Movies

In “Medusa Deluxe,” the serpents aren’t in the hair, but all around it: a writhing, hissing collective of human predators slinking around the various parlors and platforms of a high-level hairdressing competition. Most are venomous, and at least one is deadly, or so it seems when a star stylist is found, not just murdered but

“Bullet Train,” a John Wick-ian romp with Brad Pitt in the aisle seat, arrived in theaters with a $30.1 million opening weekend. That’s enough to top the domestic box office chart, but it’s only a so-so result given “Bullet Train’s” $90 million price tag and Pitt’s star power. The Sony Pictures release will need to

Hook, line and sinker. “Top Gun: Maverick” has toppled “Titanic” as the seventh-biggest film ever at the domestic box office, earning $662 million in ticket sales. For Paramount, “Top Gun: Maverick” has also overtaken “Titanic” as the studio’s biggest film in its 110-year history. However, James Cameron’s disaster epic is still outpacing Tom Cruise’s fighter-jet

One year after she dazzled at the Cannes Festival, winning its Golden Eye for best documentary for “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” Payal Kapadia’s fiction debut “All We Imagine as Light,” has attracted the most potent production partner support of any project introduced at this year’s Locarno Match Me! “Night’s” producers. Petit Chaos’ Thomas Hakim,

Paris-based Tomsa Films will co-produce Andrei Epure’s first feature “Don’t Let Me Die.” The company, created in 2018, is also behind Laura Samani’s acclaimed Cannes Critics’ Week premiere “Small Body” and documentary “Zaho Zay.” “Don’t Let Me Die” follows the consequences of a woman’s death in front of her apartment building. Her neighbor, Maria, is interrogated

Ecuador-based producer Daniela Fuentes Moncada of Epopeya is introducing the introspective queer feature, “Ñusta,” as part of three regional films on her development slate at Locarno’s Producer’s Lab, an Open Doors initiative spotlighting Latin America and Caribbean talent. Epopeya teams Moncada with founder María de los Ángeles Palacio. Underscoring the project’s industry pulling power, co-producing

One of the breakout stars of the pandemic, Daisy Edgar-Jones, was finally out and about at Locarno Film Festival, where she picked up the Leopard Club Award and introduced her latest film “Where the Crawdads Sing,” based on a novel by Delia Owens. “The whole idea of being a ‘breakout star’ is a strange thing

Tom Hardiman’s feature debut “Medusa Deluxe,” which premiered at Locarno on Saturday, has already seduced multiple international distributors with its mixture of humor, grief and competitive hairdressing. Now Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has sealed further deals for the unusual murder mystery in Spain (Elastica Films), Benelux (Filmfreak), Scandinavia and the Baltics (NonStop Entertainment), Variety has learnt in

“I Love My Dad” director, writer and star James Morosini kiss and tells about how he prepared for his bizarre makeout scenes with co-star Patton Oswalt.  “We made out a lot ahead of time,” Morosini, who plays Oswalt’s son Franklin, told Variety jokingly at the premiere of “I Love My Dad” at the Largo at

Many people, when faced with the old question of who they’d invite to their dream dinner party, dutifully reel off a list of historical titans, which tends to prompt further, usually unasked questions: Would these undoubtedly interesting and consequential individuals make for great company together? Would they have much to say to each each other?

Hollywood newcomer Amber Midthunder stunned at Tuesday’s Los Angeles premiere of Hulu’s “Prey.” “This is from the Sky-Eagle Collection,” she told me about her dress on the arrivals carpet at the Village Regency Theatre in Westwood. “Throughout this whole press tour, it’s been very important to me to incorporate always having an Indigenous designer or

Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum teased the end of the “Paranormal Activity” franchise in Locarno, where he will receive the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico for Best Independent Producer. “It has been enough already. That last ‘Paranormal Activity’ movie was terrible,” he says. “Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin” premiered in 2021, with another instalment currently eyeing a

Shahab Hosseini, a Cannes best actor winner in 2016 for his layered, complex performance in Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning “The Salesman,” is attached to star in “The Far Mountains,” from Mitra Tabrizian. A nuanced coming-of-age tale with an allegorical undertow, “The Far Mountains” marks Tabrizian’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut feature “Gholam,” also starring Hosseini

Chinese sales agent Parallax Films has acquired international sales rights to Malaysian director Ming Jing Woo’s feature “Stone Turtle,” which world premieres in the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition. A time-traveling movie, “Stone Turtle” is produced by Edmund Yeo and Ming Jin Woo at Malaysia’s Greenlight Pictures and co-produced by Cheng Thim Kian and Yulia

10 Swiss film festivals with international standing are joining forces on a symbolically significant screening series to be held in Locarno’s PalaCinema multipurpose venue which is also known as the Swiss lakeside town’s house of cinema. The innovative initiative – which is being launched with a press conference on Saturday at the Locarno Film Festival

Actor Anne Heche was hospitalized in critical condition on Friday after crashing her car into a home in the 1700 block of Walgrove Avenue in West Los Angeles, according to reports from NBC4LA and CNN. Heche suffered burn injuries when the Mini Cooper she was driving burst into flames, according to multiple published reports. TMZ

Hollywood actor Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “Con Air,” “Heat”) has been cast for the role of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in “1521,” an upcoming historical epic that charts the pre-colonial era of the Philippines depicting the Battle of Mactan, Variety has learned. Produced by Filipino-American filmmaker Francis B. Lara Ho of Inspire Studios (“Angel Warrior,” “Palawan:

The 2022 Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF) kicked off Friday with great pomp and circumstance — and a few bars of “Hail to the Chief” — as Barack and Michelle Obama made a special appearance for the opening night screening of Netflix documentary “Descendant.” When Netflix acquired worldwide rights to the Sundance award-winning

In “My Neighbor Adolf,” a Polish Holocaust survivor living in South America suspects that the belligerent German who’s just moved in next door could be none other than der Führer himself. How could that be? Hitler shot himself in his bunker at the end of the war. Or did he? Director Leon Prudovsky’s middling mind

“Avengers: Endgame” killed off Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige originally wanted an even bigger bloodbath. Filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo recently confirmed on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that Feige pitched them on killing off all the original Avengers, meaning Chris Evans

MRC leaders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge holding company have reached a deal to carve up their jointly owned assets into separate business entities. Wiczyk and Satchu will retain the MRC production entity, home to TV series including Netflix’s “Ozark” and Hulu “The Great,” and MRC’s investments in content shops Civic

The clown prince of crime is set to make his return to the big screen — and it’s sounding weirder and weirder the more we hear about it. Released in 2019, Todd Phillip’s original “Joker” film presented a reimagined version of the classic “Batman” antagonist, following the character in his civilian identity of Arthur Fleck

John Leguizamo took to Instagram to speak out against the recent casting of James Franco as Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro in the upcoming independent film, “Alina of Cuba.” Variety confirmed Franco’s casting on Aug. 4. “Alina of Cuba” is directed by Miguel Bardem, based on a script written by Jose Rivera and Nilo Cruz. “How is

Spanish company Du Cardelin Studio is finalizing production on doc-feature “Manolo Kabezabolo,” about the life of iconic Spanish punk singer, directed by José Alberto Andrés Lacasta. “Manolo Kabezabolo” is being introduced to the international market at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival by Du Cardelin Studio’s Carmen Pérez Mata, one of the 32 producers selected for the

“Prey” may be an entry in the “Predator” saga, but it stands on its own by taking on-screen representation to the next level. In his first-ever acting role, actor Dakota Beavers looks at the film as a step in the right direction for an industry that has been historically fraught with problems regarding the representation

Harvey Weinstein’s latest hearing in his sexual assault case was delayed Friday morning when a flood caused a lockdown at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the Los Angeles prison where the convicted rapist is currently behind bars. “Just a routine delay,” one of Weinstein’s attorneys, Mark Werksman, told members of the media who were sitting

The documentary “Kaepernick & America,” which examines the remarkable conflict stirred by former NFL star Colin Kaepernick’s sideline protest, will begin streaming on demand on Fri. Sept. 2. Directed by Tommy Walker (“Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” “God Grew Tired of Us”) and Ross Hockrow (“Born Strong,” “Finding Giannis”), the documentary made its debut

It was all about Aaron Taylor-Johnson at Locarno’s opening ceremony, as the actor received the 2022 Excellence Award Davide Campari and introduced “Bullet Train.” “Sometimes, people ask me what I do. I say: ‘I am a dad and I do acting on the side, part time,” he told the crowd gathered at Piazza Grande before

Joey King hit the zeitgeist hard with 2018’s Netflix rom-com “The Kissing Booth,” and scooped up an Emmy nomination for her work in 2019’s “The Act,” a heart-wrenching limited series about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard by her daughter, Gypsy Rose. She can now be seen in Hulu’s “The Princess,” where she learned action-hero

The total U.K. and Ireland box office for July 2022 was £126.5 million ($152.7 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. While the number is a significant chunk above June’s $116 million, it is still running 20% behind the same period in pre-COVID 2019. “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” debuted at No.1 with £10.4 million,