Briarcliff Entertainment: Last News

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter At the end of last summer, Flix Brewhouse faced a dire situation, albeit one that wasn’t unique to the Texas-based movie theater chain. There weren’t any movies to show in August. “We were going to A24 or Briarcliff Entertainment saying, ‘Does anyone have anything we can put on our screens?” recalls Chris Randleman, the company’s chief revenue officer. That’s not the case this summer as exhibitors grapple with a different reality. Can several back-to-back blockbusters succeed at once? Or will the glut of big movies cannibalize each other? Those are the big questions as popcorn season kicks into high gear with the arrivals of Harrison Ford’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (June 30), Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (July 12), Greta Gerwig’s neon-coated “Barbie” (July 21) and Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb drama “Oppenheimer” (also on July 21). All of those films carry big budgets and require outsized ticket sales to turn a profit.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to “Sweetwater,” a recently completed feature about Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, the first African American to land an NBA contract. The drama is written and directed by Martín Guigui and stars newcomer Everett Osborne as Clifton. The ensemble includes veteran actors such as Kevin Pollak, Cary Elwes, Jeremy Piven, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Ri’chard. There are also special appearances by Gary Clark Jr., Jim Caviezel and NBA champion Bobby Portis Jr.  The film follows Clifton (Osborn), who is the star attraction of the Harlem Globetrotters, led by owner/coach Abe Saperstein (Pollak). When New York Knicks executive Ned Irish (Elwes) and Knicks coach Joe Lapchick (Piven) decide it is time for the Knicks to integrate, with the support of NBA President Maurice Podoloff (Dreyfuss), they come together with the other team owners of the league to make history. Briarcliff will give the film a wide theatrical release on April 14, 2023.