Movies

James Patterson claimed that white male writers face “another form of racism” and criticized his own publisher for dropping Woody Allen’s memoir in a new interview that published over the weekend. The author was profiled for British paper the Sunday Times for his recent memoir “James Patterson: The Stories of My Life.” Speaking to journalist

Justin Lin is attached to direct an upcoming film adaptation of the popular manga “One Punch Man.” Lin will direct the film based on a script from “Venom” and “Jumanji: The Next Level” screenwriters Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner. Sony Pictures is backing the film, and Lin will produce alongside Avi and Ari Arad of

“Lightyear,” the 26th Pixar film, has a premise that’s explained by the film’s opening title. It seems that in 1995, Andy, the young hero of “Toy Story,” was given a Buzz Lightyear action figure as a present. That was because he’d seen a Buzz Lightyear movie and loved it. “Lightyear” is that movie. There are

Netflix has tapped longtime finance executive Ken Barker as principal accounting officer, assuming the role from CFO Spencer Neumann. Netflix revealed the hiring of Barker in an SEC filing Monday. Barker starts at Netflix on June 27, reporting to Neumann. ”Mr. Barker is assuming the role of Principal Accounting Officer from Spencer Neumann, who continues

The Women in Entertainment (WIE) Summit will return with its sixth annual event this June, taking place for the first time since 2019, Variety has learned exclusively. Founded by Renee Rossi (Relativity Ventures) and Gretchen McCourt, WIE aims to bring together women and men who are “dedicated to celebrating the empowerment of women in all

He’s no doubt still pinching himself after his tea with Queen Elizabeth II a few weeks ago but there’s no time to rest for Paddington Bear. The lovable fluffball is set to star in “Paddington in Peru,” the third instalment in his hit franchise, it was unveiled today. The film is set to be helmed

Action-drama film, “Emergency Declaration” pulled together several of Korea’s top stars – Song Kang-ho (“Parasite”), Lee Byung Hun (“G.I. Joe”) and Jeon Do-yeon (“The Housemaid,” “Secret Sunshine”) – and it first took to the air as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival, back in July 2021. Directed by Han Jae-rim, the story involves

HamptonsFilm has unveiled the lineup for its 14th annual SummerDocs series and it includes Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love,” Daniel Roher’s “Navalny” and Jason Kohn’s “Nothing Lasts Forever.” Presented by Alec Baldwin with co-curation from David Nugent, artistic director of the affiliated Hamptons Intl. Film Festival, each screening will be followed by a conversation with

United Talent Agency (UTA) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire U.K. literary and talent agency Curtis Brown Group. Under the terms of the deal, London-based Curtis Brown Group, founded in 1899, will continue to operate under its current name and management, including CEO Jonny Geller. The structure will allow both parries to continue their

Kevin Spacey has been formally charged with four counts of sexual assault in the U.K., the Metropolitan Police confirmed today. Spacey has also been charged with “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.” The actor is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday morning. The four historic assaults are

Kelvin Redvers, the Indigenous Canadian producer who fought the Cannes Film Festival dress code that prevented him from wearing moccasins on its red carpet, is launching a production company, Variety can reveal. Redvers’ new outfit is called Indigifilm, and will focus on developing and producing scripted and unscripted projects in collaboration with international and Canadian creatives.

Street by street, block by block, city by city, bombs fall. From way above, from the anonymous bombers’ point of view — which frames a hypnotically long nighttime sequence in Sergei Loznitsa’s new archive documentary — kilotons of explosives fall like rain, sprouting insignificant little splashes of fire below. It’s the most obviously abstract segment

Spider-Man, meet your new foe. To cap off an Annecy presentation that saw 15 minutes of work in progress footage screen for the first time before a public audience, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson lifted the veil on the film’s big bad – an enigmatic antagonist

There is only one way to escape from Spiderhead in sly postmodern scamp George Saunders’ all-but-unfilmable short story “Escape from Spiderhead,” and it rhymes with skip-to-my-lou-icide. Unlike print fiction, where pretty much anything goes, movies that feature acts of self-harm must be very careful, since audiences have been known to emulate those same acts. Right

Mediawan, the fast-rising pan-European production and distribution group behind “The Little Prince,” has launched a new division, Mediawan kids & family, to ramp up its activities dedicated to youth entertainment content and become a global one-stop shop. Unveiled during the Annecy Animation Film Festival, this new division will bring together Mediawan’s topnotch labels, including Aton

Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s industry section, Eastern Promises, has unveiled its lineup of 35 film projects, which will be showcased during the Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, First Cut+ Works in Progress and Odesa International Film Festival Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects will receive awards totaling Euros

Pixar’s “Lightyear” will not be playing in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Kuwait, among other West Asia territories, due to the inclusion of a same sex kiss in the “Toy Story” spinoff. The scene, involving a new lesbian space ranger character named Alisha and her partner starting a family together and greeting each other with

Tel Aviv-based sales company Cinephil has acquired worldwide sales rights for documentary feature “A Story of Bones,” which is in competition at the ongoing Tribeca Festival. Directed by Joseph Curran and Dominic Aubrey de Vere and produced by Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, the documentary follows Annina Van Neel, who, as the chief environmental officer for Saint

The Annecy Intl. Animation Festival is returning to a full-fledged in-person event in 2022, expecting more than 10,000 attendees, from more than 90 countries June 13-18. “The world’s animation community will be back in Annecy — the key meeting place for the industry and artists,” says fest director Mickaël Marin, beaming. The Annecy team has

SHORT FILM Ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency has released “Uprooted,” a powerful short film featuring and made by Ukrainian refugees now living in Germany. The film shows loud noises – a door slamming, the sirens of an ambulance, the bangs of a firework display – and how

In what promises to be an incredibly busy Annecy, Brinca Animation Studio will premiere its animated feature “Home is Somewhere Else” at the French animation meet’s Contrechamp section, its major sidebar. Co-directed by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos, the Mexican animated feature reflects on the lives of the many undocumented Hispanic immigrants arriving in the

Part of what it describes as a bold and rapid expansion of its long-form animation department, London-based Oscar winning Passion Pictures has appointed Nicki Cortese as head of development for animated features and series. Cortese joins Pixar veteran David Park, a production manager on “Coco” and animation department manager on “Toy Story 3,” who was

After a virtual edition in 2020 and a hybrid outing last year, this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival looks set be back with a bang, fully and only onsite. It also says a lot about the animation industry’s robust fundamentals. This and nine other takes on this week’s huge French animation reunion, which runs

José Miguel Ribeiro’s feature debut “Nayola,” one of two Portuguese full-length animation pics screening at Annecy Animation Film Festival, portrays the fate of a grandmother, a mother and her daughter – Lelena, Nayola and Yara – in the aftermath of the Angolan civil war. Nayola searches for her husband, Ekumbi, who went missing during the

French studio Miyu Productions and L.A.-based Modern Magic – the event animation outfit recently launched by “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” writer-director and producer Rodney Rothman and former MGM co-president of production Adam Rosenberg – will offer an international show of force as they partner on the fantasy feature “The Long Night.” Set for production in

Charades (“I Lost My Body”) has boarded “Clara Wants Some Chicken,” an animated feature directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (“The Girl Without Hands”) in the run up to this week’s Annecy Animation Festival. Produced by Dolcevita Films (“A Son”) and Miyu Productions (“Plethore de Nords”), “Clara Wants Some Chicken” will be presented in

Jennifer Hudson has achieved the rarified status of EGOT with her Tony win for producing “A Strange Loop.” The awards gauntlet lingo of “EGOT” refers to individuals who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony over the course of their careers in entertainment. Notable figures who have netted wins across all

The prospect of leaving Earth for good does not scare Alex (Kyle Allen). Instead, it inspires him. It’s not that he doesn’t cherish his mother, his father and his sister. They’re as close as a family can be. Nor that he is at all hopeless about the state of the world. Though he’ll admit it’s

A key element of “Jurassic World Dominion” is Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm reunion with the original “Jurassic Park” crew (Laura Dern, Sam Neill and BD Wong), as the quartet share the screen for the first time since 1993. But that plot point isn’t the only “Jurassic” milestone for 2022. Attention must also be paid

The Sydney Morning Herald has denied a wave of criticism alleging that the Australian publication pressured Rebel Wilson into outing herself as LGBTQ by giving her a two-day deadline to comment on her current relationship, which she had not yet discussed publicly. On Sunday morning, Wilson seemed to corroborate that the Herald’s contact with her