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New African series ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation of Fire’ and ‘Kiff’ headline disney EMEA’s annecy presentation

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Disney EMEA hosted its annual Studio Focus at the current year’s Annecy Animation Festival, sadly pre-recorded for the second edition in a row, where the organization reported a pair of new African series, the sci-fi anthology series “Kizazi Moto: Generation of Fire” led by “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” co-director Peter Ramsey, and a musical kids show named “Kiff” from South Africa.

“This year’s fest is about celebrating African animation,” said Orion Ross, VP of original programming and animation for Disney EMEA. “We would like to start with how Disney is embracing the vast talent from this continent.”

Every one of the shorts in “Kizazi Moto” was made to respond to one question: “hat does African future look like from an African perspective?”

While discussing his involvement, Ramsey reviewed a visit to the Cape Town Animation Festival where he was “blown away, reinvigorated by the people, work, the industry. There was the feeling that this place is a pot about to bubble over with creativity and the world is going to see something exciting coming from Africa.”

Creators and filmmakers of the ten shorts then, at that point occupied with a virtual discussion where they shared the vaguest of mysteries about their projects and discussed their own excitement and motivation to make something totally new that will reverberate all throughout the planet, while demonstrating the diversity of storytelling available on the landmass.

“Kizazi Moto: Generation of Fire” will be accessible worldwide on Disney Pslus in late 2022.

From Cape Town, creators and executive producers Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal enthusiastically got the presentation together with their recently greenlit series “Kiff,” a musical comedy show for older kids about a fiery squirrel named Kiff and her rabbit best pal Barry.

“It’s about a kid who lives with her parents and goes to school, and the comedy is all in the tone and the characters that we’ve created,” Heavens explained.

“[The word] ‘Kiff’ in South Africa is slang for cool, awesome or rad, it’s the pinnacle,” Smal Said. “Like a good pair of blue jeans, it will never go out of style. That’s what the world needs. If the world comes at you with bad vibes and you show love and kindness, they got nothing.”

Smal and Heavens then, at that point shared an early clip of Kiff singing a hardcore rap track concerning why she is excessively occupied to brush her one larger than average incisor prior to going out for the afternoon. Eventually, Mom is left unswayed and Kiff retreats to the bathroom to clean her magnificent white.

Arrangement is created and delivered by Disney Television Animation in L.A. where “Phineas and Ferb” vet Kent Osborn is on board as co-producer and story editor.

Reported in February by EntertainmentOne and Frogbox, Ross additionally highlighted preschool series “Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes.” Scheduled to launch on Disney Junior in 2023, the show initially got Disney’s attention as a component of the organization’s African Story Lab, a drive launched in 2015 to search out and foster ability from the landmass, coordinated by Triggerfish. In the show, 7-year-old Kiya and her two best friends utilize their otherworldly headbands to become superheroes and battle villains which threaten their community.

Ross was additionally joined by the group working on Disney’s “Chip ‘N’ Dale” reboot. The series was first reported at Annecy in 2019 and is participating in the festival’s TV competition this year with the episode “The Ghost.” French studio Xilam Animation produces with Marc du Pontavice as Executive Producer and Jean Cayrol as Director.

Zagtoon founderand CEO Jeremy Zag was invited to tease his upcoming action series “Ghostforce,” a splendidly lit and colorful action series around three teens who use Ghost-like powers to track down and capture ghosts which terrorize New York City. Zagtoon likewise gave a short update on the “Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir” IP, which sends its half-French, half-Chinese lead character Marinette Dupain-Cheng – Ladybug herself – East to investigate her Chinese roots for the first time in franchise history.

Ross additionally declared that both “PJ Masks” and “Gigantosaurus” are underway for their 6th and third seasons individually, and that recently reported new series “Viking School” and “The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti” are on track for 2022 releases.

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Wicked Box Office Hits Global Milestone, Poised to Surpass Kung Fu Panda 4 and Godzilla x Kong

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The box office for Wicked hits a significant milestone worldwide as it gets ready to surpass Godzilla x Kong and Kung Fu Panda 4.

Wicked is still doing well despite recent box office releases that have caused significant disappointment. The most recent Wizard of Oz musical was too good for the Spider-Man villain and the Tolkien adaption to compete with Kraven the Hunter and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the same week. Wicked has already exceeded its $145 million budget following a record-breaking first weekend that raked in over $160 million globally.

It has achieved even more success this past weekend. Variety said that after making $359 million domestically, the musical adaption made over $524 million internationally. It is currently on track to surpass Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Kung Fu Panda 4, which brought in $547.6 million and $571.1 million, respectively. Having significantly outperformed Grease’s $188.62 million total, it is also officially the highest-grossing Broadway adaption in domestic box office history.

What the Box Office Success of Wicked Means

Musicals and animated blockbusters are regaining their position at the box office after ten years of action film supremacy. Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 have taken first and third place for the entire year, while Moana 2 and Wicked are the top films this weekend. With a $1.3 billion box office total, Deadpool & Wolverine is still in second place, but it’s probably the only action film to stay in the top five globally. Dune: Part Two may lose its position when Mufasa: The Lion King is released the following week:

TitleDomesticWorldwide
Inside Out 2
$653 million$1.7 billion
Deadpool & Wolverine
$637 million$1.3 billion
Despicable Me 4
$360 million
$970 million
Moana 2
$338 million$717 million
Dune: Part Two
$282 million
$714 million

This pattern is probably due to the fact that, other from Deadpool & Wolverine, neither DC nor Marvel have released any successful films this year. With Joker: Folie à Deux, DC tried to duplicate its $1 billion triumph, but it only made $200 million globally. With the exception of Wicked, every film in the top 10 global releases for 2024 has been a sequel, creating a distinct market. Based on a Broadway musical and The Wizard of Oz, Wicked is not a completely original film, but its box office performance does demonstrate that non-sequels may be successful in theaters in today IP-driven landscape.

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Danny Ramirez on Joaquin Phoenix Leaving the Gay Romance Film Directed by Todd Haynes

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Todd Haynes was planning to cast Danny Ramirez and Joaquin Phoenix in a gay romance movie. However, Phoenix left the untitled production five days before Guadalajara, Mexico, filming got underway.

At the Academy Museum Gala on Saturday night in Los Angeles, Ramirez told Variety’s Marc Malkin, “It’s definitely disappointing.” “If anything,” he continued, “If anything, it just gave me more inspiration to keep driving, keep pushing, and knowing that I’m on the right path and approaching the work the right way. So that’s what I’m excited about.”

The movie, which depended on Phoenix’s casting, was in danger after it was revealed in August that he had quit the production, according to sources. Two guys in love in the 1930s who escape Los Angeles and travel to Mexico were the main subject of the NC-17-rated movie.

“It’s definitely a very complicated situation,” Ramirez stated. “The audition process was extensive, and so what I walked away with that was just the artistic validation of throwing down opposite of [Phoenix] in this chemistry read… There was a moment that I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve arrived as a performer.’”

“The most recent update is ‘hopefully.’” Ramirez said in response to a question about whether the movie is still in development with filmmaker Haynes.

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David Schwimmer Remembers Rejecting “Men in Black”: ‘That Would Have Made Me a Hollywood Star’

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Although David Schwimmer admits his “career would have taken a very different trajectory” if he had been the lead in the 1997 movie, he doesn’t regret declining Men in Black.

The actor said, “That’s not why I turned it down,” in response to a question on a recent episode of the podcast Origins With Cush Jumbo regarding whether he rejected down the successful franchise because it conflicted with his Friends filming schedule. Rather, he decided to become a feature film director.

Schwimmer said, “[It] was a brutal decision.” the actor chuckles. “I had just finished filming The Pallbearer, my first film with Gwyneth Paltrow, and there were high expectations of that, which didn’t come true (Laughs). It was kind of a bomb, but there were high expectations, and the studio, which was Miramax, wanted to lock me into a three-picture deal at a fixed price, and I said I would do that if I got to direct my first movie.”

After months of talks, the intelligence actor said that they had come to an agreement whereby he “would act in three more movies for them” in exchange for allowing him to “direct my entire theater company in the first film,” Since You’ve Been Gone from 1998. The film was told through the perspective of a doctor who was severely beaten up by a fellow graduate on graduation day, humiliating him and setting the stage for a ten-year class reunion.

“All these unknown actors but I was going to put them on the map, basically. I was going to let everyone discover the talent of this amazing company,” Schwimmer said, “We found this amazing script, and we were developing it. We started pre-production. All my best friends in the world in my theater company quit their jobs so they could be in this film over the summer, which was going to be a six-week shoot in Chicago.”

However, Schwimmer had to make a tough decision about his career because the production for his directing debut happened to coincide with the filming of Men in Black.

The Six Days Seven Nights actor recalls, “We’re in pre-production, hired the whole crew, everything’s going and that’s when I was offered Men in Black.” “It was a direct conflict with this. My summer window from Friends was four months. I had a four-month hiatus and Men in Black was going to shoot exactly when I was going to direct this film with my company. And of course, it was an amazing opportunity. However, my theater company and that relationship with all those people would probably have ended. I don’t think it would have recovered.”

Schwimmer stated that he is unsure if “he made the right choice,” but he firmly feels that in these kinds of circumstances “you have to follow your gut, you have to follow your heart.”

“Look, I’m really aware, whatever 20 years later maybe more, [Men in Black] would have made me a movie star,” he continued. “If you look at the success of that film and that franchise, my career would have taken a very different trajectory.”

In the end, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith played the key parts in the Men in Black franchise.

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