Abdullah Alhendyani, a student at Cal State Northridge, has won the The Launch: Million Dollar Screenplay Competition. The contest, now in its second year, awarded the college student with a production budget of at least $1 million for his winning screenplay “Haram” as well as a prize of $50,000 in educational grants. Alhendyani’s script follows
Movies
The 76th Venice Film Film Festival kicked off Wednesday evening with Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche on the red carpet for the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth,” in which they play a mother and daughter in conflict. The well-received opening film by a male director, but with women at its core, encapsulates the
When a big, prestigious, internationally celebrated arthouse filmmaker, hoisted by his acclaim, gets the chance to make a “crossover” movie somewhere other than his native country (generally, though not always, the language spoken in the film will be English), it tends to seem like a great idea on paper, yet often doesn’t work out so
“The Dark Crystal,” the family-oriented fantasy drama directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz, was groundbreaking when Universal released it in 1982. Now a cult classic, it offered an original blend of Brothers Grimm-style fairy-tale magic and state-of-the-art animatronic puppetry. Now, 37 years later, Netflix and the Jim Henson Co. revive the world dreamed up
Steven Soderbergh is a festival favorite, having won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1989 for “Sex, Lies, and Videotape.” The director’s “The Laundromat” debuts at the Venice fest Sept. 1, plays Toronto, then opens in theaters before being streamed by Netflix. Starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, the fact-driven film — based
Sony Pictures went “old school” to reach the younger demo when promoting the release of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in the U.K., Germany and Mexico. The studio’s international team, in partnership with Sony Music, created pop-up retro record stores in the three territories that evoked the vibe of Los Angeles in
Warner Bros. has released yet another disturbing trailer for its forthcoming “Joker” movie, which will kick off at the Venice Film Festival today. The DC film follows Joaquin Phoenix’s depiction of Arthur as a struggling comedian in 1981 Gotham City, taking care of his mother (Frances Conroy) in a run-down apartment. Depressed and frustrated by
Like most great actors, Nina Hoss has the gift of bringing innate credibility to writing not necessarily blessed with the same virtue: When a character’s choices make little sense, or their backstory seems incompletely shaded, she can play these flaws as messy human glitches rather than conceptual gaps. That ability counts for a lot in
A year after Rotten Tomatoes announced plans to boost diversity among its approved critics, the review aggregation site revealed it has added 600 new film commentators. In an effort to increase representation and inclusion across the industry, he company also renewed $100,000 in grants for 2020 to assist critics from underrepresented groups to attend film
Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve, the powerhouse female leads in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth,” said that working with the Palme d’Or-winning Japanese helmer was “unique,” not only because of the language barrier but also his directing style. The film, which opens the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday in competition, revolves around the explosive reunion between
Argentine auteur Lucrecia Martel, who presides over the Venice Film Festival jury, defended the inclusion of Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and A Spy” in the competition but said she would not attend a gala dinner for Polanski’s movie later this week. “I will not congratulate him,” Martel said during the festival’s opening press conference. “But
August 28, 2019 7:22AM PT MUBI has acquired Luca Guadagnino’s short drama “The Staggering Girl,” starring Julianne Moore. The global streaming service and theatrical distributor has taken worldwide rights on the film excluding Italy, China, Japan, Russia, and theatrical rights in Turkey. The 35-min short premiered in Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
August 28, 2019 7:00AM PT [embedded content] Netflix has debuted the trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat,” a dark comedy starring Meryl Streep. An adaptation of Jake Bernstein’s non-fiction book “Secrecy World,” “The Laundromat” follows a group of journalists who uncover the illicit money networks at the heart of the Panama Papers — documents that
Works by female directors dominate the lineup for the BFI London Film Festival’s official competition section, it was revealed Wednesday. Six of the 10 films set for the main competition of the festival’s upcoming 63rd edition are directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, including Alma Har’el’s Sundance title, “Honey Boy,” and Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Venice competitor,
One of the most bitter SAG-AFTRA elections in memory concludes Wednesday following strident campaigns by president Gabrielle Carteris and Matthew Modine. Both have accused the other of multiple violations in the battle for the top slot at the performers union, which has 160,000 members. The fracas has been so heated that turnout may rise above
In today’s film news roundup, Strand buys drama “My Name is Sara,” “Bare Knuckle Brawler” is purchased, and Andrew Cripps gets a new gig at Warner Bros. ACQUISITIONS Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Steven Oritt’s Holocaust drama “My Name Is Sara.” “My Name Is Sara” tells the true life-story of
August 27, 2019 3:33PM PT Shailene Woodley has joined Robert De Niro and Shia LaBeouf in the upcoming independent crime drama “After Exile.” LaBeouf will play an ex-con who, after being released from prison for killing an innocent man after a violent robbery, must re-enter his old life with his father (De Niro) in order
Prominently placed at the start of a very long final credit crawl is what may go down in motion picture history as one of the most misguided displays of somber self-congratulation ever: “John Travolta IS Moose. ‘The Fanatic.’ A Fred Durst Film.” Given that this is a movie that starts with an onscreen-text quote from
August 27, 2019 1:14PM PT Revenues at Endeavor Content Group increased substantially during the second quarter of 2019, a three-month period that also saw the entertainment company reduce its losses. The company pulled back the curtain on its finances as it continues to prepare for an initial public offering, one that has been greeted with
Taika Waititi may be coming to the DC Extended Universe. The filmmaker is in negotiations for a role in Warner Bros.’ “The Suicide Squad,” the follow-up to 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” Warner Bros. had no comment. James Gunn is directing the sequel to the 2016 feature based on the DC Comics anti-heroes. Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman,
New Line continues to ramp up its pre-production on its “Mortal Kombat” reboot, tapping Chin Han to play Shang Tsung and Hiroyuki Sanada to play Scorpion. The two join Joe Taslim (Sub Zero), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Josh Lawson (Kano), Tadanobu Asano (Raiden), Mehcad Brooks (Jackson “Jax” Bridges), Sisi Stringer (Mileena)
August 27, 2019 11:53AM PT Michael Bay is set to direct the upcoming film “Black 5” as his next film sources tell Variety. The project is an original idea Bay came up with and insiders say Sony is also in talks to finance and distribute. While no plot details were given, sources say the project
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired global rights to “Wrinkles the Clown,” Variety has learned. Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Michael Beach Nichols (“Welcome to Leith”), the film is eyeing an Oct. 4 theatrical release. The documentary looks at a creepy clown who is hired to terrify misbehaving children in Southwest Florida. Wrinkles went
Fresh off his lead role in Universal’s “Yesterday,” Himesh Patel has found his next tentpole with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” sources tell Variety. Patel nabbed one of the last roles in the film and will star alongside John David Washington. The cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson, Clémence Poésy, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Joel McHale, Amanda Brugel and Robert Maillet have joined the cast of the independent action-thriller “Becky.” The trio will appear alongside the previously announced company of Kevin James and Lulu Wilson. The movie follows a spunky, rebellious 14-year-old brought to a weekend getaway at a lake house by her father (played by McHale), in an
August 27, 2019 10:39AM PT Romantic drama “Queen & Slim,” starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, has been selected as the opening night title for the 33rd edition of the AFI Fest in Hollywood, Calif. The film is directed by two-time Grammy winner Melina Matsoukas and written by Emmy winner Lena Waithe from a story
August 27, 2019 10:24AM PT As the threat of retirement looms, a traveling salesman decides to go out singing in João Nicolau’s wilfully eccentric comedy. If a particularly enterprising Portuguese amateur theater group took it upon themselves to stage Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” only to freshen things up by making it a black-box
Netflix has unveiled release plans for its fall films, a slate that includes Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat” with Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman, David Michôd’s “The King” starring Timothée Chalamet, and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” with Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. The 10 movies on deck for 2019 will all have some form of an
As summer winds to a close, Hollywood is looking to a demonic clown to salvage the box office. After a disappointing August, Warner Bros.’ “It: Chapter Two” is the first fall release that could drive audiences to multiplexes at a time when the movie business could use some help. The sequel arrives in theaters Sept.
It’s a pretty safe bet that the Italian entries at Venice that will make the biggest splashes this year are both TV series premiering in the official selection: Paolo Sorrentino’s limited series “The New Pope” and Stefano Sollima’s cocaine-trafficking drama “ZeroZeroZero.” While these are both shows by directors who also work in film, Venice artistic