Movies

Oscar-winner George Clooney and Caoilinn Springall barely speak in Netflix’s “The Midnight Sky,” but the two were able to convey their emotions. Clooney, who directs, produces and stars, takes on one of the most the most challenging and demanding films of his career, doing a lot of preparation and taking into account many unknowns. One

Rupert Everett, Derek Jacobi and Tom Felton have joined the ensemble cast of “Lead Heads,” described as a “drama about greed and the repercussions it has on the soul.” Also in the cast are Luke Newberry, Mark Williams and Olatunji Ayofe. Giles Borg directs. Principal photography begins in March in London. The film centers on

Women have seen only scant progress in behind-the-scenes employment in Hollywood during the past 22 years despite ongoing efforts to improve that outlook, a recap of “The Celluloid Ceiling” showed Tuesday. Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, made

For nearly a century, Warner Bros. has been in the big-screen business. From the gangster pictures that defined its Depression-era offerings to the “Batman” movies that ushered in its blockbuster phase, the studio has focused on creating stories so action-packed, so need-to-see, that they are tailor-made to lure people from their homes and separate cinema-goers

U.K. producers body Pact has appointed See-Saw Films’ COO for television, Hakan Kousetta, as its chair for the next two years. The executive’s appointment was uncontested during the recent Pact council elections. Kousetta succeeds All3Media COO Sara Geater, who will step down at the end of the year having served the maximum four-year term as

Ben Sharrock’s “Limbo” was named the best film at the closing event Tuesday of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Japanese auteur Koreeda Hirokazu was bestowed with the festival’s Spirit of Cinema honorary award. The film follows a Syrian refugee in a remote Scottish island as he awaits his asylum application to be processed

Large parts of South Korea’s entertainment industry are reeling as the national government put capital city Seoul on the country’s second highest virus response footing. Concerts, award shows and movie premieres are being canceled, and all but essential staff are being told to work remotely. “Most people are working from the office here in Busan,

TrustNordisk has sold U.S. rights to “A Taste of Hunger,” an anticipated romantic drama starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal (“A Fortunate Man”), to Magnolia Pictures. Directed by Christoffer Boe, “A Taste of Hunger” has also been acquired in a raft of territories, including Germany (Koch Films), Spain (Adso Films), Brazil (Synapse)

The Independent Cinema Alliance has expressed disappointment over Warner Bros.’ decision to release the rest of its 2021 film state simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. In a statement released Monday, the volunteer alliance called for a return to theatrical exclusivity, writing that releasing movies solely in theaters for a period of time is

Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and a subject of the book and film “The Right Stuff,” has died. He was 97. Yeager’s wife, Victoria Yeager, announced his death on Twitter Monday night. “It is with profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just

Patriotic Chinese viewers flexed their muscles this weekend to topple Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Monster Hunter,” which grossed just $4.8 million before it was pulled from cinemas due to complaints that interpreted a line of dialogue to be racist and “insulting to China.”  In a slow week, however, that was enough to net it a fifth

“Songbird,” the Michael Bay-produced pandemic thriller that is headed straight to streaming in North America, will be given an in-cinema release in Japan. The rights pickup was the first acquisition by the newly-formed theatrical distribution arm of Japanese pay-TV leader Wowow. The film takes place years in the future, in which a mutated strand of

Christopher Nolan, who has supplied Warner Bros. with multiple blockbusters, has expressed deep dissatisfaction with the studio’s decision to release its entire 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously on the HBO Max streaming service “There’s such controversy around it, because they didn’t tell anyone,” said Nolan in an ET Online interview released Monday. “It’s very, very, very,

Jeremy Irons has been cast opposite Lady Gaga in MGM’s murder drama “Gucci,” with Ridley Scott directing. Gaga will portray Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci. She had been abandoned after 12 years of marriage by Gucci in 1985 for a younger woman. Reggiani was tried and convicted of orchestrating her ex-husband’s assassination on

MONDAY, Dec. 8 Ryan Phillippe, Tom Pelphrey to Lead ‘American Murderer’ The Traveling Picture Show Company and GiGi Films have cast Tom Pelphrey as con man Jason Derek Brown in “American Murderer,” alongside Ryan Phillippe playing the FBI agent tasked to hunt him down. Idina Menzel and Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver have also been

A film about the life of comedy icon Carol Burnett has found its writer-director. The adaptation of Burnett’s bestselling memoir, “Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story,” will be helmed by Tara Miele, whose feature “Wander Darkly” opens this Friday. Miele will also adapt the screenplay. The movie was announced as a development title at

Keeping a movie theater running during the pandemic has been a monumental task, but planning for a new one to open after the pandemic is no picnic either. That’s the challenge facing Vidiots, the beloved Santa Monica, Calif. video store that closed in 2017 and last year announced plans to restore a vintage movie theater

Cleveland Berto has booked roles in the upcoming Sony drama “A Journal for Jordan” opposite Michael B. Jordan and as a series regular in the NBC drama “Chicago P.D.,” Variety has learned exclusively. Denzel Washington will direct and produce “A Journal for Jordan,” which is written by Academy Award nominee Virgil Williams and based on Dana

A federal judge on Monday dismissed most of Rose McGowan’s civil claims against Harvey Weinstein and his attorneys, but allowed her to proceed with the argument that she was defrauded when she was tricked into revealing details of her memoir. McGowan filed the federal suit in October 2019, accusing Weinstein and attorneys Lisa Bloom and

Queen Latifah is set to star in the Netflix movie “End of the Road.” She will also executive produce the film, which will be directed by Millicent Shelton. The thriller centers on the recently widowed Brenda, who drives her family cross-country to start a new life after losing her job. While isolated in the desert

Sci-fi drama “Dune” will receive a collective action figure line courtesy of McFarlane Toys, which will bring to life some of the main characters of the highly-anticipated pic, set for a theatrical release Oct. 1. The toy line will include figures of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem and Dave Bautista. The action

Legendary Entertainment, the production company that co-financed “Dune” and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” may take legal action against Warner Bros. over the studio’s decision to send its movies to HBO Max at the same time they debut in cinemas. Legendary financed a significant portion of “Dune,” which cost roughly $175 million, and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which

IFC Films has nabbed U.S. rights to “Falling for Figaro,” a romantic comedy set in the world of opera singing competitions. The film is directed by Ben Lewin, the filmmaker behind “The Catcher Was A Spy” and “The Sessions,” and stars Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous” and Danielle Macdonald, who earned raves for her work

The French trial for Vivendi’s shareholder securities fraud lawsuit is expected to kick off early next year. The commercial court of Paris had initially set a Dec. 8 trial date, but will soon announce a new date that could potentially fall in January, Variety has learned. Vivendi, the Paris-based parent company of Universal Music Group

New U.K. independent production company Buffalo Dragon has launched with an adaptation of Samantha Lee Howe’s bestselling novel “The Stranger In Our Bed.” The psychological thriller stars Samantha Bond (“Downton Abbey”), Emily Berrington (“Humans”) and Ben Lloyd Hughes (“Industry”). The film, directed by Giles Alderson (“The Dare”), from a screenplay by Samantha Lee Howe, sees

LevelK has boarded “Checkered Ninja 2,” the sequel to the hit animated feature co-directed by Anders Matthesen (“Terkel In Trouble”) and Thorbjørn Christoffersen (“Ronal the Barbarian”). The sales company has acquired world rights excluding the Nordics on “Checkered Ninja 2,” which is the film adaptation of Matthesen’s bestselling eponymous children’s book. The plot revolves around

Egyptian director Mayye Zayed, who studied film and documaking at Wellesley and MIT, spent four years following the main character of her female empowerment doc, “Lift Like a Girl,” Zebiba (which means “raisin” in Arabic), who at age nine entered former Olympic athlete Captain Ramadan’s weightlifting training camp on a vacant Alexandria lot. After world-premiering

First-time feature pitches won three of the four prizes announced on Monday at the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM). The $15,000 cash reward for best project went to director Wang Haolu and producer Camille Gatin for “Fellow Travellers.” The project is an adaptation of a short story by Alastair Reynolds. Wang’s debut tells

While some international film and TV production professionals are simply relieved that they were able to return to filming this year, in spite of the pandemic, many are looking ahead to see what can be improved in the sector. This positive mindset has been adopted by the folks behind Focus, the international production show that

Cinemas in Korea are trying to adapt to new straitened circumstances as the autumn box office recovery peters out. The Korean market, in normal years the world’s fourth largest theatrical territory, saw aggregate revenues of just $1.44 million over the weekend, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s KOBIS service. The top of the