Movies

88Rising co-founder Jaeson Ma and Anonymous Content executive producer Eric Tu are joining forces to launch EST Studios, an independent finance, production and sales outfit geared towards the Asian marketplace. Launching just ahead of the European Film Market — which officially kicks off Feb. 10 — the company specializes in premium film and episodic content.

Parkland Entertainment have acquired U.K. and Eire rights to Charles Dance starrer “The Book of Vision.” Parkland plan to release the film theatrically later in 2022. Directed by Carlo S. Hintermann, the psychological thriller sees Eva (played by “Outlander’s” Lotte Verbeek) star as a young doctor who leaves her career behind to take up a

The year 2022 has started out strong for Netflix in Arabic-speaking countries, where its edgy originals are making a punchy debut. The streamer’s first Arab original film, “Perfect Strangers,” sparked an uproar in socially conservative Egypt due to its portrayal of a gay male character and taboo storylines. Meanwhile, “Finding Ola” toplines Cairo-based Tunisian star Hend

The Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, or CPH:DOX as it is known, has announced it will open with “Into the Ice” by Lars Henrik Ostenfeld. A striking film about Greenland’s melting ice sheet, it follows the director on his travels alongside three pioneering glaciologists into the bowels of one of the most hostile places on

Multihyphenate M. Night Shyamalan is eager to get started on his role as the Berlin Film Festival’s competition jury president. “Part of going to film festivals and seeing these movies is I’m with the very best storytellers that are telling the most different and original stories in their own way,” Shyamalan said. “I’m sure 18

Sheryl Crow, Nick Cave, King Crimson, Dio, XXXTentacion, Tanya Tucker, Chumbawamba, Courtney Barnett, Cesária Évora and Mojo Nixon — together again for the first time: These are some of the highly diverse subjects of a slate of music documentaries (or, in the case of Tierra Whack, a fictional film) set to unspool at the South

Spike Lee is set to direct a multi-part documentary on athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films, Variety has confirmed. Production has started on the documentary, which was first announced in July 2020 as part of Kaepernick’s first-look deal with Walt Disney through his production company, Ra Vision Media. “Kaepernick, who has never given a full,

Ahead of the Oscar nominations announcement, the Academy CEO is touting the largest turnout of voters of its nearly 10,000-person membership in its 94-year history. Following the close of Oscar nomination voting, which ended Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. PT, Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO, sent an email to the membership to praise its “highest ever participation

With Oscar nominations just around the corner — they’ll be announced on Feb. 8 — pundits wonder if Academy members will embrace a superhero movie by giving a best picture nod to “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Variety’s film awards editor Clayton Davis wrote in a Dec. 23 column headlined “Can ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Swing

The small and powerful Sundance drama “A Love Song” has found worldwide distribution in Sony’s Stage 6 Films and Bleecker Street, Variety has learned exclusively. The acclaimed two-hander about love, loss and loneliness is led by Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone,” “Hell or High Water”) and honorary Academy Award winner Wes Studi (“Hostiles,” “The Last of

Roland Emmerich, the blockbuster filmmaker behind “Independence Day,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and the upcoming “Moonfall,” credited “Star Wars” and superhero movies pumped out by Marvel and DC as “ruining” the film industry. Emmerich’s “Moonfall,” backed by Lionsgate and made on a reported budget in the $140 million range, is the increasingly-rare example of an

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Actor John Bradley is still defending the controversial “Game of Thrones” series finale against its very harsh critics, even more than two years after the show ended. “It is highly unlikely that we were ever going to please everybody,” the actor, who played Samwell Tarly on the long-running

Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson have joined forces with producer Shane McAnally to record a very different version of the Parton classic “9 to 5” as a duet for an upcoming documentary, “Still Working 9 to 5,” just announced for a premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. The documentary’s premiere at

Following its premiere at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, Aubrey Plaza’s crime thriller “Emily the Criminal” has been sold to Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment. The movie is slated to release exclusively in theaters in 2022. Redbox Entertainment has home entertainment rights. An exact release date has not been scheduled yet. John Patton Ford

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will reveal its nominations tomorrow and we’re expecting anarchy, at least in the acting categories. Beefing up its membership considerably over the last few years, and instituting jury methods to the voting process in performance and director categories last year, yielded an unexpected field of contenders

NBCUniversal announced Wednesday the launch of its California Below-the-Line Traineeship, which gives on-set experience and mentorship to underrepresented talent behind the camera. The program debuted with six trainees last year on the Southern California set of Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” which is being produced by Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. “In line with our efforts to provide more

Channing Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin aren’t just the brains — and brawn — behind “Magic Mike.” They’ve built up their company Free Association into a place to go for innovative storytelling, including the road trip movie “Dog” (which opens on Feb. 18), which they co-directed; the Starz TV series “Step Up: Highwater”;

Two VR films from Taiwan have been selected to play at the XR Experience section of the South by Southwest (SXSW) content festival, organizers announced on Wednesday. Concert film “Beatday – the Beginning – Mini VR Concert’ and stop-motion animation “The Sick Rose” have been hits on the festival scene, since they premiered at last

Twice thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the SXSW Film Festival is making a major return to form this year — featuring premium studio projects from Sandra Bullock and Pete Davidson, notable indies and docs, and a closing night premiere from the new season of Donald Glover’s “Atlanta.” In 2020, the Austin-based conference was the first

“Kompromat,” an anticipated spy thriller directed by Jerome Salle (“Zulu,” “L’Odyssée”) with Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”) and Joanna Kulig (“Cold War”), has been sold by SND to distributors in key territories. Inspired by a true story, “Kompromat” stars Lellouche as a French diplomat working in Siberia who discovers he is being framed by the FBS

Will this be the weekend that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is dethroned at the box office once and for all? Paramount’s go-for-broke action comedy “Jackass Forever” and director Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic “Moonfall” certainly hope that’s the case. After an excruciatingly slow January at the movies, one that let “Spider-Man” tower over the competition for

“John Wick” fans may not have seen the last of Halle Berry’s ex-assassin Sofia, although they certainly won’t be seeing her when “John Wick: Chapter 4” arrives in theaters on May 24, 2023. Berry confirmed in an interview with IGN this week that she is not appearing in the next “John Wick” movie. The Oscar

Paraguayan filmmaker Paz Encina’s “Eami” – being sold by MPM Premium – has won the top Tiger Award and a €40,000 cash prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the festival announced Wednesday. The 51st edition of the Dutch event, forced online due to the Omicron wave, will wrap on Sunday. The jury, made

Producer and financier Anton (“Greenland,” “The Night House”) has hired Leslie Chen as senior VP, international distribution and sales and has elevated consultant Louis Balsan to executive VP, international distribution and acquisitions. They will be part of Anton’s German office and will report into Paris-based Cécile Gaget, president of international production and distribution. Chen and

In case the first trailer for Robert Eggers’ 10th century viking epic “The Northman” didn’t make it clear enough, Alexander Skarsgard has undergone one serious transformation to play a prince seeking revenge for the murder of his father. Skarsgard is known for his muscular physique, but he’s taken things to a new level with his

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired “Coma,” the latest film by celebrated French director Bertrand Bonello (“Saint Laurent”). “Coma” will have its world premiere premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Encounters section. Weaving genre, animation and live action, the stylish movie boasts an exciting cast including Louise Labeque (“Zombi Child”) and Julia

Tanya Easterman has been named chief executive officer of Jumpline Group. Jumpline is a full-service event, experiential and partnerships agency. It also operates Behind The Line, which focuses on developing and producing original content for studios, networks, and brands. Easterman joins Jumpline Group having spent more than a decade in the entertainment industry working for

Italian actress Monica Vitti, best known internationally for starring in Michelangelo Antonioni’s breakthrough cinematic trilogy “L’Avventura,” “La Notte” and “L’Eclisse,” as well as in the director’s “Red Desert,” has died. She was 90. The news of her death was tweeted by former Rome mayor and film critic Walter Veltroni on Wednesday. Roberto Russo, il suo

The British Film Institute (BFI) will fund wellbeing facilitators on all projects that it backs, the organization confirmed today. First introduced onto BFI productions in 2021, wellbeing facilitators are becoming increasingly popular in the industry as it seeks to tackle issues such as harassment and bullying. Although they are distinct from counsellors and therapists, wellbeing

Stockholm-based production house Hobab whose buzzy Cannes Directors’ Fortnight “Clara Sola” was snapped by New-York-based Oscilloscope Laboratories, is ramping up its ambitions, with female-led projects. “Our vision is to combine arthouse sensitivity with mainstream appeal, and to help talents – both Nordic and international – grow with care,” said Nima Yousefi, producer and joint owner with