Movies

The audience that witnessed DOC NYC’s Monday world premiere of the moving and soulful Aretha Franklin church concert doc “Amazing Grace,” captured on film by Sydney Pollack in 1972, was fortunate indeed. But for actress Gina Gershon and the late Queen of Soul’s nephew Vaughn Franklin, the screening at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre was something far

Doing good for humankind while making bank at the box office can be tricky business, but producer Scott Budnick’s activist content company has received millions of dollars in fresh financing and kicked off development on an action thriller with Margot Robbie. Budnick, an executive producer on hit comedy franchise “The Hangover,” set up shop this

The Oscar buzz surrounding “Green Book” has been a revelation for Peter Farrelly, directing solo without brother Bobby this time around. “I have a very thick skin, but I didn’t realize we were so looked-down-on,” Farrelly says with a laugh. “I thought we were highly regarded.” Critics have marveled that the director, who created a

The writer of an inflammatory interview with Ennio Morricone, in which the composer allegedly badmouthed Quentin Tarantino, has admitted to making “terrible mistakes” in the piece, including the use of quotes taken from previous stories in other outlets, Playboy in Germany said Wednesday. The magazine called it “an intolerable breach of journalistic ethics” that did

November 14, 2018 10:03AM PT “A Star Is Born” cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who received an Oscar nomination for 2010’s “Black Swan,” was reportedly arrested on Tuesday for assaulting public officials in the city of Bydgoszcz, Poland. Libatique, who was in town attending the Camerimage Film Festival, allegedly attacked paramedics and police at a hotel where

National Research Group (NRG), which caters to movie studios and others in the entertainment industry, hired Ben Rogers as president of platform and technology clients. Rogers, a market-research veteran with 20-plus years of experience, most recently was at Ipsos as executive VP, head of media development. At NRG, he will lead the company’s technology practice across

As 2018 draws to a close, Hollywood continues to find itself under the microscope with regard to inclusion and representation in the industry. It appears some positive steps are indeed being taken toward rectifying a historically shameful track record of excluding women and people of color from executive suites and on both sides of the

After going from 8-bit zero to arcade hero during his original outing, Wreck-It Ralph levels up in a big way with “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” an ambitious, all-around satisfying sequel to Walt Disney Animation’s wonderfully outside-the-box smash that ranks among the studio’s very best toons: It’s a poignant buddy movie that’s sincere in all the

Grief over the death of Stan Lee has taken the Internet by storm in China, with the local hashtag “Stan Lee has passed” trending No. 1 on social media and viewed more than a staggering 1.21 billion times by Wednesday evening – equivalent to nearly once per person in the world’s most populous country. Fans

Director Clay Kaytis’ “The Christmas Chronicles” isn’t going to make audiences believe in the power of Christmas, let alone stoke the spirit of the holiday season, but boy does it exhaust itself trying. The family-friendly adventure, about two kids whose Christmas Eve mission to capture Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) leads to helping him save the holiday, plays like

November 13, 2018 8:17PM PT “Roma,” Alfonso’ Cuaron’s loving recreated portrayal of family life in 1970s Mexico, is to get a theatrical release in South Korea. The film was originally commissioned for online streaming giant Netflix. Pan Cinema will handle the release in Korea from Dec. 12. It is currently unclear how many screens the

November 13, 2018 7:39PM PT South Korea’s CJ Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to ambitious Malaysian drama “The Garden of Evening Mists.” The film’s cast mixes high profile Asian and Western stars. The picture is an adaptation of a novel of the same title by Tan Twan Eng, which was nominated for the

In today’s film news roundup, Disney has donated $500,000 for fire recovery efforts, the African American Film Critics Association honors “Crazy Rich Asians,” the Duplass brothers support an independent film and Chance the Rapper boards an MGM musical. RECOVERY EFFORTS Walt Disney Company has committed $500,000 to support relief and recovery efforts in response to

November 13, 2018 5:55PM PT The California Film Commission has banned filming in state parks and beaches in the California wildfire zones until further notice. The commission made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. The Woolsey fire was at 35% containment on Tuesday after burning about 150 square miles of land in Ventura and Los Angeles

November 13, 2018 4:55PM PT AFI Fest has added a screening of the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” on Nov. 15 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres. The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, premiered Monday at the DOC NYC festival. Warner Bros. Pictures

November 13, 2018 4:11PM PT The California wildfires have caused the cancellation of the red carpets for “Widows” and “Destroyer” at the AFI Festm at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. A total of five red carpet events have been called off in recent days due to the still-raging fires. Netflix scrubbed a pair of

Shooting Lady Gaga revealing herself as a down-to-earth woman while lensing a rock star character Bradley Cooper was creating for himself were just two of the challenges facing DP Matthew Libatique in the star-crossed lovers story “A Star Is Born.” The love story is screening at the EnergaCamerimage fest, competing for the main cinematography prize.

Put your wands up, muggles. The upcoming chapter in the “Harry Potter” universe looks to enchant moviegoers and dominate the global box office. “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is expected to earn $65 million from over 3,300 domestic locations, though industry estimates show that number could be closer to $75 million. The higher part

For 14 seasons, “Saturday Night Live’s” Darrell Hammond delighted crowds with his uncanny impersonations of Sean Connery, Regis Philbin, and (most notably) former President Bill Clinton. Mimicking over 107 celebrities, Hammond found fame on the sketch show, appearing on films and even performing at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. But behind-the-scenes, the comedian suffered. Plagued by incapacitating

In “Amazing Grace,” a 46-year-old gospel concert movie that feels like a rough gem unearthed in a time capsule, Aretha Franklin, standing at the pulpit of the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts section of Los Angeles, delivers a hymn called “Climbing Higher Mountains” that gets everyone in the place standing up and

Legendary Entertainment has bought movie and television rights to Jeff Lemire’s “Black Hammer” comic series universe. The company, a subsidiary of the China-based Wanda Group, made the announcement Tuesday. Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series. The “Black Hammer” comics were first published by

Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., the parent company of MoviePass, is canceling a stock split that it had hoped would reinvigorate its moribund share price. In a public filing, Helios said it did not have the votes it needed to gain approval for a 1-for-500 reverse stock split while warning that it faced being delisted

Robert De Niro may have been the target of the Donald Trump-supporting pipe bomb mailer, but that isn’t stopping the Oscar winner from trashing the president. Just two days after playing Robert Mueller again on “Saturday Night Live,” De Niro zinged the commander-in-chief with more verbal zingers. In presenting Billy Crystal with the Friars Club’s

Jean-Jacques Annaud – recipient of this year’s EnergaCamerimage Director Duo Award along with his collaborator, DP Jean-Marie Dreujou – always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. Born during World War II, the future director got his first Brownie camera at age 7, and his first 35mm still camera at 10. By the time he

When I was 16 years old, I told my father I’m attracted to the same sex. I was terrified; and even with receiving the best response I could have hoped for, “I love you no matter what and I will always be by your side,” I learned that I was a far distance from being

SFFILM, the San Francisco cinema society that presents the San Francisco International Film Festival every spring, has announced honorees for its second annual SFFILM Awards Night, set for Dec. 3. Amy Adams will receive the Peter J. Owens Award for Acting, for her performance as Lynne Cheney in Adam McKay’s “Vice”; filmmaker Steve McQueen will

Netflix has released the first official trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” which highlights Yalitza Aparicio as a live-in housekeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. With Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” scoring the black-and-white footage, Aparicio’s character named Cleo performs chores and deals with three children against a backdrop

France’s leading independent film group, Pathe, recently lost €19.2 million ($22 million) in an internet scam that targeted the mini-major’s Dutch office. Details of the scam were contained in an Oct. 31 ruling by the District Court of Amsterdam on a lawsuit against Pathe for unfair dismissal filed by Edwin Slutter, Pathe Netherlands’ former financial

At this point in the Oscar race, all of the serious contenders for lead actress have been seen. So how is this year’s field stacking up? Three performances feel like shoo-ins for nominations: Olivia Colman’s mad Queen Anne in “The Favourite,” a controversial category placement decision for a role some argue is supporting (though the

Despite the demise of Toys R Us, which rocked sales for Hollywood’s film and TV merchandise, the death of retail stores is exaggerated. Online commerce only accounts for around 10% of U.S. retail sales, and such brick-and-mortar mass-market retailers as Walmart and Target are still corralling two-thirds of sales in many product categories. But the