EDITORIAL

APPLE TV
Apple Original Films has picked up Outcome, a dark comedy that Hill will direct and has co-written with Ezra Woods. Reeves is in negotiations to topline the feature, which will also star Hill. Outcome will star Reeves as Reef, a damaged Hollywood star who must dive into the dark depths of his past to confront his demons and make amends after he is extorted with a mysterious video clip from his past...

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the creation of the Production and Technology Branch, which is made up of 400 individuals who were previously classified as members-at-large. The new branch, which comes 10 years after the creation of the Casting Directors in 2013, represents members working in key technical and production positions in all phases of filmmaking, from pre to post-production in Hollywood. Branch members include chief technology officers, senior department heads in technology and creative services, and preservation and restoration specialists. In addition, credited production roles, including stunt coordinators, script supervisors, choreographers, music supervisors, colorists, line producers and associate producers, will be a part of the branch...

"It was all started with a Mouse," but that Mouse started with a silent short film called 'Plane Crazy.’ Walt Disney and fellow animator Ub Iwerks began developing Mickey Mouse in 1927. Up until that time, they were working at Universal Studios, developing Oswald The Lucky Rabbit as a similarly charismatic cartoon character. After they left the studio due to disputes with partner Charles Mintz, though, Disney and Iwerks lost the rights to Oswald and had to create a replacement for their new, private company...

Barbie has arrived in style! Fans finally have a good look at the fantastic new Barbie world featuring Margot Robbie as the titular character alongside Ryan Gosling as Ken along with the rest of the star-powered Barbies and Kens! While the story and plot details of the feature are tightly kept under wraps, the freshly released trailer and posters give a taste of the refreshingly campy world fans are about to enter. Along with the new marketing material the makers have also revealed a selfie generator for fans. Just snap a new picture or upload an old one to get a Barbie makeover of your own! The audience is going to love the opportunity to see themselves as a part of this universe...

Born in London, Daniel Day-Lewis began his career working in British television and film, not so long before he won his first of three Academy Awards for Best Actor for playing Christy Brown in My Left Foot. With this acclaimed role as a writer and painter with cerebral palsy, the legend of Day-Lewis as the ultimate method actor was conceived, staying in character throughout filming, including riding in a wheelchair on-set as well as being spoon-fed by crew members. From just about every role forward, he would go to extreme lengths to morph into his characters. For The Last of the Mohicans, he learned how to live off the forest where his character lived, and trained himself how to camp, hunt, and fish. Vowing to experience the pain and trauma of a wrongfully convicted prisoner, Day-Lewis had crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him when shooting In the Name of the Father. Needless to say, Laurence Olivier would have a few words with his outrageous antics, as the iconic actor once famously asked Dustin Hoffman, who performed similar method acting techniques on the set of Marathon Man, "my dear boy, why don't you just try acting?"...

opular strategy board game Terra Mystica is set for a screen adaptation by Cobalt Knight, the production company co-founded by Christopher Kaminski and Christopher Knox. Cobalt Knight nabbed the screen adaptation rights to the Terra Mystica universe, which includes a sequel, Gaia Project. Both board game titles were designed by Jens Drögemüller and Helge Ostertag and published by Capstone Games. Cobalt Knight has signed with Rain Management Group for representation as it looks to adapt the empire-building board games.  “When we were introduced to Cobalt Knight, I was in awe of their innovative approach of taking board games and other traditional titles into the film and television space,” Rain founding partner Jonathan Baruch said in a statement. The Terra Mystica strategy board game is set in a land with 14 different peoples in seven landscapes. As each group develops and grows, it has to terraform, or absorb, neighboring lands and build towns for dominance in competition with other groups. Last year, Cobalt Knight in a separate deal nabbed the screen adaptation rights to the strategy board game Terraforming Mars. That and the Terra Mystica universe are the latest popular board game franchises to be turned into films or TV series following Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons games, which will hit the big screen Friday, and Lionsgate developing a Monopoly movie...

Debt-laden cinema exhibition giant Cineworld group says that it has reached an agreement with its creditors that could represent a pathway out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.Cineworld owns the Regal cinema chain and is the second largest movie theater operator in the world. Its shares are listed in the U.K. In a filing on Monday, Cineworld said that it had entered into a restructuring support agreement and a ‘backstop commitment agreement’ with those lenders responsible for 83% of the group’s term loans due in 2025 and 2026 and for a revolving credit facility due in 2023...

‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ Composer Flew to New Mexico to Record Oil Drums for Film’s Ominous Score. Helmed by Daniel Goldhaber, the film, in theaters April 6, follows a fictional crew of young environmental activists who execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline. As soon as composer Gavin Brivik began working on the film, he flew out to the set and recorded music samples that included banging on oil drums in the desert. The composer calls the score one of the most difficult he’s ever written. “Daniel encouraged me to break out of my comfort zone, and challenged me to do my best work,” he says. “We wrote three scores for this movie because we didn’t want to settle, and kept rewriting scenes to make it better. This is also the first time I’ve traveled to a set to sample and record actual oil drums, pipes and found sounds to create a score....