Although it’s still up in the air when Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” will be available to all U.S. moviegoers, with many theaters still closed, the reviews are in – and largely positive. “Tenet” is slated for an international premiere on Aug. 26 and will open in select U.S. cities on Sept. 3, after its release date
In a week that has seen some whiplash good news/bad news announcements from Megan Thee Stallion, the good news followin gThursday night’s revelation about her shooting injury came just over 12 hours later, when she announced that she’s returning to the concert stage in a couple of weeks — albeit virtually. In a special virtual
Twenty years after “Bring It On” debuted, “Brr it’s cold in here” and “This is not a democracy, it’s a cheerocracy” have shown no signs of being shunted aside from the cultural lexicon. But in the late ’90s when screenwriter Jessica Bendinger shopped her lengthy 120-page script around Hollywood, every major studio passed on making
Harry Bradbeer, known for directing almost every single episode of “Fleabag,” has set his creative sights on Amazon. The Emmy winner has inked a first-look deal with Amazon Studios, under which he will develop and create television series to premiere exclusively on the streamer. News of the deal comes almost a year after “Fleabag” creator
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the first half of “Lucifer” Season 5, streaming now on Netflix. Oh my God — after five seasons, “Lucifer” officially introduced dear old Dad, AKA the Almighty (played by Dennis Haysbert), into the storyline. The move, while seismic for the series, was done when the
TV’s hottest properties this year may have little to do with the primetime lineup for which the medium is best known. Advertisers are placing new emphasis on ad-supported streaming outlets like Walt Disney’s Hulu and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, while exploring opportunities with WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, Fox’s Tubi and ViacomCBS’s Pluto, according to four media buyers and
Miss Monster is popping up at iconic spots all over Los Angeles in support of Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” while also promoting a pandemic-appropriate message: Wear a mask. Staring Aug. 20, the “Masked Singer” activation features the show’s “Miss Monster” character at the Santa Monica Pier and taking over the famous Randy’s Donuts sign. The
“Tenet” was already shaping up as the year’s premier event movie before a certain global pandemic turned it into something closer to a holy grail: an unknown, unattainable object of intrigue, its enigmatic allure intensifying as it moved further and further away on the blighted release schedule. That’s an absurd way to regard any film,
When Yeon Sang-ho wrote “Train to Busan,” zombie movies were simply unheard of among South Korean audiences. Skeptical of the subgenre’s commercial appeal, the director went along with his producers at Next Entertainment World on promoting it as “a survival story of Koreans infected by a human virus of sort.” “When filming it, I had
As cinemas welcome back audiences this summer, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is introducing a set of health protocols that it claims will keep customers safe from COVID-19. Dubbed “CinemaSafe,” the standards include asking patrons to social distance and wear masks, encouraging the purchase of tickets online and making hand sanitizer more readily
Peacock has unveiled a slate of original films, all of which will debut on the service in September. The NBCU streamer, which launched nationally just over a month ago, will premiere a doc on Harry Belafonte’s brief stint hosting “The Tonight Show,” Emilio Estevez’s pic “The Public,” starring Alec Baldwin, and a doc from NFL
Six Emmy-nominated artisans from different Netflix shows — “Stranger Things” music supervisor Nora Felder, “Ozark” editor Cindy Mollo, “Space Force” production designer Susie Mancini, “Hollywood” and “The Politician” costume designer Lou Eyrich, “Cheer” cinematographer Melissa Langer and “The Crown” casting director Nina Gold — joined Variety’s Artisans editor Jazz Tangcay for an exclusive virtual Q&A
The Democratic National Convention came to a close last night, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden finally taking to the stage to deliver his key address. Looking at the early numbers, night 4 could be on course for a similar total audience as night 3. A total of around 5.8 million viewers tuned in across the
On Bright Eyes’ new album, midway through the lush, dystopian “One and Done,” the familiar gravel of Conor Oberst’s voice shares an observation seemingly tailor-made for our present moment. “Let’s take a walk around the block,” he sings. “This fleeting feeling is infinite.” For those now measuring their quarantine in months, such words must feel
Despite a request earlier this week by Britney Spears’ attorney that the singer’s father be removed from her conservatorship, it will be extended until at least February of next year, a judge determined in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday, according to documents obtained by Variety. The matter was discussed at the hearing, which was
“Odd Thomas” and “Saige Paints the Sky” actor Laurel Harris is narrating PeaceJam Productions’ feature documentary “Shirin Ebadi: Until We Are Free,” one of 28 films selected for the Venice film festival’s gap financing market. The film is directed by Dawn Gifford Engle, whose previous documentary, “The Dalai Lama: Scientist,” was also narrated by Harris
Universal Filmed Entertainment Group has its head in the cloud — and now it’s going to push its production teams there. The company has embarked on a major multiyear strategy to move its studios’ film and TV production from in-house servers to the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. The goal is to let creatives collaborate
Cast and creatives of series “The X-Files,” including David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, have reunited virtually to record a special version of the show’s famous theme tune, with fan-written lyrics, to benefit the World Central Kitchen. “The X-Files” series executive producer Frank Spotnitz’s desire to help the needy during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic saw him
Sixx: A.M. Presents: Artists For Recovery — featuring members of Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Slipknot and others — have released “Maybe It’s Time,” a song that is part of a larger initiative to draw attention to the opioid crisis and raise funds to serve the recovery community. Players include bandleader and Crue
Rapper and writer Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter has been a socially conscious lyrical presence in hip-hop since co-founding the Roots in 1987, an actor on film and stage, and a part of NBC’s Jimmy Fallon shows since 2009. Despite fans’ clamoring, what the incendiary Thought/Trotter had never been, until recently, was a solo artist. In
After taking off the spring in Los Angeles due to the coronavirus, Jesse Metcalfe is working again. Last week, the 41-year-old actor began as a lead on a Hallmark TV movie, “Ships in the Night: A Martha’s Vineyard Mystery,” on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The production, which was delayed from March, finally got off
Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company that produced the award-winning documentary “9/11 Kids,” announced on Friday it will be awarding a new annual scholarship to a high school student at Emma E. Booker School in Sarasota, Fla. “9/11 Kids” chronicles the lives of a group of second-graders — mostly African American children — from
Firelight Media, headed by veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson, has set the inaugural list of grant recipients for two programs designed to help develop documentary film projects. Earlier this year Nelson launched the William Greaves Fund to help mid-career filmmakers get a lift toward producing their second film project. As Nelson told Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast
In today’s Global Bulletin, the Zurich festival opens with “My Wonderful Wanda,” Philip Garrel, Tsai Ming-liang and Hong Sang-soo are contenders at San Sebastian, a new talent agency launches with “The Crown” actor Emma Corrin, WaZabi picks up Toronto title “Beans,” and the U.K. celebrates returning to cinemas. Bettina Oberli’s “My Wonderful Wanda” will open
The rapid onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic caused several media events around the world to take rapid decisions to either cancel and postpone to 2021 or pivot to digital. The U.K., one of the worst hit countries in the world, was no different, and the venerable Edinburgh TV Festival, now in its 45th year, decided
The U.K.’s BBC has acquired four-part documentary series “Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” featuring actor and human rights activist Samuel L. Jackson from producer and distributor Fremantle. The series, directed by Simcha Jacobovici (“Atlantis Rising”), sheds new light on 400 years of human trafficking, as millions of enslaved Africans were shipped
BTS’s “Dynamite” music video is the new record-holder for highest number of YouTube viewers for a video premiere, registering at least more than twice the peak live-audience size as the previous high-water mark. The new “Dynamite” vid from the K-pop superstars also is pacing to become the most-viewed video ever in the first 24 hours
Chinese war film, “The Eight Hundred” achieved a cumulative box office score of more than $40 million by late afternoon on its opening day, Friday. By 5pm local time, the film had notched up RMB62.7 million or $9.04 million, according to data from China Box Office and Ent Group. By 6pm, the Friday score had
Yulene Olaizola’s “Tragic Jungle,” Natalia Meta’s “The Intruder” and Clarisa Navas’ “One in a Thousand” will compete in the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Latinos Horizontes, a showcase of standout recent movies from Latin America that this year underscores the emergence or consolidation of a new generation of female filmmakers in Latin America. In all, women
I’m writing this review from my summer vacation. Loath as I am to invoke the first person, this admission is relevant for two reasons. Like Eva (Itsaso Arana), the main character of Jonás Trueba’s patient, zephyr-like “The August Virgin,” I’ve chosen to stay home during this stifling late-summer heatwave, a decision that can breed ennui