Movies

Estonian director Triin Ruumet, whose feature debut “Days That Confused” won the special jury prize after its 2015 premiere in Karlovy Vary, is prepping her second feature film, “Dark Paradise,” which she’ll be presenting with producer Elina Litvinova this week at the Locarno Film Festival. “Dark Paradise” is a modern adventure about a 27-year-old woman

Tucked in the closing credits of “Playmobil: The Movie” is a dedication to Horst Brandstätter, the German entrepreneur whose company began production of the now-iconic Playmobil toys in the 1970s — acknowledging a vast popular legacy for the dinky figurines that now extends to a whole animated feature. It’s a nice touch, if a tellingly

A London Film School graduate, who worked as an assistant to Bernardo Bertolucci and Anthony Minghella, Ginevra Elkann is known on the indie circuit as a producer of standout titles such as Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” and also “Chlorine,” “Short Skin” and Babak Jalali’s “Land.” She’s now made her directorial debut with “Magari” (“If Only”),

August 6, 2019 10:43PM PT Veteran casting director David Rubin has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Rubin, whose 100-plus film credits include “The English Patient,” “Get Shorty,” and “Men in Black,” is the first casting director to assume the role. He replaces outgoing Academy president John Bailey. Also

August 6, 2019 8:47PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.” Ads placed for the action film

August 6, 2019 6:06PM PT A motherless girl seeks occult solutions to her bleak home life in this uneven but poignant mix of psychological realism and the supernatural. Brazilian “The Father’s Shadow” is one of those occasional arthouse quasi-horror films, like “The Spirit of the Beehive” or Aussie “Celia,” in which the supernatural elements seem

In today’s film news roundup, Steve Coogan will receive the Charlie Chaplin award, Aaron Eckhart and Marisa Coughlan get cast and Swiss thriller “The Innocent” gets a US release. AWARD Steve Coogan has been selected as the recipient of the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy from the British Academy of Film and

On-screen credits aside, nothing about “Sator” suggests it’s a practically one-man movie. Which makes it all the more impressive that writer-director Jordan Graham performed nearly every nonacting task on this first feature, including building the rustic cabin that his protagonist lives in. Stripped-down in an aesthetically refined way, this cryptic occult drama may be more

Joe Begos has cited Gaspar Noé as a celluloid role model. But he may have outdone the Gallic sensationalist with his third feature, which actually does the piling-druggy-excess-upon-excess thing better than Noé’s own psychotropic nightmares “Enter the Void” and “Climax.” An adventuresome step up from Begos’ somewhat more conventional prior horror outings (“Almost Human,” “The

August 6, 2019 3:46PM PT Annapurna Pictures is developing a genre feature with up-and-coming screenwriter Randy McKinnon, numerous individuals familiar with the project told Variety. McKinnon has several irons in the fire, including a family-centric film about collegiate football for Disney Plus and a memoir adaptation to star LaKeith Stanfield at A24. He also serves

Disney has confirmed that big changes are coming to the Fox film division, including word that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is inheriting Fox’s comic book heroes like the X-Men franchise. Disney is also axing the majority of the existing Fox film development slate and refocusing output, after the studio posted a $170 million operating

Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro shared his proud heritage and acknowledged the state of the U.S. and its crack down on immigration in his speech accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. While sharing important facts about his personality, he told the crowd another important facet of his life saying, “I’m a

August 6, 2019 1:46PM PT Terry Crews and Ludacris’ dramatic thriller “John Henry” has been set for a first-quarter 2020 theatrical release by Saban Films. Saban announced Tuesday that it had acquired North American rights to the drama. The film is Will Forbes’ directorial debut from a script he co-wrote with Doug Skinner. Producers are

The biggest force in entertainment surprised Wall Street Tuesday with weaker than expected earnings during the most recent financial quarter. The Walt Disney Company’s lackluster third quarter results come even as the company’s sales increased substantially thanks to its recent purchase of much of the film and television assets held by 21st Century Fox. Earnings

Casey Affleck addressed his decision to stay quiet after sexual harassment allegations made against him resurfaced in 2018, saying the #MeToo movement is “very hard to talk about and it scares me.” On Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert,” Affleck discussed charges made by two female crew members on set of his 2010 mockumentary “I’m Still

I somehow found myself in a swampy jungle deep in the Mexican state of Nayarit. A group of shipwrecked Spanish explorers were cutting their way through the thick underbrush. Swoosh! a hail of arrows and then splashes of blood. Suddenly a jolly young man, wearing an apron covered in blood, emerged from behind a mangrove

Guillermo del Toro has often been a champion for forgotten or underappreciated films, and that description could certainly apply to Ridley Scott’s bleak, Cormac McCarthy-scripted drug-war meditation “The Counselor,” which was greeted largely by critical boos when it came out in 2013. “I don’t know if I subscribe to the term of ‘underappreciated,’ because I

Is Guillermo del Toro ever not in pre-production? The Oscar-winning director-writer-producer has seemingly lived in a constant state of development for the entirety of his nearly three-decade career, with his boundless ambition being just as essential to his career as his inimitable eye for creature design, his reservoirs of genre film knowledge, and his ability

Social media has transformed showbiz, making it easier for young performers to express themselves, connect with fans and even get their big break. A strong social media presence can even be used as leverage during the casting process. But what do performers think about it? Variety surveyed those highlighted in this year’s Young Hollywood issue

City National Bank has acquired FilmTrack, a Studio City-based company specializing in intellectual property rights management for the entertainment and media industry. Terms of the deal, announced Tuesday, were not disclosed. Film Track has about 60 employees. City National said the acquisition will grow its leadership in providing the entertainment industry with complex payments solutions and intellectual

Pedro Almodóvar, Bong Joon-ho, and Kelly Reichardt are some of the auteurs hitting the Big Apple to screen their latest works at this year’s New York Film Festival. Now in its 57th year, the gathering for cinephiles has become a key stop for moviemakers hoping to propel their films into the awards race. To that

The 72nd Locarno Film Festival, a longtime beacon of the international indie filmmaking community, is being shaken up under new artistic director Lili Hinstin. She is the Swiss event’s second female chief since it was founded in 1946 and one of the few women to head an A-list fest. Hinstin takes the reins from Italy’s

The only thing better than Melissa McCarthy portraying Ursula in “The Little Mermaid”? McCarthy and Queen Latifah playing the evil sea witch. While McCarthy is reportedly taking on the role for Disney’s live-action movie, ABC announced Monday that Latifah will star as the notorious villain in the network’s television production “The Little Mermaid Live!” The singer

Any self-respecting Camila Cabello fan knows the 22-year-old singer has harbored a lifelong obsession with fairytale princesses. So when Cabello had the opportunity to play Cinderella in a Sony Pictures update of the classic story, due out in Feb. 2021, it was an experience she couldn’t pass up. “It was one of those things that

For six years, starting in 2005, former child actors Cole and Dylan Sprouse conquered the Disney Channel by starring in the hit sitcom “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and its spinoff, “The Suite Life on Deck.” But then in 2011, the twin brothers — whose credits also include “Big Daddy” and “Grace Under

Only the brightest in Hollywood are getting an invitation to join Quibi. In the last few months, Jeffrey Katzenberg has been signing deals for his forthcoming digital venture, which will produce serialized episodes that will be as short as five minutes. Among those boarding the Quibi train: Jennifer Lopez, Liam Hemsworth, Don Cheadle and Anna

MADRID —   Frederico Veiroj’s “The Moneychanger,” Andrés Wood’s “Spider” and Gael García Bernal’s “Chicuarotes” will play in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos, the Spanish Festival’s most important sidebar, along with its New Directors strand, and a virtual best of the fests titles of Latin American movies with standout at Sundance in particular, plus Berlin, Cannes,

In order to increase the impact of its industry support efforts Locarno Film Festival is doubling down on – and in fact trebling the duration of – its Open Doors activities. Instead of an annually revolving country focus, starting this year the section will pick projects, producers and film-makers from one region for three consecutive

BARCELONA –  Spain’s Chema García Ibarra is hardly a stranger to big fest selection: His shorts have played Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (“Attack From the Robots From Nebula 5”), Sundance (“Attack,” “The Golden Legend” “Protoparticles”), Berlin (“Mystery”) and San Sebastian (“The Disco Shines”). Now, championed by the ECAM Madrid Film School’s Incubator program, and having been

Toronto-based sales agent Syndicado Film Sales has acquired world rights to “Ivana the Terrible,” the second feature by Ivana Mladenovic, ahead of its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. Mladenovic writes, directs and stars in the acerbic comedy about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Inspired by true events and shot