Movies

July 2, 2019 10:14PM PT Not even fond memories of ‘Léon: The Professional’ can put a charge in Jean Reno’s latest, instantly forgettable hitman thriller. As the minutes slowly tick by in the lifeless thriller “Cold Blood,” it’s easy to mourn for what might have been. Jean Reno stars as Henry, a veteran hitman seeking

In today’s film news roundup, Andre Caraco and Paul Noble receive promotions at Sony, Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war drama “Paths of Glory” gets restored, Drafthouse Films gets launched and “The Chainsaw Artist” wraps. EXEC PROMOTIONS Sony Pictures has promoted veteran executives Andre Caraco and Paul Noble to the posts of co-presidents of global marketing. Sony Pictures

An epic, magnificently shot chronicle of a tiny Chinese hamlet enduring one of its final yearly cycles of harvest and hardship, Liu Feifang’s delicate but mighty debut documentary feature “The Fading Village” is loosely organized around the last member of the newer generation to still live in the Shanxi Province village of Heishuigetuo. Goat farmer

Milton Quon, an animator who worked on “Fantasia” and “Dumbo,” died of natural causes at his home in Torrance, Ca., on June 18. He was 105. His son, artist Mike Quon, told Variety that his father was drawing up until his last days. He also acted in movies including “Speed,” “Chill Factor,” “Sweet Jane,” “The

July 2, 2019 5:09PM PT A gay Sao Paolo teen struggles to avoid homelessness in Alex Moratto’s vigorous, prize-winning debut feature. “Socrates” is the kind of downward-spiral narrative bound to sound relentlessly bleak in description. But small wonder Alex Moratto’s first feature won him the Independent Spirit “Someone to Watch” Award in January, along with

July 2, 2019 4:36PM PT Dani Shapiro’s New York Times-bestselling memoir “Inheritance” is getting a movie adaptation at Killer Films with Cami Delavigne on board to write the script, Variety has learned exclusively. The memoir, titled “Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love,” centers on Shapiro’s discovery, after taking a commercial DNA test on

July 2, 2019 4:31PM PT Helmer Marko Škop highlights xenophobia, religious hypocrisy and the rise of the extreme right in a small Slovak village. The multilayered “Let There Be Light” is an earnest, relatable state-of-the-nation drama from helmer-writer Marko Škop that highlights xenophobia, religious hypocrisy and the rise of the extreme right in a small

July 2, 2019 12:54PM PT Warner Bros. is in talks with “It” director Andy Muschietti to helm its long-gestating “The Flash” standalone movie, a source close to the project has told Variety. No offer has been made yet, but if the deal goes through Muschietti will also produce the movie with his partner and sister

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Heading into the new year, box office analysts were bullish that 2019 would beat, or at least match, the record-breaking success of last season. Followups to “Avengers,” “Secret Life of Pets” and “Godzilla” combined with reboots of storied franchises such as “Men in Black” and “Shaft” would elevate

July 2, 2019 11:09AM PT The Atlantic hired Linzee Troubh — who most recently oversaw BuzzFeed News’ documentary projects — as development director, supporting the magazine’s first-look deal with Anonymous Content. In the newly created role, Troubh will oversee development of scripted and unscripted content from The Atlantic’s articles both past and present. With Anonymous,

Unless the Czech government steps up on better incentives, warns the country’s leading producers group, more series and films are going to pass it by and film in other locations. “There are many series like that,” said Radek Docekal of Milk and Honey Films, speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Monday. Series shoots, which

Cinemas in China no longer need to be controlled by Chinese entities, the country’s top state planning agency has announced, opening up the sector to outsiders after years of rapid expansion at a time when the local box office is threatened by a severe production slowdown. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Sunday

July 2, 2019 9:00AM PT Jillian Bell is joining “Bill & Ted Face the Music” as a therapist to the families of the title characters. Keanu Reeves will again portray Ted “Theodore” Logan, and Alex Winter will reprise his role as Bill S. Preston, Esq. Other cast members include Scott Mescudi – best known by

This has been one of the hottest summers on record in Madrid and the dog days of have come early, bringing with them Jonás Trueba’s steamy new feature “The August Virgin,” which world premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Each August, as thermometers pass 40ºC (104ºF), Madrileños flee the Spanish capital bound for

Indie films are having a tough time at this summer’s box office, but A24 hopes that Ari Aster’s folk horror movie “Midsommar” changes that. Last summer, Aster’s feature debut “Hereditary,” starring Toni Collette and Ann Dowd, raked in over $44 million domestically for the boutique distributor on a $10 million budget. On July 3, Aster

July 2, 2019 8:26AM PT [embedded content] The search for whodunnit begins with the latest “Knives Out” trailer. After a wealthy patriarch (Christopher Plummer) dies at his own birthday party, Daniel Craig and Lakeith Stanfield take center stage as two detectives who must investigate the mysterious death. However, things get hairier once a supporting cast

July 2, 2019 7:00AM PT IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Chris Morris’ “The Day Shall Come,” an incisive satire about a misbegotten FBI sting operation. It marks the British filmmaker’s follow-up to “Four Lions,” a boundary-pushing comedy about a group of terrorist jihadis that hit theaters in 2010. “The Day Shall Come” premiered

Panama’s internationally best-known helmer, Abner Benaim (“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”) has moved into pre-production on his second fiction feature film, “Plaza Catedral,” which is set to star Mexico’s Ilse Salas, who has just won Mexican Academy’s Ariel Award for best actress for her performance in Alejandra Marquez’s Toronto hit “The Good Girls.” Salas

Writer-director duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov are two of Bulgaria’s most acclaimed filmmakers, earning critical plaudits with their award-winning features “The Lesson” (2014) and “Glory” (2016). Part of their Newspaper Clippings Trilogy, the films were inspired by sensationalist media stories depicting the absurdity of life in post-communist Bulgaria. Grozeva and Valchanov took a break

Cineflix Rights has acquired exclusive global distribution rights to “Tehran,” the Israel-Iran espionage thriller created by Moshe Zonder (“Fauda”), Dana Eden (“Mother’s Day”) and Maor Kohn. “Tehran” follows the story Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad computer hacker-agent who travels to the Iranian capital, where she was born and raised, to undertake her very first mission, disabling

Film industry veteran, Roger Garcia has been appointed as artistic advisor to the Hainan Island International Film Festival in China. The festival will be held in Sanya, capital of Hainan, a province in southern China that is touted as a tropical tourism destination. For several years, Garcia held a similar post, as executive director, at

In the late 1930s, prior to emigrating to the United States, Lithuanian geographer Kazys Pakstas proposed a radical solution to what he saw as the inevitable eradication of the nation through its assimilation into the German and Russian spheres of influence: The purchase and annexation of a large tract of land on the African or

In today’s film news roundup, Mark Damon receives an investment from Cinevideotech, Hollywood publicists set their awards show, Rob Zombie’s “3 From Hell” and a 9/11 documentary “You Are Here” get release dates.  INVESTMENT Mark Damon’s DCR Finance Corp., co-headed with financer Adi Cohen and producer Jordi Rediu, has received a $25 million investment from

Oscar winners Lady Gaga, Annie Lennox and Adele are among the 28 composers, songwriters and music editors invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year. The three multiplatinum pop stars are probably the best-known of this year’s crop. Gaga won for “A Star Is Born,” Adele for “Skyfall,” and Lennox

July 1, 2019 2:00PM PT Sam Claflin has signed on to join the cast of Millie Bobby Brown’s detective mystery “Enola Holmes.” The cast includes Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, Fiona Shaw and Adeel Akhtar. Directed by Harry Bradbeer, the film is based on Nancy Springer’s book series, “The Enola Holmes Mysteries.” The script was

July 1, 2019 12:52PM PT [embedded content] A few of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes paid a visit to the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” stars Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jake Gyllenhaal signed autographs, took selfies and hung out with patients on Thursday. The surprise visit came after an exclusive screening of the

After a spell of underperforming sequels, Tom Holland’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is swinging by to hopefully salvage the box office. “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” from Sony’s arsenal of Marvel characters, should prove an exception to a summer otherwise plagued with a contagious case of franchise fatigue. Overall, the domestic box office is pacing almost 10%

July 1, 2019 12:10PM PT Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina have signed on to play Flounder and Scuttle, respectively, in Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.” Variety first reported that Melissa McCarthy would be taking on the role of Ursula the Sea Witch. Over the weekend, journalist Kris Tapley announced on Twitter that Tremblay and

Half of the 842 new members invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are women, the group announced on Monday. The organization behind the Oscars also disclosed that 29% of the new invitees are people of color. Should those people accept, and they almost universally do, the Academy will have doubled the

CAA has become the latest top talent agency to file a federal lawsuit against the Writers Guild of America, accusing the union of “stunning overreach” in its quest to ban packaging fees and agency-affiliated production operations. CAA’s suit comes a week after WME filed a similar complaint, followed on June 27 by UTA. The three