Sony’s “Men in Black: International” is heading for a disappointing $24 million opening weekend in the top spot at a mild North American box office, early estimates showed Friday. The fourth iteration of the sci-fi comedy franchise is performing well under modest expectations, which had been in the $30 million range at 4,224 locations. “Men
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David Kaminow, the marketing chief at the Annapurna-MGM joint venture recently rebranded as United Artists Releasing, has stepped down from his post. The executive sent a memo notifying colleagues of his decision on Friday, staff including distribution chief Erik Lomis and communications head Adriene Bowles, individuals familiar with his exit told Variety. Kaminow was beloved
In the new comedy “Late Night,” Emma Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, a veteran talk-show host who has fallen so out of touch she doesn’t even know her own writing staff. Prompted to add a woman to the room, she hires Molly Patel (played by Mindy Kaling, who also wrote the biting script). Molly finds herself
As fanciful as Martin Scorsese’s new film about Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue of 1975 is, it doesn’t aim to turn truth into myth nearly as much as the infamous movie Dylan himself made during that period, “Renaldo and Clara” — in which the cast list had Ronee Blakley playing “Mrs. Dylan.” Whatever impish reasons
June 14, 2019 11:15AM PT Bradley Cooper is in early talks to star in Guillermo del Toro and Fox Searchlight’s adaptation of “Nightmare Alley.” Sources say Cooper recently received an offer and while it’s currently unclear if a deal will close, sources indicate both sides have engaged in talks. Cooper would take the place of
June 14, 2019 10:27AM PT The Cannes Film Festival has set the dates of its 73rd edition next year, which will take place May 12-23, 2020, Variety has confirmed. The festival will open on Tuesday evening for the third consecutive time, unlike the Wednesday kickoff that had been the tradition for many years. The Marche
At the 2014 Cartoon Movie co-production forum in Lyon, France, I sat in on a pitch session for the strangest animated feature imaginable. (Remember, this is a medium that has given us square-pantsed sponges and rats who dream of becoming French chefs.) This particular film, an artsy — and, fittingly, hand-drawn — indie entitled “J’ai
June 14, 2019 10:03AM PT Oscar-nominated actor Richard E. Grant will portray a former drag queen and mentor in “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” the movie adaptation of the British stage musical. “Catastrophe” co-creator and star Sharon Horgan and “Happy Valley” star Sarah Lancashire have also joined the film. Max Harwood will play the titular role
The son of the legendary Isaac Hayes is upset that there are no original Hayes tracks in the new “Shaft” movie, calling its soundtrack album “a cultural disaster.” New Line Cinema, which made the movie — starring Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree and Jessie T. Usher as three generations of the Shaft family — insists
Ron Howard is fast becoming a noted music documentarian: His 2016 film, “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — the Touring Years,” released by Abramorama in theaters and Hulu on television, was a Grammy winner. His follow-up is “Pavarotti,” a doc about the man who became one of the most successful and beloved opera singers in
June 14, 2019 9:44AM PT Matt Bennett, the executive vice president of communications at the Motion Picture Association of America, has left the organization. Known as a megaphone and lobbyist for Hollywood’s major players in Washington, Bennett vacated the top spot weeks ago and has taken a job as spokesperson for American University. “We thank
Sony’s “Men In Black: International” has launched with $3.1 million at 3,472 North American locations in Thursday night previews. The fourth iteration of the sci-fi comedy franchise stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson as black-suited agents dealing with a baffling series of alien attacks against the Earth. “Men in Black: International” is opening at 4,224
June 14, 2019 6:30AM PT “Riverdale” star Lili Reinhart has come on board Amazon Studios’ coming-of-age drama-romance “Chemical Hearts.” Based on the novel “Our Chemical Hearts” by Krystal Sutherland, the film is currently shooting in New Jersey as an Amazon Original produced for Amazon Prime Video. Richard Tanne is directing from his own script. Producers
ANNECY, France — Disney Animation Studios, a long-time friend and collaborator of the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival, returned to the French town on Friday with three new shorts from its experimental animated shorts program Short Circuit, destined for Disney Plus, before providing an inside look at upcoming “Frozen 2.” Held at Annecy’s lakeside Bonlieu Theater,
The Shanghai Film Festival has abruptly yanked its opening movie, the $80 million patriotic war drama “The Eight Hundred,” on the eve of the fest’s kickoff, Variety has confirmed. The cancellation of the Saturday premiere was made for unspecified “technical reasons,” which is often a euphemism for censorship problems. Though a source close to the
Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar will be honored by the Venice Film Festival with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The Spanish director, 69, is having a good year after his “Pain and Glory” was recently one of the standout movies in competition in Cannes, where it was praised by Variety’s Peter Debruge as “a remarkable
ANNECY, France — Thursday morning saw Netflix host an Annecy Works in Progress session for its upcoming first Japanese Netflix Original anime “Eden,” when members of the film’s production team shared concept art, story boards and animation techniques before screening a lengthy trailer. Netflix has shared two images from the panel exclusively with Variety. Set
Country music star Trace Adkins continues to carve a niche for himself, along with several notches on his six-shooter, as an imposing presence in indie Westerns with his persuasive portrayal of a tarnished lawman in “The Outsider,” an unusually dark and brooding shoot ’em up capably directed by genre specialist Timothy Woodward Jr. (“Traded,” “Hickok”).
June 14, 2019 12:01AM PT Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler chase a killer — and Netflix success — in this middling Monaco-set action-comedy. There’s a fortune at loose and Adam Sandler is on the case — in fiction and reality. A decade ago, “Murder Mystery,” a caffeinated comedy that stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as
ANNECY, France – France’s “Lucy Lost” and “Galaxy Camp,” and the U.K.’s “The World’s Worst Children” are among the 86 TV series projects set to unspool at the 2019 Cartoon Forum, which takes place in Toulouse, Southern France. The 2019 Cartoon Forum runs Sept. 16-19. Preeminent French animation company Xilam Animation, headed by Marc du Pontavice,
In response to the introduction of multiple “heartbeat bills” across the country, actress and advocate Alyssa Milano has created a shoot location tool for filmmakers that lists the status of abortion legislation in all 50 states. The bills have caused uproar in Hollywood and inspired boycotts in production-heavy states like Georgia. “Following the passage of
“Being Frank” isn’t very amusing, which normally would be the most damning thing one might say about an ostensible comedy. But that really isn’t the worst thing about it. There is something ineffably creepy about this contrived and mirthless farce about a demanding family man whose rebellious son discovers his dad has secretly maintained a
June 13, 2019 2:21PM PT Chris Hemsworth brought back “Lebowski” Thor on Wednesday — complete with his potbelly and scraggly beard — to perform a rendition of “Hurt” for his Twitter followers. “Not sure why everyone’s so worried about Thor, he’s fine guys…,” the Marvel actor tweeted alongside a video of himself on the “Endgame”
June 13, 2019 1:06PM PT SND, the film and TV production/distribution arm of French network M6, is teaming up with Paris-based company Superprod on the feature film adaptation of “Les blagues de Toto,” the popular French comics. Created by Thierry Coppée, “Les blagues de Toto” comprises of 13 volumes and have sold more than 3.7
Remember when Issa Rae told Variety that she was “rooting for everybody Black” at the 2017 Emmys? Well she just did herself one better, while accepting the ‘Women In Film Emerging Entrepreneur Award’ at the organization’s annual gala on Wednesday night, with a memorable and hilariously braggadocious speech. “Sometimes I feel like as women we
June 13, 2019 11:36AM PT ANNECY, France – Los Angeles and Ecuador-based Alterego has teamed with Miami-based Centauro to co-produce animated feature “La niña de la trompeta” (The Trumpet Girl), created by Argentina’s Emiliano Oviedo. The agreement was signed at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival Founded by Colombian director Gustavo Nieto Roa (“Tiempo para amar”)
If family animation often struggles to earn respect in the film industry, and screenwriters often struggle to get respect in film’s creative hierarchy, then where does that leave a screenwriter who specializes in family animation? In the case of Brian Lynch, the answer is this: thriving, and contributing to films that have accumulated more than
June 13, 2019 11:04AM PT Reinaldo Marcus Green is on board to direct Warner Bros.’ “King Richard,” which centers on the father of tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams and stars Will Smith as their father. After Green came on board Thursday, Warner Bros. announced that it had scheduled “King Richard” for a Nov. 25,
June 13, 2019 11:00AM PT Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions are remaking the cult horror pic “Black Christmas” with Imogen Poots starring. The studio will release the film on Dec. 13. Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue and Caleb Eberhardt are also set to star with Sophia Takal directing. Takal and April Wolfe penned the
June 13, 2019 10:33AM PT [embedded content] Redrum returns in “Doctor Sleep.” Ewan McGregor plays an adult Danny Torrance, Jack Nicholson’s on-screen son in “The Shining,” in the adaptation of the Stephen King horror novel of the same name. Still traumatized by the events of the classic 1980 film, Danny is battling a drinking problem