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Tom Cruise, needless to say, is the true definition of the word superstar. Not only in Hollywood, the man is loved and respected throughout the world. Every year, fans wait impatiently for his films to drop so we can see him in action. Honestly, he makes 60 look like the new 23. Naturally, when he became a father, people believed that his kids would take up after him.

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise has three children – Isabella and Connor with Nicole Kidman and Suri with Katie Holmes. While he has reportedly been estranged from Suri, he has a fairly good relationship with his other two children. While Connor Cruise followed his dad’s footsteps for a bit, he has now left the world of glitz and glamour for a quiet life.

Connor Cruise’s Short Run in Tinseltown Connor Cruise and Josh Hutcherson in Red Dawn...

Will Smith is one of the most recognized actors in Hollywood. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star began his career as a rapper and then went on to star in his own sitcom. Smith graduated to the movies and had his breakout as an action star with films like Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black.

Smith’s son Jaden Smith has also made his mark as an actor and a musician. The Grammy-nominated rapper is probably best known for his role in 2010’s The Karate Kid, a loose remake of the original that starred Jackie Chan in the lead role. He has worked with his father, Will Smith, on multiple occasions. Here are the duo’s appearances ranked from worst to best.

3. After Earth Will Smith and Jaden Smith in After Earth | Credits: Sony Pictures

Starting with the father-son duo’s last appearance on the big screen...

Some actors show immense talent from a young age, and Jaden Smith is one such example. The actor debuted as an 8-year-old alongside his father, Will Smith, in the 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

However, it was his successful stint in The Karate Kid with the iconic Jackie Chan which went on to establish his reputation in the industry. Unfortunately, he never could replicate that level of success with his later projects, and diverted his career path. The young star then kickstarted his musical career and that too became huge after several hits.

From a young movie star to a musical prodigy

Will Smith worked consistently in the entertainment industry to establish himself as a talented actor. The Men In Black star dabbled in films of a diverse range to prove his acting ability.

Will Smith and Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness | Credits: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing

However,...

Starring alongside his father Will Smith, Jaden Smith made his acting debut with the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. The film, following the story of a father and a struggling salesman who overcomes numerous hardships to provide a better life for his son, was a major success and even earned Smith his second Best Actor Oscar nomination.

The Pursuit of Happyness | Credit: Columbia Pictures

However, the fate of the movie and how it turned out could have been significantly affected by the studio’s initial hesitation about casting Will Smith’s son alongside him, primarily due to the concerns surrounding nepotism.

How Jaden Smith’s Casting Almost Changed The Pursuit of Happyness

Directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith alongside his son Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness follows the inspirational real-life story of Chris Gardner, a businessman who became a stockbroker and founded his own brokerage firm.

Will...

The resignation of Italy’s culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano on Friday, after he admitted to having an extramarital affair with a ministry consultant, is prompting hope across the Italian industry that his departure could help remove legislative impediments that many claim are causing a production slowdown.

Sangiuliano stepped down Friday in the wake of a scandal that dominated Italian headlines for days and rocked Italy’s right-wing government headed by Giorgia Meloni. It involves Maria Rosaria Boccia, a self-proclaimed fashion entrepreneur who claimed on Instagram to have been hired as a ministry advisor. After Sangiuliano denied this, it surfaced that they had been having an affair.

Sangiuliano has been replaced as culture minister by Alesandro Giuli, head of Rome’s Maxxi museum of contemporary art and architecture. Giuli on Saturday made the trek to the Venice Film Festival to attend the closing ceremony, during which anger was vented against long-gestating...

Amid major movie market upheavals, Leone Film Group is still the main Italian distributor of top-notch English-language indie film fare, spanning all genres with titles from directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

But while in the past Leone Film Group relied on output deals with U.S. indies, such as Lionsgate and Spielberg’s Amblin, these days “we supply ourselves from whomever has worthy product,” says its head of acquisitions Francesco Polimanti. That includes titles such as recent hit “Civil War,” with Kirsten Dunst, “John Wick 4” with Keanu Reeves as the iconic assassin and the upcoming “Dumb Money.”

Polimanti went on a buying spree in May at Cannes, where he picked up a trio from Black Bear, including Guy Ritchie’s next film, “Wife and Dog,” set in the world of British aristocracy. It marks the fifth Ritchie-directed movie that will go out in Italy through Leone.

Italy’s Leone Film Group is taking the legacy of its founder, spaghetti Western master Sergio Leone, to the next level.

As the Rome-based company run by the maestro’s children, Raffaella and Andrea, celebrates its 35th anniversary, it continues to consolidate its standing as the preeminent supplier of U.S. indie product to Italy. The Leone’s film and TV production side has been recently growing with a robust slate of high-end content for the international market.

Having become the top distribution partner in Italy for U.S. indies such as Lionsgate, STX Entertainment, Voltage and Black Bear, the Leone Film Group is now focused on what Raffaella Leone calls the “more difficult task” of “laying the groundwork for our production side in the international arena.”

The group’s Lotus Production label, which is now run directly by Raffaella, has a slew of projects in various stages, with new films by James Gray,...

Moving into acting during the start of the ‘90s, Will Smith has built himself to be one of the most bankable faces in Hollywood. Grossing over $9.3 billion globally, his movies have always struck a chord with the audience. Famed for his versatility in roles ranging from sci-fi to action-comedy with the likes of Men In Black and Bad Boys being his most celebrated outings, he has, though, contributed much more poignantly to cinema.

Will Smith speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International | Gage Skidmore for Wikimedia Commons

A father of three, Smith has, at times, settled into his real-life shoes to resonate to the core with anyone watching. Notably, his acting stints alongside his son, Jaden Smith as his co-star, have gone on to capture riveting moments of fatherhood quite poignantly. As such, one movie from 2006 featuring the duo not only received widespread acclaim but also made itself synonymous as...

Almost 20 years later, and Will Smith is still happiest with his performance in “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

The critically acclaimed 2006 film is based on the true story of an unhoused San Francisco-based single father who rises up in the ranks of a tech company, beginning with door-to-door sales. Smith recently said during an episode of First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” series that “The Pursuit of Happyness” is the “best movie” of his career.

“I think the individual best movie, all around, that I’ve ever made is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,'” Smith said. “Right behind that is the first ‘Men In Black.’ The direction, cinematography, and music…”

Smith later reunited with “The Pursuit of Happyness” director Gabriele Muccino for drama “Seven Pounds.”

The actor, who won the Oscar for “King Richard,” added to “Hot Ones” that he also has some beloved franchise installments.

“I think among the most...

Director Francesca Archibugi, whose feminist fascist-era saga “La Storia” was Italy’s biggest TV event of 2023, is set to return behind camera on World War II drama “The Italian Chapel” set in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

Inspired by a true story, “Italian Chapel” is centered on a clash between the local Orkney community and prisoners of war who are confined there. Against this backdrop, a secret romance springs up between an Italian prisoner and a Scottish islander.

The film, which was originally developed by Working Title Films and the British Film Institute (BFI), is being co-produced by Andrew Bendel’s U.K. production company Blue Horizon Productions (“Metroland”) in tandem with Marco Belardi’s Rome-based Greenboo Production. Greenboo is the Banijay-owned company behind hits such as “Perfect Stangers,” Gabriele Muccino’s “There Is No Place Like Home,” and Paolo Virzì’s “Like Crazy,” starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, which launched from Director’s Fortnight in 2016.

Archibugi,...

The Cannes Film Festival has named the eight members of its main Competition jury who will join previously announced president Greta Gerwig in deciding the Palme d’Or and other key prizes at 77th edition running from May 14 to 25.

They are Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, U.S. actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter J.A. Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

The wife and long-time collaborator of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, screenwriter and photographer Ceylan co-wrote 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep and also took co-writing credits on Cannes selected films Three Monkeys (Best Director Prize 2008), Once upon a time in Anatolia (Grand Prix 2011), The Wild Pear Tree (2018) and About Dry Grasses (2023).

Ceylan also appeared as an actress and took art director credits on her husband’s early films...

“The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore and Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera play alternate versions of themselves on the final episode of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which was released this weekend on pay-tv Sky Italia.

Shot in September 2023, during the real Venice event, the show sees Impacciatore play the fest’s master of ceremonies who, wearing a red gown, disembarks with her agent from a motorboat on the Lido at the Excelsior Hotel dock, greeted by throngs of fans and paparazzi. She then starts acting a bit strange, speaking to Barbera in English instead of Italian and almost falling into the lagoon, as seen in the above exclusive subtitled clip.

Impacciatore, who played Valentina, the hotel manager in the Sicily-set second season of “White Lotus,” was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the hit HBO show which also gave her domestic career a nice boost.

The great Martin Scorsese returned to the Eternal City, accompanied by the star of the moment, Lily Gladstone, as the guests of honor of a gala dinner at the Hotel Hassler by the Spanish steps Wednesday night. The event, honoring Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and hosted by co-chief of Leone Film Group, Raffaella Leone, daughter of great Italian film director Sergio Leone, and Paolo Del Brocco, head of Rai Cinema, the Italian distributor of Killers. Hot off the film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including a record-setting 10th best director nod for Scorsese and the historic best actress nod for Gladstone as the first Native American nominated in the category, the event was a must-attend for the Italian film scene.

The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...

Italian actor Sandra Milo, known for memorable roles in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and “Juliet of the Spirits” as well as her work with Roberto Rossellini, died on Monday at her Rome home. She was 90.

News of Milo’s death was announced on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzurra, and son Ciro, who said Milo died in her sleep on Monday morning.

Italian deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni mourned the passing of Milo as the loss of a “protagonist of Italian cinema … a great, talented artist with an overwhelming charisma” and “the muse of great directors such as Federico Fellini who won the hearts of millions of Italians.”

Milo, whose work spanned several genres, made her big screen debut in 1955 alongside popular comic actor Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s “Lo Scapolo” (“The Bachelor”). Other comedies followed such as “Totò in the Moon” (“Totò Nella Luna”), one of...

It's a miracle Peter Berg's "Hancock" exists at all.

The revisionist Will Smith superhero flick began life in 1996 as a spec screenplay by Vy Vincent Ngo called "Tonight, He Comes." The tale of a surly, alcoholic antihero was way ahead of its time; it was a refutation of comic book movies that weren't being made in the absurd volume we're seeing today. It was also startlingly original, which prompted no less an A-lister than Tony Scott to acquire it as a potential directing project. It was one of the hottest scripts in Hollywood, and, for six solid years, it went absolutely nowhere.

"Tonight, He Comes" nearly went before cameras in the early 2000s under the direction of Michael Mann, then nearly came to fruition with the likes of Jonathan Mostow and Gabriele Muccino at the helm. Vince Gilligan and John August were brought in to rework the script in...

U.S. actor Elena Kampouris (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”) is set to star in the Sicily-set “Here Now,” a romantic thriller marking Italian director Gabriele Muccino’s return to English-language filmmaking. Muccino’s Hollywood credits include the Will Smith-starrer “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Kampouris’ recent efforts comprise Netflix series “Jupiter’s Legacy” and the 2020 remake of “Children of the Corn.” In “Here Now” she plays Sophie, a young Californian who is traveling in Italy with her sister. During her last day of vacation in Palermo, Sicily, Sophie meets a boy named Giulio and his group of friends with whom she winds up spending “the most unpredictable, crazy, shocking, exciting, romantic and terrifying night of her life,” according to the film’s provided synopsis.

The movie’s other cast members include Saul Nanni, who starred in Netflix Italian original “Love & Gelato”; Lorenzo Richelmy, who toplined Netflix’s “Marco Polo...

Emmy-nominated “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore will play the Venice Film Festival’s master of ceremonies in the upcoming second season of the Italian version of “Call My Agent,” which will also feature a cameo by Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Impacciatore, wearing a red gown, disembarked from a water taxi at the Excelsior Hotel pier on the Venice Lido on Saturday welcomed by Barbera, as cameras rolled for a key scene in the show. Actors playing photographers for the scene and also real paparazzi snapped away upon her arrival.

“’Call My Agent – ​​Italia’ is a true love letter to cinema, its rituals and its protagonists,” Nils Hartmann, EVP of Sky Studios for Italy and Germany, said in a statement. “It is therefore a truly great emotion, and at the same time a great motive of pride for us, to be able to shoot the second season of such...

Penélope Cruz is set to star as Olga, a writer forced to give up her artistic ambitions when her husband suddenly leaves her and their two young daughters, in Isabel Coixet’s English-language adaptation of Italian author Elena Ferrante’s “The Days of Abandonment.”

The deal to make the film, which is now in development, was signed before the SAG-AFTRA strike. While Cruz did not attend the Venice Film Festival, she elicited raves from critics on the Lido for her performance in Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” as the angry, lonely, grief-ravaged Laura Ferrari, emotionally estranged from her husband Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver).

“The Days of Abandonment,” which will transpose the novel’s original Italian setting to America, reunites the two top Spanish talents following their collaboration on another U.S.-set film, the 2008 drama “Elegy” an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novella “The Dying Animal,” about an affair between a...

Italian production designer Tonino Zera, whose credits include Roman Polanski’s upcoming drama The Palace, will be feted with the Campari Passion Award at the 80th edition of Venice Film Festival, running from August 30 to September 9.

The prize, which was launched at the 75th Venice Film Festival, pays tribute to cinema crafts professionals who have made a “remarkable contribution” to the films on which they have worked.

Previous recipients span U.S. film editor Bob Murawski, Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, U.S. jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, UK production designer Marcus Rowland, and U.S. artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips.

Zera will be presented with the award on September 2 ahead of the Out of Competition world premiere of The Palace in the Sala Grande.

“To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a...

Banijay is expanding its footprint in Italy’s scripted production arena by partnering with Greenboo Production, the shingle recently founded by “Perfect Strangers” producer Marco Belardi.

Formerly known as Bamboo Production, Greenboo was launched last year by Belardi, who formerly headed the Leone Film Group’s film and TV company Lotus Production. Besides producing “Perfect Strangers,” the megahit concept dramedy that’s been remade in a dozen countries around the world, Belardi has also spawned a steady stream of other hits such as Gabriele Muccino’s “There Is No Place Like Home,” which in 2018 pulled in more than $10 million locally and has been spun off recently into a successful TV series for Sky. They also have high-end series “Lions of Sicily” coming up for Disney and a multi-picture deal with Netflix.

“Greenboo is a promising new venture, which, thanks to the experience of its founder, Marco, has already launched numerous...

In Italy, Pierfrancesco Favino needs no introduction. At this year’s David di Donatello awards ceremony — Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars — a Favino film was nominated in every major category. A shortlist of the directors he’s worked with — Gabriele Salvatores, Giuseppe Tornatore, Marco Bellocchio, Gianni Amelio, Gabriele Muccino, Ferzan Ozpetek, Mario Martone — reads like a who’s who of Italian cinema.

Internationally, Favino has carved out a second career as a supporting player in Hollywood productions. In Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna, Ron Howard’s Rush and Angels and Demons, or Mark Forster’s World War Z. But his most recent U.S. visit — to this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York — was for an Italian film: Andrea Di Stefano’s Last Night of Amore, which screened in competition.

In the gritty police drama, Favino plays the titular Franco Amore, a good cop called...

“Good evening, Rome. Good evening, Romans. I am finally here, in the city where my heart beats faster.”

Enthusiastic applause erupted from the swelling crowd of fans on the steps of the Roman Theatre at the legendary Italian studio Cinecittà on Saturday as the Gladiator himself, New Zealand star Russell Crowe, stepped out to perform.

Crowe, who was recently named the official ambassador for Rome’s bid to host the 2030 world expo, gave a free concert, accompanied by his band the Indoor Garden Party, performing alongside The Gentlemen Barbers and Irish singer Lorraine O’Reilly.

Dressed all in black — like the rest of the band — Crowe immediately launched a few blues-flavored tunes, filling the stage as a singer with the same ease and charm he has as an actor on stage.

Watching him from the bleachers is Gabriele Muccino, Crowe’s close friend, who directed him in Fathers and Daughters, as...

It’s 7:30 a.m. on a sunny May morning in Rome on a side street outside the studios of Italian state broadcaster Rai. A live audience standing behind metal fencing is watching a lithe group of nuns, one with a mustache, who slowly creep out from a row of white closet doors.

They start dancing, hugging and pirouetting to a ballad belted out by a young Tuscan pop singer. Then the dancers, dressed in Catholic sisters garb, begin playing basketball.

Welcome to “Viva Rai 2!,” Italy’s answer to America’s morning shows. It’s a local ratings phenomenon conceived and conducted by volcanic Sicilian megastar Rosario Fiorello, who is breathing new life into Italian television at a time when doomsayers are sounding the death knell of public TV around the world.

Every morning on weekdays, when “Viva Rai 2!” airs on the pubcaster’s Rai 2 station, ratings soar...

Russell Crowe will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival (June 30-July 8). The Oscar winning actor will also deploy his musical talent with his band Indoor Garden Party, which will perform at the festival’s opening night concert. The festival also revealed Friday that Johnny Depp would appear in its trailer, which will have its premiere at the opening ceremony.

Crowe, who was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia at an early age, began his acting career at the age of 6, working in TV and theater. In 1989, he started working in Australian films, with “The Crossing”, “Proof”, and “Romper Stomper”. He won two Australian Academy Awards: supporting actor for “Proof” and best actor for “Romper Stomper.”

His first appearance in a U.S. film was alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio in Sam Raimi’s...

Exclusive: Non-English language drama streamer Walter Presents has acquired a package of five drama titles from Beta for release on its services in Australia and New Zealand.

The titles include Italian YA drama The Sea Beyond, Spanish investigative drama Rapa and German WWII miniseries The Turncoat.

The Sea Beyond, revolving around young inmates in a Naples prison, has enjoyed strong ratings in Italy on Rai, RaiPlay and Netflix since its launch in late 2020. The third season is currently enjoying linear success on Rai2.

Rapa, which was the most watched show on Spanish streamer Movistar Plus+ in 2022, follows a high school teacher and local police officer in the Spanish port city of Ferrol, who form an unlikely team in solving a murder case.

Two-part, event mini-series The Turncoat is about a young German soldier in 1944, who is posted to a small unit in the Polish woods, where he connects with local...

The story of Italy’s most-wanted Mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, whose recent arrest by police in Palermo after 30 years on the run made global headlines, is set to become a big-budget film.

Rome-based producer Marco Belardi (“Perfect Strangers”) has acquired rights to ace anti-Mafia journalist Lirio Abbate’s book about the Cosa Nostra boss. The book is titled “U Siccu,” which is Sicilian dialect that translates as “The Skinny One.”

Messina Denaro was arrested in mid-January by dozens of police officers outside an upscale medical facility in Palermo where he had been undergoing cancer treatment for a year under false identity.

Belardi’s company Bamboo Productions has announced plans for the tale of this elusive top mafioso, convicted of masterminding some of Italy’s most heinous slayings – including the killings of prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and the grisly murder of a Mafia turncoat’s young son, who...

Sabrina Impacciatore, an Italian breakout star of the Sicily-set second season of The White Lotus, has signed with Gersh and Mgmt Entertainment.

The Hollywood representation opens a new chapter in Impacciatore’s career. She was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the second installment of the HBO series, which follows a new group of resort guests played by Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, Theo James, F. Murray Abraham and others, and their intertwining love stories.

Season two of Mike White’s satire of the rich and miserable is set in Taormina, along the Sicilian coast, and Impacciatore takes center stage as the manager of the show’s titular luxury hotel. Back in Italy, Impacciatore rose to fame with roles in Paolo Virzì’s N (Io e Napoleone) and Gabriele Muccino’s 2018 hit There’s No Place Like Home.

She had a cameo as Seraphia in Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster film The Passion of the Christ,...

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Sabrina Impacciatore’s life, after being cast as Valentina, the hotel manager in the second season of HBO’s The White Lotus, didn’t simply change, it was turned upside-down.

“It was all beyond my expectations, but it definitely lived up to my dreams,” the Italian actress says of her work on the hit TV show. “Being part of this project was a big, enormous chance for me. Because I was finally able to truly see things that, here in Italy, [otherwise] just wouldn’t be possible.”

Back in Italy, Impacciatore rose to fame with roles in Paolo Virzì’s N (Io e Napoleone) (2006) and Gabriele Muccino’s 2018 hit There’s No Place Like Home. But aside from a cameo as Seraphia in Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, she’s been all but invisible to U.S. audiences.

The White Lotus...

Veteran Rome-based distribution and production exec Thomas J. Ciampa, who in June exited WarnerMedia where he was Italy, Spain and Portugal country manager, is joining prominent Italian producer Marco Belardi’s expanding Bamboo Production shingle as its chief of international operations.

Ciampa, who worked at Warner Bros. in Italy for 25 years in various guises, in January 2022 had replaced Barbara Salabè as the top WarnerMedia exec when she exited after three decades. But Ciampa was then replaced in June by Alessandro Araimo as part of the restructuring due to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Ciampa’s responsibilities had included overall theatrical distribution for Warner Bros. as well as for Sony Pictures, which had a deal with Warner Bros. in Italy. However, Sony from 2023 will be releasing its titles in Italy via local indie Eagle Pictures, an indication of how the theatrical market is changing with studios shifting their priorities as streaming makes greater gains.

Exclusive: Sony has rounded out its cast for The Equalizer 3, with Eugenio Mastrandrea (From Scratch), Remo Girone (Ford v Ferrari), Sonia Ammar (Scream), Daniele Perrone (Baaria), Andrea Scarduzio (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One) and Andrea Dodero (Blocco 181) signing on for roles.

The actors join an ensemble led by Denzel Washington which also includes Dakota Fanning, and Gaia Scodellaro, as previously announced.

While the film’s plot is being kept under wraps, it’s the third in an action series centered on Washington’s vigilante Robert McCall, from director Antoine Fuqua. The first released in 2014 earned over 194M worldwide, spurring a 2018 sequel that grossed over 190M worldwide.

Slated for release in theaters on September 1, 2023, The Equalizer 3 was written by Richard Wenk. Producers include Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Washington, Fuqua, Clayton Townsend, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Tony Eldridge and Michael Sloan.

Mastrandrea can currently be seen opposite Zoe Saldana...

Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning film “Cinema Paradiso,” about a marvellous Sicilian cinema where a boy nicknamed Toto embarks on a lifelong love affair with the movies, is being spun off into a high-profile TV series that Tornatore will write and direct.

The six-episode “Paradiso” show is being developed by prominent Rome-based producer Marco Belardi (“Perfect Strangers”) through his new shingle Bamboo Production, which he launched in February. Belardi said he’s in advanced talks with an unspecified U.S. streamer to come on board. Belardi is currently in the U.S. with Tornatore, negotiating a deal.

“Cinema Paradiso” won a Special Jury Prize at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival before going on to win the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1990 and earning more than 12 million at the U.S. box via Miramax that year. The pic, which has since gained cult status globally, was re-released in the U.K.

“The Blind Side” is a true story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized youngster who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick after being adopted by a loving family of Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy.

Leigh Anne Tuohy takes him in, and with the help of her husband Sean, transformative changes begin to take place in Michael’s life. He learns the value of hard work and education, and he slowly starts to believe in himself.

The Tuohys eventually adopt Michael, and he goes on to attend Ole Miss on a full football scholarship. In the NFL, he becomes one of the league’s top offensive linemen, playing a pivotal role in helping the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl.

“The Blind Side” is a heartwarming tale of hope and redemption that demonstrates the power of family, faith, and love.

For the fans of movies like “The Blind Side,...

Tiffany Haddish is defending Will Smith in the wake of his viral Academy Awards moment.

The comedian told People at the Governors Ball following the Oscars ceremony that watching Smith slap presenter Chris Rock following a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith was the “most beautiful thing” to witness.

“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife, that meant so much to me,” said Haddish, who co-starred with Jada Pinkett Smith in “Girls Trip.” “As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,’ that’s what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you, and that meant the world to me.”

Haddish, who also presented at the 2022 Oscars on March 27, continued, “And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve...

Giancarlo Giannini, who was the late great Lina Wertmüller’s muse, helmer Gabriele Muccino (“The Pursuit of Happyness”), and Teresa Saponangelo, star of Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” are among top honorees of the seventh edition of Filming Italy — Los Angeles, the bridge between Italy and Hollywood set to run as a hybrid event Feb. 28-March 3.

The celebration of Italy’s top film and TV titles is headed by longtime Italian industry promoter Tiziana Rocca, a former chief of the Taormina Film Festival. She proudly points out that its physical screenings, starting on March 1 in L.A.’s Harmony Gold Theater, are among the first inperson events in Los Angeles as ceremonies open up in the city.

Thanks to Rocca’s dogged determination Giannini, who starred in nine Wertmüller films, starting with sex comedy and social satire “The Seduction of Mimi,” is to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Costume designer Sharen Davis is having a big year, having worked with both Denzel Washington, who directed “A Journal for Jordan,” now in theaters, and with Will Smith, who stars in “King Richard,” on HBO Max.

“A Journal for Jordan,” based on the heartbreaking true story of a soldier deployed to Iraq who keeps a diary for his infant son, is the latest of her frequent collaborations with Washington. Davis says she worked hard to dress down “fashion icon” star Michael B. Jordan. Since the character was in the military, she decided he would have a suitcase with few items. “We want to see how he manages all these visits with five shirts and three pairs of pants,” Davis says.

The biggest costume arc in the film is for Chanté Adams, who plays Dana Canedy, their child’s mother and the New York Times editor who wrote the bestselling book...

Will Smith stars as the real-life father of two of the most gifted athletes of all time in “King Richard.” Warner Bros. has released the first trailer of the moving drama that could be a box office hit and possible awards contender.

Inspired by a true story, “King Richard” tells the story of Richard Williams (Smith), an undeterred father who was instrumental in raising Venus and Serena Williams (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton), two of the best tennis players in the world. Driven by a clear vision of the future, Richard executes a plan that moves the girls from the streets of Compton, Calif., to the global stage as sports icons.

From acclaimed director Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men”) and debut screenwriter Zach Baylin, the trailer showcases powerful emotional beats coming from Smith, including an emotional speech in which he states: “You will be representing every little Black girl on Earth.

Will Smith often delivers some of his best acting work when tackling true stories, be it in Michael Mann’s “Ali” or Gabriele Muccino’s “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Both of these films earned Smith Oscar nominations for Best Actor. The next true-story drama for the actor is Warner Bros.’ biographical sports drama “King Richard,” in which Smith plays the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. The film takes an intimate look at how Richard trained his young daughters to be world class athletes. “King Richard” marks the studio filmmaking debut of Reinaldo Marcus Green, an indie favorite after directorial efforts such as “Monsters and Men” and “Joe Bell.”

The official “King Richard” synopsis from Warner Bros. reads: “Based on the true story that will inspire the world, ‘King Richard’ follows the journey of Richard Williams, an undeterred father instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time,...

ViacomCBS International Studios and Italy’s Leone Film Group have forged a strategic partnership by signing a long-term agreement to co-produce a wide range of Italian content for the global market.

This potentially milestone pact between Vis and Leone — the prominent indie production and distribution shingle owned and operated by late master director Sergio Leone’s children Raffaella and Andrea — will create “vast opportunities for the development and creation of Italian language content, original, scripted, and unscripted formats,” the companies said in a joint statement.

“As part of its commitment to investing in quality content as a strategic lever to generate value for all platforms globally, Vis is bolstering its production capacities in Europe by tapping into the creativity and talent in Italy,” the statement added.

Italy now has an attractive 40% tax rebate for international productions and is in the process of radically revamping Rome’s iconic Cinecittà Studios in...

Italy’s 66th David di Donatello Awards are set to celebrate on May 11 a year of resilience for Cinema Italiano that also looks likely to germinate some creative renewal, just as Italian movie theaters start to reopen and production is booming.

Giorgio Diritti’s biopic “Hidden Away,” about crazed primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue, Gianni Amelio’s wistful “Hammamet,” which reconstructs the Tunisian self-exile of scandal-plagued Italian leader Bettino Craxi, and dark drama “Bad Tales” by the D’Innocenzo Brothers lead the crowded field for Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars, with no clear frontrunner.

Significantly, “Hidden Away,” which scooped 15 nominations, and “Bad Tales,” which scored 13, both star actor Elio Germano. And Germano also plays the lead in another standout title in the Davids race, Netflix Italian Original “The Incredible Story of Rose Island,” which landed 11 noms, including one for the pic’s producer, multihyphenate Matteo Rovere, whose Groenlandia Group is having a banner year.

European film, TV and media group Wild Bunch is moving to strengthen its involvement in production and co-productions in France, placing longtime in-house execs Adeline Fontan Tessaur and Jerome Rougier in charge of the effort. They will respectively continue as Managing Director of Elle Driver and Director of French Theatrical Distribution, and will spearhead acquisitions with a particular focus on co-productions. The first films will be announced in the coming weeks.

The push in France follows similar developments at Wild Bunch subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Spain. Recently appointed COO of Wild Bunch, Marc Gabizon, created and developed the Wild Bunch activity in Germany and is continuing the policy to grow production and co-production in Europe.

Wild Bunch has kept busy with internal shifts and new in-roads over the past year. That includes recently setting key promotions at independent sales subsidiary Wild Bunch International, as well as securing a 35M...

Leone Film Group’s Lotus Production shingle is setting up Lotus Factory, a new unit for high-profile genre projects out of Italy made for the international market.

These currently include a live action TV series in development on the origins of Santa Clause, for which Lotus chief Marco Belardi has recruited top U.S. talent: Oscar-nominated writer Jim Capobianco (“Ratatouille”) and Robert Lence.

“We are planning to make films of different genres from those that are usually produced in Italy,” Belardi told Variety, noting that Italy’s scripted content output is largely made up of “dramas, comedies and an occasional noir.”

For example, Italian film and TV content targeting family audiences is quite scarce, a gap Belardi is looking to fill with Lotus Factory.

Belardi has recruited young Italian director Nicola Abbatangelo, who recently completed “The Land of Dreams,” an English-language movie musical set in 1920s New York, to serve...

Santiago Segura’s Father There Is Only One sequel is a major new opener in Spain.

South Korea, opening Wednesday July 29

In South Korea, where theatrical releases open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the new films in cinemas this weekend with top ticket reservation rates, according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic), are led by Lotte Cultureworks’ Jung Woo-sung-starrer Steel Rain 2: Summit - director Yang Woo-suk’s sequel to his North-South Korea political action thriller.

The film opened Wednesday, July 29 and as of Thursday has clocked up $1.2m atop the box office chart.

Further new titles include Chinese shark...

Leonine is opening Russell Crowe thriller ‘Unhinged’ in Germany.

As cinemas begin to reopen again in many territories, Screen is tracking which films are being released in key territories each week.

Cinema reopening dates around the world: latest updates France, opening Wednesday July 15

The French box office entered its fourth full week of activity on July 15, following the reopening of cinemas on June 22 after their 14-week Covid-19 hiatus.

New films on release this week include Francois Ozon’s young adult drama Summer Of 85. Diaphana Distribution pushed the launch forward from France’s typical Wednesday release day to Tuesday, to...

In Italy, which is suffering the biggest coronavirus outbreak in Europe with more than 350 deaths, box office crashed to an all time low of €439.000 over the March 5 weekend frame. Or rather, the portion of the weekend prior to Sunday May 8.

On Sunday the government ordered a total shutdown until at least April 3 of all movie theaters. Prior to Sunday, roughly half the country’s screens – those in the less affected central and southern regions – had been allowed to stay open, provided spectators sit three seats apart in what turned out to be a short-lived Italian experiment.

Battered by all these impediments, Italy’s March 5 frame repped a roughly 90% plunge in grosses compared with the same period in 2019 and a 79% drop compared to the previous weekend, which had already been a total bloodbath.

The top title was Berlin prizewinner “Hidden Away,” the biopic of eclectic painter Antonio Ligabue that recently scored...

The film received its market premiere at Berlin’s Efm.

Elle Driver has closed sales on Gabriele Muccino’s hit drama The Best Years, which received its market premiere at Berlin’s Efm.

The film follows three childhood friends and the woman they all fall for at one point in their lives, over the course of 40 years of recent Italian history.

In Europe, it has sold to France (Arp Selection), Germany (Prokino Filmverleih), Spain (Vertigo Films), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Greece (Tanweer), Portugal (Outsider Films), Sweden and Iceland (Njuta Film) and Denmark (Another World).

In the rest of the world,...

Starring Kim Rossi Stuart in a lead role, the new film by the director-screenwriter of Easy! and Friends by Chance is produced by Palomar in league with Vision Distribution. After five weeks of filming in Rome and one spent in Livorno, the new movie by Francesco Bruni Andrà tutto bene is now in the editing room. Following on from Easy! , Noi 4 and Friends by Chance, this director-screenwriter, winner of multiple David di Donatello awards and faithful collaborator of Paolo Virzì has chosen Kim Rossi Stuart as the protagonist of his fourth work. The latter will play a man who finds himself having to delve into his own past, and that of his father, following an unexpected event. Written by Bruni himself, the story revolves around Bruno Salvati, a film director of...

Tiff Midnight Madness breakout has already scored deals in key European territories.

Elle Driver has acquired international sales rights to Us director Keith Thomas’s buzzed-about supernatural horror The Vigil, revolving around the Jewish custom of shemira, or watching over the corpse of a recently deceased person ahead of their burial.

Under the seven-figure deal, the Paris-based company is selling the world aside from the Us, which is being handled by CAA Media Finance.

Elle Driver has already scored deals in the key European territories of Spain (Vertigo), France (Wild Bunch Distribution), Italy (Bim) and Germany (Wild Bunch Germany).

The...

In a key step in its ongoing expansion Leone Film Group in 2014 partnered with young producer Marco Belardi and bought his small but commercially flourishing Lotus Production shingle, which has since become a bigger affair.

Raffaella Leone says while Lfg was being floated on the Milan bourse she knew they “had to guarantee content” to investors beyond titles available in Hollywood and on the international market at large. She also knew it was tough to build a production company from scratch, since “production was not our specific know-how.”

So Raffaella and Andrea zeroed in on Lotus, which in 10 years of activity had forged exclusive relationships with up-and-coming Italian directors such as Paolo Genovese, now known for 2016 megahit “Perfect Strangers.” After a few meetings, Belardi and the Leones struck up “a good personal feeling,” she says. And from there sprung a “fortunate match.”

Belardi recalls he was a bit taken aback...

Italy’s Leone Film Group, the company founded by Spaghetti Western master Sergio Leone, has been on a roaring roll since 2012.

That’s when his children, Raffaella and Andrea, who now run the company, spotted a theatrical distribution gap left open by Medusa and Rai Cinema and stepped in to swiftly sign an output deal with DreamWorks. This, in turn, propelled its expansion.

The two Leone siblings hadn’t been idle before then. They were already among the top distributors of TV movies in Italy, having delved into that market in 1989, the year their father founded the company. That was also the year that Leone Sr. died.

In those days, driven by Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset, Italian TV was flourishing, recalls Andrea. “For us, movies are a passion; but at the same time they are business,” he says. During that period, “there was serious opportunity to do business in that segment.

Pierfrancesco Favino, who heads to Cannes in the starring role of Marco Bellocchio’s Palme d’Or contender The Traitor, co-stars.

Elle Driver has boarded world sales on Italian director Gabriele Muccino’s drama The Best Years, exploring the cycle of life through the forty-year relationship of four close friends, against the backdrop of contemporary Italian history.

The Paris-based sales company will kick-off pre-sales on the film in Cannes ahead of shooting, which commences in June.

Pierfrancesco Favino, who heads to Cannes in the starring role of Marco Bellocchio’s Palme d’Or contender The Traitor, co-stars opposite Claudio Santamaria,...