Movies

Depeche Mode, the pioneering ‘80s U.K. technopop band, has long had a strong following in Los Angeles — thanks to their exposure on local alternative stalwart KROQ — and now they’re proving a favorite of film and TV creative executives. The group, consisting of co-founders Martin Gore and vocalist Dave Gahan after the death of

Sheryl Lee Ralph has delivered one rousing acceptance speech after another, all awards season long. But the newly crowned Emmy, Critics Choice and Golden Globe-winner saved something special for Essence’s 16th annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon on Thursday afternoon. Presented the award by her “Abbott Elementary” co-star and creator — and 2022 Essence Black

Zaib Shaikh, Canada’s Consul General to Los Angeles, hosted the country’s annual Canada at the Oscars soiree Thursday at his official residence in Hancock Park. The event was the first stop of the night for many Oscar-nominated Canadians including “Women Talking’s” Sarah Polley, Sheila McCarthy and Kate Hallet. Polley was headed to the Macro party.

The first image has been unveiled from Miguel Gomes’ upcoming late 1910s drama “Grand Tour,” which is being sold by The Match Factory. The film is currently shooting in Italy, and stars Gonçalo Waddington and Crista Alfaiate. “Grand Tour” comes after the successful international sales and distribution of Gomes’ critically acclaimed features “Tabu,” “Arabian Nights”

The worlds of “Mission: Impossible” and “Ted Lasso” have unexpectedly collided. Next summer’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two” has cast Hannah Waddingham, who plays Rebecca Welton on Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.” Christopher McQuarrie, the writer of the two upcoming “Dead Reckoning” films, revealed the casting on his Instagram account on Friday. He captioned

Filmmaker Penny Lane (“Listening to Kenny G”) is known for her insightful, thought-provoking, humorous documentaries. But her most recent docu, “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” is her most personal to date. In 2019 the director decided to become a Good Samaritan organ donor – a term given to a person who donates a kidney to

Thailand’s film censors have upset the release of local horror movie “Hoon Payon,” which should have arrived in cinemas pn Thursday. The film had a successful world premiere screening on Tuesday at a gala in Bangkok. But censors have since intervened to demand five scenes be cut and to impose a 20+ rating on the

The Asian premiere of Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate” is just one of three locally-produced movies that have been set as the opening and closing titles of the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival. “Mad Fate” is joined in the festival opening slot on March 30 by “Elegies,” Ann Hui’s documentary portrayal of the topography of

Dogwoof has shared with Variety the trailer of “Theatre of Violence,” nominated in main competition at CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, one of Europe’s biggest documentary events. Shot over the course of six years, it follows the trial of Dominic Ongwen, the first former Ugandan child soldier to be convicted and sentenced by the International Criminal

After a blockbuster debut in 2022, the London Action Festival is set to return this summer for its second edition. The festival is timed to be squarely in the middle of the summer action movie season. This summer will see the release of “Fast X,” “Kandahar,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” “Indiana Jones and the

Italian sales company True Colours has closed a raft of sales following Berlin’s European Film Market. Italy’s box office hit “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”) got picked up for a dozen territories and queer romantic drama “Norwegian Dream” also sold widely, including to North America. Directed by Roberto Andò, “Strangeness” (pictured) toplines Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”)

“Chang Can Dunk” doesn’t go the way you’d expect, and that’s a good thing. Here’s a Disney movie about a 5-foot-8-inch Chinese American high school basketball player who bets his rival that he can dunk by the end of the season. He gets his wish about an hour in (that’s neither spoiler nor surprise, since

Jenna Ortega is eyeing a role in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice 2,” Variety has confirmed. Ortega, best known for her role as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s recent series reboot “Wednesday,” is in talks to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, portrayed by Winona Ryder in the original film. This marks her second time working with Burton,

“Stranger Things” breakout Grace Van Dien is opening up about a bad experience on a recent movie set that is causing her to be more selective with her acting projects. In a Twitch stream on Tuesday, Van Dien — who played Chrissy Cunningham on the most recent season of “Stranger Things” — revealed that she

Actor Robert Blake, a man with a long and complex legacy, has died, a representative for his son-in-law Gregg Hurwitz confirmed to Variety. The former child actor was best known for his Emmy-winning role as the cockatoo-owning undercover cop in the popular 1970s TV series “Baretta” and, more infamously, for his trial following the 2001 murder

“Righteous Thieves” ends with its protagonists having a wee festival of self-congratulation, sipping champagne as they promise themselves — and perhaps threaten viewers — they’ll have more adventures like the one that’s just wrapped. Their delight is not infectious, because this dopey caper’s prior 90 minutes have been rather like hoisting a flute of promised

Michael P. O’Leary certainly has a tough act to follow. He’s taking over as president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners from John Fithian, who has been a major force for two decades as the top lobbyist for the exhibition industry. And, he’s assuming the job at a trying time for the

Disney CEO Bob Iger is touting “newness” when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The executive appeared at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference and questioned whether or not Marvel needs to continue churning out multiple sequels for individual characters. His comments arrived amid critical and box office disappointment for the most

Alec Baldwin will face a two-week evidentiary hearing in a Santa Fe courtroom in May, as prosecutors seek to show there is enough evidence to try him for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. At a brief status conference on Thursday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer scheduled the preliminary hearing to begin on May 3. Baldwin’s

It all comes down to this weekend. Variety’s Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider dissect the Oscar categories one last time and share final predictions on this week’s edition of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit podcast. It’s a Mega Roundtable of the podcast, as the team goes through every category and offers

Despite its position as one of the seeming few big-scale “original” sci-fi films to compete with franchises, sequels and reboots for box office real estate, “65” is Frankensteinian at best. Cobbled together from (admittedly some of the best) parts of “Jurassic Park,” “The Descent,” “Armageddon” and more, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ post-“A Quiet Place”

John Wick is battling his way to Austin, Texas. The fourth installment in Keanu Reeves’ runaway hit franchise has the honor of being this year’s “secret screening” at the SXSW Film Festival, multiple sources told Variety. The film will show next week on the ground in Texas at a major venue, the sources added. Distributor

Dove Cameron has landed at WME. The multi-hyphenate actor and singer will be represented by the agency in all areas. Cameron exploded musically in 2022 with her chart-topping single “Boyfriend” and has simultaneously been building a film and acting resume. The 27-year-old began releasing original music in 2019 via Colombia Records. Since then she has

On March 8, the eighth annual Icon Mann Honors paid tribute to “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who was lauded for her hallmark filmmaking and for inspiring culture by breaking new ground in cinema. Striving for a better future in the arts, she addressed the audience that gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly

Michael Caine recently told The Spectator (via IndieWire) that it’s “bullshit” his 1964 war epic “Zulu” was cited on a recent United Kingdom counter-terrorism report. The controversial Prevent strategy flagged a handful of popular films, British sitcoms, works of literature and more as possible sources of inspiration for terrorist groups and far-right extremists. “Zulu” was

Bob Iger, just over three months back as CEO of Disney, discussed major organizational changes he’s made at the company — and his optimism about making streaming, particularly Disney+, a profitable piece of the empire. “I’m generally bullish on streaming as a great consumer proposition, as a really robust platform to deliver high-quality content,” Iger

Native filmmaker Billy Luther heads to SXSW this weekend to premiere his narrative feature debut, “Frybread Face and Me” on March 11. Set in the ‘90s, the coming-of-age story follows Benny (Keir Tallman), a young Native American boy who plays with dolls, sports a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and watches soap operas. Forced to spend his

Amblin Partners has secured the film rights to “Confessions in B-Flat,” with Academy Award-winning actor and producer Octavia Spencer, four-time Oscar-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and Aimee Carpenter set to produce. The 2020 novel, from Essence bestselling author Donna Hill, tells an emotional love story set amid the Civil Rights Movement, following two young people,

Busy documentarian Dawn Porter will debut her latest project, “The Lady Bird Diaries,” March 10 at SXSW. The all-archival doc, which will bow on Hulu later this year, relies on 123 hours of personal and revealing audio diaries that Lady Bird recorded during her the presidency of her husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The tapes, which

The producers of Hollywood blockbusters and arthouse films alike are on the lookout for the most cost-efficient locations. Recent examples include several of the year’s Oscar nominees, from “Aftersun,” which shot in Turkey; “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” which went to Budapest; to “Elvis,” in Australia. “Budapest offered an affordable alternative to both London and