Next year’s edition of German metal festival Wacken Open Air sold out in six hours, according to organizers. The entire ticket allocation was sold out during the pre-sale, Variety understands. Headlined by Iron Maiden, Wacken Open Air is set to take place from Aug. 2-5 2023, officially expanding from three days to four for the
German director Lukas Nathrath has already lined up his next projects, Variety has found out. Following ensemble drama “One Last Evening,” which nabbed him Locarno Film Festival’s Cinegrell First Look Award consisting of post-production service worth €50,000, he will turn to “Bourgeois Paranoia” next. A mixture of dark comedy and psychological thriller, it will be
In the mesmerizing and strangely beautiful documentary “Matter Out of Place,” which world premieres in International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival on Wednesday, Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter looks at how we dispose of our trash. But, taking a broader view, he is trying to gain a better understanding of mankind, and the impact it
Presented at Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente competition, the first feature film of Brazilian filmmaker and curator Ana Vaz portrays the battle between the urban expansion of Brasília and the misplacement of its local fauna. It reprises some of the artist’s obsessions as well as questioning the urban identity of Brazil’s capital, denouncing both its institutional
A new series is set to examine the two official investigations into Princess Diana’s death. The British royal died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36. The French Brigade Criminelle opened an investigation in 1997 immediately following the accident while the Metropolitan Police undertook their own investigation seven years
The femme fatale is alive and well in Los Angeles-set indie “No Way Out,” an old-fashioned noir dressed up in the steamy decadence of an erotic thriller. Trouble is, veteran producer Keith Kjarval’s debut solo screenplay doesn’t provide the kind of memorable characters or sharp plotting needed to punch across a dark crime melodrama. Nor
Raymond Briggs, the British illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author best known for “The Snowman,” has died. He was 88. “The Snowman,” a book without words and illustrated with pencil crayons, was created by Briggs in 1978. It was adapted as an animated television film for U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 in 1982, which is played
A+E Networks is giving a multinational launch Wednesday to “If You Wish Upon Me,” a Korean drama series that was produced by its A+E Studios unit. The show is a transformational story of an impoverished man with a troubled past and a twisted attitude who accidentally joins Team Genie, a group which carries out the
Crowds at the DGA theater in Los Angeles were buzzing on Monday night when Chris Pine made a surprise appearance on the red carpet. Pine came out to the “Five Days at Memorial” premiere to support his dad, Robert Pine, in his newest acting endeavor. The father-son duo posed together before Chris made his way into
You can talk about Oprah, but don’t go ripping off her signature logo — that seems to be the message being sent by the media mogul herself in a new lawsuit. The legendary talk show host’s company, Harpo, has filed suit against a couple of up-and-coming podcasters who launched a series this year called “Oprahdemics”
TikTok star Jax’s body-positive anthem “Victoria’s Secret” was written prior to the Hulu docuseries “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” which offers a glimpse into the scandalous connection between Jefferey Epstein and disgraced Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner. But the timing turned out to be perfect — and warranted — as the singer delivered “Body-insecuri-tea” to
Emmy-nominated re-recording mixers John W. Cook II and Ben Wilkins layered in 16 different tracks of recording for a key courtroom moment in Starz’s “Gaslit.” The political thriller takes a different look at the Watergate scandal. Rather than look at the infamous hotel break-in, the show examines the political relationships and the women — particularly
Amanda Seyfried told Porter magazine that she purposely let herself be uncomfortable on film sets earlier in her career because she felt it was the only way to keep her job. The publication noted that the Emmy and Oscar nominee “wishes she could be coming up now, in an era where intimacy coordinators are an
Vince McMahon’s off-the-books personal payments that he made while chairman and CEO of WWE were higher than previously reported, the company said. Last month, the wrestling entertainment company announced that it would revise its financial statements going back to 2019 to account for $14.6 million of “certain payments” that McMahon made while chairman and CEO
Curate Management has added book and IP manager, Becca Rodriguez, to its growing team, Variety has learned. The boutique management firm, founded by film and TV lit manager Britton Rizzio, opened its doors last year and focuses on creators in film and television, aiming to shape the careers of creatives with distinct voices. Rodriguez brings with
When Paramount got its first look at a cut of “Event Horizon” in 1997, some studio executives thought that director Paul W.S. Anderson had made a film so disturbing that it slandered outer space itself. “Someone actually said to me, ‘We’re the studio that makes Star Trek!’” Anderson recalled with a grin on his face.
Island Records has promoted Steven Rowen to senior vice president, head of international marketing. In his new role, Rowen will continue to oversee global marketing across the Island roster which includes Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, the Killers, Lauren Spencer Smith and more. “Steven is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced executives in the global
First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden will be introducing National Geographic’s latest series “America’s National Parks,” set to premiere Aug. 29. Narrated by Garth Brooks, the five-part docuseries celebrates the world-famous and lesser-known national parks across the U.S., from Yosemite to Big Bend National Park. The series will first be introduced by
Chris Pratt has been generating headlines this week after celebrating the success of his Amazon Prime Video series “The Terminal List,” which debuted July 1 to abysmal critical reviews. The show has proven to be a hit with viewers, with Nielsen reporting “The Terminal List” earned 1.6 billion minutes viewed in its first week. Pratt
Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” was watched for 69.5 million hours in its first three days of availability on Netflix, landing in the No. 1 position on the streamer’s Top 10 rankings during the Aug. 1-7 viewing window. Based on Gaiman’s DC comic book series of the same name, the series, which debuted on Aug. 5,
Greg Berlanti’s DC series “Strange Adventures” is not moving forward at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed. The planned anthology series was first announced as being in development at the streamer in 2019. Kevin Smith discussed the fate of the series on his “Hollywood Babble-On” podcast, saying he was working on an episode with “Supergirl” writer Eric Carrasco.
The direct-to-Hulu release of “Prey,” the action-thriller prequel to “Predator,” notched the most viewing hours ever on the Disney-owned streamer in its first three days — among all TV series and movies. That would mean “Prey” had a bigger aggregate viewing-time total over three days than “The Kardashians,” which Hulu in April said was its
Biyi Bandele, the renowned Nigerian novelist, playwright and filmmaker behind 2013’s “Half of a Yellow Sun” and upcoming film “The King’s Horseman,” has died. He was 54. Bandele died on Sunday in Lagos, Nigeria, according to a Facebook post from his daughter, Temi Bandele. A cause of death was not given. “Biyi was a prodigiously
New movies from directors Claire Denis, Park Chan-wook, Ruben Östlund, Kelly Reichardt and Paul Schrader will play at the 60th New York Film Festival, which is running from Sept. 30 through Oct. 16. On Tuesday, Film at Lincoln Center, which hosts the annual Manhattan-based celebration of cinema, unveiled the 32 films that comprise the main
Following news that the award-winning documentary “Descendant” will screen as an official selection at the 60th New York Film Festival, Variety can exclusively announce that the film will launch Oct. 21 on Netflix and in select theaters. Directed by Margaret Brown (“The Order of Myths,” “Be Here to Love Me: Townes Van Zandt,” “The Great
In July 2012, I showed up at the office of legendary Hollywood litigator Bert Fields along with Variety freelancer Bob Verini. We were doing a Q&A with the legendary Hollywood lawyer, a partner at Greenberg Glusker, in one of those nondescript Century City steel-and-glass skyscrapers. But once ushered into Fields’ inner sanctum, we stepped into
IFC Films has set the U.S. release date for “Corsage,” whose star Vicky Krieps won the best performance prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. Marie Kreutzer’s film will have its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival has just announced that the
The filmmakers behind indie action-thriller “Fall” were facing kind of a big freaking problem. Lionsgate wanted to pick up the movie for U.S. theatrical release. But “Fall,” a vertiginous white-knuckler about two young women who are in danger of plunging from the top of a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower, was rife with F-bombs — which would
UPDATED: Twitter appeared to briefly suffer wide-scale technical problems again Tuesday, as thousands of users reported problems accessing the service. Users error reports for Twitter spiked on service-monitoring site Downdetector at about 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, with more than 15,000 complaints. By 2:07 p.m., that number had more than doubled. At 2:32 p.m. ET, Twitter’s
I love denim. Be it in the form of jean shorts for summer, mom jeans for weekend errands, or an oversized denim jacket for fall, denim is my tried-and-true category that never fails (even for the slightly less casual moments). Yes, I’ve been through the phases of trends; skinny jeans—which once were trendy and then