Movies

Thai film maker Thanakorn Pongsuwan, best known for 2009 film “Fireball,” died on Friday. He was 46. His death was not caused by the coronavirus outbreak, though his last rites will be affected. Rather he died following an unsuccessful battle with cancer of the blood (lymphoma.) The news was announced by his sister Manussanun Pongsuwan,

As the first major Hollywood movie — and, in fact, the only one — since the outbreak of the coronavirus to bow out of its scheduled theatrical release and reposition itself on a home-viewing platform, “Trolls World Tour” has the chance to be a bigger event than it might have otherwise. Or maybe a smaller

Shirley Douglas, a Canadian actor and activist, died on Sunday of complications from pneumonia. She was 86. Her son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, announced the sad news of her death on Twitter and specified that it was unrelated to coronavirus. “Early this morning my mother, Shirley Douglas, passed away due to complications surrounding pneumonia (not related

Lee Fierro, an actor best known for playing Mrs. Kintner in “Jaws,” has died of complications from coronavirus, according to The Martha’s Vineyard Times. She was 91. A resident of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Fierro had been living at an assisted care facility in Ohio when she died. Fierro’s character was the mother to Alex Kintner

Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer and more from the cast of “Call Me by Your Name” are returning for the sequel, director Luca Guadagnino said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Not much is known about the new movie, but the novel on which “Call Me by Your Name” is based also has a

Watching Icelandic director Hlynur Palmason’s “A White, White Day” taught me an important lesson about the way suspense works in “slow cinema” — a term that describes deliberately paced, take-their-time narratives that aren’t necessarily preoccupied with action, quick cutting and the looming sense of imminent conflict. Just because a film forgoes these techniques doesn’t mean

Director Jon M. Chu promises “In the Heights” will make its theatrical debut. Exactly when, of course, is another question as the coronavirus pandemic prompted Warner Bros. to hit the “pause” button on the film’s scheduled June 26 release indefinitely. Screenings of early cuts of the film had already begun when the pandemic broke. “I

The upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced that Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar and other filmmakers will collaborate on exhibitions when the museum opens. Hildur Guðnadóttir, the composer for last year’s “Joker,” and Ben Burtt, a veteran sound designer on the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises, will also help curate exhibits. Bill Kramer, director

MADRID — Having placed Hari Sama’s “This is Not Berlin” at 2019’s Sundance Festival, Mexico’s Catatonia Cine has scored at France’s Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, taking two of the biggest prizes in this year’s online Films in Progress section. An industry fixture, Toulouse’s Film in Progress grants post-production and distribution awards to up to

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on film release schedules around the globe, displacing many titles from their natural theatrical environment, a few have instead found their spiritual home on the small screen. “Four Kids and It,” a lightweight British kids’ fantasy, falls firmly in the latter column. Always intended as a multiplatform release in

Brian Cox rages robustly and arrestingly against the dying of the light in “The Etruscan Smile,” an unabashedly formulaic yet undeniably affecting coming-to-terms drama that may cause as much discomfort as delight for those who recognize bits and pieces of their own fathers (or themselves) in the cantankerous character Cox portrays so persuasively. Based on

China’s National Film Bureau issued its first public statement in months on Friday in which it emphasized ensuring a strong supply of online streaming content, rather than getting cinemas back to work.  The notice comes just two days after Chinese President Xi Jinping took the unusual step of personally commenting on how the film industry

Six additional elderly residents at the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s skilled nursing facility in suburban Los Angeles have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to seven. The MPTF reported the first case on Tuesday. About 250 entertainment industry retirees live on the MPTF’s Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, Calif. All seven are

Press materials for new indie comedy “Lazy Susan” stress “The character of Susan is a cisgender woman,” apparently for fear that viewers might otherwise assume star Sean Hayes is playing a transgender person. The fact that he’s not underlines this movie’s very fragile raison d’être: It’s supposed to be funny simply that a man in

Like Minded Media Ventures, a production and tech venture from actor Mark Kassen, has partnered with governors across the country and medical device manufacturers to launch a new coronavirus aide program. The online platform, called The COVID Help Network, will directly connect state governments and health care institutions with companies willing to step up and

In today’s film news roundup, Miramax’s owners have sold 49% to ViacomCBS, Imax hires a new investor relations officer and Magnolia is giving early on demand releases to a trio of titles. DEAL CLOSES  ViacomCBS has closed its previously announced $375 million purchase of 49% of Miramax, giving the conglomerate access to nearly 800 titles

In the next few years, I predict someone is going to make a staggering drama about the opioid crisis — a filmmaker like, say, Debra Granik (whose first feature, “Down to the Bone,” was a lacerating drug drama), or maybe Kent Jones or Kathryn Bigelow or Steven Soderbergh. It will, of course, be a film

Until recently, Taraji P. Henson was concentrating on finishing up her time as Cookie Lyon on Fox’s “Empire,” but on March 14, production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. “We were almost finished,” Henson told Variety, via a video conference call to promote her Netflix film “Coffee & Kareem” on March 31. “We were

Disney’s “Artemis Fowl” will forgo a theatrical release and will instead launch on Disney Plus. The sci-fi fantasy was scheduled to open on May 29, but the coronavirus pandemic has led to the closure of most movie theaters. Disney has overhauled the release dates for most of its upcoming films — shifting everything from “Captain

From “Black Widow” and “The Eternals” to “Indiana Jones 5,” Disney has overhauled the release calendar for most of its upcoming films as movie theaters remain closed for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Black Widow” — which was delayed last month — will now open on Nov. 6, 2020, taking the place

There’s politically incorrect, and then there’s just plain wrong. Netflix’s “Coffee & Kareem” pairs a young black kid with an inept white cop and hopes that their differences will amuse (or at least distract) stuck-at-home audiences for 90 minutes or so. But what audiences? What adult wants to watch this kind of “Kindergarten Cop” nonsense?

There will be no Cannes Lions in 2020, after all. Organizers confirmed Friday that the annual Cannes advertising market will not go forward this year. The decision comes almost a month after the event, set to run in June, was given provisional dates in October. However, organizers have now taken the step of shelving the

“Coming of age” is a demure, blushing phrase and so quite unsuited to the fat lips and cracked foreheads of Melanie Waelde’s visceral, exposed-nerve debut. And yet, loosely speaking, it’s what “Naked Animals” tracks: a short, painful, hesitant phase in the lives of five wild teenagers living largely without adult supervision. In a provincial nowhere,

“Almost Love” marks the directorial debut of actor Mike Doyle. The indie, which the openly gay Doyle also wrote, stars Scott Evans as a painter and Augustus Prew as his boyfriend who runs a famous fashion Instagram account. As their relationship comes to a crossroads, we also meet their circle of friends, including Kate Walsh,

In today’s film news roundup, MGM beefs up its executive ranks, “Sea Fever” gets a live-streaming premiere, “Pigeon Kings” finds a home and The 92nd Street Y has started an online film course. EXECUTIVE HIRES Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s Film Group Chairman Michael De Luca has hired Elishia Holmes and Johnny Pariseau — both who were

The seven-year-itch arrives a couple of years early for Adam and Marklin in independent romantic comedy “Almost Love.” Could that be because they’re gay men? Adam tries to tamp down that thought shortly after he and Marklin celebrate their fifth anniversary. Maybe it’s because they aren’t yet hitched, even though gay marriage has been an

There’s a town in West Texas where the local Nissan dealership gives away a new pickup to whoever can hold on to it the longest. The event starts with 20 contestants, who take their places around the vehicle, keeping one hand on the vehicle at all times until their sanity snaps or their legs give

SXSW may have been cancelled due to coronavirus, but the filmmakers who were traveling to Austin to share their films with audiences will still get a chance to lift the curtain on their work. That’s because Amazon Prime Video is joining forces with the festival to launch “Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival

France’s National Film Board (CNC) has temporarily changed the country’s strict window release policy to help distributors cope with the shutdown of theaters, and has unveiled several additional measures aimed at content creators and industry professionals. Due to the fact that movie theaters in France have been closed for nearly three weeks, the CNC has

Exactly 100 years separate the 21st century’s global entertainment industry and the final year of the 1918-20 Spanish flu pandemic and its effects on the international show-business scene. There’s a world of difference between then and now, but at its core, modern entertainment shares a surprising number of similarities with the showbiz of that era. On