Movies

Ridley Scott doesn’t have “one regret” about his direction or Disney’s promotion of his 2021 historical drama “The Last Duel” — the box office failure is the fault of young people and their cellphones, he says. The director, known for commercially and critically successful films such as “Alien,” “Thelma & Louise” and “The Martian,” appeared

Fork Films, a New York production company co-founded by Abigail Disney, has announced 11 grantees for its 2021 round of documentary funding. Topics explored in the slate of films include social justice, the impact of the pandemic on historically marginalized communities, climate gentrification and maternal mortality.  The company has funded over 100 projects over 14 years,

Two of the most acclaimed climbing films of the year, Max Lowe’s “Torn” and The Alpinist, from Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, have taken big awards at this year’s Kendal Mountain Film Festival, held in the U.K.’s Lake District. Its hybrid edition proved once more a dazzling showcase of mountain and sports films whose subjects,

The life and career of legendary cyclist Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor will receive the biopic treatment with the feature drama “Black Cyclone,” helmed by Canadian filmmaker Clement Virgo. The film depicts the life story of the pioneering bicycle racer, best known to the world as “Major” Taylor. At the turn of the 20th century, Taylor

Over the weekend, “No Time to Die” eclipsed $730 million in global ticket sales, making the James Bond sequel both the year’s highest-grossing Hollywood film and the top performing film at the box office since COVID-19 appeared on the scene and nearly shut down the movie business. The action-packed spy spectacle, which endured several coronavirus-related

The Los Angeles Philharmonic took a major step forward over the weekend with its “Reel Change” series devoted to contemporary film composers. By inviting Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Joker”) and Americans Kris Bowers (“Green Book”) and Nicholas Britell (“Moonlight”) to curate programs of their music, and those of composers that inspired them, the Phil is

New Europe Film Sales, handling international sales for Matías Rojas Valencia’s “A Place Called Dignity,” “Un lugar llamado dignidad” in Spanish, which is currently playing in competition at this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, have given Variety exclusive access to the film’s international trailer. The film presents a dramatized look at events surrounding Paul

Variety recognized “No Time to Die” maestro Cary Joji Fukunaga’s potential on the strength of his debut, “Sin Nombre.” Wes Anderson caught our eye with “Bottle Rocket.” And “Red Rocket” director Sean Baker made the cut the year “Tangerine” took Sundance by storm. Other distinguished alumni of Variety’s annual 10 Directors to Watch program include “The

Universal Pictures has announced plans for a third “Trolls” movie. The still-untitled film will be released in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023. Notably, the upcoming installment in the animated family-friendly franchise is deviating from the release pattern of its predecessor, which unexpectedly shook up the film exhibition industry last year. Universal planned to release “Trolls

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to “Marx Can Wait” by Italian film master Marco Bellocchio, who received the honorary Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Represented in international markets by The Match Factory, “Marx Can Wait” is a moving and personal family tale exploring how the suicide of his twin

Netflix is snapping up premiere visual-effects house Scanline VFX, announcing a deal to acquire the company that has done work on Netflix originals like “Stranger Things” as well as tentpole movies for Marvel, DC and others. Financial terms of the pact were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of

ICM Partners has signed Nicholas Bruckman, director of the SXSW award-winning and IDA-nominated documentary “Not Going Quietly,” for representation.  ICM will also represent People’s Television, Bruckman’s production company, which produces independent films and branded storytelling focused on national social impact. Their clients for advertising work have included Airbnb, TED, Greenpeace and Black Lives Matter. Along

Benjamín Mirguet’s “Alfredo Larón,” Niles Atallah’s “Celestial Twins” and Silvina Schnicer’s “The Cottage” feature among 16 projects to be presented at Ventana Sur’s 4th Proyecta co-production forum, a wide-ranging showcase of emerging auteurs and new talents to track from Latin America and Europe. “Alfredo Larón,” for example, marks the feature debut of Mirguet, the editor

CENSORSHIP Malaysian authorities have declined to approve the Chinese war movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin” for theatrical release after outrage emerged online that the film promotes Communism, which is banned in the country. The film’s local distributor Mega Film Distribution said in a statement that it is considering submitting the title again for reconsideration

Hollywood-based Chinese film financier Peter Luo and Oscar-winning producer Donna Gigliotti (“Shakespeare in Love”) have boarded upcoming female-led Syrian war drama “Nezouh,” directed by Soudade Kaadan, whose debut “The Day I Lost My Shadow” won the 2018 Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future. “Nezouh,” which is Kaadan’s followup to “Shadow,” is set against the backdrop

Wada Emi, the celebrated Japanese costume designer who won an Oscar for Kurosawa Akira’s “Ran” in 1985, has died. Wada’s family told Japanese media that she died on Nov. 13, 2021, but did not disclose the cause or the place of her death. Appreciated for her painstaking attention to detail – she hand-dyed the costumes

Founded in 2007, IDFA’s platform for interactive documentary art and storytelling, DocLab, prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary with a slew of new projects and collaborations, theme program Liminal Reality and a special screening of Jonathan Harris’ “In Fragments.” His digital projects were featured during the event’s very first year. “Everything has changed and nothing

Kamar Ahmad Simon started his “water trilogy” with “Are You Listening!,” about a family living on the coast of Bangladesh, struggling to keep their land from flooding. “Day After…”, the second part, conceived all the way back in 2013, has just celebrated its world premiere at IDFA’s international competition after being selected for the 2017

Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne has said that playing a trans character in “The Danish Girl” was a “mistake.” Based on true events, Redmayne played one of the first people in the world who underwent gender reassignment surgery in the Tom Hooper-directed film. Redmayne, who won a best actor Oscar in 2015 for playing disabled scientist

Crime comedy film “Be Somebody” expanded its box office take by 20% in its second weekend of release in China and joined in a 49% surge in nationwide gross revenues. Nationwide box office climbed from $43.1 million in the previous weekend to $64.3 million between Friday and Sunday. For all that, China’s year to date

Box office takings in South Korea retreated over the weekend, despite a local film taking the top spot. This year has seen a dearth of local movies releasing in cinemas, though that shortage may be reversed in the coming months. Local comedy drama film “Perhaps Love” was the biggest film of the weekend. It earned

There’s a symphonic rhythm to the aptly-titled Bolivian film “The Great Movement” (“El Gran Movimiento”). Kiro Russo’s portrait of La Paz is driven more by sensory cues than by any steady sense of narrative. Ostensibly following a trio of miners who arrive at the sprawling, Andean capital city with the hopes of getting jobs, “The

Like many girls her age, 12-year-old Di is not easily parted from her phone. All but welded to her hand, it’s the device through which she communicates most freely, sharing secret thoughts with her friends about the boys she likes, before cautiously approaching the boys themselves. But if it connects her local social network, it’s

Peter Aykroyd, the former cast member and writer on “Saturday Night Live” and brother to Dan Aykroyd, has died. He was believed to be 66. A cause of death has not been released. Aykroyd’s passing was announced on Saturday’s Simu Liu-hosted episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The program aired a tribute to the late comic

Like casual social hugs and the daily commute to the office cubicle, the platform movie release has been a casualty of the age of COVID. You remember the platform release, don’t you? It used to happen quite a bit this time of year. A movie with a major independent distributor, like Searchlight or A24 or

When Robert Greene began work on “Procession,” which follows six middle-aged survivors of abuse as they work together to reenact their traumatic memories on film, the director wanted to upend long standing documentary models. “I didn’t want to have a traditional film where you put the camera in someone’s face, they feel a lot of

While their most recent doc “The Rescue” continues its festival and award-circuit run, directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have been at work in the edit suite prepping their next big-screen effort – a decades spanning love story mixing business, philanthropy, and the great outdoors. Aiming for a mid-2022 launch, the still-untitled doc will follow

Monochrome is in vogue this awards season as major contenders including “Belfast,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Passing” have all opted for lush black-and-white cinematography. Mike Mills called on “The Favourite” DP Robbie Ryan to shoot his latest project, “C’mon C’mon,” with similar rich imagery. “I freaking love black-and-white movies,” Mills says. “It’s not a

The box office ain’t afraid of no ghosts. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” a sequel to the 1980s sci-fi comedy classic, opened at No. 1 in North America, collecting a solid $44 million from 4,315 venues. The better-than-expected result is an encouraging sign that family audiences are willing to visit their local multiplex, provided there’s something broadly entertaining

“The Real Charlie Chaplin” is an alluring title for a documentary about the man who was arguably the greatest comic artist in the history of the planet. (I could be wrong in that assessment; I wasn’t around in 1230 or 5600 B.C. But I’ll stand by it.) The title suggests that we’re going to get