Movies

Netflix must be popping the champagne. The streaming leviathan towered over the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards on Monday. Netflix picked up a leading 35 nominations, beating its own previous record of 24 that it set in 2020 when “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” were among its major contenders. This year, Netflix scored 10

During a historic year for diversity in the acting categories at the Oscars, the Academy has also made history by nominating two women in the directing category for the first time ever: Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.” Zhao and Fennell will compete against David Fincher (“Mank”), Lee Isaac Chung

Early reactions to this year’s best international feature film Oscar nominees are in, and Romania and Tunisia are jubilant for their first Academy Award nods, respectively, for “Collective” and “The Man Who Sold His Skin.” The Venice Film Festival-premiering “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” which gained steam late in the game, is also being

“Mank,” an ode to Hollywood’s golden age that was produced and released by Netflix, one of the companies reshaping the movie business, led the nominations for the 93th Academy Awards. The behind-the-scenes drama about the making of “Citizen Kane” scored 10 nominations on Monday, including nods for best picture, as well as for its stars

Oscar-nominated documentary “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” is the first Academy Award nominee to be released as an NFT (non-fungible token). The film, which examines the life and work of the “Shoah” director, was a contender in the 2016 documentary short Oscar race and aired on HBO; however, it’s never been made available for

Just weeks after Japan’s Olympic Games chief was forced to resign over his sexist comments, the Tokyo International Film Festival has become the first major festival in Asia to sign a gender parity pledge. The move was announced on Monday as part of a quartet of major shakeup development moves. The festival said that it

Steve Chicorel’s Organic Media Group is launching a trio of English-language movies at this week’s Hong Kong FilMart. Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight,” “Thank You for Smoking”) and Terrance Howard (“Crash,” “Iron Man”) head the cast of “Afterward,” a drama about a man struggling with the death of his daughter, for which OMG is handling

Less than a week after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association circulated a letter to Hollywood publicists insisting it was committed to diversifying and addressing longstanding criticisms of the organization, Variety has learned that a group of top publicity firms plan to formally warn the HFPA that they expect to see tangible changes. The letter, which

During the Grammys, Disney dropped the latest trailer for “Cruella” starring Emma Stone. Before she was the evil villain in “101 Dalmatians,” Cruella de Vil got her start in customer service. Set to an electrified “These Boots Are Made for Walking,” a young, fiery, red-haired Cruella (Emma Stone)— then known as Estella— balances her janitorial

The wait is finally over for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of his Tony-nominated musical “In the Heights,” directed by Jon M. Chu. With a new trailer debut Sunday, the first official look at the completed pic since late 2019, the drama is set to deliver on its promise of celebrating Latinx culture in New York City

Asia Television, previously Hong Kong’s number two free-to-air broadcaster, may no longer be visible on local TV screens. But the ex-broadcaster is now being recast as a content studio, with its new offshoot AMM Global leading the charge. The division is headed by Bizhan Tong, a Chinese-British former banker turned filmmaker (“The Escort”). He joined

Hong Kong’s FilMart will be a coming out of sorts for China’s Lian Ray Pictures, which will be operating as a sales company at a major film rights market for the first time. The company is representing rights to “My Sister,” a mainland Chinese drama about a young woman who, after the sudden death of

Indonesian director Lucky Kuswandi’s “108 Days” has all the ingredients of an explosive story. It probes into a school scandal that kindles national outrage, homophobic and racist sentiments, pseudo-nationalism and anti-foreigner rhetoric – all of which are widely in evidence across Asia today. The project, which is being pitched for the first time at the

The Japanese film industry has been relatively quick to recover from the pandemic, despite the slow rollout of vaccinations in Japan. So industry leaders are bringing lineups to FilMart packed with titles that will hopefully play to packed theaters at home in the coming months. One is Gaga Corporation, which is bringing “Junk Head,” a

The European Film Promotion organization is poised to return to Hong Kong’s FilMart with a virtual booth that befits this year’s online-only edition of the film rights market. Its umbrella stand will host 29 smaller European sales agencies, including four newcomers. One of those, the French sales company Reel Suspects, will be pitching “Bliss” by Germany’s

Following his win of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the recently concluded Berlin Film Festival for “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” 42-year-old Hamaguchi Ryusuke suddenly finds himself catapulted to the directorial front ranks in his native Japan. It’s not that he’s exactly obscure there: Hamaguchi’s 2018 romantic drama “Asako I & II” was

Billie Eilish made Grammy history again on Sunday by winning the visual-media song award for her James Bond movie theme “No Time to Die.” It marked the first time in Grammy history that a song for a film not yet released has won. Traditionally the Grammy soundtrack committee disqualifies a song when voters cannot yet

Jasmila Žbanić’s film based on the true events of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” took home the top prize at the Miami Film Festival. The Balkan war drama earned the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award for its richness and resonance for cinema’s future, in addition to the Rene Rodriguez Critics Award. Representing Bosnia

Japanese comedy-drama “Ito” (aka “Itomichi”) was named as the Grand Prix winner of the 16th edition of the Osaka Asian Film Festival. It also claimed the audience award. The festival ran March 5-14. Results of the competition section were announced Sunday night ahead of the screening of the world premiere of “The Asian Angel.” The

Taiwanese fingers will be crossed on Monday as wrenching family drama film “A Sun” hopes to secure the territory’s first foreign Oscar nomination since 2000, when Lee Ang’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was a winner in the category and became a global commercial success. Directed by Chung Mong-hong “A Sun” is a powerful and dark

Reliance Entertainment’s “Sooryavanshi,” starring Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh, will finally release on Apr. 30 after a year-long delay caused by COVID-19. The film will be the first major Bollywood title to release post-pandemic and a global outing is planned to coincide with its debut in Indian theaters. The film is a continuation

For the past year, Alexia Norton Jones has been in anguish, constantly reliving an experience that she deeply regrets. On Dec. 30, 2019, Jones flew to Los Angeles from her home in Arizona, to talk to the directors of the documentary “On the Record” about the night in 1990 when she says music mogul Russell

The Flash may be losing a father, but the Scarlet Speedster is gaining a mother. Maribel Verdú has been cast as Barry Allen’s mom in “The Flash,” a character that’s expected to play a pivotal part in the upcoming comic book adventure. At the same time, Billy Crudup is departing the project and will no

Albert Dupontel’s “Bye Bye Morons” won seven prizes, including best film and director, at the 46th Cesar Awards which took place as an in-person, yet socially distanced event at the Olympia concert hall in Paris on March 12. The ceremony was held in the presence of nominees only. “Bye Bye Morons” also won awards for

Another week, another step toward the world as we knew it before COVID-19, thanks to nationwide vaccination efforts and the gradual reopening of theaters. A week after New York cinemas cautiously reopened, Los Angeles plans to do the same, and distributors are serving up movies they’d kept on the sidelines to serve the venues that

Eliane Raheb’s documentaries stress that stories are never black and white, and what people say may be an unconscious reflection of what they want their interlocutor to believe rather than what is factually true. With “Miguel’s War” she goes one step further, diving headfirst into the role of prodding psychologist to coax out a heap

Oscar winner Viola Davis will receive the Icon Award from the African American Film Critics Assn. during the 12th annual AAFCA awards on April 7. Previous recipients of AAFCA’s Icon Award are Sidney Poitier and Kenya Barris. Announcing the honor, AAFCA president Gil Robertson said: “Viola Davis has excelled in every single format available to

L. Scott Caldwell will star in Blumhouse and Amazon’s “Bingo,” the latest thriller on the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” slate. The Tony Award-winning actor, known for her roles as Rose in “Lost” and in “The Fugitive” will star as Delores, the “witty, loyal and tough grandmother” at the center of “Bingo’s” story. Caldwell joins previously

Pour one out for the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. “Avengers: Endgame,” the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Marvel superhero blockbuster, is poised to relinquish its title as the highest-grossing movie in history to “Avatar,” the previous record-holder. Prior to the release of “Endgame” in April 2019, James Cameron’s groundbreaking sci-fi epic held the ultimate box office crown for a decade

Since 1996, The SAG Awards have been honoring the art of the ensemble, both in film and in comedy/drama categories in television. In 2008, they also added stunt ensemble categories for both film and television. Variety editors Clayton Davis and Jenelle Riley break down this year’s film nominees. On the stunt side, nominees include “Da