“Scoob!” will be hitting theaters in some overseas markets despite skipping the North American box office in May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Warner Bros. has confirmed the film will enjoy a combined theatrical release and premium VOD outing internationally — a strategy that was also recently employed by Universal, which plans to release animated
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The New Zealand government is to inject $48 million (NZ$74.4 million) of cash to help the film and TV industries recover from the economic effects of the coronavirus and the country’s strict lockdown measures. The financial package was announced Wednesday by Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Carmel Sepuloni. Fully $32.3 million (NZ$50 million) of
The Doha Film Institute, which is a leading incubator for quality Arab fare, has announced the 39 projects receiving its Spring grants — roughly half of which are directed by women. Several of the nearly completed works that made the cut are likely to surface on the international festival circuit, starting with Venice in September.
Oscar is a Sicilian teenager with the tough-guy mohawk of a rebel and the shy, rare, dimpled smile of a child. Stanley is a handsome young Nigerian immigrant, his short hair worn in locs, who insists on saying grace before the home-style meals he prepares: banku, fish stew. Oscar grudgingly helps his father and brother
Quelle surprise. The Cannes 2020 label anoints two Israeli films from male directors, both about father-son relationships and grieving. The superior by a country mile is the seamlessly accomplished “Here We Are” from veteran helmer-writer Nir Bergman. And then there is the grandiosely titled “The Death of Cinema and My Father Too,” an ambitious, low-budget
The Harvey Weinstein survivors who experienced sexual misconduct and harassment by the now-convicted rapist have been awarded a $18.875 million settlement, as part of a class-action lawsuit, aided by the New York Attorney General. The payments, which still await approval by the bankruptcy and district courts, will resolve two separate lawsuits — one against Weinstein,
Danny Hicks, an actor who starred in the horror classic “Evil Dead II,” has died after battling cancer. He was 68. Hicks’ convention management team, Full Empire Productions, posted the news on Facebook, writing, “Danny passed away at his home in CA. We love you Danny, rest easy my friend.” In Sam Raimi’s comedic horror
Mel Brooks has paid an emotional tribute to his comedy partner and best friend Carl Reiner, who died Monday night at the age of 98. “Carl was a giant, unmatched in his contributions to entertainment,” Brooks said in a tweet. “He created comedy gems like ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show,’ ‘The Jerk’ and ‘Where’s Poppa?’
Paramount Pictures has named influential production executive Emma Watts president of its motion picture group, studio chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos announced on Tuesday. The former Twentieth Century Fox leader replaces Wyck Godfrey, who will exit Paramount and transition back to producing film and TV. Watts starts July 20, and will report directly to Gianopulos.
Universal Pictures is developing “One and Done,” a sports drama written by Chad Sanders and Chris Spencer. The film focuses on one of the nation’s top high school athletes and his unprecedented decision to attend an HBCU. Packer and James Lopez will produce through their Will Packer Productions. The movie marks Sanders and Spencer’s first
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 819 artists and executives to join the organization in 2020. In doing so, the Academy continues its work on diversifying its ranks. If all 819 invitees accept their invitations (which would bring its total membership to 9,412), 45% of the new members will be women
An already moving film is given an unforeseen blush of relevance in these trying times by refracting an immigration story through the prism of a childhood experience of forced isolation. In Samuel Kishi Leopo’s tender and sincere “Los Lobos,” it is not a virus but poverty, uncertain legal status and stranger danger that makes the
The true story of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, known as the “Black Mozart,” is coming to theaters via a hot creative team and Searchlight Pictures, Variety can report exclusively. “Chevalier de Saint-Georges” was an original feature pitch from Stefani Robinson, the Emmy-nominated and WGA Award winning writer of FX’s “Atlanta” and “What We Do in the
Cate Blachett has signed a first-look feature film production deal for her Dirty Films production company with New Republic Pictures, headed by Brian Oliver and Bradley Fischer. Blanchett and Fischer previously worked together on “The House With a Clock in its Walls” and “Truth.” Dirty Films, founded by Blanchett and Andrew Upton, recently executive produced
Hungary, Europe’s second most popular destination for Hollywood shoots, is offering exemptions for U.S. cast and crew from the European Union ban announced Tuesday. Film production in the country rose 50% last year, breaking records, and studios this year are booked solid for months to come. The Hungarian government’s film commissioner, Csaba Káel, told Variety:
Yes, there’s John Waters, Gus Van Sant, Pedro Almodovar, Lee Daniels, Gregg Araki, Kimberly Peirce, Lisa Cholodenko and Dee Rees. But there’s at least one other director who deserves to be included in that group of barrier-breaking LGBTQ filmmakers: Kenny Ortega. Ortega, one of this year’s honorees on Variety’s Power of Pride list, made movies
Amblin Partners has closed a deal with Niki Caro to direct “Beautiful Ruins,” sources tell Variety. The story is set in an Italian seaside village in 1962, where a charming young man runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of “Cleopatra,” appears and captures his heart.
The Writers Guild of America is in the final day of its current master contract — without a deal yet with studios on successor contract. Talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers launched six weeks ago on a remote basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic after two start dates
Éric Rochant, super-producer and creator behind the hit French spy drama “The Bureau,” is set to team with Tomorrow Studios (“Snowpiercer,” “Cowboy Bebop”) on his U.S. television debut. Rochant will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the untitled espionnage series, which will center on the lives of intelligence officers from different countries (U.S., China,
In a landmark deal, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has inked a multi-project development deal with acclaimed Chilean writer and author Jose Ignacio ‘Chascas’ Valenzuela, a prominent voice in the LGBTQ community. The three-project deal kicks off with “El Filo de Tu Piel,” a gay-themed romance based on Valenzuela’s eponymous novel. “A prolific screenwriter, Chascas’ impeccable
Colcoa, the Los Angeles-based French film festival, has decided to cancel its 2020 edition due to the continuing health crisis in the U.S. The next edition, which will mark the festival’s 25th anniversary celebration, will be held from Sept. 20-26, 2021. This year’s festival was initially scheduled to take place in September. Organizers said they
Pedro Almodóvar and his favorite female lead Penelope Cruz look set to re-team on feature “Madres paralelas,” a Madrid-set drama that returns to Almodóvar’s biggest creative inspiration — motherhood — and an industrial model that has served him very well over the last 30 years. Set to go into pre-production in October, “Madres paralelas” is
Cineworld is pushing back the reopening of its U.K. and Ireland cinemas from July 10 to July 31. The new date also applies to the firm’s U.S. chain Regal Cinemas. The business is the first of the U.K. cinema chains to delay reopening following the second date shift for “Tenet.” The Mooky Greidinger-run firm confirmed
A category five hurricane is the least of the perils confronting characters in “Force of Nature.” Set in Puerto Rico during such a tempest, this diverting thriller from director Michael Polish has Emile Hirsch as a cop protecting various apartment building residents (including Kate Bosworth and Mel Gibson) from a murderous gang of thieves. Yet
SAG-AFTRA’s national board has approved sending out its successor film-television contract for ratification by its 160,000 members. The board approved the tentative three-year deal, which was announced on June 11, by a vote of 67.6% to 32.4%. The vote was announced Monday night. Members will be mailed instructions on how to cast ballots on July 1
MONDAY, JUNE 29 Robert De Niro’s ‘War With Grandpa’ Sets Opening 101 Studios announced it will domestically distribute Robert De Niro’s comedy “The War With Grandpa” on Sept. 18 in partnership with financier Brookdale Studios. The film, directed by Tim Hill and produced by Marro Media Company, is based on the children’s fiction novel by
London’s Queer East Film Festival will run a virtual program of four free-to-stream Asian documentaries from July 3-31, as cinema closures due to coronavirus force its regular programming online. The festival typically seeks to bring rarely seen LGBTQ+ films from East and Southeast Asia to the U.K., but this year’s online iteration will be mostly
Filming on the set for “In the Heights” went beyond shooting a musical for stars Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace. The emotional journey allowed them to represent the Latinx community in a way that they say has never before been seen on screen. “The entire thing for me felt like a dream sequence,” said Barrera.
Women in Film, Los Angeles and The Black List announced the participants of the 2020 Feature Lab and Residency on Monday. The program is an expansion of the organizations’ original writing lab, providing mentorship and career opportunities to seven emerging women screenwriters over the course of a year. This year’s intensive script and professional development
With an overdue reckoning on racism happening nationwide thanks to the renewed #BlackLivesMatter movement, it’s hard to imagine someone whose legacy would warrant a more urgent cinematic tribute than John Lewis, a true American civil rights icon. Currently serving his 17th term as a member of Congress, the 80-year-old U.S. Representative has always been at