Movies

For all those hoping that the in-person 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival would mark a return to “normal,” the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or must have been a shocker — not the choice by Spike Lee’s jury (the choice was solid) so much as the movie itself: “Titane,” a radical queer take

Netflix, coming off a pandemic-fueled bumper crop of subscribers in 2020, added just 1.5 million customers worldwide for the second quarter of 2021 — a significant slowdown from its previous torrid pace of growth. The company also officially unveiled its plans to enter the video game market, staring with mobile games, eyeing it as a

The major studios and entertainment unions confirmed Monday that they have agreed to relax the COVID protocols that have governed physical production for the last 10 months. But with COVID cases again on the rise, the changes are not as sweeping as was once expected. Especially in the Los Angeles area — where the spike

Mark Ebner woke up on Friday and was startled to see news about Dillon Jordan, a 49-year-old movie producer who was arrested on charges that he had used his movie company as a front for a wide-ranging prostitution ring. “It was like Christmas in July,” Ebner told Variety. “They finally got this guy.” Ebner is

Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Endeavor Content are producing the upcoming documentary “Being Mary: The Mary Tyler Moore Documentary.” James Adolphus (“Soul of a Nation”) will direct, and the doc — Hillman Grad’s first documentary project from its inception — will be released in 2022. Endeavor Content bought the rights from the Mary Tyler

Playtime has nearly sold out Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District,” one of the critical highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The black-and-white relationship drama has been applauded for breakthrough performances by newcomer Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba and Noemie Merland (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), as well as a sharp and modern script penned

Sales agency Heretic has picked-up worldwide sales rights to “The Sacred Spirit,” Spaniard Chema García Ibarra’s feature debut, which world premieres in the International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival. Its teaser trailer is launching exclusively in Variety. García Ibarra’s awaited feature debut, “Sacred Spirit” blends local detail and dystopian surrealism, following José Manuel and

The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival beat the odds by delivering two weeks of nonstop movies — and major stars such as Matt Damon, Regina King and Timothée Chalamet — in the middle of a global pandemic. It wasn’t an easy task. Variety has learned that the festival fronted more than $1 million to cover the

“In the old days, at some point when people were leaving [Cannes], you said, ‘Well, before you go, this has to be wrapped up,’” says Constantin’s Martin Moszkowicz. “Now it doesn’t have to be done this way anymore. You can basically say, ‘Well, we’ll do it on Zoom next week.’” Running July 6-17, Cannes, the

After months of delay, Harvey Weinstein has been extradited to Los Angeles to face charges that he raped or sexually assaulted five women. Weinstein was taken on Tuesday morning from the Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison near Buffalo, N.Y. He is expected to be held at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los

Matt Damon and Adam Driver face off in the first trailer for “The Last Duel,” 20th Century Studios’ historical epic from four-time Academy Award-nominated director Ridley Scott. It’s a clash of movie titans — at least as far as awards pedigree goes — with Oscar winner Damon as Jean de Carrouges and Oscar nominee Driver

Three Israeli filmmakers have been arrested and detained in Nigeria during a shoot for their documentary “We Were Never Lost,” about Jewish tribes on the African continent. Activist and Columbia University graduate Rudy Rochman, director Noam Leibman and French-Israeli journalist Edouard Benaym flew from Israel to Nigeria on July 6, according to reports. They were

A court in Birmingham, U.K., has fined cinema giant Vue Entertainment £750,000 ($1 million) in the verdict around a 2018 incident where a man was crushed to death under a cinema chair. In March 2018, 24-year-old Ateeq Rafiq died after his head and neck got crushed under a seat while searching for his keys at

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its official poster by Italian illustrator and author Lorenzo Mattotti, and announced that a film by Venice native Andrea Segre looking at how the fest navigated COVID-19 last year will screen as its pre-opening event. Titled “La Biennale di Venezia: il cinema al tempo del Covid,” which translates to

Amazon Studios has unveiled a new high-concept Italian original movie featuring pop star Laura Pausini, who recently collaborated with Diane Warren to perform the Oscar-nominated theme song “Io Sì” (Seen) for Sophia Loren-starrer “The Life Ahead.”  The still untitled film, which has begun shooting, is being helmed by Ivan Cotroneo, who is among Italy’s most

“The Velvet Queen” (La Panthere des neiges), Marie Amiguet’s lushly lensed documentary which world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cinema for the Climate section, has lured buyers in major territories, including the U.S. Represented in international markets by London-based banner The Bureau Sales, “The Velvet Queen” follows award-winning nature photographer Vincent Munier

Hollywood’s largest studios and unions have come to terms on a tentative short-term deal to relax some of the COVID safety protocols that were put in place last year to allow movie and TV production to resume. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and four unions — DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters —

Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone all have one thing in common: Not only do they appear in “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” but behind the scenes, voiceover actor Jeff Bergman is responsible for voicing all these characters. A legendary voice actor, Bergman stepped into the booth as one of the 

Starting on Aug. 9, American citizens who are fully vaccinated may freely enter Canada. This news comes after a restriction on all non-essential travel that has been in place since March 2020. This will make travelling to the Toronto International Film Festival much easier for festgoers from the U.S. This year’s TIFF will be a

Carla Gugino may have done a lot of action work in two of her latest projects — the series “Jett” (now on HBO Max) and the Netflix movie “Gunpowder Milkshake” — but she’s happy to report that she made it through both productions uninjured. But a day off from filming the upcoming “Leopard Skin” in

Megan Fox has pulled out of tonight’s Los Angeles premiere of her new movie “Midnight in the Switchgrass” because of the ongoing concern over COVID in Los Angeles. “Due to the recent California mask mandate and rise of COVID cases, Megan Fox will no longer be attending the premiere tonight,” a rep for the premiere

Yola first came into the consciousness of most music fans when she was nominated for a best new artist Grammy last year, among four attention-getting nods she picked up. Come 2022, she’s destined to capture the attention of movie fans when she appears in Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley movie. In Australia earlier this year,

Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. announced that Ursula Burns has joined its board of directors. Burns was previously CEO of Xerox Corporation, where she helped move the company to a diversified global business services company. From 2009 to 2016, she served on the White House’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Coalition. In 2016, Burns joined

Two popular Los Angeles movie theaters are under new management after AMC Entertainment announced Monday that it will assume the lease of The Grove in West Hollywood and The Americana at Brand in Glendale. News that AMC, the world’s largest exhibition chain, was in negotiations to take over the venues broke in June and came

Kevin Lewis will follow up “Willy’s Wonderland” by directing “The Accursed,” a new horror movie about demonic possession that its creators predict will be like if “Sam Raimi and Dario Argento had a love child and James Wan was its uncle.” Mena Suvari (“American Beauty”), Sarah Grey (Netflix’s “The Order” and DC’s “Legends of Tomorrow”),

“Mogul Mowgli” director Bassam Tariq is in talks to direct Marvel Studios’ “Blade” movie, starring Mahershala Ali. The two-time Oscar winner was announced to portray the vampire hunter at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. The highly anticipated film is currently undated, but expected to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four. In February,

Germany’s Rise Visual Effects Studios has established its own animation studio for high-end film and series productions in Munich, where the company has appointed animation expert and VFX producer Sinje Gebauer to head its Munich office as well as the new division. The new animation unit will act as an independent, creative arm within the

In Netflix’s new action-thriller “Gunpowder Milkshake,” the library is a central feature of the film. It serves as a resource for the assassins who are being hunted, and the assassins who are doing the hunting. Karen Gillan stars as Sam, the rogue assassin in question. When she goes on her mission, one stop she makes

Glenn Kaino, the celebrated visual artist and filmmaker behind “In & Of Itself” and co-director of the documentary “With Drawn Arms,” has signed with United Talent Agency (UTA). A longtime creative partner of Derek DelGaudio, the two co-produced the genre-bending “In & Of Itself,” “which mixes art, magic, storytelling and breaking the fourth wall to

Adam Lambert, “Batwoman” star Javicia Leslie and Jamie Lee Curtis were just a few of the Hollywood superstars to appear on Project Angel Food’s Lead With Love telethon on Saturday. The two-hour televised event on KTLA 5 raised more than $1.1 million  meal delivery service for people facing debilitating illness. Hosted by Eric McCormack and