Movies

For the first time in two years the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival is hosting in-person premieres and screenings, after COVID-19 forced the 2020 and 2021 editions of the annual event to unfold virtually. To celebrate, Hot Docs’ programming director Shane Smith selected 226 films from 2563 submissions to screen in-person and online beginning April 28 in Toronto. The

“The Batman,” the moody reimagining of the Bruce Wayne saga that became a box office success this spring, helped lift the earnings of Imax during the exhibition company’s first quarter. Revenues at Imax climbed 55% to $60 million for the three-month period ending in April, which the company attributed to the popularity of the comic

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby will start shooting next week in Malta on Ridley Scott’s film “Kitbag,” about Napoleon’s rise to power. Polish cinematographer Dariusz Adam Wolski is lensing, according to Film New Europe. Phoenix, who plays the French emperor, and Kirby, who plays his wife Josephine, arrive in Malta this week, according to Times

“Top Gun: Maverick” blasted off at CinemaCon, where Paramount Pictures held the tentpole’s first public screening and generated rave first reactions. Journalists in attendance are hailing the long-awaited “Top Gun” sequel as “the perfect blockbuster” and “terrific in every conceivable way.” The film will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May before Paramount releases

When the subject of homegrown Kentucky production companies comes up these days, the first name out of anyone’s mouth is Wrigley Media Group, which is transforming an abandoned multiplex in the city of Lexington into a full-service state-of-the-art art 52,000-sq.-ft. studio complex, dubbed Wrigley Woodhill Studios. Currently, it has a single soundstage, which is hosting

The general counsel of the ACLU testified on Thursday that Amber Heard’s op-ed in the Washington Post about domestic violence was timed to capitalize on the release of “Aquaman.” The op-ed alluded to Heard’s allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp, though Depp was not named. Depp is now suing Heard for defamation, claiming that the op-ed

Is every day Record Store Day? It is for the several dozen interviewees of “Vinyl Nation,” a documentary that aims to not just explain the phenomenal LP resurgence of the last 15 years but break down any “High Fidelity” stereotypes about who’s driving the comeback. Record collecting may be a massive cult, but it’s also

When the Kentucky legislature made the commonwealth’s 30%-35% film and TV tax credit nonrefundable in 2018, it cast a pall over the careers of local industry pros including Louisville native Emily Blevins, who had racked up credits as a production manager or producer on a dozen Lifetime movies shot in the Bluegrass state. Although $428

Director Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” a star-studded homage to Hollywood’s golden era, got the ol’ razzle dazzle at CinemaCon, where it showed off footage for the first time. Attendees of CinemaCon, the annual gathering of movie theater owners that’s currently unfolding at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, were treated to never-before-seen footage of “Babylon,” which puts

Tom Cruise’s seventh globe-trotting journey as Ethan Hunt will be called “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” Paramount Pictures revealed the tentpole’s official title during its Thursday presentation at CinemaCon, the annual trade show for theater owners. Cruise, who is usually a regular presence at the convention in Las Vegas, wasn’t in attendance. Though

Ahead of its world premiere at Hot Docs, London-based MetFilm Sales has acquired worldwide rights (excluding the U.S.) for feature documentary “Delikado,” directed by Karl Malakunas. The film is an environmental thriller set in Palawan, one of Asia’s hottest new tourist destinations. Within this idyllic setting, forests and wildlife are being pillaged by criminal gangs,

Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed to Sky News that he will house a family of Ukrainian refugees at his home in the United Kingdom. The family fled Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. “They’ve made it out of Ukraine; I’m monitoring their progress every day,” Cumberbatch said. “Sadly, they are undergoing some medical treatment. To say anything

Actress-director Anjelica Huston may have been born into film royalty and may have fulfilled that royal destiny by becoming the third generation, after actor grandfather Walter and director-actor-writer father John Huston, to score Oscar gold, but her early innings were not the stuff cinema dreams are made of. “Casino Royale” is the film where she

White Horse Pictures, the production company behind recent documentaries about the Beatles, Lucille Ball and the Bee Gees, is producing another look at a legendary entertainer: Gene Wilder. Library Films’ Chris Smith, the filmmaker behind projects such as “Bad Vegan” and “100 Foot Wave,” is directing the documentary about the star of “Willy Wonka &

Hot Docs’ market events remain online in 2022 to maximize interactions between feature-doc teams, financiers, and other decision-makers, but its three-day, in-person industry conference is mingling hot topics (Ukraine, equity), first looks (works-in-progress screenings), and networking ops (lounges and lunches) to facilitate what the festival’s industry program director Elizabeth Radshaw calls “moments of serendipity.” Hot

“The Inventor,” the animated family feature by “Ratatouille” scribe Jim Capobianco whose all-star voice cast is led by Marion Cotillard, Daisy Ridley, Stephen Fry and Matt Berry, has been sold by MK2 Films to a flurry of territories. The stop-motion film, which charts the life of Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci, has pre-sold to a

Three years ago, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival drew nearly 230,000 attendees to venues across Toronto. It was a record-breaking turnout, and a hopeful harbinger that even amid the growing disruption of streaming platforms, audiences were flocking more than ever before to North America’s largest documentary festival. It has not returned to cinemas

London-based sales agent SC Films International has boarded  “December,” a Japanese courtroom thriller from India’s Anshul Chauhan whose cast is led by Shogen, star of Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Gensan Punch.”   SC Films International will handle international sales outside of Japan on “December,” Chauhan’s follow-up to notable family drama drama “Kontora” which scooped the Grand

At a crucial point in “Firebird,” two perfectly chiseled servicemen steal away from the Soviet Air Force base where they’re stationed for a skinny dip in the Baltic Sea. Behind craggy rocks and away from prying eyes, they kiss, before one gives the other a charged underwater handjob; as they jointly climax, director Peeter Rebane

Two esteemed film professors. Two wildly different cities on two different coasts. And countless ways in which both have contributed to the ever-expanding landscape of entertainment education in the United States — and the world over. James Schamus, three-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker of such landmark features as “Brokeback Mountain” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” former CEO

Last December, during the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Vox Cinemas announced plans to produce 25 Arabic movies with budgets under $10 million over the next five years. Variety spoke to Ignace Lahoud, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment and Cinemas, which owns Vox, about how this aligns with the

Moviegoing in Saudi Arabia has come a long way since April 18, 2018, when “Black Panther” premiered to a packed crowd in a converted symphony hall in Riyadh, ending the country’s 35-year ban on public screenings prompted by an ultraconservative Islamic wave that started in the 1980s. Cut to three-and-a-half years after the “Panther” premiere

Longtime friends and frequent co-stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts toss back shots and break out funky dance moves in “Ticket to Paradise,” a romantic comedy in which they play hostile exes. Universal Pictures brought a sneak peak of the film — which opens in theaters on Oct. 21 — to CinemaCon,  the annual exhibition

The bold and emotional true story of the survivors who spoke out against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was always the stuff of great cinema. On Wednesday, CInemaCon got a look at that movie: Universal’s “She Said.” The film is a dramatic adaptation of the book by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the reporting duo whose

Jason Sudeikis “had no prior knowledge” that his former fiancée, Olivia Wilde, would be served with child custody documents during her appearance at CinemaCon, a source tells Variety. “Papers were drawn up to establish jurisdiction relating to the children of Ms. Wilde and Mr. Sudeikis,” the source said. “Mr. Sudeikis had no prior knowledge of

On April 22, Vin Diesel posted a 19-second video to Instagram recapping the first week of production on “Fast X,” the latest entry in Universal’s 21-year-old franchise. In the clip, Diesel sidles up to Justin Lin to ask the film’s director and co-writer how he’s feeling at the end of the first week of production.

CinemaCon is set to reevaluate its safety protocols following an incident on April 26 in which Olivia Wilde was served a mysterious manila envelope on stage at the Las Vegas event while presenting her new film “Don’t Worry Darling.” The envelope included the words “personal and confidential” on it. Wilde thought the file was a

Sam Neill recently told Vanity Fair that’s he gotten a lot of flak over the years for his wobbly accent in “Jurassic Park,” in which he plays paleontologist Alan Grant with an accent that sounds American at times and then slightly New Zealand at other times. Neill blamed the mix-up on none other than “Jurassic

David Spade revealed in a recent profile in Esquire magazine that his longtime collaborator Chris Farley expressed interest in reuniting for a third feature film together about two months before his death. Toward the end of their runs on “Saturday Night Live,” the two comedians joined forced to headline the 1995 buddy comedy “Tommy Boy.”

“Island City,” the latest film from “Lower City” director Sérgio Machado, has been acquired for international sales by Edward Noeltner’s Beverly Hills-based Cinema Management Group. Given a current absence of Brazilian movies selected for the Cannes Festival, the acquisition gives CMG one of the most awaited of titles coming out of Brazil this year. It