Movies

It’s impossible to guess, some three months away from the nominations, what might be up for Oscar in the music categories. But we can’t resist trying. The only sure thing seems to be that English composer Jonny Greenwood will be nominated for at least one Oscar and maybe two. The Radiohead guitarist has been nominated

“Eternals,” the latest chapter in Marvel’s sprawling, ever-expanding superhero universe, opened to a mighty $9.5 million in Thursday previews. That’s the third best preview result for the COVID era, just behind “Black Widow” with $13.2 million and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” with $11.6 million. It’s a tick ahead of “Shang-Chi’s” $8.8 million haul. Internationally,

RELEASE Kenneth Branagh‘s “Belfast” and the late Roger Michell‘s “The Duke” will release theatrically in the U.K. on Jan. 21 and Feb. 25, 2022 respectively. Featuring an ensemble cast, “Belfast” is an autobiographical story set in late 1960s Northern Ireland. It follows Buddy, a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled

Chile’s ‘A Fantastic Woman’ editor Soledad Salfate has boarded Costa Rican-Mexican title “Matryoshka” by Maricarmen Merino, which snagged two key awards at the Santiago Documentary Lab of Chile’s Sanfic Industria. Produced by Merino and Mexican producers Karla Bukantz and Paulina Villegas of Puchunka Cine, “Matryoshka” throws a spotlight on Merino’s mother, Patricia Mora Castellanos, who was

Celebrated Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta (“Funny Boy,” “Water”) is attached to write and direct the film adaptation of Avni Doshi’s bestselling novel “Burnt Sugar.” Set in the Indian city of Pune, the novel tells the story of Tara, who after a wild youth, faces challenges when she is older and must rekindle her relationship with

Life in the fast lane in Medellín comes screeching to a halt in “Devil’s Breath,” a drug-saturated Sanfic WIP from writer-director Jorge Monteallegre. Co-produced by Tres 33 Films and Hawaii Film Productions, the film follows the star-crossed story of Ana and Matias, two young and beautiful club-goers who meet and fall madly in love. When

Berlin-based Pluto Film has acquired international sales rights to Augusto Sandino’s “A Vanishing Fog” which world premieres mid-November at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, playing in main competition. The Colombian filmmaker returns to the Estonian festival having won best first feature and a Fipresci Prize with his debut feature, “Gentle Breath” (2015). Variety has

Dimitris Kanellopoulos makes his directorial debut with “Pack of Sheep,” a portrait of the corrosive effects of violence on the male inhabitants of a small Greek town, which has its world premiere in the main competition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The story unfolds as Thanasis (Dimitris Lalos), a family man struggling to pay his

Nearly two years into a pandemic that has forced much of the movie industry to conduct its business online, the Thessaloniki Film Festival and its industry arm, Agora, will roll out a full slate of in-person events during the festival’s 62nd edition, which runs Nov. 4-14. For Agora head Yianna Sarri, the return to face-to-face

There’s a modicum of delight hidden within director Hernán Jiménez’s holiday-themed romantic comedy “Love Hard” — if audiences can get past the conceit that an attractive, self-respecting woman would be so desperate for a boyfriend that she’d stick around after a potential beau pulls a despicable deed by “catfishing” her. For those who find that

There’s a whole lot of ammo going blammo over the course of “One Shot,” an action movie couched as a battle in real time between Navy SEALs and insurgents on a U.S.-controlled, Guantanamo-style island detention facility, presented in what appears to be a single, continuous shot. Of course, as in other recent films like “Birdman”

Fujitsu Ryota, programmer of the Tokyo International Film Festival’s anime section, has taken ‘onko-chishin,’ a four-kanji-character term meaning “respect the past, create the new,” as the guideline for this year’s selection. Fujitsu Ryota, Tokyo festival anime selector. Tokyo IFF The festival has featured Japanese animation focuses for several years, reflecting anime’s position as a key

George Clooney has issued a call for the U.K. tabloid the Daily Mail and other outlets to stop publishing pictures of celebrities’ children, calling it a matter of safety. Clooney issued “an open letter to the Daily Mail and other publications” on Thursday after asserting that he saw pictures of the 1-year-old son of actor

Adam Driver’s place in the 2021 pop culture firmament is assured because of his role in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, his four Primetime Emmy nominations and his two Academy Award noms — and being the actor everyone in Hollywood wants to star in their projects. Twenty years earlier, he was a fresh-faced 18-year-old who

With his intense gaze and buoyant personality, Damien Bonnard has emerged as a promising French talent since playing a conflicted rookie cop in Ladj Ly’s Cannes-prizewinning, Oscar-nominated “Les Miserables” in 2019. Although Joachim Lafosse’s “The Restless” is the only the third film which he has headlined — alongside Leila Bekhti — his face will look

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are soon to be defying gravity. Grande and Erivo will portray Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in Universal’s big-screen adaptation of the Tony-winning musical helmed by “In the Heights” director Jon M. Chu. He has been attached to the project since February, and casting rumors for the film’s two main roles

SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses details of a single scene in Marvel Studios’ “Eternals,” which opens in theaters on Friday. “Eternals” marks several milestones for Marvel Studios. It’s the first title in the MCU to be directed by an Oscar winner and a woman of color, Chloé Zhao. It’s the first feature film for the

Brainstorm Media has acquired North American rights for “Nightride,” a dark humored, action-packed thriller from BAFTA-nominated helmer Stephen Fingleton (“The Survivalist”), starring Moe Dunford (“Vikings,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) and Joana Ribeiro (“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”). The deal, which was handled by UTA Independent Film Group, will see Brainstorm releasing the film in select

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has set a date for a ratification vote for its new three-year contract. Voting will begin on Friday, Nov. 12, and the results will be announced on Nov. 15. Voting will be conducted electronically, and the deadline for members to cast ballots is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on

Dakota Johnson was caught off guard by the script for “The Lost Daughter”: “I never read something so honest,” she says. “At times, raw, almost to being uncomfortable but still so human.” The actress then met writer and director Maggie Gyllenhaal for lunch in New York, who she calls “a seeker of truth.” On this

AM PR Group — which represents Issa Rae, Cardi B, Amanda Gorman and Marsai Martin — has acquired the boutique PR firm, Ascend PR. Erica Tucker, who owned and operated Ascend PR firm, has been named VP of business development at AM PR Group, where she will continue to sign and oversee client accounts through

Santiago Fiction Lab participant “The Force of the Land” (“Raiz, La Fuerza de la Tierra”), the sophomore feature of Peruvian filmmaker Franco Garcia, has won the support of Peru’s production fund, which awards a mere 10 to 15 projects a year. The drama is co-produced by Desfase Films and HDPeru, which have re-teamed after jointly

“Neighbours,” the story of a Kurdish Syrian border village where Arabic and Jewish families find themselves pitted against each other but still manage to thwart authoritarian madness, is more than a personal story to writer-director Mano Khalil. The feature, shot on authentic locations with accurate dialects from the region and its 1980s setting, is screening

Lionsgate swung back into profitable terrain during its most recent fiscal quarter, another sign that the pandemic’s cloud is beginning to lift. But the company also announced that it could soon be slimmed down as it hopes to capitalize on the wave of consolidation in the media space, one that has already seen Amazon agree

In a memoir being released on Tuesday called “Little Sister,” Lana Wood, Natalie Wood’s sister, writes that Kirk Douglas sexually assaulted Natalie when she was a teenager, according to a report in the Associated Press. The alleged assault took place in 1955 after Lana and their mother, Maria Zakharenko, dropped Natalie off at the Chateau

Over the next two years, Jonathan Majors will play a cowboy, a flyboy, a boxer and Marvel’s newest supervillain. With a resume that includes working with Spike Lee and earning a lead actor Emmy nod for “Lovecraft Country,” it’s hard to imagine Majors’ career getting any bigger. But this quartet of roles — portraying the

Dentsu’s The Story Lab has named Geneva Wasserman as the company’s first EVP of scripted development and production. With more than two decades of experience, Wasserman most recently spent two years at Condé Nast Entertainment, where her development and producing slate included “Spiderhead,” a feature adaptation of George Saunders’ short story “Escape from Spiderhead.” The

Beginning next year, you won’t have to visit your local movie theater to buy a perfectly buttered bucket of popcorn. AMC Theatres, the nation’s biggest movie theater chain, is expanding its business outside of the traditional theatrical exhibition industry and plans to sell its popcorn in shopping malls around the country. AMC is also preparing

This is the year of musicals and that means sound design and sound mixing is sweet music to one’s ears. From “In the Heights,” to “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” and the yet-unseen “West Side Story,” sound teams worked finessed audio tracks recorded on set, pre-records and studio-recorded vocals. In addition, sound

Chinese Animation firm Winsing is participating in the American Film Market this year for the first time, stepping out to present its flagship “GG Bond” animated film series and its derivatives. The company is also seeking to introduce its subsidiary Iron Fan Studio, a CG animation studio established under Winsing in 2019 that specializes in