movies

Black Bear Signs Rising Directors Sandra Wollner & Stephanie Ahn

Published

3 hours ago

August 20, 2026

EXCLUSIVE: Black Bear‘s management division has signed rising directors Sandra Wollner and Stephanie Ahn.

Wollner’s Everytime recently played in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the section’s top honor. The film wasacquired by 1-2 Special for U.S. distribution and will continue its festival run this fall, screening in the Centrepiece section at Toronto and as part of the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival. The film will be released in the U.S. on September 25th, 2026.

Born in Leoben, Austria, Wollner studied documentary film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. While still a student, she made her first feature, The Impossible Picture, which received the German Film Critics’ Award for Best Feature Film in 2018 and was also nominated for Best Feature Film Debut. The film received also won the Lawrence Kasdan Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Her graduation film, The Trouble With Being Born, had its world premiere in the Encounters section of the 70th Berlinale in 2020, where it won the Special Jury Award. The film went on to receive more than 20 international awards, including Best Feature Film and Best Director at the Austrian Film Awards, as well as the German Film Critics’ Award for Best Feature Film. She lives and works in Berlin.

Ahn premiered her directorial debut, Bedford Park, in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Prize for Debut Feature Film. The film was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for worldwide distribution and will be released on September 22, 2026, following its international premiere at Toronto. Additionally, the film will go on to screen at the Busan International Film Festival, the Stockholm International Film Festival, and the Taipei International Film Festival.

Ahn got her filmmaking degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to Bedford Park, she worked as an editor on films including The Girls and My Old Lady. Her screenplays have been recognized as finalists by Cinequest, the Austin Film Festival, the Final Draft Screenwriting Contest, ScreenCraft’s Film Fund, and Rooftop Films’ Filmmakers Fund, and have also been featured at The Gotham’s Independent Project Forum. She is based in Brooklyn, NY.

The two filmmakers have signed with Black Bear’s Joanne Roberts Wiles whose clients include Gregg Araki, Quintessa Swindell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Cooper Raiff, Karyn Kusama, Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar.

movies

‘The Odyssey’ Becomes Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie Ever

Published

20 seconds ago

August 20, 2026

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It’s official: Universal’s The Odyssey has become the highest-grossing R-rated movie at the global box office with $1.352 billion, unseating Deadpool & Wolverine, which ended its worldwide run in 2024 at $1.33B.

Deadpool & Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds spilled the beans on social media prior to Uni making the record official.

Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The Odyssey for becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. That is one helluva car. pic.twitter.com/s7QzTza21l

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 19, 2026

The pic is already director Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing movie at the worldwide B.O. surpassing his previous high, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($1.085B). The ensemble starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, John Leguziamo, Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Zendaya and Charlize Theron is also one of five movies to cross $1B this year; the feature take of Homer’s epic poem is now the second highest-grossing worldwide YTD behind Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($2.039B).

Broken out, The Odyssey has made $835.6M overseas and $516.3M stateside through Wednesday.

Additionally, The Odyssey opened to $264.1M global, the biggest over for Nolan ahead of Dark Knight Rises ($249M WW). The pic’s $139.6M opening at the overseas B.O. was also the director’s biggest ever internationally ahead of Oppenheimer and Dark Knight Rises in like-for-like markets.

What’s interesting is that Deadpool & Wolverine still owns the biggest global opening for a R-rated movie with a reported $444.7M as well as stateside ($211.4M). The Odyssey‘s record speaks to the power of legs, and, yes, a long run in Imax.

The Odyssey‘s domestic opening of $123.5M was the third best for Nolan after Dark Knight Rises ($160.8M) and Dark Knight ($158.4M). The movie, which opened July 17 at the North American box office, is entering its sixth weekend of release.

movies

‘Seasons’: Ron Perlman Joins Amazon Horror Film

Published

7 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Ron Perlman (Apple’s Cape Fear) is set for a role alongside Lily James and Jack Reynor in Seasons, Amazon MGM Studios‘ horror film marking the sophomore feature of Companion‘s Drew Hancock.

Character details are being kept under wraps.

Hancock’s script is based on a viral horror short story by Matt & Harrison Query, which first appeared on Reddit and was later adapted into a full-length novel. It’s the story of a husband and wife who buy their dream ranch, only to discover the land is alive with ancient spirits. For the couple, survival will mean submitting to increasingly disturbing rituals with each turn of the season.

21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Levine are producing alongside Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear, 12:01 Films’ Scott Glassgold and Dan Cohen. Judson Scott is executive producing for Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with Alayna Glasthal overseeing for the company.

Currently, Perlman can be seen starring alongside Javier Bardem in Apple TV’s Cape Fear series, exec produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Also recently seen on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fallout and Poker Face, he is repped by Independent Artist Group and Link Entertainment.

movies

Netflix Nabs ‘The Headlands House’ Starring Colman Domingo (Exclusive)

Published

15 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Colman Domingo (Euphoria, Michael) stars in The Headlands House, a thriller limited series, which, in a competitive situation, has landed at Netflix for development. From AMC Studios, it is executive produced by Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo for their Edith Productions and Patrick Moran (The Rainmaker) via his PKM Productions.

The Headlands House is written and executive produced by Cameron B. Dupont (Yellowjackets). In it, a marriage begins to fracture after a gay couple moves into their dream home, only to discover that its prior residents were brutally murdered on the property—and that their own lives may now be in danger, too.

This would mark Domingo’s third series for Netflix where he headlined the 2024 limited series The Madness and also stars in the comedy series The Four Seasons, which has earned him two Emmy nominations for the two seasons to date. Domingo’s relationship with Netflix also spans film, including his Oscar-nominated performance in Rustin, as well as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and the upcoming An Innocent Girl.

Domingo also has a relationship with AMC Global Media, most notably, starring as Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead, the second series in AMC’s Walking Dead Universe, which ran for eight seasons from 2015-2023. It is that relationship and the first-look deal Edith Productions has there, that led to AMC Studios’ involvement in the project.

The Headlands House signals an expansion into third-party production for AMC Studios, which AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan alluded to on the company’s most recent earnings call.

“In addition to creating programming for our own platforms, our studio team is actively developing projects with a range of leading distributors,” she said. “Producing for others is a natural offshoot of our internal development process.”

AMC Studios previously developed and produced Apple TV’s Silo before Apple Studios took over the big-budget sci-fi drama after Season 1.

From co-founder and CEO Colman Domingo and co-founder and president Raúl Domingo, Edith has produced Sing Sing, It’s What’s Inside, Dead Man’s Wire, the animated short film New Moon, North Star, When My Sleeping Dragon Woke, Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s and Season 1 of You are Here for AMC Networks. Colman Domingo is repped by WME, Liebman Entertainment and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.

Moran executive produces the USA Network series The Rainmaker and has Genuine Fraud, starring The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Rain Spencer, and Rich AF, in development at Amazon under his first-look deal there, and Just One Day, starring Kathryn Newton, in the works at Hulu.

Dupont is managed by Echo Lake Entertainment and also repped by Ryan & Jesse Nord of The Nord Group.