“Kings of the World” (“Los Reyes del Mundo”), by Colombia’s Laura Mora (“Killing Jesus,” “Frontera Verde”) has shared its trailer exclusively with Variety in advance of its world premiere in Spain’s San Sebastian festival and its Oct. 6 theatrical release in Colombia. Said Mora: “We are very happy to finally be able to release the
Movies
“Batgirl” co-director Adil El Arbi revealed on Instagram that several high-profile Hollywood names have reached out to him and fellow “Batgirl” director Bilall Fallah in the aftermath of Warner Bros. shelving their comic book movie. The studio announced Aug. 2 that the $90 million “Batgirl” film would not be released in theaters or on HBO
New York and London-based TV and film investment fund APX Group has partnered with L.A.’s Decentralized Pictures (DCP) on a crypto currency scheme to help finance projects by up and coming directors. The initiative is being unveiled at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. APX, which is headed by American-Israeli businessman Adi Cohen, has become active recently
Agustí Villaronga, one of the most versatile of higher-profile Spanish auteurs, is attached to direct “Purgatory,” a project which will be presented at Locarno’s Match Me! Event by Nati Escobar at Spain’s Galápagos Media. “Purgatory” turns on Father Tomás, a scholar of ancient history and biblical theology sent to a remote sanatorium as a penance
Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Runner,” by director Marian Mathias, which will have its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Already sparking upbeat word of mouth, “Runner” follows Haas (Hannah Schiller), an 18-year-old girl who was raised by her
Tom Hardiman becomes a director to track with “Medusa Deluxe,” a deliciously dark murder mystery set in the competitive hairdressing competition which is about to bow at Locarno. MUBI holds the rights to U.K./Ireland, France,Latin America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, India and Southeast Asia. The film was developed and financed by the BFI and
The rules of engagement between U.S. studios and streamers and European producers are starting to change. That was a key takeaway from the Locarno Film Festival’s StepIN think tank on the state of the indie film industry, where on Wednesday some 50 European and international invited industry players participated in a daylong event involving working
For its 50th edition unspooling Aug. 20-26, Norway’s top film event, the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, will be treating its 400-plus international guests and local audiences with a beefed-up onsite program of 72 feature length films and 19 shorts. “We’ve had more films to choose from than ever before, “says festival honcho Tonje Hardersen
Anyone wanting signs that film production is alive and kicking in some parts of the world – and not only the most obvious – need go no further than Locarno’s Match Me! A networking event, expanded this year from 24 to 32 producers and fortified by the first-time presence of France, Match Me! focuses on
Matt Dillon might have been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Locarno on Thursday, but he still has “stuff to do.” And he wants you to know that. “The first thing I thought was: ‘Oh wow, that’s really nice.’ And then: ‘I don’t feel like I am done just yet!’,” Dillon tells Variety ahead of the ceremony.
For the tenth time in 11 years, the Locarno Film Festival is hosting 10 international film critics from various stages of development during the 10 days of the A-list Swiss festival. Coming from places as far from the Swiss resort town as Bangalore, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta, and from an even more varied matrix of
There’s a new giant in town, or at least at Locarno’s Match Me!, one of the festival’s biggest industry initiatives. For years, by a large head, France has had more titles at the Locarno Festival’s two biggest sections, the Piazza Grande showcase and main International Competition than any other country in the world. 2022 is
The Book of Genesis contains two competing creation stories: There’s the one where an all-powerful deity conjures everything in six days, and the version where a more anthropomorphic god rolls up his heavenly sleeves and makes man from clay. Guess which one the visionary stop-motion artist Will Vinton would have preferred. Co-inventor of the “Claymation”
Audiences will get a chance to see Disney’s inaugural feature documentary for free in select theaters during a one-week period beginning Aug. 5. “Mija,” which follows two daughters of undocumented immigrants navigating the music industry, will get its Academy Award qualifying run later in the month before debuting on Disney+ on Sept. 16. “We weren’t
Though their popularity peaked long before most of today’s actual teenagers were born, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles never really went away. We’re only six years removed from the most recent live-action film based on the pizza-loving reptiles, and it was just two months ago that a new TMNT video game was released. Ant Ward
Subscriber growth at Starz lifted shares of Lionsgate in after-hours trading, giving investors optimism that the media company will be able to demand top dollar when it finalizes plans to sell off its cable and streaming arm. Streaming subscribers jumped to 26.3 million worldwide, a 57% year-over-year increase. On an earnings call, Lionsgate CEO Jon
Count Quentin Tarantino as one of the millions of moviegoers who fell in love with “Top Gun: Maverick” this summer movie season. The director stopped by the ReelBlend podcast this week and had nothing but raves to share about the Tom Cruise sequel. “I fucking love ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ I thought it was fantastic,” Tarantino said.
James Morosini really does love his dad, and he proves it when his father calls in the midst of our conversation. Morosini takes the call and explains he’s on an interview. “I’ll call you back,” the younger Morosini says before adding: “Love you.” The complicated father-son relationship inspired Morosini’s acclaimed new film, “I Love My
“The Flash” movie starring Ezra Miller is still a go, despite the actor’s numerous scandals this year. “We have seen ‘The Flash,’ ‘Black Adam’ and ‘Shazam 2,’” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the company’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday. “We are very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are
Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hanks will star in “Loving” and “Take Shelter” director Jeff Nichols’ next feature, Variety has confirmed. Titled “The Bikeriders” after the 1967 Danny Lyon photography book, the film tells an original story about a ’60s midwestern motorcycle club as it evolves over the course of a decade from a
The Writers Guild of America informed its members on Thursday that it has prevailed in a crucial arbitration with Netflix over their underpayment of writers’ residuals for the 2018 film “Bird Box,” notching another $42 million in unpaid residuals for 216 writers on 139 other Netflix films. Netflix’s initial argument regarding “Bird Box” was that
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav addressed the company’s controversial decision this week to cancel releases for “Batgirl” and “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,” during the company’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday. “We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready,” Zaslav said during the Q&A portion of the call, when asked directly about “Batgirl” getting
James Franco has been cast as Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro in the independent film “Alina of Cuba,” Variety has confirmed. Franco joins the previously announced Ana Villafañe, who portrays the title character Alina Fernandez, Castro’s daughter. In addition, Mía Maestro has also joined the cast as Alina’s mother Natalia Revuelta, the Cuban socialite who gave
Laura Poitras’s “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” has been tapped as the Centerpiece selection for the 60th New York Film Festival. The documentary about the opioid epidemic will screen at Alice Tully Hall on Oct. 7. “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” looks at two interconnected stories, recounting both the life and career of
Rebel Wilson is getting ready to serve as the star of “Double Fault,” a tennis comedy in development at Paramount Pictures’ Players label. Jim and Brian Kehoe, the brothers who wrote the 2019 high school comedy “Blockers,” are in talks to pen the screenplay. The logline is being kept under wraps. “Double Fault” will be
Academy Award winner Kathy Bates and actor Liza Koshy have joined the cast for an upcoming romantic comedy film from Netflix. The film, which is currently untitled, is headlined by former “The Paperboy” co-stars Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron, as well as “Kissing Booth” lead Joey King. According to the logline, the film will focus
Sony’s comic book tentpole “Morbius” is one of the biggest flops of 2022. The film, starring Jared Leto in the title role, hoped to pull in audiences on the back of record-breaker “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” as it’s set in the same extended superhero universe. And yet, critics and audiences mostly ignored “Morbius” when it
Dan Trachtenberg was still developing his action movie brainchild “Prey,” a 1700s-set take on the “Predator” franchise, when he was informed that the film would be the first entry in the storied action series to debut outside of theaters. The filmmaker first gave his pitch for “Prey” to 20th Century Fox hot off the heels
Bryan Cranston, Blair Underwood and Jennifer Morrison will lead the jury for this year’s Hollyshorts Film Festival. They will be joined by Stephanie Lang, Joanna Quinn, David Dastmalchian, Adaku Ononogbo and Jeremy Swift. Set to open Aug. 11 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and virtually through the BITPIX platform, the festival will screen
87North, the production company behind such action films as “Nobody,” the John Wick series, “Atomic Blonde” and the upcoming “Bullet Train,” is unique in that it coaches stars such as Charlize Theron, Keanu Reeves and Brad Pitt to perform their own fight scenes. Now, the company is paving the way for the next generation of