Movies

Listen to the theme song of Nicolas Cage’s new horror movie “Willy’s Wonderland” and chances are you won’t be able to get it out of your heard. Here, Variety gives you the first listen to the full creepy, yet catchy “The Birthday Song and Willy’s Jingle.” In the Kevin Lewis-directed film, Cage plays a man

Lily Gladstone is set to star in Martin Scorsese’s next film, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Based on David Grann’s best-selling book, the Apple Original Film adaptation takes place in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts a string of brutal murders of Osage Nation Native Americans, which came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The

The musical landscape for Pixar’s “Soul” was one of two worlds. “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” resident band frontman Jon Batiste used a jazz-filled, hectic musical palette to reflect New York City and the world of Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher who yearns to be a jazz pianist in the Pete Docter-directed animated

The part-documentary/part-drama “The Social Dilemma” deals in part with the spell that Silicon Valley tech companies have cast over a willingly mesmerized populace, and so Nina Simone’s version of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ classic “I Put a Spell on You” was brought in as a musical accent mark for the film. For the soundtrack album, producers

It runs at only 12 minutes, but the animated short “If Anything Happens, I Love You” is a sweeping story of grieving parents after losing their daughter to gun violence. Devoid of dialogue, the 2D animation relies on a colorless world as a couple argues over dinner. Their shadows are dark and the world is

Over a decade in the making, The Actors Fund and Thomas Safran & Associates broke ground Thursday morning on The Hollywood Arts Collective, a $120-million project that will include 151 affordable housing units for artists. “With gentrification and rising rents in neighborhoods traditionally accessible to workers in the entertainment and arts community, The Hollywood Arts

In 1970, Ali MacGraw, then a relatively unknown model-turned-actress fresh off her debut role in “Goodbye, Columbus,” sat on the front steps of a Cambridge, Mass., duplex in deep winter, sobbing and shivering and blubbering the line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” It was the non-apology heard ’round the world. While MacGraw,

M-Appeal has taken world distribution rights to Japanese filmmaker Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” which has its world premiere In Competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer. [embedded content] The film contains three stories, which share the theme of “coincidence and imagination,” the director said.

Saudi Arabian exhibition chain Muvi Cinemas has forged a strategic partnership with local digital media studio Telfaz11, under which they will take an undisclosed stake in the expanding Saudi outfit that recently inked an eight-picture deal with Netflix. The partnership will see Muvi and Telfaz11 join forces to produce Arabic feature films for theatrical release,

When Marvel Comics first launched the character of Black Panther, it was in the July 1966 issue of “Fantastic Four.” As explained in this exclusive clip from the upcoming Disney Plus documentary “Marvel’s Behind the Mask,” the character of T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, was presented just like any other Marvel superhero — attention wasn’t

China has issued a list of ten requirements and 15 prohibited acts that performing artists should use to “self-regulate” their own wayward behavior or else face punishments that include a lifetime ban from the entertainment industry. The regulations, issued by the government-backed China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA), are set to begin a trial phase

Tim Richards, CEO of international cinema chain Vue, has been named chair of the British Film Institute (BFI). Richards will take over the role, which is appointed by the U.K. government, from interim chair and BFI governor Pat Butler from Feb. 16 and will serve a three-year term. He takes the reins from former Warner

The Match Factory is taking a strong slate to the European Film Market, including two world premieres: Anne Zohra Berrached’s “Copilot,” which is in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section, and Christian Schwochow’s “Je Suis Karl,” which is in Berlinale Special. Also in the festival program is Dash Shaw’s “Cryptozoo,” the critically acclaimed adult animation

Actor Daniel Bruhl’s directorial debut and new titles from Radu Jude, Celine Sciamma, Hong Sangsoo and Xavier Beauvois are among the 15 competition titles in the Berlin Film Festival, all of which were revealed Thursday. Five of the titles are from female filmmakers (some of whom are co-directors on titles), on par with last year’s

A throwback to all the B-grade knockoffs that followed such hit late ’80s/early ’90s household thrillers as “The Stepfather,” “Pacific Heights,” and “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” “Paradise Cove” will be nobody’s idea of an original movie, let alone a good one. Still, it provides a degree of schlock entertainment value, as a young

Now shortlisted in the international feature category, Tunisia’s ambitious entry “The Man Who Sold His Skin” from female writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs”) offers a provocative contemporary take on a Faustian bargain. An audacious but not always palatable mix of drama, tragedy, romance, satire and dark humor, the plot centers on Sam

Sony Pictures and Chinese production company Tencent have landed rights to “Finding Gobi,” a touching memoir about a stray dog who befriends a runner, and plan to adapt it as a feature film. 20th Century Fox originally optioned the book in 2017, but the project was abandoned when Disney acquired Fox’s film assets two years

Hulu has three documentaries — “WeWork,” “Kid 90” and “Sasquatch” — slated to release on the streaming service this spring. “Kid 90,” an intimate look at young Hollywood starlets growing up in the 1990s, will be available to stream on March 12.  Directed by Soleil Moon Frye, the film uses hundreds of hours of footage

Legendary Korean star Yuh-Jung Youn will receive the 2021 Spotlight Award, Actress for her role in the critically-hailed “Minari” at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. “In her first-ever American feature film, ‘Minari,’ Yuh-Jung Youn wonderfully portrays a feisty and foul-mouthed grandmother whose Korean American family has suddenly moved from California to a hardscrabble farm

The South by Southwest Film Festival has rolled out its full programming line up, with high profile new documentaries bolstering previously announced features. For many in Hollywood, the last-minute cancellation of the Austin-based 2020 SXSW conference was a reality check about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. Global lockdowns followed, and a year later, the

Netflix has acquired “Blue Miracle,” the Dennis Quaid film formerly known as “On the Line.” Based on a true story, “Blue Miracle” centers on Casa Hogar, a Mexican orphanage that was struggling to survive after Hurricane Odile hit in 2014. On the brink of bankruptcy, the residents enter the world’s biggest fishing tournament in hopes

Dominique Boutonnat, president of France’s powerful National Film Board (CNC), is being sued for attempted rape and sexual assault by his 22-year-old godson. He has been held in custody since Wednesday morning. The news was first reported by news channel BFM TV. The complaint was filed by Boutonnat’s godson on Oct. 7 and the alleged

The awards season’s uncertain times continue, and the Academy Awards have been planning for multiple scenarios for their annual telecast, which was pushed back two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first details regarding the Oscars ceremony have emerged, and it will have an in-person show, not just from the Dolby Theatre in Los

We’re a little more than a month into the new year, and already Hollywood has in short order mourned the losses of so many thespian treasures: Cicely Tyson, Cloris Leachman, Hal Holbrook and Christopher Plummer. When screen legends die, it seems to carry an emotional resonance. Perhaps it’s because over the decades, we’ve watched them

Guild awards season is officially underway. The 27th annual SAG Awards nominations are proving to still be a good indicator of how things may shake out at the upcoming Academy Awards. In many ways, the same can be said for the television series and talent that broke onto this ballot after having its first go

The difference in our ages was only three years, but in those early years in Montreal, Chris was more advanced as an actor, with experience and talent. He was part of the theatrical scene of Montreal, and he was making a living working on Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio and in theater. I had the opportunity

Frank Grillo has an insatiable appetite for flexing his movie muscles. The actor is superhumanly prolific, practically cornering the market on macho roles as he veers from facing off with Captain America in “The Winter Soldier” to entering the ring with Nick Jonas in “Kingdom.” Since 2014, the 55-year-old Grillo has starred or had a

XYZ Films has boarded action thriller “Yakuza Princess,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Japanese-American singer Masumi. The film will be shopped to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in early March. XYZ will sell worldwide rights save Latin America for the English-language feature, directed by Vicente Amorim, whose previous film, “Motorrad,” screened at the

At just 23, Finneas has already accomplished a lot of major milestones for a singer, songwriter and producer. With sister Billie Eilish, he swept the top three categories of the 2020 Grammys (song of the year, record of the year and album of the year) and also won producer of the year (non-classical), making him

Prize-winning European animated feature film “The Prince’s Voyage” has been picked up for U.S. release by Shout! Studios. The film will be released stateside across multiple media at an unspecified future date. The film (aka “Le Voyage de Prince”) was directed by French animator Jean-François Laguionie (“The Painting,” Cannes Palme d’Or winning short film “Rowing Across the