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Sixteen Films Entrusts Ken Loach Classics To Trio Of Longtime Partners

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EXCLUSIVE: Ken Loach and Rebecca O’Brien’s Sixteen Films has sealed a trio of deals for a selection of the director’s back catalog titles as a first major step toward gathering his filmography under one umbrella.

The London-based company has appointed France’s Goodfellas as worldwide sales agent for the titles, at the same time as entrusting their future distribution to Le Pacte in France, and Curzon in the UK and Ireland.

The titles include Loach’s 2006 Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley as well as Cannes contenders Land and Freedom (1995), My Name is Joe (1998), Bread & Roses (2000) and Sweet Sixteen (2002); Venice-selected work The Navigators (2001) and Ae Fond Kiss which premiered in Berlin in 2004.

The announcement of the deals coincides with news that Loach will travel to Cannes this year for a screening of a 4K version of Spanish Civil War drama Land and Freedom in the festival’s Cinéma de Plage strand, the lineup for which was unveiled today.

With time, a number of the films will be made available with new 4K remasters as part of a longer-term commitment to preserving and extending the reach of Loach’s work, with further titles due to be added to the list in the coming months

“We’re really thrilled to be announcing this acquisition. It’s been a long-held desire of ours to bring the Ken Loach catalogue under one umbrella as an extraordinary legacy collection and this is a major leap forward in that direction,” said O’Brien.

“Goodfellas, along with Le Pacte, have been very trusted partners for many years and it’s fantastic that they have joined with us on this project. In the UK Curzon feel like natural partners for us in this endeavour in the UK and we’re delighted they are coming on board after their slew of strong retrospectives.”

O’Brien and Loach set up Sixteen Films in 2002 to oversee the production of the director’s films. They first started working with the Goodfellas team under their previous banner of Wild Bunch on the 2009 drama Looking For Eric.

When company co-founders Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua branched off to set up their new company Goodfellas in 2023, Loach and O’Brien followed.

“We are delighted to continue and deepen our relationship with Sixteen Films. They are our historical and privileged long-time partners and working on part of their library has been a long-awaited desire for our team,” said Goodfellas CEO Maraval.

“Besides selling new projects, working on libraries and extending life of cinema classics is a work of passion for us. We will soon announce special events to help distributors to re-release Ken masterpieces.”

Le Pacte co-founder and President Jean Labadie also highlighted his company’s long-standing relationship with Sixteen Films.

“We have had the honour to distribute all Ken Loach movies since The Angels’ Share. Being in charge of these marvellous seven movies is fantastic for all our team,” he said.

Curzon Head of Business Affairs Ulysse Kelbert said the acquisition of the titles for the UK chimed with a key pole of its activities.

“Presenting the work of the great directors through fresh retrospectives and new home entertainment editions is a key tenet of our business, and we can’t wait to give these films the careful attention they deserve,” he said. “It is an honour to work with Ken, Rebecca and the teams at Sixteen Films and Goodfellas to bring these modern classics into the Curzon catalogue.”

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‘Icebreaker’ TV Show Adaptation News & Updates: Everything We Know

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Another hockey book adaptation has entered the chat.

Netflix is currently building out its cast for the series adaptation of Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book that kicks off the Maple Hill series. This in addition to their show The Sticks that is also currently in the works.

For everything we know about Netflix’s Icebreaker book adaptation so far, read on.

When will Netflix’s Icebreaker series adaptation come out?

A release date has not yet been set. The show has begun to assemble its cast.

Who will lead the Icebreaker show at Netflix?

Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will portray Anastasia “Stassie” Allen, and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey drama series.

Who else is in the cast of Netflix’s Icebreaker adaptation?

Gabriel Tierney (Rivals, Enola Holmes 2), Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana), newcomer and professional athlete Peter Berry, Chaneil Kular (Best of the Best, Sex Education), Devin Craig (Sex Lives of College Girls, Maize) and Aidan Shaw (We Were Liars, Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge) have joined the ensemble cast.

Tierney will play Aaron; Cravalho will portray Lola; Berry is Robbie; Kular will play JJ; Craig will portray Henry and Shaw is Russ.

What is Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book about?

Stassie is a transfer athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Nate is the campus star chasing the NHL. When an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.

Who else is behind Netflix’s Icebreaker series?

Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl) created and executive produced the series. Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.

RELATED: ‘The Sticks’: Scott Bakula, Logan Marshall-Green & More Cast Confirmed; First Look At Netflix YA Hockey Drama Starring Michelle Monaghan

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Cindy Holland Leaving Paramount Ahead Of WBD Merger

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One of the biggest executive questions about Paramount following its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — who will lead streaming — may have been answered.

Cindy Holland is leaving Paramount where she was Chairman of Direct-To-Consumer since the Skydance-Paramount merger having served as an advisor to Skydance CEO David Ellison prior to that. She announced her departure in a company memo, which you can read below.

The move leaves HBO’s Casey Bloys as the likely streaming head of the combined Paramount-WBD.

“Cindy is one of the most exceptional executives in our industry — a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said. “Under her leadership, P+ reached new heights, Pluto TV underwent its most significant transformation in a decade, and we strengthened our content and sports portfolio – all while the business exceeded the ambitious goals we set. Just as importantly, she built an exceptional team and a strong foundation for the future. Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company.”

Here is Holland’s memo:

When I joined David’s team in January 2025, we proceeded to set three goals: i) advise on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, ii) integrate and transform Paramount+ & revive Pluto TV, and iii) build an unparalleled team in this industry. In just over 12 months, I’m proud to say we accomplished all three and it’s been a joy to work closely with all of you.
Together with the Product team, we drove significant strategic and organizational change across DTC — building a new foundation for growth on both services, while investing in greater depth and breadth of programming and delivering strong revenue, profit, and subscriber growth for the division.
As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses. David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that. I know this team has the leadership and expertise to manage through the transition and the next phase of the company, and to this end today will mark my last day here.
As I reflect on my time here and all that we’ve built together in this short time, what stands out most to me is this team. I have never been more proud of a group of people. What we’ve accomplished together is remarkable — landing quarter after quarter while navigating extraordinary uncertainty and change with resilience, focus and ambition. We grew Paramount+ to an all-time subscriber high, delivered the best retention in the service’s history, and drove double-digit growth in both engagement and revenue. We built an extraordinary content pipeline, greenlighting more than 40 new and returning series and setting all-time records with Landman, the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, and Dutton Ranch, the service’s biggest original series debut ever. We transformed live sports into a powerful streaming growth engine, securing landmark agreements with UFC and Zuffa Boxing and expanding our WNBA and UEFA Champions League rights – with UFC Freedom 250 becoming the largest-ever audience for an exclusive live event on Paramount+ and UFC 329 setting a new platform record for peak concurrent streams for an exclusive live event. And we undertook Pluto TV’s biggest product transformation in a decade, dramatically increasing registered viewing and VOD consumption while delivering strong financial performance across the business. These are extraordinary accomplishments – but what makes me proudest is how we achieved them: together, with an unwavering commitment to our audiences, our creative partners and one another.
I joined Paramount because I believe in these businesses, and because I believe wholeheartedly that the combination of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery serves the best interests of artists and audiences worldwide. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all accomplish together in this next, momentous chapter.
Cindy

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New ‘South Park’ Takes On Data Centers And The Billionaires Who Build Them

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While President Trump was holding a press conference at the White House this morning and extolling the AI-related work of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, a promo for tomorrow night’s South Park episode dropped. It was less salutary.

Here’s the logline for Episode 6 of Season 29: “Butters is unhappy with the data centers that the billionaires are building in our backyards.”

The clip opens with an X-Pest exterminator guy ringing the doorbell at Butters’ home.

“I understand you’ve got some billionaires in your back yard,” he says.

“Yeah, there’s more of these stupid billionaires every day!” replies Butters.

The first image from the episode (see it above) shows Butters in what appears to be his back yard with the X-Pest exterminator guy, who has strapped on his tank of poison and has his sprayer wand at the ready.

The topic of data centers is a hot one across the country and especially in Hollywood, where unions and workers worry about job displacement and writers and directors express concern over what it might do to their art.

Among the biggest players in the data center land rush is, of course, Oracle CEO and Paramount-WBD deal financier Larry Ellison. South Park airs on Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount. As in the past, the show’s creators are seemingly not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.

Mark Ruffalo and others have decried the introduction of “really profoundly scary technology” into Hollywood and how AI might impact media outlets soon to be owned by Ellison and his son David.

“Larry is a classic Oligarch,” wrote Ruffalo. “They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”

Paramount, for its part, responded by accusing Ruffalo of using “antisemitic tropes” in his argument, especially when linking the Ellisons’ studio acquisition to Oracle’s work with the Israeli military.

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