Animated family flicks are proving their worth ahead of the upcoming holiday rush, with “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” both making claims on the top spot with an estimated $15 million each. Current estimates show Disney’s “Ralph” ahead by roughly $600,000. If estimates hold, it will mark the film’s third consecutive
Morocco is becoming a popular destination for international film and TV shoots, while Moroccan talent is producing cinema and TV content that is traveling widely abroad. Earlier this year Morocco implemented a new 20% cash rebate scheme that has helped generate a foreign production spend of $60 million up until last month, up on the
Hulu Japan and HBO Asia’s “Miss Sherlock” won best drama series at the inaugural Asian Academy Creative Awards. The awards were spread over two evenings at Singapore’s Capitol Theatre on Friday and Saturday. India’s Anurag Kashyap won best direction (fiction) for season one of Netflix original series “Sacred Games.” The series also won best editing
During his Variety Actors on Actors conversation with Glenn Close, Sam Elliott dished on the first table read of “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga. “I’ve loved her from afar,” Elliott said. “She was just kind of this regular girl on some level, this Stefanie,” he said. “She was stunning to work with.” Elliott described
“The Wife” features a tumultuous relationship between a married couple (Jonathan Pryce and Glenn Close), and one scene in particular shook Close to her core, so much she almost refused to do it. “The one where he’s dying and he says, ‘Do you love me?’ It was so upsetting to me that I stopped and
Young Egyptian actor Ahmed Magdy (“Microphone,” “Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim”) is making his directorial debut with surreal drama “The Giraffe,” in which a nocturnal search on Cairo’s streets for money to pay for a young woman’s emergency abortion intersects with a mystery involving the breeding of giraffes in the Giza zoo. “Giraffe,” which is
Trump Organization Sued You’re Bad Hombres … For Running Crappy Ice Rink!!! 12/8/2018 12:50 AM PST EXCLUSIVE The Trump Organization‘s got legal trouble unrelated to Robert Mueller … this time it’s a guy pissed off about an ice skating rink he considers a virtual death trap. Philip Kassai is suing President Trump‘s organization over the Lasker
Deontay Wilder Floyd Mayweather Is A Jealous Hater … I’m Boxing’s New Star 12/8/2018 12:40 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Deontay Wilder says Floyd Mayweather is a TBH … THE BIGGEST HATER, claiming Floyd is seething mad that Wilder is the new big star in boxing, and Mayweather is yesterday’s news. We got Wilder out in L.A.
‘Black Ink Crew: Chicago’ Star Alleged Sucker Punch ‘On Set’ … Cops Called 12/8/2018 12:10 AM PST EXCLUSIVE A party for VH1’s “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” turned violent when one of the stars got into a fight with a guest … well, it wasn’t much of a fight. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Junior Diaz got
Three projects from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore with potential as theatrical feature films were this week named as winners of the inaugural ATF Chinese Pitch. The event was co-organized by Reed Exhibitions and G.H.Y Culture & Media. From Singapore, came “Mulan, The Robot Girl,” from The Big Shots, about a who woke up as
December 7, 2018 11:03PM PT Filipino-American filmmaker Mel Allego’s “Filipino” won the Cre8 co-production award at the Southeast Asian Film Financing project market awards on Friday. Set in Cebu, The Philippines, the film is a political thriller written and co-produced by Mel Allego. A director has not been finalized yet. “We are looking for someone
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “I’m Not the Person I Used to Be,” the Season 4 midseason finale of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” As the CW’s musical comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” prepares to sign off with a series finale in 2019, showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna and her team of writers have been pushing
Let’s pretend for a moment that Disney didn’t just release a “live-action” remake of its 1967 “The Jungle Book” two years ago (technically, the new version was computer animated, but photoreal enough not to be classified among the cartoons). In a world without such competition, “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” might have seemed like a
John Carpenter’s “Halloween” music? A “Star Wars” compendium? It’s no shock to see these show up on a list of soundtrack label Varèse Sarabande’s historical 10 biggest selling albums. More surprising? Non-genre soundtracks like “Rudy” and “The Man from Snowy River,” which film music fans snatched up in numbers matching some of the more obvious
“It’s one of the true pioneering enterprises in our business,” says composer Alan Silvestri about the preeminent film music label, Varèse Sarabande, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Silvestri won a 2001 Grammy for instrumental composition for his theme for “Cast Away,” a movie that has very little music and was an unlikely
In the near decade since “RuPaul’s Drag Race” first debuted in a defiant burst of glitter and the softest of lenses, it’s transcended from camp reality show to bonafide phenomenon, TV gold to TV platinum. More than 100 drag queen contestants later, “Drag Race” has inspired countless careers, heaps of merchandise, umpteen catchphrases, a twice
Varèse Sarabande, renowned as Hollywood’s preeminent soundtrack label, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, going into its fifth decade under new ownership — Concord Music acquired the label in February — while renewing its goal of presenting the best of movie and TV music, both current and past. According to label VP and veteran producer
A 1976 film might not be expected to translate seamlessly to Broadway in 2018, but for the cast and creative team behind “Network,” which premiered Thursday night with Hillary Clinton in the audience, the story still feels uncomfortably close to home. “It was a satire then, and now it’s documentary realism,” said Lee Hall, who
Netflix will expand Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” to more than 100 theaters in the United States and will open the awards contender in more than 500 theaters internationally in over 40 countries. Netflix will start streaming the awards contender on Dec. 14. Its announcement of the specifics of the expansion Friday indicates that the company wants
WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied about his contacts with Trump administration figures, breaching his plea agreement. “Manafort told multiple discernible lies — these were not instances of mere memory lapses,” Mueller’s team said in a filing on Friday. Much of the filing was
In Friday’s roundup, NBC releases the first trailer for NBC’s “The Blacklist” Season 6, and the Disney Channel Original Movie “Kim Possible” gets a premiere date. FIRST LOOKS NBC has released the first trailer for Season 6 of “The Blacklist,” which will return with a two-night/two-part premiere event beginning Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and
Fandor, the independent-film streaming service, has laid off nearly all of its employees and sold off its assets, Variety has learned. Reached for comment, Fandor CEO/chairman Chris Kelly sent a statement in which he said Fandor has a deal in place that will let a “new entity” continue to operate the service. He declined to
December 7, 2018 2:43PM PT Kathy Griffin is heading to iTunes. The Emmy-winning comedian is releasing her comedy library there starting Friday night. Griffin now owns the rights to the six seasons of her TV docuseries “My Life on the D-List” and the two seasons of her talk show “Kathy,” which she bought from Bravo
Neon has acquired the North American rights to the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace,” a month after the movie premiered at DOC NYC. Neon said it’s planning an early 2019 theatrical release. The film, shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, was originally planned by Warner
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, should get a “substantial term” in prison, even as he has been assisting with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The recommendations were outlined in a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in New
Less than two days after announcing Kevin Hart as its Oscar host, the Academy is already on the look-out for a replacement, following widespread protests about Hart’s homophobic past tweets. Many are turning to “Saturday Night Live” actresses Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig as possible solutions, while others are looking to proven veterans like Ellen
Esports company ESL is teaming up with Oculus for the Change the Game VR Charity Challenge (VRCC), it announced on Friday. Two teams of influencers will compete for a $100,000 prize during the event. Each will represent one of two gaming charities — Stack Up or Take This. Stack Up is a nonprofit that works
Facebook has 185 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada. The company has been trying for more than a year to turn them into daily viewers of long-form, TV-style video — but so far, its efforts have been underwhelming. Last Friday, Facebook launched every episode of cult classic “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and two other
December 7, 2018 2:01PM PT At the Macao festival’s popular Director’s Choice strand, contemporary filmmakers are asked to choose one genre film that has had an impact on them. Three Asian filmmakers were asked to choose non-Asian films, while non-Asian filmmakers were asked to select Asian films. The Philippines’ Erik Matti chose Sergio Leone’s “Once
December 7, 2018 2:00PM PT Macau’s architectural heritage is showcased in a new photographic exhibition, Experience Macao Cinematic Style. It is timed to coincide with the opening today of the 3rd edition of the International Film Festival and Awards Macao. Organized by the Macao Government Tourism Office, the exhibition includes pictures taken by a 15-strong