SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched Season 1, Episode 5 of Disney Plus’ “WandaVision.” As Marvel Studios ventures further into its new adventure in episodic television with “WandaVision,” it’s been fascinating to watch fans digest an MCU project as its still unfolding. Every new twist spawns its own small ecosystem
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After adapting to COVID protocols last summer and fall, most of Disney’s TV productions have maintained virus transmission rates of less than 1%, making them “some of the safest places” in Los Angeles, Disney TV chief Dana Walden told a group of Harvard University undergrads on Sunday. Walden held a virtual Q&A Sunday morning as
“Nomadland” and “Saint Maud” took top honors at the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, with three wins each, while the late Chadwick Boseman won actor of the year for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” American road movie “Nomadland” won film of the year, while lead Frances McDormand was named actress of the year, and writer-director
CBS is upping its game this Sunday. The Eye network’s coverage of Super Bowl LV comes slightly more than a year after the corporation’s re-merger with Viacom, as well as the arrival of Mike Benson as the network’s new president and chief marketing officer. Not only is priority one promoting their relationship with the NFL
Boutique German sales agent Patra Spanou Film has pounced on “Destello Bravío,” acquiring international sales rights to the feature debut of Spain’s Ainhoa Rodríguez’s which screened this week in main competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival. “Destello Bravío” is produced by Rodríguez’s Tentación Cabiria, based out of Extremadura in southwest Spain, in co-production with Eddie
When Animal Planet first announced details for its 2021 Puppy Bowl, it started the discussion with, “We need puppies now more than ever.” After a year that included various levels of stay-at-home orders amid a global pandemic, the shutdown of productions and the postponement or cancellation of major live events — from concerts to sports
For a new artist, a debut appearance on “Saturday Night Live” is a career milestone: an iconic show hedging the bet that you’re ready to go to the next level. What the artist does with that spot ultimately is down to them: Some artists let their artistry do the talking (Adele, 2008), work in an
We don’t know yet which commercial will win the Super Bowl ad wars on Sunday, but Cadillac’s “Edward Scissorhands” sequel — starring Timothée Chalamet as Edgar Scissorhands, Edward’s son, and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Kim from Tim Burton’s 1990 movie — is an excellent bet. The ad, for the Cadillac LYRIQ, will air
Matthijs Wouter Knol took over as director of the European Film Academy at the start of the year, having served as director of the European Film Market since 2014. He speaks to Variety about how the academy seeks to protect and promote European cinema as the film industry continues to morph. Among the priorities of
Roy Christopher, the multiple Emmy-winning production designer behind numerous awards shows as well as “Murphy Brown,” “Frasier,” and “Wings,” died on Feb. 2. He was 85. A rep confirmed to Variety that Christopher died in his sleep. After graduating from California State University Fresno in 1957, Christopher began his career as an art director, working
On the heels of Donald Trump’s resignation from SAG-AFTRA on Thursday, the union has passed a resolution banning the former president from ever applying for readmission. The decision was made via a Zoom conference on Saturday, citing “his antagonism of the union’s journalist members and disregard for the values and integrity of the union,” according
Indian drama “Pebbles,” by Vinothraj P.S., won the main competition Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Sunday. Taking the top prize in the Big Screen Competition sidebar was Argentine filmmaker Ana Katz’s “The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet.” Set against a backdrop of grinding poverty and drought-stricken villages in southern
Denzel Washington’s crime thriller “The Little Things” led domestic box office charts again, pulling in $2.1 million in its second weekend of release. Overseas, “The Little Things” collected $1.4 million in ticket sales from 20 countries. The R-rated film has made $7.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $5.2 million internationally to date. Directed
Danish helmer Janus Metz’s next feature project after Amazon Studios’ “All the Old Knives,” starring Laurence Fischburne and Chris Pine, will be the Danish drama “Bastard Love,” produced by Jesper Morthorst (“Silent Heart,” “Rita”) and Lise Orheim Stender (“Heartstone,” “Venus Effect”) for Motor. “Bastard Love” will be Metz’s sophomore Scandinavian feature film after the multi-awarded
The Emmy-winning star, showrunner and co-creator of “Schitt’s Creek,” Daniel Levy, hosted “Saturday Night Live’s” Feb. 5 episode, and during his monologue he was joined by a very special guest — his father and “Schitt’s Creek” co-creator and star Eugene Levy. Daniel Levy started the monologue by talking about the good and bad ways in
After driving “Thunder Road” for decades, Bruce Springsteen is taking a detour on Madison Avenue. The musician known as “The Boss” will command two minutes of commercial time in Super Bowl LV Sunday night, all part of a mammoth Jeep ad meant to reflect a national mood of coming together after four years of politics
Typically the cold opens of “Saturday Night Live” parody the politics of the past week, but for its second show of 2021, the NBC late-night sketch comedy series looked ahead — to Sunday’s Super Bowl. Kenan Thompson, who portrayed sportscaster James Brown in the sketch, kicked things off acknowledging the complications of late, but that
Rodney Crowell has an excellent e-Rolodex, and it’s on display in a new compilation album, “Songs From Quarantine Vol. 1,” which has an all-star cast of singer-songwriter, country and Americana VIPs sending in tracks from their own splendid isolation. Six of the 13 artists represented — Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello, Joe Henry, Ronnie Dunn, John
From “The Jinx” to “Making A Murderer,” television docuseries in recent years have put high-profile cases directly back into the spotlight. As legal proceedings continue in Britney Spears’ highly controversial conservatorship, a new FX documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” will undoubtedly raise questions. The Princess of Pop has been under a conservatorship since 2008, led by
Robert C. Jones, the acclaimed film editor behind 1960s and ’70s classics “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “Love Story” who garnered a screenplay Academy Award for the war drama “Coming Home,” has died. He was 84. His daughter, Leslie Jones — who is also an Oscar-nominated film editor — confirmed to Variety that Jones died
Not quite adult enough to be young adult, and not quite a children’s film either, Kate Tsang’s “Marvelous and the Black Hole” is a sweet-natured throwback, the kind of film a parent might wish their young teen would watch, rather than whichever dystopian franchise or fanfic adaptation they’re currently involved with. A set-your-watch-by-it riff on
Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages, has revealed that the Strasbourg-based public funder has hired diversity consultants to help facilitate fairer funding for under-represented filmmakers. Speaking at the International Film Festival Rotterdam this week on a panel titled “Reality Check: Funding Our Inclusive Futures,” Olla said that the co-production funding body, which comprises 41 member
The sunbaked, drought-stricken terrain of southeast India is a major determinant of the action in P S Vinothraj’s beautifully crafted, precisely plotted debut, “Pebbles.” Taking a simple premise with all the focus and penetration of a perfectly constructed short story, the writer-director transforms the drama of a young boy dragged between villages by his abusive
NENT Group’s Swedish label Brain Academy is plotting two major films from A-list writing-directing teams. The first, “The World Council of Magic,” is helmed by “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World”’s Kristian Petri, based on a screenplay by genre-bending author John Ajvide Lindqvist(”Border,” “Let the Right One In”). ”The World Council of Magic” is
‘Vikings’ star Peter Franzén will headline premium Finnish series “Helsinki Syndrome” from “Bordertown” creator Mikko Oikkonen, co-writer Antti Pesonen and helmer Juuso Syrjä. The eight-part suspense thriller is produced by Beta Film-backed Fisher King for Finnish pubcaster Yle. An iconic title in Finnish Nordic Noir, “Bordertown’s” three seasons have played in Netflix. Franzén plays Elias
Throughout modern music, the mantra “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll” has been both a catalyzer and a destructor. The cautionary tale practically writes itself: Artist finds purpose in music, sees commercial success, indulges in every substance known to man, falls, bottoms out, loses a career, climbs back out of the darkness through sobriety. That’s
Accepting the Robby Muller award online this week, ahead of a talk at the International Film Festival Rotterdam to celebrate her work, Kelly Reichardt appeared delighted with its form. In its second year, the award has taken the guise of an enlarged Polaroid print featuring a solitary tree, which was taken by Muller on a
Sunday’s Super Bowl battle between the Kansas City Chiefs’ hot-shot Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, the NFL’s winningest quarterback of all time, highlights the wave of young QBs who are bringing sizzle to the gridiron and grabbing the attention of Madison Avenue and Hollywood. Mahomes, 25, is going for his second consecutive Super Bowl trophy
As The Netherlands, under lockdown, celebrated the first half of 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam’s online, the physical half – set to take place in June with real audiences, panels and talks without Zoom links attached – still feels like a long way off. Meanwhile, the industry is hopeful that the swift and pragmatic measures
“Mayday,” which took its first European bow at the Rotterdam Film Festival this week after premiering at Sundance, is the debut feature of U.S. writer/director Karen Cinorre. The film tells the tale of oppressed young waitress Ana (Grace Van Patten, “The Meyerowitz Stories”) working at a wedding, who falls through an oven into a female-dominated