Movies

Sri Lankan auteur Vimukthi Jayasundara, whose “The Forsaken Land” (2005) won the Camera d’Or at Cannes, is readying his next project “Turtle’s Gaze on Spying Stars.” The film is set in a future ravaged by a mysterious pandemic caused by the over dependence of mankind on technology. The protagonist is a refugee from Sri Lanka

After 13 years of anticipation, James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has finally been unveiled for members of the press following the movie’s world premiere in London. The first reactions to the film are overwhelmingly positive, with many journalists blown away once again by Cameron’s boundless imagination and pristine visual effects. “Happy to say

The audience had been told to stay in their seats. Phones were to be on silent. Everyone was on their best behavior. But none of that mattered when legendary Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar entered the packed auditorium to participate in a sold out “In Conversation” event and the public leapt to their feet to applaud,

Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” features a billionaire character, Miles Bron, who owns a private island in Greece. Bron, played by Edward Norton, invites his circle of friends, an all-star cast that includes Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe and Leslie Odom Jr., to join him for a murder-mystery weekend. Everything about Miles screams

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka” co-star Olivia Colman promises us we’re going to “love” the actor’s turn as Willy Wonka in Warner Bros’ upcoming origin story “Wonka.” “He’s doing something different,” Colman told me at the Los Angeles premiere of her Sam Mendes drama “Empire of Light.” “It’s such a

Netflix’s Ted Sarandos again addressed the question of whether the streamer is interested in live sports — and he once again waved it off as not in the cards, at least anytime soon. “We’ve not seen a profit path to renting big sports,” said Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer, speaking Tuesday at the

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the list of eligible films for the animated, documentary and international feature categories for this year’s 95th Oscars. Among the films in the running are Amazon’s documentary “Good Night Oppy,” Netflix’s German remake “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Apple’s animated collaboration with Skydance,

It took Ruth Carter a while to revisit the night she made history with her Academy Award win for her visionary costume designs for 2018’s “Black Panther.” For a long time, Carter, who has been working in the industry for more than 30 years, didn’t watch the moment when she became the first African American

Let’s get one thing out of the way: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel to the highest-grossing movie in history, is poised to be another box office smash for director James Cameron and Disney, which now owns the rights to Pandora and its inhabitants. The follow-up, which opens in theaters on Dec. 16, looks

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American distribution rights to “The Seven Faces of Jane.” The experimental and experiential road film stars Gillian Jacobs, Anthony Skordi, Chido Nwokocha, Sybil Azur, Emmanuela Postacchini, Daniela Hernandez, Joel McHale, Caroline Ducrocq, Breeda Wool, Soledad St. Hilaire and Joni Reiss. The film had an interesting origin and is the product

When “Black Panther ” star Chadwick Boseman died in 2020, many wondered how filmmaker Ryan Coogler was going to handle Wakanda’s future. Was he going to recast T’Challa/Black Panther/ King of Wakanda? Coogler and the film’s cast and crew were also grieving a huge loss. But Marvel announced the film would move forward without recasting.

Eva Longoria has boarded Jefferson Stein’s live-action short “Burros” as an executive producer. She will exec produce alongside Sandra Condito, president of film and TV at Longoria’s production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment. “Burros” tells the story of a “six-year-old Indigenous girl who discovers a Latina migrant her age who has lost her father while traveling through

Top Indian actor Alia Bhatt is having one of the best years of her life, starring in three of the biggest hits of the year, “RRR,” “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva” and “Gangubai Kathiawadi.” Her first production, Netflix’s “Darlings,” was a smash hit for the service. And the star also became a mother recently. “Gangubai

London and Singapore-based studio 108 Media is set to acquire a majority stake in U.K. film and TV financing firm Piccadilly Pictures, Variety can reveal. Through its latest acquisition, 108 Media will also launch Piccadilly Pictures APAC. Serving the Asia Pacific region, the Singapore-headquartered content investment fund will focus on credit-based opportunities across the creative

UTA has signed Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón — whose acclaimed second feature “Alcarràs” is Spain’s entry for the best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards — for representation in all areas. “Alcarràs,” which Simón wrote and directed, focuses on the life of a family of peach farmers in a small Catalonian village, which was

It’s a long journey from a school in Beirut in the early 90s to a screening room at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But two school friends, director Samah El Kadi and writer Rani Nasr, have teamed up with producer Michelle Ayoub to bring their story of childhood innocence clashing with

Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky, whose first film “Yomeddine” – about a man raised in a leper colony, who embarks with a young sidekick and a donkey on a journey across Egypt – had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back behind the camera on the ambitious Saudi-set travel movie

German-Turkish director Fatih Akin is attending the Red Sea Film Festival for the screening of “Rhinegold,” about young Iranian-Kurdish immigrant Giwar Hajabi, also known as Xatar, who is one of Germany’s most successful rap stars. The pic was released in Germany on Oct. 27 and has grossed over $10 million, becoming Akin’s biggest hit to

Tarik Saleh’s “Cairo Conspiracy,” which is representing Sweden in the Oscar race, has become France’s biggest (non-English) foreign-language hit since Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.” The thought-provoking movie – Saleh’s follow up to “The Nile Hilton Incident” — competed at Cannes and won the screenplay award. A thriller in Arabic revolving around religion, “Cairo Conspiracy” wasn’t

The decision-making behavior of cinema audiences has been altered by the more-than two-year COVID era – and not just by streaming – executives at this week’s CineAsia convention said. It remains to be seen whether exhibitors and distributors can keep pace with a pickier and more easily distracted clientele. “People have no hesitation going back

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for the ending and mid-credits scene in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” currently playing in theaters. Angela Bassett, who is generating Oscar buzz for her performance as Ramonda in Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is sharing her feelings about her character’s death. Her tone was good-natured during the discussion, but

Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy-winning actor who rose to fame with her role as Rebecca Howe in the NBC comedy series “Cheers,” has died of cancer. She was 71. Alley’s death was confirmed through her official social media presence, which shared a statement from her children. “To all our friends, far and wide around the

In the early days of the Academy’s animated feature Oscar, there were questions as to whether enough films would qualify each year for the award to be given. Not anymore! This year sees a record number of contenders across a wide variety of genres, styles and audiences, from serious, adult-targeted films (like “Charlotte” and “Eternal

A federal judge issued an injunction last month that blocks a Texas prosecutor from bringing child pornography charges against Netflix for distributing the French film “Cuties.” But the prosecutor, Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin, is not giving up. In a notice filed on Monday, Babin indicated that he will appeal the ruling to the

When Jonathan Majors was a student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, he taped a photocopied black and white headshot of Oscar-winning actor, director and activist Sidney Poitier on his wall. “That’s the thing about Sidney, a lot of people know him from all his beautiful film work, but this is

Several times each year, Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” casting list gets reposted to social media and goes viral all over again. The list showcases Tarantino’s desired casting for each main role, from first choices to back-ups and so on. Johnny Depp appears on the list as the second choice for Pumpkin, a role Tarantino wrote

Baz Luhrmann recalls watching the 2001 film “Lantana,” which featured work by cinematographer Mandy Walker. It was around the time he was going to shoot a commercial for Chanel No. 5 and he thought, “it was a great opportunity for me to explore a photographic collaborator who is different from anyone I’ve ever worked with,”

Universal’s upcoming “Super Mario Bros” super-jumped to the top of Variety’s Trending Movies chart, presented by Samsung, for the week of Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, earning more than 132,000 engagements on Twitter.  The film hits theaters on April 7 next year, but has been stirring up controversy and excitement online for months, mainly for

Back for its third year, the Red Sea Lodge brought together 11 feature film projects for a 10-month intensive program in cooperation with TorinoFilmLab. This Saturday, the teams pitched their projects at the Red Sea Souk, the Red Sea Film Festival’s market. The Red Sea Lodge elects projects for creative and professional mentorship, development and

Saudi Arabia is taking vital steps to becoming a leading production force within the Arab region, agreed industry experts speaking at a panel on the topic of international co-production strategies for independent and commercial projects held at the Red Sea 360°. The Red Sea 360°, co-organized by Winston Baker, is a four-day industry event at