News

It’s not enough to love films, we now must enumerate that love or hate relative to any similar films.

It has become a familiar ritual — the latest release in a franchise or a noted director’s canon spawns more than one site to run a “The Films of ___________, Ranked” article. We’ve done this dance with the Marvel movies since At Least 2012 when The Avengers came out, and no doubt someone is at this very moment preparing a ranking of the 14 previous films in the McU to accompany the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Wonder Woman will likely spur on a ranking of all the DC Films, and we saw just in the past week where everyone stood on the existing Fast & Furious movies.

And yes, I got into the act with my own “The Films of Assistant Director Frank Capra III, Ranked.” Hopefully the point was made.

However...

As The Fate of The Furious enters theaters, a ranking of its 1st Assistant Director’s oeuvre.

Friday brings us the release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in The Fast & The Furious series. Thus, there could be no better time to look back and rank the previous works of one of the films most notable craftsmen, a man whose name is legendary. I speak of course of First Assistant Director Frank Capra III.

Capra III is the grandson of director Frank Capra, a Hollywood legend whose work includes It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. How did that pedigree fare two generations removed? This exhaustive look at Mr. Capra III’s 1st Ad career will tell the tale.

While the film’s director often gets the lion’s share of the credit, the First Ad is one of the most critical positions on set. In...

Below, watch the Detroit-set indie dramatic short, "The Wolf Who Cried Boy," scripted by Luke Jaden and Cort Johns, who also co-directed the film. The story, described as "anti-coming-of-age," centers on a young man who gets swept into the seedy underbelly of the scrapping industry. Torrey Wigfield leads the cast, playing a young scrapper living off the streets of Detroit. He's joined by Barkhad Abdi who plays a limo driver who acts as a fence for stolen copper; Dwight Henry as the no-nonsense junkyard owner; and Peter Carey as a ruthless scrapyard owner. This film is produced by Luke Jaden, Cort Johns, Frank Capra III, Phil Wurtzel, Anthony Ernest...

Exclusive: Barkhad Abdi, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2014 for his role in Captain Phillips opposite Tom Hanks and uttered the catchphrase “I’m the Captain now,” has re-emerged in the short film The Wolf Who Cried Boy. The story is about the battle of wills that ensues when a streetwise teenager trespasses on a dangerous scrapper’s territory. The film was co-directed and co-written by Luke Jaden and Cort Johns and produced by Frank Capra III…...

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "12 Years a Slave" co-star Dwight Henry, joins Barkhad Abdi and Torrey Wigfield in the Detroit-set indie drama "The Wolf Who Cried Boy," scripted by Luke Jaden ("King Ripple," "The Listing") and Cort Johns ("King Ripple," "The Listing"), who will also be co-directing the film. The story, described as "anti-coming-of-age," centers on a young man who gets swept into the seedy underbelly of the scrapping industry. This film is being produced by Jaden, Johns, Frank Capra III, Phil Wurtzel, Anthony Garth, Michael Zervos, and Andy...

Barkhad Abdi has booked a lead role in the Detroit-set indie drama "The Wolf Who Cried Boy," opposite Torrey Wigfield in the other lead role. The story, described as "anti-coming-of-age," centers on a young man who gets swept into the seedy underbelly of the scrapping industry. The Oscar-nominated Abdi (“Captain Phillips”) has signed up to play a limo driver named Reggie who acts as a fence for the stolen copper. This film is being produced by Luke Jaden ("King Ripple," "The Listing"), Cort Johns ("King Ripple," "The Listing"), Frank Capra III ("Drive," "Flipped," "The Bucket...

Clips of It’s A Wonderful Life appear in all sorts of TV shows and films, some predictable Christmas fare and some you might not expect…

Thanks to NBC’s long-standing tradition of airing Frank Capra’s 1946 festive fantasy drama every 24th of December, It’s A Wonderful Life has become a Stateside Christmas institution. The film’s story of a small town family man facing financial ruin being coaxed back from suicide by an angel who shows him how important he is to the world is now as festive as overspending and overeating.

Its ubiquity means that It’s A Wonderful Life is one of the first ports of call when shows and movies want to inject a festive feel into their fictional worlds, hence it having been subject to more on-screen references, quotes, parodies and homages than you can shake a jingle bell at. The Muppets, The Simpsons,...

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2012 were announced tonight during the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Ben Affleck won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Argo. Director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer hosted the ceremony before an audience of more than 1,600 guests. Presenters included (in alphabetical order): Frank Capra III; Cedric the Entertainer; Bryan Cranston; Peter Fonda; Kelsey Grammer; Dave Grohl; DGA President Taylor Hackford; Anne Hathaway; Michel Hazanavicius; Helen Hunt; Hugh Jackman; Famke Janssen; Norman Jewison; Suraj Sharma; Martin Short; DGA National Vice President Steven Soderbergh; Chris Spencer; George Stevens, Jr.; Eric Stonestreet; Quvenzhané Wallis; and Sam Waterston. The winners of the 2012 DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement are: Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Feature Film Ben Affleck Argo (Warner Bros. Pictures) Mr. Affleck’s Directorial...

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2012 were announced during the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer hosted the ceremony before an audience of more than 1,600 guests. Presenters included (in alphabetical order): Frank Capra III; Cedric the Entertainer; Bryan Cranston; Peter Fonda; Kelsey Grammer; Dave Grohl; DGA President Taylor Hackford; Anne Hathaway; Michel Hazanavicius; Helen Hunt; Hugh Jackman; Famke Janssen; Norman Jewison; Suraj Sharma; Martin Short; DGA National Vice President Steven Soderbergh; Chris Spencer; George Stevens, Jr.; Eric Stonestreet; Quvenzhané Wallis; and Sam Waterston. The winners of the 2012 DGA Awards...

Brand new distributor Gigapix has picked up Darren Lynn Bousman's horror film Mother's Day!

From the Press Release:

Gigapix Studios, Inc. announced today that they have started a U.S. theatrical distribution company, Gigapix Releasing, which has acquired the rights to several films for theatrical release. Gigapix Releasing has access to a print and advertising fund through New Legacy Media. New Legacy Media is a conglomerate that has provided prints and advertising investments to over one hundred films via investments in Star Partners, The New Millennium Fund and P & A Partners I, II and III.

In forming Gigapix Releasing, Gigapix Studios, Inc. has teamed up with outside partners and investors (i.e., Geno Taylor, formerly CEO of Polychrome Pictures, and David Williams, head of New Legacy as the print and advertising provider). In addition to the New Legacy print and advertising fund, Gigapix Releasing and New Legacy are working...

There's a new horror distributor getting ready to sharpen its fangs and take a bite out of the industry, and we'd like to take a moment to introduce you to the company handling Darren Bousman's Mother's Day and more!

From the Press Release

Gigapix Studios, Inc. announced today that they have started a U.S. theatrical distribution company, Gigapix Releasing, which has acquired the rights to several films for theatrical release. Gigapix Releasing has access to a print and advertising fund through New Legacy Media. New Legacy Media is a conglomerate that has provided prints and advertising investments to over one hundred films via investments in Star Partners, The New Millennium Fund and P & A Partners I, II and III.

In forming Gigapix Releasing, Gigapix Studios, Inc. has teamed up with outside partners and investors (i.e., Geno Taylor, formerly CEO of Polychrome Pictures, and David Williams, head of...

Gigapix Studios has thrown a new distribution company into the mix: Gigapix Releasing.

The new company has acquired U.S. theatrical rights to an inaugural slate that includes the thriller "The Tortured," the campy horror film "The Bleeding" and the horror remake "Mother's Day," which just had its premiere at the Austin-based Fantastic Fest. Gigapix plans a release later this year for "The Bleeding," with releases for "The Tortured" and "Mother's Day" planned for early next year.

Gigapix Releasing has access to a print and advertising fund through New Legacy Media, which has provided P&A investments to more than a hundred films. In addition, Gigapix and New Legacy are pursuing another $100 million P&A fund.

"There are a significant number of very strong independent films on the market," said David Pritchard, president of Gigapix Studios. "Many of these films have exceptional performances; however, they are just not able to...