Movies

Set on the stunning Isle of Flatey, North-West of Iceland, the four-part Sky Vision-sold miniseries “The Flatey Enigma” is also a women-centric reading of the eponymous novel by Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson which inspires it. Adapted by Margrét Örnólfsdóttir, that works on various levels: As Nordic Noir for the family, a celebration of the extraordinary history

January 25, 2019 2:07AM PT Berlin-based Pluto Film has acquired international sales rights to Mary Jimenez and Bénédicte Liénard’s “By the Name of Tania” ahead of its world premiere in the Generation section of the Berlin Film Festival. Set in the gold mine-gashed landscape of northern Peru, “By the Name of Tania” tells the true

Big (Ashton Sanders), the central character of Rashid Johnson’s “Native Son,” is a twitchy existential brooder in his early 20s who styles himself like a thrift-shop literary gangsta. Tall and glowering, with a rail-thin frame, he wears high-water pants and white socks, black nail polish and an array of death rings, tortoise-shell glasses that lend

Sales agent The Match Factory has sealed a raft of deals in major territories for romantic drama “Photograph,” the new film from “Our Souls at Night” and “The Lunchbox” director Ritesh Batra, ahead of the movie’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Set in Mumbai, “Photograph” centers on a struggling street photographer who, under

Is there a scene in the history of cinema as awesome in its terror, as primal in its horror, and as memorable a freak-out for the audience that first saw it as the shower scene from “Psycho”? “MEMORY: The Origins of Alien,” the latest anatomy-of-movie-love documentary written and directed by Alexandre O. Philippe, makes the

Los Angeles-based content aggregator and distributor Cinedigm has signed a non-exclusive licensing deal to screen nearly four dozen movies from China Lion Film Distribution on Bambu. A content streaming platform focused in Chinese-language content Bambu is expected to launch by mid-year. The China Lion titles will be part of Bambu’s launch line-up, and target North

Vic, a charismatic 25-year-old Russian-American immigrant cut from the same cloth as a young Rocky Balboa, has a heart of gold and the cheekbones of a Bruce Weber model. In another movie, this affable young man (first-timer Chris Galust, who’s a natural) would almost certainly be the romantic lead, saddled with girl trouble or a

The word “Brexit” is never uttered in “The Last Tree,” yet the U.K.’s current identity crisis — its surging, hostile preoccupation with defining the parameters of Britishness after a more culturally porous period of history — reverberates quietly throughout Shola Amoo’s sophomore feature. Amoo’s own childhood inspired this plainly heartfelt study of a Nigerian-British boy,

Progress — scientific, technological, evolutionary — works, more or less, in a straight line. The Industrial Revolution happened, and that gave birth to the 20th century. The Wright Brothers happened, and not too long after that we had an airline industry. On July 20, 1969, we landed, and then walked, on the lunar surface, and then…well,

The female characters are the least interesting thing in the original version of “After the Wedding,” an otherwise exceptional, Oscar-nominated Danish drama from “Bird Box” director Susanne Bier. Fortunately, that’s not at all true of a sharp new English-language remake that gender-flips the two lead roles to be played by women, providing an incredibly rich

Anyone worried that Robert Redford’s fleeting appearance at the Sundance opening press conference on Thursday morning signaled he was stepping away from the film festival he founded, breathe easy. The Hollywood legend proved the opposite at the opening night screening of Bart Freundlich’s “After the Wedding” at Park City’s Eccles Theater. Redford gave an impromptu

In today’s film news roundup, Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old” has boosted its box office, Jillian Clare’s “Pretty Broken” is getting a release, Foley artist MaryJo Lang is honored and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is trying to expand opportunities in the entertainment industry. WAR DOCUMENTARY Fathom Events and Warner Bros. are reporting

Netflix is working on getting a visa for Jorge Antonio Guerrero, the Mexican actor who played Fermín in “Roma,” so that he can attend the Academy Awards, Variety has learned. Guerrero has applied for a U.S. visa three times, and has been denied each time. He was initially rejected for a tourist visa, and two

Thomas Dolby is best known for hits like “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive” that earned him five Grammy nominations. But since 2014 he’s been lecturing to students at Baltimore’s John Hopkins University as a professor and, as of this fall, director of the Peabody Institute’s Music for New Media program — a position that

January 24, 2019 5:18PM PT Mackenzie Davis is in negotiations to play the lead opposite Kristen Stewart in TriStar’s romantic comedy “Happiest Season.” The studio bought worldwide rights last to the holiday-themed “Happiest Season” from the writing team of Clea DuVall and Mary Holland. DuVall, who directed the 2016 indie “The Intervention,” is also on

January 24, 2019 4:48PM PT Sharon Osbourne recently learned that a script about her and her famous rocker husband Ozzy Osbourne was making the rounds in Hollywood. “Somebody told me it was a script on the Black List so I looked at it and I’m like, ‘What a load of crap,’” Osbourne tells Variety, adding,

January 24, 2019 3:30PM PT HBO Films has acquired “Native Son” in advance of its Sundance Film Festival premiere on Thursday night. The news is surprising because the adaptation of Richard Wright’s famous novel entered the festival with theatrical distribution. It was going to be released by A24. Instead, “Native Son” will debut on the

Millennium Films has confirmed that Bryan Singer remains attached to direct the upcoming “Red Sonja” despite new accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against him. Variety on Thursday obtained a statement from Millennium Chairman and producer Avi Lerner that brushed off a report in the Atlantic in which the “Bohemian Rhapsody” director is accused of inappropriate groping and

January 24, 2019 2:59PM PT The Orchard Film Group, the indie studio behind “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and “Life Animated,” is being sold to 1091 Media, Variety has learned. The studio’s new owners are an investment group affiliated with the leadership team of digital media holding company Dimensional Associates. The companies have an agreement in

January 24, 2019 2:50PM PT “Magic Mike” fans will soon be able to experience the franchise in a whole new way as Broadway-bound “Magic Mike the Musical” comes to Boston this fall. Billed as a prequel to the hit 2012 film and its follow-up, “Magic Mike XXL,” the musical will explore how Channing Tatum’s titular

Only two of this year’s five Oscar-nominated songs may be performed live on the Academy Awards show Feb. 24, Variety has learned. Multiple sources tell Variety that the two biggest chart hits — Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars” from “Black Panther” and Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” — are the

The Sundance Film Festival has always been a leader when it comes to promoting diversity in front of and behind the camera. At a time when the movie business is under pressure to become more representative, Sundance has led the way, inviting a large number of storytellers who are female and who are people of

When Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey signed on to star in “Serenity,” it was a dream come true for screenwriter Steven Knight – one he knew he had to protect. “Every now and again an idea comes along that I think, ‘If I hand this over, there will be a temptation to change it,’” he

Berlin-based Films Boutique has acquired international sales rights to Wayne Blair’s “Tod End Wedding” and Jacek Borcuch’s “Dolce Fine Giornata,” which will have their world premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. Set to play in the premieres section, “Top End Wedding” marks Blair’s first Australian feature film since his critically acclaimed period musical “The Sapphires”

Over the past quarter century, the Slamdance Film Festival has served as a launchpad for a number of now high profile filmmakers at the very start of their careers. Here is a baker’s dozen of some of the festival’s greatest discoveries. Marc Forster“Loungers”Forster premiered his $10,000 debut in 1995 and grabbed the Audience Award, and

The director of Oscar-nominated short film “Detainment,” about the notorious murder of a British toddler, has defended his film and said he will not withdraw it from the Oscars race, despite the demands of the boy’s family and tens of thousands of petitioners. Instead of unalloyed elation over the Academy’s recognition of his film, Irish director

James Frawley, a prolific filmmaker who won an Emmy for directing the first episode of “The Monkees” and helmed “The Muppet Movie,” died Jan. 22 at his home in Indian Wells, Calif. He was 82. His wife, Cynthia Frawley, told Variety that her husband died following a heart attack. Born on Sept. 29, 1936, in

The 25th anniversary edition of the Slamdance Film Festival kicks off Jan. 25-31 in Park City, Utah, with a line-up of world premieres, guest speakers and filmmaking seminars all geared toward fresh storytellers who are looking for their cinematic breakthroughs.This year, further underscoring a desire for world cinema, there are 11 narrative and nine documentary

Sony Pictures is opting to spurn this year’s CinemaCon at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in early April, and 20th Century Fox hasn’t decided if it will attend the annual gathering of studios and theater exhibitors. A rep for the studio confirmed that Sony has decided against making a presentation during the four-day event. Sony

You don’t see Viola Davis like this often, the Academy Award winner said of her new film “Troop Zero,” premiering on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival. Yes, there are still roles that the powerhouse dramatist cannot get — or, according to her, ones that seem like a natural fit. Namely the fun ones, she