Movies

“Beijing 2022,” the official documentary about the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, has been set as the opening film of the revived Beijing International Film Festival. It is directed by noted narrative and documentary film maker Lu Chuan (“Kekexili,” “City of Life and Death” and Disney’s “Born in China”) and will have its world premiere at

NTR Jr, star of Oscar- and Golden Globe-winner “RRR,” will feature alongside Hrithik Roshan in “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe, Variety has confirmed. “War 2” will be directed by Ayan Mukerji, who previously helmed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva.” NTR Jr

To stimulate travel to Singapore through TV series and films, the city state’s Infocomm Media Development Authority and the Singapore Tourism Board are launching a $7.53 million (S$10 million) fund. The fund will support selected projects by international media and entertainment companies. These must be set in Singapore and launched before the first quarter of

The WGA and Hollywood’s major employers are set to resume contract talks on Wednesday as the sides aim to make progress in sorting through complicated compensation issues and averting a strike. Negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to sit down again in person Wednesday

Cinedigm has acquired all North American rights to the Japanese sci-fi horror film “New Religion.” “New Religion” is a surrealist body horror film written, directed and produced by first-time feature filmmaker Kondo Keishi. It stars Seto Kaho, Nunami Daiki, Oka Satoshi and Ryuseigun Saionji. After her daughter’s death, divorced Miyabi begins working as a call

A new documentary about the invisible struggles of Lyme disease will arrive on May 30, in time to mark the end of an annual awareness month around the condition. “I’m Not Crazy, I’m Sick” will release to paid video-on-demand, from director Elle Brooks-Tao and cinematographer Clair Popkin (who shot the Oscar winning “Free Solo”). Sypher

Pearls of wisdom and displays of affection were shared widely on Tuesday afternoon when honorees Judy Blume, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie Perez, Kelly Ripa and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez took the stage at Variety‘s Power of Women New York luncheon, presented by Lifetime, at midtown restaurant The Grill. While all five women touched on the key lessons

Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are poised to clobber the box office competition as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” readies to power past the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game, which opens in 4,000 North American theaters on Wednesday, looks to collect a

“The Little Mermaid” director Rob Marshall confirmed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that he met with pop superstar Harry Styles to play the role of Prince Eric opposite Halle Bailey’s Ariel in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake. Reports surfaced during the film’s casting process that Styles was being courted to play Prince Eric, but

Brooke Shields came pretty close to starring in Stephen Frears’ 1988 period drama “Dangerous Liaisons” alongside John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer and Keanu Reeves. “They told me it came down to me and someone else,” Shields tells me. “They said the other person was this girl not many people knew about. It was Uma

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” gives you a wholesome prankish druggy chameleonic video-game buzz; it’s also a nice, sweet confection for 6-year-olds. Historically, the proverbial problem with live-action movies based on video games — and “Super Mario Bros.,” a leaden dud released 30 years ago, had the dishonor of being the very first one —

Nick Schenk, a film and television screenwriter with an affinity for grit, has signed with Agency for the Performing Arts.  Schenk has penned three scripts that became director-star vehicles for Clint Eastwood: “Gran Torino,” “The Mule,” and “Cry Macho.” 2008’s “Gran Torino” revived Eastwood as a leading man at the box office, earning nearly $270 million worldwide on a reported

Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson), the amusingly ironic hero of “Paint” (ironic because, as we discover, he’s about as far from heroic as you can get), hosts a one-man instructional painting show that gets broadcast live out of the PBS station in Burlington, Vermont. Each afternoon, Carl appears on camera for one hour, puffing on his

Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) will direct an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed Shakespeare-era novel “Hamnet” for Amblin Partners. Zhao is writing the screenplay with O’Farrell. Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions and Book of Shadows are all backing the project. O’Farrell’s New York Times bestseller reframes the creation of William Shakespeare’s most famous

When it comes to activism, Rosie Perez isn’t one to merely lob a tweet. She was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2000 while protesting the U.S. Navy’s deadly air bomb training off the coast of Puerto Rico. And the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actress, whose mother died of AIDS, served on President Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council

In his last keynote address as U.K. Film Distributors’ Association president, veteran producer David Puttnam struck a sombre note highlighting a number of critical issues the country’s media industry is facing. Addressing a rapt audience at the BAFTA headquarters in London on Tuesday, Puttnam identified skills shortage and lack of investment in skills as a

Margot Robbie comes to life as the famous figurine in the official trailer for Warner Bros.’ “Barbie.” Oscar nominee Robbie leads a star-studded cast that includes a muscular Ryan Gosling as Barbie’s boy toy, Ken. The two actors are not the only Barbie and Ken dolls in the film. Dua Lipa stars as mermaid Barbie, for

Filmmaker siblings Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are calling their deep-dish interview series, “Pizza Film School,” back into session after a nearly three-year break. In Season 2 of the video podcast, the Russo brothers sit down with fellow directors to talk about their favorite films, discuss the craft of making movies — and chow down

As “John Wick: Chapter 4” crosses $250 million at the worldwide box office, the eagerly-awaited spinoff “Ballerina” has received a June 7, 2024, release date from Lionsgate. The action film stars Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, the late Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane and John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves.

As Nintendo takes its shot at the box office with “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the first animated film featuring the iconic mustachioed plumber, the gaming company has been coy about revealing what’s next for the Super Mario video game franchise. But while Shigeru Miyamoto — the legendary video game designer, Nintendo fellow and self-proclaimed

Malia Obama is staying in the Donald Glover business. As part of a new GQ cover story on the “Atlanta” creator, Glover revealed that his newly-created production company, Gilga, is developing a short film with Malia Obama, the eldest daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama. GQ confirmed Malia is “creating” the short film. It’s unconfirmed

CAA has signed filmmaker Megan Park for representation. Park’s feature directorial debut, “The Fallout,” premiered at SXSW in 2021 and took home the festival’s grand jury prize and audience award, as well as the first-ever Brightcove Illumination Award for writing the screenplay. The film was released on HBO Max in Jan. 2022 and stars Jenna

eOne’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.5 million ($4.4 million), per numbers released by Comscore. In its second weekend, Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” slid to second place with £2.5 million for a total of £10.1 million. Warner Bros.’ “Mummies” debuted in third place with

Even as Chris Meledandri prepares to launch Mario onto movie screens, the Illumination founder and CEO is simultaneously juggling several new movies and sequels in his ever-expanding animation empire. These range from follow-ups to his “Sing,” “Despicable Me” and “Secret Life of Pets” franchises, as well as original movies like this fall’s “Migration,” the story

Rome’s Cinecittà Studios are generating a profit for the first time in years amid a radical upgrade, overhaul, and expansion of the filming facilities where Hollywood productions are now flocking on a scale comparable with its glory days. Roland Emmerich last month started shooting his gladiator series “Those About to Die” starring Anthony Hopkins as

The most famous video game designer in the world is sitting meditatively in a drab studio in Burbank. The austerity of the room is in stark juxtaposition with all the colorful characters he’s dreamed up over a lifetime, from mushroom-gobbling plumbers to mystical warriors to barrel-hurling gorillas. He’s the brains behind two of the biggest

Ayan Mukerji will direct “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe. Mukerji previously directed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva,” which was one of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2022, grossing $52 million. He debuted with coming of age film “Wake Up

The Shanghai International Film Festival has unveiled plans for its return to an in-person event that will mark its 25th edition and its 30th anniversary. The festival was canceled last year, due to the severe restrictions imposed on the city in reaction to a Spring flare-up in the COVID outbreak. The 2023 edition will run

Actor and activist Alyssa Milano has signed on to executive produce the upcoming documentary “For The Animals: A Dogumentary,” directed by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and Sadhvi Anubhuti. Milano previously teamed with Anubhuti and Shree for the production of their 2022 documentary “Surviving Sex Trafficking.” The film will be distributed by Filmhub toward the end of

William B. Doeren, a former entertainment industry executive with AMC Entertainment, General Cinema Theatres, MGM and Kodak, died on March 8 of multiple dementias including FTD, Alzheimer’s and Vascular. He was 76. Doeren’s career in the film industry spanned over 40 years. His work as the COO of AMC, president and CEO of General Cinema