Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment’s long-awaited political drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” looks to be closer than ever to getting off the ground, with a new director and an A-list cast coming together. Sources tell Variety that Aaron Sorkin is on board to direct with Sacha Baron Cohen in early talks to join the
Movies
Animation Guild members have ratified a three-year successor deal to their film and TV contract by a vote of 868-213, for an approval rate of more than 80%. Of the guild’s 3,695 eligible members, 1,081 cast ballots. Terms of the contract, which are retroactive to July 29, 2018, are equivalent to those in the new
October 26, 2018 8:20AM PT Netflix has given the greenlight to a CG animated musical movie that will revolve around the life story of Fugees founding member Wyclef Jean. The project hails from Stampede, the production banner recently launched by former Warner Bros. Pictures executive Greg Silverman. Justin Marks (“The Jungle Book”) is on board
The jury of the Tokyo International Film Festival expressed warm greetings and happy feelings about a week of movie-watching in the Japanese capital. But the tone changed noticeably when confronted with the question of the position of women at film festivals, and what are festivals’ responsibilities towards women. Comprised of Philippines director Brillante Mendoza, Iranian
MORELIA, Mexico – “Chivas – the Movie,” the first full-length feature documentary about Mexico’s 112-year old Chivas soccer team held its world premiere Thursday, Oct. 25, at the 16th Morelia Int’l Film Festival. Chivas fans, some wearing the iconic red and white striped Chivas jerseys, crowded the Cinepolis theatre complex in downtown Morelia to cheer
MORELIA — Carlos Armella’s “Go Youth!” stands out as one of the most lighthearted and fun projects featured at this year’s Impulso Morelia, the works in progress section of Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival. Impulso marked the first time that Armella has screened an unfinished film at a festival, necessary as shooting only finished a couple
Francois Ozon, whose latest film, “Double Lover,” competed at the Cannes Film Festival last year, is now making “By the Grace of God,” a drama looking at a real-life case of sexual abuses allegedly committed by a French priest in the late 1980s. “By the Grace of God” is produced by Mandarin Production, in co-production
Despite its selection as Germany’s entry for the Oscars and a glitzy premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “Never Look Away” is struggling to get viewers to look at it on home ground. Henckel von Donnersmarck won an Oscar in 2007 for his freshman feature outing, the critically acclaimed East German
Roberto Benigni, who won an Oscar for best actor in 1999 for “Life Is Beautiful,” is set to return to the big screen after a seven-year hiatus to play Mastro Geppetto in a live-action version of “Pinocchio” to be directed by Matteo Garrone. Shooting on the previously announced film is set to start in the
Some movies obsess about saving the world — from natural disasters, supervillains, and other things that might destroy us all. In its own modest but no-less-ambitious way, Antonio Méndez Esparza’s “Life and Nothing More” narrows that concern to a single individual, detailing what it would take to rescue a 14-year-old boy from being swallowed up
Launching its 22nd edition with an ambitious, expanded program, the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival opened Thursday in the Czech Republic, embracing the theme of memory as it marks the centennial of the founding of Czechoslovakia. The nation, formed at the close of WWI, lasted through 1993, when it was broken up into Slovakia and
October 26, 2018 12:07AM PT An arresting faith-based drama about a crisis of faith, set against the 2007 troop surge of the Iraq War. Real-life characters face tests of faith in a war zone and on the home front in “Indivisible,” an intelligent drama based on the experiences of decorated Army Chaplain Darren Turner, who
New York City is a place where shops and restaurants come and go. But in Greenwich Village, the former bohemian enclave that has never lost its mythological aura as a neighborhood of freedom and beauty (tourists now line up to gawk at the Stonewall Inn the same way they walk in the Beatles’ footsteps across
October 25, 2018 6:05PM PT A magic space-rock holds the key to life and death in this turgid Mexico-U.S. fantasy thriller. It’s become a reigning pulp cliché of our era that practically every dramatic protagonist must have a dead or endangered child motivating them. It’s the fallback device to provide “depth” to a troubled character,
In today’s film news roundup, medieval horror movie “The Head” gets distribution, Matt Leonetti becomes head of physical production for Lionsgate and the Art Directors Guild honors three longtime members. ACQUISITION Vertical Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights to medieval horror movie “The Head” and will launch international sales at the American Film Market, which
October 25, 2018 3:17PM PT Horror is on a hot streak for the movie business, and diverse millennials may be to thank for the surge in ticket sales. Last year marked the first time the horror genre grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and if this holiday season is any indication, moviegoers are
As if! “Clueless” is getting a remake. Paramount Pictures is developing a remake of its 1995 comedy with “Girls Trip” writer Tracy Oliver producing. Marquita Robinson, a story editor and writer on the Netflix comedy series “GLOW,” has been hired to write the script. “Clueless,” directed and written by Amy Heckerling, was set at a
With this week’s news that the Trump administration is moving to define transgender people out of existence and roll back civil rights protections, Wednesdays’s opening of the 30th annual New York LGBT Film Festival, Newfest, couldn’t be timelier or more important. That was on the minds of Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, and Michael Chiklis,
Details surrounding the racial slur scandal that rocked Netflix in its uppermost executive ranks have come to light, thanks to an in-depth report from the Wall Street Journal about life inside the streaming monolith. Published Thursday, a hefty part of the story focuses on ousted Netflix communications chief Jonathan Friedland, whose use of the N-word in
Marek Hovorka, a native of the city of Jihlava in the Czech Republic, founded its biggest cultural event some 22 years ago at a time when films were submitted on VHS cassettes in bubble wrap and invitations sent out via fax machine. Today the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival is a nexus for work from
Cinema Eye Honors revealed the first awards announcements for the organization’s 12th annual awards on Thursday. Audience choice nominees include recent documentary awards-circuit players such as “Free Solo,” “Minding the Gap,” “Quincy,” “RBG,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The group also unveiled its list of “The Unforgettables,” honoring notable and significant nonfiction film subjects,
More than two decades after the final shots were fired in the war that gave Croatia independence from the former Yugoslavia, the long shadows of that bitter and divisive conflict stretch across the Balkan nation. “In Croatia…we cannot get over our history,” says director Nebojsa Slijepcevic. “The whole system…keeps us stuck in the past.” Slijepcevic explores
Hot Docs director of programming Shane Smith, who is a juror at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, thinks audiences today have a growing hunger for documentary films, at a time when a wide range of fests and platforms have made the movies more accessible and the form’s storytelling capabilities are more essential than ever
PLAYBACK is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday. For more than three decades, and still going strong, Spike Lee has been an incredibly prolific presence in the world of cinema. Rarely does a year pass without a “Spike Lee
October 25, 2018 1:10PM PT The first ever Marty & Leah Sklar Creative Visionary Award will go to Kevin Feige, producer and president of Marvel Studios. Recognizing his creative vision, the award honors Feige’s ability to bring relatable heroes to audiences through storytelling and visual effects. “The Ryman Arts Board established the Marty & Leah
“He’s an extraordinary man – at this moment one of the few men on the planet, it seems, whom people can trust,” he says. “He’s utterly courageous and fearless and extremely honest.” Francis appeals strongly “not only to Christians but to all people of common sense,” Wenders adds. “He represents the common good
Some 50 years after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces, tensions in the Czech Republic still remain. Indeed, although she hails from Ukraine, an area whose people have much more in common with the Czechs than they perhaps realize, director Anna Kryvenko, who now lives in Prague, is well aware of anti-immigrant prejudice that
Horror fans looking to be shocked and thrilled, get that in full with ”Suspiria,” while being treated to a series of incredible transformations in the cast assembled by director Luca Guadagnino. For Dakota Johnson, whose character Susie Bannion is sucked into a dance company run by a coven of witches, it was about becoming a
Veteran television executive Steve Mosko has been tapped to lead Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. The newly minted chief executive officer will replace Greg Basser, who is leaving Village Roadshow after three decades. In a release announcing Mosko’s hire, the company said Basser is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. Bruce Berman, Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment
October 25, 2018 11:12AM PT Alexander Skarsgard is in negotiations to join Millie Bobby Brown and Brian Tyree Henry in Legendary’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” sources tell Variety. Adam Wingard is directing the film, which also stars “Deadpool 2” actor Julian Dennison. Plot details are vague, but the actioner will feature the two titular classic monsters