Prime Video Direct (PVD), Amazon’s self-service program for studios, distributors, and content creators, has unveiled more than two dozen titles picked up from the 2018 Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (FICG) where it launched its Film Festival Stars program (FFS) in the Latino market for the first time. Introduced at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, the
Movies
Viggo Mortensen will write, produce, star, and make his directorial debut in “Falling,” a story of a son’s relationship with his aging father. Mortensen wrote the screenplay and will play one of the two leading roles. The cast also includes Lance Henriksen and Sverrir Gudnason (“The Girl in the Spider’s Web”). HanWay Films will handle
Vintage typewriters and forged letters might seem like unusual decor for New York’s SVA Theatre, but there could be no better tribute to Lee Israel, the subject of the new Melissa McCarthy-led biopic “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” which premiered there on Sunday. Israel was a biographer of celebrated women who turned to forging and selling
October 15, 2018 6:58AM PT Mubina Rattonsey’s recently launched Zero Gravity has secured $100 million in financing to develop and produce film and television content, Variety has learned exclusively. The first movie on the slate will be the ghost story “Wraith” from director Armaan Zorace (“God Is Dead”). The producers are Rattonsey, alongside Rohini Singh
Amateur esports company Super League Gaming announced three distinct challenges for its Minecraft community all centered around the upcoming “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” movie on Monday. Super League is gearing up for the Dec. 14 release of the animated film in style, with three competitions held between Oct. 27 and Dec. 9. First up, Super League’s
Dogwoof has acquired world sales rights to 3D documentary “Cunningham,” the U.K.-based documentary specialist has revealed to Variety. Dogwoof, which is also set to distribute the feature in the U.K. and Ireland, will present a first-look teaser from the film to international buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. “Cunningham,” which is currently in production,
Bryan Singer is hitting out preemptively at an article in Esquire magazine that he implies will revisit sexual abuse and misconduct allegations that have been leveled at the director at various points in his career. The piece has yet to appear online, but in an Instagram post, Singer suggested that it will be released in
Megan Colligan, the former marketing and distribution chief at Paramount Pictures, has been tapped as president of IMAX Entertainment and vice president of IMAX Corporation. It’s a changing of the guard at the highest levels of an exhibition giant that has become a major force in popcorn movies. Colligan replaces Greg Foster, who has served
October 15, 2018 4:01AM PT The Walt Disney Company has offered antitrust concessions to help secure E.U. approval of its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets. The move was announced Monday by the European Commission, which is reviewing competition concerns over the merger, with Disney having submitted its proposals Friday. Details of the
October 15, 2018 3:41AM PT The film props master who was earlier found guilty of possessing counterfeit money by owning dummy banknotes used in Hong Kong film “Trivisa” had his name cleared on Monday. A High Court ruled that he was improperly convicted. In an appeal, the court ruled in favor of Cheung Wai-chuen, owner
BARCELONA— A take on physical joy and hellish pain, Gaspar Noé‘s “Climax” took best film at the 51st Sitges’ Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Among other main awards, Panos Cosmatos (“Mandy“), Quentin Dupieux (“Keep An Eye Out”) and “Atsushi Doi” snagged director, script and FX respectively. Produced by Germany’s Wild Bunch and Rectangle Productions,”Climax” took
After weeks of speculation, “Crazy Rich Asians” has landed a release in China. The brash Asian-centric romcom hit is scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 30. Doubt over a release in the world’s second-biggest film market had dogged the Warner Bros. film, with observers wondering whether its depiction of ostentatious wealth among the ethnic Chinese
It might sound contradictory, but perhaps the greatest testament to Jane Fonda’s six-decade career is how many people are unfamiliar with every facet of it. Not everyone who grew up with Fonda as the face of 1980s workout culture is immediately aware of the ambitious artistic extremes of her screen acting career; younger viewers getting
October 15, 2018 1:33AM PT Donation from HFPA funds second-phase retoration LYON, France — The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is partnering with the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon to help restore 300 short films by brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière. In collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna and the Lumière Foundation, the donation will fund
LYON, France — The Lumière Film Festival opened in Lyon, France, on Saturday with a grand ceremony celebrating the event’s 10th anniversary. Institut Lumière Director Thierry Frémaux welcomed a host of French and international stars and filmmakers to the festivities at the city’s immense Halle Tony Garnier concert hall, among them Javier Bardem, Monica Bellucci,
LYON, France — The Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (MIFC) kicks off on Tuesday, offering current assessments of the industry, technological developments and an examination of the heritage film sectors of Europe as well as of Africa and the Middle East. According to MIFC organisers, heritage film finds itself “at the crossroads of a
October 14, 2018 9:36PM PT Local crime drama, “Dark Figure of Crime” jumped to top spot at the South Korean box office, toppling the previous week’s winner, “Venom.” The Showbox release earned $4.42 million from 553,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday for a total of $22.0 million from 2.83 million admissions after two weekends. “Venom,”
Ari Emanuel has a knack for pouncing right before an opportunity is ripe. The CEO of Endeavor saw an opening in the industry in 1995 when he and three others bolted from ICM to launch a talent agency rooted in television writers. He spied a big win in 2009 when 15-year-old Endeavor took over its
Hong Kong crime thriller, “Project Gutenberg” held its lead to win a second weekend at the Chinese box office. However, overall numbers remain weak and Hollywood is on the sidelines. Starring Aaron Kwok and Chow Yun-fat, “Gutenberg” earned $20.6 million in its third weekend of release, according to data from Ent Group. That was down
“Beautiful Boy,” starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell, showed plenty of power in a platform opening with $221,437 at four locations for Amazon Studios, yielding an impressive $55,359 per-theater average. Chalamet stars as Nic Sheff, a young man who struggles with drug addiction, and Carell as his father, David Sheff. The film also stars Amy
“First Man,” Damien Chazelle’s turbulent and transporting drama about Neil Armstrong and his journey through the space program, was assailed within a day of its premiere at the Venice Film Festival last August. Voices from the right, who attacked Chazelle for having made a film about the moon landing that left out the astronauts planting
October 14, 2018 9:56AM PT Tom Hardy’s “Venom” remained a potent player internationally in its second weekend, grabbing $69.7 million with first-place finishes in 54 markets at 20,100 screens. Sony’s superhero saga has now taken in $235.3 million in a dozen days from overseas markets and is tracking 32% ahead of “Ant-Man and the Wasp”
Tom Hardy’s “Venom” grabbed $35.7 million to repeat as the winner of the North American box office, followed by Lady Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” with $28 million. Ryan Gosling’s “First Man” launched in third place at the low end of expectations with $16.6 million at 3,640 sites, edging the opening of Sony’s “Goosebumps 2:
“Reboot” is a word bandied about so much in the film industry these days that its meaning has become entirely elastic, referring to anything from a sequel to a remake to a mildly delayed franchise chapter. A lo-fi, high-volume original character piece from Ben Wheatley, “Happy New Year, Colin Burstead” is none of these things
Drew Goddard doesn’t write for actors, but the moment he finished “Bad Times at the El Royale,” his story about seven people colliding in a sketchy motel, he reached out to Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth, who appeared in Goddard’s directorial debut “Cabin in the Woods” just after his first turn as Thor, agreed to play the most
Sony’s “Venom” and Warner Bros.’ “A Star Is Born” are set to top the box office in the pair’s second weekend, while a slew of new releases hit multiplexes, led by Universal’s “First Man.” “Venom” is on its way to adding an estimated $32 million to its total for the top spot, bringing its domestic
Chinese title “Savage” and Korean psychodrama “Clean Up” split the prizes in the main New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival. The prizes were announced on Saturday morning. The Kim Ji-seok Award, named after the festival’s co-founder and head selector who died suddenly last year, was also shared. It went jointly to Jamshid
In “The Times of Bill Cunningham,” the late New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham appears before us as a blissed-out aging choirboy. He sits in his small apartment, surrounded by file cabinets jammed with his work, a geek in his element, with a shock of gray hair and two jutting front teeth that give
Catherine Hardwicke became a trailblazer for female directors after leading “Twilight” to global success; however, ten years after the first film came out, she says there’s still not enough women working behind the camera. “There’s still a lot of work to do because we’ve got to get to both sides of the camera; we’ve got
In today’s film news roundup, Nik Dodani makes a script deal, Sony shifts dates for “Miss Bala” and “Escape Room” and Jake Manley books two roles. SCRIPT DEAL Nik Dodani, who stars on “Murphy Brown” and “Atypical,” will write the script for a movie version of “Blue Boy,” based on Rakesh Satyal’s coming of age