Movies

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has entered into a new co-financing pact with Domain Capital, a multi-year arrangement that will focus on bolstering the studio’s theatrical slate. Last year, the Atlanta-based Domain announced a $700 million fund dedicated to entertainment and media. The co-financing arrangement is already in effect at Warner Bros, kicking off with

Netflix and director Todd Haynes’ “May December,” starring Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, has been submitted in the comedy/musical categories for this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Variety has learned exclusively. It will now compete against other hopefuls such as “American Fiction,” “Barbie,” “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things.” With the organization expanding its nominations from

Christopher Nolan took a playful swipe at streaming while introducing a Los Angeles screening of “Oppenheimer” that was devoted to spotlighting the film’s craft. Crew members reunited for the event Monday evening, billed as “The Story of Our Time: The Making of ‘Oppenheimer.’” The director said a lot of time and energy has gone into

Michel Ciment, a revered French film critic and longtime editor of Positif film magazine, died Monday in Paris at 85. The Cannes and Venice film festivals paid tribute to him after news of his death. Ciment authored several well-regarded books about top directors, including “Kazan by Kazan” (1973); “Conversations With Losey” (1979); “Stanley Kubrick” (1980);

Bendita Films Sales has taken worldwide rights outside Benelux to Jawad Rhalib’s social drama “Amal,” toplining award-winning Belgian actress Lubna Azabal, who appeared in Oscar-nominated films “Paradise Now” and “Incendies.” Télescope has acquired the film’s distribution rights for the Benelux region. “Amal” world premieres Nov. 17, competing in main competition at Tallinn’s 27th Black Nights

She’s been a doctor, U.S. president and a movie star but in the U.K. Barbie may go down in history as the only doll to have contributed almost $100 million (£80 million) to the local economy. The long-anticipated “Barbie” movie, which came out this summer, was largely shot in the U.K. at Warner Bros. Studios

Distribution platform Gathr and documentary distribution agency Roco Films have teamed to create Roco Voices, a new speakers bureau. Roco Voices, launching Nov. 14, will offer live speaking engagements with filmmakers and subject matter experts from Roco Film’s docu film catalog. The initial cohort of filmmakers to debut with Roco Voices include Academy Award winners

The classic Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense” has generated $5 million at the box office since returning to theaters in the fall. With this benchmark, the “Stop Making Sense” re-release has generated more coinage than the film’s entire initial 41-week run ($4.95 million) in 1984. Of course, this milestone comes with a massive

The U.K.’s independent film sector is heading for “market failure” due to industry conditions and inflation, producers body Pact has said. Pact, which represents a range of indie production companies, made the alarming assessment in a response to the U.K. government’s consultation on film and high-end TV. “The U.K.’s independent film sector is struggling and

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Ahead of the theatrical debut of Taika Waititi “Next Goal Wins” this weekend, Searchlight Pictures and the lifestyle brand Accompany have released a limited-edition, artisan capsule collection for soccer players, consisting of a handmade

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed a deal with Reverso Films for the Spanish distribution of Lillah Halla’s “Power Alley.” Reverso Films, which specializes in distributing emerging talents from Europe and Latin America, will launch the film this week at the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival. After a festival run in generalist, social issue and LGBTQ+

Feel-good stories out of Gaza are not exactly plentiful at present, making “Life Is Beautiful” something of an anomaly. Though the predicament depicted — Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly’s unplanned long exile due to closed borders and political shifts — is hardly upbeat in outline, his ebullient personality insists on emphasizing humor and warmth. Thus this

It’s hard to turn down Oprah Winfrey. But that’s exactly what Fantasia Barrino did when the original “Color Purple” star approached her in 2021 to play Celie, an abused and uneducated Southern Black woman at the turn of the 20th century, in a big-screen musical reimagining of the classic film and Alice Walker’s novel. Sixteen

Elsa Zylberstein, the French actor-producer whose timely movie “Simone: Woman of a Century” was recently released in the U.S., has signed with CAA for representation. The actor’s performance as Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became a feminist icon and human rights activist, earned critical praise and struck a chord with French audiences, becoming one

A vampire with qualms about killing to survive is no longer a figure exclusive to the “Twilight” franchise, when a Canadian French-language debut places a teenage girl in a tricky situation, torn between what the world demands of her and what she herself wants. The film’s title is eloquent enough — “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting

Backed by the Cannes Film Market and Argentina’s INCAA film agency, the 15th Ventana Sur and its much anticipated works in progress sections, Primer Corte and Copia Final, unspool over Nov. 27-Dec. 1 in Buenos Aires. This year’s crop of films, either in post-production or completed, make scant reference to the region’s brutal historical past,

MetFilm Sales has acquired worldwide rights, excluding Iceland, to Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson’s directorial debut “The Home Game,” which picked up the audience award at both Nordisk Panorama and the Icelandic Documentary Film Fest Skjaldborg. The film is set to have its North America Premiere at DOCNYC this week and the MetFilm team will

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is putting the livelihood of documentary filmmakers at the heart of their industry program this year. On Monday, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the issues filmmakers face in making a living in the industry, from pay disparity, devaluation, lack of information and the consequences of the COVID-19

Five years after opening the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam with his feature debut “Kabul, City in the Wind,” Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Aboozar Amini returns to IDFA to present his latest, “Kabul, Year Zero,” at the festival’s industry section, Forum. The choice to return to IDFA was an obvious one to Amini and frequent collaborator

Australian and New Zealand indie distributor Umbrella Entertainment will launch Brollie, a free of charge, ad-supported streaming service later this month. It will lean on Umbrella’s library of classic content and claims to be the first free streaming platform specializing in Australian film and TV content. Brollie will launch on Nov. 23 with over 300 titles

Mira Nair has boarded Indian filmmaker Sarvnik Kaur’s Sundance-winning documentary “Against the Tide” as an executive producer. The film follows Mumbai-based fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh who are inheritors of the great Koli fishing knowledge system — a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the

In “Masters of the Universe,” He-Man’s nemesis is the evil wizard Skeletor. In Hollywood, his greatest threat has been a list of studio partners that have sidelined him from the big screen for nearly two decades.  The blond barbarian, based on a popular set of Mattel toys, may finally win the day. Amazon MGM Studios

Stephen King is not a Marvel movie fan, but that didn’t stop him from expressing frustration over the “adolescent fanboys” who are taking pleasure in “The Marvels” flopping at the box office. The latest Marvel tentpole, with a reported budget in the $225 million range, is a box office disaster after opening to $47 million,

“The Walking Dead” actor Tom Payne and Broadway veteran Betty Buckley have joined the cast of Blumhouse‘s next movie “Imaginary,” a horror-thriller led by DeWanda Wise. Taegen Burns (“The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers”), Pyper Braun (“Desperation Road”), Matthew Sato (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”) and Veronica Falcón (“Jungle Cruise”) will round out the

Anne Hathaway is 41 years old, which means she has long defied the warning she often heard as a teen actor that her career would not flourish past a certain age as a woman in Hollywood. “When I started out as a child, I was warned that my career would fall off a cliff at

The Critics Choice Association has announced that Edward James Olmos, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Ken Jeong are among the honorees for the upcoming Celebration of Cinema and Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements. The event will be held at the Fairmont Century Plaza on Dec. 4, with Nicco Annan of “P-Valley” set to host.

It’s a family affair for filmmaker Jialai Wang, taking a closer look at her mother and grandmother in feature debut “Paragate,” now showing at documentary festival IDFA. But she is not done just yet, currently developing a new hybrid doc under the working title “La Revenante” (“The Revenant”). “It talks about both of my parents

Kevin Turen, a producer on “Euphoria,” “The Idol,” and Ti West’s “X” trilogy,” died over the weekend. He was 44. A cause of death is not yet known. Jay Penske, CEO of Variety‘s parent company Penske Media Corporation, was a close friend of Turen’s and released a statement on his passing. “Despite his many achievements

Chinese director Wang Bing found joy in latest film “Youth (Spring),” focusing on young textile workers. But as he continues to work on his trilogy, things might get a bit darker. “Their age is one of the factors here: they are so young and it’s just a happy time in your life. You are experiencing

“Coyote vs. Acme” is officially on the market. Days after Warner Bros. announced it’s shelving the completed Looney Tunes-inspired film as a $30 million tax write-off, the studio is letting the filmmakers shop “Coyote vs. Acme” to other distributors. Puck, a newsletter covering the industry, and Deadline first reported that screenings are being set up