Movies

Warner Bros. has paused its shoot for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3” after an unspecified crew member tested positive for COVID-19. “A team member from Fantastic Beasts 3 has tested positive for COVID-19,” a Warner Bros. spokesperson told Variety. “The diagnosis was confirmed as a result of required and ongoing testing that

SF Studios and sales banner REinvent have unveiled the trailer for “The Pact,” Bille August’s psychological drama based on real events in the life of Karen Blixen, the Danish author best known for her autobiographical novel “Out of Africa.” The film depicts Blixen’s tumultuous relationship with Thorkild Bjørnvig, a promising young poet, after she returned

Rainshine Entertainment and Malaysia’s Animasia are set to produce a trio of animated movies based on the children’s literature franchise “Young Captain Nemo.” Jeffrey Reddick, screenwriter and creator of the “Final Destination” movie franchise, will adapt the books for the screen. The story follows 12-year-old Gabriel Nemo, a descendent of Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo from

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired from New Europe Film Sales the Norwegian animated feature “Christmas at Cattle Hill,“ which is produced by the leading animation studio Qvisten Animation (“In the Forest of Huckybucky,” “Louis & Lucas the Big Cheese Race”). The pick-up is the latest Nordic buy from the high-profile U.S. indie distributor, which is

There are words, and many metaphors, one could use to describe simulation theory: the belief, popularized two decades ago by “The Matrix,” that the life we’re living — the people we know, the experiences we have, what we see, touch, think, and feel — is literally an illusion, an artificial façade orchestrated by minds more

India’s A.R. Rahman, the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Grammy winning composer of “Slumdog Millionaire” will score the music for upcoming war film “Pippa.” In doing so he teams up with two of India’s leading producers. The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films, and directed by Raja

Sia addressed the controversy surrounding her directorial feature debut, “Music,” after the film earned two Golden Globes nominations Tuesday morning, then promptly deleted her Twitter account. (Sia’s Instagram account, which boasts more than 6 million followers, remains active as of this update at 11:30 pm PT.) In a succession of tweets on Tuesday night, the

Mike Henry, a former NFL linebacker and actor known for playing Tarzan in the 1960s, has died. He was 84. Henry died Jan. 8 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after many years of dealing with chronic traumatic encephalopathy and Parkinson’s disease brought on by the head injuries in the NFL and at the

In “Strip Down, Rise Up,” an attendee of S Factor’s beginning pole dance course admits to her fellow students that the class is nothing like what she thought it would be. “When I showed up, I wasn’t scared,” the woman tells those gathered in a circle. “Now I’m a little scared.” In her welcoming remarks,

Ann Sarnoff, the head of WarnerMedia’s studios and networks, congratulated the company’s staff on their 15 Golden Globe nominations, while also arguing in a memo that more needs to be done to promote and celebrate stories from underrepresented artists. “As we celebrate our incredibly deserving nominees this morning, we must also acknowledge that more work

With director Mona Fastvold at the helm, “The World to Come” cast were enthused to be part of a project that takes place during the mid-nineteenth century on the American East Coast frontier. The only problem was they couldn’t really dive into any recorded history. “We know so little about working class women from this

When actors Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer first read the script for Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.’s “Wild Indian,” they immediately knew they were in. “I was gobsmacked when I finally had a chance to read the script,” Greyeyes told culture and events editor Marc Malkin in the Variety Studio presented by AT&T TV at Sundance

Like the Sirens of Greek mythology dolled up in Wes Anderson-esque Girl Scout uniforms, the four young women in Karen Cinorre’s stylish yet surface-level feminist fantasy “Mayday” lure off-screen soldiers to their deaths with invented pleas for help. “They can’t resist a lady in distress,” says Marsha (Mia Goth), coaching newcomer Ana (Grace Van Patten)

Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut already made a big splash with its Sundance Film Festival premiere — and the film is set to make even bigger noise, as Netflix is nearing a $16 million deal for worldwide distribution rights on the film, an individual with knowledge of the deal tells Variety. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga

This year’s Golden Globes nominations have finally been revealed, including Jared Leto’s nomination in the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama category for his performance in “The Little Things.” In an interview with Variety, Leto said that when he heard the news, he was pretty surprised. “I had no idea,” Leto said.

“Together Together,” a comedy that premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is a different kind of love story. The movie centers on Anna, a 20-something woman portrayed by Patti Harrison, who is hired as a surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s played by Ed Helms. As the pregnancy proceeds, the once-strangers form a

Salma Hayek stars in the new indie “Bliss” as a mysterious homeless woman named Isabel who befriends a man (Owen Wilson) who has just lost his job. Written and directed by Mike Cahill (“Another Earth” and “I Origins”), nothings nothing is as clear as it may seem in the film. Isabel is not only a

Set in turn-of-the-century Dominican Republic, “Liborio” received its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam this week in the Tiger Competition. The directorial feature debut of Madrid-based Dominican-born film editor Nino Martínez Sosa, the Spanish-language film tells the true story of Olivorio Mateo, a peasant who disappears into a hurricane and returns, it is claimed,

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke doesn’t expect Jeff Bezos to turn his attention to producing as he steps down as Amazon CEO — but she doesn’t rule it out either. Variety took the opportunity on Wednesday morning to ask Salke — calling in to chat about the Golden Globes 2021 nominations — about Bezos’ big

When Anders Thomas Jensen hit 45 years of age the “Adam’s Apple” and “Men & Chicken” director said he had a “minor breakdown,” questioning the point of his life and desperately searching for meaning. Channeling these feelings into the character of a military man with PTSD whose wife has just died in a train explosion

“Queen & Slim” filmmaker and “Insecure” executive producer and director Melina Matsoukas is paying it forward, bringing her extensive filmmaking expertise to the youth and joining Ghetto Film School’s Board of Directors. “In my career I’ve had two guiding ambitions, one is to tell the stories of underrepresented people in ways that expand our collective

“Feast,” the directorial debut of visual artist, photographer and filmmaker Tim Leyendekker, centers on a case that rocked Holland in the mid 2000s, when three men were accused of drugging others and injecting them with HIV-infected blood. The film/documentary/essay hybrid unfolds over 84-minutes in seven vignettes, offering the audience different points of view from the

Variety has launched the “Just for Variety” podcast, a companion to the weekly magazine column of the same name. The rebrand of the podcast previously titled “The Big Ticket” comes on the heels of the revival of the legendary column that ran for 60 years in the pages of Daily Variety. The “Just for Variety”

Sacha Baron Cohen scored three Golden Globe nominations on Wednesday, tying Jamie Foxx and Helen Mirren’s record for the most nods by a performer in a single year. Very nice! Baron Cohen was a double acting nominee, earning recognition in comedy or musical acting for his return as Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev in “Borat Subsequent

This crusade is much more important than the anti-lynching movement, because there would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom.— Carter G. Woodson (1933) The invites always come as the year turns over. Can I speak at this college or that law firm on Black History Month? Even as I accept,

The Golden Globes have sounded off with the first big take on the film year that has included anything but stability and normalcy. Netflix ruled the nominations day as expected with 22 nods for the film side, with David Fincher’s “Mank” leading with six. Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was also right

Alvin Ailey created 75 ballets over the course of his life. Judith Jamison, Ailey’s friend and one of the subjects of the eponymous new documentary on his life, discusses his prolific career, saying, the “speed in which our people and in which the creative ideas just keep coming” was so far ahead of others that

Poland’s Opus Film (“Cold War,” “Ida”) and Scandinavian distributor Scanbox are teaming with fast-rising Danish production house Motor on Mads Hedegaard’s directorial debut “Stranger,” co-penned with Jesper Fink (“Margrete-Queen of the North,” “Before the Frost”). Tagged by Motor as “‘Apocalypto’ meets ‘The Revenant,’” “Stranger” will be pitched virtually on Feb. 5 by Hedegaard and producer

Back in 2018, Natalie Portman made headlines for calling out the lack of female directing nominees at the Golden Globes. While on stage to present the award for best director, she quipped: “Here are the all-male nominees.” Well, for the first time in a long time, the Golden Globes made good on that omission and

Streaming services dominated nominations for the 78th Golden Globe Awards, signaling a power shift in Hollywood from traditional movie studios and TV broadcasters to digital upstarts. It’s a move that’s been accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic when much of the world has been stuck at home and theaters have remained closed. Netflix towered over the