Movies

WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff says that the release of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” will complete the director’s superhero trilogy, reinforcing the studio’s desire to move past the social media campaign to hand back control of the DC film universe to the filmmaker. Instead, Sarnoff believes that the future of DC is more than just

Before there were superhero films, there were don’t-get-mad-get-even films. You might say that the two genres have nothing to do with each other. But in the early-to-mid-’70s, when the revenge film as we know it was coming into being with “Dirty Harry,” “Walking Tall,” and “Death Wish,” part of the premise of the new pulp

Emerald Fennell, the Oscar-nominated director of “Promising Young Woman,” is taking on a different kind of vigilante. She has been tapped to write “Zatanna,” a big-screen adaptation of the DC Comics heroine. The movie, from Warner Bros.’ DC Films, is set to be released theatrically. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing through his overall deal

Forest Whitaker has joined Tom Hardy in the upcoming Netflix crime drama film “Havoc,” Variety has learned. The film hails from writer, director, and producer Gareth Evans, the first under a new exclusive multi-year deal to produce and direct films for the streamer. In “Havoc,” after a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight

Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights to Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher’s “The Girl and the Spider,” which world premiered at the Berlinale in the Encounters section, and won best director. “The Girl and the Spider” was co-written and directed by Ramon Zürcher, and written and produced by Silvan Zürcher. It marks the Swiss

Priyadarshan’s “Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea” has won best feature film at India’s National Film Awards which were announced Monday. The Malayalam-language film, a period epic starring Mohanlal, had its global release halted last year by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now due to release in May 2021. The film also won awards for

In today’s Global Bulletin, Home Team hires Jessica Hill as a senior development executive; Beyond Productions appoints Hamo Forsyth as creative director for factual programming; Sky News launches “The Daily Climate Show”; and Dandelooo picks up Teidees’ “Jasmine and Jambo” for international distribution. HIRING Dominic Buchanan and Bennett McGhee’s new production company Home Team has

The upcoming Locarno Film Festival’s First Look initiative dedicated to showcasing pix-in-post will focus on films from Switzerland, in a spirit of industry restart emanating from the home territory for the prominent Swiss event dedicated to global indie cinema. The competitive industry showcase, which is among the biggest attractions for sales agents and distributors at

ARRI Media has closed a deal with Crescendo House – a new boutique distribution company – for North American rights on Marxist vampire comedy “Bloodsuckers,” following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. The film, which screened as part of the Berlinale’s Encounters section, was written and directed by Julian Radlmaier. Radlmaier’s script was

Korean American drama film “Minari” can’t stop winning awards. Similarly, it continues to reign on top of the Korean box office. The Lee Isaac Chung-directed film earned $1.09 million between Friday and Monday to top the box office in South Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Though confined to a virtual ceremony thanks to the pandemic, leadership at the Writers Guild of America still found cause for celebration at their annual awards ceremony. WGA West president David Goodman and WGA East head Beau Willimon addressed nominees and members in a pre-recorded greeting on Sunday, recapping their recent triumph in a nearly

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Promising Young Woman” took top narrative film honors on Sunday at the 73rd annual Writers Guild of America Awards. Kal Penn hosted the virtual presentation that cemented “Borat” and “Promising Young Woman” as among the frontrunners for Oscar screenplay wins next month. Amazon Studios’ “Borat” prevailed for adapted screenplay for a

James Cameron’s “Avatar” once again led the China box office this weekend, with sales of $14 million over the three-day period. The 2009 film has held its own as the top title every day since its March 12 re-release in China. It has grossed a total of $44 million so far, ten days into its

The upcoming Johannes Roberts-directed “Resident Evil” film now has a name: “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” Roberts revealed the title and details of the movie’s plot during a panel with IGN’s Lucy O’Brien at SXSW on Saturday. Speaking about the genesis of the title, Roberts — who has directed both of the “47 Meters

For 45 years, Hollywood has churned out sequels to more or less any movie that makes a big enough splash at the box office. The rationale has always been simple: The fans want it. Starting in the mid-’70s, with “Jaws” and “Rocky” and “Star Wars,” fan service became the model, the engine, the economic blueprint

Disney’s animated adventure “Raya and the Last Dragon” led the domestic box office in its third weekend, illustrating the appeal of family films as Hollywood attempts to mount a moviegoing revival. “Raya and the Last Dragon” collected $5.2 million from 2,261 theaters through Sunday, representing a scant 5% decline from its sophomore outing. Disney can

Both critical and celebratory, Jennifer Holness’ packed and penetrating documentary “Subjects of Desire” provides a superb overview of how Black culture has influenced, and been influenced by, contemporary beauty ideals from Civil War times to #BlackGirlMagic and beyond. Solidly if modestly presented — occasionally the photo-montage-and-voiceover sections feel a little bit PowerPointy — this energetic

The documentary as true-life suspense mystery came to the fore, and might have been invented, by Errol Morris, when he released “The Thin Blue Line” in 1988. It was the rare nonfiction film that had a demonstrable real-world impact (its twisty investigation into the case of a convicted killer, Randall Adams, led to Adams’ conviction

With movie theaters beginning to reopen in Los Angeles at 25% capacity, L.A. moviegoers are celebrating the return of their favorite pastime. Variety‘s senior writer Matt Donnelly visited the AMC Theatres in Century City to check in with patrons about going back to the movies. “I’ve been waiting for this for a year, so this is

HBO Max has announced that “Tenet” will hit the streaming platform on May 1. Good news for anyone experiencing time linearly: Tenet is streaming May 1 on HBO via HBO Max! ⌛️ pic.twitter.com/dGbxGLOwyu — HBO Max (@hbomax) March 20, 2021 Christopher Nolan’s thriller first came to theaters in August of last year, several months before

On Friday, director Chris Columbus revealed that an R-rated version of the beloved 1993 comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” exists – though there is not a NC-17 cut of the film. The confirmation first came from Entertainment Weekly following a viral tweet that noted Robin Williams, who played the eponymous Euphegenia Doubtfire, improvised so much that there

Just over two weeks after it was announced that “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” would release on May 14, the film’s premiere date has now bounced back two months to July 2. The animated sequel was originally scheduled for June, but will now occupy Independence Day weekend at the box office. “Minions 2” was originally

Slick, unsettling Danish law-enforcement thriller “Shorta” — or as it’s been generically retitled in the United States, “Enforcement” — opens with a familiar “I can’t breathe” moment as a team of police scramble to restrain a 19-year-old Muslim man, suggesting that what happened to Eric Garner in Staten Island, and to George Floyd in Minneapolis,

Longstanding Alibaba executive and pop culture icon Gao Xiaosong has left his role as director of Alibaba Music, according to company data publicly available via the Chinese company information site Tianyancha. He exited Tuesday, the same day that the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese government has asked Alibaba Group to sell off or

Roughly 25 minutes into “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) bursts into a room filled with suicidal terrorists bent on blowing up the entire building — and the school children trapped there with them. With mere seconds remaining before the bomb explodes, Wonder Woman zips to each terrorist with lightning speed, tossing them

The Giannis Antetokounmpo movie at Disney is taking shape, with Variety learning exclusively that the film has found three of its leads. Newcomer Uche Agada will star as the NBA great in the film, which is titled “Greek Freak” in honor of the nickname Antetokounmpo earned for his otherworldly basketball skills. In addition, Yetide Badaki

MGM is in negotiations to acquire “Combat Control,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Sam Hargrave (“Extraction”). Hargrave and Shelby Malone will serve as associate producers alongside executive producers Gyllenhaal and Ryan Cassells. The Hideaway Entertainment president Matthew Rhodes, CEO Jonathan Gray and VP Kristy Grisham will produce and co-finance the project. Rhodes, who formerly led

Imagine a magical weapon straight out of science fiction: a machine of gratifying, cartoonish proportions that unleashes a magic potion eradicating the scourge of the past and bringing families safely together. Except it’s not a Marvel prop, it’s an electrostatic disinfectant sprayer — a goofy but crucial piece of protective equipment that will become a

Just when you’d finished the dark and murky four-hour marathon that is HBO’s “Allen v. Farrow” docuseries, along comes Zack Snyder with a dark and murky four-hour director’s cut of “Justice League,” the super-friends reunion that underwhelmed critics and fans alike in its 2017 theatrical cut, now expanded/restored to Snyder’s full vision. Personally, I found

Sharon Stone was pressured to have sex with her male co-stars in order to have better chemistry with them on-screen, she says — and these demands came from white male studio executives, she writes in her upcoming book. Stone, who has had a prolific Hollywood career for four decades, also says she was tricked into