Movies

Endeavor has laid off roughly 250 staffers across its portfolio of businesses, sources told Variety, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to paralyze Hollywood. Pay cuts are being evaluated for all remaining employees, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said in a memo on Wednesday. The majority of staff cuts have hit IMG Academy, a sports education facility,

Last weekend, much of the world became obsessed with Netflix’s new series “Tiger King,” about the sinister but colorful world of big cat breeding. Real-life characters like Joe Exotic and Doc Antle fall into the “you can’t make this stuff” up category of personalities that would be unbelievable if they didn’t actually exist. With people

Oscar-winning Italian director Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”) is making “Voyage in Italy” a doc using material from social media and other sources chronicling life in lockdown in the country that at present has suffered the most deaths due to coronavirus. The veteran helmer, who in 2014 made user-generated doc “Italy in a Day” based on the Ridley Scott

The 28th edition of the Raindance Film Festival will take place in London from Oct. 28 through Nov. 7. this year. Known as a showcase for independent cinema, the festival normally attracts some 16,000 visitors annually. The 2019 edition took place in September, but organizers have likely moved the event back as a precautionary measure

Major U.K. studios are recalibrating coronavirus strategies as they parse recent government advice around the country’s lockdown, and whether or not they should go dark. U.K. studios including Elstree, Pinewood, Shepperton and Warner Bros. Leavesden are still believed to be operational — albeit with minimal staff on the ground — despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s

March 25, 2020 7:00AM PT Neon has acquired the worldwide rights to Amy Seimetz’s apocalyptic thriller, “She Dies Tomorrow,” which had been set to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival before the event was canceled The film stars Seimetz’s frequent collaborator Kate Lyn Sheil as a woman ravaged by the notion that she is going

After a winter lineup of documentaries covering current issues like women’s rights and racial injustice, the spring and summer season of Independent Lens will tackle such timely topics as America’s mental health crisis, climate change, globalization, and the role news media plays in our everyday lives. It will also profile several trail-blazing figures. Broadcast on

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is looking at means of supporting members who are facing the impact of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. In a memo sent to members on Wednesday from BAFTA chair Dame Pippa Harris and chief executive Amanda Berry, the Academy said it is looking to make film and

All four of the Disney-owned “Avengers” movies and Disney/Pixar’s “Coco” are being lined up for re-release in China as cinemas nation-wide re-open in wake of the coronavirus epidemic there. They are expected to be made available to cinemas from Thursday, March 26 up until the end of June, according to Chinese reports and a screenshot

The Sundance Institute has postponed the 2020 editions of its London and Hong Kong festivals due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. New dates are yet to be announced. In a statement issued Tuesday, organizers said: “We have made the decision to reimagine the 58 live programs we had planned through August 2020,” and that these

Stuart Gordon, best known as the filmmaker behind such cult classics as “Re-Animator” and “From Beyond,” has died, his family confirmed to Variety Tuesday night. He was 72. Although best known for his seminal work in independent horror, Gordon had a varied career that included founding the Organic Theater Company with his wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon. The

March 24, 2020 10:22PM PT Veteran Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, who was hospitalized for pneumonia on Monday, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, his agency Izawa Office announced Wednesday. His condition is not currently critical. Shimura is the first prominent entertainment world figure in Japan to test positive for the virus. He was

March 24, 2020 9:41PM PT Annabelle Sheehan, CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission, has been confirmed as diagnosed with the Covid-19 coronavirus. An announcement was made Wednesday by the organization. It said that Sheehan’s symptoms are currently minor, and that she is recovering in isolation at home in Wellington. New Zealand currently has relatively

Citing the coronavirus pandemic, SAG-AFTRA’s 80-member board of directors has delegated its authority to its 38-member executive committee. The union announced Tuesday that it had taken the action due to the impossibility of holding in-person meetings during the coronavirus pandemic and the impracticality of holding large meetings even electronically. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said, “This

In today’s film news roundup, Olivia Wilde’s “Perfect” gets sold, Music Box StreamLocal launches and the American Black Film Festival, Fantaspoa, Greenwich and TCM Classic festivals are all making adjustments to the coronavirus pandemic. ACQUISITION Searchlight Pictures has closed a deal for global rights for $15 million to the gymnastics movie “Perfect,” with Olivia Wilde attached

Refreshing as a river dip on a hot day, but also mildly melancholic, as though perhaps it is the last swim of the summer, Guillaume Brac’s wise, witty “À l’abordage” is an optimistic portrait of gentle disappointment, the kind a youthful generation has to experience before growing up a little bit. It’s also a delightful

Following TF1’s announcement that it won’t offer financial forecasting this year, France’s second biggest commercial network, M6, said it has also been greatly hit by the drop in advertising revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. M6 said “the cancelations and delaying of advertising campaigns will have a significative impact on revenues, notably during the second

After a week that saw air travel worldwide grounded by the coronavirus pandemic and a powerful earthquake strike the Croatian capital, the organizers of ZagrebDox Pro had something to celebrate on Tuesday, as the annual workshop and pitching competition announced the awards from its first ever online edition. “After 10 editions of conducting our pitching

A Go Fund Me campaign to raise money for New York City movie theater workers who have been laid off or furloughed due to the coronavirus pandemic has reached its goal. The Cinema Workers Solidarity Fund has racked up $74,587 in donations, surpassing the $74,000 it set out to raise. The initiative was launched a

Though this year’s SXSW was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the film festival held annually in Austin, Texas announced 2020 award winners. Cooper Raiff’s comedy “Shithouse” has won the SXSW Grand Jury Award in the narrative feature competition, and Katrine Philp’s “An Elephant in the Room” took home the top prize for documentary features.

Netflix is backing a new emergency relief fund set up by the British Film Institute (BFI) and The Film and TV Charity with a $1.2-million donation. The new Covid-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund will be administered by The Film and TV Charity with support from the BFI, and will provide emergency short-term relief

The Singapore government has ordered the closure of all cinemas in the country for a month. The move was made in reaction to the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made by the country’s COVID-19 multi-ministry task force. The measures will run from Thursday at 11.59pm local time until Apr 30. Gatherings

The CineEurope exhibitor convention, slated to take place in Barcelona in June, has been postponed to August due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event’s organizers announced in a statement Tuesday. The annual event, at which Hollywood studios present their upcoming slates to European cinema operators, was originally scheduled for June 22-25. But as Spain continues

Albert Uderzo, the celebrated French illustrator and writer who created the beloved “Asterix” franchise with René Goscinny more than 60 years ago, has died. He was 92. Uderzo’s family told the French newswire AFP that he died in his sleep of a heart attack at his home in Neuilly, near Paris. Created in 1959, the

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the body that represents European movie theater owners, is calling on governments across the continent to do everything in their power to ensure that cinemas are able to overcome the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement issued Tuesday, UNIC sounded the alarm for an industry in

Noah Media Group, a specialist in feature-length sports documentaries, has acquired international sales rights to feature documentary “The Australian Dream,” about the Australian Football League star Adam Goodes. The deal excludes rights to Australia, Canada, the U.K. and airlines. Noah will sell the film through its international sales and distribution arm Noah X. This marks

In today’s film news roundup, Frank Grillo and Luke Wilson join the cast of “Cosmic Sin,” the interrupted Miami Film Festival unveils its winners and the BAMcinemaFest and Provincetown festivals call off their events. CASTINGS Frank Grillo, Luke Wilson and Adelaide Kane have joined Bruce Willis in the independent science-fiction action movie “Cosmic Sin.” The

Hollywood, we need your help. The shows you make and the movies you produce often shine a light on the events around us. They help us make sense of the world and they highlight those moments of heroism and hope that lift our spirits during the darkest of times. But right now, we need more

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are feeling better after being treated for COVID-19. The couple, who announced two week ago they had coronavirus, also recommended those hoping to halt its spread should stay home. “Hey, folks. Two weeks after our first symptoms and we feel better,” Hanks tweeted Sunday night. “Sheltering in place works like

March 23, 2020 6:45AM PT With the nation’s movie theaters dark due to the coronavirus outbreak, Sony Pictures has given its hit action comedy “Bad Boys for Life” an early video on demand release on March 31. The movie — starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence — will debut April 21 on 4K Ultra HD,