Movies

At 81, Italian horror maestro Dario Argento is busier than ever. The director of a string of cult chiller classics starting in the 1970s, including “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage,” “Suspiria” and “Deep Red,” was at Cannes last July with his acting debut in Gaspar Noe’s “Vortex,” about a pair of old lovers. Argento

Lola Arabia, the United Arab Emirates label of Oscar-winning Spanish producer Andrés Vicente Gómez (“Belle Epoque”), has struck a 12-movie co-production deal with Dubai-based Charisma Group. The alliance will take in a range of titles, from $2 million-budgeted contemporary comedies to banner productions budgeted at $40 million, revolving around contemporary and historic stories of West

Undeterred by the pandemic, the wheels of Switzerland’s film production machine kept on spinning in 2021, churning out the meticulously made multicultural co-productions the country is known for that scored slots at top festivals. Works by young directors such as Elie Grappe, whose coming-of-age drama “Olga” launched at Cannes; Niccolò Castelli’s terrorism-themed “Atlas,” which bowed

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

While the Korean film business faces challenges, 2022 does offer a bumper crop of Korean movies from big-name filmmakers. Here are some of the best: The Apartment With Two Women (Finecut) Kim-se In’s debut drama unspools in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section. Broker (CJ Entertainment) “Shoplifters” director Kore-eda Hirokazu examines the trade in children

Almost two years since “Parasite” won a handful of Oscars, the impact of COVID has meant that the Korean theatrical sector has been largely unable to capitalize on the trickle-down effect of those wins.Its current malaise stands in contrast to the pandemic windfalls enjoyed by other parts of the Korean entertainment biz — think BTS,

Matthew McConaughey had us fooled for a second. His new commercial for Salesforce, which he co-created and premiered during the Olympics, opens with the Oscar winner in an astronaut’s suit, making the spot look like it could be a trailer for a sequel to his 2014 film “Interstellar.” “I wanted this misdirect at the beginning,”

The SF Studios comedy “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, has been acquired by Sony Pictures for $60 million. The sale marks the largest deal to date at the virtual European Film Market, surpassing Netflix’s $55 million acquisition of “The Pale Blue Eye” last year. Directed by Marc Forster, “A Man Called Otto” sparked

To go out to a movie in Los Angeles, patrons must show proof of COVID vaccination. The same applies for sitting in a restaurant or going to a gym or getting a haircut. When Hollywood’s brightest stars gather for the Academy Awards on March 27, they will not face a vaccine requirement. But the same

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are down the Oscar road again as producers on the animated feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” receiving an Academy Award nomination earlier this week. However, their nomination wasn’t a given because the duo has clear memories of being snubbed in 2014’s “The Lego Movie.” On this edition of the

To many, Dante Basco is known as Rufio in Steven Spielberg’s “Hook.” Reality TV fans will remember him on “Hell’s Kitchen,” but over the years he has turned his hand to producing, directing and writing. In “The Fabulous Filipino Brothers,” out now on-demand, he directs and stars, along with his brothers Derek Basco, Dionysio Basco,

In the new Amazon rom-com “I Want You Back,” Pete Davidson has a small but very memorable cameo where he gives partygoers molly, gets on a roof, strips off his clothes and jumps into a jacuzzi. At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, director Jason Orley revealed how he snagged the “SNL” star last minute for

Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron’s onscreen chemistry sizzles in “Mad Max: Fury Road,” but what is it like to experience that chemistry in person? For “Fury Road” casting director Ronna Kress, the answer is downright overwhelming. As part of Kyle Buchanan’s upcoming oral history book “Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of

Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames star in thriller “The Locksmith,” which has just wrapped principal photography in Las Cruces, NM. Variety has been given access to a first-look exclusive image of the film, being sold at the European Film Market by Arclight Films. Veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard makes his feature film debut

As far-right sentiment surges in France ahead of April’s presidential elections — and lawmakers continue to concern themselves with hijab bans — the time is urgently right for artists to challenge the country’s enduring history of Islamophobia. On the face of it, “Nobody’s Hero” seems like a useful contribution in that regard. Set amid the

Transforming Margot Robbie into Harley Quinn for “The Suicide Squad” often took two people, with makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir leading the way by channeling a rock star. Thorisdottir is nominated for a Make-up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Award for best contemporary makeup in a feature-length motion picture. In Warner Bros.’ summer release, Harley Quinn

Karen Toliver has joined Netflix as vice president of animated film, Variety has learned exclusively. The former Sony Pictures Animation senior vice president will join the streamer in March reporting to Melissa Cobb, VP of the kids and family division. She’ll be responsible for two to three animated features annually and will work alongside fellow

“Insecure” creator and star Issa Rae has been named the recipient of the Producers Guild Awards’ 2022 Visionary Award. The Visionary Award honors producers across television, film or new media who share inspiring, uplifting stories that add unique value to society and culture. Past recipients include: Octavia Spencer, Kenya Barris, Ava DuVernay, Brad Pitt, Dede

“Vengeance,” a darkly comedic thriller starring Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher, is coming to theaters this summer. Focus Features has scheduled the film to open on July 29. It will hit the big screen on the same day as Dwayne Johnson’s superhero adventure “Black Adam,” from Warner Bros. “The Office” alum B.J. Novak wrote and

How do you make something real out of something that was artificial to begin with? Should you even try? François Ozon has, with “Peter von Kant”: a deconstructed, gender-swapped and then fastidiously reconstructed overhaul of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.” 50 years on, Fassbinder’s film remains as close to un-remake-able

Ryan Reynolds is ready to go back to the past. Netflix has released the first trailer for “The Adam Project,” a new sci-fi action movie starring Reynolds and directed by Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things,” “Free Guy”). The film stars Reynolds as Adam Reed, a fighter jet pilot from the future. After an accident sends him

Altered Innocence has picked up all U.S. rights to Isabelle Stever’s sixth feature film “Grand Jeté” prior to its premiere on Friday in the Panorama section of Berlinale. The film stars Sarah Nevada Grether as Nadja, a woman who has estranged herself from her young son in order to be able to concentrate on her

Joey King tries not to take her work home, especially when she has to shoot tearful and intense emotional scenes like she had to often do for “The In Between.” In the new Paramount Plus drama, King plays a high school senior who is visited by the ghost of her boyfriend (Kyle Allen) after he’s

MK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Nezouh,” from Syrian director Soudade Kaadan. The drama, set against the backdrop of the conflict in Damascus, marks Kaadan’s follow up to her 2018 feature debut, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which won the Lion of the Future

Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for “Jurassic World: Dominion,” the third film of the “Jurassic World” series and sixth installment of the “Jurassic Park” franchise, which will premiere in theaters June 10. “Jurassic World: Dominion” is set in the present day, around four years after “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” Following the destruction of

Trinity Cine Asia has acquired rights to mainland Chinese blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” for release in the U.K. and Ireland. The deal was struck with sales agency Distribution Workshop. Trinity plans an almost immediate release from Feb, 18, 2022, barely two weeks after the film launched in Chinese theaters on Feb. 1,

The impact of COVID-19 was ingrained throughout the annual financial results of CJ ENM, the most diversified entertainment company in South Korea. Music gained ground, while film was lossmaking. Similarly, the group’s streaming business rapidly grew its top line, but its heavy investment costs kept the unit in the red. For the year to end

In a year when a festival darling like Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” was able to garner four Oscar nominations, including best picture, questions for the Berlin Film Festival jury — which includes Hamaguchi — centered on the role of film festivals in connecting both arthouse and mainstream audiences. Declaring that he “felt like a

Media giant Mediaset has acquired Italian distribution rights to Spanish writer-director Benito Zambrano’s drama “Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake,” produced and sold by Barcelona-based studio Filmax. News of the deal comes just before Filmax screens “Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake” to buyers at this year’s online European Film Market. Described as high-quality cinema for adults

Orange Studio has signed a two-year distribution deal with the aggregation company Under The Milky Way. The pact will allow the outfit to handle the distribution of titles from Orange Studio’s library across English-speaking territories as well as Latin America on transactional VOD services such as Amazon, PlutoTV, Roku and Tubi. The first films which