LOS CABOS, Mexico — Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann’s Panorama Global, the company behind Alfonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo,” are partnering with its co-screenwriter, Manuel Alcalá, and Mauricio Katz, screenwriter of “Miss Bala,” and Netflix “Maniac,” on futuristic thriller “Frogtown.” As talent become one – if not the – key competitive issue in the world’s new film-TV
Movies
“The Grinch” has opened with a merry $2.2 million at 3,200 North American locations on Thursday night. Universal-Illumination’s holiday-themed animated comedy, which began showings at 6 p.m., is expected to gross between $55 million to $65 million this weekend when it expands to 4,140 screens. “The Grinch” should dominate moviegoing over the second weekend of “Bohemian
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Sundance nominee and National Board of Review grant winning short filmmaker Charlotte Glynn is preparing her fiction feature debut, “The Gymnast,” and met with Variety to discuss the project at the Los Cabos market and festival where she is participating in the Films in Development section. A Pittsburgh-raised New York transplant, Glynn has made waves
Fan-favorite actor Pedro Alonso, star of the Netflix Spanish-language phenomenon “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”) is signing with Buffalo 8 Management for representation in North America. At Buffalo 8, Alonso will be represented by manager-producer Steven Adams, one of the firm’s partners. Buffalo 8 will be seeking film and TV opportunities for Alonso throughout the Americas, the
Lady Gaga has no problem living — and revealing — her truth. While accepting a patron award at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s third annual Patron of the Artists Awards on Thursday night in Beverly Hills, the “Star Is Born” actress called on Hollywood to provide better mental health care for people in the entertainment business. In
LOS CABOS, Mexico — A mix of traditional pre-colonial and modern, urban-infused storytelling, Julio Hernández Cordón’s “Neza” pitches at this week’s Los Cabos Festival Works in Development, where the filmmaker’s most recent film “Buy Me a Gun” – Director’s Fortnight and San Sebastian Horizontes Latinos competitor – is in competition. Born in North Carolina but
November 9, 2018 1:00AM PT Alessandro Nivola plays a loner suddenly saddled with a child in this atmospheric but underdeveloped drama. Alessandro Nivola looks like a conventionally handsome leading man, but has largely had the career of a character actor so far — something that may factor in his being relatively under-sung for an impressive
Five months after the release of Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG” — whose runaway success, at a staggering $14.3 million, all but confirms its subject’s unlikely rock-star status — and directly on the heels of justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious appointment to the Supreme Court comes “On the Basis of Sex,” a rousing origin story for
LOS CABOS, Mexico — In town to promote “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” celebrated writer-director Terry Gilliam met with Variety for a conversation in which the Monty Python alum laughed more than he talked, addressed graciously the good and bad of film criticism, and taking silly work seriously. Gilliam started off stressing that he is not,
LOS CABOS, Mexico — September’s 43rd Toronto Intl. Film Festival was Piers Handling’s 37th and final edition, the director and CEO since 1994 stepping down after the event following 23 years at its helm and an association running back to 1982. Honored at Mexico’s Los Cabos Festival, Handling reflected in a conversation with Mexican journalist
For a long time, performance artists cultivated the image, and maybe still do, of standing outside the system of conventional bourgeois values. (More often than not, that was the whole point.) But in the fascinating avant-garde home-movie documentary psychodrama “Narcissister Organ Player,” the performance artist who calls herself Narcissister comes off as both a liberated
In today’s film news roundup, Chris McKay is attached to direct “Jonny Quest,” Greg Berlanti is directing a Rock Hudson movie, documentary “The Last Race” gets an early release, and Valeria Golino is honored. DIRECTOR ATTACHMENTS Chris McKay, director of “The Lego Batman Movie,” is attached to helm a live-action “Jonny Quest” movie for Warner
Two years ago at the annual DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute Luncheon, the best and the brightest of the documentary community were in mourning. It was two days after Donald Trump’s presidential election and nonfiction filmmakers weren’t taking it well. Cut to Thursday’s fifth annual Visionaries lunch. The crowd, full of elite docu filmmakers including Steve
November 8, 2018 5:32PM PT The Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Glenn Close with the Icon Award for her performance in “The Wife.” The awards ceremony will be held Jan. 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival runs Jan. 3-14. “Glenn Close is a rare and enduring talent who has consistently
November 8, 2018 4:57PM PT Jessica Henwick is set to join the ensemble cast of Legendary’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” sources tell Variety. Adam Wingard is directing the film, which also stars Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgard, “Deadpool 2” actor Julian Dennison, Rebecca Hall, and “Atlanta’s” Brian Tyree Henry. Plot details are vague, but the action
The follow-up to the first of five “Fantastic Beasts” films, critics have begun to sound off on David Yates and J.K. Rowling’s “The Crimes of Grindelwald.” So far, critics have accused the film of using overly dramatic fantasy-action sequences and elaborately CGI’d beasts to distract from an underwhelming script and a needlessly complicated, low-stakes plot — though
Vasan Bala’s “The Man Who Feels No Pain,” and Qiu Sheng’s “Suburban Birds” are among 11 films set for competition at the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will open the festival in an out of competition slot. Other films in competition include: “Aga” by Milko Lazarov
You can add Common to the list of Beto O’Rourke supporters who thinks the young politician has what it takes for a possible presidential run in 2020. “I want to look and see who’s running, but I’m glad that he potentially will be a candidate, because he seems like a good guy and great candidate,”
November 8, 2018 1:50PM PT Diego Luna will star in a new “Star Wars” series for Disney’s new streaming service. The show will be a prequel to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Luna will reprise his role as rebel spy Cassian Andor, the cocky daredevil who helped Felicity Jones steal the Death Star plans
November 8, 2018 1:33PM PT Lionsgate revenue earnings topped projections, thanks to growth from its premium cable channel, Starz. The company reported strong gains at Starz of 1.3 million subscribers for a total of 25.1 million domestic subscribers during its second quarter ending Sept. 30. The studio also topped Wall Street estimates by reporting revenue
November 8, 2018 1:17PM PT The box office success of “Incredibles 2” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” combined with the popularity of the Walt Disney Company’s theme parks bolstered quarterly earnings at the Hollywood conglomerate. Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter increased 37% to $1.55, while revenues climbed 12% to $14.3 billion. Net
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Cultivated and connected, Carla Gonzalez Vargas has discovered her calling. The result, “Luis Miguel – The Series,” is one of Latin America’s drama series sensations of the year, catapulting lead Diego Boneta to fame, sparking a litany of extraordinary social media stats, and turning Gonzalez Vargas into still one of the
Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap,” an look at small-town American life through the lens of a group of skateboarder friends, led the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors nominations for nonfiction filmmaking Thursday. The film, a Hulu original documentary, landed seven bids, for direction, editing, cinematography, original score, debut feature and the audience award, in addition to
To start with, some credit where it’s due: In the nearly half century since the death of J.R.R. Tolkien, no writer of the English language has created a more pliable, tangible, and livable fantasy world than J.K. Rowling. And save for Peter Jackson’s sojourns to Middle Earth, no recent filmmaker has put in a more
Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage,” Colombia’s official entry to the Oscars’ Foreign-Language category, took home the best picture Fenix Award in a glittering ceremony held in Mexico City on Nov. 7. Its lead actress, Carmiña Martínez, clinched the best actress Fenix. However, Argentine period drama “Zama” by Lucrecia Martel snagged the most
A total of 166 films have been submitted for consideration in the documentary feature category for the 91st Academy Awards. Notable titles up for the gold include “RBG,” “Three Identical Strangers,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” — which have performed strongly at the box office. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences noted
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Cinematographer-turned-director Joaquín del Paso is at this year’s Los Cabos Festival with his highly anticipated sophomore feature, the 1986-set suspense-thriller, “The Hole in the Fence,” pitching at the festival’s Works in Development section. Del Paso also announced to Variety that “It Follows” and “Under the Silver Lake” composer Disasterpiece will score the film,
November 8, 2018 11:08AM PT Rising star Jodie Turner-Smith will star opposite Academy Award nominee Daniel Kaluuya in Universal Pictures and Makeready’s “Queen & Slim.” “Insecure” helmer Melina Matsoukas is set to make her feature directing debut from a script by Lena Waithe. The story follows a couple after they’re stopped by the police and
November 8, 2018 8:02AM PT The missing link has been found in the first trailer for Zach Galifianakis’ stop-motion film. “Missing Link” follows the charismatic Sir Lionel Frost, voiced by Hugh Jackman, as he works to uncover a lost species of animal, linking the human race to its more beastly ancestors. What he finds, however,
For the second straight year, a record eight African films were submitted to the Academy for consideration, vying for a chance to bring home just the third statue for the continent in the nearly 50 years since Costa-Gavras won for the Algerian-French political thriller “Z.” This year’s submissions aren’t likely to get the buzz of