Movies

Iconic actress Michelle Yeoh (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is to be honored alongside Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara at the U.S.-China Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles later this month. Elizabeth Daley and Steven J. Ross, dean and Time Warner professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, respectively, will also be

October 4, 2018 6:19PM PT [embedded content] Clint Eastwood is full of regret and sorrow in the first trailer for “The Mule,” returning to the screen for the first time since 2012’s “Trouble With the Curve.” “I was a terrible father and a terrible husband,” he says in a voiceover. “Family’s the most important thing.

October 4, 2018 4:36PM PT The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the launch of Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative, designed to create opportunities for female filmmakers to connect, share their stories and celebrate inclusion. The program consists of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, the Academy Directory and annual events, which

October 4, 2018 4:29PM PT “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien will direct Warner Bros.’ untitled Sylvia Robinson biopic. The movie has been in the works since 2014 when Paula Wagner acquired the film rights to the life story of Robinson, the founder of Sugar Hill Records. The script, written by Tracy Oliver, Malcolm Spellman,

Gently dipping us into the long ago and far away past, Ash Mayfair’s directorial debut brings an intimate immediacy to the re-creation of rural Vietnam in the late 19th century. Though it’s almost painterly, in the pellucid watercolor palette of DP Chananun Chotrungroj’s glistening bamboo-green, aloe-scented imagery, and authentic to its period setting down to

October 4, 2018 3:55PM PT Animal rights organization PETA will honor Bradley Cooper with its inaugural compassion in film award for casting his own dog, Charlie, in “A Star Is Born.” PETA said it gave Cooper the award for not using a dog supplied by one of Hollywood’s “notorious” animal exhibitors such as Birds &

October 4, 2018 3:34PM PT Capcom Thursday confirmed that Paul W.S. Anderson will be directing a movie adaptation of “Monster Hunter” and released updated details about the film’s plot. The film tells the story of “two heroes who come from different worlds to defeat a shared danger, the powerful, deadly and magnificent monsters that inhabit

The #MeToo movement has gained traction in the South Korean film industry. Sexual harassment and assault victims are speaking out in the wake of rape and sexual misconduct accusations against Venice Golden Lion-winning filmmaker Kim Ki-duk and actor Cho Jae-hyun. Veteran TV actor Jo Min-ki was another high-profile entertainment industry figure who faced allegations that

Bangladesh is looking to discover the next generation of filmmaking talent with the country’s first anthology film, “Sincerely Yours, Dhaka,” that has its world premiere at Busan’s A Window on Asian Cinema strand. The film is executive produced by Faridur Reza and Ebne Hasan Khan for leading Bangladeshi studio Impress Telefilm. “Dhaka” is a collection

PLAYBACK is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday. Filmmaker Damien Chazelle had quite the act to follow after “La La Land,” the 2016 musical that tied the record for Oscar nominations and marked him as the youngest person to

October 4, 2018 1:13PM PT Mark A. Livolsi, a respected film editor who collaborated with filmmakers including Cameron Crowe and Oliver Stone and edited “The Devil Wears Prada” and “The Blind Side” died September 23 in Pasadena, Calif. He was 56. The cause of death is not yet known. Livolsi’s most recent project was editing

Adam Pincus, First Look Media’s executive VP of programming and content, has left the New York-based film and TV company. A First Look spokesperson told Variety that Pincus is no longer with the organization, founded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, and that a search is underway for his replacement. Reasons for his exit are unknown.

Bron Media Chairman Aaron L. Gilbert and Chief Strategy Officer Ashley Levinson have announced the launch of a new division, Bron Ventures, to make strategic equity investments. Bron disclosed that the new division recently completed an investment and a strategic partnership with the Brooklyn-based production company Animal Kingdom, which produced “Short Term 12,” “It Follows,”

October 4, 2018 12:00PM PT A Jerusalem woman’s career leap is complicated by her boss’ inappropriate behavior in this strong Israeli drama. A typical skeptic’s response to the #MeToo movement has been “Well, why didn’t she just get another job? Why would anyone keep working with a boss who behaves inappropriately?” This argument tends to

“This is a big movie,” writer-director Tony Gilroy told a crowd gathered for a screening of “First Man” on Wednesday night at New York’s Whitby Hotel. “Whether you end up loving or hating this film, you’re going to want a drink after.” The 2-hour 21-minute opus, starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, chronicles NASA’s journey

The Lord works in injurious ways in “The Church,” a low-budget indie horror meller that traps protagonists in a house of worship where they’re beset by malevolent spirits. Just what those spirits are — whether they’re working for Yahweh or Beelzebub or both, etc. — is among many key questions left murky in a film

Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves are developing Blake Crouch’s upcoming science-fiction novel “Recursion” as a feature film and television series for Netflix. The deal was announced Thursday. Netflix has secured the rights to “Recursion” for Rhimes and Betsy Beers’ Shondaland and Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. “Recursion” will be published by Crown on June 11. “Recursion”

It’s a June morning at 20th Century Fox, and the scenes flashing on the big screen in the Newman Scoring Stage are disturbing: White police officers are hurling tear gas into a crowd of mostly black protesters. Forty musicians supply the mood — at first unsettling, then intense, finally melancholy. Composer Dustin O’Halloran, at a

Omari Hardwick plays a high-level drug distributor and nightclub owner on the Starz crime drama “Power,” but his latest projects tap into different sides of his acting. In “A Boy. A Girl. A Dream,” he plays a man looking to find himself on the night of Donald Trump’s election. And in Tyler Perry’s “Nobody’s Fool,”

October 4, 2018 7:28AM PT Alan Alda has been named the 55th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Alda will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The award is

Harry Lennix, best known as an FBI official on NBC’s “The Blacklist,” is launching the gospel concert movie “Revival! The Experience” into theaters in December, Variety has learned exclusively. The project is described as a musical retelling of the Gospel according to John the Apostle. Gospel star Mali Music wrote the movie, with performers including

MADRID — Dropped by sales agent Beta Film on Thursday, here is the first ever trailer for “El Embarcadero” (The Pier), the first series by Alex Pina, creator of “Money Heist” (La Casa de Papel) after that series became a worldwide phenomenon. Pina and fellow “Money Heist” and “The Pier” creator Esther Martínez will be

The esteemed Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was back in the news over the summer, when the New York Times reported that he was so irked by the song selection at a favorite Manhattan restaurant, he politely wrote to the chef and offered to take charge of the playlist. Something about the story felt typically Sakamoto:

There is, at most, one beautiful day contained in Korean director Jéro Yun’s “Beautiful Days,” whose ironic title refers to a kind of false nostalgia for a family bliss never experienced by any of its characters. That’s not to say the film is a miserabilist chore exactly, though it very nearly could have been, had

Staff handed out plastic ponchos. Red carpet-goers toted capes and umbrellas on Thursday night in Busan’s Centum City. But the storm clouds whipped up by Typhoon Kong-Rey served more to add to the atmosphere of the Busan International Film Festival’s opening ceremony, rather than to dampen spirits. After three years being buffeted by a political

October 4, 2018 5:23AM PT Celina Jade, the breakout actress from “Wolf Warriors II,” is set as the star of Chinese big-budget tomb-raiding action film “Mojin X.” The film is a sequel to 2015 hit “Mojin: The Lost Legend.” Directed by Li Yifan, “Mojin X” also stars Zhang Hanyu (“Assembly”) and Jiang Wu. Working through

Hong Kong pop queen Faye Wong, mainland Chinese actress Zhao Wei and Taiwan’s Shu Qi are believed to be among the celebrities from around greater China who are now rushing to ensure their finances are on the right side of the law in the Middle Kingdom. Their haste has been triggered by the recently announced

Jero Yun, the Korean filmmaker behind Busan International Film Festival’s opening night film “Beautiful Days,” is a Busan-born filmmaker who has spent more than a decade studying and filmmaking in France. Yun is best-known for his shorts and documentaries about North Koreans in China, including “Promise” (2010), “Looking for North Koreans” (2012) and “Mrs. B., a

October 4, 2018 1:35AM PT Fall festival favorites including “Manta Ray,” Jinpa,” and “Cities of Last Things” will line up in the main competition of next month’s Tokyo Filmex festival. The event runs Nov. 17-25 at venues in the Hibiya and Yurakucho suburbs of Tokyo. Directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng “Manta Ray” recently won the Horizons

October 4, 2018 12:29AM PT Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, who has been at the center of a storm over unpaid taxes, is said to be at liberty after a period of government detention. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Fan has returned to Beijing after an unspecified period of