Movies

Don Cheadle has been a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for nearly 12 years as James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine, but the MCU isn’t the only franchise the actor has under his belt. Cheadle starred as explosives expert Basher Tarr opposite George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt in Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy between 2001

Since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and its subsequent U.S. release on Oct. 7, Todd Field’s “Tár” has become a rare thing: a much-discussed art-house film that demands your attention, if not your obsession. On repeat viewing, Cate Blanchett’s performance as the famous conductor Lydia Tár deepens and becomes more complicated, beautiful and

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. When self-proclaimed foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) take their seats in the extraordinarily exclusive restaurant called The Hawthorne, special enough to be located on its own secluded island of

Baz Luhrmann is no stranger to accolades. The prolific Australian auteur’s projects regularly find themselves in contention come awards season, with last year’s “Elvis” being no exception. Receiving Variety’s Creative Impact in Directing Award this year for his accumulated work, however, allows him to reflect not only on his long resume of film, television, opera,

He might have signed his name under one of the best “Star Wars” chapters of the 21st Century with “Episode VIII — The Last Jedi,” as well as revived the cozy whodunit. But at his heart, writer-director Rian Johnson has always remained the same young, curious-minded storyteller who made spirited DIY shorts in the ‘90s.

Marin Alsop, the female conductor namechecked by Cate Blanchett in her latest film “Tár,” has slammed the project, saying it offended her “as a woman… as a conductor…as a lesbian.” Blanchett is already being tipped for an Oscar for her performance as Lydia Tár, a lesbian conductor who is accused of being abusive towards young

Awards season can be long and arduous to those on the quest for glory, but the novelty of recognition from Hollywood hasn’t been lost on Michelle Yeoh, who was honored at the National Board of Review Awards as best actress for A24’s indie blockbuster “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “I feel like I’ve entered my

Harvey Weinstein will be sentenced on three counts of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles on Feb. 23, a judge said Monday. Weinstein, 70, faces up to 18 years in prison on the charges, in addition to the 23-year sentence he is already serving for his conviction in New York. His lawyers had initially

A lawsuit filed by “Romeo and Juliet” actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, accusing Paramount of sexually exploiting them as teenagers starring in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film, is drawing ire from Italy’s Franco Zeffirelli Foundation. The foundation’s president, Pippo Zeffirelli, who is the late director’s adoptive son, over the weekend reacted with disdain to the

You might think the story of “Pinocchio” is familiar, but it isn’t. There have been at least 60 film adaptations for film and TV, including of course Disney’s 1940 animated version. In “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” the filmmaker and his team don’t follow the plot too closely, but it’s more faithful than most in retaining

In the five years since author Mark Manson published “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,” the self-help book has sold more than 15 million copies, spent 279 weeks on the NY Times Bestsellers list and crossed over in the pop culture sphere. “It’s honestly just a pleasant surprise,” Manson tells Variety over Zoom

The Motion Picture Sound Editors has revealed the nominations for its 70th annual Golden Reel Awards in categories spanning feature film, television, animation, computer entertainment and student productions with “Everything Everywhere All At Once” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Elvis” among the nominees. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” led with three Golden Reel nominations, including outstanding

Clocking in at just over three hours, director S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” is a genre-bending epic filled with exhilarating action sequences, show-stopping musical numbers and a slew of wild animals.  Set in the 1920s and spoken in the Telugu language, the film follows the unlikely friendship of Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N.T.

Nicolas Cage is not interested in joining the “Star Wars” franchise, be it a movie or a Disney+ series like “The Mandalorian.” Cage’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” co-star Pedro Pascal is the lead of “The Mandalorian” and once said he wanted to recruit Cage onto the show. Asked about this by Yahoo Entertainment,

Aside from its English-language slate, Studiocanal is continuing to bank on upscale French fare. The company will be launching sales on four new French movies, “All Your Faces,” “Toni,” “Strangers by Night” and “A Chance to Win,” during the Rendez-Vous market that French film and TV promotion org Unifrance is hosting this week in Paris.

The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a raft of titles across strands and also 33 film projects vying for coin at the coproduction market. Selections for the topical Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand from emerging German talent include “Seven Winters in Tehran” by Steffi Niederzoll, “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan, “Ararat” by Engin Kundag, “The Kidnapping of the Bride” by Sophia

RIGHTS Channel 4 has acquired U.K. and Ireland broadcast and streaming rights for Indian festival favorite and box office success “Dostojee” (“Two Friends”), directed by Prasun Chatterjee. Set in 1992-93, when Hindu-Muslim tensions escalated in India in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the Bombay bomb blasts and percolated down to

Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan will debut as a producer with his upcoming film “Shehzada.” Aaryan joins producers Bhushan Kumar, Allu Arvind and Aman Gill. The production companies are T-Series Films, part of their 100-film slate, Allu Entertainment and Haarika & Hassine Creations. Directed by Rohit Dhawan (“Dishoom”), the film stars Aaryan, Kriti Sanon (“Bhediya”), Manisha

Despite 2019’s “The Vigil” making a modest splash amongst genre fans, the annals of Jewish horror movies remain pretty thin. Adding a page to those ranks is The Offering,” which actually has considerable overlap with that recent predecessor — it, too, is about a shape-shifting demon who preys on the living after the death of

“Avatar: The Way of Water” continued its uneven box office career in mainland China with a fourth weekend at the top of the charts. The film earned $16.5 million (RMB114 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That represented 55% of the weekend’s nationwide cinema revenue total.By Sunday evening, the

On the heels of crowning the class of 2023, Variety is marking 25 years of keeping a keen eye on the next generation of filmmakers with our annual 10 Directors to Watch franchise. Over the past quarter-century, the editorial initiative has cast an important career spotlight on such future boldface-name directors as Alfonso Cuaron, Christopher

The Art Directors Guild, American Society of Cinematographers and Motion Picture Sound Editors are three artisan organizations announcing their nominations this week. Their nominations will set the tone for the Oscar race for production design, cinematography and partly for the best sound race, now in its third year as a combined category for sound mixing

Isla Nublar has nothing on Pandora. James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” has grossed $1.708 billion globally, overtaking “Jurassic World” ($1.67 billion) as the seventh-highest grossing movie in box office history. After only four weeks of release, “The Way of Water” has generated $517 million in North America and $1.19 billion overseas.

Move over, Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell. There’s a new scream queen in town. Universal and Blumhouse’s creepy doll thriller “M3GAN” — short for Model 3 Generative Android — made a killing in its opening weekend, collecting a better-than-expected $30.2 million from 3,509 North American theaters. Internationally, the film has generated $14.8 million to

Over the past 12 months, Paris-based sales agent WTFilms has produced two features: “Perpetrator,” by Jennifer Reeder (“Knives and Skin”), which will world premiere in the Panorama section at Berlin Film Festival, and Xavier Gens’ thriller “Farang,” which is co-financed and repped by Studiocanal. “Perpetrator,” starring Kiah McKirnan (“Mare of Easttown”) and Alicia Silverstone, is

Fizz-e-Motion has acquired international sales rights to coming-of-age skating thriller “Free Skater,” and will present it to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin next month. Indiecan has North American rights. The producer will handle Scandinavian distribution. Fizz-e-Motion has debuted the trailer (below). The film, directed by Roope Olenius, centers on a promising figure

When journalists, sales agents and acquisition execs from key territories take to Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris, which runs Jan. 10-17, international growth will be on everyone’s mind. If Gallic exports never did reach pre-pandemic highs in 2022 — the first year, we should note, that many theatrical markets operated without interruption — the local industry

Writer George S. Kaufman once said that “satire is what closes on Saturday night.” But nearly a century later, as real life has grown more absurd than most art, satire is everywhere — from popular franchises such as the “Knives Out” films and “The White Lotus” to hits including “Parasite.” Why now? In our post-Trump

It was a rare hat trick victory for Todd Field’s “Tár,” as the drama added a best picture win from the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday. Following its prestigious wins from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and New York Film Critics Circle this season, it’s one of the few movies to win

Owen Roizman, a cinematographer who shot many of the premier films of a generation, has died. He was 86. A representative for the American Society of Cinematographers confirmed the news. No further details about Roizman’s death are available at this time. Roizman was Oscar-nominated five times, for “The French Connection,” “The Exorcist,” “Network,” “Tootsie” and