Disney-Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” will continue obliterating records this weekend as the superhero blockbuster heads for at least $175 million in North America, early estimates showed on Friday. “Avengers: Endgame,” which opened with a stunning $357.1 million last weekend, should easily eclipse the record for biggest domestic second weekend of all time, currently held by 2015’s
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TORONTO — Veteran Toronto director Laurie Lynd taps into the myth-busting 2017 book “Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic” for a documentary feature that reframes the legacy of Quebec flight attendant Gaetan Dugas, a promiscuous gay man who was incorrectly identified as patient zero by investigators from the U.S. Center for
Indie studio 1091, formerly known as The Orchard, is laying off nine employees or roughly 25% of its staff as it moves in a new strategic direction that will see the company release fewer films. The cuts will be across the company and will include reduction in marketing, distribution, and other areas. The layoffs come
TORONTO–Director Nanfu Wang wracked up accolades for her debut feature “Hooligan Sparrow,” a riveting, guerrilla-style exposé of sexual abuse in China that made the Academy Award shortlist for best documentary. But as she prepared to return to the cutting room for her sophomore feature, she learned a valuable lesson that guides her to this day.
It was a blue carpet pep rally as Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Pam Grier and Rhea Perlman debuted their new film “Poms” on Wednesday night in Downtown Los Angeles. But much like their characters in the film, the actresses’ cheers weren’t for sports teams. Instead, they were celebrating a Hollywood system that is hopefully becoming
Early in the filming of his documentary “The Quiet One,” Oliver Murray knew he had his emotional centerpiece after capturing his subject, the longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, talking about an encounter with Ray Charles. It’s a simple and quiet moment in a film packed full of tales of pop-culture upheaval, one that touchingly
Cruising the edge of sets like a shark in shallow water, still photographer Ron P. Jaffe has spent a career using his stealthiness to capture the perfect shot. Sharing tales from times past as he sits in the serenity of his Playa del Rey home, he describes taking pictures on many of the crime movies,
With the Writers Guild of America locked in a bitter standoff with Hollywood agents, three high-profile screenwriters have slammed the severity of the WGA’s tactics. The letter, addressed to WGA leaders, was written by Brandon Camp, Peter Landesman and Phyllis Nagy. The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents saw talks crater on April 12
May 3, 2019 8:43AM PT Jamie Dornan (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) and Holliday Grainger (“The Borgias”) will star in “Wild Mountain Thyme,” directed by John Patrick Shanley, the Oscar-winning writer of “Moonstruck,” and the Oscar-nominated scribe of “Doubt.” HanWay Films has acquired the international sales rights and will commence sales at Cannes with CAA Media
Sony’s thriller “The Intruder” invaded the box office with $865,000 at 2,073 North American locations on Thursday night. “The Intruder,” starring Dennis Quaid, Meagan Good and Michael Ealy, topped Lionsgate’s romantic comedy “Long Shot,” which opened with $660,000 at 2,500 locations during Thursday night preview showings. STX’s animated comedy “UglyDolls” took in $300,000 at 2,250
Evan Rachel Wood will star alongside Jim Sturgess and Shinobu Terajima in “One Thousand Paper Cranes,” the story of Hiroshima survivor Sadako Sasaki and author Eleanor Coerr, who wrote the worldwide bestselling children’s book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.” Independent has boarded sales ahead of Cannes, where the project will be at the Marche.
Framed by the French Alps, the border region between Italy and France has become an unlikely hot spot for countless migrants risking their lives to flee poverty, war, and political persecution. In the Roya and Durance Valleys, local communities have banded together to help the influx of refugees by offering them food, shelter and legal
Rome-based sales company Coccinelle Film has closed U.S. deals on two new Italian LGBT titles, confirming the international appeal of what is becoming a small but significant local cinema sub-genre. Strand Releasing has taken North American rights to “Mom+Mom,” about two southern Italian women who struggle to have a child together because of a local
“The book is not about anything but itself. It has no allegorical intentions, topical, moral, religious or political. It is not about modern wars.” So said John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in a 1968 interview, pushing back at a growing fanbase that was all too eager to seek out topical, moral, religious, political and, most importantly,
May 3, 2019 4:09AM PT Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Chinese actor-turned-director Zu Feng’s feature debut “Summer of Changsha” which will world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and will vie for the Camera d’Or award. A popular Chinese actor, Feng previously starred in Lou Ye’s “Mystery” which played at Cannes in 2012
May 3, 2019 3:11AM PT A woman reunites with her father on his Bayou houseboat, where she discovers a mysterious body, in Brian C. Miller Richard’s languid drama. Resurrection of both a literal and figurative kind factors heavily into “Lost Bayou,” director Brian C. Miller Richard’s saga about a down-and-out young woman who reunites with
Big World Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Radu Jude’s “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians,” which won the Crystal Globe for best film at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival last year, and represented Romania in this year’s Academy Awards competition for foreign-language film. The sale was handled by
May 3, 2019 12:54AM PT This purported first Latino superhero movie is really more of a pedestrian grade-B cop thriller that lacks imagination. A cop thriller promoted as the first Latino superhero movie, “El Chicano” would seem to be arriving at the right time, with “Avengers: Endgame” having made the genre appear fail-proof and “Black
To say that child sex abuse in a documentary could in any way be connected to that Hitchcock/thriller word — suspense — is, on the face of it, an offensive thought. We’re talking despicable crimes that reverberate for years and even for generations; they don’t exist for our “entertainment.” Yet “Capturing the Friedmans,” the remarkable
May 2, 2019 8:13PM PT “Sonic the Hedgehog” director Jeff Fowler has responded to fan criticism over the appearance and design of the titular blue hedgehog, writing on Twitter that design changes are “going to happen.” “The message is loud and clear,” Fowler wrote on Twitter Thursday. “You aren’t happy with the design & you
In today’s film news roundup, Sabrina Carpenter gets a starring role, Spike Lee’s “Son of the South” adds to its cast and inspirational drama “Edie” gets North American distribution. CASTINGS Singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter will star in STX’s dance-themed comedy “Work It” from STXfilms and Alloy Entertainment. Alicia Keys is producing with Elysa Koplovitz Dutton and
May 2, 2019 6:31PM PT The debut feature by Chinese screenwriter Cui Siwei is a solid action-thriller set on a snow-covered mountain. An above-average action thriller set in the snow-covered environs of Baekdu Mountain on the China-North Korea border, “Savage” marks a confident directing debut for Chinese screenwriter Cui Siwei (“The Island”). This no-nonsense affair
You don’t have to be a Pokémon aficionado to recognize that the arrival of the feature-length, live-action “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” movie represents a major turning point to the cult of the franchise’s superfans: For those who grew up playing the video games, collecting the trading cards, or watching the Japanese anime series, and have been
Woody Allen shopped around a manuscript for his new memoir, but publishers didn’t want anything to do with it. A New York Times report detailed how executives at multiple publishing houses rejected Allen’s memoir that he tried to sell late last year largely due to his increasing persona non grata status. A-list actors, producers, and
“Star Wars” fans around the galaxy mourned the death of Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew after his family announced he had died. The 7-foot-3 actor appeared as the friendly Wookie in the original “Star Wars” film by George Lucas in 1977. He went on to reprise the fan-favorite role in “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of
May 2, 2019 4:13PM PT Amy Lemisch is exiting her post as California Film Commissioner after 15 years on the job. Lemisch will leave the state agency on May 10. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who took office in January after Jerry Brown was termed out, is expected to announce a new appointee as her replacement in
“Star Wars” actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the original trilogy, died on Tuesday, his family announced on his Twitter. He was 74. He died at his North Texas home surrounded by his family, read the Twitter statement. The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that
“Burning Cane” has won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature and star Wendell Pierce has been awarded the top actor in the category for the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. Haley Bennett won the festival’s award for best actress in a narrative feature for her performance in “Swallow.” “House of Hummingbird” (Beol-sae) took
New Line Cinema and Creative Wealth Media will co-finance the Angelina Jolie wilderness thriller “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” the company announced Thursday. New Line parent company, Warner Bros. Pictures, will handle worldwide marketing and distribution. The film, described as a female-driven neo-Western set against a wildfire in the Montana wilderness, begins principal photography this month.
May 2, 2019 2:17PM PT The talent offices at 42West just got a slew of new clients from the Great White Way. Stage and filmed content rep Michael Gagliardo has joined the talent agency, making the jump from his longtime home at PMK-BNC, Variety has learned exclusively. Gagliardo brings with him more than a dozen