Movies

Berlin market-bound “The Trouble With Jessica,” which stars Rufus Sewell, Shirley Henderson and Olivia Williams, has launched its first trailer. It is being repped for global sales by Parkland Pictures. The black comedy tells the story of two couples who find themselves having to move a dead body to ensure their imminent house sale doesn’t

Returning to Johannesburg cinemas for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Joburg Film Festival kicked off its 5th edition with a joyful relaunch on Tuesday night, as local luminaries walked a gold carpet in Nelson Mandela Square in honor of the festival’s slogan, “Our Stories. Our Gold,” and

Netflix is re-teaming with SF Studios on “The Conference,” a high-concept Swedish comedy slasher film based on a novel by Mats Strandberg, one of Scandinavia’s most successful horror writers. Patrik Eklund (“We Got This”) directed the film with a cast led by Katia Winter (“Sleepy Hollow”), Adam Lundgren (“Hilma”) and Eva Melander (“Border”). Penned by

GÖTEBORG — Indie distributor Intramovies has signed on to handle international sales for the upcoming Finnish feature “Light Light Light.” Directed by Inari Niemi (“My Husband’s Wife,” “Wonderland,” “Summertime”), and produced by Oskari Huttu (“Summertime,” “Fanatics”) at Lucy Loves Drama, the film is an adaptation of the 2011 book “Valoa Valoa Valoa” by Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen.  Writer-actress  Juuli

The Shanghai International Film Market will relocate to new premises as it makes a return in June 2023 as an in-person event. The Shanghai International Film Festival and the accompanying market were both cancelled last year due to the COVID crisis and China’s strict disease prevention response. This year’s festival will be a silver jubilee,

“Pathaan,” the new Bollywood espionage action spectacular, opened wide this past weekend in the U.S., where it took home an impressive tally of $9.5 million. That’s exactly what “RRR” made on its opening weekend in the U.S. close to a year ago — though, of course, that was before “RRR” went on to become a

Courtney Valenti is in talks for a leadership film position at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now under ownership of Amazon. The development comes after five months of speculation regarding MGM targeting Valenti, a seasoned production executive with decent talent relationships. Valenti exited her role as president of production and development for Warner Bros. Pictures in October 2022. Her

Harvey Weinstein’s legal team is requesting a new trial with a new jury, after the former Hollywood producer was found guilty of rape and sexual assault during his L.A. trial late last year. Weinstein’s attorneys filed their motion for a new trial on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles to Judge Lisa B. Lench, who presided

Dave Bautista’s filmography spans comic book movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), science-fiction tentpoles (“Dune,” “Blade Runner 2049”), action comedies (“Stuber”) and family movies (“My Spy”). One genre that’s missing is the romantic comedy, but that’s not been a deliberate choice. Bautista told Page Six that he’d love to star in a rom-com but he’s never

It’s life or death when it comes to performing lap dances in the “Magic Mike” franchise. Literally. According to Salma Hayek, Channing Tatum “nearly killed” her during rehearsals for “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” after a wild lap dance routine went wildly wrong. The lap dance stunt saw Hayek flipped upside down and Tatum holding on

GÖTEBORG, Sweden — Many of the screenings at this year’s Göteborg International Film Festival have been preceded by a talk or introduction. But none, so far, have witnessed a dignified protest. That all changed on Tuesday when audiences at the city’s Grand Theatre watched a 30-minute on-stage protest by Iranian actor and Nordic Competition jury

Pamela Anderson’s just-released memoir, “Love, Pamela,” alleges that Kid Rock screamed at her and called her “a whore” following the world premiere screening of Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 blockbuster comedy film “Borat.” The two were in a relationship at the time and, according to Anderson, were set to move in together until the “Borat” screening

After nearly two months of uninterrupted glory, this may be the weekend that “Avatar: The Way of Water” gets bumped from No. 1 on box office charts. That’s because M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller “Knock at the Cabin” is poised to open to $15 million to $20 million, which looks to be enough to claim

Italian-French co-production “Heads or Tails?” (“Testa o Croce?”) claimed Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at Rotterdam’s CineMart on Tuesday. Directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, and set in the 1890s, it seduced jurors Ilse Ronteltap, Mira Staleva and Konstantina Stavrianou with its retro-flavored story of lovers on the run. “It brings us [closer]

Three of Mexico’s most prominent directors — Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron and Amat Escalante — and actor-producer Diego Luna, who also has some directing gigs under his belt, have been the latest targets of a scammer that sends out missives in their names to relatively unknown writers, promising them movie deals in exchange for

As expected, Alec Baldwin was charged on Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.” Hannah Reed Gutierrez, the film’s armorer, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter. Both are accused of acting with criminal negligence that resulted in Hutchins’ death. Mary Carmack-Altwies, the elected prosecutor in Santa

Berlin-based sales agent Rise and Shine has acquired worldwide rights (except Austria) for Austrian director Bernhard Braunstein’s feature documentary “Stams.” The film will have its world premiere as part of Berlinale’s Panorama strand in February. The deal was negotiated between Panama Film producers Lixi Frank and David Bohun, Rise and Shine world sales CEO Stefan

Lyda Patitucci, whose first feature “Like Sheep Among Wolves” is launching from the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Harbor section, represents a rare case of an Italian female filmmaker who cut her teeth in the genre movie trenches. Her extensive experience prior to her debut comprises being a second unit director, specialized in action scenes, on films

Sarah Polley’s Oscar-nominated “Woman Talking” is based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews of the same name. But when adapting the book for the big screen, the team made one major shift in the editing room that changed the emotional tone of the film entirely. According to editor Christopher Donaldson, he and Polley decided

The Miami Film Festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. The festival, which runs from March 3 to March 12, includes 12 world premieres. The event will open with Ray Romano’s “Somewhere in Queens” and close with Stephen Frears’ “The Lost King.” The festival will screen a total of 140 films from more than

William Shatner fans bought up all the shares in the actor’s forthcoming feature-length documentary “You Can Call Me Bill” in less than a week — shelling out nearly $790,000 and topping the film’s funding goal. Legion M’s equity crowdfunding round for the Shatner documentary, exploring the life and career of the beloved 91-year-old actor, as

Filmmaker Siddharth Anand is the toast of India. His “Pathaan” is currently the biggest Indian hit film of the year. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, the Yash Raj Films spy action thriller ended a box office drought for the Hindi-language Bollywood industry, which had a lean 2022, and marked a comeback

Cinema admissions in Japan grew by 32% in 2022, reaching 152 million, according to data published Tuesday by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren). In revenue terms, Eiren shows cinema box office growing by almost the same proportion to $1.24 million. That cements Japan’s position as the world’s third largest box office territory

Between the Netflix documentary “Pamela, A Love Story” and the memoir “Love, Pamela” from HarperCollins, Pamela Anderson has been spilling plenty of tea, including some embarrassing, ’90s-era anecdotes about Tim Allen and Sylvester Stallone. And while both actors have emphatically denied Anderson’s claims, director Ryan White is pushing back in defense of his leading lady.

The inaugural JBX Content Market kicks off Feb. 1 in Johannesburg with a program focused on emerging trends in the African screen industries, as the new event looks to establish a foothold on a continent that has seen both its production and its ambitions steadily rise amid continued global demand for content. Running parallel to

Following its world premiere at Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this week, where it continues to play to sold out screenings, Karoline Lyngbye’s “Superposition” is scaring viewers also outside the Netherlands, with TrustNordisk securing deals in Benelux with September Film Rights, in Poland with Mayfly, former Yugoslavia with Cinemania Group, and the CIS territories with

Picture Tree Intl. has taken global sales rights for “The Peacock” by Lutz Heineking Jr. The black comedy is based on the best-selling novel of the same title by German author Isabel Bogdan, which has been published in key European territories. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below). The film’s cast is

Peter Farrelly, director of Oscar winning film “Green Book,” will start production of his long awaited “Ricky Stanicky” next month. The picture will shoot in Melbourne, Australia where the film’s two stars Zac Efron and John Cena have now arrived. Ricky Stanicky is the name of an imaginary character invented by three friends so that

Shekhar Ravjiani, one of the composers of Bollywood megahit “Pathaan,” has launched Indie record label Garuudaa Musiic. The label is envisioned as a creative platform through which Ravjiani composes, sings and collaborates with new talent while also showcasing the musician’s own output. The idea for the label was born during lockdown when Ravjiani had a

“The Cell” director Tarsem Singh is making a comeback to feature films with “Dear Jassi,” his first Indian project. The film has completed a 50-day schedule in Punjab, northern India and is heading to Canada for a two-week shoot. Post-production will take place in Montreal. Plot details are under wraps save that it is based