News

Russian-born actor Alex Sparrow has joined the cast of Sean McNamara’s Ronald Reagan biopic, Variety has confirmed.

In “Reagan,” Sparrow will portray an up-and-coming Russian political leader named Andrei Novikov. Sparrow will act alongside Jon Voight, who plays a Kgb agent who tracked Reagan for 40 years. In search of answers about the Soviet Union’s demise, Sparrow’s character soon becomes acquainted with the Kgb agent.

“We are excited to have Alex on board,” McNamara said. “He brings poise and strength to the character and brings Novikov to life.”

Sparrow most recently appeared in the Netflix series “Space Force” as Yuri “Bobby” Telatovich, the Russian Space Force liaison. In the U.S., he has also held roles on Lifetime’s “Unreal,” the horror film “The Vatican Tapes” and “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.” In Russia — where he goes by Alexey Vorobyov — Sparrow is best known for his music career,...

Penelope Ann Miller is taking on the role of First Lady Nancy Reagan in a biopic of former President Ronald Reagan, Variety has confirmed.

Miller will star opposite Dennis Quaid, who is playing Ronald Reagan. The film is being helmed by “The Miracle Season” and “Soul Surfer” director Sean McNamara and is currently in production in Oklahoma.

Miller will portray Nancy Reagan from her late 20s to early 70s. The film follows Ronald Reagan’s life through the eyes of a fictional Kgb agent, who keeps tabs on Reagan throughout his career. Robert Davi has been cast as Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev, and Jon Voight will play the role of the Kgb agent.

The film is an independent drama from Rawhide Pictures and producer Mark Joseph, who has previously worked on the first amendment documentary “No Safe Spaces” and “The Vessel,” a drama staring Martin Sheen. Howard Klausner and...

Penelope Ann Miller will play Nancy Reagan in Reagan, a biopic of former President Ronald Reagan that stars Dennis Quaid in the title role.

The movie is currently, and quietly, in production in Oklahoma, with Jon Voight and Robert Davi also in the cast.

Sean McNamara, who directed the faith-based hit Soul Surfer, is directing the indie drama that hails from Rawhide Pictures and producer Mark Joseph. Joseph previously produced the First Amendment documentary, No Safe Spaces, and co-executive produced the Martin Sheen-starring faith-based drama, The Vessel. Ralph Winter, a producer on the X-Men franchise, is also producing.

Howard Klausner and Jonas McCord ...

Penelope Ann Miller will play Nancy Reagan in Reagan, a biopic of former President Ronald Reagan that stars Dennis Quaid in the title role.

The movie is currently, and quietly, in production in Oklahoma, with Jon Voight and Robert Davi also in the cast.

Sean McNamara, who directed the faith-based hit Soul Surfer, is directing the indie drama that hails from Rawhide Pictures and producer Mark Joseph. Joseph previously produced the First Amendment documentary, No Safe Spaces, and co-executive produced the Martin Sheen-starring faith-based drama, The Vessel. Ralph Winter, a producer on the X-Men franchise, is also producing.

Howard Klausner and Jonas McCord ...

Fox News’ streaming service Fox Nation has acquired the rights to the documentary “Right Makes Might” about the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, and TheWrap has the first look at a clip from the film ahead of the film’s premiere.

“Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates” will debut on Fox Nation on Thursday, September 24, and the first clip for the documentary explains how Lincoln’s rhetoric as a debater during the Great Debates of 1858 helped remind voters of their basic humanity and the tenets that the founding fathers had put in place.

“The American people were beginning to lose the language of the founders, they were beginning to lose a way of speaking about themselves as fellow citizens that reminded them of their common purpose, their common humanity and their common possession of individual rights,” Professor Lucas Morel of Washington & Lee says in the clip. “Today, we...

The Adam Carolla-Dennis Prager starring documentary No Safe Spaces, focusing on the free speech debate and “cancel culture,” secured home video release by Mill Creek Entertainment on Sept. 15 and international release in Latin America by MGM.

The project, directed by Justin Folk and produced by Mark Joseph, lands right in the midst of heated debate over the boundaries of free speech and the extent to which backlash chills discourse. Earlier this week, Bari Weiss, staff editor and writer for The New York Times opinion section, resigned and posted an open letter decrying “constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views.” But the issue also has inspired a debate over the debate, as President Donald Trump has seized on “cancel culture” as a campaign rallying cry and others have argued that there is a need for context.

No Safe Spaces got a theatrical release last year and earned $1.3 million air the box office.

The indie distributor Neon is becoming the cool, popular kid in Hollywood and on the box office playground since they dominated the Oscars with the multiple Parasite wins. This weekend, the distributor, founded by Tim League and Tom Quinn, saw the return of Portrait of a Lady on Fire in theaters, while Parasite took a victory lap after winning four Oscars, upping its theater count to 2001 for the President’s Day holiday weekend.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire was previously released in New York in Los Angeles at the end of last year for a one-week awards season qualifying run. Céline Sciamma’s French period romantic drama starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel opened on 22 screens across six markets, with an estimated $440,907. It is on track for an estimated 4-day weekend cume of $633,310.

This is a strong start for the pic, which had an estimated gross of $67K in its exclusive one-week run,...

Golden Globes weekend is the time for thriving awards titles to pull audiences as they expand their runs. The standout among recent openers is Christmas Day release “1917” (Universal), with a rare second-weekend increase. “Uncut Gems” (A24) continues to stun as a wide release success. And “Parasite” (Neon) keeps accruing more high numbers, even before it enters the winners’ circle.

Not reporting numbers was Oscar-shortlisted Israel documentary “Advocate” (Film Movement). Don’t expect more new specialty titles until until February, as some older titles move to parallel home viewing after their 90-day exclusive window expires.

Week Two

1917 (Universal)

$590,000 in 11 theaters (no change); PTA: $53,636; Cumulative: $2,280,000

What an impressive way to lead into a wide expansion, let alone the heart of awards season! Sam Mendes’ film is clearly an audience favorite. In the same 11 theaters in seven cities as last week, its gross actually went up 2%, against the usual second weekend fall off.

As the specialty box office enters 2020, Uncut Gems continues to gain momentum for A24, as it had an incredible holdover from its third week, expanding to 2,686 theaters and earning an estimated $7,826,928 for the weekend. The critically acclaimed Safdie Brothers crime thriller, which stars Adam Sandler in what many are calling a career-defining performance, has officially crossed the $30 million mark for its cume — $36,813,107, to be exact, and has landed in the top 10 movies of the week at number 8.

Uncut Gems had a limited release in mid-December and quickly skyrocketed, as it opened wide on Christmas Day and became the best platform release in 2019. The limited opening was for the biggest per-screen average opening ever for A24, and it crossed the $1 million mark in its second limited weekend. Now in its fourth week, it continues to overperform, with sold-out showings across the country. It isn’t losing any of its luster, as...

“Uncut Gems” has set a new limited opening record at the indie box office for A24. The critically acclaimed crime drama starring Adam Sandler was released in five theaters this weekend and grossed $525,498 for a per screen average of $105,100.

That average tops the previous A24 record of $100,500 set by Best Picture winner “Moonlight” in October 2016. It’s also the second highest average of the year behind only “Parasite” with $131,072. “Uncut Gems” entered theaters after a wave of awards nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and National Board of Review, among others.

Directed by the Safdie Brothers, “Uncut Gems” stars Sandler as Howard Ratner, an eccentric and extroverted New York City jeweler whose gambling addiction leads him into a high-wire act balancing business, family and a growing set of enemies. Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield and Idina Menzel also star in the film, which has an A-...

Updated with adjustments. The weekend sparkled with the limited release of the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler. A24’s crime thriller earned an estimated gross of $525,498, opening in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles with a per-screen average of $105,100. This is a shining moment, as the limited opening of Uncut Gems makes for the biggest per-screen average opening ever for A24.

The film is currently riding the wave of buzz hits festival runs, as it continues to gain momentum with its 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes and A- Cinemascore. It also has a landslide of awards season love, including multiple nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and National Board of Review — all of which have Sandler on their best actor list. We hear it is playing very well in all five theaters to huge crowds, with sold-out advance...

Neon’s film festival favorite Portrait of a Lady on Fire didn’t cause an inferno at the specialty box office, but it managed to have a warming glow of an estimated weekend gross of $67,105. The critically lauded romance directed by Céline Sciamma and starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel had its one-week qualifying run at the Angelika in New York and the Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles with a per-screen average of $33,552. It was #1 at the Angelika and came in at #2 behind Knives Out at the Arclight. Its debut is one of the best averages of any French film in the U.S. in the last 20 years behind Amelie and Coco Chanel. To add to its arsenal of acclaim, the drama sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and is the second best-reviewed film of the year right behind its fellow Neon title Parasite.

Also opening this weekend was the Tom Harper...

If, like me, you’re an absolutist about the right to free speech, not just the legal letter of it but the stubborn spirit of it, then when you watch “No Safe Spaces,” a documentary about the crackdown on free expression that’s now taking place on American college campuses, you’ll find yourself, at least momentarily, in the company of some rather dicey “comrades.” People like the toxic fire-breather Ann Coulter, the everything-through-the-eye-of-the-Israel-needle right-wing ideologue Ben Shapiro, and — in a famously controversial and unsavory case — the loathsome alt-right showboat nihilist Milo Yiannopoulos.

All three of these moral reptiles, at different points, were invited to speak at public institutions of higher learning that wound up rescinding the invitations, due to pressure from their student bodies. And yet if you’re a religious believer in the First Amendment, then in “No Safe Spaces” people like Coulter and Shapiro become the de facto “good guys.

The fall specialty box office continues strong as recent openers expand to more theaters. “The Lighthouse” (A24) lead the way by jumping to more than 500 screens as “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight) and “Parasite” (Neon) continue to perform above expectations. And two holdovers from Roadside Attractions passed the $20 million mark this weekend near the top of the specialty charts: “The Peanut Butter Falcon” and “Judy.”

But the experimental IMAX release of Kanye West’s short “Jesus Is King” (IMAX) and the Fathom Events-previewed Bruce Springsteen’s “Western Stars” (Warner Bros.) yielded lackluster results. While IMAX is pushing such alternate content onto its big screens, both films might have made more sense as streaming presentations. Meantime, “No Safe Spaces” (Atlas), a documentary featuring prominent conservative voices Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla, scored a stunning $45,000 at a single Phoenix theater.

Opening

Jesus Is King (IMAX) – Metacritic: 61

$(est.) $862,000 in 372 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 2,151

Kanye West...

Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms found the right words this weekend to have a solid opening in two locations, bringing in an estimated $19,070. The acclaimed French-Israeli film about cultural identity played to sold-out screenings in New York, setting itself up for a nationwide expansion to Los Angeles, Toronto, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, with more expected in the coming weeks.

Kanye West wanted to bring his “Sunday Service” brand to the masses, and as expected, he went big to match his personality. His 35-minute documentary short Jesus Is King premiered this weekend with 372 runs in 134 markets, landing in the top 10 on Friday in limited runs. The companion piece to his Christian-themed album of the same name is said to be an immersive experience and “an expression of the gospel.” It gives people a chance to see Sunday Service and take a look at James Turrell’s art exhibit,...

After a strong opening for Pain and Glory, Sony Pictures Classics will throw another title into the Specialty box office mix this weekend with the Ira Sachs drama Frankie starring Isabelle Huppert. The actress is certainly a draw when it comes to prestigious awards and there’s hope that her name will bring in audiences to see Frankie. The film joins the Specialty race after Parasite and Jojo Rabbit hit the ground running. Frankie looks as though it will be a good palate cleanser after two straight weekends of bold, genre-driven films.

The French-Israeli film Synonyms from Nadav Lapid will make its American debut in theaters this weekend, with its gripping tale about cultural identity. On the opposite end of Synonyms’ drama, we have the vibrant comedy Housefull 4, which is looking to make a global splash (Bollywood films usually do) while the re-release of 2000’s...

Capitalizing on the controversy swirling around China, which censors the internet and Hollywood movies, a documentary film from comedian Adam Carolla and talk show host Dennis Prager that tackles free speech is beefing up its theatrical distribution plans.

On Monday, The Hollywood Reporter obtained two exclusive clips from the movie, called No Safe Spaces, that directly take on China. They are a couple of risky scenes, given China-owned AMC Entertainment is set to exhibit the film in several of its theaters early in the film’s distribution pattern.

“Free speech is unique to the United States; in Russia and ...

Capitalizing on the controversy swirling around China, which censors the internet and Hollywood movies, a documentary film from comedian Adam Carolla and talk show host Dennis Prager that tackles free speech is beefing up its theatrical distribution plans.

On Monday, The Hollywood Reporter obtained two exclusive clips from the movie, called No Safe Spaces, that directly take on China. They are a couple of risky scenes, given China-owned AMC Entertainment is set to exhibit the film in several of its theaters early in the film’s distribution pattern.

“Free speech is unique to the United States; in Russia and ...

In today’s film news roundup, William Moseley and Johanna Braddy get starring roles, Gravitas buys Malcolm Gladwell’s driverless car documentary, “The Fiddling Horse” gets a prize and “No Safe Spaces” gets a release.

Castings

William Moseley (“The Royals”) and Johanna Braddy (“Unreal”) are starring in the inspirational drama “Pencil Town,” which has just wrapped shooting around Los Angeles.

The feature film is based on a true story about a ruthless corporate raider on the verge of making partner at his private equity firm, when he is forced to return to his small town roots after he suddenly inherits his father’s nearly bankrupt pencil factory — the heart and soul of the depressed community. He must decide to either join the fight to save the factory, or let it close and relocate to China.

The cast includes Mimi Kennedy, Mary Pat Gleason, Shashawnee Hall, Paul Dooley, Bill Cobbs and James Eckhouse.

Washington — “The Bleeding Edge,” the new documentary from Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, examines the medical device industry and the government approval process that has allowed an array of innovates to hit the market without a thorough safety examination.

One of them is Essure, a Bayer birth control device that is the subject of thousands of lawsuits from women who claim it caused them injury.

With Netflix set to debut the documentary this weekend, Bayer announced last week that it was phasing out the device in the U.S., but denied that it was due to concerns over safety.

“We don’t think it’s coincidental that they did it just a week before the release of the film on Netflix,” Dick tells Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM’s political channel Potus. “I think they knew that the public would be outraged at the fact that they still had this product on the market.