Movies

Swiss doc company Lightdox has just acquired world sales rights to documentary “Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege” Abdallah Al-Khatib’s debut, co-produced by Films de Force Majeure and Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts, premieres in Vision du Réel’s platform on April 21 in  its main International Feature Competition A Lebanon, France and Qatar co-production, the film follows the

Screen Media has acquired North American rights to “The Birthday Cake,” a mob crime drama that boasts a murderer’s row of talent. The film may be Jimmy Giannopoulos’ feature directorial debut, but the director attracted such stars and veterans as Shiloh Fernandez, Ewan McGregor, Val Kilmer, Lorraine Bracco, William Fichtner, Ashley Benson, Luis Guzman, Paul

Onscreen representation for women in film took a sharp dive in 2020, according to the latest “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World” report. The analysis of the top 100 grossing films of 2020, released today by Dr. Martha Lauzen, reveal that only 29% of 2020’s top grossing films had female protagonists. The percentage of female protagonists

U.K. production company Shakespeare Sisters has acquired the film rights to the popular YA novel “The Upside of Unrequited,” written by best-selling scribe Becky Albertalli. The author’s debut novel, “Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” was adapted as the gay teen romantic comedy movie “Love, Simon,” which – distributed by 20th Century Fox – grossed

Toronto-based Syndicado Film Sales has snapped up world rights to the CPH:DOX competition entry “Oh, It Hertz!” by Norwegian helmer Gunnar Hall Jensen and unveiled the trailer exclusively to Variety. [embedded content] The film, selected for the Nordic:DOX competition program, is produced by UpNorth Film, the company behind the festival hits “iHuman” (2019), “Golden Dawn

Richard Rush, the director of “The Stunt Man,” died April 8 at the age of 91, and if you look up his credits he has only 14 of them (and one was an episode of “The Mod Squad”). In a career that spanned 35 years, he made just a dozen features. Yet to an unusual

The news that the Arclight Cinemas are closing permanently — part of the larger closure that includes Pacific Theaters in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — hit the film industry, and the greater Los Angeles community, like a shockwave. Filmmaker John August was one of the first to tweet about the news: “Oh no.

Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson’s “Man From Toronto” is set for an early 2022 release. Hart, Harrelson, and Kaley Cuoco star in the action-comedy from Columbia Pictures, which will open on Jan. 14, 2022. The film revolves around a case of a mistaken identity after the world’s deadliest assassin, known as the “Man from Toronto,”

Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres will close down, a victim of a global pandemic that brought moviegoing to a standstill. The news comes as things were beginning to look up for the hard-hit exhibition industry and serves as a reminder of the economic devastation wrought by a public health crisis that upended cultural life. “After

Yuh-Jung Youn is under some serious pressure. At the spry age of 73, the Korean actor is in the middle of a career surge, taking on the role of caring yet foul-mouthed grandmother Soonja in Lee Isaac Chung’s family drama “Minari” — and, with her historic SAG and BAFTA Awards wins, facing new expectations from

Todd Field may finally, at long last, be sliding back behind the camera after many projects have fallen by the wayside. The “In the Bedroom” director will team with Oscar winner Cate Blanchett on “TAR,” which Field also wrote. Focus Features will release the film. Details are being shrouded in secrecy, but according to Deadline,

Leaders of SAG-AFTRA, Actors’ Equity Association and American Federation of Musicians Local 802 released a joint statement condemning workplace harassment, bullying and violent behavior in the wake of the allegations made against producer Scott Rudin. “Every worker deserves to do their job in an environment free of harassment of any kind, whether that harassment creates

We mourn the loss of eight individuals, including six Asian American women, gunned down in Atlanta on March 16, a tragedy has catalyzed discussions of the racist and sexist stereotypes of Asian American women. Stereotypes of Asian American women do not exist in a vacuum. Media portrayals of Asian American women and men play a

When the Netflix film “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” debuted in 2018, Lana Condor became a household name. Condor starred as Lara Jean Song Covey, who wins the heart of class heartthrob Peter (Noah Centineo).  She reprised the role in the film’s sequel, “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You,” and

Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys objected on Monday to the paperwork submitted to seek his extradition to face sex assault and rape charges in Los Angeles. A judge in Buffalo, N.Y., set an April 30 court date to hear the objections. Monday’s hearing was only the second time Weinstein has appeared in court since being sentenced in

Richard Rush, who picked up two Oscar nominations, best director and adapted screenplay, for his extraordinary 1980 film “The Stunt Man,” starring Peter O’Toole, died April 8 in Los Angeles. He was 91. His wife Claude said he had been suffering from longtime health issues but that he died comfortably at home. She said in

From giant apes to giant robots: Filmmaker Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”) is set to direct and produce a live-action adaptation of wildly popular anime series “Gundam” for Legendary and Netflix, the streamer announced on Monday. Famed comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan (“Y: The Last Man”) is writing the screenplay and will executive produce.

“Promising Young Woman,” the dark comedy starring Carey Mulligan, will be offered for free to college students. Focus Features, the film’s backer, has partnered with RAINN, the country’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, to host virtual screenings of the film on April 15. Following the showing, Laverne Cox will moderate a conversation with her co-star Mulligan

Lucy Liu is officially a god. The “Elementary” and “Why Women Kill” star has joined the DC Comics adaptation “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” as the villain Kalypso, the sister of Helen Mirren’s villainous character Hespera. Along with Liu and Mirren, the core filmmaking team from 2019’s “Shazam!” is returning for the sequel, including Zachary

Award-winning producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award at the 23rd CDGA (Costume Designers Guild Awards) taking place April 13. “From the record-breaking series, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to the latest binge-worthy series, ‘Bridgerton,’ Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers have been longtime partners of the Costume Designers Guild,” said Salvador Perez, President

In today’s Global Bulletin, “Minari” star Han Yeri signs with Echo Lake Entertainment in the U.S.; Beijing and Cairo announce hopeful in-person festival details; AMC Plus snags Berlin-set Cold War drama “Spy City”; Cineflix Rights will distribute Israeli cop drama “Manayek”; Deepika Padukone steps down as head of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image; Australia’s

London-based production, finance and sales outfit “Film Constellation” has boarded international sales on dystopian sci-fi thriller “Settlers,” directed by Wyatt Rockefeller, and starring Sofia Boutella, whose credits include “Atomic Blonde,” “The Mummy,” the “Kingsman” franchise and “Star Trek: Beyond.” Boutella plays Ilsa, a refugee from Earth, who has settled with her husband and daughter on

Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith will move production on their big-budget, runaway slave thriller “Emancipation” out of Georgia in protest over the state’s controversial new voting restrictions. The announcement continues the economic fallout from Gov. Brian Kemp and the state legislature’s decision to pass new regulations that critics maintain amount to voter suppression, aimed at

Toronto-based Syndicado Film Sales has acquired international sales rights to lyrical Venezuela-set road-movie “Un cielo tan turbio” (“So Foul a Sky”), the sophomore feature by Spanish-born filmmaker Álvaro F. Pulpeiro (“Nocturno: Ghosts of the Sea in Port”). The film world premieres on April 24, competing in the Next Wave section at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary

The Australian federal government has extended two key film and funding initiatives. These are expected to help the country’s screen production sector remain active and continue to recover from the disruptions caused by COVID-19. “The highly effective A$50 million ($38 million) Temporary Interruption Fund will be extended for a further six months, to provide coverage

Music legend Quincy Jones received the Icon Award, while veteran music supervisor Maureen Crowe received the Legacy Award, at Sunday night’s 11th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards. The GMS awards were held virtually and it was the most all-star event the group had yet assembled. Presenters included John Legend, Regina King, and Billie Eilish.

Sally Phillips, the British actor known for her role in all three Bridget Jones movies, will head the cast of Australian comedy drama film “How to Please a Woman.” Pitched as a warmhearted look at sexuality and vulnerability at all stages of life, the film casts Phillips as a 50-something woman who has the inspired

“Godzilla vs. Kong” was once again muscled out of the top China box office slot by local drama “Sister” thanks to a $13.2 million third weekend cume that was no match for the latter’s $21 million. Its China tally was a touch less than its $13.4 million second weekend sales in North America. Though “Godzilla”

By now, a great many people have seen “Godzilla vs. Kong,” and what a lot of them seem to agree on — even many who like it — is that the movie makes almost no sense. That’s nothing new. A number of noteworthy blockbusters have had issues in the how-exactly-does-this-parse? department, like “Pirates of the

British people are known for being self-deprecating, but even they might have felt a little blindsided by “Minari” star Yuh-Jung Youn’s brutally honest, funny assessment of them. Shortly after offering her condolences for the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, during her BAFTA Film Awards acceptance speech for supporting actress, Youn then delivered arguably the