Movies

Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Halloween” has opened strongly with $7.7 million at 3,200 North American locations in Thursday night preview showings. Universal’s R-rated slasher film recorded one of the biggest preview nights for a horror movie. Warner Bros.’ “It” took in $13.5 million from 3,500 theaters on Sept 7, 2017. Anticipation is high among moviegoers for

October 19, 2018 6:04AM PT Oscar-nominated “Hacksaw Ridge” producer David Permut has acquired the motion picture rights to Joel Dobson’s nuclear bomb thriller “The Goldsboro Broken Arrow.” Dobson’s book follows the formerly classified events that took place in 1961 when four pilots ejected out of a B-52 aircraft carrying two thermonuclear bombs at 9,000 feet

Keshet Intl. CEO Alon Shtruzman discussed the company’s recently launched $65 million fund at a keynote speech in Rome on Thursday, as the company looks to ramp up its production of films and high-end dramas that could be the next “Homeland.” Appearing onstage during the MIA Market with Lorenzo De Maio, head of TV sales

LYON, France  — As part of its efforts to improve the distribution and cross-border consumption of European film, the European Commission on Thursday unveiled its new directory of European films. Presenting the project at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, said the directory was the

Tel Aviv-based sales agent Cinephil has taken international sales rights to high-concept doc “The Rossellinis,” which will provide a tongue-in-cheek autobiographical look at the descendants living around the world of iconic Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s extended family and is being directed by his grandson, Alessandro Rossellini. “The Rossellinis,” which is being pitched at Rome’s MIA

The curtain raised on the 4th edition of Rome’s MIA Market Thursday night with an eye-popping opening ceremony, featuring a lavish, state-of-the-art, surround-sound live show dramatizing Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel while offering a glimpse of the growing market’s sky-high ambitions. A full house packed into the Auditorium della Conciliazione, just steps from St.

Netflix has gone into production on its latest original movie in Spain, ‘A pesar de todo,’ staring Blanza Suárez, Macarena García, Amaia Salamanca and Belén Cuesta. Directed by Argentine-born Gabriela Tagliavini the comedy returns Netflix to women character-driven narratives of other productions such as “The Cable Girls,” and links it once more to one of

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear — specifically, the mid-1950s to the late ’60s — when Paramount and Warner Bros. relied on producers such as A.C. Lyles and Hal Wallis, and directors like Henry Hathaway, Gordon Douglas, and Burt Kennedy, to maintain a steady flow of workmanlike Westerns for consumption by

Teens and their parents have a boatload of issues to deal with these days, and it seems like director Leif Rokesh wants to deal with all of them in “Reach.” Every character represents a superficial snapshot of modern strife in one form or another. Though its heart is in the right place when it comes

In today’s film news roundup, “Till the Whistle Blows” starts development, “All These Small Moments” is acquired, and End Cue invests in Greencard Pictures.  DEVELOPMENT Winter State Entertainment is producing high school football drama “Till the Whistle Blows” with plans to start shooting next year in Idaho Falls, Id. The movie follows the story of

Ari Graynor, Jacob Latimore, Karan Soni, Jimmy O. Yang, Natasha Rothwell, Jessica St. Clair, and Billy Porter have rounded out the ensemble of the Paramount Players comedy “Limited Partners” starring Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne. Miguel Arteta is directing the pic with Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly penning the script. The story centers on two

October 18, 2018 4:17PM PT Judi Dench has joined the cast of Universal Pictures and Working Title’s film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Cats.” Dench was set to play Grizabella in the original West End production in 1981, but she snapped her Achilles Tendon shortly before previews began and had to withdraw from the

Blumhouse Productions founder Jason Blum stirred up controversy Wednesday when he claimed his studio hasn’t produced a theatrical release by a woman because there weren’t “a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror.” Many people took to Twitter to criticize Blum’s unqualified statement, with one user saying it

October 18, 2018 2:48PM PT Hailee Steinfeld is producing and starring in Netflix’s music drama “Idol,” with Matt Reeves in talks to produce through his 6th & Idaho company, sources told Variety. Netflix had no comment. The streaming service has acquired rights to the Matt King script for “Idol,” centered around a girl who becomes

Miami-based FiGa Films has snared all rights to “Fireflies” (“Luciernagas”), its first acquisition on the eve of the 16th Morelia Int’l Film Festival. Drama world premieres on Sunday, Oct. 21 and competes with nine others in Morelia’s official Mexican feature film category. Written and helmed by Iranian-born Mexico City resident Bani Khoshnoudi, “Fireflies” turns on a

Now comes the hard part. On Thursday, the Walt Disney Company unveiled the list of 20th Century Fox film executives who scored a visa to the Magic Kingdom. Once Disney wraps up its $71.3 billion acquisition of much of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, Fox film vice-chairman Emma Watts, Fox 2000 head Elizabeth Gabler, Fox Searchlight

October has proven to be a surprisingly solid month at the box office, and November releases “The Grinch” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” hope to keep the end of the year going strong. Universal and Illumination are getting in on the holiday spirit early when “The Grinch” opens on Nov. 9. Early tracking

Annie Lennox has been added to Variety’s inaugural Music for Screens Summit and will take part in a keynote conversation with composer Scott Salinas. The event will be held at Neuehouse in Hollywood, Calif. on Oct. 30 Lennox, who rose to fame during the 1980s as singer and co-songwriter of Eurythmics, has released six studio albums

October 18, 2018 12:16PM PT Marc Maron and “The Leftovers” actor Michael Gaston have joined the Netflix movie “Wonderland” starring Mark Wahlberg. The cast also includes “Black Panther” breakout Winston Duke, Post Malone, Alan Arkin, and Iliza Shlesinger. Peter Berg is directing the movie, which is being adapted from Ace Atkins’ novel “Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland.” The

The Walt Disney Co. has unveiled the team of film executives it expects to import from 20th Century Fox. Twentieth Century Fox Film Vice Chairman Emma Watts, Fox 2000 chief Elizabeth Gabler, and Fox Searchlight co-heads Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley will be making the move to the Mouse House. As expected, 20th Century Fox

October 18, 2018 10:04AM PT [embedded content] Post Malone and Swae Lee dropped a new song on Thursday called “Sunflower,” which apparently includes in its title the name of the forthcoming film soundtrack from which it comes (the song’s full title is “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”). The single re-teams Post and Swae after the

Czech-Shot “The Glass Room,” currently in post-production, is deeply influenced by an aspect of the nation’s history not often spoken about by admirers — its remarkable architecture: For generations, the most treasured buildings were home to tragic events. The Villa Tugendhat in the eastern province of Moravia, a stunning, poured-concrete dwelling that represents a breakthrough

Director Travis Knight was on top of the world as he accepted Variety’s Creative Leadership Award Wednesday night, though his journey hasn’t always been easy. Knight bantered comfortably with an audience of industry professionals during his acceptance speech, revealing that he wasn’t always welcome in Hollywood. In fact, the director of “Coraline” and the latest “Transformers”

Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn are set to star in Clark Duke’s feature directorial debut “Arkansas,” which Duke wrote and will also appear in. The film follows a pair of low level drug runners in the Dixie Mafia, portrayed by Hemsworth and Duke, who live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin, played by

PLAYBACK is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday. With 15 years in the film business behind him, 34-year-old actor Jonah Hill has made the transition to directing with “Mid90s,” a raw, personal story of his youth brought to life

Twenty years, in terms of horror films, doesn’t sound all that long. Yet it adds up to a generation, and the list below reflects that. It’s a catalog of the cinematic fears and obsessions that define an era. The list is also destined to start a few fights (no, I’m not a fan of “It

Netflix’s “Been So Long” will receive a U.K. theatrical release as part of Birds’ Eye View’s Reclaim the Frame program. The film’s 10-theater tour kicks off with a special screening in London on Oct. 22, followed by a Q&A with director Tinge Krishnan, star Michaela Coel and other members of the cast and crew. It

The New York Attorney General has launched an investigation into whether Helios & Matheson Analytics, the financially struggling majority owner of movie-subscription provider MoviePass, misled investors. The investigation is being conducted by New York Attorney General Barbara G. Underwood’s office under the Martin Act, an anti-fraud law that allows the AG to conduct investigations of

“First Reformed,” a drama about a priest who questions his faith played by Ethan Hawke, scored the most nominations for the 2018 Gotham Awards, the annual ceremony in New York honoring independent film. The movie, written and directed by Paul Schrader, landed in three categories: best feature, best actor (for Hawke) and best screenplay. “The

Germany’s VFX sector is celebrating newly revamped guidelines of the country’s main subsidy program, which make it possible for big-budget animated and visual effects-heavy projects to secure rebates as high as 45% when they meet new minimum spend requirements. The new rules do away with requirements that films have to be physically shot in-country to qualify