Movies

Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing delivered an electrifying masterclass to a sold-out ballroom full of screaming fans at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands on Friday. The in-conversation event was part of the 34th Singapore International Film Festival where Fan is the recipient of this year’s Cinema Icon Award. The festival is screening three of Fan’s films, curated

Mexican Rigoberto Pérezcano’s “Lovers Fare Goodbye,” a poignant, exquisitely shot tale of star-crossed young love dominated prizes at Primer Corte, Ventana Sur’s key arthouse pic competition. The prize and dozens of others were announced Friday at Latin America’s most important film-TV mart-meet.  Organizers confirmed a total Ventana Sur attendance of 4,300 delegates, some 30% up

A movie directed by the berserk “Muppet Show” character known as Animal couldn’t be any more unruly than Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s new film of that title. This sporadically fun but exhausting hot mess provides 202 minutes of hyperventilating overkill for star Ranbir Kapoor as a tycoon’s favorite son whose anger-management (as well as daddy) issues

Are multiverses consistent with Christian theology? Personally, I have my doubts, but in Angel Studios’ religious-minded sci-fi thriller “The Shift,” the notion that there could be infinite parallel realities offers an original, outside-the-box model to test its main character’s faith. Here’s how it works: A churchgoing man named Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) meets and marries his

In Todd Haynes’ Netflix drama “May December,” the subject of a decades-old tabloid sex scandal is visited by a famous actress set to portray her in a film. Julianne Moore plays Gracie Atherton-Yoo, who was 36 years old when she was caught having sex with Joe, a 13-year-old boy who worked with her at a

Prime Video Sports has greenlit a feature-length documentary about NFL star wide receiver DeSean Jackson, the former Philadelphia Eagles great and three-time Pro Bowler who announced his retirement from the league earlier this week. The untitled documentary is based around footage that DeSean Jackson’s brother, Byron Jackson, began filming 30 years ago. “It started as

The year is coming to end, but not without some major original films debuting on Netflix, Prime Video and more top streaming platforms. Whether it’s potential new holiday classics (Prime Video is launching the Eddie Murphy holiday comedy “Candy Cane Lane” this month) or potential new franchises (Zack Snyder returns to Netflix for the start

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then John Woo‘s wordless action movie “Silent Night” is worth at least a thousand gunshots. Woo returns to Hollywood for the first time since 2003 to quietly deliver “Silent Night,” a blood-soaked, Christmas-themed revenge tale with zero spoken dialogue. It employs the same style of fast-paced, R-rated

“Reverence,” an upcoming thriller from writer-director Kyle Kauwika Harris (“Out of Exile”), has started production in Oklahoma. The film began principal photography this week, with a logline reading: “‘Reverence’ is a dark and moody missing person’s thriller about a traumatized father coming to terms with his violent military past, while searching for his missing daughter

The third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, taking place in Jeddah between Nov. 30 – Dec. 9, will be the culmination of a highly successful funding cycle for the Red Sea Film Foundation. Created in 2019 following the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 30-year cinema ban, the foundation aims to support the local and

With Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” looking to continue its reign at the top spot of the box office, it’s time to consider the most sonorous secret to its success: its original, bluegrass-tinted song selection, including a theme written and produced by Dave Cobb (with lyrics from “Hunger Games” author

The intensity of the screams rumbling within the imposing Red Sea Mall could mean only one thing: there is a Bollywood star in Jeddah. The star in question is Ranveer Singh, one of the honorees at this year’s Red Sea Film Festival. The star accepted his award from actor Sharon Stone on the stage of

For the first time in its history, the Red Sea Film Festival opened with an Arab film, the world premiere of Yasir Al-Yasiri’s fantasy epic “HWJN.” Speaking with Variety the morning after the film’s glitzy world premiere at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah, Yasiri described the premiere as a “surreal” experience. “When I went up

Chelsea Handler is set to return as the host of this year’s Critics Choice Awards, which will air live on the CW on Jan. 14. This marks Handler’s second consecutive year hosting the ceremony, which celebrates the best in film and television. TV nominations are set to be announced on Dec. 5, while the film

Fusion Entertainment has signed Bria Vinaite, an actress who got her breakout role as a woman living on the economic fringes in Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project.” The Lithuania-born actress was discovered by filmmaker Baker when she was working in the fashion industry and cast in the lead part of a struggling single mother raising

There are “child stars,” and then there are performers that start working during childhood only to become bona fide, beloved screen icons, enjoying long, varied careers throughout their lives. Following in the footsteps of Shirley Temple, Natalie Wood and Mickey Rooney, Macaulay Culkin has — for three decades and counting — been a contemporary standard

Untamed Talent, a management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba, is launching with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions, a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment. Front Row Productions will provide capital and strategic value to support Untamed Talent’s

Billie Eilish remembers being aware there were some puzzled — or just wary — reactions when a song she and Finneas co-wrote, “What Was I Made For?,” was one of the last tracks announced for the “Barbie” soundtrack. “I remember everybody being like, ‘What the hell? It’s gonna be a fun, cute, girly, pink movie

Queen Bey got the weekend off to a hot start. “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” a concert film written, directed and produced by the singer, earned $5.1 million in previews on Thursday, beating expectations. The film is projected to earn between $17 million to $20 million in its opening weekend from approximately 2,539 domestic locations.

BUENOS AIRES — In one of the first deals to close at this week’s Ventana Sur market, Spain’s Latido Films has boarded “Lo Que Quisimos Ser,” written-directed by Alejandro Agresti, produced by Fernando Sokolowicz at Aleph Media, and Gastón Duprat, who have teamed as producer and co-writer-director on “The Distinguished Citizen,” “The Man Next Door,”

Peacock has acquired U.S. rights to Waad Al-Kateab’s second feature-length documentary “We Dare to Dream.” The pact comes after the 93-minute film made its world premiere in June at the Tribeca Film Festival and had a Oscar qualifying theatrical run at New York City’s IFC Center in October. The docu, about the refugee Olympic team

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “Saltburn,” in theaters now. In 2006, I was an English major at Oxford alongside “Saltburn” director Emerald Fennell. While there was a peripheral overlap in our social circles, as far as I remember we never officially met. Like the protagonists in her new film, we existed in the

The Match Factory has acquired the international rights to the recently remastered 4K version of Fatih Akin‘s 2005 documentary “Crossing the Bridge — The Sound of Istanbul.” The film is celebrating its new restored version with the premiere tomorrow at Red Sea Film Festival. In the film, Akin goes on a journey through Istanbul, the

Colombian sales and distribution company Doc:Co is venturing into the global sales arena with its first international pick up, Chilean-Colombian co-production “Otra Piel.” The debut feature documentary of Patricia Correa, “Otra Piel” is co-produced by Colombia’s Romeo, 235 Digital and Sonata Films alongside Chile’s Cine Matiz, founded by producer Gabriela Sandoval who co-runs another, more

OKINAWA FESTIVAL PRIZES Taiwanese feature “The Mimicry” was named best picture at the first edition of the Cinema at Sea – Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival. The festival ran Nov. 23-29 in Okinawa, Japan. The fantasy-drama film is adapted from a short story by Kao Yi-Feng and directed by Chung Yu Lin. “The film employs

Yosep Anggi Noen, whose “24 Hours With Gaspar” premiered at Busan and is playing at the Red Sea and Singapore festivals, has lined up his next movie, an untitled horror film. The film is produced by Palari Films, the Jakarta-based production company behind Edwin’s “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash,” which won the Golden

Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding Telfaz11 Studios has announced the genre-bending epic “Al-Gaid” (working title), set to be the first feature to go into production under its exclusive nine-picture deal with Neom, the sprawling production hub in Saudi’s northwestern corner. Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century wintery northern Arabian desert, “Al-Gaid” is penned by Saudi

From its jaunty animated credits to its absurdly satisfying conclusion, “Voy! Voy! Voy!” is a saucy and blackly comic look at immigration. An entertaining first feature inspired by stranger-than-fiction actual events from seasoned adman Omar Hilal, here serving as director, writer and producer, Egypt’s official Oscar submission nabbed the top spot at the local box

High powered global experts will feature at the inaugural edition of AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics (AVGC-XR). The four-day event is by India’s Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF), which have partnered with the government of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and France’s Annecy International Animation Festival. As

Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome theater, which has been shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic, will not be reopening in 2024, sources confirmed on background. It’s hoped that the Dome and adjacent Arclight Theatres will be ready for a 2025 opening. The Cinerama Dome and Arclight remained closed even after other theaters reopened after COVID shutdowns