Movies

Released to theaters in the theatrical dog days of mid-2020, Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s “Becky” became a home-formats hit, its gleefully tasteless home-invasion thrills a guilty-pleasure tonic for COVID captives going a bit stir-crazy. Now Lulu Wilson is back as that title character, more or less the sole survivor of her prior screen outing.

Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” is beginning its box office swim with $10.3 million in previews. Starring singer and actor Halle Bailey as Ariel, the new movie is projected to open with $100 million this holiday weekend. With Memorial Day on Monday, its four-day total could land between $120 million and $125 million.

In “La Chimera,” the ancient past nestles mere inches below the surface of the present, eventually breaking above ground and disrupting, if not the space-time continuum, the more mundane order of things. The borders between life and death feel similarly frictious and permeable, as if we could merely visit one from the other, as easily

Female Film Club (FCC), an online members club for female filmmakers and creatives, has partnered with French production company Sisterland Connect to advocate for women in film on an international scale. Sisterland Studio and Sisterland Connect bowed at Cannes earlier this week with the launch of an investment fund and production company for women in

The 37 national film institutes that are members of European Film Promotion have elected a new EFP board of directors at the general assembly on May 23 during the Cannes Film Festival. The board consists of seven members, with their term of office lasting for two years. Five of the current members remain on the

Anthony Chen’s well-regarded Mainland China-set “The Breaking Ice” has found favor with multiple European and Asian buyers in the few days since its Sunday premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard. The film narrates a love triangle story among China’s lost youth generation and is set in the middle of winter

The 16th edition of Beldocs Intl. Documentary Film Festival has awarded its top prizes to “ThIIIrd,” from Lebanese helmer Karim Kassim, in the International Competition Program, and Tijana Petrović’s “A Field Guide to Coastal Fortifications” in the Serbian competition program. “ThIIIrd” is set in an auto repair shop in Lebanon, which is a haven for

Italy’s RAI Cinema, which has four titles in this year’s Cannes selection, has closed a deal on Ron Howard’s next movie “Origin of Species,” a hot project at the Cannes market starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Ana de Armas, Jude Law and Alicia Vikander. RAI Cinema chief Paolo Del Brocco said the company – which is the

The U.K.’s London Indian Film Festival and Birmingham Indian Film Festival will work together to present a two-city, two-part panoply of feature and short films, kicking off next month with “The Storyteller.” Directed by Ananth Mahadevan, “The Storyteller” sees Adil Hussain play a Gujarati businessman who believes that once physical wealth is accumulated, happiness will

U.S. distribution company Dark Star Pictures, Mexico’s Mantícora Distribution and Spain’s La Dalia Films announced at Cannes a strategic deal to launch genre label Antídoto Horror Factory.  The venture, unveiled at the Marché du Film’s new genre-focused Fantastic Pavilion, will develop, produce, distribute and sell a minimum of four genre feature films in the next

The Sundance Film Festival Asia, an offshoot of the Sundance Institute, is to set up camp in Taipei, Taiwan this summer. The three-day mini festival will run Aug. 18-20 and be put together in association with local organizer G2Go Entertainment. The event will showcase a handful of films curated by the Sundance Institute and host

There are few fears more universal than one of a monster under the bed or in our closet, and few filmmaking techniques more viscerally effective than the jump scare. These tropes collide — effectively, if without much originality — in “The Boogeyman,” a loose adaptation of Stephen King’s 1973 short story of the same name.

Pixar vice president and creative director Peter Sohn will talk about his new animated film “Elemental” at the VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy, which runs from Oct. 15-20. Sohn will attend the conference in person to discuss the creative journey he took to bring the story to the screen.   “I’m so excited to welcome

Marvel’s upcoming “Thunderbolts” film has paused production due to the ongoing writers strike, Variety has confirmed. The movie was scheduled to begin shooting in Atlanta next month, and plans to resume production after the strike is resolved. Part of Marvel’s Phase Five, “Thunderbolts” is set to bring together the worlds of “Ant-Man and the Wasp,”

The Directors Guild of America is pushing for a contractual provision that would give TV directors more time and responsibility in the editing room, sources told Variety. The DGA is negotiating its new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The current contract expires on June 30. One of the key issues

The Bride is back. Lionsgate said it is releasing a new and remastered 4K edition of “Kill Bill” to coincide with the Quentin Tarantino film’s 20th anniversary at the end of the year. No word yet on what kind of extras and added footage that version may or may not include. But it does come

National Amusements, the parent company of Paramount Global, has received a $125 million investment from BDT & MSD Capital Partners, an investment firm that specializes in supporting family-controlled businesses and estates, just days after Paramount slashed its dividend — a revenue stream for National Amusements’ owners, the Redstone family. The influx of cash is designed

The return of John Wick, its popular hit man franchise, helped lift quarterly earnings at Lionsgate, enabling the company to best expectations. For the three-month period ending on March 31, revenues at Lionsgate increased 16.7% to $1.1 billion. The company also reported an operating loss of $49.6 million, which was slightly better than the $50.4 million

A judge on Thursday said she will throw out a lawsuit over a nude scene in the 1968 version of “Romeo and Juliet,” after finding that the film is protected by the First Amendment. The stars of the film, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, filed the suit in December, alleging that they were coerced by

Girls Supports Girls, the French film sorority launched by producer Vanessa Djian and publicist Karolyne Leibovici, made its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with the backing of Orange, in association with Kering. A flurry of French female talent, notably “Simone” actress Elsa Zylberstein and “Houria” director Mounia Meddour, took part in the networking

Brazil’s on fire, and rapidly putting into place the policies that will rebuild its film and TV industries, which look set to transform it into the film-TV powerhouse of Latin America. That cuts several ways.  Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian president over 2019-2022, ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency, saw its funding for Brazil’s audiovisual

In 1989, the 7-year-old Daveed Diggs queued up outside Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre, his hometown multiplex, to see “The Little Mermaid” with his father, Dountes. “It must’ve been opening weekend. The line wrapped around the block,” Diggs recalls. “I remember loving Scuttle, thinking he was just the funniest thing I’d seen up to that point,

“Bikini Blue” director Jarek Marszewski will direct the 1920s-set euthanasia drama “Iron Ribbon,” for which Los Angeles-based Egyptian actor Mohamed Karim is attached and Tom Hughes (“The English”) is in advanced talks.  The English-language romantic thriller, which is being produced by London-based Daniella Gonella and Jay Michaelson’s DG Productions, is based on the true story

It began in the son’s room, when the father was away on business. L’enfant thought it was l’amour, but for her, 30-odd years his senior, the sex, lies and audiotape were a mistake. Wild at heart, she’d yielded to the taste of … oh, never mind. Competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Catherine Breillat’s

Wscripted, the talent platform sourcing women and non-binary writers, has unveiled the nominees for its third Cannes Screenplay List, an initiative launched in partnership with MUBI. The final selection was curated by an inaugural jury of international female filmmakers, including Mounia Meddour (“Papicha”, “Houria”), Funa Maduka (“Waiting for Hassana”), and Camille Griffin (“Silent Night”). The

Denmark’s “Norwegian Offspring,” by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, from Den Danske Filmskole, was chosen as the winner of the 26th edition of La Cinef. In the story, a mother passes away and her estranged son – obsessed with theories about the repression of male sexuality in modern society – starts longing for offspring of his own. “The

Aside from screening movies, film executives attending Tribeca will be playing ball on June 10 as part of of the 12th edition of the NYFEST, the New York-set fundraising soccer tournament. Co-founded by Dylan Leiner, Sony Pictures Classics’ senior executive VP of acquisitions and production, NYFEST brings together people from the entertainment world on the

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “Story Ave,” which won a special jury award for cinematography at SXSW. From debut filmmaker Aristotle Torres, “Story Ave” stars Luis Guzmán (“Narcos,” “Boogie Nights”) and Asante Blackk (“When They See Us,” “This Is Us”), with Guzmán serving as executive producer alongside producer Jamie Foxx. “Story Ave”

Imagine the gleaming surfaces of Park Chan-wook’s terrific “Decision to Leave” stripped of romance, all scuzzed-up and grimy. Imagine drilling down through Diao Yinan’s Berlin-winning “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and finding unexpected seams of absurdist dark comedy. You are now somewhere in the seamy offbeat world of “Only the River Flows,” director Wei Shujun’s inventive riff

Warner Bros. is giving audiences a closer look at “Barbie” in a new official trailer. While the story of the film has been mostly kept under wraps, the new trailer teases what Greta Gerwig’s summer tentpole is all about, as Barbie and Ken are set to officially enter the real world on July 21. Fatigued