Movies

Freezing winter in a place designed for frolicsome summer can be a doleful time. A case in point: the empty hotels, shuttered waterparks and endless fog banks of the Italian beach town that gives Ulrich Seidl’s challenging but riveting Berlin competition film its name. Along with the hazy gray shoreline and lonely iced-over thoroughfares, they’re

Every so often, a movie comes along that sends culinarily inclined audiences into rapture — “Babette’s Feast,” “Big Night” or “Like Water for Chocolate” spring to mind — getting eyes glistening and mouths watering in anticipation of a meal that only the characters will ever taste. “Flux Gourmet” is not that foodie movie. In fact,

New York City and L.A.-based indie distributor 1091 Pictures, known for such hit releases as Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Spirit Awards winner “Christine” and knockout comedy “The Overnight,” has swooped in on rights to all English-speaking territories for psychedelic thriller “To the Moon.” The drama, sold by Yellow Veil Pictures, marks the directorial

Kevin Smith isn’t happy with the Academy for snubbing “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in the best picture race. Despite earning critical acclaim and being one of the highest-grossing films ever made with over $750 million in the U.S. and over $1.7 billion globally, the latest “Spider-Man” film earned just a single Oscar nomination. The film

Robert Pattinson joined GQ this week for a look back at his most iconic roles, including his turn as vampire Edward Cullen in the blockbuster “Twilight” movies. The actor filmed the original “Twilight” at 21 years old. The young Pattinson wanted the movie to be as edgy and emo as possible, which didn’t sit right with

Netflix has recently released Spain’s first film using LED volume technology, teen romantic drama “Through My Window” (“A Través de mi Ventana”). Produced by Adrian Guerra’s Nostromo Pictures alongside sister company Orca Studios, the Spanish-language film features real-time rendered CG scenes shot in-camera as part of its production. Its LED volume technology is the same

Come on, Simu Liu, let’s go party. The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star has been cast in “Barbie,” an upcoming Warner Bros. movie based on the popular doll. As previously announced, Margot Robbie is playing Barbie and Ryan Gosling is playing her boy toy Ken. It is not clear who Liu

It’s been a full decade since Dario Argento’s last directorial effort, not that “Dracula 3D” inspired much eagerness to see what he’d do next. Capping off a string of misfires, his ill-fated adaptation of Bram Stoker’s magnum opus suggested it might finally be time for the giallo master to hang it up. “Dark Glasses” won’t

Issa Rae, Cedric the Entertainer and Leslie Jones were among the attendees at the star-studded Chairman’s Party inside SoFi Stadium on Thursday night, grooving along as Usher commanded the stage. Just before heading into the event, Jones told Variety that she’s eagerly anticipating another concert — the Super Bowl LVI halftime show featuring Snoop Dogg,

The omicron wave has peaked across the country, and states including New York and California are once again easing up on their COVID restrictions. But in the entertainment industry, there is no rush to get back to “normal.” The studios and unions are largely holding firm on the set of COVID production protocols that has

The spirit of “Ghost” literally haunts “The In Between,” a romance about two high school students whose love affair is tragically cut short, including a cameo by the poster for the 1990 blockbuster which starred Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. This time, the star-crossed lovers are teenagers — Tessa (Joey King) and Skylar (Kyle Allen)

Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist are set to star in Luca Guadagnino’s new romantic drama “Challengers” at MGM. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” producer Amy Pascal is producing the film via her Pascal Pictures alongside Zendaya and Guadagnino. Playwright Justin Kuritzkes is penning the script. The film centers on the competitive

Classic glamour was costume designer Caroline Duncan’s goal when building the wardrobe for Jennifer Lopez, who plays global pop star Kat Valdez in “Marry Me.” In the Universal Pictures film, in theaters Feb. 11, Kat is one-half of a mega-celebrity couple and engaged to Bastian, played by singer Maluma. The two plan to get married

Newen, the Paris-headquartered production and distribution outfit owned by TF1 Group, has upped Karine Atlan to the position of executive VP of Newen Connect. Under her new role, Atlan will spearhead co-productions and international acquisitions for Newen Connect, the company’s distribution arm. The executive was previously in charge of acquisitions and co-productions content and was

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced its plans for the third annual Global Movie Day on Saturday. Global Movie Day, which was established in 2020 and is celebrated every second Saturday of February, was created as a way for film fans around the world to celebrate their love of film by

Tyler Perry’s previous Madea movies have raked in more than $600 million at the box office. But a theatrical debut for “A Madea Homecoming,” which launches Feb. 25 on Netflix, was never part of his conversation with the company. “I didn’t even think about it. They’re a streaming service, and I understand the importance of

Josh Brolin has a bone to pick with the Academy after it nominated “Dune” for 10 Oscars but shut out filmmaker Denis Villeneuve from the director category. “Dune” landed in the best picture race and earned nominations in every individual crafts category, which made Villeneuve’s omission one of the biggest nomination snubs of the year.

Olivia Mascheroni has joined Verve Ventures. She will be part of a growing independent sales and financing team that is led by Amy Beecroft and Ross Putman. Mascheroni most recently served as director of Ddvelopment at Madre Venturers, a venture capital firm, and served as executive of new media at The Blacklist prior to that.

Spain has two films in this year’s main competition at the Berlinale, and a record haul of films participating across all sections. Similarly, the country boasts an impressive list of productions looking for buyers at the festival’s EFM. Below, a list of standouts from Spain looking to make moves on the global market. “Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez) A

For the third year in a row, Spain trails only France in the number of animated projects set to pitch in March at Bordeaux’s 2022 Cartoon Movie, a key international event for the artform. Spanish producers will bring 10 feature projects to the event, including two from Lorena Ares and Carlos Fernández de Vigo in “Moonbeam” and “DinoGames,”

The success of Spain’s regional talent peppers the country’s record-setting Berlinale presence. Both movies in Competition – Isaki Lacuesta’s “One Year, One Night” and Carla Simón’s “Alcarrás” – are made by Catalan directors and are Catalan co-productions. From the Panorama section, “Lullaby” is a Basque and Lois Patiño, whose short “El sembrador de estrellas” competes

Post-COVID, Spanish sales companies look poised for a comeback to the global scene. Although, as Berlin’s EFM has gone virtual once again, their long-awaited physical reunion with the international industry will have to wait until Cannes… hopefully. An argument for optimism: Spanish-language films continue gaining ground on the global market, especially as platforms boom. Standout examples include Galder

Since 2018, Spain’s film and TV industries has gone through a revolution. Accustomed to the success of standout movie auteurs – Almodóvar, Amenabar and Trueba – for two decades or more Spain has blown U.S. shows out of its domestic free-to-air primetime and been one of the world’s most successful exporter of fiction TV formats. Now, Spain’s place

FESTIVAL The 36th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will open with Alli Haapasalo’s “Girl Picture” and close with Kevin Hegge‘s documentary “Tramps!” “Girl Picture,” which won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance in January and will screen at the Berlinale next week, follows three girls at the cusp of womanhood.

Cannes’ Marché du Film, the world’s biggest film market, is set to change leadership in 2023 with its long-time, charismatic executive director Jerome Paillard due to exit after this year’s edition. Guillaume Esmiol has been named co-executive director for this edition and will fully take over in 2023. Esmiol joined the Marché du Film in

The European Film Market studio in Berlin, used to shoot many of the virtual event’s online sessions, has been temporarily shut down following a break-in on Thursday night. Sources tell Variety that key pieces of equipment were stolen from the Berliner Freiheit studio near Potsdamer Platz — the festival’s busy hub in central Berlin —

The trailer for Gu∂mundur Arnar Gu∂mundsson’s teen drama “Beautiful Beings” has debuted ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The film, which plays in Panorama, is being sold by Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales. “Beautiful Beings” was shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, the cinematographer on Oscar winner “Another

“Gotham” star Ben McKenzie and “Instinct” actress Bojana Novakovic are attached to star in the new J-horror film “Bloat,” Variety can reveal. Produced by Bazelevs, the production banner of Screenlife pioneer Timur Bekmambetov (“Unfriended,” “Searching,” “Profile”), “Bloat” is a co-production with Russian streaming platform Okko, French production and sales house Pulsar Content (“The Deep House”),

As the first film from the director of “Amélie” in nearly a decade, “Bigbug” is kind of a big deal. Sadly, it’s also a big disappointment — easily the most obnoxious Netflix original in some time, owing to the company’s trust in a director whose overactive imagination demands some kind of boundaries. At precisely the

British auteur Peter Strickland is back with his fifth feature, “Flux Gourmet,” and it is as striking and uncompromising as his previous body of work, which includes “In Fabric” (2018), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012) and “Katalin Varga” (2009). “Flux Gourmet” world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters strand on