Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards. The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the
A shocking attack on a transgender couple in plain view of hundreds Saturday night has rattled filmmakers and guests at this year’s Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which has a spotlight on queer cinema as one of the focal points of its 26th edition. During the terrifying episode, which took place around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, a
Illumination and Nintendo will join forces to produce a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. The companies previously partnered on last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed more than $1.3 billion and became the second highest-grossing movie of 2023. It’s unclear which fanciful characters the new film will
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Film’s biggest night is (almost) here. The 96th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 10 at a new time, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, from the Dolby Theater. Jimmy Kimmel
Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst donned his turn-of-the-millennium apparel for the SXSW world premiere of “Y2K,” the Kyle Mooney-directed teen disaster comedy in which the rapper plays himself. “Y2K” follows two high schoolers (Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison) who crash a New Year’s Eve party on the last night of 1999 when they realize that the
When Judd Apatow and the boys make an R-rated pregnancy comedy, they call it “Knocked Up.” But when “Broad City” co-creator Ilana Glazer and stand-up comic Michelle Buteau try their hand at the same subject, the every-bit-as-raunchy result comes with a far classier title: “Babes.” That pun is just one of the movie’s many acts
“Babes,” a new comedy about the highs and lows of pregnancy and early motherhood, received a boisterous welcome at its SXSW premiere on Saturday. The audience frequently broke into sustained waves of laughter watching BFFs Eden (Ilana Glazer, who also co-wrote and produced) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) contend with how Dawn’s second child and Eden’s
How distraught is Annette, the severely troubled British mother of two played by Daisy Ridley in “Magpie?” She has gotten a short angular haircut, one that might, in another context, be the height of chic (very Isabella Rossellini). Except that the movie uses it as a symbolic expression of her trauma, like Mia Farrow’s iconic
Ariana Grande wasn’t just the musical guest during the March 9 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” While she took the stage to perform “We Can’t Be Friends” and “Imperfect For You” — and was introduced by her mom, Joan Grande, for the second number — she also took on two different sketches. After appearing as
Ramy Youssef will host the next “Saturday Night Live” episode, airing on March 30, with Travis Scott as the musical guest. This announcement was made during the March 9 “SNL” episode, which was hosted by Josh Brolin with Ariana Grande as the musical guest. Youssef’s upcoming HBO comedy special, “Ramy Youssef: More Feelings,” debuts on
“Saturday Night Live” kicked off the March 9 episode mocking President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address — but more so, the Republican response. After Mikey Day’s Biden spoke to Congress and mocked House Speaker Mike Johnson shaking his head — “every time I say predecessor, Mike Johnson shakes his head like he just accidentally
Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Indian media giant Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, will now work directly with the revenue department of the company’s broadcast business. Ashish Sehgal, chief growth officer, advertisement revenue, will now directly report into Goenka. Rahul Johri, who led the revenue and monetization vertical, has stepped down after a three-year stint
Josh Brolin is in on the joke. During his opening monologue on the March 9 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the “Dune 2” actor opened up about his “super creepy poem” about Timothée Chalamet. “I don’t think it’s creepy, but you be the judge,” he told the audience before reading part of the poem featured
A narrative trifurcated across decades and generations, Fawzia Mizra’s “The Queen of My Dreams” follows a young Pakistani Canadian coming to terms with her upbringing. It hits all the familiar beats of a first-generation South Asian story and, despite its novel queer bent and tongue-in-cheek casting (actress Amrit Kaur plays protagonist Azra, as well as
Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the
Indian sales outfit Indywood Distribution Network has sold Rupesh Paul’s “Kamasutra — The Revenge” wide ahead of Hong Kong’s film rights market FilMart. Starring Sherlyn Chopra, Milind Gunaji and Gajendra Chauhan, and produced by San2Creations, the film follows two princesses — one who is robbed of her dreams when forced to accept a middle-aged king
When “My Dead Friend Zoe” filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes set out to adapt his own experiences as an Army vet onto the big screen, he made two very big changes: gender-flipping the main characters and two women of color in the roles. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales, “My Dead Friend Zoe” is a dark dramedy
Amber Riley, who starred as Mercedes in “Glee,” revealed on the “And That’s What You Really Missed” podcast that she refused to film a sex scene with Chord Overstreet’s character Sam. “I told [‘Glee’ co-creator] Brad [Falchuk], ‘Absolutely not,’” Riley shared with her former co-stars and podcast hosts Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale. “He gave me the blue pages or whatever. It was written. I said, ‘No.’” Riley said
We’re less than 24 hours from Hollywood’s biggest night, and if you haven’t filled out your office or household Oscar pool, time is running out. But first — check out this week’s Variety Awards Circuit Podcast for some final analysis. Awards guru Clayton Davis, along with Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay and Michael Schneider recorded a
Visual albums — a bunch of videos strung together to commemorate the release of new work from a musical artist — typically either feel like shameless promotion or a vanity project. “Songs From the Hole” not only earns the label honestly, but actually takes this co-called next-level artistic endeavor to, well, another level: Chronicling the
Writer-director Tracie Laymon has a lot of Bobs in her life. First, there was Bob Laymon, her father. “In 2012, I was looking for my dad,” she says. “He would just feel disrespected for even the most minor infractions, and he’d disappear for a year or two and not talk to me. So I put
SXSW can’t get enough of Jean Smart. The crowd at Austin’s Paramount theater erupted as Smart walked down the aisle to find her seat at the Saturday morning world premiere of “Hacks” Season 3, in which she plays aging comedian Deborah Vance. The Max comedy series has been off the air for two years, during
“Harry Potter” actor Miriam Margolyes is concerned about adult fans of the beloved franchise. “They should be over that by now,” Margolyes said in a recent interview with New Zealand’s 1News. “You know, I mean, it was 25 years ago, and it’s for children. I think it’s for children.” Margolyes played Professor Pomona Sprout, who taught herbology at
“Conan O’Brien Must Go” is finally going. The long-in-the-works project, announced last year during Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfronts presentation, has been given a premiere date: Thursday, April 18 on Max. O’Brien announced the premiere date of the show’s four episodes on Saturday at SXSW, during an on-stage conversation with comedian Nick Kroll. The “Conan O’Brien
“Kung Fu Panda 4” director Mike Mitchell gravitates toward villains that can “reflect the hero.” And that’s something that he leaned into with the Chameleon, a threatening two-and-a half foot shape shifter voiced by Oscar winner Viola Davis, who is the nemesis of Jack Black’s titular panda Po in the latest installment of the DreamWorks
A carefully constructed and often sobering documentary about disinformation, “How to Build a Truth Engine” makes meticulous efforts to lay out its visual and thematic groundwork. However, its chilling portrait of the digital world comes up against a unique roadblock. A fleeting scene late in the film not only plays like a last-minute addition (concerning
When Colman Domingo steps to the stage to introduce the SXSW premiere of his new film “Sing Sing” — a deeply affecting depiction of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the titular maximum security prison in New York — he gets a standing ovation before a second of the film has screened. That might be in
On Jan. 12, screenwriter Simon Stephenson sent an email to the Writers Guild of America’s senior director of credits Lesley Mackey asking to set up a call to discuss an important matter. The CAA-repped writer, whose credits include Pixar’s “Luca” and StudioCanal’s “Paddington 2,” wrote, “I’ve encountered a credits-related issue on quite a high profile
“I Love You Forever” has all the trappings of a romantic comedy, for better or worse. In the whipsmart millennial-skewing film where you’re old if you’ve been caught using a third-generation iPhone, there’s something charmingly antiquated about the scene filmmakers Cazzie David and Elsa Kalani set around Mackenzie (Sofia Black D’Elia), a law student who
Talk about loyalty. Betty Buckley has been staying at the Chateau Marmont for about 50 years. She first checked in when she was filming her big screen debut as gym teacher Miss Collins in “Carrie” and then when she landed the role of Abby Bradford, Dick Van Patten’s new wife and stepmother to his kids