Nicolas Cage has had enough of the press taking shots at him for his era of straight-to-VOD movies. The Oscar winner had a string of theatrical flops around 2014, including duds such as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” and so his career pivoted almost exclusively to VOD titles like “The Runner,”
Movies
“The Quiet Epidemic,” a feature documentary about the tick-borne illness Lyme Disease, has released its trailer ahead of the film’s premiere in the Special Presentations category at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto on May 2. The film is co-directed by Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch, and the producers are Chris Hegedus, who was
Critics Week (or La Semaine de la Critique), the selection dedicated to first and second films running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will boast a jury presided over by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (“The Man who Sold his Skin”). Ben Hania has directed four features, including “Beauty and the Dogs” which competed in Un
Netflix commemorated five years of local production releases in Brazil last November announcing a drive into production outside the country’s two traditional powerhouse bases of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Last week, Netflix Brazil revealed more productions set across the country’s vast terrain to bring compelling and fresh narratives to the platform. “Ricos de
Patrick Carlin, a comedy writer and performer who was a major influence on his younger brother George Carlin, died Saturday at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Hollywood. He was 90. Carlin’s death was confirmed by Kelly Carlin, his niece and daughter of George Carlin. George Carlin died at age 77 in June 2008. “His uniqueness was
Fashion, of course, is rarely just fashion — it tells a story about whoever’s wearing it. And in the ’90s and 2000s, the preppy youthquake mall-fashion outlet Abercrombie & Fitch told a very big story. It was a story of where America — or, at least, a powerful slice of the millennial demo — was
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” welcomed a boost in ticket sales at the international box office, though the third installment in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series already seems to be running out of steam. Over the weekend, “Fantastic Beasts 3” added $71.7 million from 66 foreign markets, taking the film’s international tally to $150.4
A miner in Germany’s last coal mine undergoing a gender change, a prima ballerina fighting to keep her status after becoming a mother, a repentant hooligan turned kickboxing champion, a father who fled the former Uruguayan dictatorship, rejected refugees awaiting deportation, and stuntwomen taking hit after hit for the film industry: to say that the
“Like an Island” (“L’îlot”), a hybrid documentary fable tinged with magical realism by Swiss director Tizian Büchi, has won the Grand Jury Prize at international documentary film festival Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland. The debut feature had its world premiere at the festival, bearing testimony to the event’s reputation as a launchpad for new
Ukrainian filmmakers and producers discussed the act of resisting war through images during an online talk Thursday at international documentary film festival Visions du Réel. The panel was made up of producer Illia Gladshtein and director Nadia Parfan, whose film “Heat Singers” screened at the festival in 2019, Maksim Nakonechnyi, whose debut film “Butterfly Vision”
Opening her masterclass at doc film festival Visions du Réel in Switzerland, cinematographer and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson – an Emmy and Sundance award winner for “Dick Johnson Is Dead” – started by naming each and every member of the technical crew on set. “What I often find upsetting with cinema is that we forget to
The news that Nancy Meyers would return to the directing chair for a Netflix rom-com came as balm to her many fans, who have been waiting more than seven years for another comforting kitchen-set romp like “It’s Complicated.” David Lynch fans were thrilled when it was rumored that the “Mulholland Drive” auteur might have a
I often complain that contemporary schlock horror films throw too much at you — the if-this-formula-demon-or-scare-tactic-doesn’t-work-try-this-one approach to keeping an audience goosed. That said, I’m not sure if bare-bones, we’ve-only-got-one-formula-scare-tactic-in-our-bag minimalism is the answer. In “Room 203,” a couple of besties — Kim (Francesca Zuereb), a freshman college journalism student, and Izzy (Viktoria Vinyarska), an
Jerry O’Connell apologized to his “Stand by Me” co-star Wil Wheaton on the Thursday’s episode of “The Talk” for being unaware that he was suffering from child abuse while making the classic 1986 coming-of-age classic. Wheaton told Yahoo Entertainment in May 2021 that his parents “forced” him to become a child actor, adding the he
After dominating the Grammy Awards with five wins, including album of the year, Jon Batiste is set to conquer a new medium — acting. The musician has joined the cast of “The Color Purple,” directed by Blitz Bazawule, for his feature acting debut. Batiste is set to portray Grady, husband to Shug Avery (played by
Jamie Dornan ignited backlash among “Fifty Shades of Grey” fans when he was cast in the role of Christian Grey. Robert Pattinson was the target of fan backlash after Warner Bros. announced him as the new Batman. Same goes for Andrew Garfield being cast as Spider-Man. Even Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond earned scorn
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider
Warner Bros. Discovery and AT&T each ended the trading week with their respective shares selling at a 3% increase from where the stocks opened Monday. The newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery, born out of the $43 billion merger of Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia last Friday, started its first day on the Nasdaq at $24.08 per
Two months after the debut of musical rom-com “Marry Me,” starring Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson and Maluma, Bobby Crosby is getting another one of his Keenspot graphic novels adapted for the big screen. Israeli producer Uri Singer has secured the film and television rights to “Dreamless,” a Keenspot graphic novel by Crosby illustrated by Sarah
Kaley Cuoco recently confirmed to Glamour that she lost out on a much-desired role in Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out 2.” The actor went through a lengthy audition process, but was looked over in favor of Kate Hudson, who nabbed the part in the Netflix-backed murder mystery. Johnson shot the sequel in Greece with original star
The call list for Hollywood’s Barbie movie has grown longer than the Mattel icon’s resume. Since news broke that Margot Robbie would produce and star in the upcoming flick, fans have wondered what a live-action version of the Malibu princess’ world will look like. Back in 2019, at the premiere of “Once Upon a Time
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the latest attempt to expand J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world beyond Harry Potter, earned a respectable $6 million from Thursday previews. The production is on track to bring in more than $40 million in its opening weekend, which would be the weakest start for a Potter-adjacent movie. 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts
Memento International has acquired “Sick of Myself,” a movie by L.A.-based Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli which will world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Borgli previously directed the short films including “Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time” and “Eer” which played at Sundance. “Sick of Myself” stars Kristine Kujath Thorp (“Ninjababy”,
Pietro Marcello’s French-language period drama “Scarlet” is set to open the 54th edition of Cannes’ Directors Fortnight on May 18. Weaving musical and fantasy elements, the film is set in Northern Normandy, between the two world wars, a time of great inventions, and follows the journey of a young woman who was raised by her
Even the smallest feature-length film is a considerable logistical enterprise, so it’s a bit flummoxing how little thought appears to have been put into “Choose or Die.” While there have been worse-crafted, even more routinely formulaic Netflix horror efforts, this one takes the cake for sheer whateverness of barely-there plot, concept, character detailing and so
In the Italian town of Vejano, local hunters gather to share stories rich enough to inspire movies. Over the past decade, filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis have been dutifully documenting these sessions — some fact-based, others blurring the lines of reality — translating them to screen via films that entertain, while also
Leslie Grace is home in the U.S. after spending months overseas shooting “Batgirl,” the upcoming HBO Max film adaptation of the iconic crime fighter. She takes on the role of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the film, co-directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with a cast that includes J.K. Simmons as her father Commissioner Jim
Germany’s Deckert Distribution has picked up international rights for Taiwanese filmmaker Elvis A-Liang Lu’s sophomore feature “A Holy Family,” which world premiered in Visions du Réel’s international competition section. The film is a home-coming story about the director who returns to his village in Taiwan after a 24-year absence. His elder brother is a psychic
A few hours after unveiling Cannes Film Festival’s 2022 Official Selection on the Champs Elysees, artistic director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety to discuss the festival’s drive to not give in to calls for a cultural boycott of Russian films and filmmakers, efforts to have more female directors in competition, discussions to bring back
Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson’s action comedy “The Man From Toronto” is headed to Netflix, Variety has learned exclusively. The Sony Pictures production, originally dated for an August theatrical release, has sold in a worldwide rights deal to the streamer in all territories, barring China. The transfer falls under the exclusive first-look deal Sony signed