Movies

MADRID  — Barcelona-based Filmax has acquired world sales rights to “La Innocencia” (“The Innocence”), an uncompromising rites of passage feature which has been sparking good buzz over the summer off sneak previews in Spain. An integrated film-TV production-distribution-sales operation, Filmax will also handle the film’s Spanish distribution. Filmax’s Ivan Díaz will introduce “The Innocence” to

Spain’s Latido Films has snagged worldwide sales rights – with the exception of Peru, Chile and Argentina – to Peruvian filmmaker Maria Paz Gonzalez’s feature debut, “Lina de Lima.” The dramedy’s trailer is launching exclusively in Variety ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Festival Discovery sidebar. “Following our tradition of accompanying new talents

As a Tibetan director dedicated to illuminating, with love and insight, the everyday culture of his contested homeland, navigating China’s labyrinthine and often-changing filmmaking approval processes cannot be an easy task. And yet, over the course of now seven films, despite or possibly because of those restrictions, Pema Tseden has amassed the most quietly inspiring

September 3, 2019 10:31PM PT “The Horse Thieves, Roads of Time,” co-directed by Kazakhstan’s Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Japan’s Lisa Takeba, has been set as the opening film of next month’s Busan International Film Festival. “Although Kazakhstan films are not very familiar [to our audiences], the country has produced masterworks for the past five years,” said

It would take more explaining than the film merits to articulate why deep-fried rabbit ears are briefly a plot point in “Guest of Honour,” but so they are: The camera grazes over a platter of the oval-shaped delicacies, looking invitingly golden-crumbed and crunchy, and for a second any reservations you might have about the unusual

In today’s film news roundup, Katheryn Winnick and Juan Pablo Raba get cast, Bruce Springsteen’s documentary gets a release; Kinepolis buys a Michigan movie chain; and Beyond Fest sets its lineup. CASTINGS “Vikings” actress Katheryn Winnick and Juan Pablo Raba (“Narcos”) have joined Liam Neeson in the action-thriller “The Minutemen.” The movie will begin shooting

The U.K.’s Secret Cinema, which puts on immersive cinema experiences, is to launch its first show in China, the world’s second-biggest film market. The British events company has partnered with SMG Live to debut “Secret Cinema Presents ‘Casino Royale’” in Shanghai in November. The production, which revolves around the film that rebooted the James Bond

We’ve seen how this movie plays out. Festival audiences lose their mind for, say, an uplifting drama or a biting satire. Their rapturous response sends studios scrambling for their wallets. Cue an all-night bidding war, and to the victor goes … an indie movie with iffy commercial prospects. From “Late Night” to “Blinded by the

Young Saudi Arabian writer-director Shahad Ameen is making a splash in Venice with her debut feature “Scales,” a feminist fable that draws on Arabic folklore about a young woman named Hayat who rebels against the tradition in her fishing village of sacrificing female children to monstrous mermaids lurking in the sea. She spoke to Variety

The long-beloved Harry Potter books have been yanked from the library shelves of St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville, evidently for fear that students will conjure “evil spirits” upon reading the wizard-centric series. The Rev. Dan Reehil laid out his objections to the books in an email obtained by the Tennessean. “These books present magic

September 3, 2019 1:08PM PT “Doctor Who” star Peter Capaldi has joined James Gunn’s upcoming “The Suicide Squad,” with Pete Davidson also in talks to come on board. Warner Bros. had no comment on the casting. James Gunn is directing the sequel to the 2016 feature based on the DC Comics anti-heroes. Margot Robbie, Joel

Following its star-studded Los Angeles premiere last week, reviews have begun to roll in for “It: Chapter Two,” the highly anticipated sequel to Andy Muschietti’s monster hit based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel. The conclusion to the horror saga, starring bold-faced names such as Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Finn Wolfhard, and Bill Skarsgard,

It may be a while before Thom Yorke becomes known as the king of movie music, but he’s off to a fast start, now that he’s finally started accepting film assignments, at least from friends. Last year, he scored and wrote songs for “Suspiria,” and now he’s followed that up with “Daily Battles,” an original

Whether by accident or design, it is most characteristically droll of Swedish auteur Roy Andersson to title his sixth fiction feature “About Endlessness,” only to have it clock in at just 76 minutes. Barely have you settled into its cockeyed cosmic view of human existence in all its infinite, cyclical tragicomedy than the credits are

Venice is becoming more of a draw. The audience at the Venice Film Festival was up 11% after six days of the 11-day event with attendance at screenings reaching 105,000, up from 94,000 in 2018, and from 80,000 in 2017 during the same period of time. The figures were announced on Tuesday by Paolo Baratta, president

Kristen Stewart exposed the discrimination she’s faced in Hollywood based on her sexuality in her latest cover story for Harper’s Bazaar. “I’ve fully been told, ‘If you just like do yourself a favor and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie,’” Stewart said. “I don’t want to work

September 3, 2019 10:06AM PT Spyglass Media Group has appointed Damien Marin to be its president of worldwide distribution and acquisitions. Marin joins Spyglass after a 12-year stint at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he worked alongside Gary Barber, Spyglass’ chairman and chief executive officer. In his new role, Marin will oversee global sales and help figure out

Zach Galifianakis is taking his laugh-out-loud, purposely uncomfortable celebrity talk show on the road in the first trailer of Netflix’s “Between Two Ferns: The Movie.” The star-studded trailer, released Tuesday, kicks off with Matthew McConaughey seated next to the comedian with the “Dazed and Confused” actor’s name misspelled as “McConnogay” at the bottom of the

Hungary has chosen Barnabás Tóth’s “Those Who Remained,” which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, as its official entry in the Oscars’ International Feature Film category. Variety’s reviewer described the drama as “achingly tender” and “an exquisite, poignantly performed tale.” Menemsha Films will release the film in North America. Set in Budapest after the end

Anyone depending on the kindness of strangers is on an especially harsh hiding to nothing in “The Painted Bird,” a child’s-eye Holocaust drama of such unrelenting brutality as to make even the vaguest gestures of humanity — a held hand, a shared crust of bread — feel in context like miracles of grace. Only the

Emily Blunt has joined “Wild Mountain Thyme” as Jamie Dornan’s star-crossed love interest in John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his Broadway smash hit, “Outside Mullingar.” Blunt replaces Holliday Grainger, who was previously announced as Dornan’s co-star in May. Jon Hamm, Dearbhla Molloy, and Christopher Walken have also signed on for the movie, which starts shooting

The voice cast for U.S.-Chinese animated movie “Extinct” will feature Adam Devine, Rachel Bloom, Zazie Beetz and Ken Jeong. The film is being directed by David Silverman (“The Simpsons Movie”). “The Simpsons” veterans Joel Cohen, John Frink, and Rob LaZebnik are writing. The adventure-comedy will follow Op and Ed, a species of donut-shaped animals called

September 3, 2019 6:47AM PT Norway, The Netherlands and Finland have selected “Out Stealing Horses,” “Instinct” and “Stupid Young Heart,” respectively, to vie for a nomination in the international feature film category of the Oscars. Directed by Hans Petter Molands, “Out Stealing Horses” was chosen over Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Beware of Children” and Eirik Svenssons’s

September 3, 2019 6:30AM PT For our latest Variety cover story, Robert Pattinson talks about making “The Lighthouse,” the black-and-white drama which screens at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend. “It’s so rare when you can basically have a script that gives you leeway,” says Pattinson, who plays opposite Willem Dafoe as keepers of a

Robert Pattinson couldn’t stop Googling himself. In mid-May, the 33-year-old actor found himself obsessively refreshing his phone on a flight from Los Angeles to the south of France. Pattinson was headed to the Cannes Film Festival for the world premiere of his new movie, “The Lighthouse,” just days before he was set to start shooting

September 3, 2019 5:24AM PT Italy and France are strengthening their production ties with the launch of a new co-development and co-production fund that for the first time opens up development funding opportunities to jointly made TV series. The new fund was announced on the Lido with both Italian Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli and Oliver

Mexican filmmaker Joshua Gil’s “Sanctorum” bows its trailer exclusively through Variety as it gears up for its world premiere at the 34th Venice International Film Critics’ Week. Gil’s second feature film is set to screen out of competition as it closes Venice Critics’ Week, an independent and parallel section organized by the Italian Critics union

Theatrical box office in China rose by 1% in the summer season and hit new records in June and August, according to ticketing firm Maoyan. The recently listed company reported that China’s gross revenues hit RMB17.6 billion in the June-to-August period this year, up from RMB17.4 billion last year and RMB16.3 billion in summer 2017.

This year’s Telluride Film Festival began on Thursday with the Guest/Patron Brunch on a private estate about a 30-minute drive from the center of town. Eggs, bacon and fruit salad were being served as the sun was shining on Martin Scorsese, Adam Driver, Noah Baumbach, Laura Dern, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Ken Burns, Ric Burns,

Tanaya Beatty, Johnny Depp’s co-star in a short film promoting luxury brand Dior’s fragrance Sauvage, has spoken out about the controversial campaign. In multiple posts on Instagram, titled “Just Ad Indian,” the “Yellowstone” actor wrote about her own experience as a performer of First Nations descent and of the Native American-themed Dior campaign specifically. Beatty’s