Month: September 2022

In the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, the U.K. has postponed several scheduled events as a mark of respect to the departed monarch. Sky has postponed the scheduled launch of Michael Winterbottom’s Boris Johnson drama “This England,” starring Kenneth Branagh, from Sept. 21 to until after the official period of
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Great American Family is continuing to rollout their slate of original holiday movies. Jessica Lowndes, Paul Greene and seven-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight will star in “Someday at Christmas,” set to premiere this November. Production begins today on the film, which marks the reunion of Knight with former Motown chief, writer-producer Suzanne de Passe. “Great
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Venice’s red carpet became a stage for quiet protest on Friday, as festival director Alberto Barbera and jury president Julianne Moore, among many more, held a somber walk-out to stand in solidarity with imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Traffic on the red carpet flowed normally as attendees made their way into Venice’s Palazzo del Cinema for
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For all the uproar it caused 45 years ago, for all the controversy and outrage, it’s hard in retrospect not to see the Sex Pistols’ world-changing single “God Save the Queen” for what it was: Rebellious young people with a Svengali-like manager trying to be shocking (and succeeding). Deliberately released the week before the Silver
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Bleecker Street has signed an exclusive output deal with Canadian distributor LevelFilm. The partnership will see LevelFilm handle the Canadian distribution to Bleecker Street’s films where they control the North American or worldwide rights. The first movie that will be released under the new joint venture is Catherine Hardwicke’s action comedy “Mafia Mamma,” which stars
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When Xolo Maridueña first stepped into the Blue Beetle suit, there were “a lot of nerves and exhilaration” that came with embodying the DC superhero. “Excited is not the first word that comes to my brain,” Maridueña told Variety at the Season 5 red carpet premiere of “Cobra Kai” on Wednesday night. “It is nervous
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Myriad Pictures has acquired the international rights to “Zátopek,” Czech Republic’s 94th Academy Award Best International Feature Film submission. Gravitas Ventures has North American rights to the feature. The deal was negotiated between John McGrath of UTA, on behalf of the producers, and Scott Bedno, senior vice president of sales and acquisitions at Myriad Pictures.
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At the 1987 Conservative Party Conference in Britain, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher issued one of the most grimly memorable quotes of her career: “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.” For many of us, it’s a line that
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Presenting his latest documentary, “Nuclear,” at the Venice Film Festival, director Oliver Stone reflected on the climate crisis with an uncommon tone – optimism. “[We need to] get away from that mentality of fear,” Stone said from a press conference just before his film’s world premiere. “Like everyone else, I saw ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in
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Audible has ordered four more comedy podcasts from “Saturday Night Live” producer Broadway Video and has renewed its LGBTQ action-comedy “Hot White Heist” — with an all-queer cast led by “SNL” cast member Bowen Yang — for a second season. The new slate of shows, set to hit Audible through starting later this month and
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If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Buffalo Bills came out strong during the first game of the NFL season on Thursday night, beating out the defending champion Los Angeles Rams with a 21-point lead.  After going into halftime tied
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News that doctors were “concerned” about Queen Elizabeth II’s health on Thursday lunchtime threw long-planned U.K. broadcast schedules into disarray almost immediately – and the disruptions will likely continue for weeks. The statement from Buckingham Palace, issued at 12.30pm local time, was unprecedented and experienced broadcasters immediately realized the situation was serious. U.K. Parliament had
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Frank Cottrell Boyce, who co-wrote two of Queen Elizabeth II’s most iconic on-screen cameos – at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony with Daniel Craig and this year’s Jubilee sketch with Paddington Bear – said the monarch had “brilliant” comic timing and could have been an actor. “She’s absolutely glowing in that moment,” he said of
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The impact of the death of Queen Elizabeth II is being felt widely outside Britain. Many global broadcasters tore up their usual programming schedules within minutes of the news, in order to pay tribute to a beloved monarch’s legacy. “Whenever something of this massive scale happens, whether it’s a death, a natural disaster, a declaration
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Most independent producer/financiers would be glad to have one hot title up for sale in Toronto. Limelight arrives this week with three: the Jane Fonda/Lily Tomlin-led comedy-drama “Moving On,” plus a pair of distinctive coming-of-age dramas, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” and “Wildflower.”   Now Limelight is developing the script for
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Miami-based international sales agent FiGa Films has swooped on worldwide rights to satirical comedy “Love & Mathematics” by Claudia Sainte-Luce ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. In February, the busy Sainte-Luce debuted her previous film, “The Realm of God” (“El Reino de Dios”), at the Berlinale. Produced by Christian Kegel
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In “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” the winningly daffy-droll postmodern satirical biopic about the beloved cult song parodist of the MTV era, Al (Daniel Radcliffe), weird but not yet “Weird,” is sitting around with his roommates when lightning strikes — or, at least, bologna. One of the roommates asks Al to name the thing he’d
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Beta Cinema has revealed that Menemsha Films has taken all rights to Ofir Raul Graizer’s critically acclaimed drama “America” for North America amidst strong interest for the territory. The sensual, visually impressive melodrama about a tragic incident turning upside down the life of a Tel Aviv-based couple and their childhood friend was rewarded with an
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Not many films hit an emotional crescendo around the publication of a Pitchfork review, but Bill Pohlad’s “Dreamin’ Wild” is sufficiently sincere and embedded in musical nerdery to make it work. As onetime brother act Donnie and Joe Emerson huddle with their family around a 30-years-late evaluation of the album they recorded as teenagers, one
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Jack Neo, who is by far Singapore’s most commercially successful filmmaker, has begun production on “King of Musang King,” a comedy that he envisages being ready for release at Chinese New Year in January. The narrative gives prominent position to durians, the smelly Southeast Asian fruit that most people either love or hate. Neo (“Money
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