Movies

Ron Miller, former Disney CEO and son-in-law of Walt Disney, died Saturday in Napa, Calif. at the age of 85. Miller served as president and later CEO of Disney from 1978 to 1984, during a rocky period for the company. He was president of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Family Museum and owner

Diane Kruger thought her flair for language would make her a natural fit for the lead role in Israeli helmer Yuval Adler’s spy thriller “The Operative,” which world-premiered out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday. “When I first read [the script], I thought immediately that this is a project that I really

The domestic box office might want to start sending out an S.O.S. After a disappointing start to 2019, industry watchers were hoping Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” would help turn things around and bring audiences back to their local multiplexes. The animated sequel did easily top box office charts with $34.4

Watching a woman take control of her destiny after being told she’s worthless can make for one of cinema’s more empowering moments, but how satisfying is it really when her struggle for self-esteem takes a back seat to the happiness of being validated by a handsome man? “God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya” positions itself

Sean Bean, best known for “The Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones,” Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar nominated for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” and Stacy Martin (“Nymphomaniac,” “All the Money in the World”) have joined Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott in Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller “Possessor.” Well Go USA Entertainment will release the

February 10, 2019 1:38AM PT A woman with past paranormal experiences investigates a widower’s possible spirit visitations in this modest, ultimately poignant ghost story sans horror. “Light from Light” is about a paranormal investigator who comes to the aid of a grieving widower possibly receiving messages from his late wife. Supernatural horror and bloodshed inevitably

February 10, 2019 1:35AM PT London-based sales outfit WestEnd Films has released the first-look image from Gerard Johnson’s psychological thriller “Muscle,” which Variety has exclusively. The movie, which is “dripping in sweat, tears, and testosterone,” according to WestEnd, centers on Simon, an unhappy, unambitious office worker whose life is gradually taken over by Terry, his

For the third time in as many films, Kazakh director Emir Baigazin has made the arid, disquieting coming-of-age story of a teenage boy called Aslan his subject. But it is not the same boy, and though the stringent, clinical perfectionism of the aesthetic is unmistakable, this is not the same film. “Harmony Lessons” and “The

Two warring teenage twins mix like oil and water — and have the emotional battle scars to show for it — in director Hugh O’Conor’s “Metal Heart.” This coming-of-age film delivers plenty of sweet sentiments about sisterhood, kinship, and honesty to its target market, though the package that surrounds it isn’t as unique as one

Good friends often split restaurant checks, but can they split child-raising duties? That’s the catchy premise of writer-director Sam Friedlander’s outrageous comedy “Babysplitters,” which earned the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema at the Santa Barbara film fest. Combining the DNA of “She’s Having a Baby” and “Indecent Proposal,” Friedlander’s audacious hook is sure to

“Cold War” cinematographer Łukasz Żal has won the top feature award from the American Society of Cinematographers. “Cold War,” shot in black and white, topped Alfonso Cuaron’s digital 65mm black-and-white lensing of his own “Roma,” Linus Sandgren’s multi-format work on Damien Chazelle’s moonshot drama “First Man,” Matthew Libatique for Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” and

Blessed with scene-stealing natural beauty, Western Norway has served as a breathtaking backdrop for international films such as Alex Garland’s sci-fi drama “Ex Machina” and “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” But local bizzers say there’s more to the region than meets the eye. “People may already know that our region is picture perfect,” says Sigmund Elias Holm,

2018 was a landmark year for Stockholm-based producer Piodor Gustafsson, head of Black Spark Film & TV whose Oscar-nominated films “Border,” “The Wife” and TV dramas “Moscow Noir “and “Sthlm Requiem” landed on screens worldwide. The producer also stepped up to his role as talent spotter/nurturer by adding the job of film and TV agent

February 9, 2019 9:30PM PT Sebastián Muñoz’s drama “El Principe” has closed key major territory deals before its European Film Market premiere, licensing North America (Artsploitation Films) and Germany/Austria (Salzgeber). Sold by Patra Spanou, “El Princípe,” which proved a standout at works-in-progress strands of Chile’s Sanfic and Spain’s San Sebastián festival, has also sold to

SF Studios, the Scandinavian company celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is developing an English-language series based on Max Tegmark’s 2007 bestseller “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” The science-fiction series will follow a group of young scientists working at a startup who discover the first artificial intelligence and envision ways

Leading Chinese film studio Huayi Bros. has begun sounding out international distributors in Berlin about director Guan Hu’s $80 million war film “800.” It will be completed by midsummer and is one of the most anticipated Chinese titles of the year. Guan, who broke through to international and commercial success with 2015 gangster drama “Mr.

XYZ Films’s upcoming sci-fi thriller “Stowaway” is set to shoot in Munich and Cologne after securing regional funding in Germany, where the Los Angeles-based company is looking to establish a long-term relationship with production partners Rise Pictures and Augenschein Filmproduktion. Directed by Joe Penna (“The Arctic”) and starring Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette, “Stowaway” follows

February 9, 2019 9:00PM PT Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange has sold Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Spall starrer “Mrs. Lowry & Son,” about the British artist L.S. Lowry, to several major territories. Distribution rights were picked up by Rialto in Australia, DDDream Intl. in China, Paradiso in Benelux, Notorious in Italy, Sky Digi in Taiwan, and

February 9, 2019 9:00PM PT Former Focus Features exec Jonathan Halperyn and Korda Studios’ Daniel Kresmery are in Berlin talking to partners about their recently minted Central and Eastern Europe-based content and production business Hero Squared. Halperyn spent over a decade at Focus Features in finance and strategy on the international team. Kresmery established the

With the Scandinavian market becoming increasingly divided between blockbusters and indies, mid-budget films are left in limbo and struggling to get financial backing. “The polarization starts at the funding stage,” says Hakon Overas of Norway’s 4½ Fiksjon, the production company behind Hans Petter Moland’s “Out Stealing Horses,” in competition for the Golden Bear in Berlin.

February 9, 2019 8:40PM PT Sales agent Global Screen has kicked off sales for German thriller “The Collini Case,” starring Elyas M’Barek, the star of the hit “Fack Ju Göhte,” franchise, and produced by Constantin Film. ARP Selection has acquired all rights for France and is planning a wide release at the end of year.

The extraordinary success of Chilean filmmakers will be celebrated in the 2019 Week of Chilean Cinema, which launches in Madrid, then travels to Paris and Berlin. The week offers a larger narrative: the Chileans have won more awards, festival acclaim and global box office in the past decade than any other filmmaking industry in all

Polygram Entertainment has unveiled a quartet of music documentaries in development on the Bee Gees, the Go-Go’s, hip-hop jewelry and the origins of mixtapes, Variety has learned exclusively. Polygram, which was revived in 2017 by Universal Music Group, rolled out details of the projects Saturday afternoon during a pre-Grammys showcase in downtown Los Angeles. Members

Frictionless international film and series production is at the top of agendas in Central and Eastern Europe these days, with increasingly competitive territories adopting policy tweaks and launching new film promotion bodies. The freshly minted Slovak Film Commission is looking to catch up quick to its longstanding Czech counterpart, the Czech Film Commission, with a

A recurring controversy flared up again at last month’s Sundance festival, this time with the Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy biopic “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” as its lit match: Where is the line drawn between representation and celebration in films about appalling figures, particularly with a swoon-worthy sex symbol in the lead? That’s an

Chinese filmmaker Wang Quan’an is a man in control of himself and his narrative, and at ease on the European festival circuit. His “Ondog” is an early front-runner for a trophy at the Berlin Film Festival, where it played in competition Friday. The film, the tale of an encounter between a very young cop and

February 9, 2019 12:30PM PT Cult Japanese director Sabu has completed “Jam,” an action film which features three men from completely different walks of life who find themselves heading for a showdown. One is a do-gooder, another a singer, and the third a Yakuza gangster. The film heads the slate that sales company Free Stone

Seven Portuguese titles will screen during the Berlinale, and a bevy of Portuguese producers are attending the European Film Market seeking co-producers and international sales agents for their projects. Two Portuguese features will screen in the non-competitive Berlinale Forum dedicated to more avant-garde cinema. “The Portuguese Woman,” a historical drama by Rita Azevedo Gomes, is

Despite producing only around 15 feature films per year, Portuguese cinema has consistently won significant festival prizes. In 2018, awards for Portuguese films included Cannes’ Critics’ Week winner, “Diamantino” by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, and “The Dead and the Others” by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora, which took a Special Jury Prize at

In 2017, Portugal introduced a tax incentive scheme, revamped in mid-2018 as a 25%-30% cash-rebate scheme, with a €0.5 million ($0.57 million) minimum spend for shoots. The scheme, run by Portugal’s National Film and Audiovisual Institute (ICA) and Turismo de Portugal, has earmarked $14.4 million per year for 2019-21. The new, more competitive terms —