Movies

“Donating sperm makes me feel good. Maybe it makes me feel wanted, and needed. Worth something to somebody else,” says Stefan, one of the subjects of “Spermworld,” the new FX on Hulu documentary that delves into the landscape of unregulated babymaking and just why prospective parents have sought out these unconventional solutions. Director Lance Oppenheim

Unlike many celebrity-driven documentaries, Morgan Neville‘s “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces” about the writer and comedian wasn’t deliberately made as a marketing device tied to a new TV series or movie. The two-part docu is also not your traditional career-encompassing overview of Martin’s life. Instead Neville, who garnered an Oscar in 2014 for

Studio negotiators have been talking for nearly a month with the largest union representing Hollywood film crews, and have still not tackled most of the major issues on the table. The two sides have set an unusually long bargaining schedule, hoping that more talking on minor matters will build good will and lower the risk

Miramax’s “Here,” which reunites “Forrest Gump” filmmaker Robert Zemeckis with stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, will get a three-step platform release this November from TriStar Pictures. The film will premiere exclusively in L.A. and N.Y. on Nov. 15, followed by a limited release on Nov. 22, and a wide release on Nov. 27. This

Dev Patel makes his feature directorial debut with the upcoming action movie “Monkey Man,” which blew the roof off SXSW earlier this month and earned strong reviews, but getting the film made was no walk in the park. During a Reddit AMA ahead of the film’s April theatrical release, Patel told fans that directing, acting

“Freaky Friday 2” is officially happening at Disney, with Nisha Ganatra tapped to direct. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are in talks to reprise their roles from the 2003 comedy. Ganatra most recently directed episodes of Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendale’s.” Her other credits include the 2020 film “The High Note” with Dakota Johnson and

Universal Pictures is shifting its wide release of Blumhouse’s “Wolf Man” from Oct. 25, 2024 to Jan. 17, 2025. “Wolf Man” is billed as a blood-chilling reimagining of the classic Universal monster pic. The film is directed by Leigh Whannell, who wrote the script with Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo (“Dumb Money”).

David Robert Mitchell’s mysterious new feature film with Bad Robot now has a title and release date. “Flowervale Street,” starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, will be released by Warner Bros. on May 16, 2025, in Imax. Mitchell (“It Follows,” “Under the Silver Lake”) will direct the script he wrote for the film, which he’ll

Up until 2019’s “Captain Marvel,” the MCU had yet to produce a film with a solo female lead. And when “Captain Marvel” was finally in the works, it proved contentious as misogynistic fans panned the film before it was even released. Suffice to say, female superheroes have been subjected to intense scrutiny over the years

On Oct. 7, when the Israel-Hamas war broke out, Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir was just one week away from starting principal photography in Bethlehem, 45 miles from Gaza, on “All Before You.”The Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s long-gestating project reconstructs the 1936 farmer-led revolt against British colonial rule and the influx of Jewish settlements in Palestine that has

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the Alec Baldwin film “Rust,” will remain in jail while her lawyers appeal her conviction in the death of the film’s cinematographer. A Santa Fe judge denied a defense request for release on Friday, and refused to order a new trial in the case. “Keep in mind there was

Courteney Cox may be heading back to the “Scream” franchise, as sources tell Variety she is in talks to reprise the role of Gale Weathers in the seventh movie of the slasher series, to be directed by “Scream” creator and writer Kevin Williamson. The news comes about two weeks after Neve Campbell announced she was

Searchlight Pictures has signed a first-look deal with Olivia Colman and Ed Sinclair’s South of the River Pictures. Under the new pact, the specialty studio, which has worked with Colman on “The Favourite” and “Empire of Light,” will develop and produce feature-length motion pictures with the production company. South of the River Pictures was founded by Colman, Sinclair and their long-time

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is looking mighty as it heads into its opening weekend, earning an impressive $10 million in Thursday previews. The muscular results come despite the fact that the film suffered meh reviews — critics faulted the latest clash of the primordial beasts for hectic pacing and overstuffed plotting. Variety‘s Owen

Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire delivered one of the most iconic movie kisses of the 21st century in 2002’s “Spider-Man,” but it was “kind of miserable” to shoot. Dunst is the latest guest on “The Jonathan Ross Show” (via The Independent) ahead of the release of her new movie “Civil War,” and she remembered how

Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as the cunning Fiddler in “Roots,” died early Friday morning. He was 87. Gossett’s family announced his death in a statement, writing: “It

Despite “Barbie’s” recent box office domination, the history of toy-to-film franchises has not always been easy. Often dismissed as a cash grab (“Battleship”) or popcorn fare (“G.I. Joe,” “Transformers”), turning toys into critically and commercially successful content is no skate in the park. For Mattel and co, there was another toy that had to walk

Last year, actress Penélope Cruz set up a joint production venture, Moonlyon, with Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio at the urging of its CEO, Laura Fernández Espeso, a rising star in Spain’s fast-expanding media sector. “It’s been an amazing connection from the first,” Cruz says, about her working relationship with Fernández Espeso, Variety’s International Media Woman

Georgia has dropped an effort to cap its billion-dollar film and TV tax credit, after the state House and Senate could not reach agreement on the issue. Lawmakers have been working for nearly a year on proposals to rein in the incentive, which is the largest of any state in the nation. But the General

Allison Janney is joining the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ “A Simple Favor 2.” The actor will join returning cast members Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in the sequel to Paul Feig’s 2018 mystery-comedy film. The sequel will follow Stephanie (Kendrick) and Emily (Lively) as they head to the beautiful island of Capri for Emily’s

The latest twist in the battle between UTA and former MediaLink chairman-CEO Michael Kassan is a defamation lawsuit filed by Kassan against UTA attorney Bryan Freedman. Kassan has sued Freedman for slander and libel stemming from a statement that the lawyer made earlier this week to Deadline, which is a sibling publication to Variety under

“Phase IV” (Vinegar Syndrome) A graphic designer best known for the title sequences he designed for filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, Saul Bass only ever directed one feature himself: the 1974 sci-fi odyssey “Phase IV.” Oddly, its raison d’etre — phase four of its story — was cut out before the

Filmmakers Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe and Thomas Cross have teamed up to launch a new independent production studio, Cool & Happy Limited. Cummings and McCabe will serve as the studio’s chief creatives, while Cross will head up production. “The same team has been making stuff for eight years. We started in shorts and then made

Warner Bros. and Legendary are hoping for a monster-sized opening weekend for “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and are tapping every method possible to pull in moviegoers, including partnering with Roblox to grab the attention of its young audience so that they will sway their parents to take them to the theater. Over the

Anthony Mackie has been a stalwart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since debuting as Sam Wilson/Falcon in 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The actor’s superhero tenure has included “Avengers” movies and the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Now, Mackie is taking on the mantle of Captain America in the upcoming

Alamo Drafthouse, the Texas-based theater chain that’s popular for its in-theater dining and fan-forward approach to moviegoing, is exploring a sale. Several Hollywood studios were approached to assess their interest in buying the company, according to two sources. It’s unclear if the talks are ongoing or how close the company is to a potential acquisition.

Fresh from their triumph at the Oscars earlier this month with “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan and his wife, producer Emma Thomas, will receive a knighthood and damehood respectively for their services to film. The honor was personally approved by Britain’s King Charles III. Co-chief executive officer of Netflix Ted Sarandos will also be honored as a

It’s only been six months since the release of Liam Neeson’s last film, which means theaters are overdue for another thriller led by the prolific star. His latest vehicle, “In the Land of Saints and Sinners,” arrives with an unusual distinction: Directed by Robert Lorenz, the film premiered in Venice a month before another Neeson

New York Women in Film & Television hosted its 44th annual Muse Awards on Wednesday afternoon in New York City. More than 700 guests gathered at Cipriani 42nd Street to celebrate the achievements of honorees Fran Drescher, Alex Borstein, Kyra Sedgwick, Tantoo Cardinal, Latasha Gillespie, Millicent Simmonds, Michèle Stephenson and Oscar-winner Raney Aronson-Rath. SAG-AFTRA executive

Magnolia Pictures has released a trailer ahead of the May 3 release of “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” about the legendary muse to the Rolling Stones. Scarlett Johansson provides the voice for Pallenberg, based on the words of her unpublished memoir. Pallenberg’s children, Marlon and Angela Richards, and their father, Keith Richards are