Movies

Mark Ruffalo wants to reprise his role as Bruce Banner and his mean, green alter-ego the Hulk in future Avengers sequels and spinoffs. However, the actor admits that it’s unclear when or if the strongest man alive will resurface after Earth’s Mightiest Heroes defeated Thanos in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” “There’s nothing completely at a place

With Cannes and Venice both up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic, Italy’s film promotion org. Filmitalia has teamed up with festival streaming platform Festival Scope Pro to launch its annual Italian Screenings market online in July. Filmitalia, a unit of Italian national film entity Luce-Cinecittà, “is the first of Europe’s roughly 30

Thomas Imbach didn’t have to go far for the inspiration and execution of his latest feature documentary “Nemesis,” premiering in the International Competition section of the digital version of Switzerland’s Visions du Réel documentary film festival. Shot over seven years from his own window, a trick Imbach previously used in 2011’s “Day is Done,” the

Directors’ Fortnight and Critics Week, the two sections running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, have canceled their 2020 editions. The joint decision comes two days after France’s President Emmanuel Macron said all festivals and events gathering large crowds would be banned in the country until mid-July. “The Directors’ Fortnight, La Semaine de la Critique and

With the Cannes Film Festival now in limbo due to France’s ban on events with big crowds until mid-July, the Marché du Film is now setting up a full-on virtual market from June 22-28, Variety has confirmed. In addition, the Marché du Film, which has always run alongside the festival, will this year run at

Branded Harry Potter buses that usually convey fans to Warner Bros.’ The Making of Harry Potter studio tour in the U.K. are being used to transport key National Health Service (NHS) workers for free between hospitals fighting coronavirus. The buses have been provided by Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and bus operator Golden Tours to transport

Marité Ugás’ Tribeca international narrative competition entry “Contactado” now has a first teaser-trailer, dropped by sales agent FiGa Films, which captures the main emotional crux and hints at the main story line of a psychological thriller. Set in Lima, its local market and dramatic hinterland of sacred Inca sites, wave-pounded beaches, huge cliffs and dusty

China’s Dalian Wanda has dismissed talk of the imminent bankruptcy of AMC Theaters as “pure rumors.” The coronavirus outbreak has kept all North American cinemas closed since March. The Chinese property conglomerate has seen its entertainment investments slashed since 2018. But it remains publicly-traded AMC’s largest single shareholder. Contacted by Variety on Tuesday, Wanda offered

Supernatural horror film “Encircled” looks set to go into production in Australia, at a time when almost all other movie shoots are suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak. Australia’s nationwide lockdown is set to be in place for many more months, but the “Encircled” producers have no intention of breaking the country’s stay-at-home directives. Rather

In today’s film news roundup, Ava DuVernay starts a grant program, “Valley Girl” gets a digital release, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s “The Silencing” gets a U.S. release and Edward James Olmos announces a retrospective.  ARRAY GRANTS  Ava DuVernay’s non-profit foundation Array Alliance has launched a $250,000 funding initiative for organizations and individuals dedicated to narrative change by

The world cinema festival circuit will never want for moody coming-of-age stories covering slow summers and restless desires: It takes either a harder touch or an extraordinarily delicate one to stand out amid the sultry languor of the genre. Uruguayan writer-director Lucia Garibaldi’s debut feature “The Sharks” somehow aims for both in its portrayal of

The postponed Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival has unveiled its lineup of 226 films but has not yet set dates for the festival. The 26th edition of the Toronto-based festival had been slated for April 30-May 10 with the lineup announcement coming on March 24. The event was postponed on March 13 due to

AMC Theatres looks to be on the brink of filing for bankruptcy, a grim but impending reality that was only exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic causing the entire movie business to shut down. The likelihood of a bankruptcy reorganization doesn’t mean that AMC’s 634 locations in the U.S. and Canada — and more than 1,000

Leaders of the Writers Guild of America West have urged their members to seek guild coverage on animated projects, an area which is seeing continued production amid the coronavirus pandemic. The WGA West board of directors issued a message Tuesday to the 10,000 WGA West members. The guild shares jurisdiction on animation writing with the

The National Association of Theatre Owners has cautioned studios against shortening the movie release window, pointing to a study showing reduced potential revenues for the studios. The Ernst & Young study, commissioned by NATO,  is titled “The Relationship Between Home Release Window Length and Movie Sales.” The study found that increasing the length of the

European Film Promotion has unveiled the 10 European documentary features that will play as part of the third edition of the Changing Face of Europe section that runs as part of Hot Docs Film Festival’s industry program. The industry program plays in a digital format this year, starting on April 30 and running until May

RIO DE JANEIRO —  Netflix announced Tuesday April 14, the creation of a 5 million reals ($1 million) fund to support local below-the-line production employees and free-lancers not able to work due to the coronavirus pandemic. The aid will be distributed by the Brazilian Institute of Audiovisual Content (ICAB), an arm of leading industry organization

The Cannes Film Festival won’t take place in June, after all, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but organizers continue to explore different options for 2020. “Following the French President’s statement, on Monday, April 13th, we acknowledged that the postponement of the 73rd International Cannes Film Festival, initially considered for the end of June to the

Lionsgate has renewed its longstanding partnership with Grindstone Entertainment Group and entered new multiyear agreements with Grindstone President and CEO Barry Brooker and principal Stan Wertlieb. The deal, announced Tuesday by Lionsgate Worldwide Home Entertainment President Ron Schwartz, extends a 12-year relationship between Lionsgate and Grindstone, which has been delivering feature films for the  multiplatform

Outsider Pictures, with Strand Releasing, has acquired all North American rights on “Aviva,” a resolute return to independent filmmaking by the director who lit a fire with his Sundance Grand Prix winning debut, “Fresh,” but is best known by many for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced feel-good race relations drama “Remember the Titans.” Scheduled to world premiere

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” earned the top prize in the Media Play News’ 10th annual Home Media Awards, honoring the best home video releases of 2019. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, won the Home Media Awards for title of the year and theatrical home

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has extended the country’s lockdown until May. The nationwide coronavirus lockdown, which first went into effect on March 24 for 21 days, will now last until May 3. The extension comes as India records 339 deaths and grapples with close to 10,000 cases of COVID-19; however, it is believed the

Organizers behind Germany’s Munich Film Festival, set to take place June 25 to July 4, decided to call off the annual event completely rather than postpone or go digital — a choice that came down to concerns around rights, piracy and accessibility. The idea to postpone was discounted because of an already congested fall film

The Disney classic “Splash” arrived on its streaming service Disney Plus back in February and waves are being made over how the Ron Howard-directed film has been updated for modern audiences. The 1984 film stars Tom Hanks as a young man who falls in love with a mermaid named Madison, played by Daryl Hannah, after

In today’s film news roundup, Lionsgate offers four of its biggest films free on YouTube, Bruce Lee gets a Criterion Collection release and the stagecraft union IATSE devises a method for bringing utilities to hospitals. FREE STREAMING  Lionsgate has announced that it will stream “The Hunger Games,” “La La Land,” “John Wick” and “Dirty Dancing”

Veteran animation artist Ann Sullivan, a 91-year-old resident at the Motion Picture Television Fund’s skilled nursing facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, died Monday of complications from COVID-19. Sullivan’s death was the third at the facility since the pandemic broke out. John Breier, 64, a longtime member of IATSE Local 174, and

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much I miss movie theaters. I don’t just mean that I miss watching eye-zapping sensory-overload spectacles on the big screen. I don’t just mean that I miss watching vibrant life-size dramas that, by virtue of being on the big screen, become a kind of spectacle, one that’s larger-than-life in

France president Emmanuel Macron said the lockdown will be extended to May 11 in a televised interview on Monday. He said that no festivals or events drawing large crowds will be allowed to take place until at least mid-July. That clearly puts Cannes Film Festival on ice – organizers had been planning to postpone the

The Screening Room, the technology company that threatened to upend theatrical distribution by offering new releases in the home, has been rechristened SR Labs. It also appointed a new CEO — former Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Man Jit Singh. Prem Akkaraju, who founded the company with Sean Parker, will assume the role of executive

Matt Holzman, who produced shows including “The Business” and “The Document” for Los Angeles-area public radio station KCRW, died Sunday of lung cancer. He was 56. Holzman was widely respected as a tireless booster of KCRW, a mentor and generous co-worker. A KCRW spokesperson said he died of stage four metastatic cancer, which was diagnosed