Movies

Roland Emmerich has made some of the biggest movies in history. He blew up the White House in “Independence Day,” blanketed New York in ice in “The Day After Tomorrow” and had mega-tsunamis wipe out most of humanity in “2012.” In the process, his films have grossed $1.2 billion globally, making hundreds of millions of

Disney’s “Frozen II” is gearing up for an ice-shattering opening weekend ahead of Thanksgiving. The sequel to the studio’s “Frozen” is projected to earn over $100 million when it launches Nov. 22, according to early tracking. Though “Frozen II” is expected to gobble up the competition over the Thanksgiving corridor, it will have to contend

“Dream Horse,” starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has been sold around the world by Cornerstone Films, including a multi-territory deal with Sony. The story of a winning racehorse from BAFTA-winning director Euros Lyn also stars Owen Teale, Joanna Page and Karl Johnson. Cornerstone has closed deals with Welt Kino (Germany), Impuls (Switzerland), Hakuhodo DY

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan outlined a shift in focus to growing the company’s niche subscription streaming services during a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Thursday. AMC Networks’ third-quarter earnings release underscored the economic headwinds facing the owner of AMC, BBC America and other cable channels. Sapan told analysts that the company is

Sun Valley Film Festival founder Teddy Grennan was driving through central Virginia near his home in Charlottesville when he stumbled upon a feature news segment on NPR in which a rancher was discussing the use of pesticides and GMOs in cattle. “The reporter from NPR was trying to get this rancher to talk about how

October 31, 2019 5:57AM PT Summer blockbusters such as Disney’s “The Lion King” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” lifted earnings at Imax during the big screen company’s most recent fiscal quarter and put it on a path to achieving record grosses in 2019. Imax reported revenue growth of 5.2% to $86.4 million on earnings

Wong Kar-wai is producing a new web series called “Blossoms” for Chinese Internet giant Tencent. The project precedes a future feature film by the same name that he is still expecting to direct, Hong Kong’s Jet Tone Films told Variety on Thursday. The company issued a poster image for the series on Wednesday, featuring a

We might as well call it “Dances With Wolves”: Compared to the nightmarish vision multimedia id-tickler Matthew Barney created his epic, five-film “Cremaster Cycle” (which suggested Hieronymus Bosch by way of Busby Berkeley) and his shocking six-hour followup, “River of Fundament” (which some dubbed pornographic, while inspiring others to go ranting on Reddit), the art-world

In today’s film news roundup, “Three Christs” finds a home, Participant chief David Linde will be honored and “Let It Snow” is set for sale at AFM. ACQUISITION IFC Films is acquiring U.S. rights to “Three Christs,” starring Peter Dinklage, Richard Gere, Walton Goggins and Bradley Whitford. The film is directed by Jon Avnet and

In the April 17, 1968, Variety, A.D. Murphy wrote, “Oscar is the object of a peculiar love-hate relationship, especially from people who have little or nothing to do with the film business.” It’s still true, 51 years later. So here are five points to remember. First, there are four distinct groups: pundits, the general public,

Toby Emmerich has extended his contract as chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group and elevated top lieutenant Carolyn Blackwood to the newly created position of chief operating officer. The move follows the box office success of “Joker,” the gritty comic book adaption that became the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history with an $875 million haul.

It’s become almost comical. On Monday, “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss became the latest high-profile talents to part ways with the “Star Wars” universe before their movies hit theaters. They’re part of a revolving door of A-list directors who have found it impossible to realize their visions in a corporate culture

[Warning: Mild spoilers for “Doctor Sleep” ahead.] The filmmakers behind Warner Bros.’ “Doctor Sleep” — based on Stephen King’s 2013 follow-up novel to “The Shining” — knew they had big shoes to fill, so they got creative in paying homage to the original book and 1980s movie. Though the sequel is set decades after the

October 30, 2019 12:24PM PT Gerard Butler will star in the elevated action thriller “The Plane,” which will be produced by Di Bonaventura Pictures and MadRiver Pictures. MadRiver Intl. will launch sales at AFM next week and CAA Media Finance will handle the domestic rights to the film. The script was written by Charles Cumming

October 30, 2019 12:03PM PT Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp has been granted a six-month extension of its debt waiver from a French business court in order to give the Paris-based company more time to seal a deal with its lenders. The financially struggling company was initially given a six-month debt reprieve from the court in May

The passage of time in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” both metaphorically and literally frames the story of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his rise through the Philadelphia Mafia to become friends with union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) — and eventually his murderer. Based on Sheeran’s memoir, “I Heard You Paint Houses,” which spans

October 30, 2019 10:15AM PT Andrew Garfield will star in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick, Tick… Boom!” for Netflix. Variety first reported in June that Netflix had won the movie rights to “Tick, Tick … Boom!” with “Hamilton” creator Miranda attached to direct and Garfield the top choice to star. His deal was announced on Wednesday. “Dear

October 30, 2019 9:45AM PT Landmark Theatres has hired veteran Regal Entertainment executive Paul Serwitz as president and chief operating officer. The arthouse chain made the announcement on Wednesday, a week after Ted Mundorff resigned from his post as the longtime CEO of Landmark Theatres. Mundorff’s departure came less than a year after Landmark was

Cameron Douglas was born into Hollywood royalty. The son of Oscar-winner Michael Douglas and the grandson of screen legend Kirk Douglas, he grew up in a cocoon of wealth and privilege. Outwardly, life may have seemed picture perfect, but Douglas began using drugs in his teens. By his 20s, he was injecting cocaine and later,

On the face of it, making a sequel to “The Shining” does not sound like a promising idea. Stephen King’s original novel, which was published in 1977, remains one of his greatest (it’s not a tale that needs to be messed with). And in the 40 years since Stanley Kubrick’s spooky cerebral film version came

Great Point Media has boarded sales on “Gwledd,” Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh horror movie. The film stars Annes Elwy (“Little Women”), Nia Roberts (“Under Milk Wood”) and Julian Lewis Jones (“Justice League”), alongside Steffan Cennydd (“Last Summer”) and Sion Alun Davies (“The Left Behind”). Filmed in Welsh, the picture follows a young woman serving privileged

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” director Quentin Tarantino and his DP Robert Richardson will receive the Cinematographer-Director Duo Award at the Camerimage International Film Festival. The prize goes annually to a helmer-DP combo whose collaboration has shaped the look and feel of a major motion picture. The Camerimage fest focuses mainly on the art

Disney’s “Frozen II” is set to hit theaters in China on Nov. 22, day and date with the US. The first installment, “Frozen,” grossed $48.2 million in China in 2014, at a time when the country had fewer screens and lower expectations for animated fare. Animation hasn’t always been a huge hit at the Chinese

As the calendar changes from October to November, Mexican horror fans will ascend for the twelfth year on Morbido Fest, a Mexico City-based festival dedicated to all things macabre, organized and executed by Morbido Group CEO and founder Pablo Guisa Koestinger. This year’s festival will kick off Oct. 30 with a spectacle grander in its

Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded “Dead & Beautiful,” a stylish Taiwan-set vampire film written and directed by David Verbeek, the Dutch filmmaker whose last movie, “Full Contact,” competed at Toronto. Verbeek’s seventh feature, “Dead & Beautiful” follows a group of young and spoiled teenagers in Taiwan who turn into vampires after a night of partying.

As the Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival celebrates its 60th edition, what began as a small-scale celebration called Greek Cinema Week has evolved into a vital platform for filmmakers from Greece and around the region, finding a natural home in this historical crossroads that has at various points been under Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rule. “We

When it comes to showing their dedication to a role, actors have been known to gain weight, hit the gym, shave their heads and even have a tooth pulled. But those are all signs of physical commitment. Far more challenging is going out of your way to learn a foreign language — or faking it

Armando Iannucci’s take on the Charles Dickens classic “David Copperfield” is a strong front-runner in the British Independent Film Awards, scoring 11 nominations. Dev Patel is up for best actor for his starring role in “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” and his co-stars, Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie, compete in their respective supporting categories.

Leading Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (“Shoplifters,” “The Truth”) has criticized the decision by the little-known Kawasaki Shinyuri Film Festival to cancel a screening of “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue.” He argues that it is a freedom of speech issue. The film is a year-old U.S.-Japanese documentary about the foreign women who

John Witherspoon, the veteran actor and comedian best known for his roles in “Friday,” “House Party” and “Boomerang,” died on Tuesday. He was 77. “It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away,” his family announced on Twitter. “He was a Legend in the