Movies

November 11, 2019 4:30PM PT Paramount Pictures has landed the worldwide rights to Damien Chazelle’s next feature film “Babylon,” sources tell Variety. Insiders add the studio has dated the film for a Dec. 25, 2021 limited release, with plans to go wide on Jan. 7. The release date puts in prime position for another awards

November 11, 2019 4:28PM PT Chris Pratt’s upcoming sci-fi actioner, which was recently retitled “The Tomorrow War,” has set a Christmas Day 2020 release date. The Paramount film was formerly titled “Ghost Draft.” It follows a man (played by Pratt) who is drafted to fight a future war in which the fate of humanity may

November 11, 2019 3:36PM PT The opening ceremony of the first edition of the Gangneung International Film Festival was dominated by a tribute to the French film scout and festival selector Pierre Rissient, who died in May 2018. The new festival, 240 km from Seoul, counts former Busan festival co-founder Kim Dong-ho as its chairman

“Waves,” a partially autobiographical film written and directed by Trey Edward Shults, is a visually arresting look at the fraying of an upper-middle class black family in South Florida in the aftermath of a violent tragedy. It examines themes of grief, domestic violence, substance abuse and modern-day pressures on kids to succeed. “Propelled by color,

November 11, 2019 1:49PM PT Through his production company Fabrica De Cine, Gastón Pavlovich is one of the producers on Martin Scorsese’s two most recent movies: 2016’s “Silence” and 2019’s “The Irishman.” The 51-year-old native of Mexico first gained notice as an executive producer on the Tom Hanks comedy-drama “A Hologram for the King.” Pavlovich

The partnership between a film’s production designer and costume designer is an important one. One creates the outfits and the look of the character, the other creates the world that the viewer disappears into. Together, they collaborate to reinforce the visuals of the film. Todd Phillips’ “Joker” is a world where production designer Mark Friedberg

Ventana Sur’s Blood Window sidebar for projects and films in progress has been a standout event on the Latin horror calendar since its launch in 2013, and is one of the Buenos Aires market’s most popular sections. In the following years, it has become a key two-way conduit between Latin American and international festivals and

Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”) isn’t afraid to ask for another take and she encourages young actors to do the same. Johansson revealed her thought process behind multiple takes while shooting during an intimate conversation with Chris Evans (“Knives Out”) for “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” “I feel like if you have an idea — and

In “Harriet,” directed and co-written by Kasi Lemmons, Cynthia Erivo plays Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery, joined the Underground Railroad and then freed more than 70 people from slavery. (Spoilers about the movie ahead.) Though Tubman died in 1913 at age 91, the movie ends during the Civil War, with Tubman leading a troop of

Frank Grillo and Maggie Q will star in “Cutman,” a dramatic thriller directed by Michael Mailer and written by Tiffany Heath. Grillo will play an over-the-hill boxer who begins working as the muscle for a local gangster. His life takes an unexpected turn when he meets a young girl whose mother is a heroin addict

The Oscar race is on. Renée Zellweger is a sure bet to snag a nomination for her transformation in “Judy” and Adam Driver looks certain to be a nominee for his work in Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.” In the lead for best picture are movies including “The Irishman,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and

Chris Evans (“Knives Out”) is dying to direct a film, he just doesn’t have the material. Evans, who made his directorial debut in 2014 with “Before We Go,” revealed what’s holding him back from a sophomore film — and much more — during a conversation with former co-star Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”) for “Variety Studio:

“Apollo 11” was the big winner at the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards on Sunday in New York City. The film took home the award for documentary feature, as well as editing for Todd Douglas Miller and score for Matt Morton. “Apollo 11” was also honored with archival documentary and science/nature documentary prizes. There

November 11, 2019 9:59AM PT Austria’s contender for the international feature film Oscar has been disqualified from the race for having too much dialogue in English. Sudabeh Mortezai’s “Joy” is the second film to be ruled ineligible to compete for what until this year was known as the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. Last

Chris Evans doesn’t think he’ll be reprising his role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He explains why in a conversation with Scarlett Johansson for Variety‘s Actor on Actors issue, on stands on Nov. 12. Johansson, who plays Black Widow in the Marvel films, is in this year’s awards conversation for dual performances

Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson discussed why Marvel films have come under attack. Evans (who plays Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and Johansson (Black Widow) recently sat down for Variety‘s Actors on Actors issue, on stands on Nov. 12. Although they didn’t mention Martin Scorsese by name, they alluded to the “Irishman” director’s

Call it the Shianaissance (or don’t, we would understand), but Shia LaBeouf is igniting an indie box office revival. LaBeouf further proved his on-screen bankability last weekend as his autobiographical drama “Honey Boy” kicked off above expectations, garnering $288,824 from four venues in New York and Los Angeles. That haul marks one of the best

Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson sat down for a chat for “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” For more, pick up the Actors on Actors issue on Nov. 12, tune into PBS SoCal on Jan. 2 or stay tuned right here at Variety.com. When Scarlett Johansson first sees Chris Evans at our photo shoot, she lets

Costume designer Sandy Powell has over 50 credits to her name and has won three Academy Awards. She has worked with Todd Haynes, Jean-Marc Vallée, Rob Marshall, Stephen Frears and Martin Scorsese. “The Irishman” marks her seventh time collaborating with Scorsese, but this was an epic. The film spans five decades from the 1950s to

November 11, 2019 6:34AM PT Jim Gianopulos will continue to oversee film operations following Viacom’s merger with CBS, the companies confirmed on Monday. The move was expected and comes as the media marriage is being wrapped up. Gianopulos’ title will be chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. His mandate will continue to be calling the

Netflix continues to push into local content, producing its first Dutch film, war drama “The Battle of the Scheldt,” in partnership with local broadcasters and other backers. Alain de Levita is producing the Dutch-Belgian picture through his Levitate Film banner. It will be in movie theaters in the Netherlands in November 2020, and on Netflix

Kristin Scott Thomas will be honored at this year’s British Independent Film Awards with the Richard Harris Award for her contribution to British film. Thomas will join a celebrated list of former honorees including Judi Dench in 2018, and Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson and Chiwetel Ejiiofor in years past. Thomas’ film work includes “Four Weddings

We’ve all seen couples like Gota and Chika Yanagida — some of us may even be in one. In writer-director Shin Adachi’s “A Beloved Wife,” the Yanagidas bicker constantly, turning their near-constant state of marital conflict into a kind of public performance, sucking friends and strangers alike into the typhoon of their discomfort. Are they

The Mediterranean island nation of Malta has long been attracting international film and TV productions mainly for tales with either a strong marine or biblical element, and often for limited portions of the overall shoot. Now Malta is trying to make a quantum leap to lure a wider scope of productions for longer stays. And

China’s Joy Pictures — previously a buyer, marketer and distributor best known for bringing “La La Land” to China — is now turning towards the production and sale of animation, and is at AFM for the first time this year as a seller. So far a hot title has been one of Joy’s few live-action

It isn’t rare to see a love-it-or-hate-it movie; every awards season brings one or two of them. Last year we had “Green Book,” this year we have “Joker.” (I’m tempted to say, in the case of both those films, that millions of moviegoers love them and 197 media people hate them, but that’s another story.)

Responding to French actress Valentine Monnier’s accusation of rape, a lawyer for Roman Polanski has issued a statement saying that the filmmaker denied the allegations and was considering suing the newspaper that published Monnier’s story. In an article in Le Parisien on Friday, Monnier alleged that Polanski raped her violently at a ski chalet in

“Terminator: Dark Fate” faced another rocky weekend in theaters as the sixth entry in the sci-fi saga scraped together $29.9 million from 53 international markets. Though the film is nearing the $200 million mark globally (worldwide ticket sales are currently at $199.4 million), “Dark Fate” still stands to be a major money loser for Paramount,

Oliver Laxe’s “Fire Will Come” won the top prize, the Golden Alexander, at the 60th Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival on Sunday, as well as the best actor award for Amador Arias, playing an arsonist who returns to his family home in the mountains. The film, described in its Variety review as “a rustically beautiful rural

Nikolay “Nick” Sarkisov is the co-founder and head of Blitz Films, a production and financing company he founded in 2018 with his father, Sergey.  With headquarters in Los Angeles and Moscow, Blitz Films focuses on pursuing unique storie. Blitz has partnered with first-time filmmakers such as cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko’s  “Show Me What You Got” and