Dennis Quaid Sports Drama ‘The Hill’ Acquired By Briarcliff Entertainment, Gets Theatrical Release Date
Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American rights to The Hill, an inspirational true-life sports drama starring Dennis Quaid, scripted by Angelo Pizzo & Scott Marshall Smith and directed by Jeff Celentano. Quaid starred in one of the most successful fact-based sports films in recent memory with The Rookie, and Pizzo wrote two of the best true sports films in Rudy and Hoosiers. Celentano helmed Gunshy and Breaking Point.
Sneak peek at 'The Hill' baseball movie: First look at emotional Dennis Quaid scene
Even the most passionate of baseball fans may not know the name Rickey Hill. That's likely because the Texan never made it much beyond the farm team of the Montreal Expos in the mid-'70s.
But his story is epic enough to be the subject of a new movie, "The Hill" (in theaters Friday), starring Colin Ford as the young baseball phenomenon and Dennis Quaidas James Hill, his earnest Baptist pastor father. Hill should have never made it into Little League let alone The Show: He was born with a degenerative spinal disease that made deep pain and leg braces a part of daily life.
Minka Kelly, Maggie Grace & Dermot Mulroney To Star In ‘Blackwater Lane’ Based On B.A. Paris’s ‘The Breakdown’
Minka Kelly (Euphoria), Maggie Grace (Fear The Walking Dead), and Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) are set to star in the psychological thriller Blackwater Lane, based on British author B.A. Paris’s bestselling novel The Breakdown. Filming has started in Suffolk, UK.
Blackwater Lane is the first film produced from one of Paris’ books. Billed as a psychological thriller with supernatural elements, the flick will follow the story of a woman, played by Kelly, who drives by a stranded motorist later revealed to have been murdered. After a series of terrifying events, the woman becomes convinced she is the killer’s next victim while her husband, played by Mulroney, and her best friend, played by Grace, worry about her sanity. Jeff Celentano (The Hill) directs.
'Sound of Freedom' Box Office Defies Expectations Outside U.S.
Sound of Freedom has smashed box office expectations outside of its biggest market, the U.S., which comes as no surprise to its director. "We were told we only have a 1 percent chance to be successful, but it was our audience that came out and defended [the movie... and it's thanks to the audience that we survived the attacks [from the critics]," Alejandro Monteverde, who also wrote the screenplay, told Newsweek.
The film about child sex trafficking became the surprise hit of the summer in the U.S., making $182.58 million, despite only having a budget of $15 million. Sound of Freedom also out performed mega-franchises, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to become the 10th highest grossing movie of 2023 so far.
‘Supercool’: Vertical Entertainment Acquires Rights To Comedy Starring Jake Short, Miles J. Harvey & Damon Wayans Jr.
Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the comedy Supercool, starring Jake Short (This Is the Year), Miles J. Harvey (The Babysitter) and Damon Wayans Jr. (Let's Be Cops, The Other Guys), with plans to release it in theaters and on digital and VOD on February 11.
The film from director Teppo Airaksinen (Juice) centers on Neil Tobbler (Short), who has gone through most of his life feeling invisible and fantasizing about his long-time crush, Summer (Madison Davenport). When Neil and his best friend Gilbert (Harvey) find out that Summer is throwing a birthday party, Gilbert pressures Neil to ask her for an invitation. The plan fails, and Neil embarrasses himself in front of the girl of his dreams.
In ‘The Royal,’ a Life Is Rebuilt in Spite of Everything
A film tells the true story of Willie Aikens, a World Series star for the Kansas City Royals whose life was derailed by drugs — and prison — before he pieced it back together.
A local company offers a much-needed service to the Lowcountry’s film community
“My partner and I were working on two movies in Charleston,” recalls producer and director Warren Ostergard. “We didn’t have a home base, so we decided to open our own.”
Today, both of those films—Arbor Demon and Faceless—are “in the can,” and the 4,000-square-foot Black Bear Studios is rounding out its third year in business. Ostergard and his partners, Blair Hahn and Michael Brickman, use the West Ashley facility for developing and producing everything from documentaries to feature films, while offering their stage, offices, and equipment, as well as the services of producers, directors, and editors, to other creatives.
The studio, for example, has hosted commercials for Joye Law Firm and national companies like Fairlife, Garnet Hill, and Houzz. Local theater groups rent the set construction space, and if Southern Charm is your guilty Bravo pleasure, you may be interested to know that the taped interviews are done in front of Black Bear’s green screen.
“The Lowcountry is a stunning area in which to work,” says Ostergard. “It’s a great place for us to have a face and a location, but our scope is much bigger.” Indeed, along with sister company Producer Capital Fund, which provides financing for feature films, Black Bear has a host of projects in the works, including The Gentlemen Smugglers, a documentary about a multi-million-dollar marijuana empire based in the Lowcountry in the 1970s.