In today’s film news roundup, Sony’s working on a “Jagged Edge” remake with Halle Berry, Al Sapienza is playing the brother to Tom Hardy’s Al Capone and MoviePass partners with Flix Brewhouse.
CASTINGS
Halle Berry will star in a remake of courtroom thriller “Jagged Edge” for Sony Pictures in a project that’s in the early stages of development with Matti Leshem and Doug Belgrad producing.
Sony had no comment. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions topper Steven Bersch and Scott Strauss are supervising.
The original 1985 thriller “Jagged Edge” starred Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges and involved Bridges’ publisher character being accused of murdering his heiress wife. Close portrayed the lawyer for Bridges character and Robert Loggia was nominated for an Oscar for his role as a private detective.
Berry is represented by WME and Management 360 and appeared in last year’s “Kingsman: the Golden Circle” and the thriller “Kidnap.” The news was initially reported by Deadline.
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Al Sapienza (“The Sopranos”) has been tapped for a major supporting role opposite Tom Hardy in the Al Capone biopic “Fonzo.”
The fim is directed by Josh Trank. Producers are Russell Ackerman, Lawrence Bender, Aaron L. Gilbert and John Schoenfelder.
Sapienza will play Ralphie, the older brother of notorious American mobster Al Capone, played by Hardy. Matt Dillion, Kyle MacLachlan and Linda Cardellini are also set to star.
Sapienza is best known for his role as “Marty Spinella” on The Sopranos. He will soon be seen in a recurring role in the upcoming Amazon series “Jack Ryan,” opposite John Krasinski.
MOVIEPASS PARTNERSHIP
MoviePass has signed a partnership deal with the Flix Brewhouse cinema circuit that integrates the subscription app into the ticketing systems at all Flix Brewhouse theaters.
“Like MoviePass, Flix Brewhouse is a progressive, tech-forward company and we’re thrilled they’ve decided to partner with us as we continue to gain ground in improving the theater-going experience,” said Bernadette McCabe at MoviePass. “We love the in-house brewery and dining model they’ve pioneered, as it perfectly aligns with our mission to revamp the conventional approach of going to the movies.”
Started in 2011, Flix Brewhouse is based in Round Rock, Texas and operates locations there as well as in Iowa, Indiana, New Mexico, and Dallas. It has theaters opening in Arizona and Wisconsin later this year.
“Flix Brewhouse is bullish on the long-term future of experiential out-of-home entertainment, and we’re excited to work with the like-minded professionals at MoviePass to add more value to movie-going,” said Flix CEO Allan Reagan. “Our early result piloting full POS integrations with MoviePass has been a measurable uplift in same-store box office revenues compared to industry averages.”
Earlier this week, Variety reported that MoviePass was ending its blackout of 10 popular AMC locations. AMC and MoviePass have had a contentious relationship in recent months as AMC chief Adam Aron dismissed the company as a “fringe player,” threatened legal action, and predicted MoviePass would fold because of an unsustainable business model.
MoviePass offers subscribers the chance to see a movie-a-day for a $9.95 monthly fee. MoviePass subsidizes moviegoing and pays theaters full price for the tickets its users buy. It believes the data it collects on consumer behavior can eventually be monetized.
