Movies

Superheroes were once again around to save the day as “Spider-Man: Far From Home” ignited a much-needed boost in the domestic box office. The web-slinging adventure easily dominated in North America, delivering a $185 million debut from 4,636 venues during its first six days in theaters. “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” starring Tom Holland, got a

Cameron Boyce, the actor known for starring in the Disney Channel series “Jessie” and the “Descendants” TV movies, has died. He was 20. Boyce died due to an “ongoing medical condition,” his family said. “It is with a profoundly heavy heart that we report that this morning we lost Cameron,” his family said in a

In the middle of the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary stands a massive Brutalist building, the Hotel Thermal, which has housed the Karlovy Vary Int’l Film Festival since the late ’70s (the festival itself started three decades earlier, alternating in its early years with a sister event in Moscow). It is here in the

“If you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere,” said Theresa May near the beginning of her ill-fated premiership of the United Kingdom. An ugly, insular attempt to shame migrants and multinationals across the European Union, the term “citizen of nowhere” has since been claimed with defiant pride by many

It was unfinished business from the brutal days of communist show trials that sparked the idea for “Old-Timers,” a Czech story of cross-country vengeance perpetrated by two actors in their golden years. Martin Dusek and Ondrej Provaznik, whose documentaries “A Town Called Hermitage” and “Coal in the Soul” both took on the legacy of the

Family angst and off-the-wall humor dominated the 54th Karlovy Vary film fest prize race, with Bulgarian-Greek road comedy “The Father” scoring the Crystal Globe Saturday eve in a gala closing ceremony at the Hotel Thermal. The story of a long-suffering photographer trying to manage his father’s increasingly unhinged behavior in the wake of his wife’s

Karlovy Vary Film Festival industry head Hugo Rosak has worked hard in recent years to beef up Eastern Promises, the event’s industry program. A packed slate of pitches, panels and industry mixers this year suggested those efforts are bearing fruit, reinforcing Karlovy Vary’s status as the leading industry confab for Eastern and Central Europe, and

Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” crushed its Friday box office competition with $32.5 million in domestic box office sales, bringing its four-day domestic total up to $124 million. Fresh off the heels of its record setting opening day, the latest film in Sony’s Marvel Universe is now set to take home around $180 million this

Actor Kevin Spacey has been questioned in the U.S. by officers from Scotland Yard about the sexual assault allegations he faces in the U.K., Variety has learned. The Oscar-winning star voluntarily submitted to the interview, which took place in May, and was not arrested, police said, adding that the investigation continues. Six allegations of sexual

Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has closed deals on a number of territories, including China (Hugoeast) and the U.K. (Peccadillo Pictures), on Hlynur Palmason’s “A White, White Day” (“Hvitur, Hvitur Dagur”), which world premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week and screened in Karlovy Vary’s Horizons sidebar this week. The film stars Ingvar Sigurdsson (“Everest,” “Fantastic Beasts:

Since 2002, the Czech Film Center (CFC) has worked to boost the local film industry by marketing and promoting Czech cinema worldwide. The CFC is the industry’s official representative at international film festivals, markets, and co-production platforms, actively engaging in the selection process and presentation of Czech films and projects, while also working with producers

SPOILER ALERT: Web sling back here once you’ve seen “Spider-Man: Far From Home” The Marvel Cinematic Universe polished off its Phase 3 with “Spider-Man: Far From Home” this week, and filled it with tons of jokes, references and homages in the Spidey sequel. Casual Marvel fans and hardcore comic readers were sure to pick up

July 5, 2019 1:39PM PT Paul Benjamin, who played one of the men on the corner in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” died June 28, Lee announced on Instagram. “I’m sad to write that the great actor Paul Benjamin, who played ML, far left, passed this past Friday, two days before the 30th anniversary

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, the sunny proverb goes. But what if life gives you inedibly sour quinces instead? The father-son odd-couple road trip comedy gets an appealingly deadpan, Bulgarian makeover in Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s third feature, a film that takes the bittersweet fruits of its funny, sad, silly situations, and

July 5, 2019 11:29AM PT Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” has topped the $310 million worldwide box office mark in its first week, thanks to potent performances in China and North America. The superhero tentpole, starring Tom Holland, has taken in a total of $136.8 million in China, following its $97 million opening weekend —

July 5, 2019 10:02AM PT Disney’s “Aladdin” is crossing a box office milestone with $900 million in worldwide grosses since its release in late May — making it one of the studio’s most successful live-action reboots from its animated library. Disney announced Friday that “Aladdin” had hit $897.3 million and would join six other Disney live-action

July 5, 2019 8:35AM PT Faced with the continued decline of its domestic subscriber base, Canal Plus is preparing to downsize its workforce in France by 20% through the voluntary layoff of 500 jobs, according to reports. Contacted by Variety, Canal Plus was unavailable to confirm or comment. The news was first reported by the

Moviegoers’ Spidey-senses have been tingling in a good way as Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” showed plenty of power at North American multiplexes, soaring to $25.2 million on the Fourth of July — the second-highest Independence Day take of all time. “Transformers” generated the biggest Independence Day domestic gross in 2007 with $29 million, followed

Sometimes the more you look for something the less chance you have of finding it. “If you really want something you have to try to not want it so much,” says director Tim Mielants, describing how his character Patrick finally cracks the case of his missing favorite hammer. The zen exercise doesn’t just work for

Rolling off “Les Bleus, the Heart of a Russian Epic,” Amazon Prime Video has come on board a premium three-part documentary about Raphael Varane, the soccer star who played a key role in winning the World Cup with the French team in 2018. Titled “Varane, destin de champion,” the French documentary series has been ordered

July 5, 2019 1:55AM PT “Wolf of Wall Street” producer Riza Aziz was formally charged on Friday in Malaysia on five counts of money laundering. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission alleges that he handled $248 million of funds stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Aziz had been arrested on Thursday by the MACC, notified of the pending

There are people who like cats and then there are cat people. The crowd-funded, Brooklyn-set documentary “The Cat Rescuers” by Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence deals with the latter category. It focuses on four cat lovers/animal rescue activists who help to save the lives of feral felines and to find new homes for abandoned pets.

July 4, 2019 7:30PM PT Otomo Katsuhiro, one of Japan’s leading anime creators, is to direct a near-future action adventure film “Orbital Era.” The film will be produced through Sunrise Inc., part of Bandai Namco. Sunrise will also produce a new version of “Akira,” the series that propelled Otomo to success. In a related move,

With just two movies, the 31-year-old writer-director Ari Aster has carved out a special place for himself. He’s making luxuriously dread-infused art horror films for the megaplex. It’s not necessarily a unique place: Jordan Peele got there first — and it’s telling that in the work of both filmmakers, you can feel the thread of

Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is dominating North American moviegoing, soaring to $27 million on Wednesday — a record for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. The 23rd Marvel movie, starring Tom Holland, topped the previous Wednesday mark set two months ago by Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” with $25.3 million. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” has earned a dazzling

Solmaz Azizi, head of the growing Berlinale Series event that takes place during the Berlin Film Festival, is stepping down. Berlinale Series coordinator Judith Klein is also exiting. The organizers of the film festival confirmed the departures and said that the Series event will continue in the same format. Azizi and Klein sent a joint

July 4, 2019 6:19AM PT Riza Aziz, producer of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” was arrested Thursday in Malaysia in connection with the looting of a massive investment fund set up by his step father and former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. Aziz was picked up by Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) around midday local

Following a Generation 14Plus jury special mention at its Berlinale premiere and a string of successful festival screenings since, Colombian-born and Swiss-trained filmmaker Jorge Cadena’s “The Jarariju Sisters” participated as part of this year’s European Film Promotion Future Frames section at Karlovy Vary. Occupying a space somewhere between fiction and documentary, the film tells the

Set on the highways of the the seemingly endless ranges of Chile’s southern Andes, Ríos’ road film tracks an estranged father and daughter who end up on the same lonely road south, he a truckdriver and she a hitchhiker in separate rigs. The unplanned encounter offers the opportunity of reconciliation, and possibly a path to

With credits including “My Sassy Girl” and “Lies,” Shin Chul is one of Korea’s most successful film producers. Recently put in charge of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Shin readily volunteers the information that he doesn’t much like festivals. Yet Shin’s shy, Otaku-like character may be exactly what Bifan needs as it adapts and