Film News Roundup: Patrick Wilson Joins Roland Emmerich’s World War II Movie ‘Midway’
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Patrick Wilson has been cast in “Midway,” Art House Convergence announces its programming and fitness drama “Bigger” gets distribution.
CASTING
has joined Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans and Mandy Moore in the World War II action movie “,” directed by Roland Emmerich.
Wilson will play Edwin Layton, the rear admiral in the U.S. Navy who was part of the intelligence team that correctly pinpointed the location of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attacking fleet near Midway Atoll in 1942. The damage to the Japanese fleet was so extensive that it never recovered and military historians regard the battle as a turning point in the war.
Harrelson is playing Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific Fleet during the war. Emmerich is producing the movie with longtime partner Harald Kloser. Starlight Entertainment Group and Providence Entertainment are financing the film. Lionsgate is on board to distribute domestically, while Bona Film Group will distribute the movie in China.
Wilson will next be seen in “Aquaman” opposite Jason Momoa. Wilson is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Gretchen Bruggerman Rush/HJTH. The new was first reported by Deadline.
ART HOUSE THEATER DAY
The Art House Convergence organization has set the third annual Art House Theater Day for Sept. 23.
Participating Art House Theater Day cinemas will exclusively screen new films, including “Schlock,” the unseen first film by John Landis; SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner”Thunder Road,” starring writer-director Jim Cummings; Sundance Audience Award Winner “The Guilty,” “The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales,” and French-Arabic drama “Foreign Body.”
“Art House Theater Day gives film lovers the chance to celebrate the physical spaces where cinema truly comes alive,” said co-director Gabriel Chicoine. “Now, more than ever, the world needs thought-provoking, meaningful and life-changing art, and the venues in which to experience it. Art House Theater Day acknowledges the vibrant and multifaceted independent film culture that can only exist with the support of intrepid filmmakers, exhibitors and most importantly — audiences.”
The Art House Convergence began in 2005 as the Sundance Institute Art House Project and held its first conference in 2008 to support independent film and the promotion of movie culture in local communities. The inaugural Art House Theater Day launched in 2016 with more than 160 participating theaters nationwide.
ACQUISITION
Freestyle Releasing has acquired U.S. theatrical distribution rights to fitness drama “Bigger,” directed by George Gallo and starring Tyler Hoechlin, Julianne Hough, Aneurin Barnard, Victoria Justice, and Robert Forster.
Producers are Steve Lee Jones of Bee Holder Productions and Scott LaStaiti, executive producers are Camila Castro and Eric Weider. The film was written by Gallo, Andy Weiss, Brad Furman and Ellen Furman.
The story follows brothers Joe and Ben Weider, who launched an empire of muscle-building, discovered Arnold Schwarzenegger and inspired female empowerment. “Bigger” will have its U.S. premiere on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas to coincide with the Mr. Olympia competition that was created by the Weider brothers, and will be in theaters on Oct. 12. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
