Month: September 2023

The last time Sofia Coppola made a movie about a teenage royal living in a rococo palace that turned out to be a lavish prison, it was 2006, and the movie, “Marie Antoinette,” was a stylized dream of history — the story of the young queen as naïve and isolated rock star. Coppola’s new movie

Germany-based sales agent Patra Spanou Film has acquired rights to “Working Class Goes to Hell,” which will world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness strand. Directed by Mladen Đorđević (“The Life and Death of a Porno Gang”), the film follows a group of ex-workers, who, after losing their loved ones, jobs, and

More than a decade after its 2007 debut, Will Smith’s post-apocalyptic horror “I Am Legend” is receiving a sequel. After signing a multi-year deal with Warner Bros, “I Am Legend” writer Avika Goldsman confirmed that “I Am Legend 2” is in the works. The original film grossed $585 million worldwide, serving as an adaptation of

While receiving amfAR’s Award of Inspiration at the AIDS nonprofit’s Venice gala on Sunday night, Ava DuVernay recalled the first time she fell in love with movies. “It was the original ‘West Side Story,’” DuVernay said. “The colors, the Brown people, the romance, warring gangs, dance fighting, Maria and Tony… it ignited my passion for

“The Equalizer 3” is still on track to earn the second-biggest Labor Day opening weekend in history with an estimated $42.3 million. While the holiday isn’t traditionally a box office draw, Denzel Washington’s assassin-thriller surpassed the previous Labor Day debut runner-up: Rob Zombie’s 2007 “Halloween” remake, which grossed $30 million through Monday. Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and

A wild deer with a hunter’s bullet in its belly may attack a human, no matter how mild its nature normally. This is one of the droplets of woodland wisdom dispensed by the otherwise taciturn Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), the woodcutter, water-gatherer and all-round odd-job-man of Mizubiki village, the setting of “Drive My Car” director Ryusuke

French director Edouard Bergeon, whose Cesar-nominated debut feature “In the Name of the Land” was a box office hit in 2019, has penned another eco-thriller, “The Green Deal.” The movie, which is partly set in the Indonesian forest, has been boarded by Playtime and will be pitched to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival. “The

The mythology around Japan as a nation of everyday ghosts — where the living and the dead share space, occasionally in view of each other — can lead certain western filmmakers into dubious territory: If you don’t recall how Gus van Sant floundered with the mawkish, condescending exoticism of “The Sea of Trees,” trust that

Move over, Richard Donner. In “Behind the Mountains,” premiering in Venice’s Horizons section, Mohamed Ben Attia makes sure “you’ll believe a man can fly” once again. Although it might not be as graceful. “I didn’t want him to be like a superhero or fly like Superman. He is floating, struggling with gravity,” he says about

Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević’s Locarno prizewinner “Sweet Dreams,” a droll satire set on a sugar plantation in colonial-era Indonesia, has released its first trailer. Athens-based production and sales outfit Heretic has given Variety exclusive access ahead of the film’s North American premiere in the Centerpiece section of the Toronto Film Festival (see below). “Sweet Dreams”

Labor Day is more than a long weekend of beaches, barbecues and block parties. It’s a national celebration marking the economic and social contributions of American workers. How ironic, then, that SAG-AFTRA members are observing this 141st Labor Day on strike against a global industry that refuses to fairly recognize the contributions of the workers

International sales and aggregation company LevelK has boarded Danish 3D animation “Mumbo Jumbo.” The project, which has kicked off its pre-production phase, is based on the beloved children’s book by Jakob Martin Strid (“The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear”). It will be written and directed by Karsten Kiilerich (“Up and Away,” “The Ugly Duckling

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18 Studios has just delivered three back-to-back theatrical hits in India. Now it has plans for further expansion in the market. The company distributes all Paramount titles in India and scored a success with “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” which grossed $16 million in the country. Viacom18 Studios also co-produced

As you read this, new titles from filmmakers of Tunisian, Moroccan and Franco-Palestinian-Algerian heritage are making their mark at the Venice Film Festival, while Toronto Film Festival will premiere a trio of first features from Saudi Arabia, along with discoveries from the UAE and Palestine, plus a handful of Arab titles screened at Cannes and

AWARDS The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany); “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan); and “Smoke Sauna

The international trailer for “A Whole Life,” which will have its world premiere in the Gala section of the Zürich Film Festival (Sept. 28 to Oct. 8), has debuted with Variety (below). Picture Tree Intl. is handling world sales. The film, which will be released in Germany on Nov. 8 by Tobis Filmverleih, will have

Woody Allen returned to the Venice Film Festival this weekend for the world premiere of “Coup de Chance,” a romantic thriller that marks his 50th, and he suggests, quite possibly his last, feature film. The French-language film, playing at one of Europe’s major festivals, represents the continued mutual embrace between the director and the continent, after

Academy Award nominee Agnieszka Holland follows the harrowing ordeal of a refugee family trapped on the margins of the E.U. in “Green Border,” a gripping drama from the prolific Polish director that plays in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film is set in the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so-called

Bollywood producer Sajid Nadiadwala is investing INR10 billion ($121 million) in U.K.-based projects featuring industry A-listers. Coming up is “Housefull 5,” the latest instalment in the blockbuster comedy franchise starring Akshay Kumar (“OMG 2”) and Riteish Deshmukh (“Ved”), directed by Tarun Mansukhani (“Dostana”). Like the previous four films, “Housefull 5” will be filmed in the

A decades-spanning portrait of a transgender Polish woman on a journey of self-discovery is at the heart of Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s “Woman Of,” the latest from the two-time Berlin Silver Bear winner (“Body,” “Mug”) and her longtime collaborator. The film premieres Sept. 8 in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Written by the

“Oppenheimer” landed on top of the mainland China cinema box office with an impressive score for a Hollywood movie in the current climate. More typically, gaming adaptation “Gran Turismo” failed to get far off the start line. While most films open in China on Fridays, Christopher Nolan’s nuclear opus was given a wide release from

Mexican auteur Michel Franco’s latest film, “Memory,” starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, world premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film is his third successive bow on the Lido after “New Order” (2020), which won the grand jury prize, and “Sundown” (2021). “Memory” follows Sylvia (Chastain), a social worker who leads a

“Oppenheimer” remained the top performing film in South Korea for the third successive weekend. It earned $2.04 million for a 19-day cumulative total of $22.4 million. The row of wins for “Oppenheimer” demonstrates again Korean audiences appreciation of top acting skills. But it also exposes the weakened selection of competing titles in the Korean market.