Month: November 2023

Disney may need to find another star to wish upon. “Wish,” the studio’s newest animated adventure, was projected to land on top of box office charts over the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, ticket sales fell short of expectations with a weak $19.5 million over the traditional weekend and $31.7 million over the five days, and the

The impression of flawlessness is a tough standard to maintain. It’s what audiences have come to expect of Beyoncé since she debuted as one-fourth of Destiny’s Child in 1997, not merely because of her era-defining music and performances but because she executes it with such seeming ease. Surprise plays a role: It’s part of the

After skipping Venice due to the actors’ strike, a busy Willem Dafoe is back on the festival trail, attending the 20th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival with his wife, filmmaker and actor Giada Colagrande. He spoke to Variety about his ties to Morocco, why he’s “happy to be promoting and starting to work again”

Beyoncé captivated Hollywood’s attention Saturday night as the superstar held a stealthily staged world premiere of her concert movie, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The movie, which documents her Renaissance World Tour, will be released in the U.S. on Dec. 1 via major exhibition chains, including AMC, Regal

Marty Krofft, who with his brother Sid produced memorable kids shows “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost” — as well as the 2009 feature based on the latter — has died. He was 86.  Krofft died of kidney failure Saturday in Los Angeles, Calif., a family representative told Variety.  Often referred to as the

Bradley Cooper is open to reprising his role as Phil in another installment of the “Hangover” film series. On a recent episode of “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast, Cooper spoke to host David Remnick about his directorial efforts, including “A Star Is Born” and “Maestro,” and pivoting to more dramatic roles. Remnick then asked

What better way to celebrate 100 years of Disney Animation than a movie about the brand’s famous wishing star? After all, so many Disney characters, dating back to “Pinocchio’s” Jiminy Cricket, look to the stars and cast their dreams and hopes on them. With 61 feature films preceding it, “Wish” is filled with nods to

Doug Ibold, who edited episodes of “Law & Order,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Miami Vice,” died on Nov. 8 after a battle with cancer, his family announced. He was 83. Ibold edited the 1990 pilot for Dick Wolf’s seminal “Law & Order,” as well as the 1999 pilot for “Law & Order: SVU”; he cut dozens

What is Joaquin Phoenix so unhappy about? And so twitchy? We’ve all seen someone triumph at the Oscars and use their acceptance speech to push a social cause (in fact, it’s almost required). But I’ve never seen a speech quite like the one Phoenix gave in 2020 when he took the best actor award for

The Black Friday box office saw “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” continue to stretch ahead of new releases like Disney’s animated adventure “Wish” and Apple and Sony’s historical epic “Napoleon.” Lionsgate’s young adult drama gobbled up another $11.4 million on Friday, adding onto the $13.2 million it nabbed across Wednesday and

The husband and wife team of Otsuka Ryuji and Huang Ji, who worked with a minimalist crew and mostly non-professional actors, gave a round of thanks to Asian leading auteurs for inspiring them, and then hugged each other on stage for winning the Taipei Golden Horse Film Awards best narrative feature prize with their pregnancy

Now entering its sixth edition, the Marrakech Film Festival’s industry-focused Atlas Workshops can expect its busiest year to date. Showcasing rising talents from the MENA world, the production spotlight will welcome more than 200 industry delegates — among them 15 sales companies — and will co-ordinate 460 professional meetings as part of its co-production market.

The sight of dogs ravaging war-torn streets has become an all too familiar sight. Sandra Tabet’s debut feature film “Rabies” (Rage) – a development project at the Atlas Workshops – returns to early 1990s in Beirut, in the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), when rabies began to spread rapidly amongst ravenous dogs, leading

Indian project market Film Bazaar has revealed the winners and deals that took place during the event. Prasad Labs gives out one winning award and three participation awards annually for works in progress. The winner, “Waste Side Story” by Supriyo Sen, gets a free 4K digital intermediate (DI) for 50 hours. Participants, who get a

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival drifted to a conclusion in midweek, with project awards presented on Wednesday, followed by Thursday’s festival closing events. These involved a screening of portmanteau film “Tales of Taipei” followed by a sit-down dinner-cum-ceremony with a breezy pair of speeches and no prizes. The film fortnight then sprang to life

Martin Scorsese will no longer attend nor participate in the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops, citing personal reasons. The award-winning filmmaker was slated to serve as artistic godfather for Marrakech’s industry arm, which spotlights development titles and works-in-progress from dynamic new talents from across the MENA world. Lending his name to this year’s class, Scorsese

This year’s Marrakech International Film Festival opened with a testament to art. Two months after a devastating earthquake, and in light of the ever-more heart-wrenching news coming out of the Middle East, the film showcase kicked off with a humanist rallying cry voiced by jury president Jessica Chastain. “In the weeks leading up to the

SAG-AFTRA has released the full 128-page contract that ended the actors strike on Nov. 8, with union leaders urging members to vote yes on the deal by the Dec. 5 ratification deadline. The hard-fought tentative agreement was sealed after a 118-day strike, which marked the union’s the longest-ever widespread work stoppage and its first since

French-based sales agency Lightdox has acquired the international rights to feature documentary “The Mechanics of Things” by Italian director Alessandra Celesia, ahead of its international premiere Saturday at the Torino Film Festival. The film had its world premiere at Les Etats généraux du Film Documentaire in Lussas this August. The exclusive trailer is shown below.

Nigerian producer Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media, has been helping to share the stories of African people through film and television for years — but never one written by her own hand. Until now, that is. Abudu made her screenwriting and directorial debut with the release of two short films honing in on mental health

Venom: Let There Be Carnage Cameras Rolling! Production has restarted on “Venom 3,” the film’s star Tom Hardy reported on Instagram Friday. “Thankfully we are back to shooting; and I want to take a moment just to thank all the teams thus far on the ride from V1 to here all our fantastic cast and

Andrea Scarso, a well-established entertainment financier who previously worked at Ingenious Media, has joined the fund management company IPR.VC. IPR.VC has just raised nearly €100 million ($109 million) in its third funding round and will be investing further in content under the leadership of Scarso, who is joining the banner as partner and investment director.

One of the eternal mysteries of awards season is how to determine whether Oscar-worthy actors should compete in the lead category or in supporting. Is Lily Gladstone’s role in “Killers of the Flower Moon” significant enough to warrant a best actress nom? Is “The Taste of Things” star Juliette Binoche’s part “too big” for supporting?