Movies

This year’s Game Awards, recognizing the top video games, creators and esports of 2019, is coming to the silver screen. In a three-way partnership, the Game Awards, Cinemark Theatres and Sony Pictures are teaming on a superticket program pairing the Dec. 12 live simulcast of the 2019 Game Awards in 53 Cinemark locations with a

Taika Waititi has cast Kaimana, a fa’afafine or non-binary person in his upcoming sports film “Next Goal Wins.” Kaimana, who uses one name, will portray Jaiyah Saelua, the first non-binary player to compete in a men’s FIFA World Cup qualifier. Kaimana, who is making their acting debut in the film, identifies as fa’afafine, a person

Released in 2013 to a record-scorching $1.29 billion, “Frozen” was such a huge hit for Walt Disney Animation Studios that many of its fans were probably assuming its sequel would play it safe and deliver more of the same: a sparkling 21st-century fairy tale in which a pair of wide-eyed heroines shrug off the need

Every year, Variety seeks to identify the next generation of leaders in the entertainment business, looking for representatives in the creative community, film, TV, music and digital. This year’s group has a heavy New York focus: We selected executives from forward thinking companies such as Spotify, Group Nine and Endeavor Audio, as well as writers

Jax Media has emerged during the past few years as one of television’s busiest and buzziest production companies. The New York-based company headed by four partners — Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, John Skidmore and Brooke Posch — has an enviable track record of scouting new voices and executing stylish shows on a less-than-stratospheric budgets. The

It’s the end of the world and they know it in “Radioflash,” a neither-fish-nor-fowl tale of survival after a massive, seemingly permanent power failure. At first this seems a fairly straightforward “what if” scenario of one family’s coping with the rapid breakdown of society in an unprecedented emergency. But first-time feature director/co-writer Ben McPherson eventually

November 13, 2019 11:10PM PT Former conferences and exhibitions executive Edwin Tan has been appointed CEO of Imax China. He replaces Jiande Chen, who now becomes vice chairman of the company, having headed the company since its inception in 2011. Tan was previously CEO of the China business of leading events firm Messe Muenchen. Before

In today’s film news roundup, Taryn Manning, Shane West and Alexander Skarsgård have new roles, and Warner Bros. unveils a modernized logo. CASTINGS Alexander Skarsgård has signed on to join Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and André Holland in “Passing.” The film marks Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut and is based on a screenplay that Hall adapted

For most re-recording mixers, the most challenging scenes to mix are the ones with lots of action and requires a multitude of sound effects. For re-recording mixer, Tom Fleischman, it’s the opposite. He has been working with director Martin Scorsese since the ’80s. The two first met when Fleischman was a freshman at NYU and

November 13, 2019 4:08PM PT Spike Lee will direct a big-screen version of the hip-hop love story “Prince of Cats,” based on Ron Wimberly’s graphic novel. Legendary has been developing the project with Janet and Kate Zucker of Zucker Productions. Lee, who won the Academy Award for adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” will also re-write the

“Harriet” writer-director Kasi Lemmons was in a reflective mood at Tuesday night’s “Behind the Scene” event at the Formosa Cafe in West Hollywood, sponsored by the Writers Guild of America West. The biopic, starring Cynthia Erivo as slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman, has been receiving buzz since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s Lemmons’

With its comedic, cartoonish portrayal of Nazis, Taika Waititi’s satirical Hitler youth tale “Jojo Rabbit” has polarized critics and audiences alike. And that division continued to be stirred at Tuesday night’s screening of the film at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, where Liebe Geft, director of the museum, moderated a heated panel discussion

What does a rabble-rousing, fight-the-power, ripped-from-the-headlines corporate-conspiracy whistleblower drama look like in the Trump era? It looks like Todd Haynes’ “Dark Waters” — which is to say, it looks very dark indeed. And also potent and gripping and necessary. The movie form I’m talking about is one we all know in our bones; you could

Jonathan Majors is on a roll. Not only did the 30-year-old actor recently earn a Gotham Award nomination for his performance as Montgomery Allen in “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” he’s now filming the Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams-produced “Lovecraft Country.” “I’ve done the math,” Majors said. “Eight years of steady acting training

“Charlie’s Angels” is back with a new generation of winged operatives. Will their latest mission — to help revive a sluggish box office — be a success? The Angels, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska, will get an assist from fellow newcomers Disney’s historical “Ford v Ferrari” and Warner Bros. thriller “The Good Liar.”

November 13, 2019 12:54PM PT Mark Wahlberg is in final talks to co-star with Tom Holland in “Uncharted,” Sony’s upcoming adaptation of the hit video game. Travis Knight (“Bumblebee”) is directing the movie that follows Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who journeys across the world to uncover various historical mysteries. Wahlberg will portray Victor “Sully”

It has been more than a month since Martin Scorsese compared Marvel movies to theme park rides and questioned their cinematic credentials, but the conversation started by his comments continues. Walt Disney Studios co-chairman and chief creative officer Alan Horn, who considers Scorsese a friend after working with him on “The Departed,” weighed in on

November 13, 2019 11:30AM PT Ryan Destiny, who’s best known for her role in Fox’s “Star,” will play Claressa “T-Rex” Shields in Universal’s biopic “Flint Strong.” The film marks Destiny’s first starring role in a major studio movie after her breakout role in the Lee Daniels series. Based on Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper’s 2015

“The Little Mermaid” wasn’t just an animated classic. It was a life raft of sorts for struggling Walt Disney Studios. It’s hard to believe given how dominant Disney is today in the family entertainment space, but when the story of Ariel, a mermaid princess who just wanted to be part of Prince Eric’s world, hit

November 13, 2019 10:39AM PT Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is wrapping up a deal to acquire “40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic,” Variety has learned. The studio plans to run the documentary, which includes behind-the-scenes footage of the creation of the first film in the franchise, on Epix, the cable channel it co-owns. The initial

If you’re a screenwriter these days, it really helps to also be a director —if you plan on taking home one of the Academy Awards for either original or adapted screenplay, that is. Since 2010, only one non-directing solo writer has won an original screenplay Oscar, and the last time a non-directing solo writer won

While speaking with Jennifer Lopez for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Robert Pattinson confessed that the blockbuster “Twilight” series always struck him as a profoundly “weird” saga. “It’s a weird story, ‘Twilight.’ It’s not just like – it’s strange how people responded a lot to it. I guess the books are very romantic, but at

Robert Pattinson is no fan of method acting, as he told Jennifer Lopez during an interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. Discussing his work in the nightmarish drama “The Lighthouse,” Pattinson revealed the psychological challenges that come with playing a character who slowly descends into madness. “It was a kind of no limit part,

From his iconic portrayal of a lovestruck vampire in the “Twilight” series to his latest role as a disturbed lighthouse keeper in director Robert Eggers’ frightening drama “The Lighthouse,” it’s clear that Robert Pattinson is drawn to playing dark and brooding characters. While that might make his casting as Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ upcoming

The Variety Film to Table event at the Napa Valley Film Festival on Nov. 14 showcases some of the best chefs in the region, and their dishes that have been inspired by films. Mark Caldwell DISH: Tiger prawn noodle salad, pickled carrots, sesame-ginger vinaigrette Executive chef Caldwell creates dishes at David Estates winery, where his

Keeley Hawes will star opposite Hugh Bonneville in a film about the Oscar-winner Patricia Neal and her husband, author Roald Dahl. Formerly known as “An Unquiet Life,” and based on Stephen Michael Shearer’s book of the same name, the family drama starts filming this week in Surrey, southern England. John Hay directs. He co-wrote the

Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”) and Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”) sat down for a chat for “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” For more, click here.  Antonio Banderas takes on the role of his career as the director who discovered him in Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory,” playing a fictionalized take on Almodóvar sorting

Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) and Robert Pattinson (“The Lighthouse”) sat down for a chat for “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” For more, click here.  In “Hustlers,” Jennifer Lopez plays Ramona, the ringleader of a gang formed in a New York strip club. She’s equal parts private dancer and hardened criminal, a combination that Oscar voters might

Nestled in the rolling vineyards and Instagram-worthy towns, the Napa Valley Film Festival kicks off its ninth edition with a new leader, and a renewed mandate to build on its success. NVFF runs Nov. 13-17 in Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. Entertainment industry veteran Tom Tardio took over as CEO in July, and reports

“The Irishman” producer Gaston Pavlovich and his Mexico City-based production company Fabrica de Cine have inked an overall development and production deal with Endemol Shine Boomdog, the Mexican outpost of Endemol Shine North America. The deal comes as “The Irishman” opens the Los Cabos International Film Festival on Wednesday. The screening marks the Latin American