News

Veteran director and producer Robert Rippberger has rebranded Ascent Studios in North Carolina as White Lightning Studios, with new investment partners.

Rippberger’s new investors for the rebrand include former National Football League star Jason Brown, who currently runs the food relief non-profit First Fruit Farms and has land contiguous with the film complex. The new film campus and its soundstages is set to cover in all around 1200 acres of land.

Rippberger’s rebranded venture also has backing and investment from North Carolina-originated producer and actress Kelly Lynn Reiter (Deadlock, Laws of Man, The Cut), and Roger Goff as general counsel.

White Lightning Studios has already lined up its first feature, A Good Fight, a heartfelt comedy written by Pierce Gardner and to be directed by Rippberger. The project is produced by Justin Shaner and Fernando H. Rojas of Miami’s Sobe Brooke Studios and follows a successful small-town businessman...

Exclusive: Kellan Lutz, known for his roles in FBI: Most Wanted and in the Twilight saga, has signed on to headline the cast of the biographical drama Finding Normal. The film is set to start production in North Carolina later this year and will serve as the directorial debut of Jordyn Ferguson.

The film will chronicle the real-life journey of Dr. Jeff Huxford, who defied all odds following a car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury and a devastating prognosis. Against the backdrop of a picturesque Norman Rockwell Americana town, his unwavering resilience and the transformative power of family and faith helped him redefine his life in the face of adversity.

Penned by Gary Hershberger, Finding Normal is being produced by April Kennedy of Ocean Prairie Entertainment, Gabrielle Almagor of Urban Tales Productions and Matthew H. Morris of Pinyon Pictures, alongside executive producer Roger Goff.

Lionsgate will be giving the “bone-crunching action thriller” The Weapon, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire), Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints), and Jack Kesy (12 Strong), a limited theatrical release on February 17th – and a digital and VOD release scheduled for the same day. With those releases just a couple days away, we’re proud to share an Exclusive clip from The Weapon that offers a preview of some of the movie’s action – and yes, there is some bone-crunching involved! Check it out in the embed above.

Directed by Tony Schiena, who also has an acting role in the film, from a screenplay by Michael Caissie (co-writer of the Al Pacino film Hangman), The Weapon has the following synopsis: Tony Schiena is Dallas, a one-man killing machine on a mysterious rampage. His attacks on biker gangs and meth labs anger the Vegas mob boss who’s holding Dallas’s girlfriend hostage.

Uplifting drama about recovering war veterans partnered with US Marine Corps Entertainment Media Liaison Office, US Department of Defense.

Blue Fox Entertainment will kick off international sales talks at AFM on the uplifting drama Mending The Line starring Succession’s Brian Cox alongside Sinqua Walls and Patricia Heaton.

Joshua Caldwell (Infamous) directed the drama about a young soldier (Walls) returned from Afghanistan who befriends a Vietnam War veteran (Cox) at the same medical facility who teaches him fly fishing as a way of dealing with physical and emotional trauma.

Stephen Camelio (The Push) wrote the screenplay and Perry Mattfeld and...

Uplifting drama about recovering war veterans partnered with US Marine Corps Entertainment Media Liaison Office, US Department of Defense.

Blue Fox Entertainment will kick off international sales talks at AFM on the uplifting drama Mending The Line starring Succession’s Brian Cox alongside Sinqua Walls and Patricia Heaton.

Joshua Caldwell (Infamous) directed the drama about a young soldier (Walls) returned from Afghanistan who befriends a Vietnam War veteran (Cox) at the same medical facility who teaches him fly fishing as a way of dealing with physical and emotional trauma.

Stephen Camelio (The Push) wrote the screenplay and Perry Mattfeld and...

Exclusive: UTA has signed actor, musician, activist and entrepreneur Kat Graham (Cut Throat City) for representation in all areas.

Graham will next be seen starring opposite Ryan Phillippe and Jim Gaffigan in Vertical Entertainment’s thriller Collide, which is slated for release in August. She will also soon appear opposite Tom Hopper in the Netflix rom-com Love in the Villa, which is set for release the following month.

Graham’s recently released projects on the film side include Paramount’s thriller Heatwave, Netflix’s holiday pic Operation: Christmas Drop with Alexander Ludwig and RZA’s crime drama Cut Throat City with Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Terrence Howard, and Eiza González. She’s also been seen in such titles as Emperor, The Poison Rose, How It Ends, The Holiday Calendar, All Eyez on Me and Where’s the Money, among others.

Graham made history on the TV side as April O...

Screen Media has acquired all North American rights to “The Locksmith,” an upcoming action-thriller starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames.

The film was directed by Nicolas Harvard, a veteran first assistant director whose credits include “Hell or High Water” and “Whiplash.” It marks his feature directorial debut. Screen Media is planning a day-and-date, theatrical and on-demand release later this year.

In “The Locksmith,” Miller (Phillippe), an ex-con recently released from prison for a bungled robbery, tries to walk a straight line and work his way back into the lives of his ex, Beth (Bosworth), a police detective, and their young daughter. Miller tries to avoid slipping back the underworld with the help of an old friend (Rhames). However, he finds his past will not stay in the past, forcing him to commit one last crime before he can truly walk away.

Phillippe’s credits include “Crash” and “Cruel Intentions,...

Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames star in thriller “The Locksmith,” which has just wrapped principal photography in Las Cruces, Nm. Variety has been given access to a first-look exclusive image of the film, being sold at the European Film Market by Arclight Films.

Veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard makes his feature film debut on “The Locksmith,” which follows Miller (Phillippe), an expert locksmith fresh out of prison after a job gone bad. Back home, he tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and his ex-girlfriend, Beth, who is now a police detective. Determined to make a clean start, he is forced to use the only skills he has as a gifted locksmith. But things soon get complicated after an unexpected kidnapping and from there, take a tumultuous turn.

“The Locksmith” was written by John Glosser, Joe Russo & Chris Lamont, and Ben Kabialis,...

Exclusive: Ryan Phillippe, Kat Graham and Jim Gaffigan will topline Collide, a thriller from Vertical Entertainment, Tpc and Robert Ogden Barnum, which recently wrapped production.

The film written and directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil is billed as is an edge-of-your-seat, noirish thriller where three interlocking stories hurl towards an explosive end. It follows an ensemble of characters whose paths intersect over the course of a single evening inside an L.A. restaurant.

David Cade (Lansky), Dylan Flashner (The Card Counter), Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos), Aisha Dee (The Bold Type), David James Elliot (Heart of Champions), and Paul Ben-Victor (Daredevil) round out Collide‘s cast. Barnum and Lucas Jarach produced the film, with Daniel Baur, Luke Daniels, David Gendron, Russell Geyser, Rich Goldberg, Peter Jarowey, Ali Jazayeri, Joel Michaely, Rick Sasner, Greg Thompson...

Exclusive: Jeffrey Nordling (Big Little Lies), Kaylee Bryant (Legacies), Bourke Floyd (Dawson’s Creek) and Noel Gugliemi (The Fast and the Furious) have joined Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, Ving Rhames and Charlie Weber in crime thriller The Locksmith, which is currently filming in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

As we reported last month, the film is being directed by veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard who makes his feature film debut.

In The Locksmith, Phillippe plays Miller, a thief fresh out of prison after a job gone bad, who tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-girlfriend, Beth (Bosworth), who is now a police detective. Determined to make a clean start, he is forced to use the only skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things soon get complicated after an unexpected kidnapping.

Screenplay is written by John Glosser, Joe Russo and Chris Lamont, and Ben Kabialis,...

Ryan Phillippe (Crash), Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) and Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible) are star to star in thriller The Locksmith, we can reveal.

Arclight Films is launching world sales on the package at the virtual AFM.

The project follows Miller, an expert locksmith fresh out of prison after a job gone bad. Back home, he tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and his ex-girlfriend, Beth, who is now a police detective. Determined to make a clean start, he is forced to use the only skills he has as a gifted locksmith. But things soon get complicated after an unexpected kidnapping.

Principal photography is slated to begin on November 15 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the movie is due to be ready for delivery in September 2022.

The film will be directed by veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard, who makes his feature film debut. Screenplay is written by John Glosser,...

Exclusive: Wes Studi (Hostiles), Patricia Heaton (The Middle), Perry Mattfeld (In the Dark), Chris Galust (Give Me Liberty) and Irene Bedard (The Stand) have joined the cast of Mending the Line.

They’ll appear in the film, which is currently in production in Montana, alongside previously announced cast members Brian Cox (Succession) and Sinqua Walls (Resort to Love).

The drama directed by Joshua Caldwell (Infamous) centers on a Marine injured in Afghanistan who makes his way to a Va hospital in Montana. There, he meets a damaged Vietnam vet who teaches him fly fishing as a means of coming to terms with his physical and emotional trauma.

Stephen Camelio penned the script for the feature, and is producing alongside Caldwell, Artimage Entertainment’s Carl Effenson, August Point Productions’ Kelly McKendry and Ckm Entertainment’s Scott MacLeod.

Cox and Walls are exec producing with Mark Comora, Kyle David Crosby, Roger Goff,...

Exclusive: Brian Cox and Sinqua Walls have signed on to star and exec produce Mending the Line. The drama will be helmed by Joshua Caldwell (Infamous), which begins production later this month in Montana. Stephen Camelio penned the script.

The story follows a young soldier (Walls), injured in Afghanistan, who arrives at a Va hospital and meets a Vietnam veteran (Cox) at the facility who teaches him to fly fish, hoping it will help the young man deal with his physical and emotional trauma.

Carl Effenson (Mudbound) of Artimage Entertainment, Kelly McKendry of August Point Productions and Scott MacLeod of Ckm Entertainment are producing alongside Caldwell and Camelio. Mark Comora, Kyle David Crosby and Roger Goff also will serve as executive producers.

“With Mending the Line, Stephen has scripted a beautiful story about overcoming trauma and the healing power of fly fishing — a subject matter very close to my own heart,...

Wu-tang Clan member turned filmmaker RZA is known for his affinity for anything and everything in the martial arts ilk, but as seen in the first trailer of Cut Throat City, he is going a different route. He took the Comic-Con stage in Hall H to wax poetic about how he relates to martial arts and how he honors it before switching gears to talk about the movie. He was joined by the cast Shameik Moore, Wesley Snipes, Demetrius Shipp Jr., Denzel Whitaker, Keean Johnson, Kat Graham, and Tyron Woodley to debut the trailer for the heist drama. T.I. and Terrence Howard also star but were unfortunately not able to join in on the Comic-Con fun.

P.G. Cuscheri wrote the film centers on four childhood friends who return to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina, to find their home decimated and prospects for work swept away. Turning...

Exclusive: Well Go USA has secured all North American rights to the New Orleans-set heist drama Cut Throat City Cut Throat City, directed Wu-Tang Clan’s by RZA, with plans for a 2019 theatrical release. The film stars Terrence Howard, Wesley Snipes, Eiza González (Baby Driver), Tip “T.I.” Harris (Ant-Man), Rob Morgan (Mudbound), Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries), Demetrius Shipp Jr. (All Eyez on Me), Denzel Whitaker (Black Panther), and Shameik Moore (Dope) as production is slated to wrap later this summer.

Written by P.G. Cuscheri, the plot follows four boyhood friends in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward who return after Hurricane Katrina to find their homes decimated, no jobs, and no help from Fema. Reluctantly turning to a local gangster for work, the friends are hired to pull off a daring heist in the heart of the city. While being hunted by two idealistic detectives and a neighborhood warlord,...

Exclusive: The Vampire Diaries alum Kat Graham has signed on to star in Christmas Calendar, a Netflix holiday pic directed by Bradley Walsh. Quincy Brown (Dope, Fox series Star) has been cast to play Graham’s love interest in the film, which Brad Krevoy is producing.

It follows Abby Sutton (Graham), an aspiring photographer who inherits a magical advent calendar from her deceased grandmother that seems to be predicting her future — and pointing the way to a new romance with a hunky admirer.

In addition, Graham has been cast in The Poison Rose, playing Morgan Freeman’s daughter in the film, which also stars Forest Whitaker and John Travolta as Carson Philips, down-on-his-luck Pi who enjoys his share of drinking, smoking, and gambling. He takes on a case that, like the story goes, starts out appearing fairly routine, slowly reveals itself to be a complex interwoven web of crimes, suspects,...

Pablo Schreiber, Rick Springfield and Sosie Bacon are starring in Traces, the indie drama that marks the directorial debut of Matthew Currie Holmes. American Gun‘s Ted Kroeber is producing with Roger Goff (Dallas Buyers Club) and Kevin Lamb and shooting is now underway in L.A. The plot centers on ’90s one-hit wonder Damien (Schreiber) who finds himself out of a job when the record store he works at, owned by Carl (Springfield), suddenly closes. During a chance meeting at…...

Plus: Oscar-nominated Rocky Star Burt Young joins comedy King Rat.

Shooting is about to wrap in Los Angeles on Matthew Currie Holmes’ directorial debut Traces starring Emmy-nominated Pablo Schreiber from Orange Is The New Black, Rick Springfield and Sosie Bacon. Ted Kroeber and Levin Lamb produce with Roger Goff the story about a one-hit wonder who rekindles his love for music when he produces a rising star’s album.

Burt Young, who earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Rocky, and Austin Pendleton have joined the cast of comedy King Rat. Lauren Ashley Carter, Maura Kidwell, Tyler Ross and newcomers Bradley Grant Smith and Julien Hester also star in Henry Johnston’s story about the friendship between a commencement speaker and a college senior. Alex Thompson is producing while Ian Keiser, Leigh Jones, Stefan Cima and Pierce Cravens serve as executive producers. Production is underway in Greencastle, Indiana.

Charlie Shotwell has been cast as the young son of Shia Labeouf and Kate Mara's characters in Man Down. The film, to be directed by Dito Montiel from a screenplay by Adam Simon, stars Labeouf as an Afghanistan war vet searching for his family in a post-apocalyptic America. Jai Courtney, Gary Oldman and Terrence Howard also star. Jon Burton, Dawn Krantz and Stephen McEveety are producing the project, which is slated to begin shooting later this month in Louisiana. The Solution's Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel are executive producing the project with Roger Goff. Shotwell recently wrapped work on

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Shia Labeouf (Transformers, upcoming Fury), Emmy nominee Kate Mara (Netflix’s “House of Cards,” upcoming The Fantastic Four) and Oscar nominee Gary Oldman (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Dark Knight Rises) are set to star in the psychological thriller, Man Down, it was announced today by producers Dawn Krantz (Doonby), Stephen McEveety (The Passion Of The Christ) and Jon Burton (The Lego Movie).

Dito Montiel (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Fighting) will direct from a screenplay by Adam Simon (Synapse).

Currently in pre-production, principal photography is scheduled to start on October 30th in Louisiana.

The Solution Entertainment Group (“The Solution”) is handling international rights and will present the project to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel from The Solution are also executive producing the projectalongside Roger Goff. Also slated to executive produce are Russell Geyser and Clay Pecorin. Patrick Hibler will co-produce the feature film.

Shia Labeouf (Transformers, upcoming Fury), Emmy® nominee Kate Mara (Netflix’s “House of Cards,” upcoming The Fantastic Four) and Oscar® nominee Gary Oldman (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Dark Knight Rises) are set to star in the psychological thriller, Man Down, it was announced today by producers Dawn Krantz (Doonby), Stephen McEveety (The Passion Of The Christ) and Jon Burton (The Lego Movie).

Dito Montiel (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Fighting) will direct from a screenplay by Adam Simon (Synapse).

Currently in pre-production, principal photography is scheduled to start on October 30th in Louisiana.

The Solution Entertainment Group (“The Solution”) is handling international rights and will present the project to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel from The Solution are also executive producing the projectalongside Roger Goff. Also slated to executive produce are Russell Geyser and Clay Pecorin. Patrick Hibler will co-produce the feature film.