Movies

Zhang Yimou’s “Cliff Walkers” is kicking off a multi-territory release this weekend, with day and date outings in North America, New Zealand, and Singapore coordinating with the espionage thriller’s official launch in mainland Chinese theaters on Friday. That makes it one of the first major Chinese pictures to take advantage of the improving theatrical conditions

Actor Johnny Crawford, known for playing Chuck Connors’ son in ABC series “The Rifleman” from 1958-63, has died. He was 75. “It is with great sadness and heaviness of heart that the Johnny Crawford Legacy team announce the passing of Johnny Crawford,” it was posted on the Johnny Crawford Legacy website. “He passed away peacefully

Anne Douglas, the wife of Kirk Douglas and producer known for her philanthropy work, has died. She was 102. The Douglas family announced she peacefully died at her home in Beverly Hills on Thursday afternoon. Her death comes about one year after the death of her husband, who died in February 2020. The couple were

Joseph Masher, a New York-based movie theater operator, understands that audiences may be reluctant to return to the movies. After all, it’s been at least a year since most people have stepped foot in their local multiplex — or any indoor recreational space, for that matter. What those folks may not realize, argues Masher, who

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Motion Picture Television Fund, the board of directors and a slate of guests gathered virtually to announce a new $300 million fundraising drive that aims to support industry workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. President and CEO Bob Beitcher said “the need hasn’t stopped” during the ongoing health crisis,

Move over, “Nomadland” — Italy’s “Pinocchio” is now set to become the first film nominated at this year’s Oscars to hit China. Although Chloé Zhao’s film nabbed best picture and two other major prizes at the Academy Awards on Sunday, it was pulled quietly from its planned China release on April 23 in the wake

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Alexandre Rockwell’s “Sweet Thing,” which won the Berlin Film Festival’s Crystal Bear in 2020. The movie is slated for a theatrical release this summer, followed by a rollout on all digital and home entertainment platforms. An ode to childhood, “Sweet Thing” marks Rockwell’s directorial comeback since his

More like a mayonnaise sandwich on Wonder Bread than the at-least-mildly-crunchy breakfast cereal of its title, “Eat Wheaties!” is a movie whose blandness ultimately triumphs over its annoyance — but only by a hair. This is the kind of underdog comedy in which you soon want to kick the dog. Starring Tony Hale of “Arrested

Following the success of Sundance-winning “Coda,” Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Federation is reteaming with up-and-coming writer-helmer Siân Heder on her next directorial outing, “Impossible.” Picture Perfect Federation is developing the contemporary romantic comedy with Black Label Media. “Impossible” is based on a novel of the same title written by Sarah Lotz, and is being produced

Roxwell Films has cast Olivia Luccardi, Eden Brolin, Sam Quartin, Owen Campbell and Billy Baldwin in the upcoming gritty horror-thriller “Candy Land.” Written and directed by John Swab, the film follows a young disciple of a religious cult, Remy (Luccardi), who stumbles upon a rag-tag group of truck stop sex workers known as “lot lizards”

Less than a week after Anthony Hopkins won his second Academy Award for “The Father,” a dud called “The Virtuoso” arrives to make you wonder if they gave it to the wrong guy. The lousy-followup phenomenon happens all the time (in part because people throw money at newly minted honorees, which explains how Halle Berry

STXfilms, a division of Bob Simonds’ Eros STX, has promoted Keri Moore to president of marketing. Moore previously served as executive vice president in the department, taking the full post after colleague Alissa Grayson’s departure to Warner Bros. Pictures. “Keri has been with STX since the beginning and is incredibly deserving of this expanded role,”

Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen will star in David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future, the story of a popular performance artist whose schtick involves growing new organs in his body. The sci-fi thriller sounds extremely Cronenberg-ian. According to Deadline, which broke the news, the film is set in a distant future where humans have evolved

SAG-AFTRA unveiled an accreditation program and a registry for intimacy coordinators on Thursday, as part of the union’s broader efforts to combat sexual harassment on set. The union has been involved in standardizing the intimacy coordinator profession since 2019. In January 2020, the union issued guidelines for intimacy coordinators, including standards for how to communicate

Arriving on the heels of his “The Boy” and “Brahms: The Boy II,” William Brent Bell’s “Separation” reconfirms the director’s belief that nothing is scarier than creepy killer dolls. His latest, alas, fails to successfully prove that case, and worse, its story about a recently widowed single father struggling with supernatural phenomena is a dull

It was 18 years ago — how time flies in the indie world — that the married directing team of Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman brought us “American Splendor,” an achingly humane, scabrously funny, miraculously playful and inventive lower-depths comedy based on the life and work of the lumpen verité comic-book diarist Harvey Pekar,

Hong Kong auteur Fruit Chan’s upcoming satirical horror anthology film “Coffin Homes” is set to be released in local theaters in August, distributor Edko Films announced on Wednesday. “Coffin Homes” revolves around Hong Kong’s housing problems caused by the lack of space and sky high property prices. “Hong Kong’s property prices are so expensive that

The Game Audio Network Guild announced the full list of its 19th annual G.A.N.G. Awards winners for 30 categories in music, sound design, dialogue, mixing and more. Co-hosted by composers Rachel Robison and Cody Matthew Johnson, the virtual event was streamed live on Twitch.tv for the second year in a row. “The Last of Us

Florence Pugh is set to star in “The Wonder,” a big-screen adaptation of the suspenseful novel by Emma Donoghue. Set in the late 1850s, the story follows an English nurse who goes to a tiny village in Ireland to observe what some view as a medical anomaly and others consider a miracle: a young girl

Endeavor has set a share price of $24, the final step before the media conglomerate goes public on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company had previously announced that it would seek to raise about $511 million at a share price of $23-$24. The company will be listed on the exchange under the

The organization Chinese in Entertainment, the non-profit behind the Los Angeles Chinese Film Festival (LACFF), is changing its name to remove the word “Chinese” after internal discussions about the political implications of the term. After some soul-searching, the team decided that the new name Sino Entertainment Association (SEA) would be better aligned with its goal

For Variety‘s post-Oscars cover story on Chloé Zhao, Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, and the impresario behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sang the “Eternals” director’s praises two days before the Oscar ceremony. He also made fun of the idea of doing an interview about something that hadn’t yet happened: Zhao’s widely anticipated Oscar

It was an Oscar night to remember, but perhaps not in the way that all of us would have expected. In this special Awards Circuit Podcast Roundtable Mega Edition, Clayton Davis, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay and Michael Schneider give one last look at the highs, lows, surprises and jaw-dropping moments from the 93rd Oscars. The

Over the course of the past century, Monsanto discovered a way to farm the American farmer by developing, patenting and supplying genetically modified seeds. Instead of getting its hands dirty in the fields, the company cultivates its yield directly from the land workers, who have virtually no choice but to buy the agrochemical company’s seeds.

Inside a makeshift cafe set at Hong Kong’s luxurious Rosewood Hotel, local actor-producer Josie Ho sits across from British actor Julian Sands. Both are giving director Mike Figgis their full attention as he explains the scene that they are going to film. What was said could not be heard from afar, despite the set being

“Shotgun Wedding,” a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, will arrive on the big screen next summer. The Lionsgate film has been scheduled to release on June 29, 2022. In “Shotgun Wedding,” Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gather their families for a destination wedding. But as the couple begins to get cold feet,

Utopia has acquired worldwide rights to David Gutnik’s “Materna” ahead of the film’s in-person debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The movie looks at four women, whose lives intersect during an incident on a New York City subway. Kate Lyn Sheil (“She Dies Tomorrow”), Jade Eshete (“Billions”), Lindsay Burdge (“Black Bear”), Assol Abdullina (“First

Swedish documentary specialist Momento Film, the company behind “Tiny Tim: King for a Day” and CPH:Forum work in progress “Stories from the Debris,” is ramping up its narrative feature film output. A decade after he founded his outfit, helmer/producer David Herdies has propelled Momento Film among Sweden’s top creators of cutting-edge documentaries and shorts. Award-winning

During Sunday’s Oscars telecast, Sony Pictures Classics co-chief Tom Bernard and I were commiserating by text about how strange it was to be watching the show from our respective homes on the East and West coasts. He reminisced about the first time he went to the Academy Awards as his wife’s guest in 1985 when

Iconic Events, a budding entertainment company that specializes in programming for live events, has hired industry veteran Steve Bunnell as chief executive officer. Iconic Events was created last year by Michael Lambert, a longtime movie theater owner who currently serves as executive chairman, as well as former Cinemark CEO Tim Warner. It was formed to