March 1, 2019 11:00AM PT Danny DeVito, Vicky Krieps, Peter Sarsgaard, Saro Emirze, Dar Zuzovsky, and John Leguizamo have joined Ben Foster in boxing drama “Harry Haft” with Barry Levinson directing. Bron Studios and New Mandate Films are producing in association with Creative Wealth Media, which is financing the movie. The film began production Feb.
Movies
The internet will correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure “The Wedding Guest” is the first time Dev Patel has handled a firearm in one of his movies. Five minutes into Michael Winterbottom’s Pakistan-set thriller, the actor walks into a shop, asks to try out a gun, and proceeds to inspect a semiautomatic
March 1, 2019 10:49AM PT Universal is in talks with Elisabeth Moss for the actress to star in its retelling of “Invisible Man.” Sources say the negotiations are in the extremely early stages, but if they were to move forward, Moss would star in the film with “Upgrade” filmmaker Leigh Whannell writing and directing. Sources
March 1, 2019 10:24AM PT Saban Films has acquired North American rights to Richard Bates Jr.’s horror thriller “Tone-Deaf,” starring Robert Patrick and Amanda Crew, ahead of its South by Southwest premiere. The film is produced by Circle of Confusion’s Lawrence Mattis, Brad Mendelsohn, and Matt Smith, and Best Medicine Productions’ Brion Hambel and Paul
March 1, 2019 10:14AM PT Ian McKellen is making some controversial comments about the sexual assault allegations his former colleagues Kevin Spacey and Bryan Singer both face. “Both of them were in the closet,” he said on a recent live recording of the #QueerAF podcast during National Student Pride 2019. “Hence all their problems as
March 1, 2019 10:06AM PT “Edge of Tomorrow” is officially getting a sequel. Warner Bros. is moving ahead with its follow-up to the Tom Cruise–Emily Blunt time-travel tale “Edge of Tomorrow,” with “Invention of Lying” scribe Matthew Robinson writing the script. The 2014 original, directed by Doug Liman, grossed $370.5 million worldwide, including $100.2 million
In August, a photo surfaced of a boy in an Afro wig with makeup-darkened skin standing in for 11-year-old African-American actor Keith L. Williams on the Vancouver set of “Good Boys,” a comedy about three sixth-graders who ditch school and wind up on a road trip. The image sparked online outrage, and Seth Rogen, one
Tyler Perry’s “A Madea Family Funeral” has come alive with $1.1 million on Thursday night. The 11th installment of Lionsgate’s Madea franchise will expand to 2,442 sites on Friday and is expected to take in $18 million to $20 million. Universal-DreamWorks’ sophomore frame of “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” is heading for
Oprah Winfrey knows that she’s courting controversy with her new special “After Neverland,” an interview with two men who have accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were young boys. “I’m gonna get it,” the talk show host predicted during a taping of the broadcast on Wednesday at the New York Times Center.
March 1, 2019 4:08AM PT Production in China has got underway on a Mandarin-language remake of hit Japanese comedy “Key of Life.” The plot involves a failed actor who swap identities with a stranger, only to discover that the man is a top assassin. The original film was produced and distributed by leading Japanese indie
In a surprise decision, Israel’s attorney general has announced that he will not press charges against Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan for his central role in a case of alleged corruption involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli police had recommended last year that Milchan, the head of New Regency Productions, be indicted on bribery charges stemming
“A Madea Family Funeral” is the eleventh Tyler Perry film to showcase Perry in the role of the fire-breathing battle-axe-in-flowered-print-dresses inner-city drag matriarch Madea. So going into the movie, it seems reasonable to assume that the funeral it pivots around might, at this point, be Madea’s own. Is there anyone left for her to terrorize?
In today’s film news roundup, New Line’s Misty Copeland biopic moves ahead, Rapman’s “Blue Story” is becoming a feature film and “Muriel’s Wedding” is getting a 25th anniversary showing. DIRECTOR ATTACHED New Line has hired “Tall Girl” helmer Nzingha Stewart to direct its feature adaptation of Misty Copeland’s biography “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.”
February 28, 2019 5:52PM PT Tyrese Gibson will star as singer-songwriter Teddy Pendergrass in a biopic set up with Warner Bros., which has acquired the life rights to the late singer. Pendergrass broke out in the early 1970s as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and became a massive success as
Leaders of the Writers Guild of America have met with about 100 top Hollywood managers about the guild’s proposals to revamp the rules for agents. The spirited two-hour session, held Thursday at the W Hotel in Hollywood, produced perplexed reactions as a panel of WGA leaders and staff spelled out the specifics of the guild’s
February 28, 2019 4:05PM PT The fifth installment of the “Rambo” franchise, “Rambo: Last Blood,” will hit theaters on Sept. 20 — 37 years after the series launched with “First Blood.” The story centers on Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo crossing into Mexico and taking on a violent cartel when the daughter of one of his
Newly minted DreamWorks Animation president Margie Cohn has set her leadership team with two new roles at the Universal-owned shop. Kristin Lowe has been named chief creative officer in feature films, and Peter Gal has the same role in television. Both will report to Cohn effective immediately, with several other workflow changes at the Burbank,
David Slade, director of “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” “Hard Candy” and “American Gods,” is attached to direct the upcoming thriller “Come Closer.” The film will be produced by Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Michael London (“Sideways,” “The Visitor,” “Milk”). Based on the novel of the same name, and written by the novel’s author Sara
In a sign of the continuing controversy over “Roma’s” haul of BAFTA Awards earlier this month, leading U.K. cinema chain Cineworld has pulled its support of the British Academy. In a letter to BAFTA members, film committee chairman Marc Samuelson said that Cineworld had made a “unilateral decision to withdraw its support” of the British
Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, and Lily-Rose Depp have boarded the cast of the opioid crisis thriller “Dreamland.” The trio joins the previously announced cast of Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer, and Evangeline Lilly. Kinnear plays a university dean whose friendship with Oldman’s character is tested by conflicts of industry. Rodriguez plays a DEA supervisor who clashes
Indian actress Tabu (“The Namesake”) will kick off the 19th edition of the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles in April with “Andhadhun,” directed by Sriram Raghavan. Running April 11-14 at the Regal L.A. Live, IFFLA will open with a tribute to mono-monikered Tabu and a moderated discussion along with a screening of her latest film. The
February 28, 2019 10:41AM PT A road trip comedy about two girls who devoutly followed *NSYNC on their final tour is in the works from former band member Lance Bass. “It’s a really fun story about these girls that win a Winnebago on ‘The Price is Right’ and follow us on tour — which randomly
Composer John Powell knows a little something about scoring for animation. One-third of his entire feature-film output has been for such top-grossing pics as “Kung Fu Panda,” “Happy Feet,” the “Ice Age” series and “How to Train Your Dragon.” The latter earned him a 2010 Oscar nomination for original score. The adventures of Toothless the dragon
February 28, 2019 10:15AM PT Colin Farrell will star in A24’s upcoming film “After Yang.” Korean-born filmmaker Kogonada will direct the robot drama from his own script. A24 has greenlit the project, which is based on the Alexander Weinstein short story “Saying Goodbye to Yang.” “After Yang” centers on a father and daughter as they
It’s one of those coincidences with which film history is littered, that Claudio Giovannesi’s Naples-set young-Camorra saga “Piranhas” played in the Berlinale competition — going on to win the best screenplay award — while Agostino Ferrente’s documentary, “Selfie,” set in the very same milieu, debuted to much less fanfare in the Panorama sidebar. The films
Oscar-winning film composer and symphony orchestra conductor Andre Previn died Thursday at his home in Manhattan, his manager confirmed to the New York Times. He was 89. The former enfant terrible of motion picture scoring and accomplished jazz pianist was honored with four Academy Awards. He won the first two, for best scoring of a
February 28, 2019 7:01AM PT “Game of Thrones” and “Victoria” star Dame Diana Rigg will receive the second-ever Variety Icon Award at Canneseries. “I am deeply honored to be receiving the award and delighted that the world-wide cultural power of television is being recognized,” said Rigg in a statement. In addition to playing the implacable
New York City has handed out its first-ever “Made in NY” grants for film, TV and theatrical projects that are driven by or focused on women. The grants administered through the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment are part of a larger initiative across the city to support women in business ventures. MOME has awarded
February 28, 2019 4:49AM PT “Star Wars Jedi: Fallout Order,” Respawn Entertainment’s long-awaited action adventure game, will be revealed in Chicago during the Star Wars Celebration in April, according to the StarWars.Com website. A special panel on April 13, will give would-be players a first look at the EA published game that centers around a
The Dominican Republic is poised to take a bold leap into the future thanks to Brooklyn-born tech and real estate titan Louis Arriola, chairman and founder of NYLA Media, whose ambitious multi-million-dollar plans include the vertical integration of a 5G broadband network, a studio facility, tech training and game development, film & TV production and