Movies

February 19, 2020 12:23AM PT Blackhall Studios, the Atlanta-based production hub that has hosted several high-profile shoots in recent years, has signed an agreement with the University of Reading to develop its first U.K. facility. Due for completion in early 2022, the new studio will offer physical production stages alongside digital media facilities tailored for

BARCELONA – “20,000 Species of Bees,” “Something Like Happiness” and “Los quinquis” are among five feature projects that will be put through development at the ECAM Madrid Film School’s pioneering Incubator program. The Incubator forms part of The Screen, a program at the ECAM Madrid Film School, which is aimed at fostering links between on-the-rise Spain-based

February 18, 2020 10:24PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Disney Pixar claims the top spot in spending with “Onward.” Ads placed for the animated film had an estimated media value of $4.99 million through Sunday for 784 national

Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, whose last film “Leto” competed at Cannes in 2018, is teaming with “Wasp Network” producer Charles Gillibert to adapt the best-selling French novel “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.” Winner of the prestigious Renaudot Prize in 2017, Olivier Guez’s novel “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” was published in more than 30 countries

In today’s film news roundup, Sabrina Carpenter’s “The Short History of the Long Road” gets a home, comedian Jo Koy’s life will become a movie, “True to the Game” is getting a sequel and APA promotes Chris Ridenhour. ACQUISITION FilmRise has acquired Sabrina Carpenter’s coming-of-age drama “The Short History of the Long Road” and is

More than a year after his announcement that he’d be giving up the role of The Dark Knight, Ben Affleck has opened up about his decision in a New York Times profile. Affleck was previously set to direct and star in the DC film before it landed with filmmaker Matt Reeves and the new Caped

Stella Meghie loves love. And she’s currently feeling a lot of it. As “Sonic the Hedgehog” soared to number one over Presidents’ Day weekend, “The Photograph” made a solid $13 million. Catching up with Meghie early Saturday morning after the film’s debut, the writer/director/executive producer admitted she’d been looking at the numbers. “I’m grateful people

February 18, 2020 1:02PM PT A24 has bought North American rights to the thriller “The Stars at Noon,” starring Robert Pattinson and Margaret Qualley. Claire Denis is attached to direct, and wrote the screenplay with Lea Mysius and Andrew Litvack, based on Denis Johnson’s 1986 novel. The deal was announced Tuesday on the eve of the

From her first appearance at Bong Joon Ho’s side in Cannes, where he accepted the Palme d’Or for his sensational “Parasite,” interpreter Sharon Choi has been an unwitting award season MVP. Clad in minimal black and permanently clutching a notebook, the retreating student filmmaker has imparted Bong’s messages of gratitude on the most coveted stages

Charades, the sales firm launched three years ago by former execs at Wild Bunch, Gaumont and Studiocanal, will roll into the Berlinale’s European Film Market with a raft of pre-sales on anticipated French projects, including “The Rosemaker” with Catherine Frot and Laurent Tirard’s “The Speech.” Charades will unveil the promos of both films, as well

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired Kamir Aïnouz’s promising feature debut “Honey Cigar” which was developed with the support of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and is co-produced by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the Palme d’Or-winning directors/producers. Set in Paris in 1993, the film follows Selma, 17, who lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber

February 18, 2020 9:00AM PT After the success of its Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” Paramount has set filmmaker Dexter Fletcher to direct another high-profile project for the studio. Fletcher will helm “The Saint,” a reboot of its 1997 action thriller that starred Val Kilmer. The globe-trotting adventure is based on the 1920s novel series written

Gerard Butler will star in the action thriller “Remote Control.” Butler will portray a former war correspondent turned corporate security consultant, whose life is overturned when he receives a mysterious phone call from an unknown source. He soon uncovers the threads of a global conspiracy, finding himself drawn into a fight for his life, pursued by

Jury deliberations in the rape trial of Harvey Weinstein began Tuesday. After a six-week trial, a 12-member panel of New Yorkers will now decide if the former movie mogul goes free or spends the rest of his life behind bars. The case is considered to be a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement in Hollywood,

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy is teaming with Imagine Entertainment for a new series about the tragedy and subsequent scandal over the defunct Boeing 737-Max airplane, sources tell Variety. Kennedy and her husband and producing partner, Emmy-nominated writer Mark Bailey, are teaming up with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s unscripted division at Imagine, run by Justin

February 18, 2020 8:22AM PT Piece of Magic Entertainment, the distributor behind recent docs “Apollo 11” and “Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love,” has picked up international theatrical distribution rights for the underdog sports tale “King Otto.” The doc follows the improbable path of the 2004 Greek National Soccer team, which went from never winning

Hollywood may still be shaking off its awards-season hangover, but before it puts the tuxedos and gowns back in storage, Variety wants to take a look at some of the films that seem destined to dominate the next Oscars race. It’s true that on paper many movies that now appear earmarked for awards greatness may

Turner Latin America’s new English-language film label Particular Crowd has kicked off its partnership with Canadian shingles Breakthrough Entertainment and Black Fawn Films with horror-comedy “Vicious Fun,” now in post. “An outrageous mash-up of dread and humor, ‘Vicious Fun’ lives up to its title,” said Craig McGillivray, Breakthrough Entertainment’s VP of distribution. “We are thrilled

Deliberations in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial are slated to begin on Tuesday, but there were plenty of fireworks even before Justice James Burke could give jurors instructions. Before the jury was called in, prosecutors accused the former movie mogul’s lawyers of jury tampering, vociferously objecting to a Newsweek op-ed. The article, penned by Weinstein’s lead

Bollywood Hollywood Production will give rugby film “Jungle Cry” a theatrical release in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa next month. The film screens for buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin this month. Directed by Sagar Ballary (“Bheja Fry”), the story features Abhay Deol (“Hero,” “Line

Block 2 Distribution, the sales arm of Wong Kar-wai’s Jet Tone Films will handle international rights to “Ennio: The Maestro.” The film is an upcoming documentary about legendary film musician Ennio Morricone, written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Morricone, who is 91, has more than 500 movie credits to this name including scores for Sergio

It has been a year and a half since director Li Cheng’s “José” won the Venice Film Festival’s Queer Lion. It would be a shame to let the lag time diminish expectations. After a LGBTQ fest run, the Spanish-language drama — about a young gay man in Guatemala — has opened theatrically and continues to

A decade has passed since 2010’s Deepwater Horizon tragedy, history’s most catastrophic oil drilling accident that occurred when a BP-operated pipe exploded, leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. There was no successful intervention for months, and time hasn’t healed all wounds. On the contrary, it opened new, irreversible ones as

On Feb. 14 last year, Karim Aïnouz arrived in Algeria to trace via the story of his parents the Algerian Revolution which happened 60 years ago – its 1954-62 War of Independence from France. The uprising he very quickly started to shoot, however, was one happening right then, the Revolution of Smiles, whose first street

Dogs, in their rambunctious domesticated way, can lead us overly civilized humans a step or two closer to the natural world. So it’s only fitting that the best dog movies have saluted that unruly canine spirit without a lot of artificial flavoring. Hollywood’s classic dog tales, like “Old Yeller” (1957) or “Lassie Come Home” (1943),

February 17, 2020 10:54AM PT In the run up to Berlin’s European Film Market, Indie Sales has unveiled the trailer for Thor Klein’s “Adventures of a Mathematician” which had its world premiere in Palm Springs. The film tells the inspiring true story of a Polish-Jewish mathematician who got a fellowship at Harvard and went on

Berlin’s new seven-member selection committee — four women and three men — comprises the core of new director Carlo Chatrian’s programming staff, which is led Canadian critic Mark Peranson. Peranson was the Locarno Film Festival’s chief of programming when Chatrian headed that Swiss festival. This year, Berlin is opening with “My Salinger Year,” starring Sigourney

Making her debut as the new executive director of the Berlin Film Festival this year, Mariette Rissenbeek is facing some big challenges after taking over management duties at one of the world’s biggest public film fests. Rissenbeek and new artistic director Carlo Chatrian succeed Dieter Kosslick, who left an indelible mark on the fest after

Carlo Chatrian’s rapid rise to becoming Berlin’s artistic director stems from the steely resolve of a soft-spoken film lover with smarts and a clear sense of what he considers meaningful in contemporary cinema today. The Italian film critic and curator previously served a five-year stint as artistic director of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He is

It’s not a stretch to say Universal’s “Cats” and Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” had two of the most polarizing movie trailers in recent memory. Both caught fire online for all the wrong reasons after fans on social media torched the questionable CGI. “Cats,” an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, used a new science called