Movies

Netflix is developing the drama “A Time Lost,” based on an original story by Millie Bobby Brown and her sister Paige Brown. “A Time Lost” will be produced by Millie Bobby Brown through PCMA Productions. Paige Brown and Robert Brown are executive producing. No actors have been cast yet. Anna Klassen is attached to adapt the

Films Boutique has scored strong first-phase sales with top arthouse distributors around the globe on Maryam Touzani’s female friendship drama “Adam” – confirming the market appeal of a title which has been selected as Morocco’s entry for the newly-named Academy Award for best international feature film. The deals news comes on the eve of “Adam’s”

Kerry Washington’s latest film “American Son” hits close to home for the star, giving her reason to reflect on the way she moves through the world as a black woman. “I worry when I’m driving. I worry when my 80-year-old father is driving,” Washington told Variety at the Toronto Film Festival Studio presented by AT&T,

September 10, 2019 10:01AM PT A first wave of panelists has been announced for the second annual all-day gathering, to be held at Neuehouse in Hollywood Oct. 29. Robbie Robertson will be a keynote speaker at Variety‘s second annual Music for Screens Summit, to be held at Neuehouse in Hollywood on Oct. 29. The first

South Africa has chosen Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s “Knuckle City” as its official entry in the Oscars’ International Feature Film category. The movie had its international premiere this week in the Contemporary World Cinema section in Toronto. “Knuckle City” tells the story of Dudu Nyakama (Bongile Mantsai), an aging boxer whose shot at a big prize

The Toronto Film Festival is once again buzzing with Oscar talk. While many of this awards season’s contenders had already screened at Venice and/or Telluride, TIFF featured several world premieres that added to this year’s race to the Dolby Theater on Feb. 9. “Hustlers”Jennifer Lopez has been a frequent presenter at the Oscars, but she

“Uncut Gems,” a dark comedy starring Adam Sandler and directed by the Safdie Brothers, is a wild ride that has generated awards season buzz since premiering at this year’s Telluride Film Festival. In the film, Sandler portrays Howard Ratner, a jewelry dealer in New York’s Diamond district. He’s a gambling addict con-man who can’t seem to

Music for the forthcoming animated comedy “The Addams Family” will come courtesy of original tracks by Christina Aguilera and Migos, among others. The first  track to be released, “My Family” performed by Migos, Karol G, Rock Mafia and Snoop Dogg, will drop this Friday, Sept. 13. Aguilera’s “Haunted Heart” follows later this month via RCA

For all of humanity, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The climate crisis has escalated to a terrifying degree, with daily news reports of the catastrophic effects of extreme weather, flooding from rising seas, crops compromised by drought and parasites and the devastation of unpredictable wildfires including those ablaze this summer in the Amazon rainforest. Climate

For a town whose cultural climate can be rife with toxicity, exclusion and abuse, you’d be surprised by how organized and cooperative Hollywood has become in combating climate change. At least that’s what Variety found when surveying the carbon footprint of modern show business — specifically in terms of producing film and television content at

This power couple has been championing environmentalist causes for decades. Suzy Amis Cameron has led a charge toward plant-based eating in efforts to reduce the dramatic carbon footprint that meat protein creates. James Cameron, the filmmaker behind classics such as “Titanic,” has woven climate-conscious themes into franchises like “Avatar.” He tells Variety the forthcoming three sequels

These environmental warriors are on the front lines of the fight to stop climate change, working with organizations worldwide that seek to protect the ocean, provide clean water, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, stop fracking and much more. They don’t hesitate to get arrested, stand up before the United Nations, or sail the Sargasso Sea

High-end shoppers and film-goers will be able to combine both pursuits at Selfridges when it opens a permanent three-screen movie theater inside its flagship London store later this year. The iconic department store has hitherto been known as a destination for shoppers in search of upmarket fashion. It has now partnered with independent boutique exhibitor

September 10, 2019 1:30AM PT In Wayne Wang’s sensitively observed but slowly paced Korean-American cancer drama, food and family are seen interrelated within the loving relationship of a mother and son. An intimate chamber piece that tightly interlaces remembrances of food and family, Wayne Wang’s quietly sensitive “Coming Home Again” adapts Chang-rae Lee’s award-winning 1995

As one segment of Americans complacently denies racism still exists, others consider discrimination true enough to worry about their loved ones’ safety every time they go out — let alone face a law enforcement official. That is the issue addressed head-on by Christopher Demos-Brown’s “American Son,” whose Booth Theater production from last year has been

Oscar-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri has issued a strong endorsement for David Goodman for re-election as president of the Writers Guild of America West. “I have been a member of the WGA for twenty-nine years,” Khouri said in a email to members. “I’ve seen us win some and lose some. But after all these years I

Joaquin Phoenix wrestled with playing the Joker before he signed on to Todd Phillips’ latest film. The actor talked about coming to terms with the role at a Q&A following the North American premiere of “Joker” at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday night. “I mean honestly, it wasn’t an easy decision at first,” Phoenix

“Papicha,” the Algerian film which appeared in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, has received finance from two Hong Kong companies which have used modern financial techniques to “tokenize” their direct investment in the film’s equity. Directed by Mounia Meddour, the film, a female emancipation story about a woman daring to put on a

September 9, 2019 8:41PM PT “Weathering With You,” the hit Japanese animation directed by Makoto Shinkai, is set for a theatrical release in mainland Chinese theaters. Chinese state media reported on Monday that the film had been approved by China’s censors, but said that the film had not yet been given a release date. After

In today’s film news roundup, Malcolm D. Lee is developing an action comedy, a Steve McQueen biopic is in the works and the Meet the Press Film Festival is set for Oct. 7. PROJECT LAUNCHES “Girls Trip” director-producer Malcolm D. Lee is developing the action comedy “The Spoils” for Lionsgate to produce through his Blackmaled

Joaquin Phoenix has three Academy Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations (and one win) and a lead role in another film that’s already getting Oscar buzz, but in an emotional speech Monday night, the “Joker” actor made it clear that none of it would have been possible without his late brother River Phoenix. “When I

Much was made of the fact that Abel Tesfave’s name showed up in the cast list for “Uncut Gems,” the latest film from the brother director team Josh and Benny Safdie. As it’s turned out now that the crime drama is premiering — and triumphing — on the festival circuit, “Gems” has Tesfave playing the

September 9, 2019 6:12PM PT “Joker” director Todd Phillips isn’t optimistic when it comes to a future meeting between Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Robert Pattinson’s recently announced Batman “No, definitely not,” he told Variety when asked if the pair would appear in a future film together. Although that doesn’t mean “Joker” will be the last

September 9, 2019 5:51PM PT Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville’s chemistry brightens a lovely but claustrophobic cancer drama Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s intimate drama “Ordinary Love” loves to show health-conscious husband and wife Tom (Liam Neeson) and Joan (and Lesley Manville) on their evening stroll, a contented retired couple walking the same path

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present the InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Festival on Sept. 14 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The event gives the opportunity for emerging Latinx filmmakers from around the world to screen their films and network with industry luminaries. This

September 9, 2019 4:51PM PT Geetu Mohandas’ second directorial feature tells a potent if complicated story sometimes confused by gratuitously hyperactive editing. Actor-turned-writer-director Geetu Mohandas’ second feature, “The Elder One,” is a considerably busier enterprise than her first, 2014’s well-received road drama “Liar’s Dice.” Where that essentially two-character piece was linear, low-key and leisurely, this

The work of Stephen King has a long history of making its way to the big screen with wildly different results. Some land Academy Awards (“Misery”) or become classics (“The Shawshank Redemption”) while others disappear into the film ether (“The Mangler,” “Sleepwalkers,” “Thinner,” “Hearts in Atlantis,” “Graveyard Shift” … you get the idea.) But when

September 9, 2019 4:32PM PT Can a community punish a predator? Eva Orner’s compelling documentary demands justice for women bent to their guru’s will Never trust a man in Speedos who promises to change your life. That’s advice from director Eva Orner’s “Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator,” a doc that bends and snaps the self-described God

“Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu has addressed screenwriter Adele Lim leaving the hit 2018 movie’s planned sequel over a pay disparity between Lim and co-writer Peter Chiarelli.  In a lengthy post on social media, Chu wrote that he stands by Lim and her decision to part ways with the Warner Bros. project. He

This new feature film about the lives of a family scrapping to preserve their fortune, and those of the servants attending them, is explicitly designed as a balm for the aching hearts of those who loved watching the TV version. (Stateside, that program aired as part of PBS’s “Masterpiece” franchise from 2011 to 2016.) And,