Movies

French photojournalist Camille Lepage was just 26 when she was killed covering the armed conflict in the Central African Republic, a country riven by violence between largely Muslim rebel groups and Christian militias. A fearless and sympathetic photographer on the verge of a promising career, Lepage had spent eight months in a country where she’d

Universal’s “Hobbs & Shaw” raced back to the top of international box office charts, earning another $60 million from 66 overseas territories. The “Fast & Furious” spinoff, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, has generated $224 million abroad and $108 million in North America. The high-octane action adventure is chugging along, however the movie needs

August 11, 2019 10:33AM PT Geena Davis is opening up about her own #MeToo moment. The “Thelma & Louise” star told USA Today she had a “million examples” of uncomfortable acting experiences, recalling how one director asked her to act out a “sexy scene” while sitting on his lap. “I was auditioning for a part

August 11, 2019 9:35AM PT A disappointing, oddly unmoving drama that keeps some of director Kôji Fukada’s ambiguous hallmarks but fails to support them with a solid enough script. The intriguing ambiguity suffusing Kôji Fukada’s “Harmonium” returns to a certain degree in “A Girl Missing,” but this time the writer-director neglects to reinforce onscreen relationships,

Despite plenty of new nationwide offerings, Universal’s blockbuster “Hobbs & Shaw” pulled ahead of the competition to maintain its reign at the domestic box office. The “Fast & Furious” spinoff — starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham — collected $25.4 million during its second weekend of release. Those ticket sales mark a 58% decline from

In a sign of its perceived attractiveness for audiences in its native Portugal, major Portuguese distributor NOS Audiovisuais and public broadcaster RTP have acquired rights to Portuguese director Bruno Gascon’s sophomore feature “Shadow.” A title worth keeping an eye on at this year’s Locarno Match Me! networking and co-production event, “Shadow” marks Gascon’s follow up

Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngoc Lan is all set to make his feature debut with his satirical comedy-drama “Cu Li Never Cries,” which is being presented in Locarno Festival’s Open Doors program. In the film, Lady M., a blue-collar retiree in Vietnam, returns to Berlin when she learns that her estranged German husband has died. The

Piero Tosi, a famed costume designer who worked on films such as “The Leopard” and “Death in Venice,” died Saturday in Rome, the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation announced on Facebook. He was 92. Over the course of his 50 year career, Tosi established himself as one of Hollywood’s greatest costume designers, earning five Oscar nominations for costume

Yann Gonzalez, rated as one of France’s most gifted young directors after his heartfelt Giallo homage “Knife + Heart” played in 2018’s Cannes competition, has boarded “Brasília! Brasília!” from Brazil’s Bernardo Zanotta who last year won Locarno’s Pardino d’Argento for best short film with “Heart of Hunger.” Gonzalez served as president of the Pardino d’Argento

August 10, 2019 10:25AM PT Icarus Films has acquired North American distribution rights to Tibetan director Pema Tseden’s new arthouse feature “Jinpa.” Following “Old Dog,” The Search” and “Tharlo,” it is the fourth title to be added to the firm’s dGenerate Collection, the largest grouping of independent Chinese films available in the U.S., founded and

August 10, 2019 10:14AM PT Universal Pictures has canceled the release of its upcoming thriller “The Hunt.” The film was previously set to hit theaters Sept. 27. “While Universal Pictures had already paused the marketing campaign for The Hunt, after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film, ”

LOCARNO–The breakout success of “Toni Erdmann” put Germany’s Komplizen Film on the map, earning the production house an Oscar nomination while paving the way for a remarkable string of international hits. Now the company is producing its first Netflix series, set to bow this fall, offering a glimpse of what a rapidly changing market means

One day after President Donald Trump launched an attack against “racist” Hollywood – a tirade that appeared to be inspired by the movie “The Hunt,” whose release Universal has just canceled – Hilary Swank, one of the film’s stars, told reporters at the Locarno Film Festival that it’s “important to celebrate our differences” and that

“Hobbs & Shaw” raced past its competition this weekend, taking in another $7 million in Friday’s domestic ticket sales for a projected $25 million sophomore outing. If estimates hold, the “Fast and Furious” spinoff could increase its domestic haul to around $108 million, in addition to a hefty bounty overseas. “Hobbs & Shaw” is also

In an environment where the Virgin Mary is held up as the exemplar of motherhood, how does that ideal square with the noisier, messier, considerably less virginal reality of maternal life? That question lies at the heart of “Maternal,” a moving, lively study of conflicting duties and desires in a Buenos Aires hogar — a convent-based

MADRID  —  Christian Camargo (“Hurt Locker,” “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”) and Michael Chernus (“Spiderman: Homecoming,” “Captain Phillips”) are attached to co-star in “Ona Sur,” one of the buzzed-up projects at this year’s Locarno Match Me! Brazilian actress Barbara Cohen is in preliminary talks to play Maria, one of the film’s female leads, “Ona Sur” producer

In today’s film news roundup, John Amos returns for “Coming 2 America,” Nick Thune and Cleopatra Coleman are cast and “Plácido Domingo Gala” and “Birds Without Feathers” get release dates. CASTINGS John Amos is set to reprise his role as Cleo McDowell in Eddie Murphy’s upcoming film “Coming 2 America.” “Hustle & Flow” helmer Craig

August 9, 2019 4:59PM PT “Schitt’s Creek” star Emily Hampshire has signed on for the lead role of independent psychological horror movie “Home.” Hampshire is also executive producing for the first time on “Home.” Production begins on Aug. 13 in Montreal. Hampshire just wrapped the sixth and final season of CBC Television “Schitt’s Creek,” playing

Netflix has built up such an extensive library that it’s not too hard to find a movie to suit your mood. Want to watch a raunchy comedy like “Caddyshack” or sci-fi thriller like “Snowpierecer”? It’s got those. If you’re in the mood for a best picture-winner, you can stream “Schindler’s List” and “No Country for

Funny hasn’t equaled money this year at the nation’s multiplexes. Comedy fans seem to have largely turned to streaming fare, including Netflix romcoms, stand-up specials — and endless rewatches of “The Office.” Universal is hoping to reverse this trend with the R-rated “Good Boys,” written by “The Office” veterans Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and

A fourth candidate for the Writers Guild of America West’s board has dropped out of the race in order to support the guild’s hardline stance on Hollywood agents. Joshua Hale Fialkov made the announcement Friday, three days after Rob Forman, Ed Herro and Chris Roessner all announced they had withdrawn from the contest for the

Holdover “Hobbs & Shaw” will lead the North American box office this weekend at $25 million followed by “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” at $22 million, early estimates showed Friday. Disney’s fourth frame of “The Lion King” should follow in third at about $19 million, just beating Paramount’s launch of family adventure “Dora

In “Mermaids,” a 2014 three-minute short from Lugano-based Klaudia Reynicke, some conventionally beautiful young women practice hand gestures before an underwater show where they’ll perform as mermaids. Older women cleaners look on. Cut to the show, with a mermaid swimming across a tank. Then, after a cloud of bubbles, a second mermaid appears, performing underwater

Walt Disney Studios is making some leadership changes as it integrates Blue Sky into its portfolio of kid-friendly brands. Animation Studios president Andrew Millstein and “Zootopia” producer and creative executive Clark Spencer are stepping into new leadership roles. Millstein will become co-president of Blue Sky, the studio behind “Ice Age” and “Rio,” alongside current co-president

Warner Bros. Pictures has promoted lead digital strategist JP Richards to co-president of worldwide marketing. He will report to Blair Rich, president of worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Rich made the announcement Friday. Richards joined the studio in 2015 and was promoted in 2017 to executive vice president, worldwide marketing

August 9, 2019 10:04AM PT Lionsgate has set a July 31, 2020 release date for Kristen Wiig’s comedy “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.” The story follows titular best friends Barb (Annie Mumolo) and Star (Wiig), who leave their small Midwestern town for the first time to go on vacation in Vista Del

August 9, 2019 9:59AM PT Switzerland has selected Michael Steiner’s romantic comedy “Wolkenbruch” as its entry in the race for a nomination in the International Feature Film category of the 92nd Academy Awards. The film is based on the novel “Wolkenbruch’s Wonderous Journey into the Arms of a Schickse” by Thomas Meyer, which takes a

It has been 15 years since the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded, and there is still a lot of important work to be done. The actress and producer has worked tirelessly with her team to research the statistics on women working in the entertainment industry, taking that data “privately and directly

Lionsgate’s thriller “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” has opened with a solid $2.3 million at more than 2,500 North American locations in Thursday night previews. Paramount’s family adventure “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” took in $1.3 million in previews, while Disney-Fox’s “The Art of Racing in the Rain” fetched $450,000 at

Ever since 9/11 changed the way we approach air travel, it’s been harder to make airplane-based thrillers in the soapy-silly trash tradition of “Airport” or “Executive Decision”: The panic of being under siege at 30,000 feet no longer feels like such ripe entertainment fodder with the image of two Boeing 767s hitting the Twin Towers