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The trailer for Bromates stars Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) and Josh Brener (Silicon Valley) as BFFs who try and get over breakups by moving in together. Snoop Dogg executive produces and even puts in a cameo appearance in the R-rated comedy.

The cast also includes Brendan Scannell (Heathers), Asif Ali (WandaVision), Jessica Lowe (The Righteous Gemstones), and Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect). Ken Davitian (Borat), Taryn Manning (Orange Is the New Black), Marla Gibbs (227), and Rob Riggle (The Hangover) also star.

Bromates is co-written and directed by Old School‘s co-writer Court Crandall. The film’s loosely based on a true story and in addition to the comedy, it focuses on clean energy.

“I really believe that the humor and relatability through the story can bring awareness to clean energy and climate change at the same time,” stated co-writer, executive producer, and Palmetto Solar CEO Chris Kemper. “Subtly, through creative projects like Bromates,...

Exclusive: Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Handmaid’s Tale star Mckenna Grace is joining Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) in Olivia Wilde and Searchlight’s feature Perfect.

Filming is set to begin in 2022 on the buzzy package about Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug. Based on the book Landing On My Feet, A Diary Of Dreams by Strug and John P. Lopez, the movie will tell the true story of the gymnast’s triumph against the odds to win Team USA’s first gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Strug was hailed as an American hero when she completed her final vault at the Atlanta games on a badly injured ankle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

McKenzie will be playing Strug. Grace’s role has yet to be revealed. Searchlight snapped the project up out of the EFM last year, as we first revealed.

Producers are Riverstone Pictures and Pulse Films from...

Berlin was buoyant. Surprisingly so. Netflix’s splash for The Good Nurse and Searchlight’s deal for Perfect were among the biggest deals the Efm had ever seen. Things were looking up ahead of Cannes.

It didn’t take long for the mood to unravel. Just a few days after the festival and market ended, it became clear that the picture was darkening. Coronavirus would pose an existential threat to the entire business.

“I’m worried about the market”, one agent texted me at the time during a discussion about potential Cannes titles. “We need to work something out.”

“We thought, ‘shit this is our reality'”, says a leading La-based financier. “‘Let’s be sure we’re communicating that this is an optimistic and vibrant business that can finance itself and that the marketplace is alive. It’s vital that businesses are alive and kicking and able to get out of this'”.

The situation was,...

Florence Pugh, Shia Labeouf, and Chris Pine are set to star in Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling. Wilde is teaming up with New Line to finance and distribute her upcoming highly anticipated follow-up to last summer's Booksmart. In addition to directing, Wilde will also co-star in the project, which was expected to begin production this spring. However, due to the world's current state of affairs, the production has been postponed. It is unclear when work will commence.

Specific story details on Don't Worry Darling are currently being kept under wraps. The psychological thriller is set in a 1950s utopian community focusing on a housewife, played by Florence Pugh, who "soon learns her life isn't as idyllic as she believes." It takes place in an isolated community in the California desert. No other details about the project have been revealed as of this writing. With that being said, New Line...

“Little Women” actress Florence Pugh is set to star in Olivia Wilde’s next film set up at New Line, “Don’t Worry Darling,” and she’ll play the lead in the cast that has also added Wilde, Shia Labeouf and Chris Pine.

Wilde is directing, producing and co-starring in the film, and she’ll work from a screenplay from her collaborator on “Booksmart,” Katie Silberman.

“Don’t Worry Darling” is a psychological thriller set in an isolated, utopian community in the 1950s California desert. Character details are being kept under wraps beyond the logline, but Pugh will lead the cast.

Also Read: Searchlight Pictures Acquires Olivia Wilde's Kerri Strug Biopic 'Perfect'

New Line acquired “Don’t Worry Darling” as a spec script last August, beating out 18 different studios in a hefty auction. Silberman wrote the screenplay based on the spec by Shane and Carey Van Dyke.

Vertigo Entertainment...

London-based Pulse Films has built its business on a steady diet of slick rock docs by the likes of LCD Soundsystem and the Beastie Boys, music videos including Beyoncé’s transcendent “Lemonade” and Andrea Arnold’s feature film “American Honey.” As it readies for a transformative year, the Vice Media Group-backed outfit is rolling out its first major scripted series, Sky and Cinemax’s dizzyingly violent and stylish “Gangs of London.”

Pulse CEO Thomas Benski is as much a rock star as the veteran musicians he’s immortalized through his 16-year-old production company. The Brazil-born French executive, who works closely with creative partner and Pulse chief creative officer Lucas Ochoa, is synonymous with the edgy brand, whose early music docs have evolved into evocative non-scripted fare, including films on U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning (“Xy Chelsea”), nefarious hot yoga founder Bikram Choudhury (“Bikram”) and missing toddler Madeleine McCann.

“In our business,...

Prior to the pandemic, London and Los Angeles headquartered production house Pulse Films was experiencing something of a golden period. Founded by Thomas Benski and Marisa Clifford in 2005, the company had three divisions firing on all cylinders: non-fiction had seen success with Netflix docs The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann and Bikram: Yogi, Guru Predator; scripted took its latest feature, the Riz Ahmed starring Mogul Mowgli, to the Berlinale, and announced pics including the Nicolas Cage-starring Pig and the Olivia Wilde-directed Perfect; and commercials had locked numerous big commissions including with Apple and the coveted Christmas campaign for UK supermarket Sainsbury’s.

When we chat back in February about the company’s future, Benski is understandably in a bullish mood. “I would argue that we’ve built the modern day studio,” he proclaims confidently. “We really feel like this is our time, I don’t mean it in an arrogant way.

In this digital era, more and more creatives are going the online streaming way to get difficult projects funded by more accomodating streaming giants like Netflix and HBO. But a theatrical release is still a powerful draw, as proven by Searchlight Pictures' recently winning a fierce bidding war to produce American gymnast biopic Perfect, with Olivia Wilde set to direct, for $15 million.

Perfect is based on gymnast Kerri Strug's memoir 'Landing on my Feet, a Diary of Dreams'. The story follows Strug's career all the way to the 1996 Olympics when an 18-year-old Strug performed her routine despite having a severely injured ankle, helping her team win its first gold medal.

It is the kind of positive, inspiring true-to-life story with a feminist twist that has every chance of becoming a darling of the critics and a box-office hit, so there is no wonder there was a fierce bidding war...

Exclusive: STXfilms is closing a high seven-figure multi-territory pre-buy for the Scott Cooper-directed psychological horror A Head Full of Ghosts, which will star Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Stx will distribute in the U.S. and UK and, like it did on Gunpowder Milkshake last month, teamed with its output partners in Latin America (Sun), Canada (Elevation) and Benelux (The Searchers) to acquire those markets as well. Partnering up gives the buyers a better chance of fending off the deep-pocketed streamers.

More from DeadlineSearchlight Pictures Closes Big World Rights Deal For Olivia Wilde's Olympic Gymnast Pic 'Perfect'Coronavirus: eOne & Stx Implement Work From Home ProtocolsSTX Moving 'My Spy' Back To April 17 From March Release Date

The film is backed by Cross Creek, Team Downey and The Allegiance Theater. CAA Media Finance repped U.S. rights while Mad River launched foreign sales at the European...

In today’s film news roundup, Olivia Wilde’s “Perfect” gets sold, Music Box StreamLocal launches and the American Black Film Festival, Fantaspoa, Greenwich and TCM Classic festivals are all making adjustments to the coronavirus pandemic.

Acquisition

Searchlight Pictures has closed a deal for global rights for $15 million to the gymnastics movie “Perfect,” with Olivia Wilde attached to direct.

The project tells the story of American gymnast Kerri Strug and is based upon her memoir, written with John P. Lopez, “Landing On My Feet, A Diary of Dreams.” The film will follow her career-defining performance at the 1996 Olympics, when the 18-year-old Strug executed her routine on a severely injured ankle to help the gymnastics team to its first gold medal.

Wilde, who directed “Booksmart,” made the presentation at the Berlin Film Festival last month, triggering the bidding war. The script is by Ronnie Sandahl. Nik Bower is producing for Riverstone Pictures...

Searchlight Pictures has closed a global rights deal for Olivia Wilde’s “Perfect” about Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug.

Negotiations began last month at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film, which was one of the hottest projects for sale, sold for $15 million. It was subject of a high bidding war. CAA Media Finance brokered the deal.

In February, it was reported that Wilde would direct the film for Riverstone Pictures and Pulse Films.

Also Read: Olivia Wilde to Direct 'Perfect' Biopic of Us Olympic Gymnast Kerri Strug

The fact-based film will follow Strug’s heroic efforts to secure Team USA’s first gold medal at the 1996 Olympics — including completing her final vault at the Atlanta Olympics on a badly injured ankle — as well as the price she paid for her heroic efforts.

Ronnie Sandahl (“Borg/McEnroe”) wrote the screenplay for “Perfect,” adapted from Strug and John P. Lopez...

Reports first emerged in Berlin.

Searchlight Pictures’ has closed a $15m worldwide deal on gymnastics Olympic gold medal drama Perfect for Olivia Wilde to direct.

Riverstone Pictures and Pulse Films are producing the drama about Us gymnast Kerri Strug, who defied the pain of an injured ankle to earn Team USA’s first gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.

Strug was in such pain after her final gold-clinching vault that her coach carried her to the podium. She was later taken to hospital and diagnosed with tendon damage and severe sprain.

FilmNation handles international sales and CAA Media Finance...

Exclusive: Olivia Wilde’s Perfect, about Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug, has pre-sold to Searchlight Pictures in a big deal after negotiations began at the Efm in Berlin last month. This was one of the hottest scripts at the market and we understand the global deal has closed at $15M.

The Riverstone Pictures and Pulse Films-produced movie sparked a frenzy among buyers with A24, WB, Paramount and HBO Max among those hot for it last month. The streamer is understood to have offered significantly more for the movie, almost double, but the lure of theatrical and Searchlight’s prestige track record won out. CAA Media Finance brokered the deal.

Hot on the heels of her Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, Booksmart director Wilde went to Berlin to discuss the project with buyers at a buzzy presentation. As we revealed at the time, Searchlight was leading the pack of suitors.

The film, based on the book Landing On My Feet, A Diary Of Dreams by Strug and John P. Lopez, tells the true story of the gymnast’s triumph against the odds to win Team USA’s first gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Strug was hailed as an American hero when she completed her final vault at the Atlanta games on a badly injured ankle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

In iconic images, Strug was carried onto the medals podium to join her team, after which she was treated at a hospital for tendon damage. She became an instant national hit, visiting President Clinton, appearing on various talk shows, and making the cover of Sports Illustrated. Casting is underway. A start date has yet to be set.

Script is by Ronnie Sandahl (Borg/McEnroe). Nik Bower is producing for Riverstone Pictures and Thomas Benski for Pulse Films, together with Jeremy Baxter and Moss Barclay. Wilde will executive produce with Deepak Nayer, Marisa Clifford and Sandahl. FilmNation was the international sales agent.

After its usual slow start, Berlin’s European Film Market came to closely resemble the state of the underlying film industry: unsettled, angry and uneasily attempting to adjust to major change.

Where the film festival has new leaders in artistic director Carlo Chatrian and managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, following changes of leadership at Panorama and Forum, the Efm similarly wrestled with new screening rooms and venues. But the new team’s inaugural competition lineup has so far yielded few standouts. Certainly nothing that has sent buyers rushing for their check books.

“During this market there’s less specific conversation about films and more talk about the changes in the infrastructure of the industry and big company news. People are trying to get a 30,000-foot perspective, as opposed to being in the trenches on the films,” said Dylan Leiner, executive VP of acquisitions and productions at Sony Pictures Classics.

Much dialogue...

Steady market trade, mixed response to festival films.

Heading into the second week of a rainy Berlin lacking Asian buyers due to Coronavirus fears, there has been a mixed response to the inaugural festival selections of Carlo Chatrian, and a steady stream of Efm deal-making with at least one spectacular Us acquisition understood to be in the works.

Occurring later than usual due to the Academy’s decision to bring the Oscars forward this year, Berlin kicked off 17 days after Sundance Film Festival. That offered some comfort to sales agents in their annual scramble with producers and agents to lock in talent.

Exclusive: In a splashy eight-figure deal, STXfilms has pre-bought North American, Latin American and Chinese distribution rights to the starry action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake, we can reveal.

Avengers and Jumanji star Karen Gillan leads cast with Game of Thrones star Lena Headey, Oscar nominee Angela Bassett, Crazy Rich Asians star Michelle Yeoh, The Haunting of Hill House actress Carla Gugino, Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti and Big Little Lies and Avatar 2 child actor Chloe Coleman.

The pic tells the story of three generations of female assassins who fight to stop a cycle of violence over the course of one night. Stx snapped up the movie after seeing it on promo during the European Film Market in Berlin.

The deal was negotiated by Studiocanal’s Anna Marsh, Anne Cherel and Sophie Leuthreau, with Stx’s Jordan Lichtman and Carolyn Steinmetz and UTA Independent Film Group. The film is now sold out worldwide.