WarnerMedia has been owned by telco giant AT&T for less than four years and it will soon have a new parent company — likely by the end of next month. Discovery’s shareholder vote on the acquisition of WarnerMedia is set for today during a special meeting of stockholders set for 10 a.m. ET. The deal
Movies
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “On the Edge,” a Belgian crime thriller by Giordano Gederlini (“Les Miserables”) from Le Pacte. The deal was negotiated by Kino Lorber senior VP Wendy Lidell and Le Pacte’s head of sales Camille Neel out of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema market. The event, which runs from
606 Distribution and the BFI have partnered to organize a series of preview charity screenings of Elie Grappe’s Cannes winning film “Olga.” From each ticket sold, a donation will be made to support Ukraine via the Disasters Emergency Committee. The film, about a young female Ukrainian gymnast forced to train in exile, had its U.K.
Leading Latin American animation studio Pinguim Content have inked a deal with LA-based sales agent MultiVisionnaire Pictures to represent “Tarsilinha” internationally. “Tarsilinha” is the award-winning animated children’s feature based on the whimsical worlds created by Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral. The 90-minute long 2D/3D hybrid pic tells the story of an 8-year-old girl who finds
The BAFTAs had a challenging year in 2021, ricocheting among progress, stasis and scandal, and ending up somewhere in the middle. Their mission, following an outcry over the previous year’s white ceremony — with no acting nominees of color, no women up for the director prize, and Sam Mendes’ “1917” prevailing over Bong Joon Ho’s
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled its VdR-Industry selection, which includes 27 projects in different stages of production. The works will be invited to participate in three key forums – VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab – that run as part of the fest’s industry activities in Nyon from April
From the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker David France (“How to Survive a Plague”) could sense the scale of the threat looming on the horizon. A long-time health reporter who has spent decades documenting the battle against HIV and AIDS, he also knew that it would be up to science to
Viaplay has ordered a third and final season of “Face to Face,” the popular Danish psychological crime drama starring Lars Mikkelsen (“The Witcher,” “House of Cards”). “Face to Face” is created and directed by Christoffer Boe (“Warrior,” “A Taste of Hunger”) and produced by Miso Film. The new season will premiere exclusively on Viaplay later
“Silence. Darkness.” Those two words appear up front in most of Neil Labute’s stageplays, though his latest feature, “House of Darkness,” opens with a more playful “Once Upon a Time …” The film — Labute’s first in a bumpy seven-year stretch since “Dirty Weekend,” during which the provocateur was abruptly dropped by longtime Off Broadway
Imagine that you’re a makeup artist or a production manager on a Marvel movie. You’re working long hours and barely have time to shop for groceries or get in any exercise, let alone do yardwork or socialize. But what if your house was a pleasant 10-minute stroll from the studio, during which you passed a
The hustle and bustle of awards season is nearing an end, with Oscar voting getting underway on March 17. So naturally, every contender is looking to gain an advantage, and the BAFTA and Critics Choice ceremonies, which take place March 13, provide that opportunity. At CCA, Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”
Samuel L. Jackson found out on “The Tonight Show” (via Uproxx) this week that he does not hold the record for most curse words said by an actor on screen. A viral Buzz Bingo survey published in May 2020 reported that Jonah Hill had said more curse words in his movies than Jackson, who is
In director Janus Metz’s “All the Old Knives,” Chris Pine plays a CIA agent who reconnects with a former colleague and lover (Thandiwe Newton) to find out what she knows about a terrorist hijacking of plane that occurred eight years prior. The Amazon drama, based on Olen Steinhauer’s 2015 novel of the same name, is
Belfast native Ciarán Hinds finally received the recognition he’s deserved with an Oscar nomination for his role in the Focus Features picture “Belfast.” Hinds’ career has spanned over 120 films and television series, but he tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast that knew when he began to read writer and director Kenneth Branagh’s script for “Belfast”
Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey’s Moxie Films has partnered with Imagine Documentaries to develop and co-produce a slate of new nonfiction fare. The partnership with the nonfiction division of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and Moxie Films is a multi-year agreement. Headed by Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes, Imagine Documentaries recently co-produced Kennedy’s
Locksmith Animation’s “Ron’s Gone Wrong” has won the award for best long form at the British Animation Awards 2022. Locksmith, which was founded by by Aardman Animations veterans Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart alongside Elisabeth Murdoch, picked up the award at a ceremony in London on Thursday evening. The awards took place at London’s BFI
After a two-year hiatus, SXSW will have a triumphant and long-awaited in-person return this week. The celebration of movies, music, and tech boasts such a sprawling lineup of premieres, concerts and talks that it can be pretty overwhelming. To help separate the “can’t miss” from the “why bother,” our team on the ground in Austin has polled
BAFTA president Prince William is set to miss the BAFTA Awards for the second year running. Despite the fact the ceremony is set to take place at the Royal Albert Hall, which is practically a stone’s throw from the prince’s Kensington Palace home, William will skip the ceremony on Sunday, March 13. Instead, the prince
Independent finance and production company SSS Entertainment is launching a sales arm dubbed The Syndicate, offering titles including two films starring and directed by Katie Holmes and Neil Labute’s “House of Darkness” starring Justin Long and Kate Bosworth. Shaun Sanghani, owner and CEO of SSS Entertainment, says the company will focus on “using its depth
At this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, three documentaries – Camille Hardman and Gary Lane’s “Still Working 9 to 5,” Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” and Ron Howard’s “We Feed People” – use a celebrity lens to take a deep dive into hot button political issues. Hardman’s “Still Working
Cedric Jimenez’s action thriller “The Stronghold” won the Cesar Award which was voted on by nearly 2,000 students from French high schools in France, the U.K., Mayotte and Japan. The Studiocanal film, which was produced by Hugo Sélignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, a Mediawan company, was nominated for seven Cesar Awards, including best film and two
Everyone has their own personal moment when the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic finally hit home. Maybe it was the halt to the NBA season. Or a personal encounter with sickness. For the entertainment business, nothing brought the gravity of the situation into such stark relief as seeing the city of Austin cancel the 2020
The showcase of four immersive titles from Taiwan at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival symbolizes a strong boost to the island’s confidence in developing XR (extended reality) content among a new generation of curators, according to the industry insiders behind some of the featured works. “[The selection] shows that the new generation of
Look through the list of this year’s Oscar nominees in the animated feature category and you’ll find each hero’s journey hinges on the same thing — family. They’re either struggling to break free, trying to find their place in the world or looking back on a mystery. In every case, it’s messy. Most of the
The Sun Valley Film Festival, which will be returning in-person for its 11th annual event from March 30 to April 3, has announced additional awards and films that will be screened this year. Variety will present this year’s Pioneer Award to Danny Strong on April 1. As a writer, director, actor and producer, Strong has
Peter Facinelli, Angela Sarafyan, Idara Victor, Tanaya Beatty and Grant Roberts have joined the cast of Adam VillaSeñor’s “Yesteryear.” They round out an ensemble that also includes the previously announced Q’orianka Kicher, Wes Studi and Nick Cassavetes. The film follows Alma Deswood, a young Indigineous woman (Kilcher) who psychologically unravels in quarantine. With the world
Rob Zombie’s upcoming “The Munsters” reboot is rated PG, the filmmaker announced on Instagram this week. The rating makes sense given that “The Munsters” is based on the family-oriented sitcom that gained popularity in the 1960s, but many fans speculated what kind of “Munsters” film the reboot would be given the involvement of Zombie. The
Feature-length documentary “Outside,” directed by the Ukrainian director Olha Zhurba, has debuted its trailer, ahead of its premiere in the main competition section of the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX). The film tells the story of the turbulent youth of Roma, a 13-year-old street boy neglected by his family and the state, who becomes
Chloe x Halle are championing emerging filmmakers through Neutrogena Studios’ First Frame Program, which released two short films — “En Avant” and “If My Voice Rang Louder Than My Skin” — on Thursday. Both films, produced in partnership with the nonprofit Ghetto Film School, address the First Frame Program’s mission of spotlighting experiences surrounding skin
Netflix unveiled its 2022 slate of 25 French Originals, as well as projects including the second and third instalments of its action movie “Lost Bullet,” and “En Place,” a comedy series created by Jean-Pascal Zadi (“Tout simplement Noir”) and Francois Uzan. The company said it will invest more than €200 million ($220 million) in 2022