Movies

Ghetto Film School (GFS) and Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) have announced the six finalists selected for the SNF 25th anniversary Humanity Inspires Tech filmmaking challenge, with the winners receiving a $3,000 production award to enhance their projects. Each fellow was asked to tell stories about the connection between technology and humanity in two minutes, through

Jane Alsobrook, an influential film executive, producer and publicist whose marketing work led to the success of numerous films in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, died Dec. 13 at her home in Sedona, Ariz. of breast cancer. She was 78. Alsobrook’s career in movies began in 1971. She was recruited to help organize the Los

Adele’s reign atop the album chart is over, at least temporarily, as the music of Disney’s “Encanto” took over the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, becoming the first film or TV soundtrack to reach that peak in more than two years. The animated movie’s popularity after its debut on the Disney Plus streaming

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has reassured comic book movie fans that Matt Reeves’ highly anticipated “The Batman” is still on track for its March 4 theatrical release, despite the omicron variant surge. Given that Sony pushed its comic book tentpole “Morbius” from January to April, and Disney announced its Pixar title “Turning Red” will skip

Chinese director Gu Xiaogang on Monday announced the follow-up to his well-received first feature “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” — the closing night selection for Cannes Critics’ Week in 2019 — entitled “Dwelling by the West Lake.” The film will be produced by Chuxiao Pictures and executive produced by Chen Caiyun, off a script from

Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing has acquired award-winning feature films “Definition Please” and “Donkeyhead” and will debut them on Netflix. ARRAY has acquired distribution rights to both films in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand, with the additional territory of Canada for “Definition Please,” and will debut them on Jan. 21 on Netflix. Both films

How many new filmmakers attempt to break through every year? A hundred? A thousand? For 25 years — ever since a pair of up-and-comers named Wes Anderson and Alfonso Cuarón made the cut back in 1997 — Variety has been curating an annual list of just 10 helmers who stand out from the crowd, breakthrough

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) announced that his latest film “Final Cut” will no longer premiere as part of the Sundance lineup after the film festival canceled its in-person component. In a statement, Hazanavicius and the team of filmmakers explained their decision to be pull the project. “We fully support Sundance’s decision to move

Makeup artist Sarah Tanno has done almost every look imaginable on Lady Gaga, but her biggest challenge came when Gaga signed on to play Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci.” The actor told her friend and collaborator that she didn’t want to see herself on screen, she wanted to disappear into the role.

Team, As we begin the New Year, I want to share our mission and the strategic pillars that will be key to our success—but first, I want to start 2022 on a note of gratitude for all of you, your talent, dedication, and optimism during the most disruptive time in our company’s history. Thanks to

SND is set to launch sales on Patrice Leconte’s period detective film “Maigret,” as well as high concept comedy “Employee of the Month” and French thriller “Spiral” at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, a showcase of French content hosted this week in Paris. “Maigret,” based on Georges Simenon’s literary masterpiece, will star Gérard Depardieu (“Cyrano

Justin Hurwitz, the Oscar-winning composer of the score to “La La Land,” sued William Morris Endeavor on Monday, alleging that the agency cheated him out of the profits of a series of live performances based on the film. In the suit, Hurwitz alleges that WME had a conflict of interest because it produced the shows

Variety, in partnership with MGM Studios and United Artists Releasing, is hosting an exclusive digital experience featuring Variety Streaming Room panel videos with the stars and creators behind the critically acclaimed films “No Time to Die”, “House of Gucci,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Respect” and “Cyrano.” New exclusive content will be released weekly on the microsite throughout

Grindstone Entertainment Group, a division of Lionsgate, has acquired the North American rights to the upcoming World War II action-thriller “Wolf Hound.” The movie will see a multi-platform release this summer. “Wolf Hound” marks the feature film directorial debut of Michael B. Chait and boasts a screenplay by co-producer Timothy Ritchey and a story by

The basic idea at the heart of the animated “Hotel Transylvania” movies has never exactly been dignifying toward some of cinema history’s most feared classical monsters. The blood-thirsty Count Dracula reimagined as a fretting, overprotective dad straight out of “Father of the Bride”? A shy Invisible Man, a phobic Frankenstein, a toilet-clogging Bigfoot and a

Imagine Entertainment has elevated executives Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns to co-presidents, giving them full creative control of scripted film and television. Hernandez and Burns currently run the buzzy production shingle Jax Media, in which Imagine took a majority ownership stake in 2018. They will continue to operate Jax in addition to developing and producing

A Sundance-bound documentary starring Alan Cumming as one of Scotland’s most notorious imposters has been picked up for world sales by doc specialists Dogwoof. Directed by Jono McLeod (“Being Stavros,” “The National Pet Service”) in his debut feature, “My Old School” will premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23. Produced by Hopscotch

Park Kiyong, film director and university professor, has been appointed as head of the powerful Korean Film Council (Kofic). He takes over from Kim Young-jin, who only headed the organization for a year. Park, who was on the board of Kofic since last year, currently teaches at Dankook University’s Graduate School of Culture and Arts.

DOCUMENTARY Channel 4-backed U.K. independent content production company Spirit Studios has teamed with James Watt, co-founder of multinational brewery BrewDog, to produce “Mission Finpossible,” a drama documentary aiming to to highlight the issues facing the world’s shark species. Humans kill over 120 million sharks a year, mainly for their fins for soup and many shark

Isabelle Huppert, the Oscar-nominated actor of “Elle,” is set to reteam with French director Jean-Paul Salomé (“Mama Weed”) on the French thriller “The Sitting Duck.” The movie, produced by Bertrand Faivre at Le Bureau and co-produced by Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm, boasts a stellar cast, which also includes Benoit Magimel, Marina Fois, Alexandra Maria Lara,

Pulsar Content (“The Deep House”) has secured worldwide sales on “Dragon Princess,” an ambitious animated feature produced by Ankama, the thriving French studio behind the international franchises “Dofus” and “Wakfu.” Directed by Jean-Jacques Denis (“Dofus”) and Anthony Roux, “Dragon Princess” tells the story of Bristle, a little girl who is being raised by dragons. When

The Golden Globes were held with no pomp and circumstance in a room devoid of celebrities, red carpets and splashy media coverage. Instead, winners were live-tweeted on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s social media channels, with the show focusing on philanthropy. Netflix was the night’s big winner in film, while HBO led in TV, and

It took three minutes to access the Beverly Hilton driving westbound on Santa Monica Blvd. from Beverly Hills this Sunday. Any other year on Golden Globes night, it would’ve been a nightmare of street closures, clunky shuttle buses, snipers on rooftops, and the reliable gaggle of Westboro Baptist Church protesters promising Hollywood that it will

Ramin Setoodeh will be elevated to Co-Editor-In-Chief of Variety in the coming months, working alongside world-class journalist Cynthia Littleton to lead the editorial operations of the venerable entertainment business news brand. Littleton and Setoodeh will co-run the newsroom and oversee editorial activities across all Variety platforms. “Cynthia is one of the most intelligent and highly-regarded journalists in the industry. She possesses a rare

Bob Saget, a stand-up comedian and actor beloved for his role as Danny Tanner on the 1990’s sitcom “Full House,” died Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Orlando, Fla., police confirmed to Variety. He was 65. Shortly after 4 p.m., police officers responded to a man down call at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes hotel

After a rocky 2021 in China, Hollywood kicked off 2022 with its first revenue-share studio release of the year in Disney’s lush animated movie “Encanto.” The musical family film conjured up $3.22 million in the Middle Kingdom, according to data from the Maoyan platform. The Colombia-set musical about the boisterous Madrigal family and their magical

The Golden Globes are on Sunday night, but no one will be able to see it because NBC canceled its broadcast of the ceremony following an avalanche of controversy for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. After much scrutiny, the group announced multiple plans for changes and diversity reforms in its organization. One of the changes

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is still breaking box office records. Sony’s latest web-slinging Marvel adventure has grossed $1.53 billion worldwide, cementing its place as the eighth-highest grossing movie ever at the global box office (not adjusted for inflation). Over the weekend, “No Way Home” generated another $64 million internationally and $33 million domestically, enough to

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association failed to attract any celebrities to announce the winners of this year’s Golden Globes, so the group has turned to its grant recipients for some help. Staff members of various non-profits supported by the HFPA have been enlisted as presenters for Sunday’s awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton hotel. “The

Dwayne Bernard Hickman, an actor, producer and television director best known for his starring role in the 1950s and ’60s sitcom “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” died of complications related to Parkinson’s disease on Sunday. He was 87 years old. Hickman’s death was confirmed to Variety by the actor’s public relations head Harlan Boll. Born