Global creative studio MPC announced that colorist Houmam “H” Abdallah has joined its global MPC Color team. Abdallah starts his MPC career in London but will later move to Los Angeles, and work alongside colorist Mark Gethin, U.S. creative director/Color, and colorist Ricky Gausis.
Abdallah has spent the past three years coloring as well as directing projects out of Black Dog Films. He has also worked at Electric Theatre Collective collaborating with directors including Andreas Nilsson, Saam Farahmand, directing duo Us, Sam Miller, Nick Gordon and Rollo Jackson. Among the commercial work he has graded is the Gold Lion-winning Women’s Aid “Look At Me” campaign via WCRS London, and spots for Nike, Audi, adidas, Virgin Atlantic, Dyson, Glenfiddich, Intel and McLaren, to note a few.
“Joining MPC in Los Angeles is a golden opportunity to work with the best directors and cinematographers in the world and amongst colleagues I have long admired and been inspired by, Mark Gethin and Ricky Gausis,” Abdallah said. “I’m excited to collaborate with new commercial clients on memorable brand work, and now that I’m in the entertainment capitol of the world, I look forward to getting in the mix of grading films and TV series.”
Abdallah has lent his artistic touch to music videos for artists FKA Twigs, The Last Shadow Puppets, The War On Drugs and Blur, as well as short films including Tomorrow’s Flames are Already Burning. He graded FKA Twigs promo “M3LL155X” (Melissa) which was nominated in 2016 for both Best VFX at the MTV VMAs and Best Color at the UK MVAs. He also graded the Twigs’ “Two Weeks,” a nominee for Best VFX at the MTV VMAs in 2015. And H was the colorist for Clock Opera’s “Once And For All,” which earned director Ben Strebel a Cannes YDA honor.
Recent work from the MPC LA Color team includes Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women (colorist Gethin), FX’s critically acclaimed series “Atlanta” (Gausis), Samsung Surf’s “Snail” (Gausis), Vaseline’s “Wonder Jelly” (Gethin) and The Weeknd’s “Mania” (Gethin).
“Sinners” Tops Weekend Box Office
Brand names, not filmmakers or stars, are said to rule the box office these days. But Ryan Coogler's "Sinners," led by twin Michael B. Jordans, proved a bloody exception to modern movie rules, launching with $45.6 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Sinners," a Warner Bros. release that cost about $90 million to produce, was a bold gamble on originality — albeit with genre elements — and one of the most bankable American directors in Coogler. The "Creed" and "Black Panther" director wrote and produced "Sinners," a 1932-set vampire movie about bootlegging brothers (both played by Jordan) who open a juke joint in their Mississippi hometown.
"A Minecraft Movie," the year's biggest Hollywood hit, followed close behind in second, collecting $41.3 million in its third week of release. That gave Warner Bros., after a handful of disappointments, an enviable one-two punch at the box office with one original, director-driven movie and one IP-based property.
"A Minecraft Movie," which Warner Bros. co-produced with Legendary Pictures, has amassed $720.8 million worldwide in three weeks of release.
Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, co-chairs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, celebrated the two films' resonance with moviegoers. The studio accounted for a remarkable 64% of the domestic box office for the Easter weekend.
"Movies have the power to transport us to worlds only seen on the big screen, and Warner Bros. Pictures remains committed to bringing singular in-theater experiences to audiences looking for bold movies, both original and those based on beloved existing properties," Abdy and De Luca said in a statement Sunday.
But all eyes were on the performance on "Sinners,"... Read More