News

With increasing class disparity, the pervasion of hyper consumerism, and corporate control over every sphere of life, it’s no wonder that in art and literature, eat-the-rich has become a subgenre in itself. The existing inequality, the negligence of the so-called one percenters towards the plight of those in need, and the inevitable conflict between different strata of the economic hierarchy make for relatable, engrossing narratives. But the issue is, among the numerous movies released nowadays that deal with this particular topic, only a few actually manage to ask the right questions with an understanding perspective. Unfortunately, Netflix’s German drama, Delicious, isn’t one of those, and despite having the right intention to portray the ever-growing and persistent class divide, it ends up demonizing the oppressed class in the most weird way possible. The characterization feels largely derivative as well, and the narrative as a whole is very predictable.

Big studios have poured money into foreign-language films – but is this just a backdoor way to dominate overseas markets?

When the horror film The Orphanage opened big in its home country of Spain in October 2007, distributor Warner Brothers wanted director Ja Bayona to know he was loved. "We call him Jota," says Richard Fox, executive VP of international at Warner. "He's an amazing Superman fan, and I had a piece of kryptonite from the Bryan Singer version sent to my hotel in Barcelona. After this huge opening weekend, we went to a fish restaurant on Monday night to celebrate. I got there early, so I was sat there with my box of kryptonite, looking at the portraits on the wall: Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise, Zinedine Zidane. When Jota arrived, I gave him the kryptonite, and a guy took a photo. We sat and had a three-hour dinner. When we left,...

Silver Linings Playbook star Bradley Cooper to star in Hollywood version of German box-office hit, with a view to directing

Bradley Cooper could become the latest actor to go behind the cameras after signing on to star in and potentially direct a Warner Bros remake of the German blockbuster Kokowääh.

The original film starred actor-director Til Schweiger with his real-life daughter Emma Tiger Schweiger and was Germany's biggest movie of 2011 at the box office. It centres on a carefree bachelor who discovers that his friend's daughter may be his own biological child, resulting from a one-night stand eight years previously. The film's title derives from a poor pronunciation of "coq au vin" by a German speaker.

Cooper, whose star has risen dramatically in Hollywood following his Oscar nomination for the offbeat romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook, is to play the bachelor, who must juggle a relationship with his newly discovered...

Bradley Cooper has signed on for the remake of Kokowääh.

The Hangover actor will star in the comedy and potentially make it his directorial debut, according to Deadline.

The 2011 German film was written and directed by Til Schweiger.

He starred alongside his daughter Emma Tiger Schweiger in the tale of a carefree writer who discovers that he has an 8-year-old daughter.

Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair adapted the screenplay for the English-language version, with Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph currently working on a rewrite.

Cooper will produce the Kokowääh remake with Sheroum Kim.

The actor is nominated for his recent role in Silver Linings Playbook.

Watch the trailer for Silver Linings Playbook below:...

At this point, it isn.t clear if Bradley Cooper.s fame is still rising, since he didn.t yet take home a Best Actor Oscar, or if he is coasting across the peak of fame, by being nominated to begin with and in having a career that sees him in several projects a year. One of those next projects will be an Engligh-language remake of the smash hit German comedy-drama Kokowääh, which Deadline reports Cooper will both star in and produce through his Warner Bros. offshoot 22nd & Indiana. The film is on a shortlist of films that Cooper would like to become his feature directing debut, but nothing is official yet. Kokowääh and its sequel were both written and directed by Til Schweiger, by arguably German.s most famous movie star, who also starred in the film. If Cooper is really looking to add the director hat ...

• Johnny Depp fans, get excited. The actor has committed to his next two projects: Wally Pfister’s sci-fi thriller Transcendence, and Barry Levinson’s Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, both of which he’d been circling for a while. Transcendence will be the directorial debut for Pfister, an Oscar-winning cinematographer (for Inception in 2011), who has been Christopher Nolan’s go-to since Memento. The details of the project remain sparse, but the logline teases that the film is about a scientist who has his brain uploaded into a computer. Depp will go straight from Transcendence to Black Mass, based on the...

Oscar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) has reportedly signed on to the English-language remake of Kokowääh, a popular 2011 German comedy.  The original picture, starring, written and directed by Til Schweiger, centered on an author (Schweiger) who is adapting a best-selling novel with his ex-girlfriend and is suddenly presented with the existence of an eight-year-old daughter from a one night stand.  Complicating matters is the daughter's preference for her foster father over the biological one.  Hit the jump for more. Deadline reports that Cooper and Sheroum Kim are developing the Kokowääh remake at Warner Bros. as a star vehicle and possible directorial debut for the former.  Black List scribes Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, both of Draft Day, are re-writing the screenplay from an earlier draft by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair.  The original Kokowääh centers on the relationship between the carefree bachelor and the devoted father as much as...

Exclusive: Hot off his Best Actor Oscar nomination for Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper has signed on to to star in the English-language remake of Kokowaah at Warner Bros. Cooper and Sheroum Kim are setting up the project through his WB-based 22nd & Indiana shingle. They will shape it as a star vehicle for him and he might well direct the film (it becomes one of several candidates for his feature directing debut). Black List writers Scott Rothman & Rajiv Joseph are re-writing the screenplay from an earlier draft by Chris Shafer & Paul Vicknair. Kokowaah explores the relationship between two men – carefree bachelor Henry and devoted husband and father Trevor–when they are forced to re-evaluate their lives after discovering the reality behind the paternity of Trevor’s 8-year old daughter Maddy. Kokowaah was Germany’s highest-grossing film of 2011 and the sequel recently opened at number one there. Cooper will produce and Kim will be exec producer.

Bradley Cooper is attached to star in and potentially direct Warner Bros.' upcoming English-language remake of Til Schweiger's Kokowääh , Deadline reports. Released in 2011, Kokowääh was Germany's most successful film that year. Also starring and co-written by Schweiger (alongside Béla Jarzyk), the film also features the actor's real-life daughter, Emma Tiger Schweiger and follows the drama that emerges when a writer, Henry, learns he has an eight-year old daughter, Magdalena. Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair adapted the screenplay for the new version which will now be rewritten by Scott Rothman & Rajiv Joseph. Cooper, who was just nominated for an Academy Award for his role in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook , will also produce alongside Sheroum Kim...

2011's highest-grossing films were global hits, but Hollywood's franchise machine still moves faster and harder than anyone

2011's international box-office chart was predictably topped by the grand starburst when a boy wizard became a man. But a boy reporter, 14 places further down a list completely dominated by Hollywood, had the keenest eye for the nature of the forces now terraforming mainstream cinema, and in the years to come. Steven Spielberg's version of Tintin is only just getting a shot at Us hearts, but it's still striking how much of its business it has done overseas: more than 80%. As others have already noted, this seems to be one of the first blockbusters engineered to appeal to the rest of the world first and the Us second.

Even if they weren't as bold about it, most of the top 10 international films (ie all markets except the Us) knew which way the wind was blowing.

We won't waste too much time on the American box office today as it's the usual stories: an animated film tops the charts (don't make me say the name), Bridesmaid barely dipped and Midnight in Paris is zooming up the "all time Woody Allen lists". On this last bit I wish we had "adjusted for inflation" charts at the ready. Those inevitable stories about it passing Hannah and Her Sisters at the box office are going to be annoying because $40 million in 1986 is a helluva lot more ticket-buying action than $41 million in 2011, you know? I'm guessing that Annie Hall, which really captured mainstream attention, would reign supreme if you adjusted for inflation. [updated: yep, Annie Hall is #1]

And yes I normally do a new drawing for the box office but I hate drawing cars and the only picture I'd like to conjure in that realm is Cars 2's "Mater" squished flat in a compactor.

Do the movies that best represent modern German cinema have crossover appeal, or are they lost in translation?

Scanning overseas box office charts is like strolling the aisles of a foreign supermarket. The old familiar produce is still there and still prominent, although it sits cheek-by-jowl with local cuisine that can seem exotic, enticing or off-putting, depending on your predilections.

So yes, German audiences, like their British counterparts, are currently devouring The King's Speech, Rango, Black Swan and True Grit. They are also partial to films such as Der ganz grobe traum, Dschungelkind and Ya Sonra? The year's biggest hit, meanwhile, is Kokowääh, which has earned a phenomenal €26m (£22.5m) after just five weeks on general release.

So what is Kokowääh, and what makes it so good? A cursory investigation leaves me none the wiser. "Anybody who likes KeinOhrHasen or ZweiOhrKüeken will love Kokowääh," promises an enthusiastic user on IMDb.

Like in several other territories, commercial juggernauts will win it big in 2011. This should be the case for Germany. Til Schweiger, for example, is going to churn out family-oriented Kokowääh (no, that's not a word) and Keinohrhasen 3. As always, comedians are going to try to translate their concert hall fame into tickets, like Tom Gerhardt and Hilmi Sözer, who have teamed up for buddy-cop-com Die Superbullen, or Kurt Krömer, who's trying his luck in a movie called Eine Insel namens Udo - titles you won't have to memorize altogether, as they will hardly be exported to non-German-speaking countries. Pina, in contrast, will be: It's Wim Wenders' bow to the late Pina Bausch, a 3D dance theater experience running out of competition at coming February's Berlinale, dreaded in advance by arthouse purists. Meanwhile, these are some of the most promising German films that do show up on the horizon: #.5 Memory...