Movies

The first images from COVID-themed comedy feature “Who Invited Charlie?” have been unveiled and they show Rosie (Jordana Brewster) frantically applying hand sanitizer as the pandemic takes hold. Directed by Xavier Manrique (“Chronically Metropolitan”), the film, which was previously titled “Charlie In The Pandemic,” tells the story of a New York City family who decamp

Alec Baldwin revealed during a recent CNN interview (via TMZ) that he feared Trump supporters would kill him following the “Rust” shooting last October. Baldwin, the star and producer of the indie Western film, was holding the firearm when it fired during a take and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Trump reacted to the tragedy by

A family goes on African trip. Things go wrong. Family must survive versus a killer lion. The plot behind Universal’s newest summer film “Beast” is exceedingly simple, yet its simplicity is what attracted Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur to the project. For him, the story of a lion-gone-rogue allowed him to flex his genre filmmaking muscles.

In a shocking abrogation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — at least as it pertains to film critics — a mere 114 days has elapsed between Barbara Białowas and Tomasz Mandes’ two sequels to their 2020 Netflix-busting softcore phenom, “365 Days.” So just a few scant months after “365 Days: This Day” left

With no major movies on the horizon, the summer slowdown continues at the box office. Universal’s action movie “Beast,” starring Idris Elba, picked up just $925,000 from Thursday previews after launching in 2,900 theaters. It will expand to 3,743 locations on Friday. The survival thriller is expected to bring in $10 million in its opening

Country music star Jimmie Allen is set to make his feature film debut with upcoming musical “Be Alright.” “The Goldbergs’” Hayley Orrantia will co-star, with both Allen and Orrantia in the lead roles. In “Be Alright,” which is set in New York City in the 1960s, Orrantia plays down-on-her-luck Eve. Things start looking up when

Idris Elba stars in “Beast” as a father trying to protect his two daughters from a ferocious lion on a South African nature preserve. It turns out Elba’s 20-year-old daughter auditioned to play one of his character’s daughters in the film, but she failed to land the role because her chemistry with her father “wasn’t

NBA legends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have teamed up once more — this time as executive producers and subjects of the new documentary “The Redeem Team,” which celebrates the victorious 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team. Directed by Jon Weinbach (“The Last Dance”), the documentary marks the first collaboration between the International Olympic Committee

Vertigo Releasing has acquired Phyllis Nagy’s “Call Jane,” starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver, for U.K. and Ireland distribution. The film explores the true story of the Janes, an underground collective of women, who in Chicago during the 1960s, came together to secretly provide nearly 12,000 women and girls with safe and secure abortions. It

CAMPAIGN BAFTA and Digital Cinema Media (DCM) have partnered on a cinema campaign, which premieres Aug. 19 across the U.K., to inspire the next generation of creative talent by showcasing the diverse range of skills and knowledge that goes into making award-winning films, games and television. The campaign, titled ‘Behind every BAFTA,’ revolves around a

Shot during the pandemic and set on May 30, 2020 — just a few days after the death of George Floyd during an arrest by the Minneapolis Police Department — “Traveling Light” is an experimental attempt at social commentary that fails to provide any insight, emotion or even entertainment of the most basic kind. Nearly

About halfway through “Safe Place,” a film already not given to taking it easy on viewers’ emotions, the meek, honest delivery of a single word — “Sorry” — shatters the heart irreparably into a million small shards. It comes from Damir (Goran Marković), a quiet, bearish but child-eyed man who has just attempted to take

Still only 50, Choi Dong-hoon has been a front-runner among Korean directors for at least the past 15 years, with hits under his belt including “The Thieves,” “Assassination” and “Tazza: The High Rollers.” Now he is driving the Korean industry’s exploration of sci-fi. Choi’s “Alienoid” recently played to U.S. audiences at the New York Asian

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is celebrating 73 years of Black film artistry with the new exhibit titled Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971. Curated by the Academy Museum’s Doris Berger and Rhea Combs of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the first-of-its-kind exhibition features seven galleries exploring Black representation in film, from portraits of icons like

An attorney for “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed faulted Sheriff’s investigators on Thursday for not doing a DNA test on the rounds found on set. Jason Bowles, Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, urged the lead investigator in an email on Thursday to reconsider, saying that the lack of testing could become “a very significant issue at trial,

“Spin Me Round” stars Ayden Mayeri and Debby Ryan got along so well while filming the new indie comedy “Spin Me Round” in Tuscany that they ended up getting matching tattoos after production wrapped. “We all became great friends in Italy,” Mayeri told Variety at the movie’s premiere on Wednesday in Los Angeles. “So while we

In “Glorious,” J.K. Simmons plays the voice of an ominous Lovecraftian god lurking behind the glory hole of a random roadside restroom. That’s practically all the pitch Shudder audiences need to sample this not-nearly-as-sick-as-it-sounds oddity from genre-movie superbrain Rebekah McKendry, whose expertise in all things horror outstrips her knowledge of the basics of men’s bathrooms

Breaking Glass Pictures has snagged North American rights to “Blood-Red Ox,” the first genre pic by award-winning Bolivian director-producer Rodrigo Bellott, now playing at the 18th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) sidebar Visions of the World. “A mind-bending trip into the depths of myth and madness, Bellott has crafted a haunting tale that pays homage

Sacheen Littlefeather dominated headlines this week after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a formal apology to her for the mistreatment she faced at the 1973 Oscars. Littlefeather, who was 26 years old at the ceremony, took to the stage on behalf of Marlon Brando, who was named best actor for “The Godfather,”

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s new documentary about artist and activist Nan Goldin, has sold to Neon. The indie studio acquired the film before it was scheduled to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It has also landed prominent spots at the Toronto Film Festival and the New York

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, is honoring Olivia Newton-John by bringing “Grease” back to the big screen. Starting on Friday, the classic 1978 movie musical will play in 135 AMC locations around the country. All tickets will cost $5, and $1 from each sale will be donated to AMC’s charitable fund AMC Cares,

California is poised to add a diversity requirement to its $330 million tax incentive for film and TV production, as lawmakers seek to use their leverage to make the industry better reflect the state’s demographics. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign a bill, SB 485, that will extend the tax credit through 2030. On

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Michael Mann is having quite a week. In addition to beginning production on his star-studded film “Ferrari” this week in Italy, the director’s first novel, “Heat 2,” a sequel to his epic 1995 crime

Amandla Stenberg posted a video to her Instagram stories explaining why she reached out to The New York Times film critic Lena Wilson with a controversial message. As revealed by Wilson in a viral tweet, Stenberg contacted the film critic on Instagram after Wilson wrote in her “Bodies Bodies Bodies” review that the A24 horror

Organizers of the Asian Contents & Film Market, the industry section operated in parallel with the Busan International Film Festival, have underlined their commitment to hold the market as an in-person event this October. The Asian film industry had recently witnessed rumors that the Busan market would be staying as an online-only event, as it

Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose, who delivered a star-making performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” has nabbed her next leading role — and it’s a far-cry from the musical fare audiences have become accustomed to. DeBose will star in “House of Spoils” a new psychological thriller for Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Television,

No animals were harmed in the making of “Beast.” Frankly, it doesn’t look like any animals were even used in the making of “Beast,” but if you can get past the idea that the two-ton lion threatening Idris Elba and his family in the movie is a singularly frightening combination of ones and zeros, not

The third decade of the millennium looks quite different for the Korean entertainment scene compared with just a few years earlier. In March 2020, “Parasite,” a Korean-made film noir made history by winning three Oscars, including best picture. The following year, Korean veteran Youn Yuh-jung took the Oscar for best supporting actress in “Minari,” while

The lives of a self-obsessed film star and a struggling filmmaker collide in Brazilian director-producer Diogo Leite’s first feature, “Monstro,” set to screen as a pic-in-post at the Ibero-American Work in Progress strand of this week’s Sanfic Industria. “Monstro” follows Magaiver, a young filmmaker who moonlights as an Internet technician in order to survive. His

“Encanto” star John Leguizamo has signed on to executive produce short film “Triggered” from Tara Westwood. “Triggered,” which stars Westwood, Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“Da 5 Bloods”), Caitlin Mehner (“Dopesick”) and Robert John Burke (“Law & Order Special Victim’s Unit”), deals with themes of gun violence. “’Triggered’ is exceptional in that it doesn’t preach and never