Movies

For the launch of Michael B. Jordan’s “Without Remorse,” the team at Amazon decided to go big. The e-commerce giant and streaming player coordinated more than 100 drone deliveries to veterans and military families, celebs and influencers in 11 countries and 14 markets across the globe. It’s the kind of effort, one that spanned time

A year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, economic turbulence, and widespread protest has given increased urgency to conversations about racism, social justice, and inequality. That, in turn, is forcing the documentary world to rethink the traditional ways of doing business, according to industry leaders. “You can’t completely blow everything up, I don’t think. We have

Netflix is about to introduce one of Mexico’s most legendary fictional families to the English-speaking world with “We Are the Nobles,” a new U.S. film adaptation of Mexican sensation “Nosotros los Nobles” (The Noble Family). Eight years ago, Gaz Alazraki’s family comedy became a certified blockbuster, and still ranks as the second highest-grossing Mexican film

As a young girl, “The View” co-host and Emmy Award-winning legal journalist Sunny Hostin would use a hairbrush as a mic and mimic Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer in the mirror. She didn’t have many broadcast idols she could emulate — in those times, there weren’t many women of color headlining news shows. Now, with

Sarah Silverman is set to star opposite Blair Underwood in the upcoming psychological thriller “Viral” from York Films. The independent film, written by Joe McClean, centers on Andrew (Underwood), a man dealing with the disappearance of his wife. As Andrew falls deeper into paranoia, he finds that the only way out of the self-destructive cycle

Known as a producer of award-winning Canadian documentary and narrative films, a showrunner and, more recently, as the cofounder of Canada’s newly minted Black Screen Office, Jennifer Holness is chatting up her feature-doc directorial debut, “Subjects of Desire,” this week at Hot Docs where it screens in Special Presentations. In an interview with Variety before

Asian films feature prominently on the debut slate of Crescendo House, a newly-launched distributor in North America. The company aims to take a boutique and curatorial approach at a time when streaming is changing the sector. Each film will receive an exclusive, limited edition, collector’s home video release featuring bespoke artwork, packaging, and hours of

Quiver Distribution has acquired U.S. rights to “The Exchange,” a new comedy from the co-creator of “Borat” and “Bruno.” Directed by Dan Mazer, an Oscar nominee for writing the “Borat” movies and the maker of “Dirty Grandpa,” the film follows a socially awkward but highly enterprising teenager who decides to acquire a “mail-order best friend.”

France’s culture minister Roselyne Bachelot has outlined in broad strokes the strategy for reopening cultural venues, including movie theaters, on May 19. For one thing, there won’t be any sales of popcorn or other food and beverage inside cinemas during the first three weeks of reopening. Addressing the National Assembly on May 3, Bachelot said

The Locarno Film Festival will honor U.S. producer and screenwriter Gale Anne Hurd – best known for being instrumental to “The Terminator” film trilogy and “The Walking Dead” TV franchise – with its Raimondo Rezzonico Prize awarded to a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to international indie cinema is

Edgar Wright’s music documentary “The Sparks Brothers” will have its U.K. premiere as the opening film of Sundance Film Festival: London. As the U.K. remains on track to open all indoor cinema screens from May 17, Sundance London (July 29-Aug. 1) will be an in-person event this year at the Picturehouse Central cinemas, after a

Marcela Santibañez, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary contender “The Mole Agent,” is executive producing a new documentary about a company of heroic firefighters, Variety has learned exclusively. Set against a backdrop of protest, pandemic and social unrest in the city of Valparaíso, “Piropolis” follows the firefighters of the fifth company as they

Monday, May 3 Charli XCX Documentary to Close Inside Out Film Festival Toronto’s 2021 Inside Out film festival will take place online from May 27 to June 6. The 2SLGBTQ+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning) fest will open with Natalie Morales’ “Language Lessons,” which picked up the audience award at this year’s SXSW

Paramount Pictures has become the latest studio to adopt the Ruderman Family Foundation’s guidelines for auditioning actors with disabilities for studio productions. “Inclusion of individuals with disabilities is central to an authentic commitment to diversity in our industry and in our community,” Paramount Pictures chairman-CEO Jim Gianopulos said in a statement. “We are proud to adopt

The group behind the Golden Globe Awards introduced a plan on Monday to increase the number of Black members and people of color within its organization, as well as proposed restrictions on the gifts its voters can accept and the payment they receive for their work on committees. The moves come as the Hollywood Foreign

Producers Eric Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle have optioned Hermann Hesse’s “Demian” and plan to adapt the novel into a feature film. Nick Kreiss (“Afraid”) has penned a screenplay with cinematographer Andre Lascaris (“About Alex”) and under the supervision of the Hesse estate. The book was a bestseller in the U.S. and its story of spiritual

Olympia Dukakis, who died on May 1 at 89, had a face like no one else’s. Stern but perpetually amused, with a warm leer of a grin that could light up a scene, she looked like the comedy and tragedy masks fused together. That’s a fitting reference, since Dukakis was of Greek heritage and, in

Ryan Reynolds’ production company, Maximum Effort, has signed a three-year, first-look deal with Paramount Pictures. The pact reunites Reynolds with longtime executive partner Emma Watts, Paramount’s motion picture group president, and studio CEO Jim Gianopulos. The deal will cover development for all Maximum Effort feature projects across all budget scales. “We are so happy the

A federal judge ruled on Monday that a man who claims Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old must reveal his name in order to proceed with a lawsuit. The man, now in his 50s, has already indicated to the court that he would drop the suit if forced to reveal

“Bios,” an upcoming sci-fi drama starring Tom Hanks, has been sold to Apple TV Plus. Amblin Entertainment produced the film, which was intended to be distributed by Universal Pictures in theaters this August. With its purchase from Amblin, Apple TV Plus has renamed the movie “Finch.” The company has yet to set an official release

When the urgent desire to make something beautiful overrides the desire to tell a particular story — and when you are Zhang Yimou, rebounding from a run-in with the Chinese authorities over your last picture, “One Second” — you might end up with a film like “Cliff Walkers.” A gorgeously snowbound period spy movie insulated

New York will lift capacity restrictions beginning on May 19, a move that potentially sets the stage for a Broadway and live theater revival. It will also help cinemas in the region bounce back after months of being closed or only operating at limited capacity. Restaurants, museums, salons, gyms and stores will also no longer

When you hear the phrase “the opioid crisis,” it can sound like it’s referring to a natural disaster with a beginning and an end. But as Alex Gibney’s shattering two-part, four-hour HBO documentary “The Crime of the Century” makes devastatingly clear, the opioid crisis is more than a human tragedy that has claimed half a

AGC Studios has hired industry veteran B.J. Levin as executive VP of non-fiction. In his new role, he will oversee the indie company’s development production for film and television. Those duties include continuing to build the studio’s episodic non-fiction and unscripted output, as well as the company’s feature documentary slate. He will report to AGC

Thomasin McKenzie is going for the gold. The young star has signed on to play Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug in the upcoming biopic “Perfect,” from director and exec. producer Olivia Wilde. McKenzie, best known for her breakout performances in “Leave No Trace” and “Jojo Rabbit,” will portray Strug in the film, which is described

With only a couple of clicks of the dial and a little dash of hybrid vigor, the hackneyed can be made fresh again, a point proven by Tran Quoc Bao’s silly and special little kung fu comedy “The Paper Tigers.” Balancing the naive structure of an old Shaw Brothers movie (a vengeance mission with an

Wanda Film, part of the Dalian Wanda group, has appointed financial advisers in Australia and may be preparing to sell the Hoyts cinema chain, according to local reports. According to the Australian Financial Review newspaper, investment bank Credit Suisse has been appointed by Wanda to find bidders for Hoyts. The bank’s task force, it says,

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the leading global get-together for all things animation, has unveiled the lineup for this year’s Work in Progress section, among the most highly anticipated events of the world’s animation calendar. When a physical event is possible, lines begin to form early in the morning as fans of the high-profile

Anyone who watched “Avengers: Endgame” on opening weekend knows the shared excitement of seeing a movie on the big screen. Marvel, the studio behind that superhero blockbuster and dozens of others, paid tribute to the emotional sensation that many have been missing in the past year in a newly released feature that gave viewers the

Premiering in Hot Docs’ World Showcase, Michal Weits’ debut, “Blue Box,” marks a personal exploration of the myth, reality and historical context of the filmmaker’s great-grandfather. By extension, it becomes a deep dive into Israel’s complex and controversial history –  a debate to which there’s no resolution in sight. Named after the blue boxes of