Movies

It’s a sign of the times that a good, old-fashioned date movie featuring two of the most bankable movie stars of the early aughts, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, is bypassing theaters altogether in early 2025. When it comes to writer-director Nicholas Stoller’s latest rom-com — if that’s the word for a film where two

At Sunday night’s premiere of “Together,” a body-horror film starring real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, the Eccles Theatre erupted with shrieks, nervous laughter and cries of “Oh, shit!” Sundance audiences couldn’t get enough of the gory madness unfolding on-screen, and word quickly spread that “Together,” with its twisty look at relationships and

You’ve seen it so often, you might roll your eyes, but in “Last Days,” it really happens: American missionary John Allen Chau could have died as he approached North Sentinel Island, had the Bible in his breast pocket not absorbed the blow of a hostile Sentinelese arrow. What was Chau doing halfway around the globe,

Harvey Guillén walked the red carpet Monday at the Los Angeles premiere of his new horror thriller, “Companion.” The actor said it felt good to be back at work after putting things on hold due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Guillén lives in Altadena. His house wasn’t destroyed by the fires, but it was left

“Beautiful Ugly,” a new novel from author Alice Feeney, will be adapted for the screen. Hidden Pictures, the production company founded in 2022 by Todd Lieberman, has acquired the rights to the book and plans to develop a film version of the psychological thriller. “Beautiful Ugly” was published on Jan. 14 and landed on the

“Endless Calls for Fame,” a documentary chronicling the 1990s-era New York City punk/indie music scene and the band The New Rising Sons, has been acquired by independent film specialist Gravitas Ventures for U.S. and Canadian distribution. The documentary will be available March 14 on digital and cable video-on-demand. “Gravitas is excited to bring ‘Endless Calls

A remote location. A group of unsuspecting, idiosyncratic hopefuls. A murderous plan that would eliminate them one by one. The formula is nearly a fool-proof one to pull off an entertaining horror-thriller, but writer-director Mark Anthony Green’s paper-thin feature debut “Opus” squanders the opportunity with shockingly low stakes and only the most basic observations on

Meera Menon has directed episodes of some of the biggest series on television, including “The Walking Dead,” “Westworld” and “Ms. Marvel.” But after she had a baby, she wanted to make a radical departure and revisit the beginning of her career, so she made an indie zombie movie with her best friends. Now, “Didn’t Die”

The visual approach in “Heightened Scrutiny” — Sam Feder’s documentary following a transgender lawyer prepping for a U.S. Supreme Court case — seems familiar at the outset. Its straightforward approach to locked-off sit-down interviews, interspersed with graphics and other B-roll footage, is hardly novel. However, an immense amount of care and detail goes into its

Confluential Films, the award-winning, Black-owned and Black-founded film, television and documentary production company and financier based in L.A., has appointed Shaun Williams as chief financial officer and Gerren Crochet as executive vice president. As CFO, Williams will lead Confluential’s financial strategy and planning to support Confluential’s long-term strategic goals. Crochet is joining as EVP and

Timothée Chalamet learned to play guitar and sing like Bob Dylan for “A Complete Unknown.” He also gained 20 pounds to look more like the folk music legend, he revealed an interview with NPR. “I’ve turned over every stone. I did all the work, like you just described, physicality, behavior-wise,” Chalamet told “All Things Considered”

British comedian, producer and “Chicken Shop Date” host Amelia Dimoldenberg will return as the face of the 97th Oscars social media campaign, once again serving as social media ambassador and red carpet correspondent. Dimoldenberg will participate in multiple events throughout the awards season, including hosting interviews with nominees and talent on the Oscars red carpet.

Marlee Matlin is an Oscar winner for her work in “Children of a Lesser God,” and starred in the 2021 film “CODA,” which won the Oscar for best picture, but she feels that Hollywood is so rigid that it hasn’t necessarily given her advantage when it comes to pitching projects. “I’m not happy with the

Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone help plan a sham wedding in the first trailer for “The Wedding Banquet,” a modern retelling of Ang Lee’s 1993 queer comedy of errors. Set in Seattle, “The Wedding Banquet” follows Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and her girlfriend, Lee (Gladstone), who are trying to have a baby through IVF but

Mena Suvari, Skeet Ulrich, Elizabeth Marvel, Lin Shaye, Alicia Sanz and Nick Stahl have joined the cast of “Devoted,” an upcoming horror film from writer and director Richard J. Bosner.  The film follows a woman (Suvari), who takes guardianship of her estranged sister (Marvel), the only survivor of a recent mass cult suicide. Yet her happiness at their reunion soon turns to

Memento International has scored a wave of deals for “Gazer,” a neo-noir psychological thriller by Ryan J.Sloan which had its world premiere at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Set in New Jersey, the paranoia thriller was lensed in 16mm stock, and stars Ariella Mastronianni as Frankie, a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. Struggling to

“The Wretched” sequel is happening. Five years after the film’s original release, Brett and Drew Pierce (“Deadheads”) and their Little Runway Productions will begin production on “The Wretched 2” this September in Oregon, with casting underway. The Pierce brothers — who are returning as writers, directors and producers — said in a statement to Variety,

Rolling off her lead role in “Mortel Kombat 2,” Adeline Rudolph will star opposite Arden Cho (“Partner Track,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender”) in “Perfect Girl,” an elevated psychological thriller set in the competitive world of K-pop. “Perfect Girl” (previously titled “Unnie”) will be directed by genre filmmaker Hong Won-ki (“Goedam,” “Zombie Hunter”), with an original

The Elevate Prize Foundation, the global non-profit committed to Making Good Famous, has announced the launch of Elevate Studios, a groundbreaking production initiative aimed at leveraging the power of storytelling to inspire cultural and social change. Elevate Studios will serve as a strategic arm to amplify the work of social entrepreneurs and global changemakers through

Finding ways to take creative risks in the tricky environment of corporate studio financing was a major talking point at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. As a mixed Indigenous woman, Kali Reis, who’s featured in the drama “Rebuilding” alongside Josh O’Connor, often reflects on her own values before signing onto a role or agreeing to

Cate Blanchett, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for refugee agency UNHCR, and Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund have launched a refugee-focused short film grant program called the Displacement Film Fund. The fund, which will give up to five production grants of €100,000 ($104,200) each in its pilot phase, aims to champion and fund

Marie Ulven, the internationally acclaimed musical artist known as Girl in Red, is set to make her feature debut as the lead in Maipo Film‘s “Low Expectations,” the upcoming first feature from director Eivind Landsvik. While “Low Expectations” represents Landsvik’s first foray into feature-length filmmaking, it comes with a great deal of buzz following the

The Jonas Brothers are reuniting with Disney to produce and star in a Christmas comedy movie, slated for the 2025 holiday season. In the film, which has the working title “Jonas Brothers Christmas Movie,” Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas “face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London

Disney’s “A Complete Unknown” held its spot at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second weekend, earning £1.6 million ($2 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The cumulative total of the Bob Dylan biopic, starring Timothée Chalamet, now stands at $7.3 million. In second place, Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King”

Thomas Vinterberg is ready for “The Brothers Lionheart,” based on Astrid Lindgren’s fantasy novel.  “I’m writing it myself with the brilliant British writer Simon Stephens, so it’s a mix of things. The book is there, it’s not mine, but it’s a great journey we’re on. I really love it,” he tells Variety about his upcoming project.   

London’s Prince Charles Cinema said on Tuesday that it is “under serious threat” of closing after a disagreement with its landlord over a new lease. The cinema posted a petition on its social media accounts calling for help saving the iconic theater, which has been praised by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas

The Italian release of James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” is prompting local media to claim that, unlike in the movie, Dylan traveled to Italy in 1962 in pursuit of Suze Rotolo — named Sylvie Russo in the film and played by Elle Fanning — who had left New York to study abroad.

Malaysian powerhouse Astro Shaw has joined forces with Sympatico, the newly minted production label from Double Vision’s Min Lim and Argo Films’ Richard Johns, as the outfit commences production on its debut feature “Mojo.” The romantic comedy, which began lensing this week in Malaysia’s picturesque Perlis region, marks a significant milestone in cross-cultural collaboration between

When Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” was released back in 1993, the AIDS epidemic was still taking lives, marriage equality in the U.S. was decades away and queer representation in media remained limited, even if strides had been made. It was certainly a different time. Considering the progress obtained since — while not forgetting the

A vampire-themed love story starring Saya Minami and Whitney Duff heads a slate unveiled by Australia’s Black Forest Films and New Zealand genre powerhouse Black Mandala. “Haunted & Devoted,” targeting festival premieres in mid-2025, anchors a four-picture deal between the companies. The partnership continues with “Grand Finale: A New York Odyssey,” a neo-giallo starring drag