The family of Bob Marley has announced the first ever authorized documentary on the singer will be in theaters this April. Magnolia Pictures has teamed with VH1 to obtain the United States rights to Academy award-winning director Kevin McDonald’s documentary “Marley.” “Marley” is being executive produced by Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell, as well as Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley. The documentary will make its world premiere at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February, and will premiere in North America, at SXSW this March. “This documentary is the ultimate revelation of my father’s life,” Executive Producer Ziggy Marley told in a statement yesterday (February 6), on what would have been his father’s 67th birthday. “The family is proud to be able to have the world finally experience this emotional journey,” Ziggy Marley said.

Honda’s ad already sparked mass conversation thanks to last Thursday’s teaser. The commercial, directed by Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover, Due Date, etc.), features Matthew Broderick playing himself in a grown-up version of his celebrated role as Ferris Bueller alongside the all-new 2012 CR-V. Using themes from the original film to bring Honda’s “Leap List” campaign to life, the spot is meant to reinforce how the CR-V helps consumers conquer their aspirations before life’s next big phase.

Think you’re a true fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? There are over two dozen hidden references to the movie throughout the commercial. Some are obvious, some are VERY subtle. See how many you can find. #dayoff

Magnolia Pictures has bought North American rights to Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in New York, the company announced Saturday. The film, a follow up to Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris, stars Delpy, Chris Rock and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy. Christophe Mazodier produced. A family comedy set in the art world, 2 Days in New York will be released via Magnolia’s Ultra VOD program later this year, with what the company says will be a “robust” theatrical release in major markets.

The pickup comes hours after Magnolia announced acquisitions of two other Sundance films, the dramas Nobody Walks and Compliance. The company previously bought the horror flick V/H/S and the documentary The Queen of Versailles, making it the most active buyer so far at this year’s festival.

“2 Days in New York manages to be even funnier than its predecessor,” said Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “Julie Delpy has proven once again to have impeccable comic timing, and Chris Rock is a pleasure to watch—we are confident that audiences everywhere will love the film as much as we do.”

Hollywood Reporter

1. The Artist

2. Drive

3. Shame

4. Hugo

5. Melancholia

6. My Week with Marilyn

7. Midnight in Paris

8. Beginners

9. Bridesmaids

10. The Ides of March

Limité’s film staff shares its personal top 10 films of 2011:

Dan Quitério’s Top 10

1. Another Earth

2. Moneyball

3. Hugo

4. The Ides of March

5. Hanna

6. Carnage

7. Warrior

8. The Artist

9. We Need to Talk About Kevin

10. My Week with Marilyn

Stephanie Dawson’s Top 10

1. The Artist

2. Shame

3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

4. Beginners

5. Attack the Block

6. Hugo

7. The Help

8. Submarine

9. My Week with Marilyn

10. The Ides of March

Janice Perez’s Top 10

1. Midnight in Paris

2. The Artist

3. Anonymous

4. Certified Copy

5. Hugo

6. The Way

7. Jane Eyre

8. Beginners

9. The Debt

10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Morgan Goldin’s Top 10

1. The Tree of Life

2. Melancholia

3. Drive

4. Certified Copy

5. A Dangerous Method

6. Cave of Forgotten Dreams

7. The Last Circus

8. Midnight in Paris

9. The Artist

10. The Descendants

Curtis John’s Top 10

1. Melancholia

2. Corman’s World

3. Drive

4. Shame

5. Bridesmaids

6. Gun Hill Road

7. My Week with Marilyn

8. Miss Bala

9. Pariah

10. Tyrannosaur

John Lee’s Top 10

(in alpha order)

Beginners

Bridesmaids

Drive

The Kid with a Bike

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Melancholia

Pariah

Shame

The Skin I Live In

Weekend

View The Trailer

CINELAN and Vimeo announced today the global day-and-date premiere of the first five three-minute films in the FOCUS FORWARD – Short Films, Big Ideas initiative, which will be presented at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The films will make their world premiere on Tuesday, January 24, at 12pm EST on vimeo.com/focusforwardfilms and at a special screening beginning 6pm MST at the Holiday Village 1 in Park City. The FOCUS FORWARD films will also be paired with features in the U.S. Documentary Competition and World Cinema Documentary Competition sections at Sundance. FOCUS FORWARD – Short Films, Big Ideas is a series of 3-minute nonfiction films about the incredible human power of ideas and invention.

The first five films in the series are:

MEET MR. TOILET (Dir. Jessica Yu, 2012) – Oscar-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu (“In the Realms of the Unreal”) introduces us to Jack Sim, AKA Mr. Toilet, who uses unorthodox methods as he travels the globe raising awareness about the lack of sanitation in underdeveloped countries.

HILARY’S STRAWS (Dir. Phil Cox, 2012) – UK director Phil Cox (“The Bengali Detective”) unveils a moving mini-portrait of Hilary Lister, a quadriplegic champion sailor whose metal-and-circuit-board navigational tool, invented with friends, led her to conquer the oceans of the world.

THE LANDFILL (Dir. Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit, 2012) – Training their eye on a facility in Delaware County, New York, Edwards and Hustwit (“Helvetica”) challenge the way we look at landfills, not as an ever-growing problem, but as a possible source of renewable energy.

HEART STOP BEATING (Dir. Jeremiah Zagar, 2012) – Jeremiah Zagar (“In a Dream”) tells the story of Billy Cohn and Bud Frazier, two visionary doctors from the Texas Heart Institute who in March 2011 successfully replaced a dying man’s heart with a “continuous flow” device they developed, proving that life was possible without a pulse or a heart beat.

NEWTOWN CREEK DIGESTER EGGS: THE ART OF HUMAN WASTE (Dir. David W. Leitner, 2012) – Cinematographer/filmmaker David W. Leitner (“Trembling Before G-d”) looks at the unusual marriage of form and function at the jaw-droppingly beautiful Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, New York.
Following the Sundance Film Festival, additional FOCUS FORWARD: Short Films, Big Ideas films will continue to screen at numerous film festivals around the globe through relationships with festivals including the Berlinale Talent Campus, Tribeca Film Festival, and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), among others.

It looks like TV Networks are up for grabs, first Ryan Seacreast and Mark Cuban, now introducing Huffington Post Streaming Network (HPSN)… maybe.

Forbes is reporting that the the media company is gearing up to launch a live, online video channel to rival your typical 24-hour cable news network.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

The idea, according to sources, is to harness the considerable editorial talent of the 320-person Huffpo newsroom while at the same time fulfilling rising advertiser demand for premium video content. Huffpo editors and reporters will appear on the stream live throughout the day, analyzing breaking news events in real-time. On-camera editorial meetings will let viewers in on the newsgathering process, and their social media feedback will be incorporated into the broadcast. Later, video editors will recut footage from the live stream into clips to distribute across the site’s many verticals, where it can more easily find sponsorship..

There hasn’t been any official announcement and a Huffington Post spokesperson declined to comment for the Forbes article. However, a new video initiative is supposed to be unveiled on February 2 in New York.

Ryan Seacrest is getting his own TV network after all. The multi-hyphenate, along with partners AEG and talent agency CAA, have struck a deal with billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban to rebrand Cuban’s HDNet as AXS TV (pronounced Access) beginning this summer.

The channel’s programming will rely heavily on live lifestyle and live entertainment fare, leveraging the music assets of AEG, a top venue owner and and tour promoter, and the A-list connections and production capabilities of Seacrest. As part of the rebrand, the network will cater to pop culture and entertainment enthusiasts rather than the younger, heavily male demographic that HDNet historically has targeted. Cuban will continue to lead the channel on behalf of the venture, with Denver-based Philip Garvin still involved as GM of network operations.

Though the parties involved will not comment on financial terms of the deal, one source told The Hollywood Reporter that the venture between Cuban and the others is “virtually” a 50-50 partnership. Seacrest is a stakeholder in the venture, with no plans to contribute as an on-air personality.

The news comes more than a year after reports that Seacrest, CAA and AEG were trying to launch what was then described as a “music, pop culture and lifestyle oriented” cable network. Several months later, the group was in talks to take over VH1 Soul, a little-watched spinoff of MTV Networks’ VH1 channel.

According to AEG chief executive Tim Leiweke, who along with Dish chief Joe Clayton and Cuban sat down on Wednesday at AEG’s L.A. Live venue, the Viacom-owned VH1 Soul was one of many distribution platforms considered over the past three years. Also debated was a plan to start a channel from scratch, an option the team found particularly challenging in today’s increasingly crowded landscape.

Among the benefits of rebranding HDNet as opposed to launching from scratch: the network instantly will be in more than 35 million homes, maintaining its existing distributors, including DirecTV, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Charter and Dish. But to hear Leiweke tell it, the venture with Cuban got the distributors invested in a way that earlier plans had not.

“I’m not saying that the distribution community was hostile when we’d come walking in the door saying we had an idea, but we were one of many people walking in the door and there was not a lot that captured their attention and made them want to deal with us and think about a partnership that would give us a bigger footprint,” he acknowledged. “This one was different, and the fact that we’re sitting here having a conversation about a vision with a distribution partner [in Dish] right off the bat, is why this is unique.”

As part of the arrangement, Dish announced it would expand its carriage of the rebranded HDNet, making it part of America’s Top 120 programming package, as well as offer a wide selection of AXS-branded video on demand concerts and ticketing opportunities, beginning March 15. By Aug. 1, Dish and the network will launch AXS Headliner Club, an online audition site for musicians looking to perform at an AEG-affiliated venue.

Still, even with distribution, it’s not certain viewers will show up. One needs only look at Oprah Winfrey’s low-rated OWN, a rebrand of Discovery Health, for a cautionary tale. But if Cuban has any fears heading into the venture, he isn’t letting on. “HDNet was profitable coming into this deal, and we think we’ll be even more profitable and be able to invest even more in the business because of the great partnerships we have and the great leverage that all the access AEG and Ryan bring to the table,” he said in an interview.

Lieweke agreed, adding that many of the assets — from the brick-and-mortar infrastructure to the content — are already in place. “We have about $4 billion worth of assets [including Staples Center and The 02 in London] we’ve handed over to Mark. To give him a playground like L.A. Live, it’s an existing investment we’ve already made and one which now we don’t have to re-create but he can take advantage of,” he noted, adding: “Same on content: We spend literally over $1 billion a year on content through AEG Live, so our ability to tap into that is huge.”

CAA, which represents Seacrest, is described as a “partner” in AXS, but the talent agency declined to specify whether it is investing money in the venture, saying only that it will access its relationships in sports and entertainment and provide strategic advisory services. The network is vowing to work with all content creators, not just CAA clients.

From a programming perspective, the rebranding will mean big changes for the decade-old HDNet network.

“There’s a big core of people who think the Internet is going to take over the world, and I don’t happen to be one of them. I think the future of TV is TV. The Internet will be there and do its thing, but one of the big differentiators is ‘live.’ If you look at what’s happening across the TV spectrum, there’s news and there’s sports,” Cuban said.

Programming plans are in early stages, but the team plans to launch a live news show, loosely described as a SportsCenter equivalent for the pop-culture arena. Cuban suggested this is the kind of fare that can — and in time, will — air several hours a day, every day.

Also included in the rebranded network’s plans are exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to live concerts and music festivals, red carpet premieres, award shows, parties, events and in-depth interviews. While scripted and unscripted series fare will likely fill swaths of the schedule at first, Cuban’s plan is to move as much of the schedule as possible to live fare.

Cuban said that some of HDNet’s current programming, including Dan Rather Reports, HDNet Fights, Inside MMA and the network’s Sunday concert series, will remain. Inside MMA will likely move its studio to L.A. Live, while Rather’s show will be tweaked so that it airs live more often. Cuban said he has no plans for Rather to alter his show with more of an entertainment focus: “I’m going to let Dan do his thing,” he said of a show he calls his “guilty pleasure.” HDNet’s edgier, more male-focused fare such as Girls Gone Wild programming will go away.

Seacrest’s shingle, Ryan Seacrest Productions, will have a production commitment with the new venture. To be sure, it will not preclude his first-look deal with NBCUniversal, which now airs his Kardashian unscripted series offerings. What’s more, his conversations about re-upping with NBCUniversal are ongoing, with sources noting that a new deal could include such things as Today appearances, Olympics coverage and Barbara Walters-esque specials as well as an expanded first-look deal for RSP. Ryan Seacrest Media, a holding company separate from RSP, is the investor in AXS.

In an interview with THR last spring, Seacrest insisted whatever deal he and his partners at CAA and AEG struck, it “will not be the Ryan Seacrest channel … it will not be branded with my name or my face. My role would be to hope to provide content for them, but primarily it would be an ownership role.” All involved confirmed Wednesday that Seacrest has no plans to have an on-air role, nor does he envision having another venue for Kardashian fare.

Via Hollywood Reporter

The network announced Sunday morning at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that it will launch a late-night 90-minute animation block on Saturdays, starting in Jan. 2013.

“It’s something that we’ve been working on for a while,” Fox president of entertainment Kevin Reilly said at the start of his executive session. “We have real estate on our schedule in Saturday night late night that we’ve not been programming in quite a few seasons.”

Reilly pointed to the high bar set by The Simpsons and Family Guy and the quality of projects they’ve been forced to turn down as prime motivation in launching the new block.

The new unit overseeing the development and production of the alternative animated series will be run by former Adult Swim head Nick Weidenfeld, who serves as EP of Children’s Hospital and The Boondocks. Hend Baghdady will also serve as executive in charge of production.

The slate of animated shorts and series will run online and on-air, with four new animated series planned per season with the 2013 launch. The line-up will go head-to-head against NBC’s Saturday Night Live, running from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 am ET/PT.

But Reilly seemed to place just as much focus on the online tie-in.

“This may be the first time a network is building a clear bridge for talent to develop and grow ideas in the digital/alternative arena and organically move them into the mainstream,” he said in a press release. These new late-night series will be assets in their own right – but the clear possibility exists for a breakout digital success to graduate to primetime.”

Tim Burton’s interest in tackling a live-action version of Pinocchio is heating up. And Burton’s choice to topline the movie is Robert Downey Jr. as Geppetto, the woodcarver who creates the puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy.

In the version being developed at Warner Bros., Geppetto embarks on a quest to reunite with his missing marionette. The well-regarded script is by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Dan Jinks (American Beauty) is producing.

Neither Burton nor Downey has a deal with Warners, but sources say Burton is keen to direct the film and has begun talks with the studio, so it’s just a question of whether Pinocchio will be his next movie. The Alice in Wonderland director also is eyeing an adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children at Fox, among other projects. Warners wants to move quickly with Pinocchio, so if Burton chooses to make another movie first, the studio might move on to other directors.

According to two well-placed sources, Downey has expressed serious interest in the project (and in working with Burton), but his busy schedule must still be worked out. Warner Bros. is hoping that Burton and Downey commit soon so the project can be fast-tracked.

If deals are made, Pinocchio would return Downey to Warners, which is behind his Sherlock Holmes franchise, the latest installment of which currently is in theaters. There are several other Pinocchio projects in various stages of development, including a stop-motion version being shepherded by Guillermo Del Toro.

In theaters: May 25th, 2012

In Men in Black 3, Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back… in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him — secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.