Movies

Martin Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions banner have signed a first-look film and television deal with Apple. The acclaimed director is currently working with the streamer on the film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which will directed by Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The film is in pre-production and is expected

The Venice Film Festival has completed the lineup of its 77th edition with the addition of “Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!,” a short film shot during the lockdown by Luca Guadagnino, the director of Oscar-nominated “Call Me By Your Name,” and U.S. film “Run Hide Fight,” about a high-school massacre. Both titles will play in the Out

UPDATED: It’s finally here. After months of feverish anticipation, U.K. cinema goers will be able to buy their tickets for the year’s most anticipated movie, “Tenet.” Tickets for the Christopher Nolan thriller, which will release in U.K. cinemas on Aug. 26, are set to go on sale on Wednesday morning at chains such as Showcase

As the mercury soared, collections plummeted as the heatwave across England took its toll on the U.K. and Ireland box office over the weekend. Russell Crowe’s “Unhinged,” released by Altitude Film Distribution, retained the box office crown with a weekend gross of £117,633 ($154,000), a decline of 34% from last week, despite increasing screen count

The Zurich Film Festival has revealed more details of its first Zurich Market, an on-site event organized in collaboration with Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival that will see the Swiss event hosting screenings in local cinema theaters for about 20 new independent titles. Described by the festival in a press statement as “highly anticipated titles,”

Production on Argentine-born, Swiss-educated filmmaker Marí Alessandrini’s debut feature “Zahorí” ground to a halt in the middle of post-production. With the same amount of already limited budget and an estimated extra year before the film can premiere, she has been forced to finish editing on her own. With more than a decade of short filmmaking

Zurich-Berlin based Tellfilm, producer of “Blue My Mind” from “Killing Eve” director Lisa Brühlmann, is set to go into production on Aug. 22 on its biggest movie yet, “Monte Verità,” a period drama about a woman’s across-the-board emancipation. Set to shoot in the Locarno region of Ticino, southern Switzerland, “Monte Verita” is lead produced by

The Variety Steaming Room will present the 2020 Sarajevo Film Festival’s Masterclass Aug. 17-21. The series features intimate hour-long conversations with award-winning international filmmakers and actors. Featured speakers include Michel Hazanavicius, Director (“The Artist,” “The Search”) & SFF 2020 jury president; Bérénice Bejo, Actor, (“The Artist,” “The Search”); Michel Franco, writer, director and producer (“Chronic,”

Disney confirmed Monday that its live-action “Mulan” has been approved to release in Chinese cinemas “soon,” making China the most significant territory where the film will receive a theatrical outing. It has not yet been granted an official release date in the Middle Kingdom. The U.S. company clearly tried hard to strike the right tone

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Wildly uneven but sporadically affecting, Bobby Roth’s “Pearl” is a curiously disjointed drama that relies on the compelling performances of veteran actor Anthony LaPaglia and promising newcomer Larsen Thompson for most of its emotional impact. A few abrupt narrative transitions indicate that some scenes, for whatever reason, must have been discarded during the editing process.

MONDAY, AUG. 10 Drive-in Screenings Scheduled for Outfest Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival will hold drive-in screenings at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, launching with the Los Angeles premiere of Sundance 2020 title “The Nowhere Inn,” starring Annie Clark and Carrie Brownstein. The 11-day festival kicks off Aug. 20. and features more than 160

In the era of social distancing, watching movies on streaming services has become everyone’s plan for Friday night (or every night). The first decision is picking a platform: Netflix? Hulu? Amazon Prime? HBO Max? YouTube? The list goes on. But even then, it can be hard to know which movie to watch — and on

Kurt Luedtke, who left journalism for Hollywood and won an Academy Award for his “Out of Africa” screenplay, died Sunday in Michigan after a long illness. He was 80. The Michigan native died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, the Detroit Free Press reported. He had worked at the newspaper starting in 1965 and was

Zac Efron will star in a remake of the 1987 hit comedy “Three Men and a Baby” for Disney Plus. Gordon Gray, whose producing credits include “The Rookie” and Ben Affleck’s “The Way Back,” is producing. Will Reichel has written the script for the remake. A director for the remake has not yet been set.

Last week’s glimpse of Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” was one of the most powerful trailer drops in recent memory. The commanding 107-second teaser, which sees Daniel Kaluuya star as Fred Hampton, chairman of the Black Panther party, delivered further proof that the London-born star’s incredible run won’t be stopping any time soon.

The GSA BAFTA student film awards acknowledged achievements in animation, documentary and live-action with UC Berkeley’s Lucas Guilkey taking the prize for doc “What Happened to Dujuan Armstrong?,” which follows a woman’s search for justice after her son dies in a Santa Rita jail. The animation trophy went to “Sous la Glace” made by a

It has already been a banner year for Black women filmmakers, with historic achievements like Nia DaCosta set to become the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film with “Captain Marvel 2” and Ava DuVernay selected as the first female filmmaker to receive the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish prize. And film fans should

Hundreds of employees at WarnerMedia are being let go on Monday as part of a company-wide restructuring. Among the staffers being let go are Jeffrey Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution. Ron Sanders, who served as president of Warner Bros.’ worldwide theatrical distribution and home entertainment as well as executive vice president

Disney’s plans for a third “Tron” movie just got big software update. Garth Davis, who made his feature directing debut with 2016’s biographical drama “Lion,” has signed on to direct a new “Tron” movie for the studio, Variety has confirmed. The new film, however, will not be a direct sequel to 2010’s “Tron: Legacy” and

Can the indie ecosystem that’s at the heart of the European film industry survive with streaming giants encroaching on its underlying business model, just as the theatrical experience is teetering? Maybe. But if the indie filmmaking ethos does survive, its business model will definitely be different. That was the main takeaway of a webinar on

Day three of the Locarno Film Festival StepIn 2020, moderated by Variety‘s Leo Barraclough and hosted by the Variety Streaming Room platform, brought professionals from various parts of the film festival and market sectors together for a panel on the Future of Film Festivals and Film Markets. Jérôme Paillard, executive director of Cannes Film Market;

Keep your budgets low and have faith in the resilience of arthouse cinema and theaters, film festivals and markets. But also be ready to engage with streamers that could become an integral part of new indie business models in the post-pandemic landscape. Those were some of the upbeat tips that surfaced from the Locarno Film

Set in Lithuania at the tail end of Communist rule, Bojena Horackova’s “Walden” offers a bittersweet look at a group of youths on two sides of a generational change. Selected as a part of Cannes’ ACID sidebar and making its world premiere at the  Locarno Film Festival, the film follows its withdrawn protagonist Jana across

Powered by Chinese streaming technology, the New York Asian Film Festival will this year move from the real world to the virtual. With strong focuses on women filmmakers and Korean movies, the 19th NYAFF will run Aug. 28-Sept 12. The opening film is the North American Premiere of “The Girl and the Gun” (aka “Babae

“Pain and Glory” star Antonio Banderas revealed he has tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, his 60th birthday. “I want to make it public that today, Aug. 10, I am forced to celebrate my 60th birthday in quarantine, having tested positive for the COVID-19 disease, caused by the coronavirus,” the star tweeted in Spanish. “I

Taiwanese films “Classmates Minus” and “A Leg” are set to be the curtain raisers of Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Festival, one of a handful of film festivals around the world that manages to press ahead amid the global coronavirus pandemic. Organizers of the festival said on Monday that the festival will run Nov. 5 –

Locarno Film Festival’s decision this year to pull its traditional completed feature film sections — with its top Golden Leopard prizes — has thrust into the limelight its short film lineup, Pardi di Domani (Leopards of Tomorrow). This year’s contest certainly lives up to its name — with many filmmakers already delivering titles that feel

Production of “Laal Singh Chaddha,” starring Aamir Khan (“Dangal”) and Kareena Kapoor Khan (“Angrezi Medium”) has moved to Turkey, due to the continuing coronavirus crisis in India. “Laal Singh Chadha” is an official remake of Paramount Pictures’ 1994 Oscar-winner “Forrest Gump,” being produced by Viacom18 Studios and Aamir Khan Productions. It is adapted by Atul

Walt Disney World will shorten its theme park hours starting in September. After being closed for a few months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Florida parks reopened in July with new health and safety procedures. On Sept. 8, the hours for Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot will be reduced. Magic Kingdom,