Movies

Hollywood decamps for Canada this week hoping that this year’s Toronto International Film Festival will help define the coming awards race and give it a better sense of studios’ appetites for making movies that are aimed at adults. Splashy, star-studded premieres of “Joker” and “Ford v Ferrari” will command the lion’s share of the press

Richard Linklater’s recently declared plan to shoot a movie version of “Merrily We Roll Along” over a 20-year period, much like he shot “Boyhood” over 12 years, is being rightly hailed for its chutzpah. But he’s still got nothing on Michael Apted, who has essentially been directing the same movie since 1964, a record for

In today’s film news roundup, MGM dates its “Tomb Raider” sequel, President Obama’s production company makes a hire, a “Rambo” marathon is unveiled, Andrew Matthew Welch gets a lead role and “After Midnight” finds a home. RELEASE DATE MGM is moving ahead with its “Tomb Raider” sequel, hiring Ben Wheatley to direct and setting a release date

“I want to know why all the girl singers crack up. They crack up!” That’s Tony Bennett, in voiceover, musing aloud about the fate of the subject of “Billie,” an absorbing new documentary about master jazz singer Billie Holiday that had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. Maybe Bennett was also thinking of

September 4, 2019 4:15PM PT DC Comics seems to be making a pointed effort to get fans to the theater. The trailer for its forthcoming film “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” will only be shown in cinemas before “It: Chapter Two” and won’t be available online, Variety has confirmed. However, a

Kevin Hart is under fire once again after the comedian interrupted Lil Nas X while the “Old Town Road” rapper explained his recent decision to come out as gay. On Tuesday’s episode of HBO’s “The Shop: Uninterrupted,” Lil Nas X was asked about coming out as gay amid the success of his hit, which recently

September 4, 2019 3:08PM PT An uneven dramedy with big problems in tone and beaucoup clichéd contrivances. A bitter, proud Scottish widow decides to tick an important item off her bucket list before moving into a retirement home in “Edie,” an uneven dramedy from U.K. commercials helmer Simon Hunter, working from a screenplay by Elizabeth

Gunpowder & Sky co-founders Van Toffler and Floris Bauer knew that the entertainment landscape was shifting under their feet. Younger consumers were cutting the cable cord in favor of streaming services or YouTube shows, and they were going to fewer movies in the theaters. Both men had substantial experience navigating traditional media companies. Toffler spent

September 4, 2019 2:24PM PT Boasting a terrific visual sensitivity, this rare film from Sudan has a fable-like quality in its depiction of an isolated village where superstition constrains its people. The visual assurance of “You Will Die at Twenty” is the most immediately notable element of Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala’s accomplished feature debut.

Can “It” float again? Warner Bros. is hoping the audience’s penchant for Pennywise, the same enthusiasm that turned Andy Muschietti’s 2017 adaptation into a box office smash, will translate into scary-good ticket sales for “It: Chapter Two.” The follow-up arrives in theaters this weekend with outsized expectations, and not just because the first film set

September 4, 2019 2:05PM PT “Succession” star Jeremy Strong has found his next feature film project with Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” sources tell Variety. The movie is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven men charged by the federal government with conspiracy and inciting to riot, a result of the

Oscar-nominated producer Vincent Landay has partnered with former Vice chief creative officer Eddy Moretti at Unbranded Pictures. The duo previously collaborated to create Vice Studios, the scripted motion picture and production arm of Vice Media. Unbranded Pictures plans to develop, produce and finance original feature films and episodic television for global audiences. Unbranded’s first feature film, “The

September 4, 2019 1:50PM PT Verve has signed Academy Award winner Geoffrey Fletcher for representation, sources tell Variety. Fletcher is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for “Precious” based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire. The drama — directed by Lee Daniels and starring Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe — was nominated for five other

The 8,750-feet-elevation hills were alive with the sound of music at the Telluride Film Festival. When it came to tuneage, it was as if Telluride almost wanted to give the heavily music-focused South by Southwest Film Festival a run for its mellifluous money this year. The 46th annual gathering of the cineastes kicked off with

Brad Pitt revealed some intimate details about his life in a New York Times profile published on Wednesday, including the catalyst that caused him to get sober. Following his high-profile 2016 divorce from Angelina Jolie, his partner of 11 years, Pitt committed to sobriety, he said in the profile. “I had taken things as far

For many Americans unaware of its origins, the critical chapter of Iran-U.S. relations has started in 1979 with the Iranian hostage crisis. In “Coup 53,” veteran documentarian Taghi Amirani goes further back in time, all the way to the summer of 1953, which marked the real beginnings of the discord. Through intricately gathered, never-seen-before archival

September 4, 2019 9:02AM PT Visually wondrous but short on substance otherwise, this Victorian-era sky adventure is saved by the reunion of the captivating ‘The Theory of Everything’ co-leads. There is something disarming about the joint presence of the ever-bashful Eddie Redmayne and the fiercely charismatic Felicity Jones that instantly feels wholesome. So when the

The first clip of hotly-anticipated British picture “Rocks” has dropped ahead its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The coming-of-age London-set movie comes from filmmaker Sarah Gavron (“Suffragette”) and writers Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson. It was developed through workshops and improvisation and stars a host of newcomers. The film follows a London

You only get one flush of first love, and it tends to choose you rather than the other way round: For most of us, it’s an experiment, a flight test of the heart, a thing you can afford to get wrong. For terminally ill 16-year-old Milla, however, her first looks to be her only, and

Hollywood movies offered up more meaty roles for women and people of color in 2018, a sign that public pressure on the film business to become more inclusive appears to be yielding results. “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians” may have generated the lion’s share of press attention for shattering barriers, but they were just

September 4, 2019 7:00AM PT The Miami Gems Film Festival has selected Pedro Almodovar’s semi-autobiographical drama “Pain and Glory,” starring Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, as its opening night title on Oct. 10 at the Tower Theater. The annual confab will close with Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Parasite,” a black comedy from Korean filmmaker Bong

Topic Studios has signed a first-look deal with Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, the filmmakers and stars of the buddy comedy “The Climb.” Under the two-year deal, the duo will develop and produce feature films with an eye to direct for Topic with their Watch This Ready banner. “The Climb” was Covino’s feature directorial

Summer 2019: It was the best of times (for Disney), it was the worst of times (for basically any other studio). It’s been something of a mixed bag at the box office during the stretch between May and August, the four-month period officially defined as summer moviegoing season. Notable misses such as “Dark Phoenix,” “The

Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish will star in and produce the independent comedy “Here Today,” with Crystal directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alan Zweibel. “Here Today” is based on Zweibel’s short story “The Prize.” Crystal will portray a veteran comedy writer who is slowly but surely losing his grip on reality and befriends

Thomas “Tom” Zickler, one of Germany’s most successful producers, died Monday following a short illness. He was 55. Zickler worked with actor-director Til Schweiger on some of Germany’s most successful films of the past two decades. Overseeing production at Barefoot Films and Mr. Brown Entertainment, companies he ran with Schweiger, Zickler produced such hits as

Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man” is to get a theatrical release in China in mid-October, producer Fosun Pictures has confirmed. The film will release Oct. 18. That is a week after its outing in North America, and about two weeks after its commercial debuts in France and Germany. Nevertheless, the date is a prime spot, as

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s “Una Ventana al Mar” (Window to the Sea), a drama starring Emma Suárez which will have its world premiere at the EiTB Gala held during the San Sebastian Intl. Film Festival. Heretic Outreach is handling world sales. Filmax will distribute the film in Spain.

September 4, 2019 2:00AM PT Tom Waller’s “The Cave,” the first feature film about the miraculous rescue of a soccer team from waterlogged caves in Thailand, will have its world premiere next month at the Busan International Film festival. The film has confirmed other festival dates, including a North American premiere at the Vancouver festival

The Zurich Film Festival has unveiled a raft of gala screenings, with “Joker” among the lineup after its rousing premiere at Venice. “Judy” about a late-career Judy Garland will also have its premiere in German-speaking countries at Zurich, and Ron Howard’s feature doc “Pavarotti” will have its local premiere at a gala screening attended by

U.K. screen agency Film London has signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy’s Apulia and Sardinia film commissions, forging closer ties with the regions that have hosted, respectively, the latest “Bond” movie and George Clooney’s “Catch 22” TV show. While not legally binding, the agreements signed at the Venice Film Festival will pave the way