Jordan Firstman plays a washed-up party promoter who unexpectedly becomes a father to the son he never knew he had in the official trailer for Club Kid, his directorial debut that premiered in Cannes before being picked up by A24.

Firstman is Peter, who after a decade on the dance floors of New York City, has to turn his whirlwind partying life around when has to suddenly start caring for a 10-year-old boy, played by Reggie Absolom, who is the outcome of a messy threesome he had a decade earlier.

Peter proves as messy as a father, even as he shows a humanity and an increasingly heartfelt rapport with his newfound son. “I’m going to figure it out. I’m not going to let anything happen,” he tells a tearful Absolom at one point in the trailer, as challenges abound.

Firstman wrote and directed Club Kid in his feature debut and stars alongside Cara Delevingne and Diego Calva. The film premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section to rave reviews and a lengthy standing ovation before buyers quickly started circling and A24 emerged with the worldwide rights.

The ensemble cast includes Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Colleen Camp, Vicki Pepperdine, Nigil Whyte, Eldar Isgandarov, Saturn Risin9, Miss Benny and Alaska Riley.

Alex Coco (Anora) and Galen Core (Lurker) produced Club Kid, alongside Topic Studios’ Ryan Heller (A Real Pain, Splitsville) and Michael Bloom. Topic Studios also financed the film with Stay Gold as co-financier. Firstman also serves as an executive producer alongside Ian Stratford, Charles Croft and Jasmine Daghighian for Topic, Olmo Schnabel and Daniela Taplin for Stay Gold.

In 2022, Macedonian filmmaker Dina Duma came to the Sarajevo Film Festival with a script.

That script — about a young girl empowered by her skateboard — was so impressive that it won her the Female Voices CineLink Award during the fest’s industry program, a feat that would come with a prize of 20,000 Euros to help kickstart production.

Four years later, Duma is back in the Bosnian capital with the finished film in tow. Skateboarding Is Not for Girls is competing in the feature film selection, and Duma is still in disbelief. “It feels very full circle,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter from Sarajevo’s National Theatre on Wednesday, where we’ve sat down to discuss the making of this powerful, poignant project.

In Skateboarding Is Not for Girls, 11-year-old Adela (Efkjar Abaz) is devoted to her elder sister, 15-year-old Zara (Dzefrina Jashari). But after their father leaves for Switzerland, the girls’ mother, Esma (Simonida Selimovic), can’t make ends meet. After exhausting all options, including selling their car and moving in with a relative, Esma makes the painful decision to wed Zara for the dowry. It tears Adela apart, and she decides to enter a skateboarding competition in the hope of winning the cash prize for her family.

Inspired by a young girl she saw skateboarding in traditional Islamic dress as well as an old-school friend who was married by the age of 14, Duma’s movie is about much, much more than just skateboarding. “Even when you don’t see the man, you can feel the patriarchy,” says Duma about depicting women without agency in Skopje, Macedonia, where the film was shot. “While Adela is riding in these skate parks, this is the only space where she can be free.”

Skateboarding Is Not for Girls had its world premiere just a couple of months ago at Tribeca, but its director hopes that the “Balkan mentality” will come in handy when screening for a Sarajevo audience — where those themes of liberation, autonomy and female independence will resonate enormously.

Below, Duma discusses feeling drawn to writing characters from a female perspective, sounding the alarm on child marriage in Macedonia and feeling just a little nervous about her Sarajevo premiere: “I hope it stays with them, and they don’t forget [it] after they drink their first drink!”

Talk to me about when this idea struck you, and why you wanted to put it up on screen.

I was riding my bike on a riverbank in Skopje. I don’t know if you’ve ever been [to] Skopje. It has a beautiful river in the middle. It was a regular day, and I saw a girl who was on her skateboard, but she was dressed in Shalwar, a traditional [Islamic] dress. And she looked so interesting because she was on her skateboard dressed like that. I was amazed when I saw this image. And after some time, I kept thinking about it. She was so interesting. She was somehow very young, but also, she was very mature in a way. I didn’t start writing immediately. I started thinking, ‘How can I make this into a [film]?’ Because it’s so powerful.

A while [later], I opened my primary school yearbook and saw a picture of my friend. And I realized I haven’t seen her since then, since we were studying. And she was actually married at the age of 14, and then [fell] pregnant. I started looking for her on Facebook, just to reconnect, and I couldn’t find her anywhere. I started asking my friends, “We haven’t seen her in [such a long] time. Is she around? Is she in Skopje?” And no one knew where she was. Basically, she disappeared out of our lives. When you’re a child, you don’t think about these things. But this is the moment I thought, ‘Okay, this is worth looking up.’

Is it common in Macedonia, child marriage?

Well, we don’t know because we don’t have statistics. But I think it is. I researched. I spent a lot of time in the community.

This film is about skateboarding, but it’s also not. We follow Adela’s sister Zara and the pressure she’s under, the girls’ mother and their financial insecurity as well. It’s about these three women who have been abandoned by the family patriarch. Did you want this story centered around women?

I always want to talk about female characters. When I start writing, it’s natural for me to start speaking — even in my previous films — from the perspective of women. And in this case, it was very important to see that there are strong women in this community, who are powerful [and] who are fighting every day. But even when you don’t see the man, you can feel the patriarchy. This is something that is really true, that is really happening [in Macedonia], and it is very important for me to have it in the film. I’m glad that when you watch the film, you see it, because it’s there and it’s happening and we need to speak about it.

Was that a big motivation for you, making this film — to encourage people to talk about the issues raised?

Yes, yes. I wanted to open the conversation, especially in Macedonia, because I feel that no one is bothered by this. This place where we shot the film in Skopje, it’s 15 minutes away from the city center. It’s not on Mars, you know? It’s very close to us, but everyone ignores it. It’s just really important for me to have it out there. We need to be open to this.

Is the skateboarding symbolic? I know you mentioned seeing that young girl, but why did it feel like the right sport to use as a narrative vehicle?

Obviously, I was inspired by [the girl]. But then I started thinking [that] when you skateboard, you fall a lot, and then you have to get up. Then you repeat that. That’s very strong because it’s also like life, and in a symbolic way, it definitely works for the whole [film]. Especially for young people. Also, it was symbolic in the way that while Adela is riding in these skate parks, this is the only space where she can be free. Where she can have agency over her own body, because soon she will lose this agency — as we see with what’s happening with her sister. So she takes control of her body. She moves differently [on the skateboard]. She’s empowered.

And Efkjar Abaz is just so good. You must have known immediately she was right for Adela.

(Laughs.) Well, yes and no because she’s not a professional actress. She’s a girl from Skopje. We were doing a long process of looking for Adela and her sister. It took us one year! But when we met her, we immediately connected. You can see she’s very rebellious, [a rebel] with and without a cause. (Laughs.) Her energy is like Adela’s in real life. It was a bit of a challenge to find Zara, mostly because she’s a bit older, she’s 15. Then the girl that plays Adela tells us that she has a cousin this age, and can she come? And she came, and when we saw them together, we [thought], ‘These are our girls.’ They immediately had that connection.

They’re family, and that really translates on the screen. How hard is it to make a film in Macedonia, do you get government funding?

We are a very small filmmaker community in [Macedonia]. We make and produce three [or] four films a year. We have government funding — it’s the North Macedonian Film Agency. We have to start there, then go abroad with co-productions.

This was a co-production, right?

Yes. With Slovenia, Croatia and Belgium.

How has it been coming to a film festival like Sarajevo? Are you nervous?

Yes, I’m very nervous because we were with the film in Tribeca [Festival] and now we’re coming here, so it’s a completely different audience, and I feel that this audience is more close to the Balkan mentality. So I think they will get every detail. And also, I was here before with this script. We were doing the CineLink Industry Days [program], and we got an award here. The Female Voices [CineLink Award].

How full circle.

It feels very full circle. We’re here again. It’s obviously very awesome.

What do you hope people come away with after watching the film?

I hope it stays with them, and they don’t forget [it] after they drink their first drink. (Laughs.) I hope they’re curious. It opens curiosity for other experiences and other communities.

The 2026 Sarajevo Film Festival runs Aug. 14-21.

What’s up with Warner Bros.’ cold streak? After a red-hot 2025 that saw the studio net $4.38 billion at the box office and win 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, this year’s slate has been miss after miss.

The latest is “The End of Oak Street,” filmmaker David Robert Mitchell’s dinosaur adventure starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. The Bad Robot film grossed just $21 million this weekend, which makes the road to profitability at the box office difficult against a budget north of $80 million. But at least the film scored mostly positive reviews, which isn’t the case for all of WB’s 2026 slate.

The year kicked off with Emerald Fennell’s divisive “Wuthering Heights,” which ended up being a soft hit at $242 million worldwide. And then…

• “The Bride!” – $24 million worldwide, $80 million budget
• “They Will Kill You” – $19.4 million worldwide, $20 million budget
• “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” – $90 million worldwide, $22 million budget
• “Mortal Kombat II” – $129 million worldwide, $80 million budget
• “Supergirl” – $126 million worldwide, $180 million budget
• “Evil Dead Burn” – $71 million worldwide, $20 million budget

Aside from a couple of cheap New Line horror films, the results aren’t pretty. And the slate is devoid of the kind of big creative swings that gave Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy a lot of clout last year.

The studio will have a megahit later this year in “Dune 3,” and September’s “Practical Magic 2” has the potential to be a sleeper while the Bill Hader-led “The Cat in the Hat” could mark a welcome animated hit in November as Warner Bros. Animation gets rebooted. There’s also a big creative swing in Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Cruise’s “Digger” in October. But overall, that’s a pretty rough follow-up to what was one of the most impressive studio runs in recent memory in 2025. All under the specter of the looming Paramount acquisition.

Is 2027 better? Box office-wise, it should be pretty hefty with the “Minecraft” sequel, “Superman” sequel and a Bradley Cooper/Margot Robbie-fronted “Ocean’s” prequel. And we’ll find out if “Lord of the Rings” still has juice in the tank next December with “The Hunt for Gollum.”

For now, though, the “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” afterglow is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Now, on to the rest of this week’s Reel to Real column as we tackle David Ellison’s California threat, Disney’s slew of D23 announcements, the return of a lauded filmmaker and more. If you want this directly in your inbox every Monday as a newsletter, go to “Newsletters” in your WrapPRO account settings.

Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Joins the $2 Billion Club

After three weekends in theaters, Sony/Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has made history as the eighth film to gross $2 billion at the global box office.

The milestone was assured after its $360 million domestic/$927 million global launch at the end of July, as the film enjoyed excellent reception from critics and audiences alike. With a $70 million domestic third weekend, the movie is well on course to keep on rolling past post-COVID shutdown megahits like “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Ne Zha 2” to become the third film to reach $2.5 billion before inflation adjustment, joining “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” in that elite club.

Domestically, the film is also pushing to become the highest-grossing release of all time by passing the $936 million record set in 2016 by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Brand New Day” is on pace to reach that mark with $785 million after three weekends, 5.6% ahead of the pace set by “Force Awakens,” though its mid-week grosses have been lower compared to that film’s holiday season run.

Theatrical sources tell TheWrap that “Brand New Day” is falling off the pace to become the first movie to gross $1 billion from domestic receipts alone but could still pass “The Force Awakens” with an estimated final total of around $960 million.

In second on the charts once again is Universal/Syncopy’s “The Odyssey” with $23.2 million in its fifth weekend, pushing Christopher Nolan’s film past $500 million in domestic grosses as it continues to show remarkable legs. For comparison, Nolan’s previous film “Oppenheimer,” once the highest-grossing biopic of all time, had a fifth weekend total of $10.7 million.

In a narrow race for third are two dinosaur-focused new releases: Warner Bros./Bad Robot’s “The End of Oak Street” and Paramount/Spin Master’s “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie.” “The End of Oak Street” has the edge with a $21 million domestic/$47 million global opening weekend.

Directed by David Robert Mitchell, the thriller about an emotionally distant family whose neighborhood gets dropped into a prehistoric world faces an uphill battle to theatrical profitability against its $80 million budget. To get there, it will need to get some solid word-of-mouth, particularly among Gen Xers and older millennials nostalgic for movies like “Jurassic Park” and “Jumanji.”

The film has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85% from critics and 78% from audiences to go with a B on CinemaScore and 3.5/5 on PostTrak, scores relatively consistent with last year’s “Jurassic World: Rebirth.” With kids going back to school in the U.S., it may be up to general audiences to carry this end-of-summer title.

“Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” opened to $20.5 million from 3,545 locations. That’s just a couple steps below the $22.7 million opening of “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” in 2023. The titles have long legs as rewatchability makes them lucrative licensed films for Paramount once they hit streaming. – Jeremy Fuster

The Spotlight

Would David Ellison really move Paramount out of California? That’s the question all of Hollywood asked last week when word broke that he told his top lieutenants that he’s ready to move the company — either standalone or combined with Warner Bros. Discovery — out of state if the state AGs led by Rob Bonta don’t come to the negotiating table. Lucas Manfredi and I broke down how real this threat is, and why in the world Paramount would consider moving to Nashville, Atlanta or Austin in the first place. Read the full story

New Releases

The Return of a Filmmaker Darling: What happened to the guy who made 2021’s acclaimed “The Vast of Night?” Drew Taylor sat down with filmmaker Andrew Patterson to find out why it took half a decade for his second movie to materialize.

Josh D’Amaro’s Vision: Drew Taylor was onhand for Josh D’Amaro’s first D23 as Disney CEO. Here’s how it went.

Theater Execs on Paramount: Jeremy Fuster surveyed the theatrical exhibitor landscape to find out why there’s a divide over supporting or blocking Paramount’s WBD acquisition.

Dunesday Box Office: Presales for both “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Dune 3,” which open on the same day in December, are strong. Get ready for a huge box office.

D23 News Galore: Marvel revealed its “X-Men” cast, “Star Wars: Starfighter” footage wowed and “Frozen III” got a first look. Catch up on all our newsbreaks.

More Globes Drama: The Golden Globes Foundation fired CEO Gregory Goeckner after he was named in a lawsuit from the HFPA.

Will Lionsgate Be Sold?: TheWrap’s Jon Lafayette surveys an activist investor’s demand for the movie studio to sell itself.

RIP Hayden Panettiere: Awful news.

Concession Stand

Netflix is giving its animated “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” a theatrical release and a 45-day window next year.

The next “Backrooms?” A Jeff the Killer movie is in the works from TikTok creator Savanah Moss and Tongal.

Johnny Depp is in talks to return for a new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, but the question is how big of a role would it be?

“Zootopia 3” is officially happening — and they’re adding birds!

The first “Bluey Movie” teaser revealed the highly anticipated feature film was made using 3D animation, as opposed to the show’s 2D style.

Walt Disney Imagineering is going ham on all the new updates in the Disney Parks.

Alden Ehrenreich has joined Joseph Kosinski’s “Miami Vice ’85,” starring Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler.

Streaming Corner

• What movies did people most watch on streaming this summer? Interestingly enough, theatrical releases did great — “Hoppers,” “Project Hail Mary” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” were among the top-streamed movies this summer. Longer theatrical windows put no damper whatsoever on the films’ streaming performance, which is why Universal is extending its theatrical windows starting next year. See Loree Seitz’s full report here.
• Ben Affleck just keeps pumping out Netflix thrillers. Next up, “Animals.”

What I’m Watching

While this year’s big DC movie was a flop, at least their TV effort is a home run. “Lanterns,” which debuted on HBO on Sunday, is a terrific spin on the Green Lantern hero. More “True Detective” than superhero show (I mean that as a compliment), Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre are terrific as the mismatched duo trying to solve a mystery, all with a superpowered ring in their possession. It’s smart, funny and tremendously compelling.