“Yes, that’s the real guy from “Black Panther” a mother told her young son outside Dave & Buster’s, announcing the entrance of Michael B. Jordan who had just stepped onto the orange carpet with his mother Donna at Saturday’s 3rd annual MBJAM, an event he hosts to benefit Lupus LA. Though the actor plays the
Movies
Quentin Tarantino scenes are like songs. The kinetic trade offs of expletives and pop culture references form a rhythm. The quotable monologues are the ear worm singalong choruses. The violence — that releases the swell of tension — is the guitar solo, the violin crescendo, when the beat drops. And every time Samuel L. Jackson
Luisa Leschin is this year’s recipient of the Imagen Awards’ annual Norman Lear Writer’s Award. “Luisa Leschin’s work with her-highly successful play, “Latins Anonymous,” to her success as co-executive producer for beloved shows such as “George Lopez,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “East Los High,” and now “Mr. Iglesias,” serve as examples of her creative talent and
Rebecca Mall is joining WME as a senior marketing executive. In her newly created role, Mall will oversee marketing and distribution strategy services for WME clients across all platforms including film, television, and digital. Mall’s objective will be to help the agency’s client base maximize their marketing plans, release strategies and awards campaigns for their
July 29, 2019 12:34PM PT Paul Walter Hauser is in talks to join Emma Stone in Disney’s “Cruella,” a live-action origin story based on the classic “101 Dalmatians” villain Cruella de Vil. “I, Tonya” director Craig Gillespie is helming the film with Marc Platt, Kristin Burr and Andrew Gunn producing. Emma Thompson is also on
“Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino is in negotiations to direct Warner Bros.’ latest adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel “Lord of the Flies,” sources tell Variety. Guadagnino and his producing partner Marco Morabito are also in negotiations to produce. Known Universe, the production company founded by Lindsey Beer, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robertson-Dworet,
July 29, 2019 12:00PM PT “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa is set to produce and star in the revenge thriller “Sweet Girl” for Netflix. Momoa will portray a husband who vows to bring justice to the people responsible for his wife’s death while also protecting his daughter. Gregg Hurwitz and Philip Eisner wrote the script with
Abigail Breslin will star alongside Matt Damon in the upcoming movie “Stillwater,” directed by Tom McCarthy. Participant Media acquired the project after Damon boarded the movie in May. Participant previously worked with McCarthy on his Oscar-winning drama “Spotlight.” “Stillwater” follows an American oil-rig rough neck from Oklahoma, played by Damon, who travels to Marseille to
“It was amazing,” Isabela Moner said of playing beloved animated character Dora the Explorer at the world premiere of the live-action movie adaptation, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” “I’m half Peruvian so the opportunity to be able to represent at this level is unheard of. Peru is never main-stream unless it’s for the
Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” exceeded box office expectations with its $41 million domestic debut, marking a career best for the filmmaker and signaling that audiences are still interested in original content with a compelling hook. Of course, it helped that it turned into a major cultural event that combined one of
“The Irishman” will, it turns out, be ready in time to world premiere as the opening night film of the 57th New York Film Festival. Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating crime drama, which relies on special effects to “de-age” stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, has long eyed the coveted slot. After all, Scorsese is perhaps
“Easy Rider” wasn’t born to be live, necessarily, but it will be, now, with a combination of screening and live performance set to take place at Radio City Music Hall Sept. 20. The film’s key original soundtrack artists, John Kay of Steppenwolf and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, are on board to reprise their songs
“Sherlock Holmes 3,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, has been selected by the California Film Commission to receive a conditional $20.8 million tax credit for shooting in California. Other feature films announced Monday include a Warner Bros. remake of “Little Shop of Horrors” with a $9.6 million credit; Will Smith’s “King Richard” with
With the 2019 edition of the Tour de France having drawn to a close, the first image of “The Racer,” a film set during the notorious 1998 edition of the iconic bike race, has been released. The real-life Tour de France was tainted by doping scandals in 1998, subsequently earning the nickname the Tour de
July 29, 2019 2:06AM PT Benedict Cumberbatch will lend his voice to “The Tiger Who Came to Tea,” the animated adaptation of Judith Kerr’s classic children’s book for Channel 4 in the U.K. The “Avengers: Endgame” star will be joined by Tamsin Greig, David Oyelowo, David Walliams, and Paul Whitehouse in the Lupus Films-produced movie,
Chinese animation “Nezha” broke local records with its $91.5 million opening, the highest ever for an animated film in the Middle Kingdom. The amount also made it the second-highest-grossing film of any kind in the world over the weekend, trailing only “The Lion King,” though it will quickly overtake the Disney title in China. An
Dora the Explorer was seven years old when audiences met her on television, a sing-songy polymath who traveled the map seeking answers and solving puzzles, accompanied by a big-mouthed backpack and equally loquacious monkey, Boots. Nearly 20 years have passed since the adventure show first aired (enough to cultivate a massive global awareness), but only
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” this year’s Palme d’Or winner, was cancelled from screening Sunday as the closing film for China’s FIRST Film Festival for “technical reasons,” making it the fifth festival film to run into trouble with Chinese censors this year. “Parasite” is a violent, dark comedy about class conflict and greed that
“There’s so much to see and do in Arous,” read the brochure for a Sudanese vacation spot where visitors could go scuba diving amid reefs “made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Hans Hass.” Never mind that Sudan was in a state of civil war and no place for tourists in the early 1980s. European tourists
U.S. financier Colony Capital may be in negotiations to buy a minority share stake in Legendary Entertainment. The Hollywood production company behind “Godzilla” and “Pacific Rim” is owned by China’s Wanda group. Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Colony had held talks with Wanda. It reported that Colony may use a new fund, Colony Media Partners
Richard A. Fox, a theater owner who founded the Fox Theater chain and a former president of NATO, died Wednesday. He was 90. After founding Fox Theaters in 1957, Fox spent more than three decades growing his company, eventually expanding to twenty-five locations with more than one-hundred screens and over 1000 employees. At its peak,
“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson — though he reckoned without the Angry Birds making a virtue of that trade. Peace of any kind is in short supply in “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” another breathless, frenetic cartoon escapade derived from the
July 28, 2019 10:20AM PT Disney hit a major box office milestone, crossing the all-time record for global ticket sales for a single studio. After this weekend, the company has surpassed $7.67 billion worldwide, smashing the benchmark previously set by Disney in 2016 with $7.61 billion. Also this weekend, Disney became the first studio to
When Jerry Evans was hired to choreograph the blockbuster superhero comedy “The Mask,” which celebrates its 25th anniversary Monday, he was surprised when director Chuck Russell informed him he was secretly making a musical. “I said, ‘Secretly?” recalled Evans, adding that Russell admitted that “I haven’t told anybody other than you and my producer. We’ll
July 28, 2019 9:12AM PT Disney’s “The Lion King” remains box office royalty, generating another $142 million at the international box office. Director Jon Favreau’s hyperrealistic remake of the animated classic is already the fifth-biggest global release of the year with $963 million to date. “The Lion King” well on its way to joining fellow
Disney’s “The Lion King” might still rule everything the light touches, but Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” certainly held its own this weekend at the domestic box office. In a win for original content, Tarantino’s R-rated ode to Hollywood’s golden age opened with $40 million from 3,659 North American theaters, a career
July 28, 2019 1:10AM PT The arsonist-set fire that swept through the Kyoto Animation studio on July 18 has claimed its 35th life, according to Japanese media reports. Police have stated that the victim is a man in his twenties. The identities of all 35 dead have yet to be revealed. Another 33 employers of
Some low-voltage thrillers are so thoroughly predictable as they meander toward an obvious outcome, they generate far more impatience than suspense. Exhibit A: “Dead Water,” a tepid VOD-ready melodrama that strikes faint echoes of Roman Polanski’s “Knife in the Water” and Phillip Noyce’s “Dead Calm” while ponderously padding 60 or so minutes of plot to
Russi Taylor, the voice actress behind the famed Disney character Minnie Mouse, died Friday in Glendale, California, the Walt Disney Company confirmed. She was 75. “Minnie Mouse lost her voice with the passing of Russi Taylor. For more than 30 years, Minnie and Russi worked together to entertain millions around the world—a partnership that made
July 27, 2019 8:55AM PT “The Lion King” remained king of the box office in its second weekend, taking in $22.3 million in Friday’s domestic ticket sales. Disney’s live-action remake continues to dominate the box office as it tracks for a $76.6 million sophomore outing — another hefty weekend after its massive $192 million launch,