Movies

For 14 seasons, “Saturday Night Live’s” Darrell Hammond delighted crowds with his uncanny impersonations of Sean Connery, Regis Philbin, and (most notably) former President Bill Clinton. Mimicking over 107 celebrities, Hammond found fame on the sketch show, appearing on films and even performing at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. But behind-the-scenes, the comedian suffered. Plagued by incapacitating

In “Amazing Grace,” a 46-year-old gospel concert movie that feels like a rough gem unearthed in a time capsule, Aretha Franklin, standing at the pulpit of the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts section of Los Angeles, delivers a hymn called “Climbing Higher Mountains” that gets everyone in the place standing up and

Legendary Entertainment has bought movie and television rights to Jeff Lemire’s “Black Hammer” comic series universe. The company, a subsidiary of the China-based Wanda Group, made the announcement Tuesday. Lemire will serve as an executive producer with Dean Ormston, the co-creator and illustrator of the comic series. The “Black Hammer” comics were first published by

Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., the parent company of MoviePass, is canceling a stock split that it had hoped would reinvigorate its moribund share price. In a public filing, Helios said it did not have the votes it needed to gain approval for a 1-for-500 reverse stock split while warning that it faced being delisted

Robert De Niro may have been the target of the Donald Trump-supporting pipe bomb mailer, but that isn’t stopping the Oscar winner from trashing the president. Just two days after playing Robert Mueller again on “Saturday Night Live,” De Niro zinged the commander-in-chief with more verbal zingers. In presenting Billy Crystal with the Friars Club’s

Jean-Jacques Annaud – recipient of this year’s EnergaCamerimage Director Duo Award along with his collaborator, DP Jean-Marie Dreujou – always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. Born during World War II, the future director got his first Brownie camera at age 7, and his first 35mm still camera at 10. By the time he

When I was 16 years old, I told my father I’m attracted to the same sex. I was terrified; and even with receiving the best response I could have hoped for, “I love you no matter what and I will always be by your side,” I learned that I was a far distance from being

SFFILM, the San Francisco cinema society that presents the San Francisco International Film Festival every spring, has announced honorees for its second annual SFFILM Awards Night, set for Dec. 3. Amy Adams will receive the Peter J. Owens Award for Acting, for her performance as Lynne Cheney in Adam McKay’s “Vice”; filmmaker Steve McQueen will

Netflix has released the first official trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” which highlights Yalitza Aparicio as a live-in housekeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. With Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” scoring the black-and-white footage, Aparicio’s character named Cleo performs chores and deals with three children against a backdrop

France’s leading independent film group, Pathe, recently lost €19.2 million ($22 million) in an internet scam that targeted the mini-major’s Dutch office. Details of the scam were contained in an Oct. 31 ruling by the District Court of Amsterdam on a lawsuit against Pathe for unfair dismissal filed by Edwin Slutter, Pathe Netherlands’ former financial

At this point in the Oscar race, all of the serious contenders for lead actress have been seen. So how is this year’s field stacking up? Three performances feel like shoo-ins for nominations: Olivia Colman’s mad Queen Anne in “The Favourite,” a controversial category placement decision for a role some argue is supporting (though the

Despite the demise of Toys R Us, which rocked sales for Hollywood’s film and TV merchandise, the death of retail stores is exaggerated. Online commerce only accounts for around 10% of U.S. retail sales, and such brick-and-mortar mass-market retailers as Walmart and Target are still corralling two-thirds of sales in many product categories. But the

Manolo Caro’s pan-Latin American version of movie franchise hit “Perfect Strangers” is set for a Dec. 25 release in Mexico by its producer-distributor Cinepolis, followed by a Jan. 11 U.S. bow from Pantelion. Variety has been given exclusive access to the dark ensemble comedy’s official U.S. trailer and poster. “Perfect Strangers” revolves around a circle

Licensing is more complex than ever, as studios and networks compete for increasingly distracted consumers. But Star Wars; Overwatch League; and Snoop Dogg’s marijuana products are among the content creators inventing products consumers covet. Here are six companies, stars or shows showing the way. Nickelodeon Shells Out New Take on Turtles Network pulled back merchandise

A day after saying it stood by the story, Playboy in Germany acknowledged Tuesday that its published interview with Ennio Morricone had “reproduced incorrectly” some of the quotes attributed to the legendary Italian composer. The magazine did not specify whether the incorrect quotes included comments in which Morricone appeared to disparage Quentin Tarantino as “a

November 13, 2018 6:58AM PT It’s been 12 years since “The Lives of Others” earned critical raves and captured the Oscar for best foreign film, but director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is back in the awards hunt. The German writer and director’s latest, “Never Look Away,” opens in limited release on Nov. 30. It is

Screen Yorkshire has launched a plan to turn its part of northern England into an international film and TV hub capable of attracting the next “Game of Thrones.” The agency has opened a new Film Office, which will be the driver of its international push, and talks are underway about a new studio complex in

Prominent Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy in March was appointed president of the Cairo Film Festival by Egyptian Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem with a mandate to revamp and relaunch the prominent Arab fest, which had been losing luster due to political turbulence. Hefzy, 43, is the youngest president in the event’s 40-edition history and the first

When it comes to the movie “Jaws,” there’s a myth so often repeated that hardly anyone stops to question it anymore: The story goes that because Spielberg couldn’t get his giant mechanical shark to work, he was forced to shoot around it, resulting in a more effective film. That’s true up to a point. Sharks

An ample assortment of new Arab cinema will be on display at the revived Cairo Film Connection where new projects by established helmers including Egypt’s Osama Fawzy (“I Love Cinema”), Iraq’s Koutaiba Al-Janabi (“Leaving Baghdad”), and Syria’s Soudade Kaadan (“The Day I Lost My Shadow”) will be vying for more than $100,000 in prizes with

The Cairo Film Festival, for its 40th edition, is reinventing itself. With Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy at the helm who, at 43, is its youngest president, the oldest fest in the Arab and African worlds is undergoing a radical revamp in a major effort to get its mojo back after a decade of decline due

November 12, 2018 11:52PM PT Camsing International, the Chinese company that last year bought Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, has joined in the mourning of the legendary comic book creator, who died Monday, and said it would press on with development of Lee’s intellectual properties. Calling Lee “the father of superheroes,” Camsing said in a statement:

Sony Pictures Imageworks is to provide the animation on “Over the Moon,” the Chinese-themed animated feature stemming from China’s Pearl Studio and Netflix. The film is being directed by Glen Keane, who has numerous credits on Pocahontas, Tarzan and Beauty and the Beast, and won an Oscar as director of short film “Dear Basketball.” The

Stan Lee. Where do you even start? Seriously. Growing up as a kid in the 1970s, Stan Lee’s name was in every Marvel comic book I pulled off the Spinner Rack. “Stan Lee Presents…” was at the forefront of every dynamic splash page that opened any Marvel publication. He was a larger-than-life presence, his image

Stan Lee was a God to fans of comic books and superhero movies around the world, and many viewed Lee’s short-but-sweet cameos as the best parts of Marvel films. As a tribute to the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, who died at age 95 on Monday, we’ve compiled a list of all his

In today’s film news roundup, the “Toy Story 4” writer signs for abortion movie “This Is Jane,” Viggo Mortensen-Masershala Ali’s “Green Book” is honored in Denver and the WGA West names its feature access honorees. WRITING DEAL Amazon Studios is moving ahead with its Michelle Williams underground abortion movie “This Is Jane,” and has signed

Todd McFarlane first met Stan Lee at a comicbook convention. All of 16 years old, the teenage McFarlane was several decades removed from creating Spawn and Venom. In contrast, Lee was already a legend, having ushered in Marvel’s golden age by cooking up Spider-Man, Iron Man, and other iconic superheroes. But despite the vast gap

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige represents something of a super-fan in a global community of followers devoted to Stan Lee — the comicbook creator who died Monday at 95 following complications from a medical emergency. Feige spoke with Variety shortly after the news sent Twitter and an army of movie stars into tribute mode, where

The movie script for “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was wrapped up and greenlit by both Jason Blum and Chris Columbus, but game creator Scott  Cawthon decided to “toss it” because it didn’t match his vision for the movie adaptation, Cawthon posted on the forum for the game Monday. A film adaptation of “Five Nights at

November 12, 2018 1:11PM PT Alcon Entertainment is moving forward on its “Garfield” animated feature project with Mark Dindal on board to direct. Dindal’s credits include “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “Chicken Little.” He’s directing from a screenplay by the writing team of Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove. Pre-production is set to begin next month