Movies

Anticipation for Disney’s rollout of live action adaptations can sometimes be lukewarm, but that’s clearly not the case with “The Lion King.” The teaser trailer for the upcoming “live action” feature — which is really just photoreal animation — accumulated 224.6 million views globally in its first 24 hours, becoming Disney’s most watched trailer in

Andy Blankenbuehler has signed on to choreograph the upcoming Universal-Working Title film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Cats,” Variety has confirmed. Blankenbuehler, who choreographed the recent revival of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s hit musical, is also known as the choreographer for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton.” He has won three Tonys, for his work on “Hamilton,” “Bandstand,” and

November 24, 2018 9:28AM PT British director Nicolas Roeg, who’s 1970s-era films such as “Don’t Look Now,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and “Performance” became touchstones for numerous budding filmmakers and cinephiles, died Friday. Directors including Edgar Wright and Duncan Jones, whose father David Bowie starred in “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” were

“Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Creed II” are looking to have some of the most successful Thanksgiving turns of all time, edging the holiday weekend towards a potential new record. Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel should debut to an estimated $84.9 million for the five-day weekend from 4,017 locations, slotting in just behind 2013’s “Frozen,” with

Director and noted cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, whose offbeat films included “Performance,” “Don’t Look Now,” “The Witches” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” has died. He was 90. His son Nicolas Roeg Jr. told the BBC his father died Friday night. A daring and influential craftsman, Roeg’s idiosyncratic films influenced filmmakers including Danny Boyle and

November 23, 2018 1:27PM PT Screen legend Julie Andrews is storming movie theaters this Christmas, but it won’t be alongside Emily Blunt on Cherry Tree Lane. Curiously, Andrews will voice a key role in “Aquaman,’ the franchise hopeful from DC Films and Warner Bros. lead by Jason Momoa. The “Sound of Music” star will voice

In the 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley invented a creature that was philosophical, articulate and vengeful. But most people remember the Hollywood version: barely speaking, lumbering and with bolts in his neck, memorable thanks to Boris Karloff and the makeup designed by Jack P. Pierce. November 21 marks the anniversary of the film’s 1931 debut.

Since becoming the Independent Film Project’s executive director in late 2009, Joana Vicente has made her mark. In addition to increasing IFP’s grant support, she also helped found the Made in NY Media Center and transitioned the org from a film-based foundation to an org that supports various media including film, television, web, podcasts and

A pair of powerful sequels — “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Creed II” — are dominating at a robust Thanksgiving holiday box office, leading the way to a possible record-setting total for the five-day period. Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is performing impressively as it heads for an estimated domestic launch of about $89 million

When Lisa Jakub showed up to audition as the oldest daughter of Robin Williams and Sally Field in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” she was introduced to a matronly Scottish woman. Jakub thought she was talking to the mother of director Chris Columbus, who was in production on the movie that turned out to be an enduring classic

K-pop sensation BTS’ “Burn the Stage: The Movie” is set for a global theatrical encore. Having bagged the event-cinema attendance record for its limited run earlier this month, the film is heading back into theaters around the world. Distributor Trafalgar Releasing told Variety that there will be encore showings of “Burn the Stage: The Movie”

Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up North American rights to “Sobibor,” Russia’s entry for the foreign-language film Oscar, about a real-life revolt in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. The rebellion and mass escape, led by a Soviet officer, Alexander Pechersky, took place in Sobibor in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943. There have been

MADRID — Chilean Manuela Martelli’s “1976,” Argentine Maximiliano Schonfeld’s “Jesús Lopez” and Cuban Marcos Díaz Sosa’s “Obra de choque” have all made the cut of Proyecta, a movie project showcase which represents one of the major innovations at this year’s Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-TV market and co-production meet. Though, two weeks and more

November 23, 2018 4:01AM PT Peppa Pig is set for a big-screen moment as part of her birthday celebrations. A two-part special featuring new characters will play alongside never-seen-before episodes of “Peppa Pig” in British cinemas as part of next year’s 15th anniversary celebrations of the smash-hit preschool property. “Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun” will

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” will go out theatrically in Italy on about 50 screens as a three-day event release early next month before the film becomes available globally on Netflix. Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna, known internationally mostly as a film archive and preservation body, has announced that its boutique distribution arm will handle the release of

In a face-off between the world’s biggest streaming platform and second-biggest cinema theater owner, Mexico’s Cinepolis has called on Netflix to respect traditional theatrical windows for the release of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” in Mexican cinemas. If the U.S. streaming giant agrees to push back its Dec. 14 release of “Roma” online, Cinepolis said it would

As it heads into its second weekend, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” looks set to fall well short of the box-office performance of the franchise’s first installment in China. That is despite a number of tailor-made attempts to woo Chinese audiences. As of mid-afternoon Friday, six days after its release, “Grindelwald” had brought in

November 23, 2018 12:00AM PT Evil spirits take their bloody time showing up in this talky, tedious indie Brit horror. You’ll wish you could project yourself into a different entertainment dimension while slogging through “Astral.” This almost perversely uneventful, talky attempt at horror involves college students with malevolent spirits, only the ghoulies take their bloody

The first look at the live-action/CGI remake of “The Lion King” is finally online. Disney released the teaser trailer on Thursday as part of the Thanksgiving football festivities, replicating the opening scene of the beloved 1994 original animated film. “Everything the light touches is our kingdom,” says Mufusa (James Earl Jones, reprising his role from

When “Green Book” premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the response to it was ecstatic. Audiences gave it rapturous ovations and voted it their favorite movie of the festival, and critics swooned. Many of us felt that “Green Book,” directed with grace and crack timing by Peter Farrelly (from a script he co-wrote

It’s become an annual awards-season tradition to mock the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and the Golden Globes. But when xenophobia is on the rise and journalists are considered the “enemy of the people,” this is a good time to give a pat on the back to the HFPA. For one, philanthropy: $3.25 million to 80

PLAYBACK is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday. After the soaring success of “Moonlight,” writer-director Barry Jenkins is back this year with the lush, penetrating James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.” It’s very much an extension of

“Ralph Breaks the Internet” is practically gorging itself at the Thanksgiving box office. Buoyed by good reviews, the Disney animated sequel appears to be the de facto choice for families looking for options to get out of the house and break away from all the feasting. The film racked up a massive $18.5 million on

Brady Corbet, whose latest film “Vox Lux” with Natalie Portman and Jude Law has been drawing some awards buzz, talked to Variety about the themes of his next project, “The Brutalist” while attending Stockholm Film Festival. Unveiled in September, the rough plot of “The Brutalist” revolves around a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the

Brady Corbet, whose latest film “Vox Lux” with Natalie Portman and Jude Law has been drawing some awards buzz, talked to Variety about the themes of his next project, “The Brutalist” at the Stockholm Film Festival. Unveiled in September, the rough plot of “The Brutalist” revolves around a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the

Kwesé iflix, the multiplatform African entertainment network, announced a slate of original programming Thursday, marking its first foray into original content in a region with a large youth population and fast-growing Internet and smartphone penetration. Each of the three new original series comes from a different African country – Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria – in

November 22, 2018 3:13AM PT Prominent Chinese actress Zhao Wei (aka Vicki Zhao) has been banned for five years from holding senior positions in any listed company in China. The ruling was made by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The punishment relates to the failed 2016 takeover bid announced by Tibet Longwei, a company

Japan’s film industry is still highly insular, making films mostly by Japanese for Japanese audiences. But over the past two decades Japan-resident, non-natives have been making inroads. They include Australian scriptwriter Max Mannix with the Kiyoshi Kurosawa drama “Tokyo Sonata,” Welsh director John Williams (“The Trial”,) and Canadian producer Jason Gray with the futuristic anthology

Victor Moreno’s “The Hidden City” is an underground doc – literally – years in the making. The film had help in finding its light at the end of a tunnel with awards at the Abycine Lanza independent film market and the inaugural European Council Eurimages Lab Project Award in 2016, and competed at the Seville

AMSTERDAM — Despite divisions in the outside world, the community spirit still thrives in IDFA’s Forum. It used to be called The Cuban Hat. But now, before the main awards are handed out at IDFA, the festival’s industry arm has a more personal honor to bestow: The Dutch Clog. The business equivalent of the main