The purpose of this weekly news roundup is to highlight and celebrate films/TV from and about women. The news collected in this week’s roundup was announced December 9 to December 15. As there is an abundance of news, some stories may slip through the cracks. In the event of this happening, please reply below with any news or release information about films/TV made or about women that should be shared.

Okay ladies, now let’s get in formation!

Women Behind The Camera

Ava DuVernay (Selma) and Patty Jenkins (Monsters) are the first women directors to get their very own Funko Pops. Source: EW

Kay Oyegun (This Is Us) will write the screenplay for the film adaptation of Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up. Source: Deadline

Chrissy Metz (This Is Us) will produce and star in film adaptation of Kara Richardson Whitely’s inspirational memoir Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds for Amazon Studios. Source: Deadline

Amazon picks up Rihanna centric documentary by Peter Berg for $25 million. Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Casting News

Stefanie Scott (Insidious: Chapter 3), Isabelle Fuhrman (The Orphan), and Judith Roberts (You Were Never Really Here) to star in period horror The Last Thing Mary Saw. Source: Deadline

Mo’Nique to star in independent action-adventure Mother Trucker. Source: Variety

Adria Arjona (6 Underground) and Lex Scott Davis (The First Purge) have been cast in Jason Momoa’s Netflix revenge thriller Sweet Girl. Source: Deadline

TV News

Lulu Wang will write, direct, and executive produce on Amazon’s series adaptation of Janic Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates with Nicole Kidman. Source: Deadline

Nisha Gantra (Late Night) signs overall deal with ABC Studios to write, direct, and develop projects. Source: Deadline

Ema Horvath (The Mortuary Collection) has been cast as a series regular in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series. Source: Deadline

Jenna Lamia (Good Girls) will write and executive produce the adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s The Perfect Couple for Fox. Source: Deadline

Co-executive producers of Superstore reteam to develop new single-camera comedy Beach Watch for NBC. Source: Deadline

Karyn Usher (Prison Break) and Lisa Zwerling (Betrayal) sign an overall deal with Universal TV under their Carpool Entertainment banner. Source: Deadline

Miki Ishikawa (The Terror) joins the cast of Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Source: Deadline

New Releases

*releases may vary depending on region*

In theatres:

• Black Christmas directed by Sophia Takal; written by April Wolfe and Takal
• Rabid directed and written by Jen & Sylvia Soska
• A Million Little Pieces directed and written by Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Seberg written by Anna Waterhouse

Streaming:

• Truth Be Told created by Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Apple TV+)
• The L Word: Generation Q created by Marja-Lewis Ryan (Showtime)
• Work in Progress created Abby McEnany and Tim Mason (Showtime)
• A Family Reunion Christmas created by Meg DeLoatch (Netflix)
• Michelle Wolf: Joke Show (Netflix)
• Hala written and directed by Minhal Baig (Apple TV+)

VOD/Home Video:

• Abominable directed and written by Jill Culton
• Before You Know It directed by Hannah Pearl Utt; written by Jen Tullock and Pearl Utt.
• Hustlers written and directed by Lorene Scafaria

Updates

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Emily Ting’s Go Back to China starring Anna Akana. Source: Deadline

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel got renewed for a fourth season by Amazon. Source: Deadline

Lara Olsen’s (Reign) Netflix series Spinning Out has set its premiere date, January 1. Source: Variety

Trailer of the Week

Focus Features made a splash this past week with the official trailer for Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, which premiered at Sundance 2020.

by Ferdosa Abdi

Ferdosa Abdi is a lifelong film student and aspiring film festival programmer. Her favourite genres are science-fiction, fantasy, and horror and her favourite director is Guillermo del Toro. She is madly in love with Eva Green and believes she should be cast in everything. You can follow Ferdosa on Twitter @atomicwick