Warner Bros. will commemorate its 100th anniversary with a block of programming on Turner Classic Movies starting April 1. TCM will broadcast remastered and newly restored versions of 10 classic Warner Bros. films, each featuring an introduction from a filmmaker or film expert culled from the network’s ongoing partnership with the Film Foundation, a non-profit
Movies
After 25 years, “Mission: Impossible” fans may finally find out whatever happened to William Donloe, the CIA analyst from the original movie who was supposed to be watching highly classified documents before Ethan Hunt drops from the ceiling and steals them in the now famous scene. On his Instagram account Wednesday, “Mission: Impossible – Dead
Bernardo Rondeau, senior director of film programs for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, is exiting to take a similar job as curator of film programs at the under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in downtown Los Angeles. Tuesday night’s screening of “Lawrence of Arabia” was the final film he presented as head of film
Actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke sustained minor injuries after a single-vehicle car accident in Malibu, Calif., last week. Shortly after 11 a.m. on March 15, responding officers found the 97-year-old had driven his silver Lexus into a gate amidst heavy rain, CNN reported. The Malibu Sheriff Department confirmed that Van Dyke appeared to be
Eyeconic Pictures, the recently formed production company from Al Bravo and Niko Foster, has announced that Mena Suvari (“American Beauty”) has joined the cast of action thriller “The Wrecker,” which stars Foster. Tyrese Gibson (“The Fast and Furious” movie franchise) and Harvey Keitel (“Reservoir Dogs”) were previously announced to the cast. Chad Michael Collins, Ego
Amazon Studios is taking to the streets to promote Ben Affleck’s “Air,” which chronicles the beginnings of the iconic Air Jordan sneaker brand. The studio has teamed up with iconic sneaker culture icon Jason Markk to host a multi-city consumer experience, dubbed “Fresh Air,” which ties into the film’s social campaign, “A shoe is just
The International Emmy-winning French series “Call My Agent!” is getting a Spanish-language remake, with Eva Longoria on board to produce and direct. Announced during Series Mania Festival in Lille, the adaptation will be co-produced by Mediawan, Elefantec Global and Longoria’s banner UnbeliEVAble Entertainment. It will mark the first adaptation targeting Latin America and the U.S.,
“John Wick: Chapter 4” is aiming to set a new franchise record in its box office debut. The fourth installment in Lionsgate’s action-thriller series, led by Keanu Reeves as a legendary assassin, looks to collect a mighty $65 million to $70 million from 3,800 North American theaters over the weekend. The movie also debuts this
The guests on this week’s episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business” are about two dozen people I conversed with last week while attending the SXSW conference and festival in Austin, Texas. They are in fact leaders in media and entertainment. As sophisticated and highly engaged consumers, their choices can make or break a streaming platform,
The drama of addiction and recovery, as it takes place in the movies, tends to come at us like a series of rituals. There’s the rule-by-rule, day-by-day protocol of 12-step programs (the meetings, the showing up, the sharing, the calls to sponsors); a lot of us may feel we know it well from movies, even
At 169 minutes, “John Wick: Chapter 4” is a whole lot of movie. The two-hour-and-50-minute action extravaganza is powered by nonstop set pieces that are so frenetic and visceral that you’ll hardly realize you’ve been sitting in a movie theater for nearly three hours. Such breezy pacing did not exist in the film’s first cut,
UTA is setting up shop in the Peach State. The talent agency and its partner company Klutch Sports Group officially opened their Atlanta offices on Wednesday. The companies say its the first among the industry’s biggest talent, sports, entertainment and marketing agencies to establish a full-service base of operations in Georgia’s biggest city, which has
Paris-based CAT&Docs has come onboard as sales agent for Italian-Swedish director Erik Gandini’s “After Work,” which had its world premiere in the main competition at CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival. Variety speaks to the director at the festival. In this stunningly cinematic doc, lensed by Ruben Östlund’s long-time DOP Fredrik Wenzel and shot
New York-based film and TV studio and streaming network FilmRise has acquired North American distribution rights to true-crime documentary feature film “The Thief Collector.” Directed by Emmy winner Allison Otto (“The Love Bugs”), the film follows one of the most audacious and puzzling art thefts of a generation. In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s seminal work,
“A Sense of Place,” a collection of six short films by young Iranian directors, had its world premiere this week at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX. The films are inspired by Wim Wenders’ eponymous 2005 book, and the Oscar nominated director – best known for “Paris, Texas,” “Wings of Desire,” “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Pina” – served
DISTRIBUTION BFI Distribution has acquired Joanna Hogg’s gothic ghost story “The Eternal Daughter,” starring Tilda Swinton in a dual role, for theatrical release in the U.K. and Ireland and will release in cinemas this fall. In the film, an artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home,
Vanessa Hudgens, the Asian American actor whose career kicked off in Disney’s “High School Musical” series, is set to shoot a travel documentary in the Philippines, the country of her mother’s birth. The untitled project will shoot in Palawan and Manila in March. Paul Soriano is attached as a director, producer and executive producer. Mark
Jackie Chan announced at the Red Sea International Film Festival last December that “Rush Hour 4” is officially in development. “We’re talking about ‘Rush Hour 4’ right now,” the acting icon said, adding that he would be meeting with the film’s director later that night to work on the script. No official “Rush Hour 4”
Los Angeles non-profit The Film Collaborative has boarded Swedish director Tove Pils’ debut feature “Labor,” which is competing in the Nordic:Dox section at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, CPH:DOX. The film follows Hanna, who leaves her family and girlfriend behind in her small Swedish hometown and travels to San Francisco to explore her sexuality
Zachary Levi is the latest member of the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” family to weigh in on the film bombing at the box office. The DC tentpole earned just $30 million in its domestic box office debut, well below the $53 million the original “Shazam!” opened with in 2019 and a huge financial loss
Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the popular video game “Gears of War” moves one step closer as Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts has boarded the project. Best known for co-writing “Dune,” “Dune: Part Two” and “Doctor Strange,” Spaihts will now take on the challenge of adapting “Gears of War,” one of gaming’s richest and most acclaimed
Fremantle’s Documentaries division has launched Undeniable, a label dedicated to producing premium feature documentaries and series, in partnership with high-profile talent and international commissioners, Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s global head of documentaries, revealed Tuesday at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. The label is already developing several international projects and partnerships with high-profile filmmakers, including Amy Berg (“Deliver Us
Zach Braff was the toast of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where he emerged as an indie film wunderkind thanks to “Garden State.” The coming-of-age dramedy sold to Fox Searchlight for $5 million, double its production budget, and became a poster child for hip indies of the early aughts thanks to its Grammy-winning soundtrack and
Bleecker Street, the Oscar-nominated studio behind “Captain Fantastic” and “Trumbo,” has partnered with New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) to award three scholarships to women attending film schools in the New York City area. The grants are part of NYWIFT’s scholarship fund and will assist with educational costs associated with film production, living
Toronto’s Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, has added 12 films to its Special Presentations program. The first tranche of titles was announced March 14. The festival runs April 27 to May 7. World premieres include Canadian journalist Michelle Shephard’s “The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain,” the uncovering of the story behind the pathologist
The theatrical release of low-budget slasher movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in Hong Kong has been abruptly canceled just two days before its scheduled outing. No explanation has been offered, but suspicions that the film may have crossed one of Hong Kong’s increasingly complicated political red lines are certain to be raised. That
“Stranger Things” star Gaten Matarazzo told Jimmy Fallon during a recent interview on “The Tonight Show” that he’s living in “deep fear” of “Stranger Things” ending after its five-season run on Netflix. The cast will shoot the fifth and final season this year. Playing Dustin, Matarazzo has been a “Stranger Things” lead since the pilot
Influential Italian auteur Francesco “Citto” Maselli who worked with Lucia Bosé, Claudia Cardinale, Shelley Winters and Valeria Golino on films that combined his political passion with his bent for female-centered dramas, has died in Rome. Maselli, who was known for making left-wing militant cinema, was 92. The director’s death was announced to Italian news agency
After “Enough Said,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus reunites once more with Nicole Holofcener in the filmmaker’s recent Sundance feature “You Hurt My Feelings.” A24 released the first official trailer for the upcoming dramedy, “You Hurt My Feelings,” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Beth and Tobias Menzies as Don, a married couple who have reached romantic and professional crossroads. Holofcener
The U.K.’s new BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund, the latest iteration of its Film Fund, is now open. The fund has £36.6 million ($44.8 million) available over three years for fiction feature films and a further £17.4 million ($21.3 million) to support documentary, shorts, talent development and immersive projects. The fiction feature funding will be