June 7, 2019 12:05PM PT Sony Pictures Entertainment has renamed one of its theaters the John Singleton Theater in honor of the Academy and Emmy Award-nominated director, screenwriter, and producer who died in April. “We are so pleased that Sony Pictures will be honoring our father in this way,” said Justice and Maasai Singleton. “It
Movies
“Dark Phoenix,” the film that closes out the current X-Men franchise, opened with $5 million in ticket sales Thursday night. The 12th installment of the series and the first to be distributed by Disney is expected to have an opening weekend of $40 million to $50 million. The Thursday night numbers, while solid, come in
Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, David Rysdahl and Bill Skarsgård will star in the supernatural film “Nine Days,” the feature debut from director Edson Oda. Duke will play a recluse living in an otherworldly home who interviews human souls for the privilege of being born. Beetz, Wong, Rysdahl and Skarsgård will play the interviewees.
When fear and paranoia get their hooks into a society, they can invade people’s minds in revealing metaphorical ways. Donald Trump, in his rise to the presidency, stoked fear and hostility toward immigrants, and also churned up racism against African-Americans. As monumental — and hideous — as both those hatreds are, you can argue that
Directly after graduating from Juilliard in 1982, Lorraine Toussaint began rehearsals for her first paid acting gig, as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare & Company’s production of “Macbeth.” After eight years of classical theater training, the Trinidad-born, New York-raised performer found herself among seasoned professionals like Kristin Linklater and Tim Saukiavicus, who mentored her as she
In the new psychological thriller “Ma,” a middle-aged woman played by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer befriends a group of teenagers and invites them to use the basement of her house as a place to party. Of course they accept, and much of the film happens there, though the subterranean space we see in the film
Qatar-based beIN Media Group is seeking to sell up to 50% of Miramax in a deal that would value the studio founded in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein at $650 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report. A representative for beIN, contacted by Variety, said the company had no comment on the report,
Music-rights organization SESAC plans to co-fund a new foundation designed to support minority film and TV composers, officials announced at last night’s annual Film & Television Composer Awards in Santa Monica. The Key Change Foundation, created by “Frozen” and “Ant-Man” composer Christophe Beck (pictured above, center), “will provide grants to support scores by emerging film
Alan Arkin turned 85 earlier this year, yet he has always seemed timeless. With a career spanning more than 60 years, it’s difficult to fathom when there was ever a time when Arkin wasn’t part of the culture. He was an early member of the Second City theater troupe before making his Oscar-nominated film debut
Bona Film Group has a unique relationship with the capital markets. In 2010, it became the first Chinese film company to list its shares on a North American stock exchange. But only a few years later, it delisted, and is now attempting to do a new IPO in China. But back in December 2011 in
Popular industry blog Yuemuchina recently named the “new big four” companies that it believes have edged out the old guard studios and now dominate the Middle Kingdom movie scene. Along with obvious choices of tech giant Tencent and Beijing Culture, a producer on a hot streak, the list also included Bona Film Group. Given that
Robin Wright and Chris Pine sat down for a chat for Variety‘s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Robin Wright and Chris Pine both appeared in the 2017 action blockbuster “Wonder Woman,” and both have continued living out its vision of bold female power in their careers. Wright brought the final season of Netflix’s
The pre-title credits proclaiming Bona Film Group’s Yu Dong and Jeffrey Chan as executive producers of Quentin Tarantino’s “One Upon a Time … in Hollywood” leave no doubt that the Chinese company is a significant piece of the ongoing — and sometimes uneasy — relationship between the U.S. and Chinese film industries. More than that,
CLUJ, Romania –An architect vacationing on a nudist beach with his family in the summer of 1983 is picked up for questioning by two officers from Romania’s dreaded secret police. They promise to return him the following day, but when he’s locked in a jail cell with a menacing small-time crook turned police collaborator, he
Jacques Audiard, whose latest film “The Sisters Brothers” with John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal earned him a best director prize at Venice, will make his TV debut with the Canal Plus hit original spy series “The Bureau.” The Palme d’Or winning director of “Dheepan” will direct some episodes of the fifth and
CLUJ, Romania–A year after introducing a cash rebate of up to 45% to keep pace with neighboring countries in an increasingly competitive region, Romania is seeing signs that the incentive scheme is paying off. “This year seems to be quite busy—much busier, I would say, than last year,” says Bogdan Moncea, of Castel Film Studios
June 6, 2019 10:42PM PT A smart social satire focusing on a comic in the late days of the Soviet Union cracking under the weight of official constraints and self-loathing. Screenwriter Michael Idov makes an impressive directing debut with the super-smart, confidently lensed “The Humorist.” Set in the waning days of the Soviet Union when
June 6, 2019 7:40PM PT Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has been elected chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, the org announced Thursday. She succeeds Howard Stringer, who served in the role since 1999. “It is a distinct honor to be elected as Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees,” said Kennedy. “AFI’s commitment to
June 6, 2019 5:58PM PT Bill Skarsgard, who broke out as Pennywise the Clown in “It,” is attached to star in the drama “Gilded Rage,” sources tell Variety. Director Charlie McDowell is set to write and direct the movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker producing via their Nine Stories banner. Jeremy Steckler of Conde
June 6, 2019 5:16PM PT Sony Pictures has updated their release dates for upcoming films. Kevin Hart will star in “Fatherhood” coming out March 3, 2020. Alfre Woodard plays Hart’s mother-in-law and Melody Hurd will play Hart’s daughter in the dramedy, which is based on a true story about Matt Logelin, who had to raise
June 6, 2019 4:35PM PT Frank Grillo and Jake Allyn will play father-and-son Texas ranchers in “No Man’s Land,” a modern Western drama from director Conor Allyn. Allyn and David Barraza Ibañez penned the script, which is inspired by the real-life “no man’s land” between the U.S.- Mexico border on the Rio Grande and the
June 6, 2019 4:26PM PT “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage is in negotiations to star opposite Rosamund Pike in the thriller “I Care a Lot,” sources tell Variety. J Blakeson penned the script and will direct with shooting scheduled for this month. Pike will play Marla Grayson, a highly successful legal guardian with a
June 6, 2019 2:48PM PT Gold Circle Films, the production company behind “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the “Pitch Perfect” trilogy, was hit with a $14.1 million judgment in a New York court on Thursday. The ruling stems from a long-running dispute between Gold Circle and Sandton Capital, a New York hedge fund that
June 6, 2019 2:37PM PT Johnnie Planco, a former WMA agent and co-founder of the Parseghian Planco management and production company, died on Sunday from a brain and respiratory infection. He was 68. Planco started out in the WMA mailroom in 1972 and rose in the ranks at the talent agency before he left in
June 6, 2019 11:45AM PT “Blockers” director Kay Cannon is looking to strike gold with Lionsgate’s latest treasure-hunting story “79ers.” Cannon will work alongside Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s production company Point Grey, as well as Will Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, who are partnering to produce the film. Dylan Meyer is writing the script, based
Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius is set to adapt Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling tale “La plus precious des marchandises” into an animated feature film. The Dardenne brothers are co-producing the film with Studiocanal, which will handle all rights, including international sales. The tale, set during World War II against the backdrop of the Holocaust, is produced by
Sienna Miller wants more female stories in Hollywood. In “American Woman”, the actress plays a mother grappling with the tragedy of losing a child over the course of a decade. On the red carpet at the film’s Hollywood premiere, Miller noted the lack of roles for women in character studies like this one. “A woman
James Corden is very nervous. Sure, he’s hosted the Tonys once before, but he’s doing it again on Sunday and he’s worried about the opening number. “As it stands right now, a potential disaster,” Corden told Variety on Thursday morning during a break from Tony rehearsals, adding, “It’s ambitious. Look, we want to make an
Writer-director Juan Antin worked for 14 years to make “Pachamama,” which tells the tale of a young boy growing up in the Andes in the time of the Incas and the Spanish explorers, and now the animated film will be seen by a global audience when it debuts on Netflix on Friday, June 7. “The
To quote the late great Mac Miller, “Dang!” It’s been nearly nine months since the untimely passing of rapper-producer Miller from an accidental overdose of cocaine and fentanyl, and hardly a week goes by without news of unreleased songs discovered (“Benji the Dog” was leaked in May) or tributes being released (Flying Lotus has the