Movies

The Elton John AIDS Foundation raised more than $9 million at its annual Academy Awards viewing party on Sunday night. The star-studded evening featured a performance by Rina Sawayama and Sir Elton John, a dance party into the night and a live auction for original Keith Haring artwork and the host’s iconic crystalized Dodgers robe.

The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, is back in full force in 2023, celebrating its 25th anniversary edition from April 21–29. A key component of the celebrations will be a focus on the Asian films of the 1980s. “We have never programmed these films, nor put together this kind of program before,” says

After launching less than three years ago, production company Sandbox films celebrated Oscars weekend this year with a nominated documentary, “Fire of Love.” The company will also premiere two new documentary films, “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” from Penny Lane and “The Arc of Oblivion” from Ian Cheney. Founding director Greg Boustead tells Variety that

Jessica Alba said on a recent episode of HBO Max and CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” that she adopted a more masculine persona as a teenager and young adult in Hollywood in order to deliberately avoid being preyed upon by various Hollywood predators. Alba started acting at age 13 and landed her breakthrough role

Robert Rodriguez didn’t want to screen his new movie for the first time on the same night as the Oscars. It just worked out that way. It all started when, in mid-February, the 54-year-old filmmaker realized he was rapidly approaching the 30th anniversary of the theatrical release of his first feature film, the neo-Western “El

Disney’s Marvel is trying to track down the identity of the person (or people) who allegedly released a 63-page transcript of dialogue from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” online — one month before the film’s theatrical premiere. A request filed Friday (March 10) on behalf of Marvel in federal district court in California asked the

Chinese director Zhang Hanyi takes an unexpected turn with his latest feature film effort, “The Walking Bird,” which makes its appearance as an in-development project at the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  His previous film, 2017’s “Dragonfly Eyes,” was one of the most unusual and stylish films of

“We need more love stories, even if they have their ups and downs,” says Hong Kong-based producer Cora Yim, who is behind the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) in-development project “The Marriage Drive.” HAF runs takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  The film is a simple-to-describe idea that writer-director Lawrence Kan has been kicking

Work-in-progress film project “The Remnant” is both a spotlight on those who feel powerless and also a very Hong Kong example of elements of the city pulling themselves up. “The Remnant” is one of the projects in the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unspooling March 13-15 alongside Hong Kong’s Filmart market. It

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike drama “Air” is heading to Austin, Texas. The movie will screen to the public for the first time at SXSW as the festival’s closing night film on March 18. Currently on the SXSW website, there’s a TBA under the Closing Night Special Screening at Paramount Theatre at 6:30 p.m.

Mira Sorvino is calling out the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after her father, Paul Sorvino, was left out of the In Memoriam montage during the 2023 Oscars telecast. Mira, an Oscar winner herself for “Mighty Aphrodite,” called it “baffling beyond belief” that father Paul did not make the TV broadcast. She wrote

Michelle Yeoh’s mother and family broke down in tears during the 2023 Oscars telecast, where Yeoh was awarded the best actress prize for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Yeoh’s victory made her the first Asian lead actress winner in Oscars history and only the second woman of color to win the category

Sonia Coleman, a 15-year Disney veteran, is taking on a new role as head of human resources. The Mouse House named Coleman as senior executive vice president and chief human resources officer of the Walt Disney Co., effective April 8. She most recently has served as SVP of human resources for Disney Entertainment and ESPN.

Activist Maya Penn has revealed the trailer and cast for her upcoming directorial debut, “Asali: Power of the Pollinators.” Penn dropped the trailer at South By Southwest during the Empowering the Next Generation to Build a Better Future featured session. “Asali: Power of The Pollinators,” is an animated action-adventure short film that follows honey bee

Dwayne Johnson took a moment on the Oscars red carpet to reflect on the DC Universe overhaul that put a pin in his plans for a Black Adam–Superman crossover movie. Variety‘s senior culture and events editor Marc Malkin caught up with Johnson and asked about Cavill’s Superman being dropped from the DC Universe despite his

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a dozen projects from young filmmakers from Saudi, and the wider Arab and African region, selected for its development program, the Red Sea Lodge, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab and sponsored by the Film AlUla film commission. The Lodge is a 10-month mentorship program that has now opened

Warning: This story contains major spoilers for “Scream VI,” in theaters now. Anytime a “Scream” movie drops, it’s safe to assume fans want to see it multiple times, especially to catch all the Easter eggs. The sixth movie, written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, picks up

In Álvaro Carmona’s award-winning short, “The Treatment,” Miguel, a middle-aged man unhappy with his baldness, visits a clinic that promises to reverse his hair loss with a new remedy, but with a potentially problematic side effect. The black comedy is a satirical critique of the vanity that is so celebrated in today’s social media-drenched society

Drawing from personal experience and driven by the lack of real talk around sexuality, Spanish author Beatriz de Silva dove into filmmaking with her debut “Tula,” which bowed globally at the Houston International Film Festival, winning Gold for Best Comedy Short.  The project has since garnered large festival buzz, stacked awards and was among contenders

The Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival wrapped its 25th edition with a muted closing night on Sunday, with festival organizers scrapping an official award ceremony as Greece continues to mourn the loss of 57 lives in a deadly rail accident on Feb. 28. The awards for this year’s festival — including the Golden Alexander, which went

A €1.2 million ($1.27 million) Italian fund established to boost theatrical distribution of feature films around the world is set to double to more than €2 million and expand its scope to cover streaming and television. “What we would like to do is increase the distribution of Italian movies all around the world,” Roberto Stabile,

Despite a barnstorming address celebrating the re-opening of Hong Kong and China by Bona Film Group COO Jiang De Fu, it is clear that the film industry in China is still suffering its own version of long-COVID, with box office tracking at around half of 2018 levels. “The Chinese box office was RMB60.7 billion ($8.89

“Post-Truth,” a Chinese comedy film about a cemetery plot salesman trying to salvage his reputation in the face of online assaults, topped the cinema box office in mainland China over the weekend, ahead of another new release title “Revival.” Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed that “Post-Truth” earned $17.0 million between Friday and Sunday. Including

Superstar Rajinikanth, Bollywood star Ajay Devgn, Telugu cinema star Mahesh Babu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among those celebrating India’s double win at the Oscars. “Naatu Naatu” by composer M.M. Keeravaani and lyricist Chandrabose from S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” won best original song, while director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga’s “The Elephant Whisperers”

Singapore’s Mocha Chai Laboratories and Emissary Pictures, a company that straddles New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, have announced a strategic partnership for the development and production of cross-cultural films, series and content in Asia. The venture will have offices in all four countries and will identify, develop and produce content across genres and formats, including

U.S.-Europe media fund APX Group has acquired a 50% stake in London’s Twickenham Film Studios. The move comes weeks after Twickenham Studios chair Sunny Vohra acquired a 6.95% stake in the APX Group for more than $70 million, reflecting a market cap of $1.1 billion for APX, which is planning a public listing on New

Running March 10-19, and now hosting the Spanish Screenings, the Malaga Film Festival is now firmly established as Spain’s biggest movie event in the early part of the year. Strategically positioned fairly sharp on the heels of the Berlinale, the Spanish event offers top Spanish titles at the German festival the chance to consolidate their

Filmax has acquired international rights to “Ashes in the Sky,” the first narrative feature from director Miquel Romans. The film is inspired by the life of Neus Català, a feminist and republican who, after fighting in the Spanish Civil War, was captured by the Nazis and sent into forced labor at a weapons factory in

Running March 13-17, the Málaga Festival’s Mafiz-Spanish Screenings Content weigh in this year as one of the biggest dedicated Spanish movie platforms in history, boasting also a strong line in Latin American arthouse projects and productions. 10 Takes as the event kicks off, blessed by early Spring sunshine, in the Andalusian city: XXXL In 2022,

Don’t trust anything you see or hear in “Hypnotic,” a noggin-jogging thriller with more twists than Minnie’s tightly braided ponytail. Who’s Minnie? She’s the girl who goes missing in the movie’s opening scene, while police detective dad Daniel Rourke (Ben Affleck) looks away for a second. Or does she? Depending how your mind works, there’s