Month: September 2023

The South Korean box office got a new chart topper with mystery drama “Sleep,” but the weekend was a sleepy affair. “Sleep” earned $2.97 million over the weekend, according to Friday to Sunday data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Over its full opening five days, it grossed $3.97

The birth centenary of Indian cinema icon Dev Anand will be celebrated with restored versions of some of his classics receiving a theatrical release across the country. Known as one of the triumvirate of superstars who ruled Hindi-language cinema in the 1950s and ’60s (along with the late Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar) Anand made

Taika Waititi’s new film “Next Goal Wins” is based on the true story of the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. Their story was immortalized in the 2014 documentary of the same name by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, so Waititi admits he took some creative liberties in

TORONTO: “Humanist Vampire,” “Solo” Heat Up Market for Toronto’s Quebec Feature Slate By Jennie Punter Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered

It’s time for Peter Sarsgaard to finally shatter the Oscar glass. Once upon a time, actor Peter Sarsgaard won the most precursors prizes during the 2003-2004 awards season for his supporting turn in Billy Ray’s “Shattered Glass.” In the film, he plays Charles Lane, a newly promoted editor who suspects one of his revered writers

Jessica Chastain is encouraging independent producers to sign interim agreements amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “If a majority of independent producers, come forward and sign the Interim Agreement deal it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable,” Chastain wrote on X, formerly known as

Paris-based leading distribution company ARP Selection has bought a pair of U.S. indie gems from the fall festival circuit, Shane Atkinson’s feature debut “LaRoy” and Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla.” “LaRoy,” a neo-noir Western comedy with Coen brothers influences, just won three major prizes at the Deauville Film Festival, including the Grand Prize, Audience Award and Critics

“Haunted Mansion” is ready to spook Disney+ customers in October. Disney’s kid-friendly horror comedy, which is inspired by the classic Disneyland theme park attraction, will hit the streamer on Oct. 4. Directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”), “Haunted Mansion” follows single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon), who

Denzel Washington is no match for this sister. “The Nun II” topped the box office charts, earning a scary good $32.6 million this weekend from 3,728 locations. That was more than enough to topple Sony’s “The Equalizer 3,” which features Washington as a mysterious avenging angel, from the first place perch it held last weekend.

Patricia Arquette, Lulu Wang, Finn Wolfhard, Barry Jenkins, Camila Morrone, Willem Dafoe and Colman Domingo mixed and mingled at Variety and Chanel’s annual female filmmaker dinner during the Toronto Film Festival. At the glamorous event, held on Saturday night at Soho House and hosted by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, VIP attendees nibbled on tuna tartare,

Anand Patwardhan, the doyen of Indian documentary filmmaking, will premiere his new film, “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (“The World Is Family”) at the Toronto Film Festival. The film focuses on Patwardhan’s parents and close family members and juxtaposes Mahatma Gandhi and the history of India’s independence movement with contemporary times. “As my parents began to age, I

Just when you thought Nicolas Cage’s filmography couldn’t get any weirder, along comes Kristoffer Borgli’s “Dream Scenario” to mess with your head. Cage plays a character you probably wouldn’t notice in real life: Paul Matthews. Schlubby, balding, in rumpled pants and brown leather loafers, he’s a tenured professor at a university you’ve never heard of,

It’s December in Mexico City in “El Sabor de la Navidad,” where fake Santas, queso relleno and karaoke machines are all just smoke and mirrors covering over the true meaning of Christmas. Helmed by Alejandro Lozano, this endearing Spanish-language Christmas film intertwines three separate stories of families and friends grappling between tradition and progression, trying

Salvador Dalí is walking down a hotel corridor. A hotel corridor is being walked down by Salvador Dalí. In a hotel, there is a corridor down which Salvador Dalí walks. So begins — and begins and begins – Quentin Dupieux’s giddy, glitchy altogether delightful “Daaaaaali!” (imagine the title delivered by a practiced yodeler in the

You know you’re watching a true pop star when that person’s identity — their very existence — smashes boundaries. Elvis Presley was a country boy who mixed country and rockabilly and the blues, and with his sneer and black hair and mascara he looked like no human had ever looked before. Prince was a one-man

After conquering the music world, pop superstar Lil Nas X is testing the realm of movie stardom. He’s in Toronto — attending a film festival for the first time — for the world premiere of his documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero.” The screening was delayed because of a bomb threat from a homophobic caller,

The world premiere of Lil Nas X’s documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday night was delayed after a bomb threat was called in targeting the artist. The gala screening was scheduled for a 10 p.m. start at Roy Thomson Hall, one of TIFF’s premier venues. The documentary’s

Michael Chaves, the director behind “The Nun 2,” revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that he made the film even gorier after a test screening proved that audiences craved a higher level of violence. “People wanted more violence,” Chaves said. “There was already a good degree of violence and gore in the movie, but people

“I’ve been the model. I’ve been the muse. I’ve been the ingenue. But I was done with that. I was good at drinking, having sex, and taking pictures. And I did all three as much as I could.” – Lee Miller When an elder Lee Miller, played by Kate Winslet, sits down with a young

An adult-oriented crowd pleaser of the sort that seldom gets made any longer without superheroes being involved, and better than that, is quite entertaining, “A Haunting in Venice” extends 2023’s streak as the Year That Hollywood Lured Grown-Ups Back To Theaters. Less prestigious than practiced in spotlighting the star wattage of its pedigreed cast, Kenneth

In Cord Jefferson’s idea-dense “American Fiction,” no one wants to publish literary professor Thelonious Ellison’s latest novel. Thelonious — or “Monk” to his friends — has delivered a modern reworking of Aeschylus’ “The Persians” (hardly bestseller material to begin with), but all the industry can see is the color of his skin. The editors compliment

In his latest documentary “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” Alex Gibney explores the singer-songwriter’s six-decade career. The Oscar winning director also captures Simon creating his latest album, “Seven Psalms,” which he made while losing hearing in his left ear. Although Gibney is mostly recognized for his rigorously researched investigative exposes (“Enron: The