Singer-songwriter, JK Kim Dong-uk recently released a new single “Stay,” which delivered a message to people considering suicide. In an interview with local media, Kim said he had witnessed colleagues’ battles with depression. The song was unfortunately timely. This week’s apparently self-inflicted death of actress Jeon Mi-seon has further raised the alarm about the mental
Movies
July 3, 2019 11:55PM PT Hugo Keiser’s “The Occupant” from the Netherlands, won the Bucheon prize, worth $12,800 (KRW 15 million) at NAFF, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s genre film project market. NAFF is part of BiFan’s B.I.G. industry support program. Prizes were awarded on Wednesday night. Phan Linh’s sci fi comedy “Dogcow” won
China’s total box office fell 2.8% to $4.53 billion (RMB31.1 billion) in the first half of 2019. That was the the first such decline since 2011, Chinese media said. Reports noted the dip with alarm and dismay. “Although the decline is not large, the situation does not look promising,” wrote Chinese industry website Mtime, while
As kids of all ages exited the movie theater after seeing the supposed last of the “Toy Story” franchise, there were many conversations in the halls – from tears and sadness that the franchise is most likely over, to discussions about the new characters, and people reminiscing about the sporks they used in the school
In today’s film news roundup, animated adventure “Promare” is set for release, SAG-AFTRA is dealing with Disney’s tardy residual payments and horror-thriller “Lucky” has wrapped. RELEASE DATES GKids and Fathom Events are collaborating on a U.S. release of the Japanese animated action-adventure movie “Promare” in September. “Promare” is the first feature-length film from Studio Trigger,
July 3, 2019 3:54PM PT Sterling Van Wagenen, who co-founded the Sundance Film Festival, has been sentenced to at least six years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a child. Judge Robert Griffin delivered the sentence in a Utah court on Tuesday. He said during the proceeding that he hoped the parole
July 3, 2019 2:12PM PT Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t the only actor who had trouble keeping track of what was going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “With the Marvel things, they have so many films happening at the same time and all of them interweave with one another. Oftentimes you’re not exactly sure what’s happening,
July 3, 2019 2:02PM PT Longtime 20th Century Fox marketing and communications executive James Finn is leaving the company in the wake of its sale to the Walt Disney Company. Finn, known for his deep relationships with the media and his general affability, most recently served as head of marketing in the VR and gaming
Incoming Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Ann Sarnoff will sit for a series of introductory meetings on the Warner Bros. lot next week, individuals familiar with the company told Variety. On Monday and Tuesday, Sarnoff will greet heads of numerous divisions like television and film, said the insiders. Though the former BBC executive does not take
John Carpenter’s career in Hollywood was nearly over before it started. In this exclusive one-on-on interview with the horror/sci-fi director, he talks about finding respect later in his career. So much so that the filmmaker was asked to lead a Masterclass at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where he also received the Golden Coach Award,
July 3, 2019 12:25PM PT Chloe x Halle member Halle Bailey is ready to become part of Disney’s world. The R&B singer has been tapped to play Ariel in Disney’s next live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.” Although director Rob Marshall has spent the last couple of months meeting with talent, insiders say Bailey has
Moldovan director Eugen Marian’s debut feature film project “Pigeon’s Milk,” and Iranian filmmaker Afsaneh Salari’s documentary project “The Silhouettes” picked up Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Works in Progress prizes Tuesday. In “Pigeon’s Milk,” a teenager in a remote Moldovan village plans to run away with a friend, but as he plots his revenge against
July 3, 2019 11:34AM PT Disney has discreetly cut a “Toy Story 2” post-credits scene featuring a casting couch reference from new home entertainment releases of the sequel film. In one of the gags from the film’s mock blooper-reel, the prospector character Stinky Pete offers two Barbie dolls a role in a film for the
July 3, 2019 11:33AM PT [embedded content] To the excitement of many, many BTS fans, the trailer for the boyband’s upcoming concert film “Bring the Soul: The Movie” is officially here. Making its worldwide premiere Aug. 7, the film follows the wildly popular South Korean group during the European leg of their “Love Yourself” tour.
France’s National Film Board (CNC), the organization tasked with establishing rules for the selection of French films submitted for Oscar consideration, has confirmed the shake-up of guidelines going forward. Under the new rules, films will be allowed to have limited, qualifying runs ahead of their official theatrical premiere if they get a temporary visa from
July 3, 2019 10:19AM PT Plans have been scrapped for a Lionsgate branded indoor entertainment center for New York City’s Times Square with attractions built around “The Hunger Games,” “John Wick” and “Mad Men.” Dubbed Lionsgate Entertainment City, Lionsgate and Parques Reunidos unveiled the plan in 2017 as the first of several branded indoor entertainment centers
Quentin Tarantino’s journey back to the height of hippie Hollywood is gearing up for its big-screen debut. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” a drama that pays tribute to the golden age of Tinseltown, is eyeing an opening weekend between $28 million to $30 million when it hits theaters July 26, according to early tracking.
“Midsommar” isn’t your typical summer thriller. “It’s a horror movie, among other things” says Jack Reynor, who stars in “Hereditary” director Ari Aster’s sophomore feature. “Midsommar” follows a group of friends who travel from New York City to the Swedish countryside for a once-in-every-90-years celebration that involves drugs, sex and ritual killings. Reynor plays Christian,
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is off to a heroic start, generating $39.2 million from 4,634 North American locations on opening day. That haul sets a new benchmark for Tuesday ticket sales, surpassing the record previously held by another web-slinger, 2012’s Andrew Garfield-led “The Amazing Spider-Man,” with $35 million. The latest superhero adventure, from Sony’s Marvel
Following his departure from The Walt Disney Company, Jean-François Camilleri has joined the French production company Echo Studio as president. The Paris-based independent company was launched two years ago and is dedicated to producing internationally-driven content with political, social and environmental themes in a similar vein as Participant Media. One of France’s most respected industry
Netflix has created a new production hub in the U.K., with a 14-stage studio space close to London. The first Netflix show to use the new facilities will be Charlize Theron’s upcoming film for the streamer and Skydance, “The Old Guard.” The new hub will be situated at the iconic Shepperton Studios, which is in
Kino Lorber has scooped North American rights to the Cannes Film Festival’s jury prize winner “Bacurau,” a Brazilian western thriller directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. Mendonca Filho’s follow up to “Aquarius,” another Cannes competition title, “Bacurau” is set in the near future, in a small imaginary Brazilian village that becomes a target
July 3, 2019 3:54AM PT Pop star Kylie Minogue and indie rockers The Vaccines have formed an unlikely pairing on an original track for Aardman and Studiocanal’s “Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.” Kylie and The Vaccines have both just appeared at the Glastonbury music festival in the U.K. Their new collaboration, “Lazy,” was announced Wednesday,
BARCELONA – Paris-based production house La Fabrica Nocturna, a co-producer on Marcelo Martinessi’s Berlin prize winner “The Heiresses,” has boarded Spaniard Chema García Ibarra’s awaited feature debut “Sacred Spirit,” Variety learnt during the closing events at top Spanish development program The Incubator, run by the Madrid ECAM Madrid Film School. Produced by San Sebastian’s Apellániz
Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past, last week wrapped its 33rd edition with a record-breaking turnout. Long a summer fixture for vintage film geeks and distributors it also draws prominent contemporary cinema personalities. This year these included Academy president John Bailey, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jane
Sports drama “Three Seconds” has become the highest grossing Russian film of all time in China, with an 85 million yuan ($12.3 million) gross. Previous Russian hits in China include “The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice” (74.2 million yuan), “Stalingrad” (71.9 million yuan) and “Dragon” (60 million yuan). Anton Megerdichev’s film tells the story
July 2, 2019 11:02PM PT Lee Cheuk-pan’s debut feature is a striking essay about moral decay in contemporary Hong Kong. “The darker the underbelly, the prettier the top layer,” says one of the main characters in “G Affairs,” a striking, metaphor-heavy excursion into corruption and moral decay in contemporary Hong Kong. This knockout debut by
After 38 days of filming, the final clapperboard has been snapped shut on “Charlatan,” Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s latest film, and it’s a wrap. The film will premiere on Feb. 20, 2020, which offers the possibility of a launch at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb. 20-March 1). “Charlatan” was shot in several locations in
July 2, 2019 10:43PM PT This juicy Oz horror offers an engaging female twist on the trusty “Most Dangerous Game” formula. An above-average riff on the reliable “hunting humans for sport” scenario that’s been around at least as far as 1932’s RKO thriller “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Furies” marks a solid feature debut for
There’s a feeling I always have when I’m watching Greg Kinnear in a movie. He can be a terrific actor (as the ’60s TV star and sex addict Bob Crane in “Auto Focus,” as the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper in “Flash of Genius,” doing his what-the-hell-let’s-let-it-rip dance to “Super Freak” at the end