Movies

IFC Films nabbed North American rights to Stephen Dorff’s mixed martial arts drama “Embattled” and plans to release the film in November. The Blitz Films production marks Georgian-born director Nick Sarkisov’s English-language film debut. David McKenna, whose credits include “Blow” and “American History X,” wrote the script. Dorff plays a man who channels his aggression

A treasure trove of Hollywood memorabilia is going up for auction next month including the helmet Tom Cruise wore in 1986’s “Top Gun” playing Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the cars Leonardo Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt drove as Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and the camera Alfred Hitchcock used

Dave Franco has long struggled against being labeled the “kid brother” type, from the time he was an unknown growing up in Palo Alto, Calif.  “My first job was at a mom-and-pop video store when I was 14, and I’ve always looked young for my age,” says Franco. “People would come in wondering why this

Korean pop sensation, BTS will provide the original theme song for upcoming Japanese movie “Your Eyes Tell.” With BTS member Jungkook among the composers, it is the first time that the best-selling band has participated with a film in this manner. The song and the movie share the same English-language title, though the English title

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike announced Wednesday that the city government is upping its coronavirus alert to the highest level on a one-to-four scale. This is in reaction to a rising number of infections, which increased by 165. From early July, there have been more than 100 new infections almost daily in Tokyo, reaching a high

A new campaign is looking to reassure U.K. audiences about the COVID-19 safeguards set to roll out at cinemas across the country. Commissioned by the U.K. Cinema Association, a pair of infomercials explain social distancing, hygiene and other protective measures that will be taken to protect cinema workers and audiences during the pandemic. These are

What do Meryl Streep, Jessica Chastain, Adam Driver and Oscar Issac all have in common? Moni Yakim. For over 52 years, Yakim has taught movement at Julliard. His students have included Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, and he is often cited as one of their most formative influences. The new documentary “Creating a Character” tells the

Shooting a love scene is not so different than filming an action sequence. Just ask director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who makes her action debut with Netflix’s “The Old Guard.” Until now, she’s been known for romantic dramas like “Love and Basketball” and “Beyond the Lights.”  “Have a beginning, middle and end. Make sure it’s character-driven. Make

Call me crazy, stubborn or reckless, but until today’s announcement that the Telluride Film Festival has been canceled, I’d optimistically kept my reservation, holding out hope that the elite fall gathering in Colorado — which has launched such best picture Oscar winners as “The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Moonlight” — might happen

James Roday Rodriguez went by “James Roday” for over 20 years, electing to forego the use of his last name professionally. But he said the process of reconnecting with his Mexican American heritage prompted him to add his last name to all future credits, starting with Wednesday’s premiere of “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home” on

China’s largest cinema chain operator Wanda Film said Tuesday that it anticipates reporting a net loss of between $214 and $228 million (RMB 1.5 to 1.6 billion) in the first half of the year, after cinemas were shut for almost that entire time due to COVID-19. In contrast, the firm saw a net profit of

Chinese production firm Aim Media has sold the North American rights of director Yang Lina’s “Spring Tide” to distributor China Lion. Smart Cinema, the new venture by former Wanda executive Jack Gao, has also bought the rights to screen the film on its platform in South Korea. Yang is an independent documentary maker turned feature

Gina Prince-Bythewood is set to direct TriStar Pictures’ “The Woman King,” starring Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis. The film is a historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. The story follows Nanisca (Davis), general

WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America, one of Latin America’s biggest pay TV operators, has struck an exclusive distribution alliance with Mexico-based Cinépolis, one of the biggest cinema theater chains in the world. The partnership, announced Tuesday, will see Cinépolis release eight to 10 movies in the second half of 2020 sourced from Particular Crowd, Turner’s new

Viola Davis has commented before on her regret for playing a part in 2011’s “The Help.” But in a new interview with Vanity Fair, and within the context of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, she took the time to further elaborate on how the film’s storyline caters primarily to its white viewers. “Not a

Not since the summer of 2003, when François Ozon unveiled Sapphic sizzler “Swimming Pool” at the Cannes Film Festival, has the French director seduced audiences quite as brazenly as he does in “Summer of 85,” which was also set to premiere at Cannes, before the global coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of the 2020 edition.

The 2020 edition of the Telluride Film Festival has been canceled. “After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride,” the festival said in a statement on Tuesday. “But with a seemingly unending number

Hollywood screenwriter Guy Thomas died Friday at his home in Ventura County, Calif., of a suspected heart attack, his friend Gerri Malcolm confirmed to Variety. He was 66. Thomas was best known for his screenplay of “The Magic of Belle Isle,” directed by Rob Reiner and starring Morgan Freeman as a struggling alcoholic writer and

Johnny Depp alleged that his former wife, Amber Heard, stubbed a cigarette out on his face, his bodyguard Malcolm Connolly told a court Tuesday. Connolly, who has worked for Depp for about 16 years, was giving evidence at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on the sixth day of Depp’s libel trial against the publisher of

Ever since the release of “Justice League” in 2017, many DC Comics fans have been actively campaigning to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut of the film. The movement began after director Zack Snyder, who had previously helmed two movies set in DC’s cinematic universe, 2013’s “Man of Steel” and 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” left the project

Jeron Smith, CEO of Unanimous Media — the production company co-founded with NBA star Steph Curry — wants to broker film deals at Sony Pictures Entertainment with underrepresented talent, via a new joint venture. Smith and SPE have formed The Incubation Lab, which Smith describes as a “culture-forward content incubator.” Smith told Variety the goal

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 San Diego Comic-Con, it was the first time in the 50-year history of the fan convention that it would not take place. “It was really a heartbreaking decision,” says David Glanzer, chief communications officer and strategy officer at Comic-Con Intl., the organization that oversees SDCC

Set against the background of Nigeria’s vibrant Igbo community in downtown São Paulo, Matías Mariani’s “Shine Your Eyes” has been acquired by Netflix, which will launch the film on July 29. The global licensing deal was closed with Netflix Africa, which is likely keen to leverage the star power of lead I.C. Ukeje, whose career

Reteaming provocative Polish director Jan Komasa with screenwriter Mateusz Pacewicz, “The Hater” hits Netflix mere months after the duo’s acclaimed impostor-priest drama “Corpus Christi” was nominated for the Oscars’ newly rechristened international feature award. Timing wise, that’s a savvy acquisition of a youth-targeted thriller that deals with such topics as ethics, elections and online obsession,

Seven South Asian film festivals in the U.S. and Canada have decided to merge their efforts into one online event running Oct. 3-17. According to a statement from the coalition, for 15 days the virtual festival will stream films and host Q&As with filmmakers, as well as other conversations on industry topics and relating to

Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” is set as the opening movie of the Melbourne International Film Festival. The event was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, before being revived online under the label MIFF 68 ½. The festival will unspool virtually Aug 6-23, 2020. “First Cow” is an unlikely story of friendship and free enterprise on

MONDAY, JULY 13 Doug Belgrad Developing Unabomber Project as Psychological Thriller  “Bad Boys for Life” producer Doug Belgrad is developing a psychological thriller about Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist who became known as the Unabomber. Kaczynski, in an attempt to foment revolution, conducted a bombing campaign between 1978 and 1995 that killed three people and

New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng Films has bought the North American rights to “My Prince Edward,” the first feature written and directed by Hong Kong screenwriter Norris Yee-Lam Wong, from Hong Kong distributor Golden Scene. The news come as Wong announced Monday that filmmaking duo Mabel Cheung and Alex Law, the husband and wife behind

The 1989 murder of Susan Smith is a despairingly grim Southern Gothic story, shot through with reckless sex, institutional corruption and Kentucky-fried local scandal: prime material for the kind of forensic, heavily extended true-crime podcasts (or Netflix-style documentary series) that garner such widespread public fascination these days. At least “Above Suspicion,” a steamed-up, sweat-soaked film

The 20th edition of the New York Indian Film Festival will go online, powered by Movie Saints, following in the footsteps of many other fests. Running July 24-Aug. 2, the digital NYIFF will open with the streaming of Geetha J’s Malayalam-language “Run Kalyani,” about a woman who works as a cook while caring for her