Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are re-teaming for “Sherlock Holmes 3,” Boomerang Productions Media is formed, MarVista Entertainment expands and Universal buys Aubrey Plaza’s “An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn.”
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are re-teaming for “Sherlock Holmes 3” with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow announcing a Dec. 25, 2020 release date.
Downey will reprise his role as the titular British detective while Law portrays his sidekick, Dr. Watson. No director is yet attached. Chris Brancato has written the script. Susan Downey, Joel Silver and Lionel Wigram are producing “Sherlock Holmes 3.”
The film will open nine years after the second film “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” took in $545.4 million at the worldwide box office. The original “Sherlock Holmes” was released in 2009 and grossed $524 million globally. Guy Ritchie directed the first two films.
James Cameron’s “Avatar 2” is scheduled to open on Dec. 18, 2020, followed by “Sing 2” on Christmas Day.
Kelli Joan Bennett and Tim Warren have joined forces in Boomerang Productions Media, a new film, television and content company.
The company’s first film is “Collusions,” the multi-layered crime drama starring Tom Everett Scott (“La La Land,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,”), which will make its world premiere at the Independent Filmmakers Showcase Film Festival in Los Angeles on May 10, where Scott will also receive the festival’s Best Actor Award. Bennett serves as producer and one of “Collusions’” stars.
The festival will also screen the documentary “High School 9-1-1,” which Bennett produced and Warren directed.
The new enterprise is a marriage between Warren’s Boomerang and Bennett’s company, Think Outside the Box Inside the Box Media. Warren’s previous Boomerang spearheaded scripted and non-scripted films and television series as well as alternative media programming.
“The new Boomerang Productions Media combines the best aspects of our companies and our personal aspirations. It turned out we share a similar artistic ethos and although our experiences and approaches have been different, our goal is the same — to create content that entertains, provokes and inspires thoughtful discourse and encourages audiences to explore their own creative endeavors,” said Bennett and Warren.
MarVista Entertainment has expanded its marketing and distribution business with several executive appointments, Variety has learned exclusively.
Michol Hatwan, former Playster content acquisitions executive, has been appointed as director of distribution, responsible for sales in the U.S. and Canada and reporting to Jody Cipriano, head of global distribution at MarVista.
Industry marketing veteran Stephanie Dillard joins as marketing director, overseeing marketing campaigns for the company’s programming content across domestic, international and emerging platforms, reporting to Deena Stern, senior VP of marketing and communications.
MarVista’s senior VP of operations, Candace Johnston, who has been in charge of all content operations for the past decade, expands her role to include spearheading a newly-launched revenue operations team.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Content Group has bought North American rights to Jim Hosking’s feature “An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn,” starring Aubrey Plaza.
The film made its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Hosking and co-written by Hosking and David Wike, the film also stars Emile Hirsch, Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry and Craig Robinson.
Producers are Sam Bisbee, Theodora Dunlap, Oliver Roskill, Emily Leo, Lucan Toh, and Andy Starke. UPHE Content Group is planning a release later this year.
Plaza plays Lulu Danger, who’s trapped in a dissatisfying marriage with her scheming husband who fires her from his cappuccino shop. She’s stunned when a TV commercial for “An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn For One Magical Night Only” reveals a mysterious man from her past, played by Craig Robinson.