Sony Pictures Classics

A few weeks ahead of the trifecta of fall film festivals, Sony Pictures Classics has purchased all U.S. rights to Robert Redford's new film "The Company You Keep. " Redford stars in the film that he also directed opposite Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie and Susan Sarandon. The movie centers on a former Weather Underground activist (Redford) who goes on the run from a journalist (LaBeouf) who has discovered his identity. Lem Dobbs ("Haywire") adapted the script from the 2003 novel by Neil Gordon.

The Los Angeles Film Festival will open with the North American premiere of Pedro Almodóvar's "I'm So Excited!" on Thursday, June 13. The festival will run through June 23 at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. Billed as something of a return to the bawdy, cheeky sex comedies of the Spanish filmmaker's earliest films (as opposed to his more recent, modern melodramas), the story of "I'm So Excited!" takes place mostly inside an airplane. With a cast that includes Paz Vega, Javier Camara, Hugo Silva and Cecilia Roth, the film also features cameos by Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

Sony Pictures Classics will distribute director Woody Allen's next film, “Blue Jasmine,” the studio announced Tuesday, marking the sixth partnership between the filmmaker and Sony's art house division. Sony Classics first released an Allen movie in 1999 with “Sweet and Lowdown.” The New York-based distributor has released the director's last four movies, including 2011's “Midnight in Paris,” Allen's highest-grossing film ever (not adjusted for inflation), with domestic ticket sales of $56.8 million.

NEW YORK - For all its perks, being a popular young actor like Shia LaBeouf in today's media climate can come with some intense pressures. So intense that one of Hollywood's longest lasting stars says he probably couldn't handle them. "I don't envy Shia's generation," said Robert Redford, LaBeouf's director and co-star in the new dramatic thriller "The Company You Keep. " "If what's put to him had been put to me when I was starting out, I might have stayed a painter. " VIDEO: Robert Redford on "The Company You Keep" LaBeouf, who joined Redford for an interview here this week, brought in a historical perspective.

Oscar nominations for "Amour" as best picture and foreign-language film provided a boost to the one studio that still regularly brings subtitled films to the U.S. Sony Pictures Classics, the New York-based specialty label owned by the studio behind "Spider-Man" and "Men in Black," also released the last movie to garner Academy Awards nominations in both categories: 2000's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. " Other studios remain in the business of distributing low-budget "prestige" movies for adults through divisions such as Fox Searchlight and Universal Pictures' Focus Features.

If the marketing department at Sony Pictures Classics was to put together a newspaper ad using quotes to promote the company instead of one of its movies, they could do worse than these: "Those guys love film, they see everything, they have good tastes, and they work like hell for their movies." --Milos Forman "They believe in cinema, they fight for their films, and they have a kind of passion that is rare now in our business."

There are few movies that famed British director Mike Leigh has wanted to see out in the world as much as his real-life story of British artist J.M.W. Turner. Now it appears he'll get his wish. Sony Pictures Classics, the distributor that released the seven-time Oscar nominee's aging drama "Another Year" in 2010, has acquired U.S. and select other international rights to Leigh's new film about the artist. Leigh has been developing a Turner movie for more than a decade and aims to shoot this spring.

Disney "Bolt" "Wall-E" DreamWorks "Kung Fu Panda" Focus Features "In Bruges" "Milk" Fox Searchlight "Slumdog Millionaire" 20th Century Fox "Australia" Janus Films "Revanche" Miramax "Doubt" "Happy-Go-Lucky" Paramount "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Paramount Vantage "The Duchess" "Revolutionary Road" Regent Releasing "Departures" Sony Pictures Classics "The Class"...

Generally, the tortoise doesn't beat the hare in Hollywood. No matter what Aesop's fable suggests, show business winners are deemed to be films like "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man," "Transformers" -- blockbusters that start off at a sprint and never slow down. There's only one small corner for patience in the film world, and you can find it at the Cannes Film Festival. This year's festival gathering opened Wednesday without many U.S.

There have been plenty of films over the years that grapple with alcoholism, a wide swath that includes "The Lost Weekend" and "Leaving Las Vegas," "The Shining" and "Arthur. " Few have attempted to capture the highs and lows in quite the same naturalistic way as "Smashed. " The movie, which debuts Friday, is a breakout role for 27-year-old Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who has played supporting characters in such films as "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

There are few movies that famed British director Mike Leigh has wanted to see out in the world as much as his real-life story of British artist J.M.W. Turner. Now it appears he'll get his wish. Sony Pictures Classics, the distributor that released the seven-time Oscar nominee's aging drama "Another Year" in 2010, has acquired U.S. and select other international rights to Leigh's new film about the artist. Leigh has been developing a Turner movie for more than a decade and aims to shoot this spring.

In the United States it's business as usual for political ideas to be branded and sold like breakfast cereals. But when those marketing tools were used in Chile in 1988, the outcome reshaped an entire nation - and generated the stuff of high drama. Twenty-five years ago, a majority of Chileans just said no to extending the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Only it wasn't guerrilla revolutionaries that toppled the right-wing strongman. It was a slick, Madison Avenue-style advertising campaign that urged Chileans to vote "No" on Pinochet's plebiscite and yes for restoring democracy after 15 years of the general's autocratic rule.

When "Amour" received Academy Award nominations for foreign-language film and best picture, many noted that it was the first time a movie had pulled off that feat since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000. But director Michael Haneke's tale of love amid the decline of old age set a record perhaps even more impressive: Playing in just three U.S. theaters at the time of the Oscar nods, it had the lowest domestic gross of any movie in modern history nominated for best picture: just $368,000.

PARK CITY, Utah -- Compared to feature films, documentaries are selling like hotcakes at the Sundance Film Festival: On Sunday, Sundance Selects snapped up the North American rights to "Dirty Wars," a journalistic look at America's covert operations. The movie premiered in the U.S. documentary competition section and was directed by Richard Rowley. The film follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill as he traces the rise of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), a secret and elite fighting force.

Oscar nominations for "Amour" as best picture and foreign-language film provided a boost to the one studio that still regularly brings subtitled films to the U.S. Sony Pictures Classics, the New York-based specialty label owned by the studio behind "Spider-Man" and "Men in Black," also released the last movie to garner Academy Awards nominations in both categories: 2000's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. " Other studios remain in the business of distributing low-budget "prestige" movies for adults through divisions such as Fox Searchlight and Universal Pictures' Focus Features.

Sony Pictures Classics will distribute director Woody Allen's next film, “Blue Jasmine,” the studio announced Tuesday, marking the sixth partnership between the filmmaker and Sony's art house division. Sony Classics first released an Allen movie in 1999 with “Sweet and Lowdown.” The New York-based distributor has released the director's last four movies, including 2011's “Midnight in Paris,” Allen's highest-grossing film ever (not adjusted for inflation), with domestic ticket sales of $56.8 million.

The Los Angeles Film Festival will open with the North American premiere of Pedro Almodóvar's "I'm So Excited!" on Thursday, June 13. The festival will run through June 23 at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. Billed as something of a return to the bawdy, cheeky sex comedies of the Spanish filmmaker's earliest films (as opposed to his more recent, modern melodramas), the story of "I'm So Excited!" takes place mostly inside an airplane. With a cast that includes Paz Vega, Javier Camara, Hugo Silva and Cecilia Roth, the film also features cameos by Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

PARK CITY, Utah -- Compared to feature films, documentaries are selling like hotcakes at the Sundance Film Festival: On Sunday, Sundance Selects snapped up the North American rights to "Dirty Wars," a journalistic look at America's covert operations. The movie premiered in the U.S. documentary competition section and was directed by Richard Rowley. The film follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill as he traces the rise of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), a secret and elite fighting force.

"Skyfall" became the first James Bond film to ever receive a nomination from the Producers Guild of America, as its producers and those of  "Argo," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained," "Les Miserables," "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Zero Dark Thirty" were nominated for the Darryl F. Zanuck producer of the year award for theatrical motion pictures. The complete list follows, and the full story can be read here . FILM Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures (Darryl F. Zanuck Award)

The backlash in Washington over "Zero Dark Thirty" didn't reach the box office, as Kathryn Bigelow's CIA thriller got off to an excellent start in limited release. Playing in five theaters, the film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden grossed $410,000 over the weekend, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. That amounts to a robust per-theater average of $82,000 — the fourth highest of the year for a movie in limited release, behind "The Master," "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Lincoln.