With only a couple of clicks of the dial and a little dash of hybrid vigor, the hackneyed can be made fresh again, a point proven by Tran Quoc Bao’s silly and special little kung fu comedy “The Paper Tigers.” Balancing the naive structure of an old Shaw Brothers movie (a vengeance mission with an
Month: May 2021
Thomasin McKenzie is going for the gold. The young star has signed on to play Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug in the upcoming biopic “Perfect,” from director and exec. producer Olivia Wilde. McKenzie, best known for her breakout performances in “Leave No Trace” and “Jojo Rabbit,” will portray Strug in the film, which is described
Grab your keys: HBO and HBO Max are leaning heavily into in-person drive-in events for their joint Emmy For Your Consideration campaign next month. Dubbed “HBO/HBO Max FYC Drive-In Theatre,” the pay cabler and its sister streamer will hold ten events between May 14 and May 21 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. This year’s
TBS announced that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” will be releasing a comedy special about gun reform called “Full Frontal Wants To Take Your Guns,” which will air on May 12 at 10:30 p.m. The special will “explore how appalling and frankly stupid it is that we as Americans are told there’s simply nothing we
How do you get Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to sign on as campaign chairs of Global Citizen’s Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World? Just ask. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex immediately jumped on board when they were approached by Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans. “We said we need champion of this
Walter Cronkite held forth from New York and Washington for CBS News. His heirs at a new ViacomCBS unit will do the same, while also monitoring Sacramento, Minneapolis and Dallas. The two executives named to head a newly fashioned division that combines the CBS local stations with CBS News and the team that manages the
AGC Studios has hired industry veteran B.J. Levin as executive VP of non-fiction. In his new role, he will oversee the indie company’s development production for film and television. Those duties include continuing to build the studio’s episodic non-fiction and unscripted output, as well as the company’s feature documentary slate. He will report to AGC
When you hear the phrase “the opioid crisis,” it can sound like it’s referring to a natural disaster with a beginning and an end. But as Alex Gibney’s shattering two-part, four-hour HBO documentary “The Crime of the Century” makes devastatingly clear, the opioid crisis is more than a human tragedy that has claimed half a
New York will lift capacity restrictions beginning on May 19, a move that potentially sets the stage for a Broadway and live theater revival. It will also help cinemas in the region bounce back after months of being closed or only operating at limited capacity. Restaurants, museums, salons, gyms and stores will also no longer
“This is a rock concert!” Dave Grohl kept repeating, over and over, with and without the F-word inserted, at Sunday night’s filming of Global Citizen’s “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Some of the other participants might have begged to differ on the exact genre classification —
Amazon’s IMDb TV free, ad-supported streaming service is bulking up its originals lineup — announcing five new series in development, including a comedy from “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur and author Shea Serrano. The projects are part of Amazon’s first-ever NewFronts presentation to advertisers on Monday. “Primo,” from Serrano and Schur, is billed as
Wanda Film, part of the Dalian Wanda group, has appointed financial advisers in Australia and may be preparing to sell the Hoyts cinema chain, according to local reports. According to the Australian Financial Review newspaper, investment bank Credit Suisse has been appointed by Wanda to find bidders for Hoyts. The bank’s task force, it says,
The Weeknd has responded to the rule changes for the Grammy Awards announced by the Recording Academy on Friday — primarily a change that eliminates the “secret” nomination-review committees that played a key role in his being shut out of all nominations for the 2021 awards, despite having one of the biggest albums and the
The First Monday in May is a holiday in the fashion world. Outside of awards season, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala (also known as the Met Gala) is the most star-studded celebrity event of the year. In 2020, the event, like pretty much everything else in 2020, was canceled because of
Anyone who watched “Avengers: Endgame” on opening weekend knows the shared excitement of seeing a movie on the big screen. Marvel, the studio behind that superhero blockbuster and dozens of others, paid tribute to the emotional sensation that many have been missing in the past year in a newly released feature that gave viewers the
France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the leading global get-together for all things animation, has unveiled the lineup for this year’s Work in Progress section, among the most highly anticipated events of the world’s animation calendar. When a physical event is possible, lines begin to form early in the morning as fans of the high-profile
Gold House has revealed its list of the 100 Most Impactful Asians of the Year. Vice President Kamala Harris, Oscar winners H.E.R. and Chloé Zhao, and the K-pop group Blackpink are among the list of politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and entertainers honored. The nonprofit, which seeks to elevate Asian voices and their cultural impact on society, is working to
Warner Music Group has announced a partnership with and investment in virtual entertainment company Wave, which has hosted livestreams by the Weekend, John Legend, Tinashe and others. According to the announcement, Wave will develop virtual performances, experiences, and monetization opportunities for WMG’s global roster of emerging and established artists. This includes new forms of ticketing,
Premiering in Hot Docs’ World Showcase, Michal Weits’ debut, “Blue Box,” marks a personal exploration of the myth, reality and historical context of the filmmaker’s great-grandfather. By extension, it becomes a deep dive into Israel’s complex and controversial history – a debate to which there’s no resolution in sight. Named after the blue boxes of
Verizon is throwing in the towel on its content business, announcing plans to sell Verizon Media — which compasses the AOL and Yahoo brands it acquired several years ago — in a $5 billion deal. The telco on Monday announced a deal with private-equity firm Apollo Global Management to sell Verizon Media. Verizon will retain
Uplifting refugee drama “Peace by Chocolate,” which marks the last film starring late great Syrian actor and director Hatem Ali, is set to world premiere at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. UTA Independent Film Group will be handling world sales on the English-language pic, which is directed by Canadian first-timer Jonathan Keijser and will bow
The Changing Face of Europe program, which is presented by European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival, reflects a continent in flux, as displacement, immigration, cultural shifts, and the coronavirus pandemic have all played separate roles in pushing millions to rethink and reimagine what it means to live
Syndicado Film Sales has acquired world rights to “BLIX,” director Greta Stocklassa’s documentary about former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, which is being pitched during Hot Docs Forum, the Toronto fest’s co-production and financing event. The Toronto-based sales agent is also boarding the project as executive producers. “BLIX” follows the former head of the U.N.
Zhang Yimou’s snowy period spy thriller “Cliff Walkers” debuted in China this Labor Day holiday weekend with $37.7 million. But it was outrun by local rom-com “My Love,” which took a comfortable box office victory. That tale of young love starring Taiwan’s Greg Hsu and Zhang Ruonan of the popular TV show “Cry Me A
Romantic drama “Waiting For Rain” became the fourth local film in as many weeks to head the Korean box office. It held off new release U.S. movie “The Courier.” “Rain” scored $1.05 million from 122,000 admissions over the weekend, giving a five-day total of $1.41 million. Chasing, “The Courier” delivered $756,000 from 88,000 admissions, for
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is taking on the role of mentor next week on “American Idol,” Variety has confirmed. Martin is set to mentor the current “American Idol” contestants on May 9, which is the singing competition’s Mother’s Day episode. The remaining finalists will prepare and perform two songs for the episode: one of their choosing
Los Angeles’ New Beverly Cinema is set to reopen on June 1 after being closed for over a year due to COVID-19. The theater’s official Twitter account posted a photo on May 1 of their marquee, which reads: “Re-opening June 1, 2021 because we love showing movies.” No other information was given on the reopening.
After narrowly losing first place in its opening weekend, “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” has surged ahead of “Mortal Kombat” on U.S. box office charts. The anime action adventure “Demon Slayer” is expected to end the weekend with $6.4 million in ticket sales, while “Mortal Kombat” trails closely behind with $6.2 million between Friday and Sunday.
Promising ideas turn out to be mostly empty thought bubbles in “Rising Wolf,” a confusing and derivative Aussie combo of hostage thriller and sci-fi fantasy. Centered on a terrified young woman trapped in a Shanghai skyscraper elevator by a nasty Russian villain, this muddled attempt at an elevated genre film involving time travel, psychic powers
India is celebrating the birth centenary of one of her greatest sons, Satyajit Ray, in a variety of ways. Sunday (May 2, 2021), marks the centenary of Ray, the Indian master who won an honorary Oscar in 1992, shortly before his death, and remains the country’s best known filmmaker internationally. Ray debuted with “Pather Panchali”