Movies

New State Pictures has joined forces with Curiosity Rights to secure the life rights of scientist Susan Solomon, who led pioneering research into the destruction of the ozone layer in the 1980s. The partners plan to produce a film that will place a spotlight on how the work undertaken by Solomon and her team led

As costs spiral upward for production infrastructure, visual effects and good old fashioned star wattage, blockbuster budgets tend to be one of the closely guarded secrets in Hollywood. Yet in the weeks and months leading to the release of “The Creator,” due Sept. 29, cowriter and director Gareth Edwards has not stopped talking — if

SAN SEBASTIAN — Blessed by blowsy sun, two Conferences and a Co-Pro Forum, which brought the highest caliber and number of U.S., European execs and Latin American producers ever seen in festival history, San Sebastian rounded its final bend Friday after a packed, busy and upbeat event, also suggesting a stability in contrast to other

Despite heavy rains which have closed some New York City subway lines, schools and movie theaters — including Alamo Drafthouse locations — the New York Film Festival plans to move forward with its opening night screening of Netflix’s “May December” on Friday. The soapy drama is scheduled for a 6 p.m. showing at Lincoln Center’s

Just how grisly is one “Saw X” scene? Apparently enough to get the cops called on the film’s editor, Steve Forn. In an interview with NME, director Kevin Greutert revealed that police showed up to Forn’s editing suite in North Hollywood after neighbors reported noises of someone being tortured to death. Forn was in the

Alamo Drafthouse is closing its New York City locations due to a rainstorm that’s left streets and subways flooded across the five boroughs. The theater chain said its venues in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island “will be closed until further notice.” On social media, the company said, “Please everyone stay dry & stay safe, and

In “Invisible Nation,” director Vanessa Hope investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. The 85-minute documentary follows Tsai as she seeks full international recognition of Taiwan’s right to exist. The doc was produced by the director’s husband, veteran producer Ted Hope, who has been in the indie trenches

Move over, Barbenheimer, it’s time for Saw Patrol. This weekend sees the releases of four major movies, including Paramount’s family friendly “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” Lionsgate’s gory, R-rated “Saw X,” 20th Century’s sci-fi epic “The Creator” and “Sony’s GameStop stock story “Dumb Money.” “PAW Patrol” is expected to come out on top with an

Among the treasure trove of damning government documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 that exposed the NSA’s vast surveillance activities was one that detailed a secret U.K. program known as Phantom Parrot. It allows authorities to stop people entering the country in order to download their personal data from their phones and other electronic

Letterboxd has been acquired by Tiny, a Canadian holding company, in a deal that values the popular social site for film fanatics at over $50 million. Letterboxd was founded in 2011 by two entrepreneurs in New Zealand, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow. It recently topped 10 million registered accounts, after seeing a particularly sizable

As New York Film Festival’s artistic director, Dennis Lim has become adept at multitasking. “Sometimes, I have to introduce one film and then run across the street to moderate a Q&A for different film,” he says. “If I have an hour or two free, I will sneak into a cinema and watch something as a

The missing OceanGate Titan submersible tragedy from earlier this year is being made into a movie. MindRiot Entertainment and producer E. Brian Dobbins (“The Blackening,” “Black-ish”) are making a movie about the OceanGate incident. Dobbins will co-produce and MindRiot’s Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey will write the film. The Titan submersible caught the world’s attention

U.S. actor Elena Kampouris (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”) is set to star in the Sicily-set “Here Now,” a romantic thriller marking Italian director Gabriele Muccino‘s return to English-language filmmaking. Muccino’s Hollywood credits include the Will Smith-starrer “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Kampouris’ recent efforts comprise Netflix series “Jupiter’s Legacy” and the 2020 remake of

Fresh off a headline-making reunion, NSYNC is back with its first release in nearly 20 years, “Better Place.” The single was released on Friday as part of the “Trolls Band Together” soundtrack.  With 19 years passing since Justin Timberlake left the group and 10 since their last group performance, rumors about NSYNC reuniting at the VMAs

Bank robbers tend to be fairly easy to root for in movies. After all, it’s not the audience’s money getting pocketed onscreen. They typically don’t want to kill anybody, and their schemes tend to be pretty spectacular. “Heist 88,” a new Showtime release inspired by a real-life Chicago robbery from the year 1988, doesn’t trust

Disney EMEA’s longtime leading legal counsel Peter Wiley has stepped down after 27 years. Wiley has been chief international counsel and chief regional counsel for EMEA, based in London, U.K., since 2005. In his role, he led Disney EMEA’s function across international, including overseeing all legal and regulatory matters impacting the company across EMEA. He

Witscript and Hyperrate.io took home the prizes at San Sebastian’s 5th Zinemaldia Startup Challenge on Thursday afternoon. Each received €10,000 ($10,600) and access to incubation to nurture their fledgling companies, with the potential to vie for €500,000 ($530,000) in funding. Speaking with Variety following her win, Hendrikje Wagner CEO of Hyperate.io was delighted with the validation: “Other people

1957 was a big year for David McCallum, the respected Glasgow-born actor known for “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Great Escape” and his 20-year run on “NCIS” as quirky pathologist Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard. From the Oct. 23, 1957, edition of weekly Variety The actor, who died Sept. 25 at the age of 90, logged

In “Silver Dollar Road,” documentarian Raoul Peck foregrounds two resolute women, Mamie Reels Ellison and Kim Renee Duhon — the heir of a deceased landowner and her niece — to tell a story of familial grit, land grabs and the failings, if not the outright biases, of the courts. “Going to the water for me

Does Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” have enough heat to hit $1 billion globally? At one point, this milestone may have sounded entirely improbable for a three-hour historical drama that mostly depicts scientists talking about theoretical physics. But sure enough, the biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called father of the atomic bomb has become a full-fledged

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences

Universal Pictures and Blumhouse thought they had the perfect release date for their upcoming “Exorcist” reboot: A Friday the 13th in October, the spookiest month of the year. But it turns out the only thing more terrifying than that cursed day is Taylor Swift. Once the Grammy winner announced her “Eras Tour” concert film was

Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights to Luke Lorentzen’s feature-length documentary “A Still Small Voice.” The pact comes after the film made its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where Lorentzen received the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary. In 2019 Lorentzen’s “Midnight Family”  made the Oscar feature doc shortlist. The 93-minute

“They were reality TV before it existed.” That’s how Matt Singer, author of the upcoming book “Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,” describes the two most famous film critics in history. Like countless fans of his generation, Singer – whose book will be published by Penguin Random House on Oct. 24 –

The strike is over, but the fight is not yet won. On Wednesday, as the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike formally ended after 148 days, Variety spoke with newly elected WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson about the end of the work stoppage at the East coast

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences

Netflix has partnered with the Handy Foundation, an organization that connects below-the-line workers to job opportunities in the entertainment industry, on a new program focused on representation among assistant editors and production coordinators. Netflix and the Handy Foundation began piloting this program in 2022, helping train and identify talent for potential job opportunities on Netflix

Barcelona-born director Sara Gutiérrez Galve is following up her 2018 Malaga award-winning debut effort, “Yo La Busco,” with forthcoming dramedy “Mala Gent” (“Bad People”), a wry depiction of the disparate stories of three protagonists living in the town of Gironès, who attend the same wedding. Among five projects selected at Madrid’s 5th ECAM Incubator, the

Nadine Labaki heads “Back to Alexandria” in Tamer Ruggli’s debut feature that allowed him to celebrate Egyptian women. “I am very close to my mother, who is Egyptian. I don’t know if you know many Egyptian women, but they are exuberant, dominant and endearing.” In a story based on his mother’s experiences, Sue (Labaki) returns

TIFFCOM, the rights market that sits alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, is celebrating its return to an in-person format for the first time since 2019, with a move to another venue and the launch of the new Tokyo Story Market. The three-day market (Oct. 25-27) will relocate from Ikkebukuro to the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial