Movies

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of Madrid Region announced Friday that she aims to transform Madrid into will the most important animation and VFX “hub” in Southern Europe, via an ambitious plan for incentives and other support programs. The result, Díaz Ayuso added, will be the creation of employment in this buoyant sector.” Madrid’s president made

To understand the success of Triggerfish, the fast-rising, Cape Town-based animation house, which won the prestigious MIFA Animation Industry Award this week in Annecy, one need look no further than the circumstances of its birth 25 years ago. South Africa was finally emerging from the shadows of apartheid, a cruel and exploitive system of institutionalized

It’s no secret that Kevin Hart is one of Hollywood’s busiest and prolific entertainers, but his latest film “Fatherhood,” showcases Kevin Hart the family man. In the movie, the comedy star makes a more serious turn for the heart-wrenching family drama based on a true story. Think Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness” meets

Sam Rechner will play a high school classmate of a young, aspiring filmmaker in Steven Spielberg’s new, semi-autobiographical film. The young, up-and-coming Australian actor joins an impressive ensemble cast that includes Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and Paul Dano. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” breakout Julia Butters and Gabriel LaBelle are also signed for

Amazon Studios Voices: Pride will take place on June 24 to celebrate queer voices and representation in media. In partnership with GLAAD and Pride Media, the virtual event will consist of three roundtable conversations and three lightning talks from LGBTQIA+ players across the industry and will close with performances from drag queens Kandy Muse, LaLa

Charlize Theron is raising money for Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) with a few of her “Fast” friends. The Oscar winner is hosting an outdoor screening of “F9: The Fast Saga” on June 26 at the Universal Studios backlot. Theron joined the blockbuster franchise in the previous film, “The Fate of the Furious.” A

Motion Picture Exchange has acquired worldwide sales rights on the coming-of-age horror film “Student Body,” and will be launching it out of the Cannes Virtual Market next week. Written and directed by Lee Ann Kurr in her feature debut, the film features Montse Hernandez (“Lowriders,” “Jane the Virgin”), Cheyenne Haynes (“Camping”), Harley Quinn Smith (“Cruel

MK2 Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to “Don Juan,” Serge Bozon’s comedy weaving singing, dancing and romance with Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”) and Virginie Efira (“Benedetta”). Rahim stars as Laurent, a stage actor who gets jilted on his wedding day and embarks on a quest to seduce every woman he meets in order to

The question of work — who gets it and who doesn’t — has driven the Hollywood zeitgeist for years, from #MeToo to recent reckonings over race and equity. At the Tribeca Festival in New York City on Wednesday, Emmy winner Lena Waithe, her production company Hillman Grad and an unexpected financial partner, the global HR conglomerate

In honor of Juneteenth, Netflix and Ghetto Film School have launched the winning films from the inaugural class of their new content creation program focused on emerging Black filmmakers. The three films — “Silence of Friends” by Nia Stanford, “Divinity Streak” by Jess Waters and “Day Into Knight” by Sarah Jean Williams — are now

“Game of Thrones” co-executive producer Vince Gerardis is developing “Provvidenza,” a prequel to Italy’s national literary classic “I Promessi Sposi” (The Betrothed) to be set in a 16th-century plague-stricken Milan that is dirty, dark, lethal and corrupt. After setting up a Rome-based company called CIAO, Gerardis — who specializes in packaging big world-building film and

“Love Actually” alum Billy Nighy looks to be the quintessential English gentleman in the first image released from upcoming feel-good feature “Living,” in which the actor plays a 1950s civil servant struggling with a life-threatening diagnosis. The bowler hat and sharp pinstripe suit come courtesy of Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell, who has also signed

Producers Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler weren’t in a unique position when COVID-19 hit. Like others who were working on film sets, they were left without a way to continue their job — at least in person. So they got innovative. Rattray and Styler, whose combined producing credits include “The Kids Are All Right,” “American

The leading sales, finance and production outfit Beta Cinema will present first footage from the upcoming Australian comedy drama “How to Please a Woman” at next week’s Pre-Cannes Screenings. Variety has been given the first still from the film, starring Sally Phillips, whose credits include the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” movies, and a recurring guest role

Brazilian director Alê Abreu and his team gave Annecy audiences a first look of his much anticipated new feature film “Perlimps” on Thursday, also sharing his fluid storyboarding process and the methods he uses to create his unique visual style. The Oscar-nominated director of “Boy and the World” and his assistant director Viviane Guimaraes spoke

TF1 Studio has unveiled a raft of major pre-sales on “Superwho,” an action-packed comedy directed by Philippe Lacheau, in the run up to the Pre-Cannes Screenings, where the film will have its virtual world premiere on June 23. Lacheau, who stars in his movie, is behind some of France’s biggest comedy hits in recent history,

“Trespass and die,” reads an unneighborly sign glimpsed early in Josh Ruben’s agile, niftily directed whodunit “Werewolves Within.” While it specifically refers to some local’s private property, one could safely apply the warning to the whole snow-clad Vermont village that surrounds it. Welcome to Beaverfield, a sleepy town chock-full of secrets, lies and ideological disparities

Two members have resigned from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as the organization is in the midst of a thorough overhaul. Diederik van Hoogstraten of the Netherlands and Wenting Xu of China sent a letter of resignation to the HFPA leadership, the L.A. Times reported Thursday. The two overseas journalists said in their letter that

Warner Bros. has acquired Marvin Gaye biopic “What’s Going On,” Variety has confirmed. “What’s Going On” has been in the works for a number of years. The news that Dr. Dre was working on a film about the late soul icon first broke in 2018. Dr. Dre will produce alongside Jimmy Iovine and Andrew Lazar, with Allen

Top ViacomCBS executive David Nevins is in talks for an expanded role that would include oversight of content for Paramount Plus, sources tell Variety. The longtime Showtime CEO and chairman, who also serves as chief creative officer of CBS, would maintain his portfolio that at present includes Showtime Networks and BET Networks, individuals with knowledge

The Tribeca Festival 2021 has announced the full list of winners for each of its competition categories. Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice” won for narrative feature, Levan Koguashvili’s “Brighton 4th” won for international feature and Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won for documentary feature. Awards were given out for the following competition categories: U.S. narrative, international narrative, documentary,

“Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer” begins with workers marking off patches of green grass with orange paint. The beeps of a bulldozer sounded as excavation at the Oaklawn cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, got underway last summer. Forensic anthropologist had turned up data that suggested there might be a mass grave at the site.

Naomi Watts’ update on the cult horror film “Goodnight Mommy” just secured two crucial roles in Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti. The twin boys will play Watts’ sons in the Amazon Studios project, which just kicked off production in New Jersey. Matt Sobel is directing the new take on the film, whose predecessor was selected as

“Blacula” is leaving the coffin. MGM, Bron and Hidden Empire Film Group’s Deon and Roxanne Avent Taylor are teaming up for a reboot of the blaxploitation horror classic. The new film is a modern reimagining of the 1972 movie, directed by William Crain and starring William Marshall as Blacula. The reboot picks up where the

UPDATED, CORRECTION APPENDED: Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder, chairman and co-CEO, gave a shoutout to one of his rivals Thursday, telling WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar that HBO Max should be represented in the new streaming-data report released by Nielsen. “Wild that most TV time in USA is still legacy linear. Stream team needs to up its

Neon has released the trailer for “Pig,” which follows Nicolas Cage on a rescue mission to find his swine friend. Cage’s character, Rob, is a truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness and enlists the help of a truffle salesman (Alex Wolff) to search for his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped.

Spain’s Lightbox, producer of the “Tadeo” franchise and “Capture the Flag,” is teaming with Austria’s Arx Anima (“Talking Tom and Friends”) to create Arxlight. A joint venture, the partnership aims to produce an animation feature every two-and-a-half years with an around €10 million ($12.1 million) budget. First fruit of the joint venture, animated feature “Monstrous Mia”

Annecy’s short film competition is many things. It is a celebration of the best short, animated films from the previous year, a barometer of bigger things to come from filmmakers on the rise, a place of recognition for established filmmakers still going strong decades into their careers, and a home to experimentation impossible to find

Gkids has acquired North American rights to “The Deer King,” the latest feature film animated by the acclaimed studio Production I.G. Directed by Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji and written by Taku Kishimoto, the movie premieres in competition at the Annecy Animation Festival this week and is slated for a theatrical release in early 2022.

Hungary’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday that bans the dissemination to minors of content deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change — a move that has drawn condemnation from leading broadcasters and cast a shadow over one of the world’s top production hubs. But it remains to be seen what the impact will be