Movies

“Deadpool 3,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and “Despicable Me 4” are the most anticipated summer films of 2024, according to the annual Moviegoing Trends & Insights study by Fandango. The results come just ahead of the National Association of Theatre Owners’ official convention CinemaCon, which takes place April 8 to 11 in Las Vegas.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is poised to stomp all over the box office competition… again. After its better-than-expected debut, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s monster tentpole has generated $95 million domestically and $210 worldwide to date. Now, “Godzilla x Kong” looks to add $32 million to $36 million in its second weekend of

Italy’s Cinecittà Studios, which have been undergoing a radical overhaul since 2021, recently released their fiscal 2023 results, which saw the Rome-based facilities turn a profit for the second year in a row after bleeding red ink for years. The iconic studios are being managed by Nicola Maccanico, a former Warner Bros. and Sky Italia senior

Christopher Durang, a Tony Award-winning playwright who specialized in a particular form of brainy and absurdist comedy, has died. He was 75. The cause was complications from a form of dementia known as logopenic primary progressive aphasia, according to his husband John Augustine.  Durang was best known for writing 1979’s “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It

While a number of films have been made about Panama’s Indigenous communities, few are by native filmmakers themselves. To date, perhaps only three Indigenous Panamanian filmmakers have ventured into filmmaking. Duiren Wagua, whose documentary feature debut “Bila Burba” plays at this year’s 12th Panama International Film Festival (IFF Panama), running April 4-7, is hoping to

Jon Bernthal is back playing Frank Castle (aka Punisher) on the set of “Daredevil: Born Again,” new set photos from which have the character paired up with Charlie Cox’s eponymous hero and soaked in blood. The Disney+ series is now filming in New York City. Bernthal debuted as Frank Castle in Netflix’s “The Punisher” series,

Mario Van Peebles has been tapped to direct “That’ll Be the Day,” the story of how Buddy Holly and other musicians of the late 1950s helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and influence the wider societal and cultural landscape, including the civil rights movement. Music has been central to much of Van Peebles’ work,

Felicity Jones and Jonathan Bailey are no longer attached to star in Simon Amstell’s comedy “Maria,” Variety can confirm. The movie is currently on pause after cast scheduling issues were followed by last year’s Hollywood strikes, although a source says Amstell is in talks to revive the project, which was first launched at Cannes two

“Joker: Folie à Deux” has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association, it was revealed on Wednesday. The musical sequel to 2019’s “Joker,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, has been rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality and brief full nudity,” according to the MPA’s daily ratings bulletin. This is

Jio Studios, the content arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), is on a roll with several box office hits in a row. Almost exactly a year ago, Jio Studios had launched a slate of 100 new films and TV shows. Those efforts have now come to fruition. 2023 saw Marathi-language “Baipan Bhaari

“Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s War on Democracy” is the scariest film I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a documentary that explores the rise of Christian Nationalism, and much of what it shows you, about the mutation of the Christian Right into a movement that has openly abandoned any loyalty to democracy, has been covered

Paramount Global and its parent company are moving closer to an agreement with Skydance Media for an exclusive window for acquisition negotiations as Shari Redstone and David Ellison inch toward a deal to bring their companies together in a three-way transaction. The New York Times on Tuesday reported on the rumors that have been swirling

George Carlin‘s estate has settled a lawsuit over an AI-generated imitation of the late comedian, with the creators agreeing to remove it from their YouTube channel and podcast feed. In January, the Dudesy podcast released “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which purported to be an hour-long special created by artificial intelligence. Carlin died in

Jean-Paul Vignon, a French actor and vocalist who frequently lent his Gallic accent to Hollywood productions, died of liver cancer on March 22 in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 89. Among his notable work, Vignon lent his voice to Marc Webb’s romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” as the French narrator. His voice appears when

Minnie Driver said during a recent interview on Jameela Jamil’s “I Weigh” podcast that producers on her 1998 disaster movie “Hard Rain” allegedly told her not to wear a wetsuit while filming with rain machines because “they wanted to see my nipples” (via Entertainment Weekly). The film, directed by Mikael Salomon, opened a year after

Awards courting, auctioning among distributors and corporate-sponsored parties can really take the “film” out of “film festival,” with moviegoing sometimes becoming an afterthought to more market-oriented activities at the industry’s legacy gatherings. The Los Angeles Festival of Movies is not one of those film festivals. Launching this coming weekend, LAFM is screening an eclectic and

Michael Keaton participated in a career retrospective interview for GQ magazine and admitted that his casting as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 superhero movie was “ballsy” considering he was more known for his comedic roles in films like “Mr. Mom” at that point in his career. Keaton’s casting was met with backlash among comic book

Avid — the maker of the widely used Media Composer editing system and ProTools audio post production tool — named Wellford Dillard as its CEO, succeeding Jeff Rosica, who is staying with the company in an advisory role during the transition. Dillard is moving into the postproduction business after serving as the CEO of Marigold,

Two new Australian films, both enjoying their world premiere, are among the first titles confirmed to play at the Sydney Film Festival in June. “In Vitro,” a sci-fi mystery thriller set on a remote cattle farm in the near future, hails from directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith (“Beast”) and stars Ashley Zukerman (“Succession”).With “In

Complex visual effects and computer graphics can mean extensive (and expensive) computing needs, and to address this, Amazon Web Services is launching a new cloud rendering service. AWS Deadline Cloud, aimed at entertainment and other industries with computing-intensive needs, makes its infrastructure available, the model is structured so that users only pay for what they

A Spanish police officer’s life is about to turn upside down as she infiltrates a dangerous lion’s den in the exclusive new teaser trailer for Arantxa Echevarría’s upcoming crime thriller “Undercover.” The film arrives in Spanish cinemas on Oct. 11 courtesy of Beta Fiction Spain. “Undercover” is based on the real-life story of Aranzazu Berradre

Miramax has appointed Jonathan Glickman as its new CEO, effective immediately. The global studio has also acquired certain film, television and other projects of Panoramic Media, the independent film and TV production company founded by Glickman in 2020. At Panoramic Media, Glickman produced films “Creed 3” and “The Underdoggs,” and executive produced Netflix’s Emmy-nominated smash “Wednesday.” He is

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for the Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2025. The deadline for submissions is May 31. There is a $250 application fee, and applications can be obtained starting April 15 at walkoffame.com. The Walk of Fame Committee will select approximately 24 names for honorees. Anyone can submit

Endeavor, three years after the sports, entertainment and talent management company went public, announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by private-equity firm Silver Lake. The deal gives Endeavor an equity value of $13 billion, the companies said. According to the parties, the premium to be paid by Silver Lake —

Honors were even atop the U.K. and Ireland box office as Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” and Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” battled for top spot during the Easter holiday weekend. While “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” won the three-day weekend, “Kung Fu Panda 4” had the higher gross including previews.

Cinespia has announced the first screenings to kick off its 23rd summer season of outdoor screenings around Los Angeles, and will host a first-time screening at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium. Upcoming viewings include “Mamma Mia!” on May 10, “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” on May 17 at Los Angeles State Historic Park and

Ang Lee is moving on from 3D filmmaking after a trio of hit or miss releases: “Life of Pi” (2012), “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” (2016) and “Gemini Man” (2019). The former title was an acclaimed blockbuster that won Lee the Oscar for best director, while the latter two releases, also distributing in high-frame rate

Visual effects house DNEG has acquired the exclusive license to Ziva from Unity. The company will also onboard a significant proportion of the Ziva team. The Ziva toolset powers the creation of digital characters and creatures for film, TV and gaming cinematics. It also brings cinema-quality characters into real-time gaming environments and introduces interactive digital humans and

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Carey Mulligan comedy “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” Variety can confirm exclusively. They will release the film in the U.S. while Universal Pictures International is handling global distribution. The film, which was previously titled “One For The Money,” is directed by James Griffiths (“Cuban Fury”) and produced by

Ken Loach says he has “great respect” for Jonathan Glazer in raising the subject of Gaza in his Oscars acceptance speech for “The Zone of Interest,” asserting that the director was “very brave” to say what he did. “And I’m sure he understood the possible consequences, which makes him braver still, so I’ve got great