It has been 15 years since the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded, and there is still a lot of important work to be done. The actress and producer has worked tirelessly with her team to research the statistics on women working in the entertainment industry, taking that data “privately and directly
Month: August 2019
Lionsgate’s thriller “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” has opened with a solid $2.3 million at more than 2,500 North American locations in Thursday night previews. Paramount’s family adventure “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” took in $1.3 million in previews, while Disney-Fox’s “The Art of Racing in the Rain” fetched $450,000 at
August 9, 2019 7:48AM PT Universal Music Japan announced today that “Lights/Boy With Luv,” the latest Japanese-language single by K-Pop superstars BTS, has received the “Million” certification by the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan), in recognition of the single shipping more than 1 million physical copies since its release on July 3. While Japan, along
Sony Music Entertainment’s new podcast venture with Adam Davidson and Laura Mayer — named Three Uncanny Four Productions — has made several key hires and plans to debut its first shows in 2020. Variety first reported on Sony Music’s deal with podcast vets Davidson, who serves as CEO of Three Uncanny Four, and Mayer, who
While Katy Perry was at the center of the news cycle last week after a California jury’s controversial decision that her song “Dark Horse” infringed upon the copyright of Flame’s 2008 track “Joyful Noise,” her second single of 2019 is the comparatively lighthearted “Small Talk.” Written with Johann Carlson (Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande), Charlie Puth
Ever since 9/11 changed the way we approach air travel, it’s been harder to make airplane-based thrillers in the soapy-silly trash tradition of “Airport” or “Executive Decision”: The panic of being under siege at 30,000 feet no longer feels like such ripe entertainment fodder with the image of two Boeing 767s hitting the Twin Towers
Sold by Charades, and released in France by Memento Films Distribution, “Hogar” (Maternal), the awaited fiction feature debut of Italy’s Maura Delpero, sees different forms of female desire collide and collude. Teen mother Lu takes off from Hogar, a religious residence for single teen mothers, to live with her boyfriend, abandoning Nina, her little daughter;
August 9, 2019 7:00AM PT Joaquin Phoenix will be honored next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF announced Friday morning that the three-time Oscar nominee will receive one of the two Actor Awards at the fest’s inaugural Tribute Gala. He joins previously announced honoree Meryl Streep. “Displaying both raw instinct and consummate technical
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is dipping its toe in the debate over whether to eliminate gender-specific acting categories. The org is discussing the possibility that the Daytime Emmy Awards will combine its outstanding younger actor and actress categories into one. (An earlier version of this story had said the decision had
August 9, 2019 6:36AM PT Lana Del Rey teased two new songs earlier this week — her new anti-gun track “Looking for America” and a cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” — and dropped full versions of them last night. In an Instagram post sharing a spare version of “Looking for America” earlier this
Set to open Aug. 18 with two of Latin America’s biggest stars, Gael Garcia Bernal and Wagner Moura (“Narcos”), the 15th edition of Chile’s Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic) promises a focus on women directors and producers as it hosts a Women’s Encounter and Chile’s audiovisual guilds ink a pact to safeguard against sexual harassment
In this week’s International TV Newswire, Scandinavia’s NENT announces its latest Viaplay original, “Partisan,” DirecTV Go hits three new Latin American territories; “Blockbusters” will open the Edinburgh Intl. TV Festival; and Endemol Shine Poland announces theatrical for “How to Marry a Millionaire.” NENT ANNOUNCES VIAPLAY ORIGINAL ‘PARTISAN’ Swedish broadcaster Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) has ordered
Bollywood youth icons Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal shared the best actor prize at India’s annual national film awards, which were announced Friday. Kaushal won for his mainstream breakout role in the hit war drama “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” which grossed about $50 million worldwide. First-time helmer Aditya Dhar won best director for the film,
Latvia’s Plataforma Filma is taking its smash “Swingers” franchise across Europe, with local versions of the film planned for Poland, the Czech Republic/Slovakia, and the Netherlands, Variety has learned exclusively. Shooting in Poland is set to begin Aug. 16, with the producers targeting a Valentine’s Day 2020 release date. Production for the Czech/Slovak version is
History, memory, and female-driven stories mark some of the main themes in the six Serbian films selected for Locarno’s First Look, a pix-in-post strand that represents one of the high points of the mid-summer festival on the shores of Lake Maggiore. The competitive showcase this year highlights an industry that has become increasingly prolific in
Finland’s Liselott Forsman, a former executive producer of international drama at Finnish public broadcaster YLE , has been appointed new CEO of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the dynamic Nordic region film and TV financier. Forsman will take up her position on Oct. 7, succeeding Petri Kemppinen who is relocating to Finland after a
Catherine Breillat is no stranger to controversy. If the French novelist and director has spent a career confronting censorship and social taboos, that has not prevented her from developing a reputation as one of the world’s most iconoclastic and widely acclaimed authorial voices. From her 1976 directorial debut, “A Real Young Girl,” through to 2013’s
Locarno’s Match Me!, its annual networking forum, builds this year to a nine-country focus. Some invited companies are established values: Singapore’s Zhao Wei, Portugal’s Fado Filmes. Most represent emerging voices on the international independent movie production sector. Here’s five points they suggest about that scene, plus a drill down on companies and top projects: 1.Male
August 9, 2019 12:30AM PT Jason Winer’s consistently unfunny romantic comedy lacks energy, sexual chemistry and smarts. It might as well be called “Bored to Death.” Contrary to popular belief that insists upon their demise, first-rate romantic comedies are still alive and well. Sadly, Jason Winer’s perplexing farce “Ode to Joy” — on the misadventures
German director Patrick Vollrath’s first feature “7500,” which world premiers August 9th on Locarno’s Piazza Grande, takes place mostly inside the claustrophobic cockpit of a commercial airliner that is hijacked by Islamic terrorists. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young pilot who contends with the critical situation that turns out to have a humane twist. The hyper-realistic
August 9, 2019 12:01AM PT An agent of lethal corporate espionage suffers a “Bourne”-like identity crisis in this polished but convoluted indie thriller. It takes a very long time for the protagonist of “Ecco” — or its viewers, for that matter — to figure out just who (or what) he is. This espionage/fugitive tale in
The fifth edition of the Locarno Industry Academy will kick off this Aug. 7 and run through to Aug. 13 during the 72nd Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer movie event. It’s been four years since the Locarno Academy added an industry section to its curriculum, and in that time the event has not only
Some foreign-language films arrive on the festival circuit so primed and ready for remake treatment that you practically expect a teaser trailer in the closing credits. Such was the case with last year’s “The Accused (Acusada),” an engrossing Argentine courtroom drama just classy enough to secure a Venice competition berth, and just lurid enough to
Irene Anula, a star of breakout Spanish TV hit “Vis a Vis” (“Locked Up”), is attached to topline Aitor Uribarri’s survival thriller “Kintsugi,” which Spain’s Mano Negra Films will introduce to potential co-production partners at the Locarno Festival’s Match Me! forum. Along with “Lady Laura,” starring “Locked Up’s” Itziar Castro and written and directed by
Spain’s Gadea Films is initiating early production on “Sara,” a docu-feature chronicle of the journey of a filmmaker, Spain’s Patricia Franquesa, to encounter Sara Bahai, the first female taxi driver in Afghanistan. Produced by Laia Zanon and Franquesa at Gadea, who teamed for development with Alice Tillet at Oya Films and Kristian Mosvold at Substans
MADRID — A co-producer on Dutch comedy-thriller “El azul bajo sus pies” (“Beyond the Blue Bridge”), Spain’s Tourmalet Films is preparing its biggest feature yet, “Siete Picos,” as it introduces “Killing Crabs” at Locarno’s Match Me! co-production forum. Launched in 2011, the Madrid and Tenerife-based independent film house Tourmalet broke through two years later co-producing
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones has announced a new stand-up special with Netflix. Jones’ joins a growing number of Netflix comedy specials that includes recent additions “Best Time of Our Lives” with Adam Devine, “Live: Your Welcome” with Miranda Sings, “Son of Patricia” with Trevor Noah, “Homecoming King” with Hasan Minhaj, “Growing” with
With his new CBS All Access show “Why Women Kill,” Marc Cherry maintains the titillating drama of his previous efforts while pushing into more “mature” territory — a move he owes to the streaming platform. “Working on a network show where they want 23 episodes a season — it’s a really tough factory gig,” Cherry
MoviePass, the struggling movie ticket subscription service, has been accused of changing user passwords in order to prevent heavy users from logging in. Business Insider reported on Aug. 6 that CEO Mitch Lowe ordered employees to change the passwords of users without their knowledge last year as the company temporarily ran out of funds in
In today’s films news roundup, “Lucy in the Sky” and “Villains” get release dates, “The Angry Birds 2” is moved up a day, Tony Todd gets a part and Art House Theater Day is set. RELEASE DATES Fox Searchlight has set an awards-season release date of Oct. 4 for Natalie Portman’s astronaut drama “Lucy in
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