Movies

In August 2016, Dr. Tasha Hubbard was working on her doc “Birth of a Family” (Hot Docs 2017) when she learned that Colten Boushie, a young Cree man in Saskatchewan, had died from a gunshot to the back of his head shortly after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property. The acquittal of Stanley 18 months later by

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in Toronto this week, the Hot Docs Forum will once again showcase some of the most anticipated films slated to hit the documentary world. Over the course of the two-day event, 20 pre-selected projects will be presented to a round table of industry insiders from around the globe, including leading commissioning

The school of thought in which convicts are bad people not to be “coddled” in any way has led to a swelling U.S. prison population for whom by some estimates less than 1% of incarceration costs go toward any kinds of rehabilitation. This would appear counterproductive, as the majority of prisoners do return to the

The last 70 years or so of feminist theory and activism are definitely on the menu in “Bloodroot.” Douglas Tirola’s documentary pays fond tribute to the two women who’ve stayed the course throughout the nearly half-century history of the titular collectively owned vegetarian restaurant in Bridgeport, Conn. Their individual stories provide archetypal illustrations of how

There’s a lot of talk these days about empowerment in the music industry. “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“The Celluloid Closet”), is a no-frills documentary that tells the enthralling story of one of the most powerful women in the history of pop music, and the movie

In today’s film news roundup, buyers take rights to “The Song of Names” and “Chain of Death” while and Shaquille O’Neal becomes an executive producer for legal thriller “Foster Boy.“ ACQUSITIONS Sony Pictures Classics has bought U.S. rights to the music drama “The Song of Names,” starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen. The film is

April 26, 2019 5:43PM PT “Avengers: Endgame” has become astronomical in its first three days, setting records in the U.S., China and a variety of overseas markets. These are some of the records the superhero tentpole is destroying on its first weekend at the box office. Biggest China opening day: “Avengers: Endgame” set the record

April 26, 2019 4:55PM PT Paramount has hired family film specialist David Bowers as the director of its upcoming live-action/CG “Rugrats” movie. Bowers directed the second, third and fourth “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies (“Rodrick Rules,” “Dog Days” and “The Long Haul”). He also directed the animated movies “Astro Boy” and “Flushed Away.” Producers

Robert Downey Jr., star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, almost didn’t reprise his role as Iron Man in “Captain America: Civil War.” “Avengers: Endgame” co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo sat down with Variety’s Marc Malkin for the second episode of Variety and iHeartMedia’s new film podcast, “The Big Ticket.” “We had to convince Robert Downey, who

You expect one thing from a film that opens with a quote from Bruce Springsteen’s career-making 1975 anthem “Born to Run”: a road movie, one with escape and exploration on its mind, eventually bounding forward from the glum, gray town of its establishing shots. “Run,” the third feature from mood-mongering Scottish filmmaker Scott Graham, both

TORONTO–Recent big-ticket acquisitions, boffo box-office receipts, and critical and audience acclaim for a small group of broad-appeal titles have inspired some to declare that a golden age of documentary cinema is now upon us. This may be so, but at the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival, which opened its 26th edition on Thursday in

Disney-Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” is heading for a record-shattering opening weekend of about $300 million in North America, early estimates showed on Friday. The fourth and final “Avengers” opened astronomically in North America with a record $60 million from Thursday night previews. It’s expected to take in another $80 million on Friday. One estimate placed “Avengers:

April 26, 2019 12:45PM PT Ludi Lin is set to join Barry Alexander Brown’s civil rights-era drama “Son of the South,” which has Spike Lee attached as an executive producer along with Brown. Based on Bob Zellner’s autobiography “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek” and written by Brown, the civil rights era drama follows the

Jeremy Renner wasn’t upset about being MIA in “Avengers: Infinity War.” “I think it ultimately had to do with the storytelling of it all,” Renner told Marc Malkin when they sat down for the second episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeartMedia’s new film podcast. “You leave it to the Russo brothers to make

Two days after Disney/Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” premiered overseas, the superhero tentpole has been widely pirated — with copies popping up like weeds on multiple torrent and illegal streaming sites. While Disney can’t be happy about that, the piracy activity so far hasn’t derailed “Endgame’s” trajectory of having the biggest movie opening ever. And it’s also

April 26, 2019 11:50AM PT U.S. movie admissions slid 14.9% in the first quarter to 265.6 million and box office receipts plunged 16.3% to $2.39 billion on the heels of a record-setting year, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) reports. The overall ticket price for the quarter slipped 15 cents to $9.01, compared to

April 26, 2019 11:40AM PT This coming-of-age drama about a Rastafarian running for his family and future finds its footing in its complex characters. Writer-director Storm Saulter’s “Sprinter” jogs along a predictable path, but makes a mad dash straight for the audience’s gut right before the finish line. While the narrative about a Rastafarian runner’s

April 26, 2019 11:19AM PT “The Girl on the Train” star Haley Bennett is in early talks to join Amy Adams and Glenn Close in Netflix’s adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” directed by Ron Howard. Gabriel Basso is also on board to star. Based on J.D. Vance’s bestselling memoir, the pic is a modern exploration of

Just minutes before premiering “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men” at New York’s Beacon Theatre Thursday night during the Tribeca Film Festival, director Sacha Jenkins stepped up to the podium and gave a “freestyle” for his speech, emphasizing that the Wu-Tang Clan story is an American success story. “I wanted to make a film to

April 26, 2019 10:41AM PT Hot on the heels of his Oscar-winning film “Green Book,” Peter Farrelly has found his next movie. The filmmaker will write and direct an untitled Skydance pic based on the book “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War.” The book was written by Joanna

In 1997, Tony Blair was the U.K. prime minister, and Oasis, Blur, Pulp, the Spice Girls, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, “Trainspotting” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” were among the cultural touchstones of what was dubbed “Cool Britannia.” And bestselling writer Nick Hornby was making his first movie, an adaptation of his hit novel “Fever

Chris Hemsworth isn’t exactly sure when he’ll leave the “Avengers” franchise. “There will come a day,” the “Thor” star told me when we sat down to chat for the second episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s new film podcast. “Whether it’s now or in the future, I don’t know…Who knows what the sort

Michael B. Jordan and WWE star Ronda Rousey were just two of the powerhouses that gathered in Hollywood Thursday night for the Los Angeles Family Housing’s annual fundraising celebration. The live-auction event, which brought together hundreds of top industry executives, philanthropists, and government partners, aimed to raise $2 million for LAFH, which builds permanent housing

Sinemia, a would-be rival to MoviePass, is closing down its U.S. operations — telling customers it could not find “a path to sustainability” amid legal headaches, competitive pressures and the challenging economics of the business model. The company announced the shutdown in a notice on its website Thursday. “While we are proud to have created

The Thursday evening conversation between game-making auteur Hideo Kojima and “Walking Dead” actor Norman Reedus about highly-anticipated PlayStation 4 game “Death Stranding” was filled with interesting anecdotes, but little in the way of hard fact. Instead, Kojima made a promise of sorts to the audience and seemingly fans everywhere waiting for more news on the

MADRID — Peru’s La Vida Misma and Paris-based sales agent Luxbox have dropped the first trailer and poster of Melina Leon’s “Canción sin nombre” (“Song Without a Name”), selected this week for the Cannes Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. Written by Leon and Michael J. White, “Song Without a Name” sums up some of ambitions and focus

Disney’s new live-action “Aladdin” will release in China on May 24, day-and-date with North America, giving the studio a run of three films in Chinese theaters as many months.  Two other Hollywood titles will also hit the big screen in the Middle Kingdom in the coming months: “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” on May 10 and the

Though it never really went away on much of the globe, a sort of creeping feudalism is making such a striking comeback — with the ever-more-fabulously-rich squeezing the poor of every dime and resource — that Lisa F. Jackson and Sarah Teale’s documentary “Patrimonio” feels like a frightening portent. Will such crude appropriations of land

Half a year after she was found guilty of tax fraud and disappeared from the public eye, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing has begun to signal her comeback, attending a gala event and launching her own beauty product on social media this week. The 37-year-old actress unexpectedly hit the red carpet in Beijing on Monday at

April 26, 2019 12:24AM PT There’s either a poor hostage or something much worse locked in the basement in this intriguing if somewhat underwritten horror opus. “I Trapped the Devil” sounds like the title of a sermon or gospel song, but it’s a very literal-minded statement coming from the mouth of a leading character in