Kristen Stewart, Ben Foster and Tom Glynn-Carney have signed on to star in an untitled drama about Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs with Foster making his directorial debut on the project. The film explores an unusual love triangle between Burroughs, portrayed by Foster; his charismatic, common-law muse, Joan Vollmer, played by Stewart; and a
Movies
“Game of Thrones” fans have a lot to thank J.R.R. Tolkien for. “Thrones” author George R.R. Martin, along with stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and director Dome Karukoski, discussed their personal connections to Tolkien and his “Lord of the Rings” series on the red carpet — or more accurately, the green carpet (a nod
John Wick has a very famous fan: Halle Berry. She’s such a fan, in fact, that she ended up in the third installment of the action franchise, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.” “I get a phone call from my agent and my manager saying, ‘They’re doing a third installment of ‘John Wick.’ Did you
China’s Wanda Pictures will attend Cannes’ Marche du Film this year with four new projects, including “Detective Chinatown 3,” the latest installment in the lucrative franchise. Last year’s “Detective Chinatown 2” debuted in the competitive Chinese New Year period and brought in $496 million (RMB3.39 billion) to become the country’s fifth-highest-grossing title of all time.
Pennywise and the Losers’ Club are back. It’s been nearly three decades since the youngsters of Derry, Maine defeated the sewer-dwelling, shapeshifting demon known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Or so they thought. Warner Bros. and New Line unveiled new footage of “It: Chapter Two,” showcasing the band of misfits returning to their hometown 27
May 9, 2019 7:29AM PT China’s Huahua Media has signed on to remake two classic war films from the Balkans as part of a push to improve diplomatic ties between the Middle Kingdom and countries taking part in its “Belt and Road” global infrastructure project, Chinese reports said. The news follows Huahua’s return to the
Cheerleading is a sport that commands attention. It whips the crowd into a controlled fervor, getting people off their feet and cheering with excitement. Unfortunately, director Zara Hayes’ “Poms” barely manages to do the same with its story about a group of retired women who reclaim their vitality and challenge societal norms by forming a cheerleading
SF’s logo is one every Scandinavian is familiar with. A film production company, distributor and the owner of a movie theater chain across the Nordic and Baltic countries until recently, it is a cultural landmark not only in its native Sweden, but also across the Nordic countries. Founded as Svensk Filmindustri in 1919, SF played
A young woman struggles in the water to free her bloodied former lover from the seat of a submerged small plane, perched precariously on the ledge of an underwater cliff descending into the abyss of the Indian Ocean. It’s a scene — shot in the tank at Pinewood, with visual effects to be added by
As SF Studios bulks up its pipeline with ambitious in-house productions, the company’s international sales division is now aiming to widen its scope through third-party pickups, with an eye on non-Scandinavian projects. Spearheaded by Anita Simovic, SF Studios’ international sales team will be bringing to Cannes a couple pickups: Santiago Requejo’s heartfelt comedy drama “Grandpas,”
SF Studios — the Swedish major that’s turning 100 this year — is banking on the production of high-concept, talent driven English-language and local films, as well as TV series, to become a key European player and thrive in today’s ultra-competitive landscape increasingly dominated by deep-pocketed OTT services. Once the home of Ingmar Bergman, SF
France’s Wild Bunch will be in charge of international sales and ARP will do French distribution for Chinese writer-director Gu Xiaogang’s debut feature, “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains,” the closing film at this year’s Critics’ Week at Cannes, the production team told Variety. The film does not yet have a distributor for China. “Dwelling” is
May 9, 2019 4:37AM PT It was, by most measures, a bad few months to be a major theater chain. And AMC Entertainment as the world’s biggest exhibitor, felt the burn from a series of flop films and underperforming blockbuster hopefuls during its most recent quarter. The company’s revenues fell 13.2% to $1.2 billion, while
May 9, 2019 4:21AM PT Indie sales house, Free Stone Productions has picked up sales rights on “To The Ends Of The Earth,” the new film by Japanese directing icon Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Starring Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, and Shota Sometani, the film is a rare example of a Japanese-Uzbekistan co-production. Production is by Eiko Mizuno-Gray and
Anubhav Sinha’s “Article 15,” starring Ayushmann Khurrana, will have its world premiere at the 10th edition of the London Indian Film Festival. The opening night film and red carpet will take place at London’s Picturehouse Central. Khurrana plays a police officer from a privileged background in “Article 15.” His first posting is to rural north
This summer will see the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It may also provide opportunity to meditate upon the fact that an awed populace back then could hardly have imagined an American near-future in which anti-science sentiments would become so widespread, particularly at the highest levels of a government that once rated
We’ve all heard the warning, “If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned.” Well, that’s nothing compared to the consequences if you steal gasoline straight from the source — an extremely high-risk practice now on the rise in Mexico, where the combustibility of extracting raw fuel from open fields is amplified by the dangers
In today’s film news roundup, Geraldine Viswanathan and Cedric the Entertainer get gigs, shooting starts on apocalyptic thriller “G.O.D.,” and immigrant story “Footprints of the Dragon” is in the works. CASTINGS Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery and Utkarsh Ambudkar are set to star in romantic comedy “The Broken Heart Gallery.” Viswanathan will portray an art collector
May 8, 2019 3:44PM PT Paramount has dated Chris Evans’ past-lives drama “Infinite” for Aug. 7, 2020. The studio has also moved Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America” sequel off that date and back four months to Dec. 18, 2020. That holiday date had been occupied by James Cameron’s “Avatar 2,” but Disney announced on Tuesday
Will the Avengers be assembling again some time soon? Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted during the studio’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday that Marvel Studios will likely unveil the next slate of films from its cinematic superhero universe at some point this summer. Iger declined to give specifics about what masked heroes will be in the
Will any films be able to compete with the box office juggernaut that is Disney and Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame”? That’s a question Warner Bros. and Legendary’s “Detective Pikachu” will attempt to answer this weekend as the studio’s live-action Pokemon adaptation takes on the mother of blockbusters at the domestic box office. Industry analysts are projecting
It’s a good time to be the Walt Disney Company. On Wednesday, the company released its first earnings report since wrapping up its $71.3 billion deal to buy much of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets, a pact that has upended the balance of power in Hollywood in Disney’s favor. It was a boffo
STX Entertainment chief operating officer Thomas McGrath is departing the company, Variety has learned exclusively. McGrath, who has been at Bob Simonds’ young studio since day one, left his post on Monday, an individual familiar with the change said. He will transition to a senior adviser role, a second insider noted. An STX spokesperson had
May 8, 2019 11:54AM PT John Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone, will attend the upcoming Cannes Film Festival to share the first look at “Rambo V: Last Blood.” The action star will debut exclusive images of his final outing as Rambo during a special screening at the Palais des Festivals on May 24, the second-to-last day
The end of the world is coming to HBO. In the first teaser trailer for the miniseries “Watchmen,” released by HBO on Wednesday, a clock eerily ticks throughout the one-minute video as the town’s masked superheroes plan a revolt. Based on the DC comic book, written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in the 1980s,
May 8, 2019 10:40AM PT Ethan Hawke will direct a film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play “Camino Real,” starring Juliette Binoche. Passage Pictures will produce. The film is expected to shoot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next year. John Sloss from Cinetic Media is also attached to produce alongside Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer,
May 8, 2019 10:40AM PT Sylvester Stallone has reached a confidential settlement with Warner Bros. in a dispute over profits from four films, including the 1993 action film “Demolition Man.” Stallone filed suit in April 2017, claiming he had not received any profit participation from “Demolition Man” for a period of 18 years. Under his
Back in the mid-’90s, when Pixar was creating the world’s first computer-animated feature, the seminal “Toy Story,” the process was by necessity a collaborative one. Any of the 129 crew members could shout down the hallway with a question and get a quick response. That spirit of collaboration persisted through the making of “Toy Story
It was the announcement heard round the world. The Cannes Film Festival finally confirmed on May 2 something everyone had anticipated: Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” would have its world premiere in competition at the 72nd annual extravaganza. The vision of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie ascending the steep red-carpeted steps
Epigmenio Ibarra proudly shows off the impressive new facilities of his 27-year-old production house, Argos Comunicación, located in an industrial zone outside Mexico City. He walks through one of six brand-new sound stages, a state-of-the-art suite where colorists are working on a series, a set-construction warehouse and more. A production has wrapped the day before, another will