Movies

The BFI London Film Festival is expanding its scope with a new emphasis on episodic content and virtual and augmented reality. While LFF has previously screened series such as BBC One and AMC co-production “The Little Drummer Girl,” it will further expand its TV focus, premiering new series for digital platforms and international broadcasters. A

Netflix and UN Women have launched the “Because She Watched” collection of series, documentaries, and films created for the upcoming International Women’s Day. The collection, which will be available all year, is curated by female creators from behind and in front of the camera, including Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Yalitza Aparicio, Millie Bobby Brown, Laurie

The London Book Fair has been canceled amid growing concerns around the spread of coronavirus in the U.K. Organizer Reed Exhibitions — the parent group of MipTV operator Reed Midem — announced Wednesday that the event, which was set to take place March 10-12, has been called off following the “escalation” of COVID-19 in Europe.

Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof has been summoned to serve a prison sentence in Iran, three days after his film “There is no Evil” won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear, according to his lawyer and a report by London-based Iran International TV. The dissident director’s lawyer Nasser Zarafshan told The Associated Press that Rasoulof on

Woody Harrelson, Agnieszka Holland and Hirokazu Kore-eda are among the industry figures headlining the 27th edition of the Prague International Film Festival, which is set to go ahead despite fears around the coronavirus. Harrelson will appear alongside Oren Moverman, who is receiving a Kristián award for his contributions to global cinema, to present the L.A.

Those hungry for more of the East/West culture-clash terrain of “Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Farewell” may savor the slightly downsized pleasures of “Go Back to China,” which offers up some of the first film’s lifestyle glamour plus the second’s more earnest family drama. Emily Ting’s second scripted feature is essentially a freely fictionalized revamp

Ronan Farrow blasted his publisher, Hachette, on Tuesday over its acquisition of Woody Allen memoir “Apropos of Nothing” and announced he’ll no longer work with the company. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced Monday that it had acquired the memoir a year ago and will release it on April 7. “The

In today’s film news roundup, three-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki will shoot David O. Russell’s movie, “The Woman Who Ran” finds a home, Entertainment Partners buys We Got POP and Clark Backo is starring in “Confession.” DEVELOPMENT Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has boarded David O. Russell’s untitled New Regency movie, starring Christian Bale, Michael B. Jordan

March 3, 2020 2:56PM PT Chance the Rapper is in negotiations to join Anne Hathaway in Warner Bros.’ live-action adaptation of “Sesame Street.” “Portlandia” director and co-creator Jonathan Krisel is helming the musical, co-financed by Warner Bros. and MGM. “Eight Grade” director Bo Burnham is contributing songs to the new film, which will hit theaters

March 3, 2020 1:40PM PT J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot has teamed with Warner Bros. Pictures to develop Daniel Casey’s supernatural thriller “The Pinkerton” as a feature film. The movie will be the first original film project for Bad Robot under a five-year mega-deal the company signed with WarnerMedia in September. The studio is keeping the logline

Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film Festival has postponed its inaugural edition due to coronavirus concerns. Organizers announced the “difficult” decision on Tuesday “given the current global health emergency,” they said in an email to prospective guests which noted that their “primary consideration” is “the safety and wellbeing of our guests, staff and audiences.”

Ubiquitous American pornography website Pornhub is releasing its first ever non-adult film on Wednesday, the company exclusively announced to Variety. The move places the digital giant, which estimated 42 billion visits to the site last year, in the company of other streamers seeking to expand audiences and diversify its content portfolios. The movie in question

March 3, 2020 9:40AM PT Robert Mitchell, the former managing director of Walt Disney U.K., has died at the age of 56. Mitchell started his career in the advertising industry, moving into film by joining Warner Bros. U.K. as an advertising director in 1983. He rose to become marketing director of Warner Bros.’ U.K. arm.

Tribeca Film Festival announced its 2020 lineup, a slate of 115 movies that includes offerings from Hugh Jackman, Pete Davidson and Chrissy Teigen. The 2020 festival — which runs in Manhattan from April 15 through April 26 — has selections from 124 filmmakers representing 33 countries. High-profile screenings include the U.S. premiere of “Bad Education”

Overshadowed by a grisly, racially motivated shooting in western Germany and the growing pains of new festival leadership, this year’s Berlinale served to illuminate the market dynamics and global issues set to impact the international film and television industry in the run-up to Cannes — provided coronavirus stays away from the Croisette. The Berlin festival,

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event dedicated to fostering fresh Arab film fare through high-caliber mentorships and curated networking with a select group of top industry executives has been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns. “Although this is an extremely important event for our community and participants, the wellbeing of the residents and visitors to Qatar

March 2, 2020 7:43PM PT “Free Solo” filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi have become attached to direct a movie about the 2018 rescue of the Wild Boar boys soccer team from a cave in Thailand for Universal and Cavalry Media. “Midway” screenwriter Wes Tooke is writing the screenplay about the 12 members of the

Chris Fenton, a longtime Hollywood executive who witnessed and assisted in the birth of the mega-rich marriage between Hollywood and China, is set to release a tell-all book about the process. Fenton will publish the memoir “Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business,” at Simon & Schuster

In today’s film news roundup, the Fanning sisters’ “The Nightingale” has been set for Christmas, “Gladiator” gets a 20-year anniversary release, 42West reorganizes, a horror film partnership is unveiled and Abramorama promotes Evan Saxon. RELEASE DATE Sony Pictures has set a Christmas Day release for the drama “The Nightingale,” starring sisters Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.

A harrowing accusation of rape against actor Timothy Hutton, surfaced in a BuzzFeed story on Monday, raises questions about a new film in which he co-stars about the life of activist icon Gloria Steinem. In an in-depth BuzzFeed report by Kate Aurthur and Adam B. Vary (both have since joined the staff of Variety), the

Oscar winner Timothy Hutton, currently the star of the freshman Fox drama “Almost Family,” has been accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in 1983. According to a report published online by BuzzFeed News, Sera Johnston, who last year filed a criminal complaint against Hutton with the Vancouver Police Department, said she was assaulted by the

March 2, 2020 2:07PM PT Americans haven’t let coronavirus keep them from concerts, plays or movies, but that will change if the disease spreads to their communities, a new study finds. The survey of consumer behavior was conducted by Morning Consult from Feb. 28 to March 1, a period of time that saw the first

After an aggressive bidding war with multiple major studios, North American rights for Channing Tatum’s film “Dog” have sold to MGM. Tatum will star in and co-direct “Dog” with his longtime creative partner Reid Carolin. Carolin also wrote the script, based upon a story by Carolin and Brett Rodriguez. The film is a road-trip comedy

March 2, 2020 1:00PM PT Prominent James Bond fan site MI6-HQ.com wrote an open letter requesting the delay of “No Time to Die,” the upcoming installment in the Daniel Craig-led British spy series. The movie, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, is set to release in theaters in early April. But given widespread concern about coronavirus,

March 2, 2020 11:12AM PT Warner Bros. Pictures has named Toby Tennant to the newly created position of vice president of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) regional distribution. Tennant was previously vice president, sales and distribution EMEA for Twentieth Century Fox International before it was acquired by Walt Disney Company. At Fox, he oversaw

Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” will fly forward two days to release on June 24, giving the blockbuster a Wednesday start. Paramount Pictures made the announcement on Monday. The “Top Gun” sequel. Cruise is reprising his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. A recent trailer for films showed Cruise being introduced thusly to young flyers

Lionsgate is developing a movie based on Judy Blume’s novel “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” with “The Edge of Seventeen” director Kelly Fremon Craig helming from her own script. The company announced Monday that it bought the novel’s film rights and plans the movie to be “event moviegoing for women of all ages.”

“The Green Knight,” a medieval fantasy adventure starring Dev Patel as King Arthur’s plucky nephew Gawain, will host its world premiere at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival. The movie, which will be distributed by A24, is directed by David Lowery. The festival announced the new addition to its lineup as fears about the

Art imitated life in more ways than one at the premiere of Warner Bros.’ sports drama “The Way Back,” held Sunday afternoon at the Regal LA Live downtown. “One of those weird parallel things happened in this movie,” said Ben Affleck, who stars as a high school basketball coach struggling with the death of his

Abrams Artists Agency, a prominent talent and literary agency, has officially rebranded as A3 Artists Agency. The name change, announced over the weekend at the company’s annual retreat, comes 18 months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho, and Adam Bold acquired the agency, “When we purchased the agency in 2018, we set out to be the premium brand