October 1, 2018 2:38PM PT Audiences will have to wait a little longer to watch Robert Downey Jr. talk to the animals. “The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle,” the latest cinematic adaptation of the children’s books about a medical professional with some stunning linguistic abilities, will hit theaters on Jan. 17, 2020. The movie was initially
Movies
A feature-length project about the life and career of legendary comic George Carlin is in the works with the Oscar-nominated “Moneyball” screenwriter Stan Chervin. Gail Berman and Joe Earley’s the Jackal Group have secured the comic’s life rights, and tapped Chervin as both writer and producer. Bruce Kaufman and his banner Wood Hollow Pictures and
In the age of streaming — and with studios like Disney and Warner Bros. taking over more theater turf — it’s clear that the landscape of American theater is changing. At Variety’s inaugural Power of Broadway event, which took place over breakfast at Bryant Park Grill on Monday, legit biz leaders weighed in on what that
October 1, 2018 12:31PM PT Paramount Players has signed “Black Panther” actor Winston Duke to star in its action-thriller “Heroine.” Dan Casey will direct “Heroine” from his own script about a mother who witnesses a kidnapping by a white nationalist gang. Duke will portray her vigilante neighbor. “Heroine” is being produced by Matt Kaplan through
Sony Pictures is close to greenlighting “Bad Boys For Life,” Variety has learned. Reuniting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as two of Miami PD’s most infamous officers has taken years to pull off, but a new draft of a script appears to have met with the producers’ approval and it looks as though production on
October 1, 2018 12:09PM PT Sam Claflin is set to star in Sony’s “Charlie’s Angels” reboot, sources tell Variety. Claflin is reteaming with his “Hunger Games” co-star Elizabeth Banks, who is directing and starring as one of the Bosley characters. Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou will play the other two Bosleys. Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and
Halloween is on the horizon, and Netflix is getting ready by adding a host of new horror flicks to the streaming platform this October. “The Shining” will be available starting Oct. 1. Later in the month, “Truth or Dare” with Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, along with “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” and the Netflix
October 1, 2018 10:57AM PT Members of the Hollywood Teamsters and four other Basic Crafts Unions have ratified a three-year successor deal to the current master contract. “Teamsters Local 399 are pleased to announce that the Membership covered under the “Black Book” Agreement have ratified their contract,” the union said on its web site. “We
October 1, 2018 9:30AM PT The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Hugh Jackman with the 13th annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film. The award will be presented at a black-tie gala dinner at the Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara on Monday, Nov. 19. Proceeds will go to support SBIFF’s free year-round educational
A star is born, but we’re not talking about Lady Gaga just yet. Tiffany Haddish returned to multiplexes, this time around with Kevin Hart, for her first co-lead role since the breakout hit “Girls Trip.” The 2017 raunchy comedy with Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith struck a chord with moviegoers and picked up a
October 1, 2018 8:45AM PT Sundance Selects has acquired U .S. rights to Henry Barrial’s Uber-inspired “DriverX” starring Patrick Fabian (“Better Call Saul”) and Tanya Clarke (“Banshee”). The movie stars Fabian as Leonard Moore, a 50-something stay-at-home dad in Los Angeles who is desperate to find a job and signs up to drive for the
Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival has wrapped its second edition, with Singaporean director Yeo Slew Hua’s noir title “A Land Imagined” winning the Golden Star, the fest’s top prize, awarded by a jury headed by Oscar-winning Croatian producer Cedomir Kolar (“No Man’s Land”). The genre pic, shot mostly at night, is about a jaded Singapore
October 1, 2018 7:46AM PT Sam Neill and Michael Caton will play estranged brothers and farmers forced to work together after a crisis hits their farms in comedy drama “RAMS.” The project is an English-language adaptation of the Icelandic movie of the same name that won best film in Un Certain Regard at the 2015
Studiocanal has acquired the library of Quad, the Paris-based production company behind Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s French comedy blockbuster “The Intouchables.” Besides “The Intouchables,” Quad’s library includes other films by Nakache and Toledano, such as “Samba” with Omar Sy and Charlotte Gainsbourg and “Nos Jours Heureux,” as well as Alexandre Coffre’s “Eyjafjallajökull” starring Dany
French-Armenian singer-songwriter-actor Charles Aznavour, best known for songs such as “She,” “Yesterday When I Was Young” and “For Mama,” has died. Aznavour, who was 94, died in his sleep from a cardiac arrest in his home in Mouries, France, according to his agent. Aznavour sold more than 180 million records and appeared in more than
October 1, 2018 6:29AM PT [embedded content] It’s lonely out in space for Taron Egerton, who portrays Sir Elton John in the upcoming musical film “Rocketman.” The first teaser trailer for the movie dropped on Monday. “There are moments in a rockstar’s life that define who he is,” Egerton says in the clip. “It’s going
Netflix’s theatrical release plans for some of its fall Oscar contenders are beginning to take shape. The company will release “22 July,” a drama about the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway that claimed the lives of 77 people, on Oct. 10. The film will launch on its streaming service and will have a simultaneous theatrical
October 1, 2018 4:55AM PT The Korean tentpoles which dominated the Chuseok week, continued to rule the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. Costume action drama “The Great Battle” remained on top, accounting for 43% of the weekend total. The Next Entertainment World release earned $6.43 million between Friday and Sunday for a
Zhang Yimou’s moody, monochrome, action drama “Shadow” is the strong favorite in the annual Golden Horse Awards race. The awards, operated from Taiwan, celebrate the best films in Chinese language variants. “Shadow,” which premiered in prestigious slots in the Venice and Toronto film festivals last month, collected 12 nominations. These included nominations for best film
October 1, 2018 3:43AM PT L.A.-based indie distributor Cinema Epoch has acquired U.S. rights to “Penance,” the English and Irish-language movie about a priest confronting his past as a firebrand preacher promoting violence against British rule in Northern Ireland. Tom Collins helmed the picture, which is produced by his Derry-based De Facto Films and Edwina
Robert De Niro will be celebrated with a special tribute at the 17th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival. “Although I have been to Marrakech on several occasions, I feel I am now seeing a side of Marrakech I have always wanted to see,” said the Oscar-winning actor. “I am most grateful for this invitation,
When Christians use cinema to share the conviction of their beliefs, we get what is known as a “faith-based movie.” But what do we call the opposite? What can be made of a film born of skepticism, which approaches religious institutions from a place of fundamental doubt, further complicating the matter through the inclusion of
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Sundayfour bills designed to toughen the state’s enforcement of sexual harassment laws and make it easier for victims to pursue civil claims. The Golden State also enacted a law mandating that public companies based in California have at least one female board member by the end of next
On a pre-holiday weekend, in which new releases unusually came to market on Sunday instead of the normal Friday, “Hello Mrs Money” topped the Chinese box office. Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” took second spot. Their single day of release gave “Mrs Money” $16.8 million, and “Shadow” $10.4 million, according to data from Ent Group. They were
“The Nun” is in the habit of dominating the international box office. If estimates hold, the Warner Bros.’ thriller will notch the No. 1 spot overseas for the fourth weekend in a row. It generated another $16.2 million in 80 markets this weekend, bringing its internationally tally to $221 million. With $330 million globally, “The
“Free Solo,” National Geographic’s exhilarating adventure documentary about the first free solo rock climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan, notched the best screen average of the year to date. It picked up $300,804 when it debuted this weekend on four screens, translating to $75,201 per location. That distinction previously belonged to Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade.” The
Even an adorable Yeti was no match for the comedic team of Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart. Universal’s comedy “Night School” topped the domestic box office with $28 million from 3,010 locations. Fellow newcomer “,” Warner Bros.’ animated family film, came in close behind with $23 million when it launched in 4,100 venues. The two
From Vietnam to the Iraq War, Hollywood has struggled to find the appropriate way to depict ongoing wars, typically taking years, if not decades, to put the proper perspective on modern political quagmires. In the case of such conflicts as the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war — front and center in “A Private
SAN SEBASTIAN — Isaki Lacuesta’s “Between Two Waters” won big at San Sebastian Saturday night, taking its top Golden Shell, the second time the Catalan director has won the award, after 2011’s “The Double Steps.” Otherwise, the big winner of the night was Benjamin Naishtat’s covert violence thriller “Rojo,” which took director, actor (Dario Grandinetti) and cinematography
Roger Ailes — presidential media consultant, creator and guru of Fox News, serial sexual harasser brought low by his ruthless appetites — may have been the most revolutionary image maker in the history of American politics. His legacy is there every time someone in the political arena or the media kaleidoscope tells a lie so