October 26, 2018 12:07AM PT An arresting faith-based drama about a crisis of faith, set against the 2007 troop surge of the Iraq War. Real-life characters face tests of faith in a war zone and on the home front in “Indivisible,” an intelligent drama based on the experiences of decorated Army Chaplain Darren Turner, who
Movies
New York City is a place where shops and restaurants come and go. But in Greenwich Village, the former bohemian enclave that has never lost its mythological aura as a neighborhood of freedom and beauty (tourists now line up to gawk at the Stonewall Inn the same way they walk in the Beatles’ footsteps across
October 25, 2018 6:05PM PT A magic space-rock holds the key to life and death in this turgid Mexico-U.S. fantasy thriller. It’s become a reigning pulp cliché of our era that practically every dramatic protagonist must have a dead or endangered child motivating them. It’s the fallback device to provide “depth” to a troubled character,
In today’s film news roundup, medieval horror movie “The Head” gets distribution, Matt Leonetti becomes head of physical production for Lionsgate and the Art Directors Guild honors three longtime members. ACQUISITION Vertical Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights to medieval horror movie “The Head” and will launch international sales at the American Film Market, which
October 25, 2018 3:17PM PT Horror is on a hot streak for the movie business, and diverse millennials may be to thank for the surge in ticket sales. Last year marked the first time the horror genre grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and if this holiday season is any indication, moviegoers are
As if! “Clueless” is getting a remake. Paramount Pictures is developing a remake of its 1995 comedy with “Girls Trip” writer Tracy Oliver producing. Marquita Robinson, a story editor and writer on the Netflix comedy series “GLOW,” has been hired to write the script. “Clueless,” directed and written by Amy Heckerling, was set at a
With this week’s news that the Trump administration is moving to define transgender people out of existence and roll back civil rights protections, Wednesdays’s opening of the 30th annual New York LGBT Film Festival, Newfest, couldn’t be timelier or more important. That was on the minds of Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, and Michael Chiklis,
Details surrounding the racial slur scandal that rocked Netflix in its uppermost executive ranks have come to light, thanks to an in-depth report from the Wall Street Journal about life inside the streaming monolith. Published Thursday, a hefty part of the story focuses on ousted Netflix communications chief Jonathan Friedland, whose use of the N-word in
Marek Hovorka, a native of the city of Jihlava in the Czech Republic, founded its biggest cultural event some 22 years ago at a time when films were submitted on VHS cassettes in bubble wrap and invitations sent out via fax machine. Today the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival is a nexus for work from
Cinema Eye Honors revealed the first awards announcements for the organization’s 12th annual awards on Thursday. Audience choice nominees include recent documentary awards-circuit players such as “Free Solo,” “Minding the Gap,” “Quincy,” “RBG,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The group also unveiled its list of “The Unforgettables,” honoring notable and significant nonfiction film subjects,
More than two decades after the final shots were fired in the war that gave Croatia independence from the former Yugoslavia, the long shadows of that bitter and divisive conflict stretch across the Balkan nation. “In Croatia…we cannot get over our history,” says director Nebojsa Slijepcevic. “The whole system…keeps us stuck in the past.” Slijepcevic explores
Hot Docs director of programming Shane Smith, who is a juror at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, thinks audiences today have a growing hunger for documentary films, at a time when a wide range of fests and platforms have made the movies more accessible and the form’s storytelling capabilities are more essential than ever
PLAYBACK is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday. For more than three decades, and still going strong, Spike Lee has been an incredibly prolific presence in the world of cinema. Rarely does a year pass without a “Spike Lee
October 25, 2018 1:10PM PT The first ever Marty & Leah Sklar Creative Visionary Award will go to Kevin Feige, producer and president of Marvel Studios. Recognizing his creative vision, the award honors Feige’s ability to bring relatable heroes to audiences through storytelling and visual effects. “The Ryman Arts Board established the Marty & Leah
“He’s an extraordinary man – at this moment one of the few men on the planet, it seems, whom people can trust,” he says. “He’s utterly courageous and fearless and extremely honest.” Francis appeals strongly “not only to Christians but to all people of common sense,” Wenders adds. “He represents the common good
Some 50 years after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces, tensions in the Czech Republic still remain. Indeed, although she hails from Ukraine, an area whose people have much more in common with the Czechs than they perhaps realize, director Anna Kryvenko, who now lives in Prague, is well aware of anti-immigrant prejudice that
Horror fans looking to be shocked and thrilled, get that in full with ”Suspiria,” while being treated to a series of incredible transformations in the cast assembled by director Luca Guadagnino. For Dakota Johnson, whose character Susie Bannion is sucked into a dance company run by a coven of witches, it was about becoming a
Veteran television executive Steve Mosko has been tapped to lead Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. The newly minted chief executive officer will replace Greg Basser, who is leaving Village Roadshow after three decades. In a release announcing Mosko’s hire, the company said Basser is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. Bruce Berman, Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment
October 25, 2018 11:12AM PT Alexander Skarsgard is in negotiations to join Millie Bobby Brown and Brian Tyree Henry in Legendary’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” sources tell Variety. Adam Wingard is directing the film, which also stars “Deadpool 2” actor Julian Dennison. Plot details are vague, but the actioner will feature the two titular classic monsters
October 25, 2018 11:07AM PT “Suspiria” and “Bad Times at El Royale” star Dakota Johnson has signed with Lighthouse Management + Media. The in-demand actress, who is still repped by WME, had several management companies pitching to her before finally signing with Lighthouse. Johnson has had a busy month, with the Fox thriller “Bad Times
October 25, 2018 7:07AM PT Summer blockbusters such as “The Meg” and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” helped Imax beat third quarter earnings expectations. The giant screen exhibitor reported earnings of $5.02 million and revenue of $82.1 million. The compared favorably to a loss of $850,000 in the year-ago period, but was down slightly from the
The death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi left its mark on attendees at the “A Private War” premiere, especially star Rosamund Pike, who portrays a reporter in the film. “This is the price people pay for delivering truth,” Pike told Variety at Wednesday’s premiere held in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. “It’s appalling what happened to Jamal.
Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese and Guillermo Del Toro are set to participate in masterclasses at the 17th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival. It will mark Scorsese’s fifth time attending Marrakech Film Festival. He presided over the festival’s jury in 2013. “I’m so happy to be on my way back to Morocco, a country I
Strong gains from content licensing and retransmission consent revenue gave a big boost to NBCUniversal’s contribution to Comcast’s third quarter earnings. Revenue at NBCUniversal climbed 8% for the quarter to $8.6 billion while earnings perked up 8.5% to $2.1 billion. Overall, Comcast beat analysts expectations with total revenue for the quarter of $22.1 billion, up
The Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image’s annual film festival turns 20 at a time when the Indian film industry finds itself in the middle of the #MeToo movement. The festival is one of the few where the core leadership is composed entirely of women. Producer Kiran Rao (“Secret Superstar”) is the festival chairperson, while
With the start of his second edition as Tokyo International Film Festival director, Takeo Hisamatsu feels more confident of TIFF’s direction than when he assumed the post in March of last year. “The first thing I did when I took office was to clarify TIFF’s vision and organize programs and events based on that vision,”
Though its opening film is high-profile Hollywood romance “A Star is Born,” the Tokyo International Film Festival is increasingly focusing its efforts on building bridges with Asia. Especially Japan’s near neighbor, China. The 31st edition of the Tokyo festival got under way Thursday evening with a ceremony at the X Theater in the fashionable Roppongi
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones,” heads a distinguished European cast in “Suicide Tourist,” a mystery drama with romantic elements from Copenhagen-based Snowglobe, whose production credits include “Thelma,” “The Untamed” and “Birds of a Passage.” Described by Snowglobe in a statement as its most ambitious film to date, “Suicide Tourist” marks
Long low on the priority list for Japan’s notoriously insular film industry, co-productions between the second-largest film market in Asia and its overseas partners are now in the spotlight. That was the view of a industry executives, speaking at a seminar at TIFFCOM, on the margins of the Tokyo International Film Festival. A bilateral film
October 24, 2018 10:30PM PT Shinichiro Ueda, director of the indie hit film “One Cut of the Dead,” lifted the lid on his next project. It is an untitled comedy. Last month Ueda revealed that he was making his next film with Shochiku Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Japanese film studio Shochiku. Speaking Tuesday at the