Movies

Tom Tykwer will soon be opening the 75th Berlin Film Festival with “The Light,” a timely tale in which a deeply dysfunctional German family is saved by its Syrian housekeeper. The German-language film, which Tykwer describes as a “hardcore political” statement, will kick off the Berlinale on Feb. 13 in the turbulent lead-up to the

Paris-based sales company Alpha Violet has taken international sales on teen mental health drama “How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World,” a first feature by Austrian filmmaker Florian Pochlatko, ahead of its Berlin Film Festival bow. The film, about a young woman’s search for sanity after leaving a psychiatric hospital, will

Bankside Films and Heretic are co-repping worldwide sales on Miguel Ángel Jimenéz’s “The Birthday Party,” featuring a star-studded cast led by four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe (“Nosferatu,” “Poor Things”). The companies will be introducing the film to buyers and showing a promo during the European Film Market.  Written and directed by Jimenéz, with additional writing credits going to Giorgos Karnavas and Nikos Panayotopoulos,

Sundance prizewinning director Lemohang Mosese’s documentary feature “Ancestral Visions of the Future” has been boarded by Memento International ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. “Ancestral Visions of the Future” marks Mosese’s follow up to “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection” which won premiered at Venice in 2019 and went on

Kiefer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson are set to star in the Christmas comedy “Tinsel Town.” From Sky and Future Artists Entertainment, the film is now in production on location across the North of England and at Leeds’ Versa Studios. In “Tinsel Town,” Sutherland plays Bradley Mack, a Hollywood action star with a bloated ego who

Impact entrepreneur and UN Global Goals advocate Natasha Mudhar is making a mark with The World We Want Studios, a production banner that’s quickly assembling a slate of star-powered projects including Johnny Depp‘s directorial effort “Modi” and Al Pacino-Jessica Chastain feature “Lear Rex.” Mudhar’s journey into high-profile Hollywood productions began in 2013 through veteran producer

“Wicked” and “Conclave” were the big winners of the 27th Costume Designers Guild Awards on Thursday evening. This was the guild’s second instance awarding “Wicked” designer Paul Tazewell. He won in 2021 for “Hamilton” in the excellence in variety, reality-competition or live television category. Tazewell has emerged as a frontrunner for the costuming Oscar. If he

As Oscar nominee Karla Sofía Gascón continues to weather criticism for her resurfaced history of racist internet posts, the “Emilia Pérez” star has issued another apology in which she says she is “hoping” that her “silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference.” The

Originally slated for Jan. 10 but postponed due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the American Film Institute’s AFI Awards took place nearly a month later Thursday afternoon at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. As always, the event was a starry affair with a guest list that included actors Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Harrison Ford,

“Magic: The Gathering,” the trading card game played in basements around the globe since 1993, is set for major film and TV adaptations from Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment. The toy maker and the Hollywood mini-major behind the “Godzilla” and “Dune” franchises will create “a live-action feature film and television universe” based on the fantasy

Riding momentum from its five Academy Award nominations for “The Substance,” boutique movie distributor Mubi has picked up another buzzy indie film for the U.S. market. “Lurker,” a tense feature about an ambitious hipster and the rising pop star he exploits for fame and community, has been snapped up by Mubi following this year’s Sundance

Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld has declared he has “cut ties in all ways” with Marvel after he and his family weren’t invited to Disney’s afterparty for last July’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” premiere. Liefeld has other gripes with Marvel, involving the placement of creator credits in the film and what he perceives as a lack of

Zoe Saldaña has spent decades at the center of some of the biggest cinematic franchises in history. Yet, her recent Oscar nomination for “Emilia Pérez” has marked a new career chapter. From the motion-capture world of “Avatar” to the high-stakes battles of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Saldaña has built a legacy as an action star.

The Oscar race is jam-packed with social media controversies, unexpected nominees and an awards-filled weekend colliding with the Super Bowl. As Critics Choice, DGA and PGA get set to weigh in, a late-breaking contender has shaken up the conversation: James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” Initially eyed for a 2025 release, the Searchlight

Gary Conklin, an L.A.-based documentary filmmaker who covered subjects including art, literature and cinema, died Dec. 26. He was 92. Born in Fresno, Calif., Conklin grew up in San Francisco and moved to Pasadena as a teenager. He graduated USC and served in Special Services in the Army. After moving to New York to study

“The Perfect Neighbor,” a documentary that examines Florida’s Stand Your Ground laws and gun regulations, is in final negotiations to sell to Netflix after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. The price tag is roughly $5 million, although the deal hasn’t been signed. Netflix declined to comment. The film, which debuted to critical praise, uses

Kathleen Quinlan and Michelle Hurd are joining Jen Lilley in the cast of “Holiday Hearts,” an upcoming holiday film set to release just in time for Christmas. Quinlan is an Oscar-nominated actor known for her work in “Apollo 13,” “The Doors,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Prison Break,” while Hurd has starred in

The recently uncovered social media posts by “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón in which she attacked, among various things — Islam, George Floyd and a more diverse Oscars — have thrown an unexpected wrench into the awards race. Within hours of the historic tweets being resurfaced and translated into English, Gascón apologized, saying she

Oscar-nominated actress Karla Sofía Gascón will skip Spain’s Goya Awards ceremony, the country’s equivalent to the Academy Awards, this Saturday in Granada following backlash over past social media posts. A spokesperson for Wanda Vision, which co-distributes “Emilia Pérez” alongside Elástica Films in Spain, confirmed the news to Variety. According to the spokesperson, the film’s producer

“Night Stage,” the gay erotic thriller by Brazil’s Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, has been acquired by German distributor Salzgeber, which will release the film in Germany and Austria. The film will world premiere in Berlinale’s Panorama sidebar next week. M-Appeal is handling international sales for the film, and has released the international trailer. [embedded

On a particularly gloomy afternoon in Los Angeles, Demi Moore walks into the room, her presence instantly brightening the space. Dressed in a chic yet relaxed ensemble, she carries her designer handbag, —but her adorable, tiny, wide-eyed puppy is not with her. Moore is no stranger to reinvention. From the breakout success of “Ghost” (1990)

Japanese moviegoers are famously well-behaved, even carting out their empty soda cups and popcorn containers after the screening. They also tend to make few sounds beyond titters for comedies or snuffles for tear-jerkers. But the full-house crowd at the Feb. 5 world premiere of the animation “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle” at Toho Cinemas

Berlin-based world sales company Pluto Film, led by Daniela and Benjamin Cölle, is marking its 10th anniversary with a shift into production as it readies its European Film Market slate. Pluto’s Berlin Film Festival lineup is led by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s psychological thriller “Hysteria,” which screens in the Panorama sidebar. The trailer debuts below. [embedded

It’s been a few years since they last blue up, but the Smurfs are back. Paramount Pictures has unveiled the first full trailer for its upcoming musical film “Smurfs,” which features a starry cast that includes Rihanna as the voice of Smurfette. Along with starring, Rihanna is producing the Paramount Animation production. She also penned

Netflix, Max and Prime Video are currently in the thick of negotiations with French film guilds to seek earlier access to newly released theatrical movies as part of an industry-wide process to update the country’s windowing rules. France’s strict windowing rules apply to French and global streamers, as well as local free-to-air and pay-TV channels,

Film and high-end TV production in the U.K. made considerable gains last year, according to new figures from the British Film Institute. In its annual report, the BFI said that film and high-end TV production spend in the U.K. reached £5.6 billion ($6.9 billion) in 2024, up 31% on 2023, and ahead of 2019’s pre-COVID

Jonathan Majors‘ violent bodybuilding drama “Magazine Dreams” is heading to market for international sales for the first time ahead of its U.S. release on March 21 via Briarcliff Entertainment. Celsius Entertainment has acquired international sales rights to the film, written and directed by Elijah Bynum and starring Majors alongside Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Harriet Sansom

Pan-European production and sales company Federation Studios (“The Bureau”) has teamed up with prominent Italian producer Alessandro Usai to launch a new film and TV shingle in Italy called No Name Entertainment. Usai (pictured above), who is president of Italy’s motion picture association ANICA, has over the past 15 years led the commercially successful Colorado Film

Japanese icon Takeshi Kitano offered a surprisingly candid admission about his Venice Film Festival appearance for “Broken Rage” last year: he barely remembers it, having suffered a concussion en route to the premiere after hitting his head on a motorboat. “I actually had to go to the doctor, and they looked into my brain waves,”

Hollywood Icelandic mogul Joni Sighvatsson, producer of David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winner “Wild at Heart” and head of L.A.-based Palomar Entertainment, has partnered the Scandinavian powerhouse The Global Ensemble Drama and South Africa’s Diprente Media for the feature adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s best-selling book “The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.” The majority English-language