Movies

Taking on an expansive topic, the contribution of Black astronauts to the American space program, Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s “The Space Race” derives its strength from the specific and detailed stories of its subjects. Spanning almost 60 years of historical narrative and concentrating on a handful of scientists who broke barriers, the

Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join

“Ozi, Voice of the Forest” premiered at the Annecy Festival on June 13, kicking off a series of films that seek to highlight dangers to the environment.  The film tells the story of a young orangutan Ozi, voiced by Amandla Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”), who becomes separated from her parents when her rain forest home

Kingsley Ben-Adir is just as excited as the fans to see Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” finally hit the big screen. As he caught up with Variety at Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” premiere in Hollywood on Tuesday night, Ben-Adir recalled seeing Ryan Gosling and the rest of the Ken dolls for the first time in full costume. “We

Speaking for nearly an hour at his master class, one of the key highlights of the Annecy Animation Festival this week, maestro filmmaker Guillermo del Toro kept his packed-to-the rafters audience enthralled – and in stitches – as he extolled the virtues of stop-motion animation and of embracing flaws. Having just won a best animated

Gkids has scooped North America rights to “Chicken for Linda!,” a hand-painted, Franco-Italian co-production that premiered out of Cannes’ ACID sidebar and is now competing in Annecy. Written and directed Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, the bittersweet film focuses on the madcap energy of childhood without overlooking the melancholy.  “We wanted something both funny and

Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor has signed with leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ talent management division, YRF Talent. Kapoor made her acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Saawariya” (2007) and has won critical and commercial acclaim for “Aisha” (2010), “Raanjhanaa” (2013), “Khoobsurat” (2014), “Neerja” (2016), “Veere Di Wedding” (2018) and “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh

Amy Pascal will never forget the world premiere of the first “Spider-Man” movie in 2002. She was the head of Sony at the time, and was so worried that the film wouldn’t succeed she “spent the entire time in the ladies’ room crying,” Pascal recalled at the “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” premiere in Los Angeles.

Elliot Page writes in his new memoir, “Pageboy,” that filming the 2017 “Flatliners” remake was “a true mess from the very beginning” and a “shit show” due to unsafe stunt work and instances of racism and queerphobia on set (via Entertainment Weekly). Or, as Page puts it: “It went off the rails.” In an entire

New Mexico prosecutors say they will file new charges against Alec Baldwin if further testing shows that his gun was working at the time of the “Rust” shooting. The special prosecutors in the case, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, dropped manslaughter charges against Baldwin in April. Baldwin had been accused of negligently pulling the trigger, causing

Scarlett Johansson revealed to Variety last month that she auditioned for the lead role in Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 3D space epic “Gravity,” which became a box office blockbuster with over $720 million worldwide and earned 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture. Cuarón won the best director prize, while Sandra Bullock was nominated for best actress.

Kevin Spacey alleged in a new interview with ZEITmagazin that people will start hiring him for more acting projects if he is cleared of sexual assault charges in London following an upcoming trial that is set to begin on June 28. The Oscar winner was charged one year go in London with four counts of

Once upon a time, animated movies made it easy to tell the heroes apart from the villains. Now, the trend is for princesses to remain happily unmarried (“Frozen”), for kids to know better than their elders (“Encanto”) and for monsters to be revealed as misunderstood allies (“Luca”). For a while, those twists on the Disney

When James Cameron’s fifth “Avatar” movie opens in theaters in 2031, Zoe Saldaña will end a whopping 26-year journey playing the Na’vi warrior and devoted mother Neytiri. How’s that for character longevity? Disney announced June 13 that Cameron’s three upcoming “Avatar” sequels have been pushed back on the release calendar yet again, extending the franchise

Suzy Eddie Izzard (“Stay Close”) and Ed Speelers (“Outlander”) are the new additions to the cast of “Midas Man,” the delayed film on The Beatles manager Brian Epstein that has now wrapped filming. The film began production with Jonas Akerlund (“Lords of Chaos”) as director, who departed the project for unknown reasons. Sara Sugarman (“Vinyl”)

DreamWorks Animation is committing to “subverting the hero’s journey,” said president Margie Cohn at Annecy, introducing “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” and “Orion and the Dark.” One of the big U.S. world premieres at Annecy, the world’s biggest animation festival, “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” featured at a DreamWorks Animation studio focus at Annecy, the world’s biggest

Mexico’s Woo Films is venturing into the kids/younger audience content biz for the first time, boarding three stop-motion animated features by Mexico City-based Cinema Fantasma, led by brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz. Producer Andrea Toca who brought the projects to Woo Films, said: “We’ve always wanted to make content for children and younger audiences.” “I

In the summer of 1952, guilds representing directors and actors reached a historic deal with Hollywood studios to earn a residual on TV reruns. But the Screen Writers Guild held out for a royalty — a percentage of the gross, not a flat fee — and declared the first-ever writers strike. After three months, the

As the American Black Film Festival kicks off its 27th edition in Miami Beach, Fla. on Wednesday night, the company behind the fest, ABFF Ventures, is announcing a rebrand. The events entertainment company, led by founder and CEO Jeff Friday and president Nicole Friday, will now be called Nice Crowd, evoking the brand’s dedication to

“Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and

Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” already has a few high profile fans before its theatrical release. Horror icon Stephen King got to see an early screening of the DC tentpole and raved on Twitter, “This one is special. It’s heartfelt, funny, and eye-popping. I loved it.” A report from THR also claimed that Tom Cruise was

Before Pharrell Williams put in a surprise appearance to honor Chris Meledandri with Annecy’s Golden Ticket lifetime achievement award, the Illumination CEO joined “Migration” director Benjamin Renner for a wide-ranging conversation and to present the first 25 minutes of the film.  Though the duo made sure to mention that the excerpt was not quite locked,

Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Eastern Promises industry platform has unveiled 27 film projects that will be showcased during its Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch and First Cut+ Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects, selected by international juries, will receive awards with a total value of 115,000 EUR.  The showcasing

Tender father-daughter tale “My Dad, The Truck,” raucous coming-of-age series “Esther” and poignant docu-series “The Impossible Future” are among the projects venturing to Annecy’s Mifa Market for pitch sessions Wednesday as part of the Ibero-American Animation League’s annual forum. Simultaneously, La Liga will also launch Ibermedia Next to foster the development of innovative animated co-productions

Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri was presented with the Annecy International Film Festival’s lifetime accreditation Golden Ticket on Wednesday. In a surprise appearance, two-time Oscar nominee and Grammy-winning global superstar Pharrell Williams presented Meledandri with the festival’s honor. Meledandri is the creative producer behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the Despicable Me, Minions, Sing

AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics (AVGC-XR), has revealed dates for its inaugural edition in 2024. The festival is backed by India’s Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF) in partnership with Annecy Festival, France. AVAF is a not-for-profit organization founded by Kireet Khurana, Archana Trasy, Anne Doshi, Neha Jain and Tehzeeb Khurana

Celebrating its tenth anniversary as part of the industry program of the Transilvania Film Festival, the Transilvania Pitch Stop — one of the leading co-production and co-financing platforms for filmmakers from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the wider Black Sea region — will showcase 10 projects by first- and second-time directors searching for potential European

In Vicky Jenson’s upcoming 3D animation “Spellbound,” the hills – of the magical kingdom of Lumbria – are alive with the sound of music. Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman, taking on royals-turned-monsters, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, André De Shields and Nathan Lane are part of the voice cast as well. “Why a musical? People always

The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, in Saitama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, will hold its 2023 edition with both in-person and online components, long after COVID, which necessitated such hybrid formats, has retreated. The festival, which sees itself as a gateway for emerging talent, and has operated since 2004, will hold its physical edition

Fremantle has unveiled a trailer for documentary feature “On the Line: The Richard Williams Story,” which will have its U.K. premiere at Sheffield DocFest. In the film, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival, the father of Venus Williams and Serena Williams retraces his family’s meteoric journey in his own words. Featuring never-before-seen archive material