Movies

MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron, two of the largest and most well-established “Harry Potter” fan communities online, released a joint statement on Thursday in support of transgender individuals and rejecting the transphobic comments made by series author J.K. Rowling on Twitter and her website in June. “Although it is difficult to speak out against someone

SAG-AFTRA has launched balloting for ratification of a successor deal on its master contract for feature films and primetime television work — with spirited campaigns on both sides of the issue. The performers union, which reps 160,000 members, rolled out a video Thursday of President Gabrielle Carteris urging a “Yes” vote on the new deal and

U.K. filmmaker Amma Asante has revealed she plans to start principal photography on long-gestating project “The Billion Dollar Spy” in 12 months. Production is currently on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. Adapted by Benjamin August (“Remember”) from David E. Hoffman’s bestselling book of the same name, the Walden Media and Weed Road Pictures production

Mononymic filmmaker and activist Tourmaline watched as protesters moved in a sea of white to gather at the steps of the Brooklyn Museum on June 14. More than 15,000 people came together for Black trans lives, an action that Tourmaline found powerful: “Everyone was asked to wear white for the protest, and it made it

The 2021 SAG Awards have been postponed to March 14 — six weeks before the Oscars — due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 27th annual awards show, which honors film and television performances, was originally set for Jan. 24, 2021. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on June 15 that the 93rd

“Blue Bayou,” the latest project from acclaimed independent filmmaker Justin Chon, has been acquired by Focus Features, Variety can report exclusively. The studio brokered a worldwide deal for the film’s distribution rights out of the Cannes 2020 virtual market, which was financed by MACRO and Entertainment One. Focus will handle domestic rollout, while its parent

Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. distribution rights for Gero von Boehm’s documentary “Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful” from MK2 Films. “Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful” will have its virtual theatrical release on July 24 through Kino Marquee’s virtual cinema platform, which works with more than 400 arthouse theaters and organizations. The

A trial at London’s Royal Courts of Justice in which Johnny Depp will sue The Sun newspaper for an article alleging he was a “wife beater” is to go ahead. The article referenced allegations that Depp was often violent toward his ex-wife Amber Heard, which he denies strenuously. Adam Wolanski, the attorney acting for the

Danny Glover was recently a juror and mentor at Turkey’s virtual International Migration Film Festival, for which he took a deep dive into films tackling the plight of migrants around the world from his home in San Francisco, just as protests over the death of George Floyd escalated in the U.S. The actor-writer-producer and passionate

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, felt “unprotected by the Institution” of the monarchy and was “prohibited from defending herself” against media reports while pregnant, according to court documents seen by the BBC. The documents are part of Markle’s ongoing legal battle against Associated Newspapers, publishers of outlets The Mail on Sunday and Mail Online.

Hong Kong box office receipts plunged by more than 70% in the first six months of 2020 as audiences stayed away and cinemas shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Hong Kong government closed all cinemas on March 28 as the second wave of COVID-19 brought by returnees began to spread. Cinemas reopened six weeks

Cannes’ virtual Marché du Film, which wrapped on June 26, attracted more than 10,002 participants over the course of five days. The U.S. had the largest delegations, with 1,500 participants, followed by France (1,400) and the U.K. (950), respectively. More than half were from Europe, with 5,900 participants. The Cannes film market usually runs alongside

M6 Group, the second biggest commercial network in France, has acquired Epithete Films, a Paris-based production company boasting a catalogue of 25 feature films, including the hit family adventure franchise “Belle and Sébastien.” The banner’s library also includes Gilles Legrand’s “Malabar Princess,” “Tu seras mon fils” and Patrice Leconte’s “Ridicule.” Epithete Films is headed by

CinefestOZ, West Australia’s prestigious mini-festival, has confirmed that it will go ahead with live audiences at the end of August. It will be the first in the country to do so since the easing of restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The festival will run August 25-30 with at least 40 live events and

The late Richard Benner’s 1977 “Outrageous!” blazed trails as both a hit Canadian export and positive screen depiction of gay life, two relative rarities at the time. Even then, some gay viewers found the funny-sad friendship between a hairdresser/professional drag queen and a young schizophrenic woman a bit old-fashioned. But everybody was won over by

Beijing has moved quickly to impose controversial new national security legislation on Hong Kong that severely curtails the territory’s previous freedoms and could mean life in prison for violators — local and foreign alike. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam called the law “a crucial step to ending chaos and violence that has occurred over

The most obvious point of comparison for “Suzi Q,” a new documentary about the pioneering 1970s rocker Suzi Quatro, is “Bad Reputation,” a two-year-old doc about Joan Jett. That’s not least of all because Jett is a frequent on-camera presence in the new movie, and comes off as such an acolyte of the woman who

The FIRST International Film Festival this week announced that it will occur with in-person screenings from July 26 to August 3 in China’s Qinghai province — implying that cinemas will be open in at least parts of the country by the end of the month. This would make it among the first festivals in the

FilmLA is reporting that about 14 film permit applications are being submitted per day since resuming remote operations on June 15 — about 20% of the pre-pandemic level. It reported Wednesday that the largest television project to apply to shoot on location is Freeform’s “Love in the Time of Corona.” FilmLA said three soap operas

Leading Hollywood visualization studio The Third Floor (TTF) has opened its first Beijing office. It seeks to create a hub in China on par with its other main outposts in Los Angeles and London that will cater primarily to local projects. TTF specializes in the pre-production process of pre-visualization, or pre-viz, which uses digital tools

It turns out many fields have their own Harvey Weinsteins, and in the case of gymnastics, it was Olympics team doctor Larry Nassar. The powerful new documentary “Athlete A,” now streaming on Netflix, tells the story of Nassar’s hundreds of victims and looks at how the abuse continued for decades despite numerous reports made by

“Aquaman” himself, Jason Momoa, is in negotiations to star as Frosty the Snowman in a movie for Warner Bros. Momoa will voice Frosty in the live-action/CG hybrid. Framestore UK will do the animation. Momoa will also produce with Geoff Johns, and Stampede’s Greg Silverman and Jon Berg. David Berenbaum, who collaborated with Berg on “Elf,”

Actor Ray Fisher accused director Joss Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set of the 2017 film “Justice League,” in a tweet that quickly went viral on Wednesday. Fisher also claimed in his tweet on Wednesday that former Warner Bros. co-president of production Jon Berg, and former DC Entertainment president

Variety first reported on June 20 that Netflix was in negotiations for the property. The drama recaps the trial that followed what were intended to be peaceful protests that turned violent at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The organizers of the protest — including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale

David Dobkin had no idea the Eurovision Song Contest even existed until the script by Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele landed on his desk. But the director of “The Judge” and “Wedding Crashers” fell in love with both the comedy about the international music competition — “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” —

Zachary Levi will star as NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner in “American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story.” The film, from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story, is expected to begin production later this year. Brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin will direct and produce. Warner played in the NFL from 1994 to 2008, and is regarded

European cinema giant Vue has pushed back the reopening of its U.K. cinemas by three weeks to July 31. Vue CEO Tim Richards confirmed to Variety that the chain, which was originally set to reopen from July 10, will instead begin a phased reopening of its venues from July 31, joining rival cinema operator Cineworld

On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert in infection diseases in the U.S., testified before Congress amid growing alarm surrounding the 80% spike in confirmed COVID-19 infections in the past two weeks. About halfway through the session, Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Fauci for a direct assessment of where the country could be headed if

Sunac Culture has acquired Chinese distribution rights to “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the upcoming project by Australia’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” director George Miller. It stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. MGM recently picked up the North American rights. Both the North American and Chinese deals were brokered by CAA Media Finance. Rights in

Juliette Schrameck, the former managing director of MK2 Films (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), will be joining the well-established French production company Agat Films starting Sept. 1. Schrameck, who stepped down from MK2 Films in April after a 10-year tenure, will be partner and producer at Agat Films. While at MK2 Films, Schrameck co-produced