John Mulaney and Andy Samberg will star in a new reboot of “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” for Disney Plus. The feature film will hit the service in spring 2022 and is a combination of live action and computer animation. Seth Rogen will cameo in the film, which Disney teased during its investor day. Akiva
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Six-time Academy Award-nominated star Amy Adams is returning to one of her most beloved roles, Princess Giselle. Adams will reprise her role from the live-action film “Enchanted” for a new Disney Plus original feature. Announced at the Disney Investor Day by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ President of Production Sean Bailey, the presentation was short
Disney is sending two key films to Disney Plus. “Pinocchio” with Tom Hanks and “Peter Pan and Wendy” are skipping their planned theatrical releases and will instead debut on the streaming service. The announcement came during the company’s Disney Investor Day 2020 presentation, which also included updates on upcoming projects from Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.
Patty Jenkins will direct a new “Star Wars” movie, titled “Rogue Squadron,” it was announced during Thursday’s Disney Investor conference. It’s slated for Christmas 2023, and is set to follow pilots across the “Star Wars” universe. We are thrilled to have the great Patty Jenkins directing our @StarWars feature film Rogue Squadron, and as a
Cast and crew members were sent home this week due to a coronavirus scare on the Los Angeles set of “Bullet Train,” the upcoming Brad Pitt action-thriller. The move was made after an asymptomatic crew person tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with union protocol and out of an abundance of caution, the handful of
It’s only fitting that in 2020 — the year of the coronavirus — Netflix’s top titles include stand-up comedies, “sad movies” and “home baking shows.” The streaming giant released year-end viewing trends on Thursday that also showed that October was the biggest month for comedy consumption, with audiences seeking to quell pre-election anxiety. “Hubie Halloween,”
Singer, songwriter, producer, composer and EGOT winner John Legend performs an intimate rendition of “Never Break” from the new Netflix documentary, “Giving Voice.” The documentary will be released on Dec. 11 on the global streaming platform, and follows six students of varied backgrounds as they advance through the August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter people’s holiday celebrations, many people are finding that watching holiday films is one tradition that can continue. While there has been no meaningful change in the percentage of speaking characters with disabilities in these top-grossing films in the past five years with just 2.3 percent of the 4,451
For former Pixar animator Frank E. Abney III, making his short film “Canvas” has been a longtime labor of love. He and his devoted crew have worked on the nine-minute animated film in their off-hours for about six years, all while working on larger studio projects. Now all that hard work is about to pay
The Oscars don’t always get it right, and that’s why they have the Honorary Award. Countless actors and actresses have contributed greatly to the cinematic medium, but not every impact is deemed “Oscar-worthy.” Until the Academy at large begins embracing all genres and performance, the prize is given to reward a career that has had
Perhaps it was a bit of method acting. Over the course of the three-and-a-half weeks spent shooting “Luxor” in Egypt, Andrea Riseborough fell in love with her co-star Karim Saleh, who played the former boyfriend of her character, an aid worker named Hana. “Perhaps we did our jobs a little too well,” says Riseborough. “It’s
When Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt discuss their experience working under the direction of John Patrick Shanley, they were both “bewildered” about how absolutely “bonkers” their two characters are. Along with quarantine and wanting to play “Batman,” the Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast sits down to talk about their film “Wild Mountain Thyme” – listen below!
French cinemas and theaters that were expected to reopen Dec. 15 will be staying closed until at least Jan. 7 due to the pandemic. The news was announced by France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday evening. Along with cinemas and theaters, concert venues and museums will also remain shut until early January at the
For Baobab Studios, partnering with the United Nations on VR short “Baba Yaga” was a natural step. The company, which has won awards for its diverse, engaging content, worked with the U.N. and the org’s ActNow app for action on climate change and sustainability to tell the tale of “Baba Yaga,” inspired by ancient legends
It’s an enormous bet that threatens to alienate Hollywood’s A-list, and it may well make or break HBO Max in the coming year. But WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is vigorously defending the company’s plan to offer day-and-date streaming and theatrical releases for Warner Bros.’ 2021 feature slate, calling it a “defining moment” for a media
The global cinema industry is set to lose $32 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a 71.5% reduction in box office revenue compared to 2019, according to a recent report by media and tech research firm Omdia. Omdia’s “Movie Windows: Adapting for the future” report finds that box office revenue has dipped below
It’s been 25 years since “La Haine” made the banlieue a staple of French cinema. On the back of Mathieu Kassovitz’s cinematic Molotov cocktail, movies such as “Girlhood,” “Divines,” “Cuties” and “Les Miserables” have made the concrete jungles on the outskirts of Paris a haven for cineastes. But none of them are quite like Fanny
Netflix is believed to have swooped for world rights to Edward Berger’s long-anticipated adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” starring Daniel Brühl (pictured). The project is understood to be among the biggest-budget films to ever come out of Germany, with production set to begin in March. Former Washington Post journalist Ian Stokell and
Italian director Maura Delpero is the winner of this year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award, being bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival despite the cancellation of the 2020 festival due to the pandemic. Delpero, who studied playwriting in Buenos Aires, after two documentaries made her feature film debut in
As Germany continues to grapple with a new wave of COVID-19 infections, a decision about next year’s Berlin Film Festival and its sister event, the European Film Market, is understood to be imminent, with organizers strongly considering pushing the event, which is supposed to unspool Feb. 11-21, into the spring. It’s believed the last week
The cast of “Elf” is reuniting, just in time for the holidays. On Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. ET, Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, Bob Newhart, Edward Asner, Mary Steenburgen, Amy Sedaris, Andy Richter, Kyle Gass, John Lithgow, Danny Woodburn, Jon Favreau (of “Pod Save America”), Ed Helms, Busy Philipps and Matt Walsh will conduct a
In his new indie film “Archenemy,” Joe Manganiello steps into the shoes of a man who claims he was a superhero — but his character, Max Fist, isn’t the sort of guy who’d make Superman proud. Instead, he’s an alcoholic, drug-addicted homeless man who claims he’s been stripped of his powers after being hurdled through
Paramount Players’ supernatural romance “The In Between” has found its male lead, with Kyle Allen cast to star opposite Joey King. Arie Posin has signed on to direct the pic, which is based on an idea by Marc Klein, who also penned the script. “The In Between” centers on a teenage girl (King), who “after
Movie theaters have been brought low by coronavirus and even the promise of a vaccine may not be enough to rescue them from financial ruin. With film studios putting upcoming blockbusters like “Wonder Woman: 1984,” “Dune” and “Soul” on streaming services and major exhibitors teetering on the edge of insolvency, will the big screen experience
Ben Affleck is being considered to star in George Clooney’s feature film version of J.R. Moehringer’s coming-of-age story “The Tender Bar: A Memoir” for Amazon Studios. Affleck and Clooney worked together as producers on “Argo,” which won them and Clooney’s producing partner Grant Heslov an Academy Award for best picture. Clooney and Heslov are producing
“About Her,” which world premiered in International Competition this week at the Cairo Film Festival, began life as a short story, which director Islam El Azzazi penned in 2003. In 2017, he started adapting the story for the screen. “The short story faded, somehow,” he says of the changes he made in the process. “I
Uli Edel will direct “Shadow Song,” the story of the bond between a Chinese music student and his Jewish classmate. The film is a feature-length version of the 2017 short “A Children’s Song” and boasts a screenplay by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs (“Chocolat”). Edel is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker who previously
Jennifer Hudson is producing and eyed to star in an untitled Christmas song comedy at New Line. The feature will include both new and classic Christmas songs and center on a down-and-out singer’s life being turned upside down when she is mistaken for writing the next Christmas hit. Ira Madison III is writing the screenplay. Hudson will
The Directors Guild of America has criticized Warner Bros. over the studio’s decision to release its entire 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously on the HBO Max streaming service, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. DGA National Executive Director Russell Hollander sent a letter to Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff demanding a meeting to address issues
Chris Pratt has signed on to produce and is attached to star in the coming-of-age independent comedy “The Black Belt.” The film centers on a shy, unassuming teen boy on a quest for an expertise in karate and his unorthodox uncle who guides him along the way. Pratt will produce the film through his banner Indivisible