Movies

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” director Joel Crawford hopes audiences can “feel the imprint of anime” in his latest animated feature. Speaking with Variety, Crawford said the animation team leaned heavily into the hand-drawn style for the beloved cat’s return. Set after the events of 2010’s “Shrek Forever After,” the film follows Puss as

Considering the dispiritingly youth-obsessed leanings of Hollywood, 2022 has been an encouragingly banner year for older actors in muscular roles.  The array of brawny films led by strong quinquagenarians included Tom Gormican’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” with the 58-year-old Nicolas Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself across high-wire action sequences, generously paying

Quentin Tarantino confirmed a long-standing rumor regarding Adam Sandler and “Inglourious Basterds” during his latest appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. Joined by host Maher and co-interviewee Judd Apatow, Tarantino finally went on record saying he wrote the role of Sergeant Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz for Sandler. Apatow had already locked Sandler in

New York-based The Cinema Guild has acquired the Venice title “Trenque Lauquen” for distribution in the U.S., it was announced on Friday. Luxbox, the Paris-based sales agency and production company, has also scored deals for Laura Citarella’s adventure mystery for France (Capricci) and Spain (Vitrine and Filmes). The deals were closed by Jennyfer Gautier, head

At the 2022 global box office so far, every movie in the top 10 is a sequel. Every single one of them. Film fans often gripe that Holly­wood has no imagination. Ah, the innocence of non-pros! They don’t understand that Hollywood is simply giving the audience what they want. It’s a business, and sequels/franchises keep the

Five-time Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola rings director Sarah Polley from his quaint hotel room desk in Peachtree, Georgia, to discuss Polley’s latest (and perhaps most important) film to date. Polley, the actor-turned-auteur, is in awe as they talk on Zoom through their laptop screens, because Coppola is only days away from starting production on “Megalopolis” — a passion

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for the ending of “Emancipation,” currently streaming on Apple TV. Will Smith’s “Emancipation” almost had an alternate ending. Cinematographer Robert Richardson revealed director Antoine Fuqua’s other ideas over a Zoom conversation. The film based on the historic photograph of “Whipped Peter” follows Smith’s journey as a runaway slave. Peter

“Entertainment Tonight’s” Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner will host the Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards gala on Jan. 5. The Emmy-winning duo — who also hosted the Daytime Emmys earlier this year — take over emcee duties at the Palm Springs gala from former “ET” anchor Mary Hart. “The Palm Springs International Film

India has been nominated for Oscar’s international-film award three times — impressive, until you consider that the country makes about 1,600 movies a year. Aside from scattered nominations and wins (e.g., the Honorary Award to Satyajit Ray), the country has largely been ignored by Academy voters. But that may change this year. India is banking

Daniel Craig says he has no regrets about leaving James Bond behind and has revealed that he discussed killing the character with franchise producer Barbara Broccoli. “No, none at all,” Craig said when asked by Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4’s “Best of Today” podcast. “I had an incredibly fortunate 17 years of my life

When “Top Gun: Maverick” landed in theaters this summer, audiences around the world enjoyed the excitement of soaring through the sky alongside the Navy’s best of the best. One key to creating that sensation was building the perfect soundscape. Director Joseph Kosinski describes the challenge, saying, “‘Top Gun’ was the test disc for everyone’s home

Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thrillers and content about the supernatural, has acquired Jennifer Reeder’s “Perpetrator.” The sale comes as the film is set to world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this February in the Panorama section. “Perpetrator” stars Kiah McKirnan (“Mare of Easttown”), Christopher Lowell (“My Best Friend’s Exorcism”), Melanie

Sometimes hard truths must be faced: We’re experiencing a global mental health crisis. “Over the last two years alone, we’ve seen a 50% increase in teens appearing at emergency rooms with suicidal intent in this country,” says Darcy Gruttadaro of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  Let that sink in because the subject of depression

Come on Robbie, let’s go party! Warner Bros. has released the official trailer for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” film, starring Margot Robbie as the eponymous fashion doll. While plot details have been kept tightly under wraps, the film does find Barbie and Ken stuck in the real world, where the former discovers the challenges of being

Often, when embarking on the recent Variety tradition that is this feature — designed to highlight some of the year’s best yet least-Oscar-likely performances — one particular turn will emerge as the poster child. A performance that, for many reasons, really ought to have a shot at Oscar but, being in a language other than

Following the successful path plowed by the first part of the saga, Madrid-based Latido Films has taken international sales rights outside Spain and Latin America to “A todo tren 2” (“The Kids Are Alright 2”), the latest family comedy from “Torrente” creator-star Santiago Segura, one of the biggest comedic talents in the Spanish-speaking world. Released

British film industry pioneer Sydney Samuelson, who served as the first British film commissioner and was a BAFTA leader, died Dec. 14. He was 97. Samuelson joined the business in 1939 aged 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, going on to work as a relief operator in several

Popular Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal (“Sardar Udham”) will headline an as yet untitled film that is being coproduced by Amazon’s Prime Video, Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Leo Media Collective. While a plot wasn’t revealed, Dharma CEO Apoorva Mehta described the film as “an eclectic mix of drama, emotions and a dash of comedy which

The world’s cinema exhibition market may grow by 12% next year to reach $29 billion, according to a new forecast. But that follows a 2022 where recovery was slowed by multiple shocks. And it leaves the industry down by more than a quarter compared with the pre-pandemic era. An early forecast from consultancy firm Gower

David Fincher is set to receive the Honorary Cesar Award, France’s highest film prize, during a ceremony which will take place Feb. 24 in Paris. “Fincher is one of these rare filmmakers whose entire filmography has become cult over the years,” said the Cesar Academie in a release. The French organization described Fincher as being

Jung Ju-ri’s “Next Sohee” is cleaved in half by a tragic death. Indeed, the incident at the center of Jung’s sobering South Korean drama is so shocking that it tilts what initially bills itself like a workplace drama into a full-blown investigative thriller, replete with whistleblowers, unhelpful witnesses, and, true to that genre, a wearied

In a pleasant Tirana apartment washed in pale morning light, a handsome young man is blearily preparing breakfast. In time he’s joined by his brother — the two are identical twins — and his brother’s girlfriend, who turns on the radio and leads the guys in an impromptu little dance before they settle around the

“High Heat” is a hoot. Though it may sound in synopsis like standard-issue genre fare suitable for quick-serve consumption on digital and streaming platforms, this satisfying mashup of crime thriller and dark comedy plays almost like a wink-and-a-nod sendup of such cookie-cutter time-killers. Indeed, director Zach Golden and scripter James Pedersen go so far as

Jane Fonda’s cancer is in remission, the “Grace and Frankie” star announced Thursday on Instagram. “BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!” wrote Fonda, who turns 85 on Dec. 21. “Last week I was told by my oncologist that my cancer is in remission and I can discontinue chemo. I am feeling so blessed, so fortunate. I thank

The road to redemption can be difficult to walk and even harder to leave behind. Riddled with scandal and scrutiny over the past two years, the HFPA has made blundering attempts to repair its credibility. No surprise, this week’s Golden Globes nominations announcement was mostly met with an unenthusiastic shrug. While the org dropped the ball by

Rian Johnson told Variety in October that talks are continuing with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about his potential next “Star Wars” movie. But what if Johnson, the director who upended the franchise with 2017’s divisive “The Last Jedi,” never gets to make another “Star Wars” movie? “It wouldn’t be the end of the world for

When audiences are introduced to Cate Blanchett’s Lydia Tár in “Tár,” it’s through a lengthy interview sequence. Costume designer Bina Daigeler says she was very deliberate with the choice of black-and-white clothes for Tár. “For me, it’s the well-known image of a conductor, the black and white with the tailcoat is super classic,” she says.

With six nominations apiece, “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” lead the nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts’ International Awards.  The AACTA International Awards are intended to honor outstanding film and television productions made worldwide in 2022, as determined by Australia’s leading filmmakers and content creators. The

Gina Prince-Bythewood — one of the most successful Black women directors in Hollywood and the visionary behind “Love & Basketball,” “Beyond the Lights” and “The Old Guard” — took a special date to the world premiere of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”: her teenage son Toussaint.  “Seeing you there, knowing it’s a movie about motherhood more than anything,

It’s been more than a decade since James Cameron introduced groundbreaking photoreal technology in “Avatar,” and he’s set to wow audiences again on Dec. 16 when the highly anticipated sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” opens. This time, he explores the oceans of the film’s fictional planet of Pandora. Dylan Cole and Ben Procter served