In 1921, the film industry was dominated by silent black-and-white projects shot with boxy, wood-bodied 120 cameras using 35mm film. It was two years before the 16mm would be invented, and a few more before camera bodies would shift to metal and synchronized sound would become an option. When depicting this period for a pivotal
Although the coronavirus pandemic put the careers of countless up-and-coming musicians on hold, it didn’t stop their creative drive. By the end of March, music-sharing platform SoundCloud reported that there had been a 50 percent increase in uploads, with many songs related to the socially distanced circumstances. The surge inspired SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor to
ViacomCBS, Walt Disney, Fox and other big TV companies say Nielsen, a company with an audience-measurement technology that usually helps the TV business, is going to hurt it come autumn. The big U.S. media companies that pay the TV-ratings kingpin millions of dollars in fees every year believe Nielsen’s decision to delay adding so-called “out
When director David Dobkin brought the 2005 comedy “Wedding Crashers” to the marketing team at New Line Cinema, he didn’t get the reception he thought he would. Marketing head Russell Schwartz thought that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson’s characters were too misogynistic, since their main aim seemed to be crashing weddings to look for girls.
Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World: Dominion” has resumed shooting this week in the U.K. with the studio denying a press report of a production halt due to positive COVID-19 tests among the crew. “Any reports indicating that Jurassic World: Dominion has halted production are categorically untrue,” said a Universal spokesperson. “The production is in its fifth day of
Australian production designer Steven Jones-Evans was tasked with creating a haunted house that would tell a tale of family horror in Natalie Erika James’ directorial debut, “Relic,” now at drive-ins and available on demand July 10. In the IFC Midnight film, shot Down Under, Robyn Nevin plays Edna, an elderly woman who disappears from her
Rosamund Pike brings pioneering scientist Marie Curie to life in late 19th century Paris in the U.S. trailer for the biopic “Radioactive.” The trailer, which dropped Friday, starts with Pike in a lecture hall telling those assembled, “I want to tell you about radium, a most peculiar and remarkable element because it does not behave as it should.”
The 1970s were a pivotal period in both American and global pop culture. It was the decade that witnessed the birth of the “American New Wave,” with helmers including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola establishing a new filmmaking vernacular and making their indelible marks on cinematic history. In India, Bollywood was producing such wildly
Shout! Factory, a specialty distributor and channels operator, will become a major North American home for the iconic Japanese “Ultraman” shows following a deal with Alliance Entertainment / Mill Creek Entertainment. The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory and its multi-platform streaming service, Shout! Factory TV with exclusive SVOD and AVOD digital rights in the U.S.
Is Netflix going to turn another boffo earnings report fueled by “quarantine and chill”? Investors pumped up shares of the streamer to a new all-time high Friday, with Netflix stock rising more than 4% in morning trading on a bullish Wall Street analyst call on second-quarter 2020 subscriber growth. Shares were above $529 apiece —
When Elle King and Variety last met, the Los Angeles-born-and-bred singing, songwriting, banjo-playing shouter had just commenced a 2018 tour for the (then) recently released “Shake the Spirit” album. While King’s rough, poppy debut album, 2015’s “Love Stuff” and its top 10 single “Ex’s & Oh’s,” earned her two Grammy nominations, her ragged voice and
Breaking News Quinton Dunbar wants to be allowed to leave Florida for his Seahawks duties … the NFL player just filed a motion in court asking a judge for permission to travel despite armed robbery charges. The Seattle defensive back says in the docs he’s got Seahawks camp coming up this month … and he
Julia Sawalha has shared an open letter via her social media profiles expressing disappointment and anger at being left out of Aardman Animations’ upcoming “Chicken Run” sequel, confirmed as a Netflix pickup at June’s Annecy festival. Sawalha voiced Ginger in the Oscar-nominated original, which remains the top grossing stop-motion feature ever, 20 years after its
In the wee hours of Friday, Twitter lit up with people enraged that they couldn’t listen to the just-released posthumous Juice WRLD album and other new releases on Spotify. While the streaming giant sent out its customary “Something’s out of tune. We’re currently investigating, and we’ll keep you posted here!” tweets, which it most recently
On “The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady,” a new tag-team single with Kid Cudi, Eminem slams New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, police violence and offers some characteristically intricate rhymes about the coronavirus pandemic, George Floyd, protests and the messed-up state of the world. In a dig most likely inspired by Brees’ comments
At the risk of overgeneralizing, why is it that cheapie musicals are so much more charming to watch on screen than they are when some friend invites you to whatever way-off-Broadway show they’ve managed to get mixed up in? Heck, these tiny film projects are often more endearing than the relatively big-budget ones the Hollywood
Last year’s film “Hustlers” depicted the strip club as the staging-ground for the revolution, with its arch-capitalist dancers redistributing the wealth of their New York financier clients. It was a fantasy that had the surprising twist of having really happened, and a story that popped with eagerness for the next big set piece to unfold.
“Wild Roots,” a drama about a lonely, ex-con bouncer who is reunited with his wild child daughter, has won the Works in Progress Award at Eastern Promises, Karlovy Vary Film Festival‘s industry section. In the debut feature from director Hajni Kis, the two outsiders bond, but the father’s vehement nature and a family secret stand
Maybe Movies’ “Zombillenium” and ”Champions,” from Spain’s Morena and Películas Pendelton, feature among 90 series lined up to participate at this year’s Cartoon Forum which is scheduled to take place on site in France’s Toulouse over Sept. 14-17. France’s Maybe Movies, producers of “Calamity,” this year’s Annecy Cristal best feature winner, along with 2 Minutes will adapt
Before Krysta White heads to her job as an attraction host at the Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando, Fla., she takes her temperature at home. The 32-year-old makes sure she’s feeling well, checking against a list of symptoms — coughing, shortness of breath, muscle pain, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting — that would prohibit
ABS-CBN, long the leading broadcaster in The Philippines, was Friday denied a bid to win a new franchise. The company had been forced off air in May in what many critics saw as a move to silence critics of the country’s President Rodrigo Duterte. Since the abrupt decision in May, two of ABS-CBN’s digital channels
The organizers of Sundance Film Festival: London, the U.K. iteration of the Park City indie pic fiesta, are to hold a boutique event online, running Aug. 7-9. Sundance London, organized by Sundance Institute and Picturehouse Cinemas, was due to run May 28-31, but was postponed due to the COVID pandemic. The festival will now present
Usain Bolt says he can remember the biggest races of his career frame-by-frame, almost in slow motion, including his world record-setting one at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. The Jamaican 8x-Olympic gold medalist and current fastest person in the world bested his then-biggest rival, Tyson Gay of the U.S., in the men’s 100-metres race,
In the latest episode of Variety Artisans presented by HBO, “High Fidelity” cinematographer Carmen Cabana explains how she used color to capture character emotions and how she set up different scenes of the series. “I found that the poetry and the opportunity in the show presented itself in terms of colors,” said Cabana. “Because when
Prolific hitmaker Joko Anwar (“Satan’s Slaves,” “Impetigore”) further cements his reputation as one of the non-English-speaking world’s foremost fantasy filmmakers with “Gundala,” an action-packed and emotionally satisfying adaptation of the treasured Indonesian comicbook created by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata. Set in a bleak future-now Jakarta, where the lightning-powered superhero is the city’s last hope against corrupt
“Babyteeth” follows a terminally ill teenager who falls in love with a local drug dealer, and although it’s centered on adolescents, it’s not necessarily targeted to them, director Shannon Murphy said on the Variety Critics Corner presented by Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. “I definitely didn’t want to be making a teen film,” she said.
You can take the girl out of the country, and maybe you can also take the country out of the girl. Or perhaps that’s taking it a bit far, but Margo Price isn’t paying undue fealty to the traditional country feel that first brought her to the dance now that she’s on her third album.
Four Vietnam vets reunite for a mission, one that will lean on their wartime exploits but also expose more than a few old tensions. No, this is not a revisit of “Da 5 Bloods” but a brief description of the genial, cliché-encumbered, Aussie comedy “Never Too Late.” Directed by Mark Lamprell, it opens in virtual
Beautiful compositions enlivened with pleasing colors can’t distract from multihyphenate Praveen Morchhale’s tiresomely explanatory screenplay for “Widow of Silence.” No one can question the film’s excellent intentions, designed to shine light on the nightmarish situation of women in Kashmir whose husbands have been arrested or killed during decades of conflict but are in legal limbo
In a new interview with Vulture, Anita White, aka Lady A, the Seattle singer who was sued this week by the country group that is also calling itself Lady A, says she now believes the band was not acting in good faith during what initially seemed like positive and fruitful negotiations in June. “I think