Movies

Charades and UTA Independent Film Group have boarded “Mother, Couch,” the high-profile feature debut of Niclas Larsson, which has just dropped its first-look image, shared in exclusivity with Variety. An all-star cast is led by Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor, Ellen Burstyn, Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle and F. Murray Abraham and now Lake Bell. Charades will

Paul Reubens, the actor best known for portraying the irrepressible, joyfully childlike Pee-wee Herman, died Sunday night after a private bout of cancer. He was 70. “Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” wrote Reubens in a statement posted to Instagram after his death. “I

Disney opened “Haunted Mansion” in the heat of summer and months removed from the spookiest time of year. Whether the release date is connected, ticket sales were veering on scary as the comedic thriller debuted in third place to a lackluster $24 million. Competition was heightened as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” remained unexpectedly strong in their

Ridley Scott told Empire magazine that Joaquin Phoenix felt clueless two weeks before cameras were set to roll on their historical epic “Napoleon.” The film marks a long-in-the-works reunion between the director and the Oscar-winning actor, who worked together over two decades ago on “Gladiator.” Phoenix is headlining the film as the French emperor opposite

UPDATED: The Cineworld cinema chain entered administration as expected on July 31. Simon J. Appell, Ian J. Partridge and Catherine M Williamson of AlixPartners U.K. LLP have been appointed as joint administrators of the group. From Aug. 1, the company’s shares will no longer be listed and traded on the London Stock Exchange. “The restructuring

Judi Dench’s latest update on her deteriorating eyesight is that she can no longer see on film sets. She previously disclosed that her eyesight loss had made it near impossible to read film scripts. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror (via The Guardian), the Oscar winner said losing her ability to see has been “the most

Nicolas Cage finally sounded off to USA Today on his brief return as Superman in Warner Bros.’ “The Flash.” The Oscar winner made a surprise cameo appearance as the Man of Steel he never got to play back in the late 1990s, although he did not say any lines. “Well, I was glad I didn’t

Starring Deva Cassel, Laura Luchetti’s “The Beautiful Summer” (“La Bella Estate”) has bowed sales and a trailer, ahead of its world premiere at this week’s Locarno Festival.  In a first deal to go down for sales agent True Colours, Palace Films has swooped on distribution rights to Australia and New Zealand. Xenix Filmdistribution will release

The twin releases of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” has broken records for cinema chain Vue International. COO Claire Arksey described the “Barbenheimer” box office performance as the chain’s “best week ever” and the period following the films’ release as a “record-breaking week,” which beat Vue’s International’s previous overall weekly admissions record by 40% across eight European

Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has boarded “Forever-Forever” (“Nazavzhdy-Nazavzhdy”), Ukrainian filmmaker Anna Buryachkova’s feature directing debut, ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons Extra competition. After transferring from a downtown high school, Tonia (Alina Cheban) befriends a group of badass youngsters, trying to find protection from the people from her past and

Screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, in recognition of his contribution to the art of filmmaking. The festival will also hold an open-air screening of 2002’s “Adaptation,” which was written by Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. Jovan Marjanović, the festival’s director,

“Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” the first part of Wuershan’s big-budget “Fengshen Trilogy,” topped the mainland China box office for the second weekend and expanded its week-on-week haul by 35%. ‘Barbie’ also showed signs of resilience in a market where it opened a week earlier in a disappointing fifth place. “Creation of

SAG-AFTRA has found itself defending its decision to give the green light to more than 100 independent productions to film during the strike. Many members, including Sarah Silverman and Viola Davis, have publicly suggested that working under an interim agreement would undermine the strike. Silverman went so far as to call it “scabbing,” though she

There is female empowerment in Korean cinemas, but it is coming more from local characters, than global hit “Barbie.” Female-led crime action film “Smugglers” dominated the weekend at the South Korean box office and pushed aside “Mission: impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” which had headed the chart for the previous two sessions. “Smugglers” earned

“Barbarian Invasion” director Tan Chi Mui from Malaysia scored a top result from the SIFF Project Market. The market is a component event of the Shanghai International Film Festival, which wrapped up over the weekend. Tan’s “All About Yuyu” was named as the “recommended project for creativity” at the project market’s closing event. The project,

After a golden age in the 1980s, Chinese filmmakers were quietly discouraged from dabbling in the sci-fi genre – it isn’t real science and authorities did not want youngsters to get confused. That stance changed during the last decade and the Shanghai International Film Festival has just hosted its first sci-fi week, comprising nearly a

Historian Kai Bird, co-author of the 2005 book that inspired Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” has shared his thoughts about the upcoming film, revealing that he has high hopes for how it can resonate with the public during a conversation with David Nirenberg at Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York. “I am, at the moment,

Neal Kirby, son of the seminal Marvel Comics artist and writer Jack Kirby, has shared a statement expressing his distaste with Disney+’s new documentary spotlighting the life of Stan Lee. Credited as one of the leading creators of Marvel Comics, Lee’s life and legacy are given a detailed exploration through the doc, which premiered on

After struggling at the domestic box office, this weekend’s two major releases — the Warner Bros. superhero adaptation “The Flash” and Disney’s Pixar adventure “Elemental” — failed to catch fire with international audiences. “The Flash” pulled in $75 million in its international box office debut, which doesn’t sound all that bad… except when considering the

The walls of Barcelona’s international convention center might soon rattle once the 4,000 European exhibitors, suppliers and service providers in town for the CineEurope trade show breathe out a collective sigh of relief. At the root of such succor are Europe’s more than encouraging box-office admissions, which saw a marked uptick in late 2022 and

I’ve always been shy when it comes to writing about Wes Anderson, because he’s a filmmaker I rarely connect with. When I watch one of his movies, I can’t help but see his talent (the visual wizardry, the debonair lapidary cleverness), but I feel like I’m experiencing something that was made on a different planet

“The Flash,” a superhero adventure starring Ezra Miller, emerged victorious over Pixar’s “Elemental” in a battle of the box office lightweights. This weekend’s two new releases were once expected to ignite the summer box office but instead entirely missed the mark, as “The Flash” stumbled with $55 million and “Elemental” collected just $29.5 million in

Iranian filmmaker Dornaz Hajiha took home the top prize Saturday at the Transilvania Film Festival, as the jury awarded the first-time director with the Transilvania Trophy for “Like a Fish on the Moon,” a moving family drama about two parents coping with the emotional fallout when their young son suddenly stops talking. In the jury’s

As far as history goes, you can’t get much more historical than Taormina for a film festival. The Antico Teatro (or Greek Theater) – where the latest films will be shown – dates back to 300 BC. More recently – as in a mere century or so – the Sicilian coastal town has proved an

Japanese drama feature “Yoko” won the Golden Goblet best picture award at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The jury Grand Prix was awarded to Spain’s “Muyeres” with China’s Liu Jin winning the best director prize.The trio also collected additional prizes making them the only multiple winners in a ceremony that sprinkled its awards widely. “Yoko,”

The 69th Taormina Film Festival boasts an impressive lineup of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Located in the historical Sicilian town – its visibility recently getting an unlooked for boost with the second season of HBO’s ”The White

Robert De Niro worked the crowd at the Beacon Theater during the Tribeca Festival closing gala on Saturday evening, which served as a 30th anniversary celebration of his directorial debut, “A Bronx Tale.” When asked about the film’s mild box office — earning about $17 million on a $21 million production budget — the director

Gal Gadot is going from superhero to super spy in the action-packed first trailer for the international espionage thriller “Heart of Stone.” Gadot was joined by co-stars Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt at Netflix’s Tudum fan festival in São Paulo, Brazil, where the trio debuted the film’s first trailer. The footage features heart-stopping stunts, like

Chris Hemsworth’s hit action franchise, “,” is getting a third adventure. The action star and director Sam Hargrave made the announcement at Netflix’s Tudum event on Saturday, following the June 16 premiere of “Extraction 2.” The first two films center on black ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth). In the first film, Tyler takes on a

Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s hand-painted marvel “Chicken for Linda!” took home duel honors at the Annecy Animation Festival on Saturday, scooping up the festival’s top prize, the Cristal Award for best feature, as well as the Gan Foundation award for distribution. A bittersweet childhood tale that finds screwball humor in mourning and melancholy, the