Fox Digital Studio, Heavy Metal Media and 4th Row Films are in development on a documentary feature film about the sci-fi fantasy magazine Heavy Metal with director Douglas Tirola attached. Tirola has directed six feature documentaries including A&E IndieFilms’ “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” about the story of the National Lampoon, and “Brewmaster,” which had its
Movies
Mahershala Ali and John David Washington sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”) and John David Washington (“BlacKkKlansman”) have catapulted into the awards season conversation with two searing films about race in America. Both movies are based on true stories. Ali, who won the supporting actor
Timothee Chalamet says earlier in his career, he felt like a “fraud.” When he attended a screening of Christopher Nolan’s film “Interstellar,” he was among famous co-stars like Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and John Lithgow. “And I really had no career at this point, so I was the fraud a little bit, in the room,”
Mahershala Ali toplines the upcoming third season of HBO’s “True Detective,” but he was originally only offered a supporting role as the lead actor was supposed to be white. Ali told John David Washington during Variety‘s Actors on Actors series that he had to convince show creator Nic Pizzolatto that he was the right choice for
December 4, 2018 3:04AM PT BAFTA’s annual Film Awards have shifted to an earlier date in 2020 to stay in their usual slot ahead of the Academy Awards. The BAFTA ceremony will be held Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, one week before the Oscars, which themselves were moved up a few months ago from Feb. 23,
Simone Baumann has been chosen to take over as managing director of movie promotion agency German Films, replacing Mariette Rissenbeek, who has been appointed as executive director of the Berlin Film Festival. Baumann, who starts her new role Feb. 1, has been German Films’ representative in Central and Eastern Europe since 2003; she is also
It took a long journey before Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky managed to bring his unconventional road movie “Yomeddine,” which is Egypt’s candidate for the foreign-language Oscar, to the big screen. This ultimately uplifting drama in which a middle-aged man raised in a leper colony embarks with a sidekick and a donkey on a journey
Iconic New Zealand film maker, Geoff Murphy, known for “The Quiet Earth” and work on “Dante’s Peak,” has died. He was 80. Murphy’s death on Monday was confirmed by the New Zealand Film Commission. The organization called him “one of the leading figures in New Zealand cinema’s renaissance of the late 1970s and 1980s.” A
December 3, 2018 9:28PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Paramount Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Bumblebee.” Ads placed for the sci-fi/action film had an estimated media value of $8.03 million through Sunday for 819 national ad airings
December 3, 2018 6:54PM PT [embedded content] Disney-Marvel has dropped a new trailer for Brie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” during Monday Night Football. In the trailer, which features an old lady who can also kick butt, Larson’s Captain Marvel begins to question her history after she start remembering her previous life on Earth — before she
After a record-breaking sweep at Sunday’s British Independent Film Awards, “The Favourite” continues to curtsy from honor to honor on its road to the Oscars. Yorgos Lanthimos’ meditation on power and desire, which happens to contain three powerhouse female roles, took a record 10 prizes at the London affair last night — a new watermark for
In today’s film news roundup, “A Star Is Born” gets an Imax release, Oscar winner Stephen Flick gets an honor and Jeremy Renner’s “Arctic Dogs” is set for a 2019 release. IMAX RELEASE Awards contender “A Star Is Born” has been set for a one-week Imax release beginning on Dec. 7 — the first time
December 3, 2018 4:59PM PT Marvel Studios is developing a tentpole movie about its Shang-Chi martial arts superhero and has set Dave Callaham to write the screenplay, sources have told Variety. If the “Shang-Chi” movie gets made, it would mark the first time that a Marvel feature film has centered on an Asian character as
December 3, 2018 4:42PM PT Opening on Wednesday, local drama “Default” debuted on top of the South Korean box office. The CJ Entertainment release earned $11.5 million from 1.57 million admissions over its five opening days. Over the Friday-Sunday weekend, it earned $8.44 million from 1.07 million admissions and accounted for 42% of the total
December 3, 2018 3:33PM PT The ‘Anchorman’ returns to the airwaves. Ron Burgundy, the legendary reporter featured in 2004’s “Anchorman” film, has a podcast coming to iHeartRadio in early 2019. Co-produced by Funny Or Die, the 12-episode “The Ron Burgundy Podcast” will launch in the first quarter of next year. A second season is expected
December 3, 2018 3:21PM PT The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 20 films that will advance in this year’s visual effects Oscar race. They are: “Ant-Man and the Wasp”“Aquaman”“Avengers: Infinity War”“Black Panther”“Bumblebee”“Christopher Robin”“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”“First Man”“Incredibles 2”“Isle of Dogs”“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”“Mary Poppins Returns”“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”“Mortal
The Sundance Institute has unveiled a dozen independent television series for the upcoming festival in the second year of its Indie Episodics section, including works by Nick Hornby and Kyra Sedgwick. Sundance also announced on Monday that its Special Events section will include the new season of IFC’s documentary parody series “Documentary Now!” and Gregg Araki’s
Managing change is on the agenda throughout Tuesday’s Asian TV Forum leaders conference. Change is also a recurring theme that runs throughout a conversation with Rob Gilby, chairman of the advisory board at the Singapore Media Festival umbrella organization. The pre-ATF conference includes sessions on: video ecosystems – which former Disney executive Gilby says have
Cult Filipino director, Mikhail Red (“Birdshot”) has revealed details of his upcoming projects. After “Eerie,” Red is reuniting with the Philippines studio Star Cinema for zombie film “Block Z.” For Globe Studios, Philippines, Red will direct youth film “Dead Kids” “It’s a true story about students who kidnap their fellow classmates,” Red told Variety. Red
Filmmakers’ track records and strong content are the prerequisite triggers for Southeast Asian producers to invest in regional independent cinema. That was the strong message conveyed at a panel discussion organized as part of the Singapore International Film Festival’s South East Asian Producers Network on Sunday. Producer, Shanty Harmayn (“The Dancer”,) chief executive of Indonesia’s
December 3, 2018 12:29PM PT Bleecker Street has secured U.S. distribution rights to “Normal People,” a drama starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville. The company plans to release the film in 2019. Manville and Neeson portray an everyday couple with an extraordinary love, who must find the humor and grace to face a year of
Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to a number of classic songs from Prince’s catalog and is developing an original film musical inspired by his music, using the songs to drive a fictional narrative. Insiders stress is that the film is not a biopic but an original story with Prince’s classic songs driving the plotline.
December 3, 2018 11:38AM PT Gravitas Ventures has acquired multi-platform distribution rights to “Social Animals,” a documentary feature about life as an Instagram star. Produced by Subconscious Films and its larger parent, the content studio Conscious Minds , the feature played to acclaim in SXSW’s film festival program this year. Gravitas will roll out the
December 3, 2018 11:07AM PT A24 has bought North American rights Tilda Swinton’s romance-drama “The Souvenir” ahead of its premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival. The film introduces Honor Swinton Byrne — Swinton’s daughter in real life — and also stars Tom Burke (“Only God Forgives”). Swinton Byrne plays a quiet film student
Ryan Murphy is rising the blue wave. In 2020, I’m going to create and fund, with corporate sponsorship, a multi million dollar organization that targets anti LGBTQ candidates running for office,” Murphy announced on Sunday at the Trevor Project’s TrevorLive gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. “Senate and congressional candidates who think
Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” and Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” topped the 46th annual Annie Awards nominations with 11 and 10, respectively. All told, the Walt Disney Company, which owns Pixar, snapped up a total of 42 nominations among a wide array of film and TV projects. Joining “Incredibles 2” and “Ralph” in the contest for
For Charlize Theron, watching “Black Panther” was more than just her latest Marvel indulgence. It was an emotional reminder of her past – a childhood spent growing up amidst the discriminatory practices of South African apartheid. “I was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid era, and I am very much a white
The English-language version of Jackie Chan’s confessional memoir, “Never Grow Up,” hits the shelves Tuesday, full of behind-the-scenes stories of his action-packed career and his freewheeling days as a prostitute-frequenting, drunk-driving big spender. The book includes salacious details of how the kung fu star and honorary Oscar winner blew through money drinking, gambling and buying splashy
Annapurna Pictures’ Dick Cheney biopic “Vice,” starring Christian Bale as the former American vice president, will launch in Europe as the opener of Italy’s Capri, Hollywood Film Festival. The hotly anticipated “Vice” chronicles Cheney’s political life, starting with his beginnings as a Washington bureaucrat. Directed by Adam McKay (“The Big Short), the film will screen on
Since its February release, “Black Panther” has become a global phenomenon, but star Michael B. Jordan (who played villain Erik Killmonger) says he didn’t foresee just how big of a cultural impact the film would make. “It was truly incredible. While we were making it, you didn’t really realize it. And then in hindsight, it’s