara, Malin Ackerman, Krysten Ritter, Adrian Grenier, Josh Radnor, Adrien Brody who have all made debuts with Genart.
Press Release: Freedom to Marry Partners with “Fifth Beatle”
Freedom to Marry Announces Partnership with Novel/Film “Fifth Beatle”
New York – Today Freedom to Marry announced a partnership with The Fifth Beatle, a graphic novel examining the life of legendary Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Epstein was a brilliant visionary who discovered the Beatles and led them on the path to international stardom even as he struggled with his own sense of belonging: he was gay when it was a felony; he was Jewish during a time of anti-Semitism; and he was from Liverpool, then considered a dingy port town.
“Freedom to Marry has long urged that the most effective way to continue winning over hearts and minds is talking about who gay people are, why marriage matters, and the harms inflicted by the denial of the freedom to marry,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry. “Vivek J. Tiwary’s The Fifth Beatle tells the compelling story of a tremendously successful entertainment executive who lived at a time that gay people were excluded from the public dialogue — not that long ago — and the costs of that exclusion. Brian Epstein’s story portrays the unnecessary, unfair, and unacceptable pain and price of telling some of our friends that they cannot dream of a life of love and commitment equally respected under the law. In a year when we celebrate our winning the freedom to marry in Epstein’s home country of Britain, and a year of real momentum here in the U.S., we continue to imagine, as John Lennon urged, a better world — and are working to bring it home.”
The Fifth Beatle takes the form of a graphic novel which chronicles Epstein’s discovery of the Beatles, his work to sharpen them into stars and secure a record deal when no one else would sign them, and his overwhelming success in the midst of his personal obstacles—particularly his struggle with being gay. Epstein suffered an untimely death at age 32 and has become a largely forgotten figure in Beatles history.
It is a project of Broadway veteran Vivek J. Tiwary, who previously worked as lead producer for the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun and as co-producer for the Broadway productions of The Addams Family and Green Day’s rock opera American Idiot. In total, Tiwary’s Broadway productions have garnered a total of 25 Tony Awards stemming from 44 Tony nominations. The Fifth Beatle is his first book and will be his first film.
“Growing up as the son of first-generation immigrants and becoming one of few producers of color in the entertainment business, I can relate to the outsider status that Epstein felt so many decades ago in Liverpool,” said Vivek J. Tiwary, Broadway theatre producer and CEO of Tiwary Entertainment Group. “Epstein’s story and struggle served as an inspiration to me for years, and I’m hoping that The Fifth Beatle will inspire in turn—and that our partnership with Freedom to Marry will point our readers and viewers in a direction where they can make an immediate and important difference, by supporting a fight worth winning. A fight we are going to win.”
The book is scheduled for release on November 19 by Dark House Comics. It includes an afterword by pioneering cartoonist Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby, Wendel) about his own experiences with the struggle for marriage and the connection between the Brian Epstein story and Freedom to Marry. In addition, The Fifth Beatle is being adapted into a feature film and has secured unprecedented rights to Beatles’ songs. Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen will produce the film along with Tiwary. Cohen won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Picture for American Beauty and has been nominated twice more for Milk (2008) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012). The Fifth Beatle will begin production in 2014.
“I’m thrilled that Freedom to Marry will be partnering with The Fifth Beatle graphic novel,” said Cohen. “I hope that by embracing the music of the Beatles, the message of love that they are famous for, and the talent of the gay man who made it all possible, viewers around the world will be inspired to get involved with Freedom to Marry so that the much-needed work of full marriage equality can continue.” Cohen is a longtime LGBT activist and supporter of Freedom to Marry, as well as the current President of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the recently victorious Supreme Court case which declared Prop 8 unconstitutional and allowed marriages for same-sex couples in California to resume.
Tiwary is a longtime straight ally whose support of Freedom to Marry goes back nearly a decade, when he and his then-fiancée requested that their wedding guests make donations to Freedom to Marry in lieu of wedding gifts. Freedom to Marry will serve as a sponsor of the book’s launch party in New York City on November 19.
Tiwary and Cohen will participate in a panel discussion highlighting the book and the partnership along with The Fifth Beatle illustrator Andrew C. Robinson; bestselling author Dave Marsh; and top record producer David Kahne at New York Comic Con on Friday, October 11.
Press Release: Outfest to Honor Lee Daniels
OUTFEST LEGACY AWARDS TO HONOR AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER LEE DANIELS
Los Angeles, CA (October 9, 2013) – Outfest, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization promoting equality by creating, sharing, and protecting LGBT stories on the screen, announced today that it will honor Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels at the 9th annual Legacy Awards. This year’s event will take place on Thursday, November 21st at the Orpheum Theatre.
Daniels will receive the Visionary Award in recognition of his contribution to LGBT arts and media visibility.
The Legacy Awards serve as a fundraiser to support the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, the largest archive of LGBT moving images in the world with over 30,000 pieces of material. A partnership between Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, it is the only program in the world devoted to saving and preserving LGBT moving images. The gala will also include several celebrity actors and directors who will select one or two meaningful short pieces from the Legacy Project archive to screen for the audience.
“Lee Daniels is an exceptional filmmaker whose work has had, and will continue to have, a tremendous impact on both the LGBT community and culture at large,” said Executive Director Kirsten Schaffer.
“I am extremely flattered and humbled to be receiving this year’s Visionary Award,” said Lee Daniels. “Outfest is an extraordinary organization, and I cannot stress enough the importance of its mission. In both my professional and personal life, I constantly strive to represent and provide a voice for the LGBT community, and am so honored that the Legacy Awards have selected me as this year’s recipient.”
Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive partnered in 2005 to create the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. The only program of its kind in the world, the Legacy Project is aimed at the growing crisis in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving image archiving. Many of the landmark LGBT films produced over the last 30 years are already in danger of fading away; their original exhibition prints are in tatters and their negatives are in woeful storage conditions, or even lost. Celebrating its ninth anniversary, the Legacy Project is proud to have collected over 30,000 moving picture images for the collection and restored 18 films.
Tribute journal ads are available now. Tickets go on sale on October 17. For further information about tickets, tribute journal or sponsorship opportunities please visit www.outfest.org or call 213-480-7088.
The Legacy Awards are presented by Showtime and Merrill Lynch.
About Lee Daniels
Lee Daniels is an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor, providing audiences with a unique and refreshing experience and character insight with each of his projects. Most recently he released LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, an epic drama set against the tumultuous political backdrop of 20th century America that tells the story of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), an African American butler who served at the White House during seven presidential administrations between 1957 and 1986.
In addition to LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, Daniels is perhaps best known for his Academy Award winning film PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE. The film was adapted from the New York Times-bestselling novel Push by Sapphire (a.k.a. Ramona Lofton). PRECIOUS was nominated for six Academy Awards, including nominations for Daniels in the category of “Achievement in Directing” and “Best Motion Picture of the Year, and wins in the categories of “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.”
Daniels was the first African American to be nominated for a Director’s Guild of America Award for “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film” on behalf of PRECIOUS. The film won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, only the third film in Festival history to do so. It was also nominated for three Golden Globe awards including “Best Picture Drama,” and was nominated for eight NAACP Image Awards, six of which it won, in categories including “Outstanding Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture, Theatrical or Television.” The film also garnered a total of five 2010 Independent Spirit Awards, including “Best Feature” and “Best Director.”
In 2012, Daniels released THE PAPERBOY, which he wrote, directed, and also produced. The film, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman, is based on the 1995 novel by Pete Dexter that centers on a reporter (McConaughey) and his younger brother (Efron), who investigate the events surrounding a murder to exonerate a man on death row (Cusack). The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and was released by Millennium Entertainment.
Daniels’ production company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, made its feature film debut with MONSTER’S BALL, making Daniels the sole African-American producer of an Oscar®-winning and Oscar®-nominated film. Daniels also produced THE WOODSMAN which was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. The film received the CICAE Arthouse Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival, and Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking from the National Board of Review.
SHADOWBOXER marked Daniels’ directorial debut. Following the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Daniels was also nominated for the New Directors Award at the 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival.
About Outfest
Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the leading organization that promotes equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. Outfest builds community by connecting diverse populations to discover, discuss and celebrate stories of LGBT lives. Over the past three decades, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world to audiences of nearly a million, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers and protected more than 30,000 LGBT films and videos. Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival is eleven days of world-class films, discussions and parties.
About UCLA Film & Television Archive
UCLA Film & Television Archive is renowned globally for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media—and is dedicated to ensuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come.
Press Release: “Big Sky” Production Begins
Production Begins on Jorge Michel Grau’s “BIG SKY”
October 11, 2013, Los Angeles, CA – Manis Film announced that production started on Big Sky, the English-language debut of Mexican helmer Jorge Michel Grau (the original We Are What We Are). The film will star Bella Thorne (upcoming The Familymoon with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner; and Disney Channel’s Shake It Up), Kyra Sedgwick (Emmy and Golden Globe winner for The Closer; The Possession; upcoming films Kill Your Darlings, Rays of Light and Reach Me), Frank Grillo (The Grey; End of Watch; Zero Dark Thirty; upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and Aaron Tveit (Les Miserables; Howl; USA’s Graceland). Principal photography commenced this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“Big Sky is a suspenseful and thrilling story that will have audiences on the edge of their seats as our troubled characters tumble further into peril,” says Randy Manis of Manis Film. “We are very excited to share the talent of our skilled director and the highly talented cast that he has attracted”.
Jorge Michel Grau’s Big Sky is the tale of Hazel (Bella Thorne), a teenage girl who suffers a mortal fear of open spaces. She never leaves her bedroom, which has put a strain on the relationship with her strung-out mom, Dee (Kyra Sedgwick), and is starting to take its toll on both of them. In a last ditch attempt to cure her daughter, Dee enrolls Hazel in a high-end treatment facility in the desert, hoping they will finally find the help they require so that Hazel can begin to move forward from the horrors of her past that triggered her illness. But help is the last thing that they get. When two brothers, Jesse (Frank Grillo) and Pru (Aaron Tveit), interfere with Hazel and Dee’s plans in the worst possible way, Hazel must confront her paralyzing fears before they consume her and is forced to fight for her survival in the harshest conditions, all while avoiding the cunning schemes hatched by Jesse.
In the tradition of such high-intensity neo-Hitchcockian thrillers as Breakdown, Dead Calm, Panic Room, and Open Water, Big Sky will take viewers to a whole new place — inside a mind that can be its own worst enemy.
Big Sky is based on an original screenplay by Evan M. Wiener (Monogamy). The producing team consists of Manis (Margin Call, The Calling, Kill Your Darlings), Matthew Salloway (The Butler, So Undercover), and Christina Papagjika (The Butler). Christine Vachon is executive producing for Killer Films (Far From Heaven, Mildred Pierce, Boys Don’t Cry), along with Jeffrey V. Mandel of Big LEO Media (Murderball). Benaroya Pictures’ genre fare subsidiary AKA pictures is co-financing the film, with Clayton Young serving as executive producer for AKA. Ricky Tollman (The Calling) is co-producer. Santiago Sanchez (Somos lo Que Hay, 72) is the director of photography.
Voltage Pictures (Don Jon, The Hurt Locker) will represent foreign rights at the upcoming American Film Market. Creative Artists Agency and Manis Film co-represent domestic rights.
Bella Thorne is represented by WME and LBI Entertainment, Kyra Sedgwick is represented by UTA and Impression Entertainment, Frank Grillo is represented by CAA and Management 360, and Aaron Tveit is represented by CAA and Elin Flack Management.
About Jorge Michel Grau
Jorge’s first feature, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (Somos lo Que Hay), premiered in Cannes in Director’s Fortnight in 2010 and went on to play the New York Film Festival. The film was released theatrically by IFC Films in 2011 and the American remake is currently in theatrical release. Jorge also directed the acclaimed short “72” and directed a segment of the anthology THE ABC’S OF DEATH, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2012 and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. Jorge has several projects in development.
About Manis Film
Manis Film is a production company and consulting firm specializing in independent feature film. It is presided over by Randy Manis, a founder of THINKFilm and former Senior VP at Lionsgate. Randy’s credits include Kill Your Darlings, Lawless, The Ides of March, Murderball, Monogamy, and Margin Call. The company has 2 films in post-production: The Calling, starring Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace, Donald Sutherland, Ellen Burstyn, Gil Bellows and Christopher Heyerdahl; and The Vicious Brothers horror film The Visitors.
About Papagjika-Salloway Productions
Papagjika-Salloway Productions is a production, financing, consulting and development company focusing on feature films, television and Broadway productions. Its principals are Christina Papagjika and Matthew Salloway, whose individual and company film credits include Lee Daniels’ The Butler, So Undercover, The Ides of March and Broadway credits including Kinky Boots (six-time 2013 Tony Award Winner, including best musical), Annie (2013 Tony Nominee Best Revival of a Musical), Jerry Seinfeld’s Long Story Short, and David Mamet’s Life in the Theater.
About Benaroya Pictures
Founded in 2006, Benaroya Pictures has a number of projects in various stages of production, including the upcoming Your Voice in My Head starring Emma Watson and Queen of the Desert starring Nicole Kidman with Werner Herzog directing. Both films are slated for production at the beginning of next year and follow on the heels of Cymbeline (recently wrapped in NYC) which was directed by Michael Almereyda and stars Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris and Milla Jovovich, and Brian Horiuchi’s Parts Per Billion (in post-production) with an ensemble that includes Rosario Dawson, Josh Hartnett, Teresa Palmer, Penn Badgley, Frank Langella and Gena Rowlands. The company also has completed Kill Your Darlings, starring Michael C. Hall, Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Huston, Ben Foster and Elizabeth Olsen, which bowed in competition at the 2013 Sundance festival. The film will be released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics this fall. Other recent titles include the romantic mystery The Words starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, and Ben Barnes, which was released by CBS Films last year. Also released recently was the thriller Lawless, staring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska from the Weinstein Company. The company’s financial thriller Margin Call was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Best First Feature Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards. Benaroya recently launched the new international sales company International Film Trust (IFT), co-founded with Miscellaneous Entertainment principals D. Todd Shepherd and George Waud. The company will represent theatrical feature film productions from their own banners on a non-exclusive basis as well as titles from other producers and third party productions.
Press Release: 42 West’s Holiday Movie Preview
Ender’s Game
In Association with ODDLOT ENTERTAINMENT
A CHARTOFF PRODUCTIONS, TALESWAPPER, ODDLOT ENTERTAINMENT, K/O PAPER PRODUCTS, DIGITAL DOMAIN Production
Based on the book titled ‘ENDER’S GAME’ by ORSON SCOTT CARD
Produced by ROBERTO ORCI, ALEX KURTZMAN, GIGI PRITZKER, LINDA McDONOUGH, ROBERT CHARTOFF, LYNN HENDEE, ORSON SCOTT CARD, ED ULBRICH
Starring ASA BUTTERFIELD, HAILEE STEINFELD, BEN KINGSLEY, VIOLA DAVIS, with ABIGAIL BRESLIN and HARRISON FORD
In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.
Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race. Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, ENDER’S GAME is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.
In theaters nationwide November 1, 2013
Last Vegas
RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 1, 2013
DIRECTED BY: Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure, While You Were Sleeping)
WRITTEN BY: Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
PRODUCED BY: Laurence Mark (Julie & Julia, Dreamgirls), Amy Baer
CAST: Michael Douglas (Wall Street, Traffic), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook, Meet the Parents), Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises, Bucket List), Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, Dave), Mary Steenburgen (The Help, The Proposal), Jerry Ferrara (Think Like a Man, “Entourage”), Romany Malco (“Weeds,” The 40-Year-Old-Virgin), Roger Bart (“Revenge,” Political Animals)
Starring four legends like you’ve never seen them before, Last Vegas tells the story of Billy, Paddy, Archie and Sam (played by Academy Award®-winners Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline), best friends since childhood. When Billy, the group’s sworn bachelor, finally proposes to his thirty-something (of course) girlfriend, the four head to Las Vegas with a plan to stop acting their age and relive their glory days. However, upon arriving, the four quickly realize that the decades have transformed Sin City and tested their friendship in ways they never imagined. The Rat Pack may have once played the Sands and Cirque du Soleil may now rule the Strip, but it’s these four who are taking over Vegas.
Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga
RELIVE THE IMMORTAL STORY OF THE GREATEST ROMANCE
AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY DISC AND DVD NOVEMBER 5, 2013
Celebrating The 5th Anniversary Of The Theatrical Debut Of The First Twilight Film, Summit Entertainment’s Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga Features All Five Films, Over 2 Hours Of Brand New Bonus Content And Every Special Feature Ever Produced For The Blockbuster Franchise
Timed to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The Twilight Saga’s original theatrical debut, fans are invited to relive the immortal love story with Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga, available as a 10-disc Blu-ray (plus Digital HD UltraViolet) set and as a 12-disc DVD (plus Digital UltraViolet) set debuting November 5, 2013 from Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE company. Whether Team Edward or Team Jacob, the passion of Twilight fans hasn’t dissipated with the final film, continuing through fan fiction, pop culture and the constant engagement of over 166 million fans in Twilight’s online network. Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga encompasses all five films, over 2 hours of brand new exclusive content and over 10 hours of every special feature ever created for the multi-billion dollar franchise. Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga is the ultimate collector’s set, an immersive experience for every Twilight fan to recapture and relive the most epic romance of the century.
The all-new material featured in this complete collection includes a cast retrospective with new interviews; “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Character” which showcases previously unreleased behind-the-scenes moments on set; an exploration of the epic’s “Twilight FAN-omenon” and individually highlights Edward and Jacob’s stories in “Twilight Forever: Edward’s Saga” and “Twilight Forever: Jacob’s Saga.” These new features will be available alongside the over 10 hours of bonus material released via previous home entertainment editions that includes multi-part “making of” documentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, cast and crew interviews, deleted and extended scenes, photo galleries, red carpet footage, music videos and more.
The deluxe packaging arrives in a double-sided box that highlights beloved characters, one side featuring Edward and Bella and the other side featuring Jacob; and the discs are held in a commemorative photo album highlighting the most iconic moments from the entire saga.
THE ARMSTRONG LIE
A Film By Alex Gibney
November 8th
OFFICAIL SELECTION OF THE 2013 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
OFFICAIL SELECTION OF THE 2013 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
In 2009 Alex Gibney was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong’s comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong’s confession. “The Armstrong Lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports. As Lance Armstrong himself says: “I didn’t live a lot of lies, but I lived
Press Materials: www.press.sonyclassics.com
THE MOTEL LIFE
Directed by ALAN POLSKY & GABRIEL POLSKY
Written by NOAH HARPSTER & MICAH FITZERMAN-BLUE / Based on the Novel by WILLY VLAUTIN
Produced by GABRIEL POLSKY, ALAN POLSKY and ANN RUARK
Cast: EMILE HIRSCH, STEPHEN DORFF, DAKOTA FANNING and KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
Limited release on November 8, 2013
With nationwide expansion to follow
WINNER OF 4 ROME FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GOLDEN MOUSE – BEST FILM – ONLINE CRITICS AWARD
APPROVED FOR ADOPTION
RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 8, 2013 NEW YORK & NOVEMBER 22, 2013 LOS ANGELES
DIRECTED BY: Laurent Boileau and Jung Henin
WRITTEN BY: Laurent Boileau and Jung Henin
PRODUCED BY: Thomas Schmidt, Patrick Quinet and Nicholas Piccato
APPROVED FOR ADOPTION traces the unconventional upbringing of filmmaker Jung Henin, one of thousands of Korean children adopted by Western families after the end of the Korean War. It is the story of a boy stranded between two cultures. Sepia-toned animated vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – track Jung from the day he first meets his new blond siblings, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and ignite the latent biases of his adoptive parents. The filmmaker tells his story using his own animation intercut with snippets of super-8 family footage and archival film. The result is a memoir like no other: clear-eyed and unflinching, humorous and wry, and above all, inspiring in the capacity of the human heart.
HOMEFRONT
NOVEMBER 27, 2013
HOMEFRONT is an action movie about a widowed ex-DEA agent who retires to a small town for the sake of his 10-year-old daughter. The only problem is he picked the wrong town.
Nationwide
GENRE: Action
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and brief sexuality
RUNNING TIME: 100:00
DISTRIBUTOR: Open Road Films
CAST: JASON STATHAM, KATE BOSWORTH, JAMES FRANCO, WINONA RYDER, FRANK GRILLO
DIRECTOR: Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury, Don’t Say A Word, Kiss the Girls)
WRITER: Sylvester Stallone
PRODUCERS: Kevin King-Templeton, Sylvester Stallone, John Thompson
OUT OF THE FURNACE
Release: December 6, 2013
Director: Scott Cooper
Writer: Story by Scott Cooper and Brad Inglesby; Screenplay by Scott Cooper- credits not final
Cast: Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana
Producers: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Killoran, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Costigan, Ryan Kavanagh- credits not final
Executive Producer: Ron Burkle, Jason Beckman, Jason Colodne- credits not final
From Scott Cooper, the critically-acclaimed writer and director of Crazy Heart, comes a gripping and gritty drama about family, fate, circumstance, and justice. Russell Baze (Christian Bale) has a rough life: he works a dead-end blue collar job at the local steel mill by day, and cares for his terminally ill father by night. When Russell’s brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) returns home from serving time in Iraq, he gets lured into one of the most ruthless crime rings in the Northeast and mysteriously disappears. The police fail to crack the case, so – with nothing left to lose – Russell takes matters into his own hands, putting his life on the line to seek justice for his brother. The impressive cast of Christian Bale and Casey Affleck are rounded out by Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard and Willem Dafoe.
ERNEST & CELESTINE
OPENING DECEMBER 6TH IN NY AND DECEMBER TBD IN LA
From the creators of Kirikou and the Sorceress, Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells comes a visually stunning, enormously entertaining new film with generation-spanning appeal.
Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets, tucked away in networks of winding subterranean tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. But it isn’t long before their friendship is put on trial by their respective bear-fearing and mice-eating communities. Fresh from standing ovations at Cannes and Toronto, Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres and influences to capture the kinetic, limitless possibilities of animated storytelling. Like a gorgeous watercolor painting brought to life, a constantly shifting pastel color palette bursts and drips across the screen, while wonderful storytelling and brilliant comic timing draw up influences as varied as Buster Keaton, Bugs Bunny and the outlaw romanticism of Bonnie and Clyde. Bringing it all together is the on-screen hemistry between the two lead characters – a flowing, tender and playful rapport that will put a smile on your face and make your heart glow.
Based on the classic Belgian book series by Gabrielle Vincent, Ernest & Celestine is winner of the Cesar Award for Best Animated Feature and numerous festival prizes.
80 Minutes, in English (also available in original French dialogue)
THE NUT JOB
January 17, 2014
In animated 3D, THE NUT JOB is an action-packed comedy in fictional Oakton that follows the travails of Surly (voiced by Will Arnett), a mischievous squirrel, and his rat friend Buddy, who plan a nut store heist of outrageous proportions and unwittingly find themselves embroiled in a much more complicated and hilarious adventure.
RELEASE DATE: January 17, 2014
GENRE: Animation, Comedy
Nationwide
RUNNING TIME: TBA
MPAA Rating: NR
DISTRIBUTOR: Open Road Films
CAST: LIAM NEESON, KATHERINE HEIGL, WILL ARNETT, BRENDAN FRASER, STEPHEN LANG, SARAH GADON, JEFF DUNHAM
DIRECTOR: Peter Lepeniotis
WRITER: Peter Lepeniotis and Lorne Cameron
PRODUCERS: Graham Moloy and WK Jung
GIMME SHELTER
Studio: Roadside Attractions
Release Date: January 24, 2014
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 100 minutes
Genre: Drama
Cast: Vanessa Hudgens (“Agnes “Apple” Bailey), Brendan Fraser (“Tom Fitzpatrick”), Rosario Dawson (“June Bailey”), James Earl Jones (“Father Frank McCarthy”), Ann Dowd (“Kathy DiFiore”), Emily Meade (“Cassandra”), Stephanie Szostak (“Joanna Fitzpatrick”), Dascha Polanco (“Carmel”)
Director: Ronald Krauss
Screenwriter: Ronald Krauss
Producers: Ronald Krauss, Jeff Rice
Executive Producer Scott Steindorff
Co-Producers: Joshua Amir, Dylan Russell
Based on a true story that centers on 16-year-old Agnes “Apple” Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens), GIMME SHELTER uncovers the struggle for survival and the hope of redemption through the harsh realities of life on the streets. As a pregnant teenager, Apple’s journey plummets her into a perilous struggle until finding salvation in a suburban shelter for homeless teens. With provisions of unprecedented comfort, a collective sisterhood connection and female empowerment, the shelter elevates Apple to break the shackles of her past and inspires her to embrace the future with clarity, maturity and hope not only for herself but her unborn child.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
February 14, 2014
Romantic Comedy
A modern reimagining of the classic romantic comedy, this contemporary version closely follows new love for two couples as they journey from the bar to the bedroom and are eventually put to the test in the real world.
Directed by Steve Pink
Screenplay by Leslye Headland Based on the Screenplay by Tim Kazurinsky & Denise DeClue Based upon “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” by David Mamet
Produced by Will Packer, Will Gluck
Executive Producer Glenn S. Gainor
Cast Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Joy Bryant, Christopher McDonald and Paula Patton
This film is not yet rated by the MPAA. For future ratings information refer to http://www.filmratings.com.
Credits not final
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