Movies

There’s a big conversation happening about diversity and gender equality in film and the Whistler Film Festival is helping to fan the flames. The fest, which runs Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, launched its Women on Top series a couple of years ago, when about 100 women ascended the top of the Whistler mountain to

November 28, 2018 9:30AM PT Five more women have come forward to accuse EuropaCorp founder Luc Besson of sexual misconduct in France, according to a new report from French investigative magazine Mediapart. The allegations were made by two former students at Besson’s film school, two former assistants at EuropaCorp and a former model who aspired

Filmmaker Peter Segal graduated from USC as an English and broadcast journalism double major, but he says: “I feel like I’ve been adopted by the film school.” As a student, Segal’s best friend and roommate was a film major, and Segal would crash some of his friend’s courses to get a sense of the moviemaking

November 28, 2018 9:00AM PT Next week’s Game Awards will feature ten video game reveals and music composed by Lorne Balfe (“Mission Impossible: Fallout,” “Call of Duty: Warfare II,” and “FIFA 19”), show creator Geoff Keighley announced on Twitter this week. “We have such an incredible show coming together for next week,” Keighley tweeted Tuesday.

Just when you thought you couldn’t take another Spider-Man reboot, along comes the movie to put them all in perspective. Or maybe you can’t get enough of Marvel’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger and are already beside yourself in anticipation of a project loaded with half a dozen parallel-universe Spideys. Either way, the brilliance of Sony’s snappy

Members of the French film industry have been paying warm tribute to Samuel Hadida, the co-founder of Metropolitan FilmExport, who died suddenly in Los Angeles on Monday. Hadida was not only one of France’s most respected and successful distributors; he was also loved by the independent film community and boasted strong relationships with major film

Netflix’s plan to release “Roma” and two other films theatrically in North America and Europe was hailed in the U.S. as a major shift in strategy for the streaming giant. But the initiative was met with a scornful shrug in France, where exhibitors say it’s unlikely by itself to produce a reconciliation between Netflix and

November 27, 2018 6:32PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Mortal Engines.” Ads placed for the sci-fi film had an estimated media value of $6.9 million through Sunday for 712 national ad

As Oscar season heats up and the world awaits news of the Sundance Film Festival lineup, Variety announces its 10 Directors to Watch for 2019, featuring a mix of recent festival breakouts and movies yet to premiere in the coming year, all chosen on the strength of films screened for Variety’s editors (sometimes as works

In today’s film news roundup, Rita Moreno joins the “West Side Story” reboot, “Justified Vengeance” unveils its cast, Zane Holtz’s “Beyond the Night” gets acquired, and Jamie Bell’s “Skin” closes territorial deals. CASTINGS Rita Moreno will join the cast of Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “West Side Story.” Moreno will also serve as

November 27, 2018 3:44PM PT Fox Family, the division of 20th Century Fox that focuses on a wide range of family film projects, and Chernin Entertainment are teaming on the live-action/animated family movie “Paper Lanterns,” with author Jonny Sun penning the script. Sun is the illustrator behind Lin-Manuel Miranda’s New York Times bestseller “Gmorning, Gnight!:

NPR’s “Fresh Air” program has ended its association with David Edelstein following the film critic’s controversial joke about the “Last Tango in Paris” rape scene in the wake of director Bernardo Bertolucci’s death. In a Facebook post, Edelstein posted an image of the rape scene with the caption, “Even grief is better with butter,” referencing

Singapore-produced films are increasingly being showcased at major international festivals. They have a secret ingredient. Award-winning titles from 2010 breakout “Sandcastle” through to 2018’s “A Land Imagined,” with “7 Letters”, “Apprentice,” and “A Yellow Bird” in between, have a common factor. Producer, Fran Borgia. “There wasn’t just a wave, but more of a continuous current

Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua’s “A Land Imagined” will have its home-town premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) on Dec. 8 and is also in competition at the festival’s Silver Screen Awards. The film’s lead actress Luna Kwok will be presented SGIFF’s Swarovski Inspiring Woman in Film award on Dec 7. The film arrives

Indian companies, 1018mb and Vkaao are poised to bring theatrical-on-demand cinema services to Singapore and other Asian territories in the coming months. 1018mb has set up an office in Hong Kong to explore interest in the region. Vkaao is in discussions with similar platforms in Asia-Pacific territories, and in Europe. Both platforms are conceived as

November 27, 2018 2:58PM PT Thai film and TV company JKN Global Media will use next week’s Asian TV Forum in Singapore to give an Asian sales launch to hit movie “Nakee 2.” The fantasy-romance film has earned over $12.1 million (THB400 million) since its release last month. The story involves a detective sent to

November 27, 2018 2:41PM PT Activision Blizzard Studios is already getting the gears turning on a sequel to “Call of Duty,” tapping “Black Panther” scribe Joe Robert Cole to pen the upcoming second installment. The studio hired “Sicario 2” director Stefano Sollima earlier this year to helm the first film, which is an adaptation of the popular

November 27, 2018 1:00PM PT “Little Woods” director and writer Nia DaCosta has been tapped to helm “Candyman,” a new retelling of the classic horror pic with Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and MGM producing. The film, a “spiritual sequel” to the original, returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago

November 27, 2018 12:48PM PT Kristen Stewart is in talks to star in TriStar Pictures’ “Happiest Season,” sources tell Variety. The studio acquired worldwide rights to the pic from writing duo Clea DuVall and Mary Holland earlier this year. DuVall is also on board to direct, which would mark her directorial debut. Marty Bowen and

November 27, 2018 12:34PM PT Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni has signed with Creative Artists Agency. Nyoni’s debut film “I Am Not A Witch,” which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes in 2017, is currently the United Kingdom foreign language contender for the Oscars and Golden Globes. The film is currently nominated for an Independent Spirit

November 27, 2018 12:27PM PT French producer-distributor Samuel Hadida died unexpectedly on Nov. 26 at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital following a short illness, according to his brother Victor Hadida. He was 64. For more than three decades, the Hadida brothers have owned and managed Metropolitan FilmExport, a leading French distributor of American indie fare they

November 27, 2018 12:07PM PT Spider-Man’s web of movies is about to grow. Sony Pictures is already developing a sequel and spinoffs to its upcoming animated film, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The announcement comes more than two weeks before “Into the Spider-Verse” hits theaters. Though the latest Spidey project launches on Dec. 14, the studio

November 27, 2018 11:25AM PT Zoey Deutch is set to join “Zombieland 2” for Sony Pictures, sources tell Variety. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin are reprising their roles Original “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer returns to helm and is re-teaming with original writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who worked on both

Box office blockbusters such as “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians” and small screen series including “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “One Day at a Time” and “This Is Us” are among the finalists for the 44th annual Humanitas Prize, Humanitas executive director Cathleen Young and president Ali LeRoi announced Tuesday. “It’s always an honor and

Film Independent has selected Aubrey Plaza to host the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 23. “I am truly honored and delighted to host the Spirits Awards this year,” said Plaza. “It is a dream come true to host a show that celebrates my greatest loves… independent film, the people that make them possible

The National Board of Review, the century-old New York-based film enthusiasts collective that annually helps kick off awards season with a list of year-end superlatives, has declared “Green Book” the best film of 2018. The organization, comprised of filmmakers, professionals and academics, tapped Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”) and Lady Gaga (“A Star Is Born”) for

Cinematic Media, a new state-of-the-art post production finishing facility, has launched in Mexico in response to the exponential growth of film and TV production in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. With YouTube Premium, Endemol Shine and Turner Latin America joining Netflix to produce more projects in Mexico and elsewhere in the region, the

MADRID — TV shows “Yorudan District,” and “The Pleasefixers” and animated feature “The Ballad of the Phoenix” are potential standouts at Ventana Sur’s 3rd Animation! showcase, which looks set to underscore the burgeoning strength of Latin American animation, and its drive to put into place stronger infrastructures to bulwark a more organized and sustainable growth.

Celebrated filmmaker Mira Nair — whose films include “Monsoon Wedding” and “The Namesake” — is launching her first online class, in which she’ll share insights for aspiring auteurs. Her class on independent filmmaking is being offered exclusively through internet education platform MasterClass. In the course, Nair shares her directing methods, pointers on maximizing budgets, and how

November 27, 2018 2:00AM PT Miranda Richardson has signed on for the English-language remake of Un Certain Regard winner “Rams.” The British star of stage and screen joins a cast that includes Sam Neill and Michael Caton on the movie, which is currently shooting in western Australia. Richardson plays Kat, the local veterinarian of a