Movies

French director Julia Ducournau, who burst onto the world filmmaking scene in 2016 with her first feature “Raw,” is changing the vocabulary of cinema with her heart-stopping imagery and boundary-blurring approach to genre. That originality helped propel her second film, “Titane,” to a Palme d’Or in Cannes this year, making Ducournau just the second woman

On the second Monday of September, just one week ahead of her one-year anniversary as president of Condé Nast Entertainment, Agnes Chu attended her first Met Gala. She walked the red carpet outside New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inside, she sat at a table opposite Elon Musk, where she took in a tribute

Following the watershed decision from the National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing college athletes to sign endorsement deals, WME Sports has landed one of the top student players in the nation as a client. The agency will represent Johnny Juzang, a player for the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference, handling his name, image and likeness.

Will Packer Productions has promoted Alvie Hurtado to director of development. In the new role, Hurtado is responsible for identifying content, filmmakers and talent for feature film development and production. He reports directly to Johanna Byer, Will Packer Prods.’ (WPP) executive vice president of motion pictures. “Alvie is an integral part of our film team,”

After spending three years as Toronto International Film Festival’s executive director, Joana Vicente is leaving her post to join the Sundance Institute as its CEO. She is succeeding long-time executive Keri Putnam, who stepped down earlier this year. In her new role, Vicente will oversee all areas of the Institute, including the annual Sundance Film

For the 2021 Power of Women issue, Variety spoke with several women in the entertainment industry who are using their voices to benefit worthy causes. For more, click here. Rita Moreno may be turning 90 in December, but the actor dreads the thought of being typecast as a woman over a certain age. “Why should

Italia Film, the prominent Middle East film distributor with close Hollywood ties, has reached more than two million admissions this year to date in Saudi Arabia, which it says marks a milestone. The results provide fresh proof that moviegoing is booming in the region following the 2017 removal of its religion-related ban on cinema. The

Taking place at the Zurich Convention Center two days before its official theatrical release, the Swiss premiere of “No Time to Die” attracted a slew of local celebrities, Zurich Film Festival delegates and even Finnish racing driver Kimi Räikkönen, all of whom were eager to witness Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007. The event marked

SALES BBC Studios has closed a raft of sales deals for Jimmy McGovern’s “Time,” a BBC Studios production for BBC One which has proved a critical and rating success in its first month on the air, pulling 11.6 million viewers in its first 28 days. The series stars Bafta-winner Sean Bean (“Games of Thrones”) and

After two years of James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 idling in the driveway thanks to the global pandemic, Hollywood finally got its hands on “No Time to Die.” While stars like Daniel Craig and Naomie Harris lit up the world premiere of the Cary Fukunaga project in London on Tuesday, press and industry in New

“No Time to Die” is a terrific movie: an up-to-the-minute, down-to-the-wire James Bond thriller with a satisfying neo-classical edge. It’s an unabashedly conventional Bond film that’s been made with high finesse and just the right touch of soul, as well as enough sleek surprise to keep you on edge. Before I go further, though, let

A day after CAA clinched a deal to acquire ICM Partners, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel told an industry crowd on Tuesday that he considered an ICM acquisition more than a decade ago, before Endeavor pulled off its acquisition of William Morris Agency. Emanuel weighed in on the big news in Hollywood during his long-scheduled Q&A

Philippines actor Bea Alonzo will play a “she-devil” female lead in upcoming Filipino-Hollywood feature “Angel Warrior” by Inspire Studios. Principle photography will commence in mid-2022 and the film is slated for a U.S. and worldwide release in late 2022, Variety has learned. Based on a fact-based WWII story, “Angel Warrior” will be produced by Inspire

Rumors that Netflix was at work on a Britney Spears documentary had been swirling around for years — not through buzz in the industry, but on Twitter where #FreeBritney fans were hard at work speculating about the project. On Tuesday, the hotly anticipated project, dubbed “Britney Vs. Spears,” finally dropped — the third documentary to

Jason Kilar, currently CEO of WarnerMedia, admitted that he feels disappointed that he will likely be out of the job within a year. AT&T is in the midst of spinning off WarnerMedia to combine it with Discovery, a deal expected to close in mid-2022 pending regulatory approvals. Kilar has told staffers that he expects to

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” With Daniel Craig’s reign as James Bond coming to an end with “No Time to Die,” this may be the perfect moment to give the franchise an overhaul. Perhaps the next James Bond could be female, Black or queer? “If they want to continue with this character and

James Bond is back. And better still, he’s back as producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson always intended: on the big screen. At the world premiere of “No Time to Die” at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, the uncertainty of where the franchise is headed after 15 years led by Daniel Craig, or

As the first worldwide screenings of the latest James Bond installment “No Time to Die” came to a close, journalists and critics took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Daniel Craig’s last outing as the famed secret agent. Though social media reactions tend to be more positive than reviews, one thing was clear via

Matthew López became the first Latino playwright to win the Tony Award for best play last Sunday, but “The Inheritance” creator was worried the milestone would go unnoticed unless he drew attention to the historic moment while taking the stage. Before the big night, López surveyed several friends and fellow writers about what he should

Variety has released this year’s list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. A conversation with the honorees will take place on Oct. 17 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The magazine will also honor Italian helmer-scribe Paolo Sorrentino (“Hand of God”) with the Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award. The annual 10 to Watch program celebrates breakthrough

Helena Bonham Carter will rejoin Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill for a new “Enola Holmes” mystery for Netflix. Bonham Carter plays Eudoria Holmes, the matriarch of the famous sleuthing family, in the series that is based on Nancy Springer’s beloved books. The films tell the story of Enola (Brown), the rebellious teen sister of

After a longer wait than he may have hoped, James Bond is finally returning to the big screen. For beleaguered movie theaters across the globe, it’s not a minute too soon. “No Time to Die,” the latest entry in the British spy series, is expected to ignite the international box office and generate at least

A team of agencies led by Hollywood shop Range Media Partners is stepping up to the plate to make the New York Mets relevant to younger, diverse audiences. Steve and Alexandra Cohen, who purchased the team last year in a deal valued at $2.4 billion, made the move to bring their “progressive vision for the

Acclaimed producer Christina Oh is joining Annapurna Pictures as an executive vice president. Oh moves to Megan Ellison’s company as co-head of film, where she’ll work alongside the recently installed Adam Paulsen. She will report to Ellison, chief creative officer Sue Naegle and chief operating officer Chris Corabi. Oh joins the shop from Plan B,

“The Last Mrs. Parrish,” a best-selling novel about a twisted con-artist, is getting the movie treatment at Netflix. The streaming service landed the rights to the novel, written by Liv Constantine, and plans to adapt it into a feature film. Amazon in 2019 announced it was developing a TV series based on the book, but

In 2006, Haskell Wexler made a documentary about brutally long hours on film sets entitled “Who Needs Sleep?” The issue had become a flashpoint years earlier, when Brent Hershman died in a car crash after working a 19-hour day on the set of “Pleasantville.” Wexler wanted to know why nothing had been done. In the

A total of 44 film projects, including one executive produced by the Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett, have been selected shortlisted for this year’s Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, organizers announced on Monday. The Chinese-language project market takes place on the sidelines of the prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan. Among the selections, 37 are works

The Kindness In Film Summit’s debut online conference on Sept. 30 boasts a host of industry luminaries. Speakers set to feature at the event include Bianca Gavin (Pulse Films), Bee Devine (Sky), Gareth Unwin (Screenskills) Jules Hussey (Brazen Productions), Sara Putt (Sara Putt Associates), David Vickery (Industrial Light & Magic), Victoria Einslee (actor and founder

Global superstar Celine Dion is getting the feature documentary treatment. The French Canadian singer has given her blessing to a new feature documentary from Sony Music Entertainment’s Premium Content Division, in partnership with SME Canada and Vermilion Films. The as-yet-untitled feature will be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Irene Taylor (“Beware the Slenderman,” “Hear and Now”),

The Tokyo International Film Festival’s competition section will skew heavily towards Asian titles, festival organizers said on Tuesday. The festival announced the full lineup for its 34rd edition to be held Oct. 30 – Nov. 8, 2021 at its new main venues in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza area of Tokyo. As previously announced, the festival will open with