Movies

Kevin Hart is taking his talents to Netflix. The comedian-turned-actor-turned-producer forged a first-look film production deal with the streamer for his HartBeat Production banner. Kicking off the nascent pact, Hart is producing and starring in four new movies that will play exclusively on Netflix. “Partnering with Netflix is an amazing opportunity for HartBeat and myself,”

Ann Le Cam, a former Disney Animation executive, has joined Weta Digital as senior VP of global talent and animation production. She will be based in Weta Digital’s Los Angeles offices and will report to CEO Prem Akkaraju. “Weta is a company where quality, risk-taking and innovation are key and it is such an exciting

British star and producer Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures and BAFTA-nominated producer Kris Thykier’s Archery Pictures are entering a multi-year joint venture to work together on select future film and TV projects. Thykier was BAFTA-nominated for “The State” and “Trash.” Archery recently completed production on fantasy series “Fate: The Winx Saga” for Netflix, the third

As the U.K. advises stricter measures to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic, film and TV production won’t be affected. There aren’t currently any plans to shut down production, Variety has confirmed with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the government body that deals with the entertainment industry. “The next

Disney/Pixar’s “Soul” has now outperformed “Wonder Woman 1984” in China by more than $10 million despite debuting a week later than the latter. By the end of its third weekend in local cinemas, “Soul” had grossed $36.1 million, according to data from the Maoyan platform — far more than the Warner Brothers title’s China earnings

Karla Souza, co-star of “How to Get Away With Murder” and star of two of the three highest-grossing Mexican films of all time – “¿Qué Culpa Tiene el Niño?” and “Nosotros los Nobles” – is bringing her marquee clout to “La Hiedra” (“The Ivy”), the third feature from on-the-rise Ecuatorian writer-director Ana Cristina Barragán. Now

UniFrance, the organization in charge of promoting French cinema worldwide, is set to showcase nearly 70 completed movies, including 30 market premieres, at the virtual 23rd edition of its Rendez-Vous With French Cinema (Jan. 13-15), a key market for the export of French movies. The Rendez-Vous will kick off with Eric Besnard’s 18th-century-set drama “Delicieux”

European Film Promotion’s flagship program, European Shooting Stars, which helps launch emerging actors onto the world stage, and has boosted the careers of actors like Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and George MacKay, has had to transform into an entirely digital format this year. Instead of being presented to the industry, press and public

The team behind hit 2019 Indian war movie “Uri: The Surgical Strike” has reunited for sci-fi film “The Immortal Ashwatthama.” Based on a character from Indian mythological epic “The Mahabharata,” “Ashwatthama” is billed as a futuristic science fiction VFX-laden extravaganza and has been in development for several months. Veteran producer and former Disney India head

Critically acclaimed and nominated for five Lumiere awards (France’s equivalent to the Golden Globes), Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s)” gives heartache the Scheherazade treatment, tackling a network of love triangles and affairs with a genteel touch and an understanding that every standalone story plants the seeds for several more. Variety spoke with the director. The ensemble

Michael Apted was 22 when he joined the crew of “Seven Up!,” a British made-for-television documentary that profiled 14 children from different class backgrounds. That made him 15 years senior to his subjects, with whom he maintained contact, establishing an almost familial connection that spanned more than half a century. Apted did not direct the

With 2017’s “This Is Our Land,” director Lucas Belvaux examined the ways in which far right movements attract, recruit and reformat new converts, curdling contemporary anxieties for acrid political goals. With his follow-up, “Home Front,” the Franco-Belgian auteur explores the roots of those prejudices. The film, which was part of Cannes’ selection last year, is

Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” led this year’s National Society of Film Critics awards, winning the top honor in four categories. The film won best picture and best cinematography, while Zhao was awarded best director and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. The 55th annual voting meeting took place Saturday, with results being shared to the

Antonio Sabáto Sr., an Italian American actor known for his roles in “Grand Prix” and “Escape From the Bronx,” died this week due to COVID-19 complications. He was 77. The news of Sabáto’s death was confirmed in a tweet by his son, actor and model Antonio Sabáto Jr., who also posted an old family photo.

After the phenomenal success of “Jaws” in 1975, there was a cash-in surge for further “nature strikes back” creature features, as mankind was successively imperiled by dogs, cats, whales, buffalo, piranha and so on. One of the most blatant of these knockoffs was William Girdler’s 1976 “Grizzly,” an undistinguished tale of hairy menace running amok

In the 1980s, the crack epidemic tore through America’s inner cities like a brushfire, and it was a devastating scourge. But it also left a seared trail of media images that were more concocted, simplistic, and racially biased than they pretended to be. Remember “crack babies”? The phenomenon of an infant born to a crack-addicted

Haley Reinhart is celebrating what would have been David Bowie’s 74th birthday with the release of a powerful cover of one of his most iconic songs, “Heroes.” Reinhart, who finished third on the 10th season of “American Idol” and became a viral sensation as the face of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox with her cover of

Two acting prodigies from past and present awards contenders are teaming up for a dark new comedy. Alan S. Kim, the 7-year-old breakout star of “Minari,” is joining forces with “Eighth Grade” star Elsie Fisher for the new film “Latchkey Kids.” Fisher was a Golden Globe nominee for best performance by an actress in a

Pairing two of the most iconic figures on the Spanish-language business scene, actress-producer Kate del Castillo, star of Telemundo smash hit “La Reina del Sur,” is teaming with former Netflix VP Erik Barmack to produce and star in a womanhunt thriller. Provisionally entitled “Cold, Dead Hands,” a title that may well change, the movie is

Disney has promoted Tony Chambers to executive vice president of theatrical distribution. He replaces Cathleen Taff, who served as head of global film distribution since 2018. Taff remains with Disney’s content group as president of production services, franchise management and multicultural engagement. Chambers’ hire comes months after the company announced a structural reorganization that puts

Vadim Perelman’s “Persian Lessons” has been disqualified from the international feature film Oscar race, where the acclaimed WWII drama was representing Belarus. As part of the international feature film submission process, a country’s selection committee is required to provide a list of credits in key creative positions, both above and below the line. Variety understands

Late last year, Chrissy Teigen and Meghan Markle both shared their personal stories of miscarriage and child loss. On Friday, Netflix’s Oscar-contending film “Pieces of a Woman” is released, shining a light on the taboo topics, which are rarely discussed in society, but highly common for women and families around the world. The subject matter

Working with Spike Lee is a lot like being on a sports team, at least according to “Da 5 Bloods” actor Jonathan Majors. “I think most of us in the cast come from an athletic background,” he said. “We’re all athletic, we’re all physical beings. And there are moments where [Lee] comes in and he’s

In “Pieces of a Woman” — Netflix’s Oscar-worthy melodrama about a couple devastated by loss of their baby after a home birth — Shia LaBeouf plays Sean, the husband to Vanessa Kirby’s Martha, who is struggling with the unfathomable tragedy. In one scene, Sean becomes intimate, somewhat forcibly, with his wife, who is uninterested and

Michael Apted, British director of the “Up” series of documentaries, as well as “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Gorillas in the Mist” (1988), James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough” (1999) and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” (2010), has died, his agency Gersh confirmed. He was 79. Apted directed three actors

Brazilian writer-director Felipe Bragança, whose “Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl!” played Sundance and Berlin in 2017, has enrolled a team of cutting edge Brazilian indigenous artists to realize movie “Macunaima,” his contemporary reimagining of one of the most important novels in Brazilian literature. Zahy Guajajara, a poet, actress (“The Brothers”), who formed part of

Zendaya returns to the big screen — this time, in black-and-white — as John David Washington’s lover in “Malcolm & Marie,” set for release on Netflix on Feb. 5. “Malcolm & Marie” stars Washington as a filmmaker and Zendaya as his girlfriend, and focuses on the couple’s conversations regarding their past relationships. Netflix is planning

Ending a bitter rift between Qatar and several Arab countries, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced that the trade and travel blockade it led for more than three years against its tiny but super rich neighbor is finally over. The sudden rapprochement saw Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman invite and welcome Qatar’s Emir Sheikh

Derek DelGaudio aims to subvert expectations in his one-man show “In & Of Itself.” He’s an illusionist, after all. Yet in an exclusive first trailer of the live recording of his acclaimed stage show, which debuts on Hulu this month, even the audience appears unprepared for the magic that unfolds before their very eyes. “You

In his feature film debut, “The Settlement,” writer-director Mohamed Rashad tackles the timely issue of labor abuses in Egypt, a subject that is close to his heart. Inspired by a true story, the film, set in Alexandria, follows two brothers, the 23-year-old troublemaker Hossam and 12-year-old Maro, who are hired at a blade factory as