Movies

In “Venom,” the spectacular but mostly derivative and generically plotted new comic-book origin story (it’s the first installment of the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters), Tom Hardy is afflicted with an otherworldly force that invades his mind, his body, his very being. It’s called the desire to act like a stumblebum Method goof. The symptoms,

In today’s film news roundup, “Buffalo Boys” gets US distribution, Full Moon Empire buys a library, “Invincible” gets cast and a Liechtenstein-based film fund is announced. ACQUISTIONS Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the North American rights to Mike Wiluan’s western “Buffalo Boys,” Singapore’s entry in the foreign-language Academy Awards category, Variety has learned exclusively. The

October 2, 2018 6:38PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “First Man.” Ads placed for the drama had an estimated media value of $8.4 million through Sunday for 621 national ad airings

Rafael Casal has rounded out the cast of “Bad Education,” joining Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney. Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Alex Wolff are also on board. Stephen Spinella, Annaleigh Ashford, Hari Dhillon, Jimmy Tatro (“American Vandal”), Jeremy Shamos, Kathrine Narducci, Welker White, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Peter Appel, Ray Abruzzo, and Catherine Curtin are also appearing

October 2, 2018 4:20PM PT Amazon Studios has moved the North American release of Mike Leigh’s historical drama “Peterloo” out of this fall’s awards season, from Nov. 9 to April 5, 2019. The movie, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, re-creates the 1819 massacre by armed government militias who charged into a crowd of

Despite a 35-year heads-up that “Terms of Endearment” is a masterful tearjerker, a starry charity reading of the Oscar-winning screenplay ended in sobs on Monday in Los Angeles. Actors Calista Flockhart, Constance Wu, Kumail Nanjiani, Alfred Molina, Melissa Benoist, and “Grey’s Anatomy” star Kate Burton all shed tears while performing the script — some in the

Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, and Tom Hardy are injecting a little star-power into multiplexes. Following a lackluster September at the box office, “Venom” and “A Star Is Born” are debuting this weekend and carrying with them out-sized expectations. Hardy’s “Venom” should easily top domestic charts, but Cooper and Gaga’s musical “A Star Is Born,” which

October 2, 2018 2:34PM PT Michelle Williams will star as the late astronaut Christa McAuliffe in the drama “The Challenger,” centered on the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster. Producers are John and Art Linson, and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. Martin Zandvliet will direct “The Challenger” from Jayson Rothwell’s script. Argent partners Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Drew

October 2, 2018 2:08PM PT Trevor White’s diverting drama strikes a happy medium between arrestingly suspenseful thriller and knowing media satire. So many VOD-centric dramas call to mind the direct-to-video Blockbuster fodder of yesteryear that it’s actually refreshing to come across one that’s more reminiscent of a cleverly plotted TV-movie from primetime of the 1970s.

October 2, 2018 1:25PM PT Greg Silverman’s recently launched Stampede is developing a movie version of the video game “Dance Dance Revolution.” The project will explore a world on the brink of destruction where the only hope is to unite through the universal language of dance. Stampede will partner on the movie with producers J. Todd Harris and

October 2, 2018 1:09PM PT Christian Bale has pulled off another startling transformation: playing Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s latest film, “Vice.” The biopic chronicles Cheney’s life as the former vice president under President George W. Bush, from his beginnings as a Washington bureaucrat to one of the most influential men in politics. Before serving

October 2, 2018 12:41PM PT Rose Byrne will voice the titular robot Mother in the sci-fi thriller “I Am Mother.” Hilary Swank and Clara Rugaard will also star in the film. Rugaard portrays the first of a new generation of humans raised by “Mother” — a kindly robot designed to repopulate the earth following the

Winston Duke, who had a breakout role in the smash hit “Black Panther,” is set to star opposite Mark Wahlberg in the Netflix crime drama “Wonderland.” Pete Berg is set to direct with Neal H. Moritz producing via his Original Film banner, alongside Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Berg via his Film 44 company. The film

October 2, 2018 11:30AM PT Noah Centineo, who recently broke out in Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser,” has landed a key role in Sony’s “Charlie’s Angels” reboot. Elizabeth Banks is directing and starring as one of the Bosley characters. Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou will play

October 2, 2018 11:03AM PT Mexican actor Diego Boneta is joining Milla Jovovich in the big screen adaptation of Capcom’s popular video game series “Monster Hunter.” Boneta confirmed it on social media on Monday. “Grateful to join this amazing project/cast and thrilled to start this new adventure!!” he wrote on Instagram. Boneta is perhaps best

Janelle Monae is joining the cast of Focus Features’ “Harriet,” a new biopic chronicling the life of Harriet Tubman, starring Cynthia Erivo as the heroic abolitionist. Monae is also starring in the STX animated movie “UglyDolls” and is expected to perform original songs for the film. Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, Jennifer Nettles, Clarke Peters,

October 2, 2018 10:21AM PT Doc & Film International has boarded Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Deux” which is being produced by France’s Paprika Films, Luxembourg’s Tarantula and Belgium’s Artémis. The movie started shooting Oct. 1 and stars German veteran actress Barbara Sukowa (“Lola,””Rosa Luxemburg”), Martine Chevallier (Pas son genre”) and Léa Drucker (“Custody”). “Deux”

Having celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall, the Hamptons Intl. Film Festival is well- established as a star-studded, resort-style showcase for the buzziest films of awards season. For HIFF artistic director David Nugent, the numbers speak for themselves. “In each of the last eight years, one of the films in our festival has gone on

Fans of animated films better hurry to Netflix as a number of them are leaving the streaming service this fall. Starting Monday, the 1988 Japanese anime film “Akira” is leaving the platform alongside other animated pics, including “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The Rugrats Movie.” Later in the month, the popular stop-motion movie “Kubo and

October 2, 2018 9:00AM PT Citing continued growth of its home entertainment business, Lionsgate has signed Ron Schwartz to a new long-term agreement as president of Lionsgate Worldwide Home Entertainment. The deal was announced Tuesday by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake. Schwartz will oversee the nearly $1 billion-a-year worldwide home entertainment operations, including

Ten months after it was founded, Time’s Up has named Lisa Borders as its first ever president and chief executive officer. Borders most recently served as president of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), where she helped the league grow its attendance and television viewership. She begins her new job next month. Time’s Up was

Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote will star in the independent dementia drama “Relic,” which begins production next week in Victoria, Australia. Producers are Carver Films’ Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw, and Nine Stories’ Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker. “Relic” is executive produced by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, and Mike Larocca and financed by their

For Variety’s latest issue, we asked Armie Hammer to write a tribute to Timothee Chalamet, one of 50 people to make our New Power of New York list. Here’s why Chalamet, the Oscar-nominated star of “Call Me by Your Name,” represents a new generation of movers and shakers that capture the best of Manhattan. For

“Game of Thrones” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” star Emilia Clarke will be on the jury of the Official Competition of the 62nd BFI London Film Festival, which runs Oct. 10-21. Another “Thrones” star, Natalie Dormer, is on the fest’s First Feature Competition jury, which hands out the Sutherland Award. Joining Clarke on the

October 1, 2018 11:21PM PT Global streaming service, Netflix will give a release to Indonesian action film “The Night Comes for Us,” later this month. The film stars Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim, who both starred in previous Indonesian breakout action film “The Raid.” “The Night” had its theatrical premiere last month at the Fantastic

October 1, 2018 7:47PM PT Paul Dano’s directorial debut “Wildlife,” which has had considerable festival play including Sundance, Cannes and Toronto is among the titles in the international competition at the 20th Mumbai film festival.The festival runs Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, 2018. U.S. director, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”) will give a masterclass. Other international competition

In today’s news roundup, the Bible’s Elijah is getting a movie; Will Patton, Mark O’Brien and Michael Masini get acting roles; and “Roma” will open the Savannah Film Festival. PROJECT UNVEILED Winter State Entertainment is launching “Elijah” as a supernatural feature film interpretation based on the Biblical prophet of the same name who confronted rulers

Horror pics are making a return across the board as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime update their streaming platforms for the spooky season. “The Shining” will kick off Netflix’s horror film slate, followed by “Truth or Dare” with Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, “The Haunting of Molly Hartley,” and the Netflix original “The Haunting of Hill House.”

Network Entertainment is teaming with Burt Sugarman on a documentary about the musical variety television series “The Midnight Special.” Sugarman produced the series, which ran for 450 episodes between 1972 and 1981, and featured performances by James Brown, The Jackson 5, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart, Ike & Tina Turner, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, AC/DC, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Helen

October 1, 2018 3:27PM PT Ansel Elgort has been cast as Tony in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “West Side Story.” Pulitzer prize winner and Oscar nominee Tony Kushner penned the revival of the 1957 musical, which was originally written by Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim with music by Leonard Bernstein. Spielberg, Kevin