EXCLUSIVE: TriStar Pictures has picked up Daniel Kunka’s pitch about a female-driven sci-fi thriller, based on the CAGN short story by Christian Cantrell. Originally self-published under the title Anansi Island, the “Michael Crichton-esque” story centers on a mysterious island where a secret government project has…

Sony Pictures Entertainment said Thursday that TriStar Pictures Hannah Minghella will expand her role and assume oversight of TriStar Television. The move comes 10 months after the sudden death of Suzanne Patmore Gibbs, who had been the head of TriStar TV. Minghella and Patmore Gibbs had worked closely during their…

EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s TriStar Pictures has snatched up The Best Friends, a spec script by Chad Kultgen and Amy Rhodes with The Montecito Picture Company producing. Kultgen and Rhodes previously worked together on NBC’s short-lived comedy, Bad Judge, which was co-created by Kultgen and Anne Heche. This is the first…

The yet-to-be-titled Tom Hanks-starring Mister Rogers project has set its supporting cast as filming of the TriStar Pictures feature is currently underway. Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), Maryann Plunkett (Blue Valentine), Tammy Blanchard (Into The Woods), Wendy Makkena (Sister Act films), Sakina Jaffrey (Timeless)…

UPDATED with studio statement and OSHA probe: A sound mixer has died after a fall on the set of the untitled film about Mister Rogers starring Tom Hanks. James M. Emswiller, an Emmy winner who also worked on major films such as The Avengers during a three-decade career, fell two stories from a balcony while taking a…

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood for Susan Kelechi Watson. The This Is Us star has landed a role opposite two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys in You Are My Friend, the movie about one of America's most beloved childhood icons Fred Rogers. Diary of a Teenage Girl helmer Marielle Heller…

Sony Pictures Entertainment has just dated two of its more high-profile films. The first is Bad Boys for Life, the action comedy directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah that reunites the team of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with Jerry Bruckheimer for another round of action. That one has been slated for Martin…

TriStar Pictures has obtained the worldwide distribution rights to the holiday romantic comedy Happiest Season, directed by Veep actress Clea DuVall, marking her first studio project. The screenplay hails from DuVall and comedian Mary Holland with Marty Bowen and Isaac Klausner producing. The story follows a young…

TriStar Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to The Woman King, a film inspired by true events that will star Oscar winners Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o. The original story is from Maria Bello, and Cathy Schulman’s Welle Entertainment will produce with Davis and Julius Tennon of JuVee Productions, and Bello of…

TriStar Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to You Are My Friend, a biopic of iconic Mister Rogers Neighborhood creator Fred Rodgers that will star Tom Hanks as Rogers and be directed by Diary of a Teenage Girl helmer Marielle Heller. Production is set to start in September. The deal with Little Miss Sunshine and Lo…

TriStar Pictures has secured worldwide distribution rights to the Zendaya-starring psychological thriller A White Lie, beating out six buyers in a competitive deal. Zendaya is producing the project with Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter via their Hello Sunshine label. Monica Beletsky penned the script, which is…

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence is attached to star in and produce 19th century true-crime drama Burial Rites, which is being directed Luca Guadagnino, who is a front-runner in the Oscar race with his romance-drama Call Me by Your Name. Allison Shearmur and Justine Ciarrocchi also are producing, while TriStar Pictures…