Top News
Not exactly the opening weekend that dreams are made of.
Director John Krasinski’s “If,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “If” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release. Based on Friday’s turnout, it looked like “If” would open to $30 million but projections were revised up after Saturday’s strong showing. Ticket sales were enough for first place, but it’s a wobbly start for a PG family film that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. It collected an additional $20 million overseas for a global total of $55 million.
The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “If,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies, including “Migration” and “Elemental,...
Director John Krasinski’s “If,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “If” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release. Based on Friday’s turnout, it looked like “If” would open to $30 million but projections were revised up after Saturday’s strong showing. Ticket sales were enough for first place, but it’s a wobbly start for a PG family film that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. It collected an additional $20 million overseas for a global total of $55 million.
The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “If,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies, including “Migration” and “Elemental,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Yorgos Lanthimos can’t stop (won’t stop!) working with Oscar winner Emma Stone, casting the actress once again as leading lady for his next project “Bugonia.”
The drama will also star Jesse Plemons who, along with Stone, appears in Lanthimos’ forthcoming “Kinds of Kindness.” That three-chapter feature just premiered on Friday at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“Bugonia” follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. The script is from heat-seeking “Succession” and “The Menu” writer Will Tracy.
Focus Features has won domestic rights to distribute the project. Universal Pictures will roll out the film in global territories, save Korea where “Parasite” producer Cj Enm will release. The latter is financing the film with Fremantle. CAA Media Finance and WME Independent brokered the rights deal.
This package is loaded with pedigree.
The drama will also star Jesse Plemons who, along with Stone, appears in Lanthimos’ forthcoming “Kinds of Kindness.” That three-chapter feature just premiered on Friday at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“Bugonia” follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. The script is from heat-seeking “Succession” and “The Menu” writer Will Tracy.
Focus Features has won domestic rights to distribute the project. Universal Pictures will roll out the film in global territories, save Korea where “Parasite” producer Cj Enm will release. The latter is financing the film with Fremantle. CAA Media Finance and WME Independent brokered the rights deal.
This package is loaded with pedigree.
- 5/18/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
A hidden speakeasy, hosted by Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade and Queen Latifah, with a guest list that includes Masked Singer and The Hangover star Ken Jeong, late night host Jimmy Kimmel, Lakers legend Magic Johnson and WNBA stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso?
No, it isn’t real life, but the NBA made it exist, at least for its just-released ad campaign called “The Toast” to tout the upcoming NBA Finals.
Watch:
“We wanted to really ensure that we could generate some emotion for fans, and we wanted for it to feel like we had reverence and appreciation for the season that we had just witnessed, but also get that sort of tingly on your fingertips feeling of anticipation,” says Tammy Henault, the CMO of the NBA, in an interview. “We wanted to have this anticipatory feeling while also coming together as a big celebration and celebrating this big moment,...
No, it isn’t real life, but the NBA made it exist, at least for its just-released ad campaign called “The Toast” to tout the upcoming NBA Finals.
Watch:
“We wanted to really ensure that we could generate some emotion for fans, and we wanted for it to feel like we had reverence and appreciation for the season that we had just witnessed, but also get that sort of tingly on your fingertips feeling of anticipation,” says Tammy Henault, the CMO of the NBA, in an interview. “We wanted to have this anticipatory feeling while also coming together as a big celebration and celebrating this big moment,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Alex Weprin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The lasagna-obsessed feline with a near-pathological aversion to Mondays, who first came into popular consciousness in the late ‘70s as a comic strip, is a diluted version of himself in “The Garfield Movie.” Not only is his suave apathy mostly replaced by an excessive excitedness with only sporadic glimpses of his endearingly negative qualities, but this Garfield jumps off trains, stages a heist, and is subjected to trite physical comedy by way of numerous predictable action sequences. The ordeal mimics a rehashed plot from the dull “The Secret Life of Pets” franchise with Garfield forcefully plugged in.
All of these choices amount to a production that fundamentally misunderstands Garfield’s appeal as a lovingly indifferent, self-centered glutton whose greatest aspiration is to do nothing and have all his needs catered to him. It’s a Garfield movie for audiences who have never heard of Garfield, which reads as an attempt...
All of these choices amount to a production that fundamentally misunderstands Garfield’s appeal as a lovingly indifferent, self-centered glutton whose greatest aspiration is to do nothing and have all his needs catered to him. It’s a Garfield movie for audiences who have never heard of Garfield, which reads as an attempt...
- 5/20/2024
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Variety - Film News
As anyone familiar with cartoonist Jim Davis’ iconic feline character knows, Garfield doesn’t like to move around very much. He likes to eat, particularly pepperoni pizza and lasagna, and he likes to lie around and make sarcastic comments. In other words, he’s not a cat of action. And yet for some reason, the creators of the new animated film revolving around him think that what the audience really wants is to watch Garfield engage in Mission: Impossible-style, stunt-laden violent mayhem. It’s as if Charlie Brown was starring in the new James Bond movie.
And in case you think I’m stretching things to make a point, The Garfield Movie employs the Mi theme during one scene and features that film series’ Ving Rhames as the voice of a bull who orchestrates the derring-do. After one particularly harrowing sequence, Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, comments, “In case you’re wondering,...
And in case you think I’m stretching things to make a point, The Garfield Movie employs the Mi theme during one scene and features that film series’ Ving Rhames as the voice of a bull who orchestrates the derring-do. After one particularly harrowing sequence, Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, comments, “In case you’re wondering,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Arriving in the middle of the art smorgasbord that’s the Cannes Film Festival, a three-hour Western directed by Kevin Costner sounded like it might be just the ticket for a perfect night of counterprogramming: a grandly scaled slice of neo-classical Hollywood. That, after all, describes the other two Westerns Costner has directed (“Dances with Wolves” and “Open Range”), as well as his quirky sci-fi pseudo-Western “The Postman.” There’s no question that “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” Costner’s fourth outing as a director, gives off some of that traditional flavor.
The movie, set in 1859 in territories that sprawl from Wyoming to Kansas, has stately mesa backdrops that look like they’d fit right into Monument Valley. It’s got a rousing 1950s-syle musical score (by John Debney) that lays on the Old West sentimentality even when dire things are happening. And a good portion of the movie is...
The movie, set in 1859 in territories that sprawl from Wyoming to Kansas, has stately mesa backdrops that look like they’d fit right into Monument Valley. It’s got a rousing 1950s-syle musical score (by John Debney) that lays on the Old West sentimentality even when dire things are happening. And a good portion of the movie is...
- 5/19/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety - Film News
Three days after the It Ends With Us trailer took the internet by storm, director and star Justin Baldoni is opening up about the reaction and some of the most buzzed-about changes from the book to the movie.
The film, starring Baldoni, Blake Lively and Brandon Sklenar, is adapted from Colleen Hoover’s hit novel of the same name and follows Lily Bloom (Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new chapter. Along the way she sparks an intense connection with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), but she begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents’ relationship.
At the Los Angeles premiere of The Garfield Movie on Sunday, Baldoni — who is an executive producer on the animated film — spoke about the reaction to the trailer, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “Rightfully so, there was just a lot of anticipation and people I...
The film, starring Baldoni, Blake Lively and Brandon Sklenar, is adapted from Colleen Hoover’s hit novel of the same name and follows Lily Bloom (Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new chapter. Along the way she sparks an intense connection with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), but she begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents’ relationship.
At the Los Angeles premiere of The Garfield Movie on Sunday, Baldoni — who is an executive producer on the animated film — spoke about the reaction to the trailer, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “Rightfully so, there was just a lot of anticipation and people I...
- 5/19/2024
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jaw-dropping, nauseating, defiant, hilarious “The Substance” — a body horror thriller from French director Coralie Forgeat starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley — rocked Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night with an 11-minute standing ovation.
It’s the tale of a once-great actress (Moore) whose certain age has relegated her to a Jane Fonda-style fitness show. When she’s fired, she is offered a trial of the medical treatment the film is named for. It promises a younger, better version of herself through a cell replicating process.
Moore takes a leap of faith and winds up on the bathroom floor, spine split open like a Christmas ham, when this new version — played by Qualley — comes slithering out of her back. Young, supple and brimming with possibilities, the two characters are allowed to coexist with one important caveat: they must trade one week on, one week off in each body.
The film...
It’s the tale of a once-great actress (Moore) whose certain age has relegated her to a Jane Fonda-style fitness show. When she’s fired, she is offered a trial of the medical treatment the film is named for. It promises a younger, better version of herself through a cell replicating process.
Moore takes a leap of faith and winds up on the bathroom floor, spine split open like a Christmas ham, when this new version — played by Qualley — comes slithering out of her back. Young, supple and brimming with possibilities, the two characters are allowed to coexist with one important caveat: they must trade one week on, one week off in each body.
The film...
- 5/19/2024
- by Matt Donnelly and Ellise Shafer
- Variety - Film News
The Substance, a gruesome body-horror flick, had its world premiere on Sunday night in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and was greeted with a nine-minute standing ovation from the crowd at the Grand Lumiere Theatre.
The sophomore directorial effort and English-language debut of the French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat — she also wrote, produced and edited the film — stars Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid and Margaret Qualley (Qualley also appears in another competition title at this year’s fest, Kinds of Kindness), all of whom were on hand for the screening.
A gory fantasia that is a twisted cross between the classic films Sunset Blvd. and Freaks, it is one of the most out-there Cannes competition films since Titane — and, with the right mix of jurors, could follow that film to a major festival award, if not for the film then perhaps for Moore.
Produced by Working Title’s art house mavens Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner,...
The sophomore directorial effort and English-language debut of the French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat — she also wrote, produced and edited the film — stars Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid and Margaret Qualley (Qualley also appears in another competition title at this year’s fest, Kinds of Kindness), all of whom were on hand for the screening.
A gory fantasia that is a twisted cross between the classic films Sunset Blvd. and Freaks, it is one of the most out-there Cannes competition films since Titane — and, with the right mix of jurors, could follow that film to a major festival award, if not for the film then perhaps for Moore.
Produced by Working Title’s art house mavens Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Los Angeles LGBT Center held their annual gala in downtown Los Angles Saturday night, where attendees gathered at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall for a dinner hosted by comedian Joel Kim Booster.
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo was presented with the Rand Schrader award in recognition of her achievements in entertainment and activism championing the LGBTQ+ community. The Emmy, Grammy and Tony award winner was introduced by actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who gushed about Erivo’s “immense talent and spirit” during her remarks.
“Beyond her artistic achievements, Cynthia is a steadfast advocate helping bring visibility to the intersection of black and queer identity,” Pinkett Smith told the crowd.
“She uses her platform to fight for justice, for love and acceptance, and empowered individuals to live their truth authentically and without fear,” she continued.
Erivo accepted the award to much applause, beginning what would be a moving speech by telling...
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo was presented with the Rand Schrader award in recognition of her achievements in entertainment and activism championing the LGBTQ+ community. The Emmy, Grammy and Tony award winner was introduced by actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who gushed about Erivo’s “immense talent and spirit” during her remarks.
“Beyond her artistic achievements, Cynthia is a steadfast advocate helping bring visibility to the intersection of black and queer identity,” Pinkett Smith told the crowd.
“She uses her platform to fight for justice, for love and acceptance, and empowered individuals to live their truth authentically and without fear,” she continued.
Erivo accepted the award to much applause, beginning what would be a moving speech by telling...
- 5/19/2024
- by Nicole Fell
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Shocking and resonant, disarmingly grotesque and weirdly fun, “The Substance” is a feminist body-horror film that should be shown in movie theaters all over the land. By that, I don’t mean that it’s some elegant exercise in egghead darkness like the films of David Cronenberg, or a patchy postmodern punk curio like “Titane.” Coralie Fargeat, the writer-director of “The Substance,” has a voice that’s italicized, in-your-face, garishly accessible and thrillingly extreme. She draws on much of the hyperbolic flamboyance that’s come to define megaplex horror. But unlike 90 percent of those movies, “The Substance” is the work of a filmmaker with a vision. She’s got something primal to say to us.
“The Substance” tells the story of an aging Hollywood actress-turned-aerobics-workout-host, named Elisabeth Sparkle and played by Demi Moore, who gets fired from a TV network because she is now deemed too old. In a rage of desperation,...
“The Substance” tells the story of an aging Hollywood actress-turned-aerobics-workout-host, named Elisabeth Sparkle and played by Demi Moore, who gets fired from a TV network because she is now deemed too old. In a rage of desperation,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety - Film News
Not long into Coralie Fargeat’s campy body horror The Substance, Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is unceremoniously fired from her gig as the celebrity host of a daytime exercise program. The former actress’ credentials — an Academy Award, a prominent place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — aren’t enough to save her Zumba-meets-Jillian-Michaels-style show, fittingly called Sparkle Your Life. Her producer, an oily personality conspicuously named Harvey (Dennis Quaid), wants to replace Elisabeth with a younger, more beautiful star. In his words: “This is network TV, not charity.”
The Substance, which premiered at Cannes in competition, is Fargeat’s second feature. It builds on the director’s interest in the disposability of women in a sexist society, a theme she first explored in her hyper-stylized and gory 2017 thriller Revenge. She gave that film a subversive feminist bent by turning the trophy girlfriend — a sunny blonde who is raped and murdered — into a vengeance-seeking hunter.
The Substance, which premiered at Cannes in competition, is Fargeat’s second feature. It builds on the director’s interest in the disposability of women in a sexist society, a theme she first explored in her hyper-stylized and gory 2017 thriller Revenge. She gave that film a subversive feminist bent by turning the trophy girlfriend — a sunny blonde who is raped and murdered — into a vengeance-seeking hunter.
- 5/19/2024
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A24 acquired the U.S. rights to Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down this weekend.
The eight-figure deal gives A24 U.S. distribution rights to what will be the Swedish film director’s second English-language movie, after 2022’s Triangle of Sadness. The latter won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, which marked Östlund’s second time taking home the prize after 2017’s The Square.
Like his last movie, The Entertainment System Is Down is also a social satire, this time set on a long-haul flight in which the entertainment system fails and passengers must figure out how else to fill their time. Östlund and his producer, Erik Hemmendorff, purchased a real Boeing 747 for the film.
The movie’s cast includes Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton, with Dunst and Brühl set to play a married couple.
Östlund plans to...
The eight-figure deal gives A24 U.S. distribution rights to what will be the Swedish film director’s second English-language movie, after 2022’s Triangle of Sadness. The latter won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, which marked Östlund’s second time taking home the prize after 2017’s The Square.
Like his last movie, The Entertainment System Is Down is also a social satire, this time set on a long-haul flight in which the entertainment system fails and passengers must figure out how else to fill their time. Östlund and his producer, Erik Hemmendorff, purchased a real Boeing 747 for the film.
The movie’s cast includes Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton, with Dunst and Brühl set to play a married couple.
Östlund plans to...
- 5/19/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jimmy Kimmel will moderate a conversation between President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama for a Biden campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles next month. The event will also feature special guests George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
The fundraiser will be held June 15, with tickets starting at $250 per person and rising to $500,000 for an “event chair” tier. Proceeds go to the Biden Victory Fund.
Kimmel will not be the first late-night host to dip his toe in the game of presidential moderation this year. In March, Stephen Colbert moderated a New York Biden fundraiser that featured the current president, Obama and former President Bill Clinton in conversation. Per the Associated Press, the event raised $26 million.
News of Kimmel’s gig comes after a big week for the comedian, given he made headlines for his brutal Disney upfront monologue on Tuesday, during which he laid into into CEO Bob Iger, the Golden Bachelor,...
The fundraiser will be held June 15, with tickets starting at $250 per person and rising to $500,000 for an “event chair” tier. Proceeds go to the Biden Victory Fund.
Kimmel will not be the first late-night host to dip his toe in the game of presidential moderation this year. In March, Stephen Colbert moderated a New York Biden fundraiser that featured the current president, Obama and former President Bill Clinton in conversation. Per the Associated Press, the event raised $26 million.
News of Kimmel’s gig comes after a big week for the comedian, given he made headlines for his brutal Disney upfront monologue on Tuesday, during which he laid into into CEO Bob Iger, the Golden Bachelor,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Atoms & Void, the Netherlands-based production and sales company run by Sergei Loznitsa and Maria Choustova, has closed a French sale on Loznitsa’s most recent feature documentary “The Invasion,” which premiered on Thursday as a Special Screening in Cannes. Potemkine Films has taken all rights for France, while the film’s French co-producer Arte France maintains its exclusive TV/VOD window.
“The Invasion” arrives 10 years after the release of Sergei Loznitsa’s epic “Maidan,” which chronicled the Ukrainian uprising.
In his latest feature documentary, Loznitsa returns to Ukraine to chronicle his country’s struggle against the Russian invasion. Shot over a two-year period, the film portrays the life of the civilian population all over Ukraine – from Lviv and Odessa to Kyiv and Dnipro – and presents a statement of Ukrainian resilience in the face of a barbaric invasion. In the second part of his Ukrainian diptych, Loznitsa paints a monumental...
“The Invasion” arrives 10 years after the release of Sergei Loznitsa’s epic “Maidan,” which chronicled the Ukrainian uprising.
In his latest feature documentary, Loznitsa returns to Ukraine to chronicle his country’s struggle against the Russian invasion. Shot over a two-year period, the film portrays the life of the civilian population all over Ukraine – from Lviv and Odessa to Kyiv and Dnipro – and presents a statement of Ukrainian resilience in the face of a barbaric invasion. In the second part of his Ukrainian diptych, Loznitsa paints a monumental...
- 5/19/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety - Film News
Disney and 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” conquered the international box office again with $40.6 million in its second weekend of release.
So far, the fourth chapter in the “Apes” reboot franchise has generated $136 million overseas and $237 million globally. It currently stands as the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year, behind “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($533 million), “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($561 million) and “Dune: Part Two” ($710 million).
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” cost $160 million to produce, so it needs to keep swinging at the box office to justify its price tag. International ticket sales will be key in turning a profit in its theatrical run. Top overseas markets include China with $20.4 million, France with $13.8 million, Mexico with $12 million and the U.K. with $10 million.
In a distant second place, Paramount and director John Krasinski‘s “If,” a fantasy-comedy aimed at young kids, collected $20 million from 58 markets.
So far, the fourth chapter in the “Apes” reboot franchise has generated $136 million overseas and $237 million globally. It currently stands as the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year, behind “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($533 million), “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($561 million) and “Dune: Part Two” ($710 million).
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” cost $160 million to produce, so it needs to keep swinging at the box office to justify its price tag. International ticket sales will be key in turning a profit in its theatrical run. Top overseas markets include China with $20.4 million, France with $13.8 million, Mexico with $12 million and the U.K. with $10 million.
In a distant second place, Paramount and director John Krasinski‘s “If,” a fantasy-comedy aimed at young kids, collected $20 million from 58 markets.
- 5/19/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety - Film News
A24 is closing an eight-figure deal to acquire the U.S. rights to Ruben Östlund’s “The Entertainment System Is Down,” Variety has confirmed.
The deal was struck between A24 and Paris-based Co-Production Office, which launched international sales for the project at the Cannes Film Market.
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton, “The Entertainment System Is Down” takes place on a long-haul flight where the entertainment system fails and passengers are forced to face the horror of being bored.
During a Cannes event hosted by Sweden’s Film i Väst on Saturday, two-time Palme d’Or winner Östlund unveiled more details about “The Entertainment System Is Down,” including that he and his producer, Erik Hemmendorff, purchased a real-life Boeing 747 for the film.
”We wanted to have a real airplane because very often, when you watch an airplane movie, characters are put in a corner,...
The deal was struck between A24 and Paris-based Co-Production Office, which launched international sales for the project at the Cannes Film Market.
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton, “The Entertainment System Is Down” takes place on a long-haul flight where the entertainment system fails and passengers are forced to face the horror of being bored.
During a Cannes event hosted by Sweden’s Film i Väst on Saturday, two-time Palme d’Or winner Östlund unveiled more details about “The Entertainment System Is Down,” including that he and his producer, Erik Hemmendorff, purchased a real-life Boeing 747 for the film.
”We wanted to have a real airplane because very often, when you watch an airplane movie, characters are put in a corner,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety - Film News
The 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) wrapped up on Sunday and announced the winners of the 2024 Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards.
The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a Bipoc director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to Siff.
Siff holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.
In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (Gsna). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film,...
The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a Bipoc director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to Siff.
Siff holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.
In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (Gsna). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Lexi Carson
- Variety - Film News
Kevin Costner rode into Cannes with cowboy swagger, making finger pistols on the red carpet to cheers from the crowd ahead of the premiere for Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1, a partially self-financed western that is one of the biggest swings of his long career.
Inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre, Costner was greeted with extended applause (including from some guests wearing cowboy hats) before the first public screening of the $90 million-plus budgeted film that is planned as part one of a four-part saga.
Three hours later, as the credits rolled, the crowd delivered a standing ovation that began to taper off at around the four-and-a-half-minute mark, but then continued on for a total of around ten minutes, ending when a tearful Costner took the microphone to speak about his film, which he directed, produced, co-wrote and stars in.
“I’m sorry you had to clap so long for me to speak,...
Inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre, Costner was greeted with extended applause (including from some guests wearing cowboy hats) before the first public screening of the $90 million-plus budgeted film that is planned as part one of a four-part saga.
Three hours later, as the credits rolled, the crowd delivered a standing ovation that began to taper off at around the four-and-a-half-minute mark, but then continued on for a total of around ten minutes, ending when a tearful Costner took the microphone to speak about his film, which he directed, produced, co-wrote and stars in.
“I’m sorry you had to clap so long for me to speak,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Aaron Couch and Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Horizon: An American Saga,” Kevin Costner’s risk-it-all Western epic, rode into Cannes on Sunday, earning a seven-minute standing ovation.
Costner was visibly emotional as the film received huge applause and chants of “Kevin! Kevin! Kevin!” During his speech, Costner thanked the audience and promised “three more” installments of the “Horizon” franchise, which is already due to get a sequel in August.
“I’m sorry you had to clap that long for me to understand that I should speak,” Costner said to laughter. “Such good people. Such a good moment, not just for me, but for the actors that came with me, for people who believed in me who continued to work. It’s a funny business, and I’m so glad I found it. There’s no place like here. I’ll never forget this — either will my children.”
Kevin Costner gets teary-eyed during the standing ovation for his...
Costner was visibly emotional as the film received huge applause and chants of “Kevin! Kevin! Kevin!” During his speech, Costner thanked the audience and promised “three more” installments of the “Horizon” franchise, which is already due to get a sequel in August.
“I’m sorry you had to clap that long for me to understand that I should speak,” Costner said to laughter. “Such good people. Such a good moment, not just for me, but for the actors that came with me, for people who believed in me who continued to work. It’s a funny business, and I’m so glad I found it. There’s no place like here. I’ll never forget this — either will my children.”
Kevin Costner gets teary-eyed during the standing ovation for his...
- 5/19/2024
- by Tatiana Siegel and Brent Lang
- Variety - Film News
Pro-Palestine protests disrupted Jerry Seinfeld’s Saturday night comedy set at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, Virginia, which eventually resulted in one protestor being escorted out of the venue.
In videos posted online and shared by local news station Wtkr, Seinfeld’s show was interrupted by a man who stood in the crowd and yelled toward the comedian that he was “a genocide supporter.”
Another video posted to Instagram shows the individual yelling, “Save the children of Gaza,” “No more American tax dollars for genocide” and “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Other members of the crowd responded by booing and chanting, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” The protestor was escorted out of the venue by security.
From the stage, Seinfeld could be seen saying, “This is exciting. I like this.”
Seinfeld has been vocal about his support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, visiting Tel Aviv in December to meet with...
In videos posted online and shared by local news station Wtkr, Seinfeld’s show was interrupted by a man who stood in the crowd and yelled toward the comedian that he was “a genocide supporter.”
Another video posted to Instagram shows the individual yelling, “Save the children of Gaza,” “No more American tax dollars for genocide” and “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Other members of the crowd responded by booing and chanting, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” The protestor was escorted out of the venue by security.
From the stage, Seinfeld could be seen saying, “This is exciting. I like this.”
Seinfeld has been vocal about his support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, visiting Tel Aviv in December to meet with...
- 5/19/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kevin Costner has been in the saddle long enough to know the difference between a big-screen feature Western like Dances With Wolves, a miniseries like Hatfields & McCoys or a longform like Yellowstone. All those projects have done well by him and he’s done well by them. His connection to the quintessential Americana genre and the rugged lands it calls home is indubitable. So why is his sprawling new frontier tale, Horizon: An American Saga, such a clumsy slog? It plays like a limited series overhauled as a movie, but more like a hasty rough cut than a release ready for any format.
Running a taxing three hours, this first part of a quartet of films is littered with inessential scenes and characters that go nowhere, taking far too long to connect its messy plot threads. Warner Bros. will release Chapter One in U.S. theaters June 28, with Chapter...
Running a taxing three hours, this first part of a quartet of films is littered with inessential scenes and characters that go nowhere, taking far too long to connect its messy plot threads. Warner Bros. will release Chapter One in U.S. theaters June 28, with Chapter...
- 5/19/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of “The Artist,” makes a first foray into animation with “The Most Precious of Cargoes” which world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 24. Adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is the first animated feature to vie for a Palme d’Or since Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” in 2008; and it will be the last movie watched by the competition jury, presided over by Greta Gerwig, before the closing ceremony.
Hazanavicius developed the project for years and wrote the script with Grumberg, as well as created the drawings. Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat created the original score. The drama intertwines the fate of a Jewish family, including newborn twins, deported to Auschwitz, with that of a poor and childless woodcutter couple living deep in a Polish forest. On the train to the death camp, the young father wraps...
Hazanavicius developed the project for years and wrote the script with Grumberg, as well as created the drawings. Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat created the original score. The drama intertwines the fate of a Jewish family, including newborn twins, deported to Auschwitz, with that of a poor and childless woodcutter couple living deep in a Polish forest. On the train to the death camp, the young father wraps...
- 5/19/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety - Film News
Urban Sales has closed a raft of deals on the upcoming animated feature “Into the Wonderwoods” ahead of its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Special Screenings section.
The film, which bows with a special screening May 22 at the prestigious French fest, has sold to 45 territories, the Paris-based sales outfit announced during the Cannes Market. Pic has sold to Volga for the Cis territories and the Baltics; Selim Ramia & Co. for the Mena region; Skyline for Vietnam; New Horizons for Poland; Ascot Elite for Switzerland; Movies Inspired for Italy; Vercine for Spain; and Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal.
The family animation next travels to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to compete in the main competition for the prestigious Cristal award. Le Pacte will be releasing the film in France on Oct. 23. Advanced negotiations are ongoing for Benelux, China, Germany, Turkey, Latin America and North America.
“Into the Wonderwoods...
The film, which bows with a special screening May 22 at the prestigious French fest, has sold to 45 territories, the Paris-based sales outfit announced during the Cannes Market. Pic has sold to Volga for the Cis territories and the Baltics; Selim Ramia & Co. for the Mena region; Skyline for Vietnam; New Horizons for Poland; Ascot Elite for Switzerland; Movies Inspired for Italy; Vercine for Spain; and Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal.
The family animation next travels to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to compete in the main competition for the prestigious Cristal award. Le Pacte will be releasing the film in France on Oct. 23. Advanced negotiations are ongoing for Benelux, China, Germany, Turkey, Latin America and North America.
“Into the Wonderwoods...
- 5/19/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety - Film News
Some films prioritize a strident political cause, others set out to terrify or thrill. This touching and simple story from Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Okuyama, premiering in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is a gentler affair, with modest ambitions that it realizes effectively. Set on a small Japanese island, the film’s slight but sweet narrative follows a quartet of characters — young hockey player Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama), proficient skater Sakura (Kiara Nakanishi), figure-skating tutor Arakawa (Sōsuke Ikematsu) and his boyfriend (Ryûya Wakaba) — as they navigate subtly shifting interpersonal dynamics while a cold but beautiful winter waxes and wanes around them.
Every scene is set up with a very deliberate aesthetic sense. A snowy icing-sugar landscape, a baseball field tinged with pale turquoise light, an indoor ice-rink shimmering in a golden haze: Nothing feels haphazard or anything less than picture-perfect. This is the result of a fruitful collaboration between director and Dp,...
Every scene is set up with a very deliberate aesthetic sense. A snowy icing-sugar landscape, a baseball field tinged with pale turquoise light, an indoor ice-rink shimmering in a golden haze: Nothing feels haphazard or anything less than picture-perfect. This is the result of a fruitful collaboration between director and Dp,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety - Film News
The first significant deal at last year’s Marché du Film was Neon’s acquisition of Pablo Berger’s eventual Oscar nominee, “Robot Dreams.” Whether or not another Spanish animated film can have that kind of impact in 2024 remains to be seen, but there is a long list of contenders to consider.
Perhaps the buzziest Spanish title at this year’s market is adult animation auteur Alberto Vázquez’s “Decorado,” sold by French powerhouse Le Pacte. Like his previous titles, “Decorado” is based on a Vázquez short adapted from one of his graphic novels. Uniko, Abano Producións, The Glow Animation Studio and Sardinha em Lata produce.
“Girl and Wolf” marks the feature debut of animator and graphic novelist Roc Espinet, touted as Spain’s next adult animation auteur. Produced by Hampa Studio, Sygnatia and Alesa Films, the Latido-sold film will certainly look an appealing prospect to distributors of indie animation.
Perhaps the buzziest Spanish title at this year’s market is adult animation auteur Alberto Vázquez’s “Decorado,” sold by French powerhouse Le Pacte. Like his previous titles, “Decorado” is based on a Vázquez short adapted from one of his graphic novels. Uniko, Abano Producións, The Glow Animation Studio and Sardinha em Lata produce.
“Girl and Wolf” marks the feature debut of animator and graphic novelist Roc Espinet, touted as Spain’s next adult animation auteur. Produced by Hampa Studio, Sygnatia and Alesa Films, the Latido-sold film will certainly look an appealing prospect to distributors of indie animation.
- 5/19/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety - Film News
Noemie Merlant, best known beyond France for her performances in Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Todd Field’s Tár, made her debut as a writer-director-actor a few years back with Mi Iubita, mon amour, which starts with a bachelorette party. Merlant offers up another female-solidarity story in the shape of The Balconettes (Les femmes au balcon), a comedy with a very dark streak or a giggly drama depending on how you look at it.
Given at one point that a writer character in the film rejects the supposed rules of storytelling, which require clear acts and so forth, Merlant obviously knows she’s taking risks with a free-form, genre-bending structure, and that’s cool. It’s just a shame that the end product is so loosey-goosey it’s less a bold sui generis experiment than a hot mess.
Then again, most of the female characters...
Given at one point that a writer character in the film rejects the supposed rules of storytelling, which require clear acts and so forth, Merlant obviously knows she’s taking risks with a free-form, genre-bending structure, and that’s cool. It’s just a shame that the end product is so loosey-goosey it’s less a bold sui generis experiment than a hot mess.
Then again, most of the female characters...
- 5/19/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sean “Diddy” Combs apologized on Sunday morning for a recently surfaced 2016 video which sees him attacking his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said on Instagram. “I was fucked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
The video, first obtained by CNN and released Friday, showed the music mogul running out of a hotel room in a towel and chasing a woman who appears to be Ventura toward the elevator. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her on the floor, kicks her, shoves her and drags her by her sweatshirt. Later in the footage, he returns to kick her again, and then throws an object from a nearby table at her.
View this post on Instagram...
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said on Instagram. “I was fucked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
The video, first obtained by CNN and released Friday, showed the music mogul running out of a hotel room in a towel and chasing a woman who appears to be Ventura toward the elevator. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her on the floor, kicks her, shoves her and drags her by her sweatshirt. Later in the footage, he returns to kick her again, and then throws an object from a nearby table at her.
View this post on Instagram...
- 5/19/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
French distribution company UFO has secured the rights to American filmmaker Ryan J. Sloan’s New psychological thriller “Gazer,” which will world premiere at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight on May 22.
Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. The disease causes her to struggle to perceive time, which makes holding down a steady job nearly impossible. So, when a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences of her decision.
According to UFO CEO Stéphane Auclaire, “We loved following the lead character Frankie, played by the hypnotic Ariella Mastroianni, through the twists and turns of this paranoid thriller that reminded us of Cronenberg and the Safdie brothers. The sound and music, framing and lighting cohere in an ‘analog obsession’, through which director Ryan J.
Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. The disease causes her to struggle to perceive time, which makes holding down a steady job nearly impossible. So, when a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences of her decision.
According to UFO CEO Stéphane Auclaire, “We loved following the lead character Frankie, played by the hypnotic Ariella Mastroianni, through the twists and turns of this paranoid thriller that reminded us of Cronenberg and the Safdie brothers. The sound and music, framing and lighting cohere in an ‘analog obsession’, through which director Ryan J.
- 5/19/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety - Film News
World leaders at a G7 conference politely bicker, copulate in the bushes and work on wafty, content-free speeches while a worldwide apocalypse commences — politicians, they’re just like us! — in collaborating Canadian directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson’s frequently hilarious latest feature.
Although they’ve kept busy with a steady stream of shorts, the trio haven’t made a feature with actors since the fantastical The Forbidden Room from 2015. With a proper beginning, middle and end, and barely any tributes to silent cinema or interactive tricksiness, Rumours may arguably be Maddin’s most conventional film ever, or at least since The Saddest Music in the World (2003). That is, if you can call a film conventional that’s got furiously masturbating bog zombies, a giant brain the size of a hatchback, and an AI chatbot that catfishes pedophiles. All the same, it’s a hoot, even if the energy flags in the middle.
Although they’ve kept busy with a steady stream of shorts, the trio haven’t made a feature with actors since the fantastical The Forbidden Room from 2015. With a proper beginning, middle and end, and barely any tributes to silent cinema or interactive tricksiness, Rumours may arguably be Maddin’s most conventional film ever, or at least since The Saddest Music in the World (2003). That is, if you can call a film conventional that’s got furiously masturbating bog zombies, a giant brain the size of a hatchback, and an AI chatbot that catfishes pedophiles. All the same, it’s a hoot, even if the energy flags in the middle.
- 5/19/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Not exactly the opening weekend that dreams are made of.
Director John Krasinski’s “If,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “If” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release. Based on Friday’s turnout, it looked like “If” would open to $30 million but projections were revised up after Saturday’s strong showing. Ticket sales were enough for first place — and decent for an original PG family film — but it’s a wobbly start for a movie that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. It collected an additional $20 million overseas for a global total of $55 million.
The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “If,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies,...
Director John Krasinski’s “If,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “If” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release. Based on Friday’s turnout, it looked like “If” would open to $30 million but projections were revised up after Saturday’s strong showing. Ticket sales were enough for first place — and decent for an original PG family film — but it’s a wobbly start for a movie that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. It collected an additional $20 million overseas for a global total of $55 million.
The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “If,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety - Film News
Paramount and writer-director John Krasinski are breathing a sigh of relief after If‘s domestic opening improved to an estimated $35 million thanks to a strong family turnout on Saturday.
Still, the live-action/CGI hybrid film — starring Ryan Reynolds and featuring an A-list voice cast — came in behind tracking’s projected $40 domestic opening amid an overall tough early summer at the box office. But it could have been worse. Based on Friday’s traffic, the forecast was a bleak $30 million to $31 million.
Paramount insiders say If‘s performance is a victory for original fare, noting it is one of the top openings ever for an original live-action PG title. Critics dissed the film, but audiences awarded it with an A CinemaScore and strong exits, which are key ingredients needed for word-of-mouth and a long run as kids begin their summer break. If is also drawing an ethnically diverse audience, which is another plus.
Still, the live-action/CGI hybrid film — starring Ryan Reynolds and featuring an A-list voice cast — came in behind tracking’s projected $40 domestic opening amid an overall tough early summer at the box office. But it could have been worse. Based on Friday’s traffic, the forecast was a bleak $30 million to $31 million.
Paramount insiders say If‘s performance is a victory for original fare, noting it is one of the top openings ever for an original live-action PG title. Critics dissed the film, but audiences awarded it with an A CinemaScore and strong exits, which are key ingredients needed for word-of-mouth and a long run as kids begin their summer break. If is also drawing an ethnically diverse audience, which is another plus.
- 5/19/2024
- by Pamela McClintock
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
That the name Limonov is pronounced Lee-mwah-nov is one of two main things that Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov: The Ballad” teaches us about Eduard Limonov, the Russian radical, poet, dissident, emigré, returnee, detainee, bête noire and cause célèbre who in 1993 co-founded the ultra-nationalist National Bolshevik Party. The second is that, as imagined in this adaptation of Emmanuel Carrère’s 2015 fictionalized biography, for all the shifting identities and attitudes he assumed over the course of his controversial life, his persona as an aggravatingly self-aggrandizing solipsist never wavered.
A sharper film could have excavated his contradictions to illuminating effect — the rise of populist, crypto-fascist political movements and their self-ordained maverick leaders being a not-irrelevant phenomenon these days. But Serebrennikov, in love with the posture of the rebel that Limonov adopted without being terribly interested in what, at any given moment, he claimed to be rebelling against, mistakes the trappings for the substance...
A sharper film could have excavated his contradictions to illuminating effect — the rise of populist, crypto-fascist political movements and their self-ordained maverick leaders being a not-irrelevant phenomenon these days. But Serebrennikov, in love with the posture of the rebel that Limonov adopted without being terribly interested in what, at any given moment, he claimed to be rebelling against, mistakes the trappings for the substance...
- 5/19/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety - Film News
Oscar-, BAFTA-, Golden Globe- and Grammy-winning composer A.R. Rahman has unveiled music documentary “Headhunting to Beatboxing” at the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed by Rohit Gupta, the documentary follows the Naga tribe in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, once engulfed in the depths of violence and bloodshed, that resurrects itself through the healing power of music and emerges through a musical renaissance.
Rahman was always intrigued by the music of India’s northeast and he visited the region for the first time when he was invited to the annual Hornbill Festival, a cultural celebration of all the ethnic groups of Nagaland.
“I was blown away, the whole story, that we’ve been hearing for years, decades, and suddenly the transformation of young people taking to music and they’re all out in the streets,” Rahman told Variety. “It was like a dreamland for me. I said, ‘Oh, my God, this...
Directed by Rohit Gupta, the documentary follows the Naga tribe in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, once engulfed in the depths of violence and bloodshed, that resurrects itself through the healing power of music and emerges through a musical renaissance.
Rahman was always intrigued by the music of India’s northeast and he visited the region for the first time when he was invited to the annual Hornbill Festival, a cultural celebration of all the ethnic groups of Nagaland.
“I was blown away, the whole story, that we’ve been hearing for years, decades, and suddenly the transformation of young people taking to music and they’re all out in the streets,” Rahman told Variety. “It was like a dreamland for me. I said, ‘Oh, my God, this...
- 5/19/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety - Film News
Sony brought together a multiverse’s worth of its filmmakers past and present together Friday at Cannes for a dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures.
The attendees at Mamo Michelangelo included Cannes jury president and Barbie director Greta Gerwig (who made Little Women for Columbia), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Oscar winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Bad Boys: Ride or Die directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Chloe Zhao, whose The Rider was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, Anyone But You director Will Gluck and Kraven the Hunter filmmaker J.C. Chandor.
Entrepreneur and film producer Charles Finch hosted the dinner with Tom Rothman, chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group.
During the dinner, Rothman gave a toast in which he wandered among the tables, pointing out specific talent and giving a nod to their contributions to the studio, name checking Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman...
The attendees at Mamo Michelangelo included Cannes jury president and Barbie director Greta Gerwig (who made Little Women for Columbia), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Oscar winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Bad Boys: Ride or Die directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Chloe Zhao, whose The Rider was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, Anyone But You director Will Gluck and Kraven the Hunter filmmaker J.C. Chandor.
Entrepreneur and film producer Charles Finch hosted the dinner with Tom Rothman, chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group.
During the dinner, Rothman gave a toast in which he wandered among the tables, pointing out specific talent and giving a nod to their contributions to the studio, name checking Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman...
- 5/19/2024
- by Aaron Couch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eight years after his stop-motion breakout debut My Life as a Zucchini, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight, Swiss director Claude Barras is back at the Cannes Film Festival this year with Sauvages (Savages).
My Life as a Zucchini was an Academy Award nominee in 2017, and Barras’ new feature is, if anything, even more ambitious. It tells the story of Kéria, an 11-year-old girl who lives with her father, a Swiss ethnologist who now works for a logging company, in the rural suburbs of the province of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She’s a typical urban girl, who loves her cell phone, hip-hop music and all things modern. She has largely turned her back on the traditions of her late mother, who was a member of the Penan, a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers whose way of life is threatened by industrial deforestation. But when her father rescues a baby orangutan,...
My Life as a Zucchini was an Academy Award nominee in 2017, and Barras’ new feature is, if anything, even more ambitious. It tells the story of Kéria, an 11-year-old girl who lives with her father, a Swiss ethnologist who now works for a logging company, in the rural suburbs of the province of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She’s a typical urban girl, who loves her cell phone, hip-hop music and all things modern. She has largely turned her back on the traditions of her late mother, who was a member of the Penan, a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers whose way of life is threatened by industrial deforestation. But when her father rescues a baby orangutan,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Recalling the first time one of his films screened at the Cannes Film Festival, a young filmmaker remembered how the duration of the standing ovation the audience gave seemed to grow with every retelling in the media. In the room, he clocked about “a six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation, [but] by the time I had got back to L.A., it had grown to 20 minutes,” he said. “I said: ‘Wait a minute, I’m happy with six. I never even had a two-minute ovation.’ ”
That director was Steven Spielberg. The film was E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which closed the 35th Cannes festival in 1982. Even back then, they were timing standing ovations — and arguing about just how long a festival audience stayed on its feet clapping. There’s a long a tradition of using that figure, preferably inflated, as a marketing hook in your movie’s rollout.
“The film that received a 15-minute...
That director was Steven Spielberg. The film was E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which closed the 35th Cannes festival in 1982. Even back then, they were timing standing ovations — and arguing about just how long a festival audience stayed on its feet clapping. There’s a long a tradition of using that figure, preferably inflated, as a marketing hook in your movie’s rollout.
“The film that received a 15-minute...
- 5/19/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In Hiroshi Okuyama’s My Sunshine, three souls find solace and poignant moments of self-discovery in figure skating. The film chronicles a season of the sport in a small town on a Japanese island, the kind of place whose melting snow and changing leaves inspire poetic musings. Guided by the beauty of the landscape and the nostalgia of childhood, Okuyama constructs a quiet narrative buoyed by an understated charm.
The film opens with signs of a new season. During a baseball game, Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama), a sheepish boy with minor speech troubles, becomes mesmerized by snowflakes fluttering to the ground. While his teammates steal bases, he cranes his neck, angling for a better view of the crystals. Scenes of snow blanketing the town in Hokkaido, the Japanese island where Okuyama (Jesus) filmed My Sunshine, follow. These images — of powdery mountain peaks and quiet streets flanked by snow — possess the haunting...
The film opens with signs of a new season. During a baseball game, Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama), a sheepish boy with minor speech troubles, becomes mesmerized by snowflakes fluttering to the ground. While his teammates steal bases, he cranes his neck, angling for a better view of the crystals. Scenes of snow blanketing the town in Hokkaido, the Japanese island where Okuyama (Jesus) filmed My Sunshine, follow. These images — of powdery mountain peaks and quiet streets flanked by snow — possess the haunting...
- 5/19/2024
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of only nine directors to win the Palme d’Or twice, Francis Ford Coppola took home his first 50 years ago — back when the award was still called the Grand Prix — for The Conversation.
A psychological thriller starring Gene Hackman as a morally conflicted surveillance expert in San Francisco, The Conversation couldn’t have been released at a more appropriate time. Hitting U.S. theaters on April 7, 1974, the movie asked pointed questions about power, responsibility and technology — subjects that had been top of the American mind for two years as a result of the Watergate scandal. It was pure serendipity; Coppola had started writing the screenplay in the 1960s. Just four months after the film’s release, Richard Nixon would resign the presidency for his role in the infamous cover-up.
In the intervening years, the film has only seen its cultural resonance increase. In 1995, it was chosen for preservation by...
A psychological thriller starring Gene Hackman as a morally conflicted surveillance expert in San Francisco, The Conversation couldn’t have been released at a more appropriate time. Hitting U.S. theaters on April 7, 1974, the movie asked pointed questions about power, responsibility and technology — subjects that had been top of the American mind for two years as a result of the Watergate scandal. It was pure serendipity; Coppola had started writing the screenplay in the 1960s. Just four months after the film’s release, Richard Nixon would resign the presidency for his role in the infamous cover-up.
In the intervening years, the film has only seen its cultural resonance increase. In 1995, it was chosen for preservation by...
- 5/19/2024
- by Shannon L. Bowen
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Julianne Moore says the film industry has “changed dramatically” since she started out in the early 1990s when it comes to female representation.
Speaking as part of Kering’s Women in Motion program at the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscar winner said one of the most noticeable differences is when it comes to career longevity for actresses.
“Meryl [Streep] said this too the other day [during the festival’s opening ceremony], this idea that when she was 40, she thought it was all going to be over,” she said. “I think we’re now seeing women represented through all stages of their lives, which is very exciting.”
In the conversation, moerated by Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson, Moore noted that she is now seeing not just more female directors, but more women working as camera operators, grips and in the electric department. “Whereas before there were none,” she said. “But we’re still really far from gender parity.
Speaking as part of Kering’s Women in Motion program at the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscar winner said one of the most noticeable differences is when it comes to career longevity for actresses.
“Meryl [Streep] said this too the other day [during the festival’s opening ceremony], this idea that when she was 40, she thought it was all going to be over,” she said. “I think we’re now seeing women represented through all stages of their lives, which is very exciting.”
In the conversation, moerated by Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson, Moore noted that she is now seeing not just more female directors, but more women working as camera operators, grips and in the electric department. “Whereas before there were none,” she said. “But we’re still really far from gender parity.
- 5/19/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety - Film News
Spanish animation is experiencing a historic boom. Shorts and features from the country are achieving notable success at festivals and the box office, while Spanish artists are contributing to some of the most influential film and TV productions coming from Hollywood today.
The question now is what steps should be taken to build on recent success.
Spaniard Almu Redondo won an Emmy this year for her work on the Cartoon Saloon-produced “Star Wars: Visions” episode “Screecher’s Reach,” and Pablo Berger’s Spanish feature “Robot Dreams” was nominated for a 2024 animated feature Academy Award. Few artists had as profound an impact on the aesthetic of the “Spider-Verse” films as Alberto Mielgo, who also won the animated short Oscar in 2022 for his film “The Windshield Wiper.”
Spanish artists flourishing abroad is a longstanding tradition, but one that may be waning. Many animation professionals are now staying in Spain, while...
The question now is what steps should be taken to build on recent success.
Spaniard Almu Redondo won an Emmy this year for her work on the Cartoon Saloon-produced “Star Wars: Visions” episode “Screecher’s Reach,” and Pablo Berger’s Spanish feature “Robot Dreams” was nominated for a 2024 animated feature Academy Award. Few artists had as profound an impact on the aesthetic of the “Spider-Verse” films as Alberto Mielgo, who also won the animated short Oscar in 2022 for his film “The Windshield Wiper.”
Spanish artists flourishing abroad is a longstanding tradition, but one that may be waning. Many animation professionals are now staying in Spain, while...
- 5/19/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety - Film News
Entertainment lawyer Susan Abramovitch, partner at law firm Gowling Wlg, splits her time between Toronto and Cannes.
With the Cannes Film Festival taking over much of the famed Croisette, just like every year, she shared tips with THR some and discussed the biggest Cannes faux-pas to avoid for visitors.
Check out Abramovitch’s insights below.
Best place to grab a drink after 3 a.m.?
Palm Club. Ok, you caught me. I had to consult my 24-year-old stepdaughter on this one. She says Palm Club trumps Baoli, hands down. Newly opened in 2023, it replaced Gotha. Designer clothes and bottle service only.
One thing you won’t travel without, besides your phone?
My Goyard Saint Louis tote. My best insider tip for you is this: Skip the painful lineups at the Paris and NYC shops and go to the Monaco store instead. It’s worth it for the selection and immediate entry.
With the Cannes Film Festival taking over much of the famed Croisette, just like every year, she shared tips with THR some and discussed the biggest Cannes faux-pas to avoid for visitors.
Check out Abramovitch’s insights below.
Best place to grab a drink after 3 a.m.?
Palm Club. Ok, you caught me. I had to consult my 24-year-old stepdaughter on this one. She says Palm Club trumps Baoli, hands down. Newly opened in 2023, it replaced Gotha. Designer clothes and bottle service only.
One thing you won’t travel without, besides your phone?
My Goyard Saint Louis tote. My best insider tip for you is this: Skip the painful lineups at the Paris and NYC shops and go to the Monaco store instead. It’s worth it for the selection and immediate entry.
- 5/19/2024
- by THR Staff
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Depending on who you talk to, the world is either in crisis, on fire, at war and/or simply lurching toward a frankly deserved final judgment. So what can be done to save it? Why, a carefully worded provisional statement, of course, from the global leaders currently in possession of both the gas canister and the lit match, but not a surfeit of great ideas for the future. The ineffectiveness of rhetorical politics and symbolic diplomacy — best represented by the Group of Seven, the intergovernmental forum keen on expensive meetings that could have been emails — is kookily but ruthlessly skewered in “Rumours,” a wildly entertaining shaggy-dog satire that sees a stuffy G7 summit devolve into a murky, muddy and strangely isolated zombie apocalypse.
As comedy subgenres go, political satire can often veer closer to the wryly clever than the baldly hilarious. But “Rumours” — the third feature collaboration between veteran Canadian...
As comedy subgenres go, political satire can often veer closer to the wryly clever than the baldly hilarious. But “Rumours” — the third feature collaboration between veteran Canadian...
- 5/19/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety - Film News
Cate Blanchett’s new film “Rumours” took its name from the iconic Fleetwood Mac album, it was revealed on Sunday at a Cannes Film Festival press conference.
The dark comedy, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, follows a group of world leaders who meet at the G7 — a political and economic meeting of the minds between Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — but get lost in the woods while trying to compose a joint statement. Debauchery ensues, and there are romantic connections between a few of the politicians.
“I did confirm something with Galen last night, and it’s weird that it never came up in rehearsal, which is: ‘Why the hell is this movie called Rumours?'” Blanchett said at the presser. “And my husband had said, ‘Is that after the Fleetwood Mac album?’ And you said, ‘Yes it was.
The dark comedy, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, follows a group of world leaders who meet at the G7 — a political and economic meeting of the minds between Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — but get lost in the woods while trying to compose a joint statement. Debauchery ensues, and there are romantic connections between a few of the politicians.
“I did confirm something with Galen last night, and it’s weird that it never came up in rehearsal, which is: ‘Why the hell is this movie called Rumours?'” Blanchett said at the presser. “And my husband had said, ‘Is that after the Fleetwood Mac album?’ And you said, ‘Yes it was.
- 5/19/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety - Film News
The stars of Cannes sensation “Emilia Perez” got personal about the politics of their genre-bending musical on Sunday.
Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez fielded questions at a press conference for the Jacques Audiard project about the film’s setting in Mexico — a country torn by cartel violence as it heads for a summer election. A Mexican journalist asked the actors if they could reconcile the beauty of the film with the real world corruption occurring in the nation.
“I’ve been living in LA for 20 years. Mexican culture, that’s something that’s dear to my heart. I have lots of family there. There is injustice and corruption, which is true of all places in the world. But I’m grateful to Jacques because he used a lot of creative library and freedom [in this story],” said Saldaña.
Gomez said she related “so much to what Zoe said. I still have family there and,...
Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez fielded questions at a press conference for the Jacques Audiard project about the film’s setting in Mexico — a country torn by cartel violence as it heads for a summer election. A Mexican journalist asked the actors if they could reconcile the beauty of the film with the real world corruption occurring in the nation.
“I’ve been living in LA for 20 years. Mexican culture, that’s something that’s dear to my heart. I have lots of family there. There is injustice and corruption, which is true of all places in the world. But I’m grateful to Jacques because he used a lot of creative library and freedom [in this story],” said Saldaña.
Gomez said she related “so much to what Zoe said. I still have family there and,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Matt Donnelly and Ellise Shafer
- Variety - Film News
Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov (“Leto,” “Petrov’s Flu,” “Tchaikovsky’s Wife”) is back in the Cannes competition with “Limonov,” an epic about Russian punk poet Eduard Limonov that the director describes as “probably the most complicated project in my life.”
Based on the best-selling book by Emmanuelle Carrere, “Limonov” delves into the story of its titular character who lived many lives. He was an underground writer in the Soviet Union who escaped to the U.S. where he became a punk-poet and also a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan. “Eddie” then became a literary sensation in Paris before returning to Russia where he morphed into a charismatic dissident party leader with rock star status, only to be incarcerated by Vladimir Putin.
Serebrennikov was shooting “Limonov” in Moscow on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. The director – who himself has had troubles with Putin – was able to leave the country and eventually complete...
Based on the best-selling book by Emmanuelle Carrere, “Limonov” delves into the story of its titular character who lived many lives. He was an underground writer in the Soviet Union who escaped to the U.S. where he became a punk-poet and also a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan. “Eddie” then became a literary sensation in Paris before returning to Russia where he morphed into a charismatic dissident party leader with rock star status, only to be incarcerated by Vladimir Putin.
Serebrennikov was shooting “Limonov” in Moscow on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. The director – who himself has had troubles with Putin – was able to leave the country and eventually complete...
- 5/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety - Film News
Brazilian directors’ Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha’s “The Falling Sky” delves into lives of the Amazonian Yanomami people, who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest where they are contending with a harsh humanitarian crisis caused by the massive invasion of wildcat miners searching for gold and cassiterite, a mineral used in electronics. This unique doc – which launches in Directors Fortnight – is inspired by the thoughts, expressed in an eponymous book, of Davi Kopenawa, a shaman and spokesman for the Yanomami who performs the reahu ritual, a collective ceremony to hold up the sky and prevent it from falling.
The directors spoke in unison to Variety about why the Yanomami’s struggle against miners transcends the woes of their land and how their cosmology can help heal our planet as a whole.
What drew you to this project?
In the book Davi Kopenawa says that it...
The directors spoke in unison to Variety about why the Yanomami’s struggle against miners transcends the woes of their land and how their cosmology can help heal our planet as a whole.
What drew you to this project?
In the book Davi Kopenawa says that it...
- 5/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety - Film News
It’s become something of a movie fashion to forestall the title credits until well after an establishing sequence, if not deeper into the film. But when the title appears onscreen in Blue Sun Palace, at the half-hour point, there’s nothing self-consciously stylish about it: It marks a dramatic, ground-shifting change in perspective, a gut-punch of a narrative fracture, and one that writer-director Constance Tsang executes with assurance.
At the helm of her first feature, Tsang has made a sharp and tender story about dislocation, centering on a trio of hardworking Chinese immigrants in New York. In the movie’s first 30 minutes, Tsang draws us into the intimate orbit of her expatriate characters: a construction company employee and two colleagues at a massage parlor. Then, the sudden absence of one of them sets everything askew. Absence is the current that drives the narrative: absence from family, from homeland, from purpose.
At the helm of her first feature, Tsang has made a sharp and tender story about dislocation, centering on a trio of hardworking Chinese immigrants in New York. In the movie’s first 30 minutes, Tsang draws us into the intimate orbit of her expatriate characters: a construction company employee and two colleagues at a massage parlor. Then, the sudden absence of one of them sets everything askew. Absence is the current that drives the narrative: absence from family, from homeland, from purpose.
- 5/19/2024
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paolo Sorrentino is back in Cannes for the seventh time with “Parthenope,” a love letter to his native Naples but also, as he puts it, a film about his “missed youth” that comes as a natural follow-up to his autobiographical “The Hand of God.” Perhaps more significantly, “Parthenope” – an epic spanning several decades – is Sorrentino’s first female-centric film. Why? “In thinking of a modern hero, it came naturally to me that it would be a heroine, not a man,” he tells Variety.
Let’s start with the film’s titular protagonist, Parthenope. Of course, Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.” My impression is that, after returning from Rome to Naples to make “The Hand of God,’ your native city drew you further back into its fold.
It’s a bit more complex, actually, not necessarily just linked to Naples. “Parthenope” was born from a series of long-simmering thoughts and emotional changes.
Let’s start with the film’s titular protagonist, Parthenope. Of course, Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.” My impression is that, after returning from Rome to Naples to make “The Hand of God,’ your native city drew you further back into its fold.
It’s a bit more complex, actually, not necessarily just linked to Naples. “Parthenope” was born from a series of long-simmering thoughts and emotional changes.
- 5/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety - Film News
Most baseball movies are not, per se, about baseball. To take some examples: The Natural is about a prodigy overcoming trauma; Eight Men Out is about greed and corruption; Bad News Bears is a foul-mouthed coming-of-age flick; Bull Durham is all about Kevin Costner’s sex appeal; Moneyball carries the sport into the information age; and Field of Dreams (Costner, again) is haunted by the ghosts of baseball past.
First-time director Carson Lund clearly had this in mind when he made his feature debut Eephus, a movie steeped in nostalgia for the game itself, as well as what it represents for a bunch of men past their prime: the long afternoons in the sun, the trash-talking at the plate, the brewskies in the cooler and the kind of camaraderie you can only find in the dugout.
In many ways, this existential and increasingly surreal indie effort, which seems to be...
First-time director Carson Lund clearly had this in mind when he made his feature debut Eephus, a movie steeped in nostalgia for the game itself, as well as what it represents for a bunch of men past their prime: the long afternoons in the sun, the trash-talking at the plate, the brewskies in the cooler and the kind of camaraderie you can only find in the dugout.
In many ways, this existential and increasingly surreal indie effort, which seems to be...
- 5/19/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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