Movies

Vox Cinemas, the highest-grossing exhibitor in West Asia, where it operates more than 600 screens, will focus on diversification next, while also continuing its geographical expansion plan, says Ignace Lahoud, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Leisure (MAF), Entertainment and Cinemas, which operates Vox. “In the last two or three years, most of our growth has

Daniel Roher, the award-winning director and producer behind Sundance documentary “Navalny,” has signed with Anonymous Content for management. “Navalny” revolves around Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition who survived an assassination attempt by poisoning with a lethal nerve agent in Aug. 2020. The riveting documentary shows how Navalny made shocking discoveries about the

Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” won’t be playing in Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries due to the inclusion of a gay character. Saudi Arabian censors did not issue a permit to release the film in the kingdom, since the changes they requested were not approved by Disney, according to a

French actor, director and producer Jacques Perrin, a fixture for decades in both French and Italian cinema — where he was best known for his role in Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning “Cinema Paradiso” — has died. He was 80. “The family has the immense sadness of informing you of the death of filmmaker Jacques Perrin, who died

Pinewood Studios has amended its planning application for Screen Hub U.K., a 77-acre site on Pinewood’s Buckinghamshire lot that will include film production facilities, a training and skills hub, business growth hub, green campus and film-inspired international visitor attraction. According to Pinewood, they are preparing to amend the planning application to provide more studio space

Italy’s True Colours has taken world sales on Italian director Mario Martone’s Cannes competition entry “Nostalgia,” starring Pierfrancesco Favino, who is known to Cannes audiences as the protagonist of Marco Bellocchio’s 2019 drama “The Traitor.” Set in Martone’s native Naples, “Nostalgia” sees Favino play the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city

The Hong Kong International Film Festival will shift to new dates in August, having been postponed earlier this year due to the COVID pandemic. The 46th edition of the festival will take place Aug. 15-31, 2022, at multiple venues across the territory. Like last year’s HKIFF45, the hybrid festival will feature in-person and online screenings

SF Studios has boarded “Maybe Baby,” a high-concept Danish comedy about pregnancy and fertility treatments which is directed by Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg (“Loving Adults”). The movie starts shooting this month with Danish actors Mille Dinesen, Katinka Lærke Petersen, Lars Ranthe and Kasper Dalsgaard. SF Studios is producing with Marcella Dichmann and will handle Nordic distribution..“Maybe Baby”

Leading Indian producer Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures has signed a multi-film production deal with Armaan Zorace’s U.S. genre label Dark Hell and prolific Hollywood producer Steven Schneider. Under the terms of the deal, a slate of high-concept films in the thriller-horror genre will be produced in Hindi and other Indian languages jointly by the

Film Constellation, a U.K- and France-based sales firm, has been appointed to handle international rights for “Joyland,” which is set to be the first Pakistan-made film in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival. Sales duties will be shared with WME Independent, which is is representing North American rights. The tale of sexual revolution sees

Pixar’s “Lightyear,” an origin story based on the beloved astronaut Buzz Lightyear from the “Toy Story franchise,” takes the series into new galaxies with a fleet of NASA-inspired spaceships. Chris Evans voices Buzz, a human astronaut who inspired Andy’s favorite toy in the movie that takes place years before the events of the first “Toy

David M. Jones, best known for his contributions as a visual effects supervisor on “Star Wars,” died from complications related to cancer at his home in Winnetka, Calif. on April 8. He was 74. Jones’ death was confirmed to Variety by his ex-wife and lifelong friend, Janice Gerson-Jones. Jones was a longtime visual effects artist whose

Nicolas Cage revealed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that he once tried to get a movie studio built in Las Vegas and had even secured $80 million to do so. What went wrong? The actor said Elon Musk came to town and Las Vegas opted to put the money into the Tesla corporation instead of his

Nejc Gazvoda, whose previous films include “A Trip” and “Dual,” has started shooting “Father Figure” in his home town, Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The film will be shot in 25 days and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2023, online news service Film New Europe reports. “Father Figure” is an absurdist tale, written

Without a doubt, Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” traffics in his now-usual brand of haunted atmospherics and wonky mysticism, a signature whose intensity is upped by the savage bloodlust of its characters and the vastitudes of his first big-budget epic with a price tag reportedly hovering between $70 million and $90 million. The only thing more

Searchlight Pictures has suspended production on “Being Mortal,” a new movie starring Aziz Ansari, Seth Rogen and Bill Murray, over complaints about Murray’s inappropriate behavior on set. The studio sent a letter to the movie’s cast and crew on Wednesday, informing them filming had been suspended due to an unspecified complaint. “Late last week, we

Jaigantic Studios has acquired Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts. The imprint will target manuscripts with the goal of finding projects potential for film and TV content. “This is a marriage made in heaven,” said Rhonda Hughes, the publisher at Hawthorne. The company, which is headquartered in Portland, Ore., has optioned several projects in the past.

Imax’s headquarters in Los Angeles is not officially a shrine to Christopher Nolan, but the casual observer could easily assume the entire building exists in tribute to the director. The office has several rooms dedicated to cameras and post-­production equipment that’s used predominately by Nolan, who deployed Imax technology for the likes of “The Dark

The Cannes Film Festival has added a string of new titles to its Official Selection, including three movies in competition: Léonor Serraille’s “Un Petit Frere,” Albert Serra’s “Tourment sur les iles” and “The Eight Mountains” by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”). “The Eight Mountains” is an Italian film based on

The highly anticipated “Dungeons & Dragons” movie officially has a title. Paramount Pictures and eOne announced that the film has been dubbed “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” The official title treatment was released with a video set to epic music and posted to the film’s social media accounts. With a release date set for

Orange Studio has unveiled a first still of Nicolas Pariser’s adventure thriller “The Green Perfume” which will close Directors’ Fortnight, the strand running alongside the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Sandrine Kiberlain (“Nine-Month Stretch”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Lost Illusions”), “The Green Perfume” takes place following the death of a poisoned actor in the middle of a

Syndicado Film Sales has boarded Rati Oneli’s “Ulysses,” a working title, as world sales agent and executive producer, and will be looking for financing for the Georgian production at Cannes. Oneli directed “City of the Sun,” which had its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2017 and won awards at several other festivals, and produced,

Vin Diesel revealed in an Instagram post that an original draft of the “Fast and Furious 10” script excluded Jordana Brewster’s character. The upcoming sequel, which is officially titled “Fast X,” is expected to be the penultimate installment in the long-running “Fast and Furious” franchise. Brewster’s Mia Toretto has been with the franchise from its

The jurors in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial were shown several text messages on Thursday in which he used violent and obscene language, and discussed copious drug and alcohol use. Depp took the stand for the third consecutive day in a courtroom in Fairfax, Va., as his trial against ex-wife Amber Heard continued. Depp claims that

The late pioneering Black businessman Reginald F. Lewis is getting the biopic treatment from Charles D. King’s MACRO and The Black List founder Franklin Leonard. Based on Lewis’ bestselling autobiography, “Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?,” the drama will chronicle the improbable, “only-in-America” story of how Lewis rose to become the richest African

Following Wednesday’s New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau’s investigation of the “Rust” movie production, where star and producer Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set, Baldwin has responded via his attorney, saying that he’s “exonerated” by the bureau’s findings. “We are grateful to the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau for

“Images of a Nordic Drama,” the debut documentary by Oscar-nominated Norwegian director Nils Gaup, has debuted its teaser trailer, ahead of its international premiere at Hot Docs. The film follows art collector Haakon Mehren who faces unexpected resistance while championing the work of an unknown Norwegian artist after finding a cache of paintings in a

Few victims of the Holocaust left behind such a methodical and memorable record of their life as Charlotte Salomon, a native Berliner who died in Auschwitz at age 26. As if anticipating that premature end, she’d spent much of the preceding two years painting about a thousand gouaches composing the illustrated autobiography “Life? Or Theater?,”

BritBox, the streaming service jointly operated internationally by the BBC and ITV, is set to roll out across the Nordics on April 28. BritBox International will launch in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, and will include BritBox Originals, exclusive new series, as well as TV classics. The slate will boast true crime dramas “Stonehouse” (pictured),

AT&T, in its Wall Street swan song as an entertainment entity, reported solid subscriber pickup for HBO Max and HBO for the first quarter of 2022. The now-divested WarnerMedia unit was again a drag on profitability because of continued investments in HBO Max and the launch of CNN+ — reflecting a key reason AT&T spun