Movies

Colombian director Jaime Osorio Márquez, who served as creator, director and showrunner on HBO Max’s first Colombian series, “A Thousand Fangs” (“Mil Colmillos”), chose to die by assisted suicide on Friday in Colombia, where euthanasia is legal. He was 46. He had beaten back an aggressive kidney cancer in 2009 and again in 2012, when

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet seen “Don’t Look Up.” At the beginning of Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” Michigan State astronomy grad student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers that a comet is heading toward Earth, and will cause an extinction-level-event for the entire planet in a little over six months:

Despite the best efforts of Spider-Man, Black Widow and other mighty Avengers, movie theaters have yet to rebound in another topsy-turvy, pandemic-battered year. According to early estimates from Comscore, overall domestic box office revenues in 2021 are projected to hit $4.4 billion through the final days of December. The final number could fluctuate in the

Variety has been given exclusive access to the international trailer (below) for World War II drama “First Oscar,” which is inspired by the true story of the making of documentary “Moscow Strikes Back,” winner of an Oscar in 1943, the first year when documentaries had their own Academy Award. “First Oscar” is in post-production, and

Jean-Marc Vallée, the Quebecois director of films including “Dallas Buyers Club” and TV projects such as “Big Little Lies,” has died outside Quebec City. He was 58. The cause of death was not immediately known. His producing partner, Nathan Ross, said in a statement, “Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and trying things differently. He was

The year “The Matrix” came out — 1999 — already had a very sci-fi sound to it. It was the year Prince had imagined as the run-up to the apocalypse, a premonition that would be echoed in the Y2K jitters. And 1999 is just such a cool number; it’s like the other side of the

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” unwrapped the best Christmas gift of all, becoming the first pandemic-era movie to cross $1 billion at the global box office. Sony’s comic-book epic has eclipsed that milestone in a near-record 12 days, tying with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as the third-fastest film to reach the billion-dollar benchmark. It ranks

Until last year, handicapping the BAFTA nominees was a considerably more straightforward process. Given the British film awards ceremony’s ever-closer shadowing of the Academy Awards since moving to the Oscar precursor circuit 20 years ago, voters tended to mirror the pool of contenders across the pond, with the odd home-turf favorite granted a greater presence.

Actor and filmmaker Griffin Dunne paid tribute to his aunt, acclaimed author Joan Didion, who died on Thursday at 87. Dunne said Didion, who was the subject of his haunting 2017 Netflix documentary “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” “wrote about grief to find out what she felt, but ended up giving hope and

Michael B. Jordan is preparing to make his directorial debut with “Creed III,” the latest chapter in Adonis Creed’s saga, which is set to hit theaters Thanksgiving 2022. When news broke that Jordan would take the helm of the franchise, in addition to starring as the boxing champ, the first-time feature filmmaker released a statement

For its upcoming 26th edition the Capri Hollywood Intl. Film Festival, dedicated to launching Oscar hopefuls and establishing a creative and business bridgehead between Hollywood and Italy’s film and showbiz communities, is countering the Omicron variant by expanding its venues beyond the “blue island” off the coast of Naples. For sanitary safety reasons, the small

Though David Arquette is a member of an acting dynasty (his parents and sister Alexis were both actors, as are siblings Patricia, Richmond and Rosanna), he originally didn’t think acting was for him after repeatedly auditioning as a kid and never being cast. It was only through the encouragement of a high school teacher, Ben

For the last few years, Emily Salveson has been touting a new model for investing in film. In interviews and in public appearances, she has said that the model was able to “solve the problem of risk” for investors. It’s a pitch that’s been heard before in the film industry, and it tends to end

A suicidal IT specialist and a blind archivist help a dying woman find the child she gave up for adoption in French director Albert Dupontel’s “Adieu les cons,” rechristened “Bye Bye Morons” in the U.S. (though “So Long, Suckers!” would’ve probably be a better translation). If you’re wondering how the iconoclastic Dupontel would incorporate such

The Critics Choice Association says its postponement of the Critics Choice Awards will last at least six weeks, moving the show into late February or March. In a note to members on Thursday, the org said it will also require both vaccines and boosters of all attendees and staff when it is rescheduled. Also, because

Arriving just in time to be an attractive four-quadrant option for family outings to the megaplexes during the holiday season — provided, of course, that the latest COVID surge doesn’t cause another round of movie theater shuttering — “American Underdog” is a thoroughly predictable yet hugely entertaining sports biopic that is bound to please almost

Keira Knightley was “incredibly pregnant” the first time she read writer-director Camille Griffin’s script for the comedic holiday horror-drama “Silent Night,” and recalls finding the unusual tale of a Christmas Eve gathering the night of a coming apocalypse “absolutely, hysterically funny.” She read it again months later — sleep deprived and with her six-week-old daughter

Bradley Cooper is an established awards magnet, with eight nominations in the past nine years. Four of those have been in the acting category — for “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “American Hustle” (2013), “American Sniper” (2014) and “A Star Is Born” (2018). This year he has an opportunity to land three more nominations. The 46-year-old

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four

Michael B. Jordan is aware of the fact that audiences will leave “A Journal for Jordan” talking about his booty. There are a number of intimate and heartfelt moments in the Columbia Pictures romantic drama directed by Denzel Washington, which tells the true story of the late 1st Sgt. Charles Monroe King (Jordan) and his

Just like the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the rising omicron variant has forced a wave of new cancellations and postponements of events heading into 2022. The Slamdance Film Festival is going completely virtual in 2022. The start of the festival will be delayed by a week and now run from January 27

Paul Thomas Anderson has surveyed L.A.’s San Fernando Valley from every angle in films like “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia” and “Punch-Drunk Love.” For his latest, “Licorice Pizza,” which opens wide on Dec. 25, he went back to his early memories of the sprawling suburbs, combining them with events from the life of his childhood-friend producer Gary

Penélope Cruz first met Pedro Almodóvar when she was cast in his 1997 film, “Live Flesh.” Almodóvar had originally wanted her to star in “Kika,” but Cruz was too young for the role. The director promised her he would write a character for another movie, and he did. It would mark the beginning of their

“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the grand finale in Marvel’s web-slinging superhero trilogy, has crossed another major box office milestone, surpassing $800 million globally. After only 10 days on the big screen, the latest Tom Holland-led Spidey adventure has become the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of the year with $813.9 million worldwide. On Wednesday, it passed MGM’s

Joan Didion, the author revered for her coolly dispassionate essays and novels such as “Play It as It Lays,” has died, her publisher confirmed to The New York Times on Wednesday. She was 87. Knopf executive Paul Bogaards said the cause was Parkinson’s Disease. Along with her late husband John Gregory Dunne, Didion co-wrote screenplays

The U.K. government has implemented further emergency funding to tide over arts, cultural and historical organizations impacted by the rising wave of COVID-19 infections caused by the new Omicron variant. £1.5 million ($2 million) support has also been announced for creative freelancers alongside a further £1.35 million ($1.8 million) contribution from the theatre sector. The

China will be the world’s largest box office market for the second year running, overturning the decade-long rankings and staying ahead of the North American market as it did in for the first time in 2020. And, even if “Spider-Man: No Way Home” avoids becoming caught in a web of omicron-related shutdowns to become the

This year’s Oscar race is in a bio rhythm, with a huge percentage of films based upon real people and events. Merriam-Webster defines “biopic” as simply a biographical movie. That’s true, but there’s a wide range under that umbrella term, as this year’s contenders remind us. They include films that span several years, including: “A