Movies

BERLIN — Brazilian TV giant Globo and international digital film distributor Under the Milky Way have announced  a distribution deal for seven new feature films from Globo Filmes, allowing the titles access via UMW to major platforms in 70 territories. The deal covers more than ten major on demand” platforms – including iTunes, Amazon, Google

Variety has learned that writer/director Larry Brand died suddenly on Feb. 9 at his home in Hollywood. He was 69. Brand’s first job in the film industry was as a driver and production assistant for Orson Welles. Following his debut feature film, psychological thriller “Backfire” (co-written with frequent collaborator Rebecca Reynolds), he went on to

Chinese executives and international film festival programmers are scratching their heads to understand why Zhang Yimou’s “One Second” was withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival’s main competition just days before its premiere. The Berlinale echoed the film’s official social media site Monday in saying that the highly anticipated film was being withdrawn for “technical reasons.”

Memento Films Intl. has scored a flurry of pre-sales to major territories on “Persian Lessons,” the drama directed by Vadim Perelman. After unveiling a promo reel of the film at the European Film Market, “Persian Lessons” has sold to Spain (Avalon), Latin America (Sun), Japan (Kino Films), Italy (Academy Two), Benelux (Splendid), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Greece

February 11, 2019 10:00PM PT France.tv, the newly revamped streaming service of French broadcasting group France Televisions, has ordered “Parlement,” a half-hour satirical comedy series about the European Parliament created by Noé Debré. Debré’s credits include Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan.” The series, which is being produced by Fabienne Servan-Schreiber and Thomas Saignes at

February 11, 2019 10:00PM PT TrustNordisk has closed several deals on “Swoon,” the fantasy-romance pic written and directed by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, the pair behind hit drama series “The Bridge” and “Midnight Sun” as well as “Underworld Awakening” and “Shelter” with Julianne Moore. “Swoon” unfolds in an imaginary universe and follows the love

Eric Tosti’s “Terra Willy,” the family animated feature from TAT Prods., has inked a flurry of buyers at the European Film Market, where French sales company Bac Films hosted screenings. Sci-fi “Terra Willy” follows a 10-year-old boy who lands on a wild and unexplored planet after he is separated from his parents following the destruction

FilmNation Entertainment’s “Reminiscence,” AGC Studios’ “Voyagers” and Rocket Science’s “Trial of the Chicago 7” were buzz titles at a 2019 Berlin market, which, compared to the last two years, proved smaller, more select and slower. Directed by Neil Burger and produced by Basil Iwanyk, who rolled into Berlin to pitch the project to buyers, sci-fi

Barcelona’s Filmax is handling international sales rights to “Tomorrow’s A New Day,” the Italian remake of Cesc Gay’s acclaimed friendship dramedy “Truman.” Iván Díaz, head of international sales at Filmax, is introducing the film to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. A production by Rome-based Baires Produzioni in collaboration with Medusa Film, the

Slick Woods, Rihanna’s favorite fashion model, makes her feature film debut as the lead actress in Sam de Jong’s “Goldie,” which world premiered Sunday in Berlin’s Generation 14plus section. She found filming 21 days straight “hard work” and a “crazy experience,” but enjoyed it, although she did have to sacrifice her 21st birthday, she tells

Controversial Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier is apparently turning to diamonds and virtual reality as a new method of representing his movies. Von Trier has created “Melancholia: The Diamond,” inspired by his 2011 movie, as an exhibition the M HKA, a modern art museum in Antwerp, Belgium, according to the New York Times. The stone

Variety has confirmed that four Oscars will be presented during commercial breaks of the 91st Academy Awards. The awards will be best cinematography, film editing, live action short and makeup and hairstyling. The winning speeches will edited to remove the winners’ walk from their seats to the stage and each speech will be aired separately later

For a film that hinges entirely on the deceptive nature of appearances, it’s appropriate that “Who You Think I Am” wears a few genre disguises itself en route to a double-edged conclusion. Leading Juliette Binoche’s unhappily divorced academic through the tricks and turns of online catfishing, the film’s premise seems poised at any minute to

Ludwig Göransson’s Grammy wins Sunday night broke yet another record: The Swedish composer and collaborative partner with Childish Gambino became the first artist to win song of the year and best score soundtrack for projects in entirely different music genres. Göransson won for his “Black Panther” score and shared the song of the year Grammy

Neon has acquired the North American rights to “Honeyland,” the award-winning documentary from Macedonian filmmaking duo Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska. The deal marks Neon’s fifth acquisition out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where “Honeyland” received the world cinema grand jury prize: documentary, world cinema documentary special jury award for cinematography, and world cinema

February 11, 2019 12:34PM PT Paramount Pictures is developing Kyle Starks’ graphic novel “Kill Them All” and has set the action project up with “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” producers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec. The story, first published in 2015, centers on a betrayed murderess seeking revenge who partners up with a hard drinking former

Joseph A. Sirola, who was dubbed the “King of Voice-Overs” for his extensive work in commercials, died Sunday in New York. He was 89 years old. His rep confirmed that he died from complications of respiratory failure. He was best known for his deep, resonant voice that appeared in advertisements for companies like Ford, GE,

February 11, 2019 12:08PM PT “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are producing and directing their live-action movie “The Last Human” for Sony/TriStar. Sony announced Monday that it had topped bids from Netflix, Warner Bros., and Universal for the movie rights to the upcoming novel by Lee Bacon, set in a

February 11, 2019 11:59AM PT Thomas Middleditch is joining Sony Pictures’ upcoming “Zombieland” sequel. The “Silicon Valley” actor will star alongside Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin in “Zombieland 2.” As previously reported, Zoey Deutch and Rosario Dawson are also boarding the cast. “Zombieland 2” will be set in a world in which

Millennium Films has delayed shooting Bryan Singer’s “Red Sonja” movie this year in the wake of recent accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against him. “The project is not on the slate at the moment and is not for sale at the European Film Market in Berlin,” a spokeswoman for Avi Lerner’s studio said. Millennium

Presenting the Oscar-nominated “Vice” at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday, actor Christian Bale said Dick Cheney’s transformation into one of the most notorious U.S. leaders of the past century had much to do with his wife Lynne, played by Amy Adams in the film. “Lynne really gave him the ambition. In many ways he

Viacom will roll out an ambitious internal corporate initiative dubbed Spark that aims to engage and energize the company’s 10,000 employees with an expansive slate of conference-style programming. Viacom president-CEO Bob Bakish calls Spark “a multi-market next generation town hall.” The sessions kick off Tuesday with a 50-minute Q&A with Bakish and Viacom vice chair

A chill air blows through the small Quebecois village of Irénée-les-Neiges following a young man’s suicide, bringing with it unexpected and largely unwelcome visitors. Denis Côté’s “Ghost Town Anthology” has superficial parallels to Robin Campillo’s “They Came Back,” in which the dead return, but in keeping with the maverick Canadian’s style, his film is a

Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros. expected everything would be awesome. Instead, executives on the Burbank lot are feeling a pain not unlike the sharp sting you suffer from stepping on a tiny plastic toy. The studio’s animated sequel “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” fell short of expectations, earning $34.4 million when it

February 11, 2019 5:55AM PT The Berlin Film Festival will move to late February in 2020, landing after the BAFTA and Oscar ceremonies. The dates for Berlin’s 70th anniversary edition were announced Monday with the festival moving to a later Feb. 20-March 1 slot. Traditionally the BAFTA Film Awards have landed on the middle Sunday

February 11, 2019 5:24AM PT The BFI London Film Festival has announced the dates for this year’s festival. The 63rd edition of the London Film Festival will run Oct. 2-13. The festival will once again be led by Tricia Tuttle, who was appointed director of BFI festivals at the closing night of last year’s iteration

February 11, 2019 4:34AM PT Zhang Yimou’s “One Second,” set during China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has been withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival, where it was to premiere in competition. The festival confirmed Monday that the title had been withdrawn. The first announcement of it appeared on the film’s official Weibo site, China’s version of

Zhang Yimou’s “One Second,” set during China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has been withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival, where it was to premiere in competition. A post Monday on the film’s official Weibo social media site announced that the film had been yanked, saying that it was for “technical reasons.” The festival confirmed the information,

In an open letter to Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick and German culture and media commissioner Monika Grütters, 160 independent exhibitors are calling for Isabel Coixet’s competition film “Elisa y Marcela” to be shown out of competition. “We, the independent arthouse cinema operators in Germany, do not agree with the fact that ‘Elisa y Marcela,’ by

February 11, 2019 1:50AM PT Former “X Factor” champion Shayne Ward will star in homegrown British horror movie “Skendleby.” Mark Jackson (“The Orville”) and Niamh McGrady (“The Fall”) will also star. Ward triumphed on the second-ever edition of the “X Factor” in the U.K. in 2005 before going on to build an acting career and starring