Latest in European Film Market

Taking the reins at the Berlinale's European Film Market after the departure of the long-serving Matthijs Wouter Knol, who left last year to run the European Film Academy, was never going to be easy. Throw an ongoing pandemic into the mix, which has upended traditional industry interactions and shut down international…

UPDATE 09/07 4.40AM PT: Berlinale just confirmed our earlier scoop that Dennis Ruh is taking the reins of the European Film Market from 2021, replacing the outgoing Matthijs Wouter Knol. Here’s a statement from the fest: "With Dennis Ruh, we have gained a well-connected industry expert to head the EFM. We both see him…

Apple Tree Productions, the ITV Studios backed production company led by The Killing producer Piv Bernth, is to adapt Kerstin Ekman’s award-winning crime novel Blackwater into a six-part TV series for Sweden’s SVT. Announced at the European Film Market, Blackwater is billed as a “landmark premium crime drama series&#8221…

Samuel L. Jackson has been tapped to play a retired hitman in a currently untitled feature, which will be directed by Focus and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot helmers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra. The project re-teams Jackson with Soul Men co-writer Matthew Stone, who penned the script. John Davis (The Predator franchise) is…

EXCLUSIVE: Millennium Films' Red Sonja film with Bryan Singer is being put on the back burner. After the movie was on the slate last year at the American Film Market, the prolific U.S. mini-studio has told us, “the project is not on the slate at the moment and is not for sale at the EFM in Berlin." Embattled Bohemian R…

Film Mode Entertainment racked up sales at the European Film Market in Berlin for Rabid, the Soska Sisters’ reimagining of David Cronenberg’s 1977 namesake cult classic, and for Project Ithaca, a sci-fi thriller with compelling visual effects. Rabid stars Laura Vandervoort (Jigsaw, V) and Ben Hollingsworth (Code Black…

Maisie Williams is attached to star in The Owners, a feature based on the comic book from renowned artist Herrmann and written by Yves H. Julius Berg is directing the pic, which will mark his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Matthieu Gompel.  Alain de la Mata at UK-based Bluelight is…

Lily Collins has been been set to star in Inheritance, a thriller starring Simon Pegg that is being directed by Pegg’s Terminal director Vaughn Stein. Kate Mara was originally in place as the female lead in the pic, but scheduling changes prompted the switch. UTA and Highland Film Group are co-repping U.S. rights to…

Annabelle Wallis will star alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in The Silencing, a thriller that will now be helmed by The Ardennes director Robin Pront. Production will begin in the spring in Canada, and the news comes as XYZ Films and Endeavor Content team on U.S. sales for the project at the European Film Market in…

On the eve of the European Film Market in Berlin, the record buying spree at Sundance is still the talk of the town. Buyers stumped up more than $120 million on almost 40 movies over in Park City. Amazon alone spent close to $50M on five films, a new high for a buyer. “I've been going to the festival for 20 years and…

EXCLUSIVE: Blackbird‘s Anson Boon, Peaky Blinders‘ Charlie Murphy, Game of Thrones‘ Michael McElhatton and Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey and Mark McKenna have been cast in The Winter Lake, a new horror thriller from Epic Pictures and Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde's Tailored Films, which previously teamed on the 2017…

Rebecca Hall has been set to star in The Night House, a new horror thriller being directed by David Bruckner (The Ritual, V/H/S). David S. Goyer and Keith Levine are producing via their Phantom Four, with Anton fully financing, executive producing and handling worldwide sales at the upcoming European Film Market in…