Movies

The Wallflowers’ 1996 hit “One Headlight” wasn’t just a song choice that set a mood for the trailer of “The King of Staten Island.” It appears in the film itself, in a quick but telling barroom scene that gets at how near-strangers can bond over music… even if it’s music they don’t quite remember well

Warner Bros. is moving its untitled fourth “Matrix” film back nearly a year to the spring of 2022. The move comes as the Hollywood studios are scrambling their release schedules due to the theater shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new “Matrix” movie, which had been in production in Germany before being halted, has moved

U.K.-based Cineworld Group has backed out of a deal to acquire Canada’s Cineplex Inc. for $2.1 billion, citing breaches in the agreement for the transaction. Cineworld, parent of the Regal Cinema chain in the U.S., made the announcement Friday, saying it had become aware of certain breaches by Cineplex Inc. along with a “material adverse

Steve Kloves, “Harry Potter” screenwriter and “Fantastic Beasts” producer, has broken his silence on “Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s controversial statements about transgender identity. “Our diversity is our strength,” Kloves says in an exclusive statement to Variety. “In these challenging times, it’s more important than ever that transgender women and men, and people who are non-binary, feel

Two days before cinemas were supposed to premiere “The King of Staten Island,” a new comedic drama from Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson, drive-in theaters around the country were abruptly informed they were not able to show the film. The semi-autobiographical look at Davidson’s upbringing in the titular New York City borough was originally intended

Warner Bros. has canceled the Paris screening of “Gone With The Wind” at the Rex Theater on June 23. The screening of “Gone With The Wind” had been scheduled to celebrate the reopening of theaters in France after a three-month shutdown. The Rex Theater, which boasts France’s biggest cinema screen, announced the cancellation on its

Disney has moved its animal adventure movie “The One and Only Ivan,” with a voice cast that includes Sam Rockwell and Angelina Jolie, out of theaters and onto its Disney Plus streaming service on Aug. 21. The studio announced the shift Friday — the same day that it began streaming “Artemis Fowl,” which was also

BAFTA has come out in support of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new standards for representation, with hopes that a uniform set of diversity requirements can apply to both the Oscars and BAFTA Awards. Marc Samuelson, chair of BAFTA’s film committee, tells Variety, “BAFTA has worked for the last three years with

French and U.S.-based producer and distributor Cyber Group Studios has joined forces with one of Russia’s oldest animation studios, Soyuzmultfilm, to create a new animation outfit aimed at pre-school audiences. The joint venture label, Cyber Soyuz Junior, will see both companies combine their resources to make 2D animations; and its launch comes with the announcement of

Roy Cohn had always been a haunting presence in filmmaker Ivy Meeropol’s life, but the full extent of his existence was only apparent after she watched Meryl Streep play her grandmother, Ethel Rosenberg, in HBO’s 2003 “Angels in America.” “I think seeing the film made me finally connect emotionally to my human story, and this

“Bigger Than Us,” the environment-themed documentary executive produced by Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard and directed by Flore Vasseur, has been pre-sold by IndieSales to several major territories in the run to the Cannes virtual Marché du Film. Currently in post-production, “Bigger Than Us” will be pitched live by Cotillard, Vasseur and the 18-year-old Indonesian environmental

Since Spike Lee burst onto the scene in 1986, the timeliness of his movies has been the filmmaker’s calling card — with Lee assembling a body of work that meditates on world events in a way that seems almost prescient. So, with his latest joint, “Da 5 Bloods” debuting on Netflix amid a groundswell of

France’s 2020 Annecy festival and accompanying Mifa market won’t be the first such events to go completely online this year, but certainly stand out as one of Europe’s largest to do so. The prestigious animation gathering, which normally draws toon heavyhitters from all over the world, will stream June 15-30. While platforms and broadcasters fight

Scrolling through Netflix’s most-viewed titles, you might have stumbled across “365 DNI” (365 Days) which debuted on June 7. The Polish romp has been stirring up a storm on TikTok and social media from viewers drawing comparisons to “Fifty Shades of Grey” for its erotic BDSM scenes. One scene lasts close to five minutes. “365

Tom Hanks’ war drama “Greyhound” will make its global debut on July 10, exclusively on the seven-month-old platform Apple TV Plus. Thursday’s announcement came a month after Apple TV Plus bought worldwide rights from Sony Pictures to “Greyhound” following a bidding war for the movie, which was previously set for a Father’s Day theatrical release.

Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Salma Hayek and Alejandro G. Iñárritu are among the names who have joined forces to form Sifonóforo, the Audiovisual Emergency Fund, in a response to fund the problems faced by below-the-line film workers in Mexico. According to the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMACC), over 30,000 families have

Kurt Wimmer’s reimagining of “Children of the Corn” has completed its coronavirus-defying shoot in Australia. The filmmakers employed stringent health and safety protocols, and multiple insurance policies. The producers revealed the previously undisclosed cast of young actors, with Elena Kampouris (“Before I Fall”) and Kate Moyer (“When Hope Calls”) starring. They are accompanied by Australian

“The Surrogate” is the kind of movie you’d expect to be based on a stage play, because it is so entirely driven by well-honed dialogue arguing social issues from nicely detailed if schematically conceived character viewpoints — like something by Donald Margulies, Rebecca Gilman or the pseudononymous Jane Martin. That writer-director Jeremy Hersh’s debut feature

Universal Pictures’ adaptation of the Broadway hit “Dear Evan Hansen” looks to be picking up steam, as sources tell Variety that Kaitlyn Dever is in talks to star in the film. Though Universal would not confirm, Ben Platt is also expected to reprise his role as the title character. “Wonder” director Stephen Chbosky will helm

Viggo Mortensen and his “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly are looking to reteam on a new film. Mortensen is in negotiations to join Farrelly’s new untitled movie based on the book “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War.” According to sources, Mortensen would have a supporting role. The book,

Though “The King of Staten Island” is based in part on the real life of Pete Davidson, costume designer Sarah Mae Burton (“The Big Sick”) knew she didn’t want Davidson’s character to look like the “SNL” cast member. “Pete has a distinctive style [“scumbro” — logos, sweats, Hawaiian shirts and neon] in the media, and

Already offering some of the most robust, and popular, cash rebates for foreign movie shoots, Colombia has just upped its game, expanding the incentives to take in series and music videos and introducing tax breaks for international shoots. Colombia’s government has also confirmed that its cash rebates, issued by the Colombian Film Fund (FFC), will

Oscar-nominee John Hawkes and Oscar-winner Allison Janney have come on board for roles in the real-life-inspired feature “To Leslie.” The actors join previously announced lead Andrea Riseborough. Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales and will introduce the project this month at virtual Cannes. UTA Independent Film Group is representing U.S. sales. Michael Morris (“Bloodline,”

DreamWorks Animation has dropped a first trailer to “To: Gerard,” from writer-director Taylor Meacham, a short feature parable about the sense of magic that a parent or parental figure can spark in an dazzled child, still enchanting them 60 years on – and prompting them to inspire others. Having been selected for this year’s Tribeca

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. and around the world has reshaped the agenda at the first ever Women in Animation Virtual Summit, held in conjunction with Annecy 2020 Online, this year’s digital version of the Annecy International Animation Festival

Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson will be the subject of a new feature film documentary from XTR, H.wood Media, NSV and Delirio Films. The filmmakers say they have been granted “unprecedented access” to the Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, whose dominance on the court helped drive the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships. The film

Thomasin McKenzie, who starred in “Jojo Rabbit,” will play Joy “Joika” Womack, the American ballet dancer, in James Napier Robertson’s “Joika,” to shoot in New Zealand in early 2021. Embankment has launched worldwide sales and co-reps U.S. rights with UTA Independent Film Group. Kiwi writer-director Napier Robertson, producing partner Tom Hern, and McKenzie are already

Tapping into sales agents and buyers’ increasing need for a 365-day-film marketplace, Archipel Market, a community tool, is launching in the run-up to the Cannes virtual Marché du Film and the agencies-led initiative. Archipel Market was created by Cascade8, which specializes in software solutions for the entertainment industry, in collaboration with Logical Pictures, a financing

CNN Films has acquired broadcasting rights to “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President.” The look at the bond between the 39th president and pop and country musicians is slated to be the closing film for AFI DOCS film festival on June 21. The documentary was originally scheduled to open the 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival,

“Life-changing” is the kind of hyperbolic descriptor thrown around all too easily in the world of publishing, but it could quite reasonably be applied to Naoki Higashida’s nonfiction bestseller “The Reason I Jump.” Written when Hagashida was just 13 years old, it’s a unique account of autistic spectrum disorder from the inside, giving voice to