Movies

Blumhouse is ready to spend “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The venerable horror production company has set Emma Tammi (“The Wind”) to direct an adaptation of the popular video game series, set in a Chuck E. Cheese-like children’s restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronic creatures within go on a killing rampage after closing time.

Musicals aren’t for everyone, but “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” seemed to be right on tune for the BFI London Film Festival. The Netflix movie adaptation of the stage musical, which debuted in the West End in 2012, opened the 66th edition of the festival on Wednesday night, where despite starting 45 minutes late, it

In one corner, a star-studded murder mystery from one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood. In the other, a family fable that features a CGI crocodile who sounds a lot like Shawn Mendes. As Hollywood heads into another quiet fall weekend at the box office, David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” is squaring off against “Lyle,

Longtime SXSW Film & TV Festival Director Janet Pierson will transition to be Director Emeritus, the South by Southwest Conference and Festivals announced Wednesday. Her deputy Claudette Godfrey will take over leadership of the festival. Pierson served as head of the film and TV branch of SXSW for 15 years, part of her 45 years

What children love about Roald Dahl’s books is the very thing other writers tend to dodge when adapting them: that icy, unapologetic streak of misanthropy, so exhilarating to kids who have been instructed to see the good in everyone, opening their eyes to the nastier, more ironic adult world that awaits them. Even the craftiest,

The settlement of the wrongful death lawsuit in the “Rust” shooting will have no effect on the district attorney’s consideration of criminal charges, the D.A.’s office said Wednesday. The producers of “Rust,” including Alec Baldwin, announced a settlement on Wednesday morning with Matthew Hutchins, the husband of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The producers intend to resume

Five years ago, the story that had long been whispered in the halls of agencies and studios, as well as on film and television sets, finally became public. A series of bombshell articles revealed that Harvey Weinstein harassed and assaulted dozens of women for decades and used his power to bully them into silence.   Weinstein’s fall was the fuse

Ever since Daniel Craig announced that he would be turning in the tuxedo and putting down the martini glass, the race has been on to decide who will be chosen as the next James Bond. “Bond 26” won’t even go into production until 2023 at the earliest, so it could be a good long while

Christian Bale joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe this year by playing comic book villain Gorr the God Butcher opposite Chris Hemsworth in “Thor: Love and Thunder.” In a new interview with GQ, the actor — who is known for his roles in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, “American Hustle” and “American Psycho” — said he was

On May 5, two Florida state officials traveled to Orlando to meet with the leadership of Disney’s self-governing district. Two weeks earlier, Gov. Ron DeSantis had abolished the district in retaliation for Disney’s opposition to a law that restricts classroom instruction on LGBTQ identity – known to critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”  The two officials

David Harbour is boosting his resume as a badass in the first trailer for “Violent Night,” a holiday thriller featuring the “Stranger Things” star as Santa Claus. Under the direction of Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola, Harbour plays a grizzlier, more rueful version of Kris Kringle, who is anything but jolly in the trailer. On Christmas

In Hollywood, beauty isn’t just skin deep — it’s a currency. So it’s striking that Harris Dickinson makes fun of his own bountiful good looks in Ruben Östlund’s satirical comedy “Triangle of Sadness,” in which he plays a spoiled male model who goes on a humbling journey. In person, Dickinson cuts a striking figure at

“A Chinese Canadian tween undergoes magical puberty and turns into a giant red panda.” As far as elevator pitches go, it’s not exactly “‘Jaws’ in space” or “snakes on a plane.” But that highly specific logline is the one that Domee Shi used to persuade Pixar to greenlight her feature directorial debut, some half a

Nearly a year after she was shot and killed on the set of Alec Baldwin’s Western movie “Rust,” the estate of Halyna Hutchins has come to a settlement with the film production. Surprisingly, the film will also resume production in January. “We have reached a settlement, subject to court approval, for our wrongful death case

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the streaming entertainment company named after the best-selling series of self-help books, hired Phil Oppenheim as chief content officer. In the newly created role, Oppenheim will lead physical and streaming platform content strategy for all Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment properties, including Redbox — which CSSE bought this

Italian sales company True Colours has taken international distribution rights to Roberto Andò’s “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”), toplining Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as the Nobel-prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello. This tragicomic period piece about how Pirandello found inspiration to write his masterpiece “Six Characters in Search of an Author” will launch from the Rome Film Festival

The Japanese may have invented the haiku, but Iranians perfected its cinematic equivalent: a kind of film that plays almost like a poem — short, sweet and disarmingly profound in its simplicity. Jafar Panahi, director of “The White Balloon,” is the master; Majid Majidi (“Children of Heaven”) a close second. While this pared-down, less-is-more approach

“Avatar” producer Jon Landau, Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Association, and the MPA’s Asia regional chief Belinda Liu, were on hand Wednesday in South Korea to tread the red carpet at the Busan International Film Festival. It has been a struggle for Asian film festivals and rights markets to return to normal as

Leading independent sales agency Finecut has picked up rights representation duties for “Greenhouse,” which will play this week in the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision section. The director, Lee Sol-hui previously saw her Korean Academy of Film Arts graduation short film “Anthill” play in the festival’s Wide Angle: Korean Short Form Competition. With Kim Seo-hyung

Arvind Pratap’s “Mariam,” which has post production support from the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Cinema Fund, tackles a range of social issues in India. Millions of families from rural India move to the big cities in search of employment and “Mariam” follows one such migrant worker family. The breadwinner is Mariam, who has to

Malala Yousafzai, who heads her own film and TV production company, Extracurricular Productions, is joining “Joyland,” Pakistan’s Oscar submission in the international feature category, as an executive producer. The film had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year where it won the jury prize at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand. It subsequently had

A wandering love note to Madrid directed by local filmmaker Curro Sánchez Varela, “Voices of a City” ( “Voces de una ciudad”) merges prominent aesthetics with a charismatic populace, who so often blend into the background of photos taken of the bustling metropoli.  The film is a curated 24-hour journey through each urban corner, delving

Every horror movie is about pain, but only the “Hellraiser” series is about sadomasochism — the electricity and agony of it, the higher calling of it. “Hellraiser,” a reboot of the franchise that began in 1987 and has given us nine sequels (time flies when you’re having fun imagining yourself being tortured for fun), is a

Douglas Kirkland, the celebrity photographer known for his photos of Marilyn Monroe and numerous other stars, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88. His 1961 Monroe portraits showed the superstar reclining on a bed surrounded by white satin sheets. In addition to his portraits of Hollywood notables including he was a

A short film created as part of a project to showcase Sony technology’s capabilities is already changing how the company makes content. Noir-inspired “Killian’s Game” was the first project to come out of the Sony Content Technology Strategy Committee, a group of around 100 people “and growing,’ according to Daniel De La Rosa, VP of

Lee Schroder has been named an executive in the motion picture marketing department at CAA. Schroder joins the powerhouse agency from Netflix. Reporting to department head Megan Crawford, she will help advise clients on all aspects of a film marketing and distribution strategy for theatrical and streaming releases. The marketing team works closely with CAA

Billy Eichner’s “Bros” made history as the first gay rom-com to be given a wide theatrical release by a major studio, as well as the first with an all-openly LGBTQ cast. From the nightclub where Eichner’s Bobby meets and falls in love with Luke McFarlane’s buff Aaron, to the LGBTQ+ Museum grand opening, the Big

Halloween is upon us, which means it’s perfect timing for Ti West’s “X” and David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” two of the best new horror movies of the year, to hit streaming platforms. But that’s not all this scary season. Contemporary horror favorites like “The Witch” and the gory “Evil Dead” reboot are also

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Shopping for the horror connoisseur can be tricky, what’s a good gift for the friend or family member who loves to be scared? Never fear, Variety has compiled the best gifts around for scary movie

Meghan Markle returned to her “Archetypes” podcast on Spotify for the first time since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and devoted the new episode to Hollywood’s long persistent Asian stereotype of the “Dragon Lady.” Markle called out two films, “Austin Powers” and “Kill Bill,” for being harmful in how they depicted Asian women as