Movies

The cast of “Hard Truths,” the 23rd film from legendary British director Mike Leigh, has been unveiled, along with a first look image. The feature, which like most Leigh projects has remained under a veil of secrecy, has reunited the filmmaker with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who received an Oscar nomination for his 1996 drama “Secrets &

It’s been almost 12 years since the release of “Les Misérables,” Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the hit musical and a triumphant follow-up to the director’s 2010 Oscars-dominating smash hit “The King’s Speech.” It was a film that earned more than $442 million globally and saw Anne Hathaway famously declare “it came true” after winning the

Subversive American author Bret Easton Ellis is set to make his directorial debut with “Relapse,” an elevated horror film he wrote starring “Stranger Things” breakout Joseph Quinn. Paris-based SND has boarded the project as producer, alongside Adrian Guerra’s Nostromo (“Penny Dreadful”) and Simon Wallon’s Kiss & Kill (“Bonnie”). SND will handle worldwide sales on “Relapse,”

The late Pema Tseden‘s “Snow Leopard” (China) won the top prize, the Golden Cyclo, at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema on Tuesday. The film, which previously won awards at the Tokyo and Hainan festivals, also won Vesoul’s National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (INALCO) jury prize and actor Tseten Tashi scored a

Cinema box office in Hong Kong failed to live up to expectations over the Lunar New Year holidays, even as local films led the chart. Movie theatre takings between Feb. 9-13 in Hong Kong weighed in at just HK$48.6 million ($6.23 million), according to data provided by Hong Kong Box Office Limited, a joint venture

The New Zealand International Film Festival has appointed veteran programmer Paolo Bertolin as its new artistic director. The festival, which travels around the country, will return in July and August, but stop in just four places. The announcement follows the release of the festival’s ten-year strategy document, “Te Ahua o te Whanau Marama,” in November

A-list Bollywood actor Rani Mukerji and Turkish star Hande Ercel will be among the luminaries speaking at the Frames conference in Mumbai. Organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the annual confab is one of the largest media and entertainment industry events in Asia. The theme of Frames 2024 is

Hong Kong will offer more than $1 million per project to film coproductions with Europe under a new grant scheme to be launched this week at the European Film Market in Berlin. The territory’s government is also sponsoring a visit to Berlin by a select group of producers and directors. The Hong Kong-Europe-Asian Film Collaboration

TrustNordisk has just inked pre-sales to ADS Service Ltd for Hungary and Romania on the Swedish-Danish animated pic “Super Charlie,” to be sneak-peeked as part of the sales banner’s promo reel screening Feb.15 at Berlin’s European Film Market. The 3D family pic helmed by Jon Holmberg with Oscar-nominated animator Karsten Killerich (“When Life Departs”) and Stine Buhl, is due

Billie Eilish, Finneas, Ludwig Göransson and Nicholas Britell were among the winners Wednesday evening at the 5th annual Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards. Eilish and Finneas took home the award for outstanding original song for a Comedy or Musical for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” The win continued their sweep of the

Many romantic comedies utilize deception as a key plot point. However, for every film that incorporates an inciting fib with smarts and heart (from “While You Were Sleeping” to “You’ve Got Mail”), there are others that lack a similar savvy finesse (like “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days” and “The Wedding Date”). “Players”

Finalists have been announced for the British Animation Awards, which will take place on March 7 at London’s BFI Southbank. Contending for best feature film are “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “A Cat Called Dom,” “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” “Puffin Rock and The New Friends” and “The Amazing Maurice.” “Christopher at Sea,” “The Debutante” and “All

The Set Decorators Society of America has announced the winners of the SDSA Awards, recognizing excellence in the art of set decoration for films released in 2023. This year’s winners of the five categories included “Saltburn,” “Poor Things,” “Barbie” and “Asteroid City.” “Poor Things” took home the prize for both achievement in decor/design of a

Robert Downey Jr. made headlines earlier this month when he revealed that he first met his “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan back in the early 2000s to be potentially cast as the villain Scarecrow in the director’s 2005 superhero tentpole “Batman Begins.” Downey said Nolan wasn’t too interested in casting him, which Nolan fully admitted in

Cillian Murphy‘s “Oppenheimer” press tour is now in its final stages as the actor does his final weeks of campaigning in the lead up to the Oscars, where he’s nominated for best actor thanks to his leading turn in Christopher Nolan’s atom bomb epic. If it were up to Murphy, there might not have been

It’s the closest thing there is to a universal genre. That’s because, with rare exceptions, everyone falls in love, or at least wants to. And when you think about it, almost every movie is a love story. Thrillers, comedies, sci-fi — no matter what the form, the spectacle of two people falling in love in

How does one repay a team of producers for launching its highest grossing film of all time? Give them the key to the studio — literally. On Monday, “Barbie” producers, LuckyChap’s Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara inked a first-look deal at Warner Bros., which distributed the $1.4 billion-grossing movie. So, to celebrate, Warner

Joe Biden didn’t score an endorsement from Taylor Swift on Super Bowl Sunday, as some had predicted. But her boyfriend Travis Kelce is using the president’s renewable energy tax credits to finance the film “My Dead Friend Zoe.” The SXSW-bound indie, which stars Natalie Morales, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, marks Kelce’s first foray into

Katcy Stephan has been promoted to film reporter for Variety. Stephan joined Variety in 2021 as social media editor. Under her leadership, Variety’s cumulative social footprint across major platforms has nearly doubled, reaching 12 million total followers as of this month across TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. With her advancement to reporter, Stephan

“May December” breakout Charles Melton has lined up another major feature and is set to star alongside Elizabeth Olsen in Todd Solondz‘s next film, the darkly comic “Love Child.” Killer Films (“Past Lives,” “May December”), 2AM (“Past Lives”) Volition Media (“Sam and Kate,” “Land of Bad”) and Gramercy Park Media (“The Fabulous Four,” “Blood for

Roses are red, violets are blue, two new movies will open in theaters on Valentine’s Day, but neither are expected to break through. Paramount’s musical biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” is projected to collect $30 million to $35 million between Wednesday and President’s Day on Monday. Those ticket sales should be enough to lead over

Deadpool is slicing his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the record books. The first trailer for “Deadpool and Wolverine,” which debuted Sunday during the Super Bowl, has broken the record for the most-viewed movie trailer within 24 hours with an astounding 365 million total views, per Disney. The previous record holder was

While Prime Video’s “Reacher” is a television hit, the action franchise was first adapted in 2012 as “Jack Reacher,” a film starring Tom Cruise as the titular drifter and ex-Military Police investigator. That movie’s sequel, 2016’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” underperformed at the box office and effectively killed the film franchise. “Never Go Back”

Prepare for “the greatest Bigfoot story ever told.” Bleecker Street has released the trailer for the upcoming absurdist comedy “Sasquatch Sunset,” starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg as hairy (and horny) mythical creatures. It is set for theatrical release on April 12. Per Variety‘s Rebecca Rubin, who was on the ground at Sundance when the

The first look at the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic has been released, and it recreates one of the singer’s most iconic outfits. Michael Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, plays the King of Pop in “Michael,” which releases in theaters on April 18, 2025. The film is now in production. Jaafar Jackson takes the stage and recreates

A few months after Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were married in 2022, Lopez got a call from Jane Fonda. The two had been friends since 2005’s “Monster-in-Law,” and it was Fonda who had introduced J. Lo when she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fonda was reaching out because Lopez had

The nonprofit Mercy for Animals, which fights to end factory farming, will honor Kate Mara, Travon Free and Tabitha Brown at its 25th anniversary gala. The trio will be honored at the red carpet event — held on Saturday, April 20, at Rolling Greens in Los Angeles — for their contributions to the cause of

The BAFTA Awards won’t stream the final four categories live this year, the producers have confirmed. The star-studded ceremony, which will be hosted by former Doctor Who David Tennant, will be broadcast as-live on the BBC with a two-hour delay. The footage will then be edited down by an hour to make for a 120-minute

“Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret,” the follow-up to “Seaspiracy,” “Cowspiracy” and “What the Health,” will open in theaters in the U.S. for two nights of special screenings that will take place on March 20 and 24. The film will also hit theaters in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria and Switzerland on March

A group of Berlinale workers have published an open letter to the festival, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and asking that leadership take a “stronger institutional stance” on what the statement calls “the current assault on Palestinian life.” The letter, which was published on Instagram Monday night with a link to a Google Form for