Movies

It was a Pandora family reunion at the Los Angeles premiere of “Avatar: The Way of Water” on Monday evening, though the film’s key patriarch was not able to attend. Director James Cameron, who spent 13 years developing, filming and designing the sci-fi sequel after his first “Avatar” became the highest-grossing film in history, had

Now into its second week of deliberations, the jury in the Harvey Weinstein trial has not yet reached a verdict. The jury began deliberating on Dec. 2. When jury members left the courthouse on Monday, they were approaching nearly 30 hours of deliberations. They are due back at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The 12-person jury

Thanks to the pandemic, “The Territory” has become the documentary poster child for how to make a truly collaborative nonfiction film.   When Alex Pritz began filming his Sundance hit in 2018, he wanted to provide an immersive look at the tireless fight of the Amazon’s Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by

The “Avatar” franchise is finally returning this month with its second installment, “The Way of Water,” but that’s not stopping producer Jon Landau from touting the fifth entry, which Disney currently has on its 2028 release calendar. Landau let it slip to Gizmodo that “Avatar 5” will bring the Na’vi alien race to earth. “Well,

Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” pulled all the strings on Variety’s Trending Movies chart for the week of Dec. 5 to 11, moving from sixth place last week to the No. 1 spot following its Dec. 9 debut on Netflix.  The stop-motion film, which took more than 1,000 days to shoot and features a dark adult,

With the release of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Bardo: False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths,” Netflix invited guests to experience the sights and sounds of the Academy Award-winning director’s most personal film.  Through a series of conversations, the audience learned more about the design and craft of the project and had the opportunity to view

Julie Andrews has bad news for any “Princess Diaries” fan hoping that news of a third installment means the return of Queen Clarisse to the big screen. During a recent interview with Access Hollywood, the acting icon cast doubt on returning to the beloved Disney franchise. “I think we know that it’s probably not going

The Black List, an annual ranking of the most popular unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, has released its 2022 rankings — a list crawling with juicy biopics about superstar singers and sports world redemption tales. Founded by Franklin Leonard, the list surveys 300 studio executives who weigh in with the strongest screenplays to have crossed their

When I sat down this morning to watch the Golden Globes nominations, it was with a slight note of anxiety. Sure, I hoped that my favorite films would be nominated (like “Tár”), but it’s not as if I was so invested in that. If I were, it would mean that I took the Golden Globes

Film and television production designer Albert Brenner died on Dec. 8 at the age of 96. His wife of more than 40 years, Susan, was by his side. Some of his prominent credits included production work on “Bullitt,” “The Turning Point,” “Beaches,” “Sunshine Boys” and “California Suite.” Brenner’s talent was well-respected within the industry, notching him

IATSE is studying how VFX workers’ rates and conditions compare to industry standards for the first time, The Union Behind Entertainment announced Monday. “VFX is integral to almost every film and television production made today, Yet the workers who make VFX possible are among the only film & tv workers not represented by a union

When playwright Martin McDonagh wanted to expand his work from stage to screen, he tested the waters by making a short film. That 2004 effort, the absurdly dark “Six Shooter,” paved the way for his career behind the camera — and won McDonagh his first Oscar. McDonagh would reteam with “Six Shooter” star Brendan Gleeson

Denis Villenueve’s “Dune: Part Two” has wrapped production. Timothée Chalamet, who plays Paul Atreides in the two-part, sci-fi epic, announced the news Monday on his Instagram along with a photo of his dad, Marc Chalamet. The sequel began filming back in July, with Villeneuve shooting on location in Budapest, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and Italy. The

Netflix has landed the highly-anticipated live-action film adaptation of “My Hero Academia” from producer Legendary Entertainment. News of the live-action “My Hero Academia” movie broke in August 2021 with the announcement that renowned Japanese filmmaker Shinsuke Sato (“Alice in Borderland”) would direct and executive produce the project, which marks his English-language debut. Sato will direct

For Laura Mora, whose visceral and poetic drama “The Kings of the World” represents Colombia at the Oscars, shooting in the region of Bajo de Cauca was an act of defiance.  “I was warned not to shoot there, that it was the most dangerous part of Colombia,” she recalls, adding: “Instead we only came across

Christopher Nolan revealed to Total Film magazine that he recreated the first nuclear weapon detonation without CGI effects as part of the production for his new movie “Oppenehimer.” The film stars longtime Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, a leading figure of the Manhattan Project and the creation the atomic bomb during World

R.J. Cutler’s production hub This Machine is developing another documentary about a music star — in this case, the late Olivia Newton-John, who died in August 2022. The feature-length doc will explore Newton-John’s life and work as an iconic entertainer, best-selling music artist, animal rights and environmental activist and health, wellness and plant medicine advocate.

Brad Pitt’s Plan B may have a new owner in Mediawan. But Pierre-Antoine Capton, the head of the conglomerate behind “Call My Agent!,” says he plans to take a hands-off approach to overseeing the Oscar-winning company he just bought. “Plan B will continue to operate independently with the same leadership,” Capton told Variety shortly after

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for the ending and mid-credits scene in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” currently playing in theaters. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” saves its biggest surprise for the credits scene. Shuri (Letitia Wright) visits Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) at her home in Haiti, where it’s revealed that Nakia and the late T’Challah (Chadwick

John Boyega and Letitia Wright have known each other since meeting 13 years ago at the Identity School of Acting in London; later, they both appeared in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” miniseries. Boyega’s 2022 included turns in Abi Damaris Corbin’s Sundance standout “Breaking” and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King.” Meanwhile, in the wake of the tragic loss of

Already part of the biggest national film-TV industry platform in Spain’s history, Malaga Festival’s massive Spanish Screenings Content are set to build yet further in 2023, homing in on potential growth axes in Spain’s film and TV sectors at large. Part of the Malaga’s Festival’s Mafiz industry area, the Spanish Screenings Content run March 13-16, a

The 2023 Golden Globes nominations will be announced early on Dec. 12, with George and Mayan Lopez of NBC’s “Lopez vs Lopez” presenting the nominees for each category from the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. The nominations will air live from 5:35-5:40 a.m. PT/ 8:35-8:40 a.m. ET on “TODAY” on NBC. Nominees will also

The World Film Festival of Bangkok wrapped up its comeback 15th edition on Sunday with an efficient prize ceremony and double-bill screenings of Belgian film “Close” and local title “Arnold Is a Model Student.” The festival ran Dec. 2-11, 2022, after a five-year hiatus, seemingly caused by a lack of funding and political will, and

Film Factory Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to Victor Erice’s highly anticipated “Cerrar los ojos,” which marks the fourth feature by the legendary Spanish filmmaker, writer-director of “The Spirit of the Beehive,” reuniting him with Ana Torrent, the wide-eyed very young star of that milestone film.  Now wrapping its shoot in Granada, Almería

Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has sealed two important European deals on Dutch Oscar bid “Narcosis,” directed by Martijn de Jong. Coccinelle Film Sales’ CEO Francesca Breccia negotiated the agreements, with HBO Europe picking up the movie’s rights in 14 countries in Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldova, Croatia, Slovenia. Serbia, Kosovo,

Cropped out of “Girl Picture” are the angsty awkwardness and crippling self-doubt that usually plague cinema’s teens as the training wheels of adolescence are removed. In a way, that makes director Alli Haapasalo’s up-tempo light drama a refreshing spin on a familiar genre, as it presents an attractively bouncy, perhaps even aspirational portrait of not-terribly-painful

Official announcements that China is backing away from the harshest elements of the country’s strict Zero-COVID policy have yet to make much difference to the country’s cinema box office. But the coming release of “Avatar: The Way of Water” may change that. Japanese animation “One Piece Film Red” held on to top place for the

“The Muppet Christmas Carol” is whole again. As the film celebrates its 30th anniversary on Dec. 11, Belle’s long-lost fan-favorite song “When Love Is Gone” has finally been restored. A full version of the holiday classic (with the tear-jerker ballad included) is now available to stream on Disney+.  “It’s the strangest thing,” Meredith Braun, who

Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand’s psychological thriller “Beyond the Wall,” which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, was described in the Variety review as a “morbidly violent allegory for the effects of state-sponsored trauma on the individual that places contemporary Iranian society somewhere on the map between the sixth and seventh circles of hell.”

A24’s “The Whale” scored at the box office in limited release, landing the biggest opening weekend of the year for an arthouse movie. The film, starring Brendan Fraser as an obese recluse who attempts to reconnect with his daughter, grossed $360,000 from just six theaters — translating to $60,000 per screen. Those ticket sales stand