The golden age of the rock documentary faded out a long time ago. It’s now rare to see a concert film or a backstage pop portrait that attains the status of an event, like “Woodstock” or “Stop Making Sense” or “Truth or Dare.” But the form has never gone away. In a sense, it’s now
Movies
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” enchanted moviegoers with a debut of $62 million. While that’s slightly lower than the domestic start of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the first installment in Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter” spinoff series, it was easily enough to dominate the weekend box office. Warner Bros., the studio behind
Paris-based sales company Wide House has sealed a flurry of deals for two titles playing this week at Amsterdam’s IDFA documentary festival: Ruth Beckermann’s “The Waldheim Waltz,” Austria’s candidate for the 2019 Oscars, and Marcus Lindeen’s “The Raft.” World premiering at February’s Berlinale, where it won the Glashutte Award for best documentary, “The Waldheim Waltz”
AMSTERDAM — “Hamada” is an Arabic word meaning “desert,” and for the Sahrawi people who live there, in the middle of the Sahara, it has another meaning: “Emptiness.” One might think, then, that a film with such a title, dealing with stateless migrants, wouldn’t exactly be a laughing matter, but Eloy Domínguez Serén’s feature-length documentary
November 18, 2018 1:20AM PT Ash Mayfair’s Vietnamese film “The Third Wife” won best film at the 24th Kolkata international film festival’s international competition on Saturday. Mayfair’s debut feature previously won awards at Toronto, San Sebastian and Chicago. Mayfair was present to collect her award, presented by actress Tabu (“Life of Pi”) and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar.
In late 1965, Gay Talese set out to profile Frank Sinatra for Esquire magazine. Sinatra refused to be interviewed but allowed the writer to hang around, observing, which he did for three months, racking up almost $5,000 in expenses. In the end, Talese penned what became one of the most memorable celebrity profiles ever written,
The atmosphere on stage at the Golden Horse film awards ceremony in Taiwan on Saturday was politically-tinged. But the destination of the top prizes, at the event usually considered as the most prestigious for Chinese-language cinema, was largely predictable. Powerful period drama, “Shadow” was the numerical winner, taking home four prizes, including best director for
November 17, 2018 5:56PM PT Breakout acting star Awkwafina was on hand Saturday in Honolulu to receive the Halekulani Maverick Award from the Hawaii International Film Festival. The actress, writer and rapper this year starred in “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” Japanese actor, Takumi Saito was also given a maverick award after his feature
’Tis the season for latter-year revelations. With Adam McKay’s new film “Vice,” a follow-up to his 2015 Oscar winner “The Big Short,” a major one has landed, though it’s hardly a surprise: Christian Bale might be in line to receive his second Academy Award to date, for his uncanny portrayal of former Vice President Dick
Cinematographer Dick Pope has collaborated with iconic director Mike Leigh for over two decades and set out to apply their unique approach to filming to the story of the 1819 British massacre of demonstrators known to history as Peterloo. A study of workers, factory owners, the clergy and the crown, whose conflicting interests build to
Alfonso Cuaron, who won an Oscar for directing 2013’s “Gravity,” is back in the awards conversation again this year with a very different kind of film, “Roma,” a clearly autobiographical tale that follows the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 70s. “Roma” is notable for its uncompromising art-house esthetics, its
“Firecrackers” director Jasmin Mozaffari and “Skate Kitchen” helmer Crystal Moselle, who won Stockholm Film Festival’s best film and debut, respectively, sat with Variety after the awards ceremony on Friday to discuss their next projects. Moselle is an up-and-coming filmmaker who already boasts an impressive track record, having won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize with her 2015
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is on its way to a $63 million debut from 4,163 North American theaters. The latest Wizarding World installment from Warner Bros. earned an estimated $25.7 million on Friday from North America with an additional $74.3 million internationally. If estimates hold, the sequel’s debut would come in behind its
Remember when the words “breaking news” used to refer to the thrill of hearing about world events as they happened? These days, it has become the daily sport of autocrats and elected officials alike, who have realized that discrediting once-reputable journalistic sources — quite literally, attempting to break the news — is an effective strategy in
There have been many ups and downs in John Travolta’s career, which currently rests in a valley equivalent to the one he’d hit just before “Pulp Fiction” a quarter-century ago. You might think anything would be an improvement after “Gotti.” Yet the new “Speed Kills” not only isn’t appreciably better, it’s also bad in much
November 16, 2018 6:34PM PT California’s wildfires have resulted in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences scaling back Sunday’s red carpet at its Governors Awards event to a photos-only event. “In light of the tragic wildfires burning through California, we have decided to scale back our red carpet at the Governors Awards this
In today’s film news roundup, “Screwball” is getting a domestic release in the spring, Brian Goldsmith re-ups at Lionsgate, horror novel “Snowblind” is in the works as a film, and “Room 13” has been cast. ACQUISITION Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to baseball doping documentary “Screwball” and plans a theatrical release to coincide with
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is ready to cast a powerful spell on the box office. Warner Bros.’ tentpole is heading for a domestic opening weekend in the $75 million range, early estimates showed Friday. The North American figure could wind up matching the $74.4 million opening for 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to
The Oscar-winning screenwriter behind “All the President’s Men,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “The Princess Bride” has died, but William Goldman’s words will live on indefinitely in his scripts and books. To remember the late screenwriter and author, here are some of his most memorable lines: The Princess Bride (1987) “Do you want
Paramount Pictures is in early negotiations with Chris Pratt to star in a movie reboot of “The Saint,” two decades after Val Kilmer’s thriller and 50 years after Roger Moore’s TV series. Pratt’s deal is not closed. He became a worldwide star after headlining Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies and “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and its
On the heels of the news that FilmStruck, the movie-streaming subscription service aimed at cinephiles, will be ceasing at the end of November, Criterion Collection announced a new deal with WarnerMedia to launch a separate streaming service in 2019. FilmStruck, operated by Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks, has been the exclusive U.S. home for
William Goldman, the Oscar-winning writer of screenplays for “All the President’s Men” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” who died on Friday, coined the best line in the history of Hollywood, and it wasn’t even for one of his movies. “Nobody knows anything.” If you work in this business — and Goldman was clear-eyed about
Hollywood may want to brace itself for another epic fight. At least two major studios — Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures — are expected to reignite discussions about early video-on-demand, sources tell Variety, a move that could lead to a protracted standoff with theater chains. For the past decade, no issue has incited bigger battles
With this year’s best picture Oscar race set to feature a number of major studio releases, the independent film awards circuit is making for a lively sidebar affair. As ever, it’s an opportunity for bubble contenders to find their corner of the spotlight ahead of the holiday rush, when voters will hopefully be diligent about
Jasmin Mozaffari’s “Firecrackers” and Crystal Moselle’s “Skate Kitchen,” a pair of bold and timely North American features, won best film and best debut at the 29th edition of Stockholm Film Festival whose awards were almost entirely scooped by female talents. “Firecrackers,” which world premiered at Toronto Film Festival, marks the feature debut of Canadian helmer
It’s been more than 40 years since publicist and newly minted Governors Award honoree Marvin Levy began his close association with Steven Spielberg, but their adventures together only constitute one of acts in the Levy saga. From the time Levy graduated from NYU in 1949, the affable but no-nonsense communications pro has been somewhere near
From their starts as lowly showbiz assistants, this year’s Irving G. Thalberg recipients Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall have helped bring an impressive array of films to life. Together and separately, they have worked on movies from “The Last Picture Show” (Marshall) and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (both) to the upcoming “Star Wars: Episode
Coming-of-age drama “We the Animals” has scored five Spirit Awards nominations, with “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” and “You Were Never Really Here” taking four each. The nominees for best feature are “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace,” and “You Were Never Really Here.” “We the Animals” scored nominations for best first feature,
Cicely Tyson called her friend Arthur Mitchell soon after learning she’d be honored with an Oscar to celebrate her legendary acting career. A trailblazer like her, the former ballet dancer accompanied her to the Oscars in 1973, when she was nominated for lead actress in “Sounder.” Tyson starred as the matriarch in a sharecropping family
November 16, 2018 10:19AM PT Netflix will produce “Escape From Hat,” an upcoming animated feature film from “Kung Fu Panda” director Mark Osborne. The announcement is part of a larger drive by the streaming service to become a major player in family entertainment. Netflix has recently unveiled a bold slate of films and shows aimed