Month: February 2019

Brendan Fraser is certainly a busy actor. After a string of recent buzzy television performances (“The Affair,” “Trust” and “Condor”) and a role in “Doom Patrol,” an upcoming series for DC Universe. His latest feature film, “Line of Descent,” launches sales at the European Film Market via Storyboard Media. The Dehli-set crime thriller is written

February 9, 2019 1:30AM PT New search-engine website Telescope launches in Berlin this week with the mission of helping American audiences find online the kind of foreign titles pitched at the Berlin Film Festival and its related European Film Market. “In the U.S., American films receive a lot more attention than international films – we

February 9, 2019 1:11AM PT Gerard Butler (“London Has Fallen”, “The Phantom of the Opera”) is in negotiations to play the lead role in the disaster thriller “Greenland” about one family’s fight for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster. STXinternational is handling international distribution and pitching the film at the Berlin Film Festival’s European

February 9, 2019 12:24AM PT Beniamino Barrese aims the camera at his former-supermodel mother — and she ducks — in this discomfitingly invasive documentary portrait. In the age of Instagram, it may be hard for many to grasp that others might still treasure their privacy, to the point of actually loathing the camera. Beniamino Barrese’s

Italy’s Nexo Digital has teamed up with the Anne Frank Fonds foundation to produce a high-end documentary that tries to imagine what Anne Frank’s life would have been like if she had survived the Holocaust. Shooting started in January, which marks the 90th anniversary of Anne Frank’s birthday. Nexo is kicking off pre-sales at the

Jacqueline Zünd’s Swiss documentary “Where We Belong” world premieres as part of this year’s Generation Kplus selection at the Berlinale, a section dedicated to kids and family content, although the film’s selection in that particular category came as a surprise to the filmmaker. Herself a single parent, Zünd’s documentary tells, from a kids’ POV, the

BERLIN — Towards beginning of the decade, Guido Rud’s FilmSharks brought onto Berlin’s European Film Market “Rodencia and the Princess Tooth 3D,” Peru’s first 3D movie, helmed by David Bisbano. An ebullient about a clod-footed mouse-come-sorcerer’s apprentice who sets off to find a magical princess’ tooth and defeat a horde of invading rats, “Rodencia” went

February 8, 2019 10:18PM PT Cutting Edge Group has signed a slate financing deal with Steve Richards’ Endurance Media for music rights on Endurance’s next three films, starting with Angelina Jolie’s “Come Away.” The film, which also stars David Oyelowo, is a prequel story. It’s set before Alice went to Wonderland, and before Peter became

How do you follow “Operation Mekong” and “Operation Red Sea,” two of China’s biggest hit films in recent years? For Dante Lam, who directed those two movies, it’s not by further cranking up the body count or delivering yet more on-screen patriotism. Instead, he and producer Candy Leung are now working on one of the

For Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, “Systemsprenger” (“System Crasher”), a social drama about a troubled young girl caught in the revolving door of Germany’s child welfare services, is exactly the kind of film the sibling producer duo is keen to make. Nora Fingscheidt’s feature film debut, which screens in competition in Berlin, explores the difficult and

Noomi Rapace has boarded Valdimar Jóhannsson’s supernatural drama “Lamb,” which New Europe Film Sales is selling at Berlin’s European Film Market. The pic marks Rapace’s return to Scandinavian moviemaking following Hollywood movies like Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus,” with Michael Fassbender, and

Hollywood talent agents have given a downbeat reaction to their first meeting with the Writers Guild of America to discuss the guild’s proposals to revamp key rules for agents. The meeting took place on Tuesday — two months before the current agreement expires. During the past year, the WGA has been pressuring Hollywood’s agencies to

In today’s film news roundup, a Joni Mitchell documentary generates solid business and indie films “Cristina” and “Dreamcatcher” are moving ahead.  BOX OFFICE Trafalgar Releasing is reporting a strong box office of $568,000 at 414 North American locations for its one-night screening on Feb. 7 of “The Music Center Presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration.”

February 8, 2019 5:47PM PT Keeping up its buying spree, Amazon Studios has acquired Kristen Stewart’s independent political thriller “Against All Enemies.” The deal was closed Friday at the Berlin Film Festival with UTA Independent Film Group negotiating with Amazon on behalf of the filmmaking team and financiers. Amazon Studios was the most active buyer

Ana de Armas says she’s still trying to find the right words to describe her latest project, a cinematic collaboration with Italian liqueur brand Campari that has catapulted the Cuban-born actress into a conversation about diversity, creativity, and taking risks. “I don’t think I can even describe the feeling,” De Armas says of becoming the

The Newport Beach Film Festival U.K. Honors evening celebrated its fifth anniversary on Thursday with several honorees and the presentation of Variety’s 10 Brits to Watch at the Langham Hotel in London. The star-studded celebration marks the kickoff of BAFTA Awards weekend and included icon award honors for Julian Fellowes, Lesley Manville, and John Lloyd. Artists

February 8, 2019 4:41PM PT Following stops in Paris, New York, and Rio, the ‘Cities of Love’ series finds its way to Berlin, where a global mix of talent invent stories that could have taken place anywhere. If you truly love Berlin, and belong to the film industry, chances are you’re there right now attending

February 8, 2019 4:24PM PT Alexander Payne has found his next feature, as the “Sideways” and “The Descendants” filmmaker is attached to direct the comedic horror-thriller “” with Gary Sanchez Productions. Will Tracy and Seth Reiss penned the script with Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and Betsy Koch producing under the Gary Sanchez banner. The pic