Movies

March 5, 2020 12:00PM PT The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson isn’t going anywhere. The organization’s Board of Governors has announced that she will continue in her role through May 2023. “Dawn has been a guiding force within the Academy for the past nine years, as we’ve become a more

March 5, 2020 10:28AM PT Sony Pictures has released the action-laden first trailer for the war drama “Greyhound” with Tom Hanks’ commander promising to “bring hell from on high” on Nazi submarines. “Greyhound” is set in the early days of World War II as an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Hanks’ Capt.

Though Pixar’s “Onward” is set in a fantasy world, its characters embody real-life qualities and virtues. In the film, out March 6, two elf brothers, voiced by Tom Holland (Ian) and Chris Pratt (Barley), try to use magic to bring their father back from the dead. When the attempt short-circuits, they embark on a journey

Keith Feldman has been named chief operating officer of Illumination, the animation powerhouse behind such hits as “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” He joins Illumination after serving as president and general manager of worldwide home entertainment at 20th Century Fox. In his new role, Feldman will serve as the key strategic partner

After years producing investigative documentaries that hold the likes of ISIS and East African death squads to account, Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff now finds himself in the media glare, pursued by fellow documentarians and acutely aware of optics.   In this “golden age” of nonfiction, where a film on 30-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sold

March 5, 2020 9:10AM PT “Mamma Mia 2” filmmaker Ol Parker will direct “The Thursday Murder Club,” an adaptation of Richard Osman’s debut novel. Amblin Partners nabbed worldwide rights to the film after a competitive auction that attracted interested from 14 studios. The book, set to release Sept. 3, tells the story of four septuagenarian

Activist Jay Ruderman on March 3 presented an award to brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly for their decades of championing people with disabilities, saying show business “has the power to change public perception like no other industry.” The occasion was the sixth annual Morton E. Ruderman Award for Inclusion, presented by the Ruderman Family Foundation

With French events organizer Reed Midem pulling the plug on MipTV for the first time since its formation in 1964, the realities of keeping businesses ticking in the face of a potential global pandemic are quickly emerging for the TV industry’s buyers and sellers, with a range of contingency plans furiously in the works. Most

Taika Waititi is partnering with Netflix on a pair of animated series — one based on the world of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and another based on the Oompa-Loompa characters. Waititi, who won an Academy Award for the “Jojo Rabbit” adapted screenplay, will write, direct, and executive produce both projects. The two “Charlie and

In an effort to contain France’s coronavirus outbreak, the country’s health minister extended on Thursday the ban for gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces to May 31, raising concerns about the next edition of the Cannes Film Festival. France’s ban on large indoor gatherings was first issued on Feb. 29, but has

Filmmaker Alma Har’el helped conceive Time’s 100 Women of the Year issue, designed to recognize the contributions of female leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the century from 1920 through 2019. Along with original portraits, the magazine will release 100 covers reflecting the era of each year. “I don’t think Time has

BORDEAUX, France — Madrid-based Latido Films has taken international rights to Roc Espinet’s feature debut “Girl and Wolf,” an animated feature for young audiences based on Espinet’s eponymous graphic novel. “Girl and Wolf” is one of the projects offered at the ongoing Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event, where Variety has learned of

An impoverished laborer returns home one day to find that social services have taken his children, after the family’s increasingly dire circumstances push his wife to commit a desperate act. With a corrupt local administrator blocking the way to a fair hearing to get them back, the man decides to cross the country on foot

Skydance’s long-in-development Bermuda Triangle thriller, “Bermuda,” looks to be gaining steam, as sources tell Variety that “Doctor Strange” helmer Scott Derrickson has signed on to rewrite and direct the pic, with Chris Evans circling the lead role. Derrickson’s deal has closed, but sources close to Evans say after meeting with Derrickson, the “Captain America” actor

In today’s film news roundup, a “Clueless”-themed restaurant is coming, Dolly Parton’s literacy efforts are showcased in a movie and “The Artist’s Wife” gets release dates. ‘CLUELESS’ RESTAURANT Paramount Pictures is bringing back a slice of its iconic 1995 comedy “Clueless” with an “As If!” pop-up restaurant in West Hollywood starting on March 31. The

Apple is no longer participating in the SXSW 2020 festival, as concerns heighten over the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Variety has confirmed. The tech giant had been set to premiere three new Apple TV Plus originals at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, including Spike Jonze’s documentary film “Beastie Boys Story,” and also was scheduled

After being taken into custody last week when he was found guilty on two charges, including rape, Harvey Weinstein complained of chest pains and was diverted to the hospital, instead of prison, on his way out of the New York City criminal courthouse. With his sentencing exactly one week away, it appears Weinstein will remain

Tom of Finland has a lot to answer for. His gorgeously lurid illustrations of bulging male musculature, tumescent crotches, extravagant mustaches and granite jawlines not only defined the iconography for a joyously irreverent gay subculture that had previously been given little expression, it also established a hypermasc gay dreamboat ideal that derives a lot of

California has overtaken New York in terms of production for U.S.-based narrative feature films, according to a new study by FilmLA. The Golden State generated 62 movies, compared to 57 in the Big Apple. “Feature Films: A Profile of Production” analyzed 291 live-action movies that were released in theaters and 56 titles that debuted on

Adam Shankman will direct “Hocus Pocus 2” at Disney Plus, sources tell Variety. The film — a sequel to 1993’s cult hit “Hocus Pocus” starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy — was written by “Workaholics” writer and co-producer Jen D’Angelo. Shankman is currently in pre-production on Disney’s “Enchanted” sequel, titled “Disenchanted.” It’s

Atanas Georgiev, producer of North Macedonia’s dual Academy Award nominee “Honeyland,” is prepping two new projects. Riding the spectacular success of Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s acclaimed debut that was nominated in both the documentary and international feature film categories, Georgiev is developing a documentary about a disabled carpenter on a journey to become a

March 4, 2020 11:31AM PT Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has acquired world rights for the upcoming drama “Leave No Traces,” from acclaimed Polish director Jan P. Matuszyński (“The Last Family”), produced by Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi.” “Leave No Traces” is based on the

Theater owners argue that the movie business has survived for decades, enduring new challenges from “peak TV” and streaming, because it offers up a communal experience. Nothing, they maintain, beats watching a comic-book epic or a horror pic in a darkened room full of fellow movie fans. But the same qualities that have helped the

“Swallow” was inspired by writer-director Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ grandmother, who was an obsessive handwasher in the 1950s. “She would go through four cakes of soap a day and 12 bottles of rubbing alcohol a week,” he says. She was eventually institutionalized, where she underwent electroshock and insulin shock therapies and a bilateral lobotomy. “I wanted to

March 4, 2020 9:57AM PT “The Batman” director Matt Reeves revealed the official first look at the Batmobile on Twitter on Wednesday, further establishing the filmmaker’s gritty, grounded, almost DIY take on the iconic comic book hero. In three shadowy images, the Caped Crusader’s trusty vehicle appears to be an enhanced version of a standard

Haley Bennett was 19 when she made her film debut as pop star Cora Corman in 2007’s “Music and Lyrics.” About nine years later, after appearing in about a dozen more movies, she was hailed as Hollywood’s next big starlet for her starring role opposite Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in the 2016 remake of

Hollywood is standing up for the arts with a handful of actors joining The Creative Coalition’s delegation at Capitol Hill on Apr 24. Their goal? To speak out against the White House’s efforts to cut federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Actors Chrissy Metz, Tituss Burgess, Niecy Nash, Cheryl Hines and Haley

Kevin Hart declared that he plans to become a media mogul. Richard Plepler promised that the premium subscription TV business is not a zero-sum game. Dana Walden explained why she took the big TV gig at Disney. Dawn Ostroff spoke about the humbling process of learning how to produce for digital platforms after a long

March 4, 2020 9:11AM PT “No Time to Die” will be postponed until November, the James Bond sequel’s backers announced on Wednesday. The film was originally supposed to be released internationally on April 2 and in the U.S. on April 10. However, the spread of coronavirus has led to closures of theaters in major markets

MADRID — Filming has begun in Spain on “Competencia Oficial” (“Official Competition”) starring Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas’ and Oscar Martínez, and one of the biggest Spanish-language features to go into production this year. Argentina’s Martínez, though less well known abroad, is one of the grand talents of Latin American cinema and theater, winning a best