Film News Roundup: Anne Hathaway Stars in ‘French Children Don’t Throw Food’

In today’s film news roundup, Anne Hathaway will portray an American journalist in Paris, blockbuster director Michael Bay signs with Sony Pictures, and “Extra Ordinary” and “The Etruscan Smile” are added to arthouse streaming services.

CASTING

is starring in the movie “French Children Don’t Throw Food,” based on Pamela Druckerman’s autobiographical book, “Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting.”

StudioCanal is financing and is set to produce with Blueprint Picture. Druckerman, an American journalist, wrote the book after she had a baby in Paris and noticed that French children were well-behaved and slept through the night by the time they were two or three months old.

Jamie Minoprio and Jonathan Stern wrote the most recent draft of the adaptation. Blueprint’s producing credits include Focus Features’ “Emma” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

Hathaway won an Academy Award for supporting actress in 2012’s “Les Miserables.” She’s currently starring in Netflix’s “The Last Thing He Wanted” from Dee Rees and will be seen in Robert Zemeckis’ “The Witches” remake for Warner Bros. Hathaway is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Sloane Offer.

SONY DEAL

Action movie director Michael Bay has closed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures to produce both film and television projects.

Bay recently directed Netflix’s “6 Underground,” which he also produced via his Bay Films banner. He will direct Sony Pictures’ ensemble drama “Black Five,” based on his original idea, with Ehren Kruger writing the script.

He previously directed and executive produced Paramount’s “Transformers” franchise, and served as a producer on franchises “The Purge” for Universal and “A Quiet Place” for Paramount. Other directing credits include “The Rock,” “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and the first two “Bad Boys” movies.

On the television side, Bay executive produces Amazon’s “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.” He previously executive produced TNT’s action drama series “The Last Ship” and Starz!’ “Black Sails,” both of which ran for five seasons. He also serves as an executive producer on USA’s anthology series, “The Purge.”

Bay is represented by WME and attorney Robert Offer. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

SCREENING PARTNERSHIPS

Cranked Up Films is teaming with Kino Lorber to continue with the theatrical expansion of supernatural comedy, “Extra Ordinary” through the arthouse distributor’s newly launched Kino Marquee Virtual Theatrical Exhibition platform.

“Extra Ordinary” started its theatrical launch on March 6 in non-exclusive partnership with Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. The film follows a sweet small-town Irish driving instructor, played by Maeve Higgins, who is gifted with supernatural abilities. When a washed-up rock star, played by Will Forte, makes a pact with the devil and puts a spell on a local teenager, the driving instructor has to overcome the fear of her supernatural gift.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Kino Lorber in this exciting new initiative which supports Independent Cinemas while also taking advantage of new, forward-thinking distribution models. In this difficult time, it’s important to us to be able to support local businesses while also making independent content readily available to audiences while they’re at home,” said Scott Donley, CEO and founder of Good Deed Entertainment.

The film is produced by Blinder Films, in co-production with Umedia, and financed by Screen Ireland, UMedia and Inevitable Pictures. “Extra Ordinary” will be available on Kino Marquee on April 3.

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Lightyear Entertainment has teamed with Film Movement, Arthouse Convergence and more than 50 arthouse cinemas for showings of “The Etruscan Smile,” starring Brian Cox.

The movie will be available starting April 3 through the streaming platform, Film Movement Plus, and in partnership with cinemas that were forced to close. Virtual tickets will cost $12, and 50% of proceeds will go to the participating theater to help support their ongoing mission of delivering “extraordinary” cinema to film lovers.

“Virtual movie tickets are a great way to go in these unfortunate times,” said Arnie Holland, Lightyear CEO. “People are hungry to see new movies but can’t go to a theater.”

Cox plays a rugged Scotsman who is forced to leave behind his beloved home and seek medical treatment in San Francisco. The cast includes Rosanna Arquette, JJ Feild, Thora Birch, Tim Matheson, Peter Coyote and Treat Williams.