Hollywood didn’t have a lot to celebrate during a muted Labor Day holiday weekend, as “Weapons,” now in its fourth weekend of release, took the top spot, and “Jaws,” a 50-year-old blockbuster, beat out two new films, “Caught Stealing” and “The Roses,” that failed to generate much heat.

“Weapons,” which lost its No. 1 position last weekend to Netflix’s “Kpop Demon Hunters,” reclaimed its crown, earning an estimated $12.8 million over the four-day holiday. So far, the horror hit has earned $135 million domestically and $235.2 million globally. That’s an impressive result considering it only cost $38 million to produce. It extends a winning streak for Warner Bros., which has recently fielded successes like “A Minecraft Movie,” “Sinners,” “Final Destination Bloodlines,” “F1: The Movie” (which the studio distributed for Apple) and “Superman.” It’s a remarkable comeback for the studio’s chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who were on the...

A half a century later, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws still has plenty of bite as the troubled 2025 summer season comes to a close.

The original summer blockbuster, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is opening in second place at the four-day Labor Day box office office behind Zach Cregger’s August sleeper hit Weapons, which remains in first place for the fourth weekend in a row with an estimated four-day gross of $12.4 million and $10.2 million for the three-day weekend proper. The horror pic, yet another win for Warner Bros. and New Line, looks to finish Monday with a global tally of $234.6 million.

Booked in 1,975 cinemas, Jaws is looking at a four-day haul of $9.8 million — rival studios show it coming in north of $10 million — and $8.1 million for the three from 1,975 cinemas. Either way, that’s enough to swim past Darren Aronofsky‘s new movie starring Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz, as well as Searchlight’s The Roses.

It would be foolish to place a bet right now that both “The Testament of Ann Lee” star Amanda Seyfried and “The Smashing Machine” star Dwayne Johnson are absolutely, 100 percent, for sure going to be nominated for Oscars for Best Actress and Best Actor in the 2026 race, respectively. But it is fair to say their performances have already proven to be a cut above the rest.

Both films had their world premiere roughly a week into the 82nd Venice Film Festival, coming off what has been a mixed bag for critics, with highly anticipated films like “After the Hunt” and “Frankenstein” failing to make a splash in the major acting races. Perhaps it was a kind of apathy, or even a full disregard, for the films that came before them that teed up “The Testament of Ann Lee” and “The Smashing Machine” to over-perform with Venice audiences, but a closer...

“Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don’t get to say when or how,” writes Helen Macdonald in “H Is for Hawk,” a book I picked up by accident and that proved to be the greatest tool I had when one of my own parents passed away. When someone around you loses a loved one, it’s all but impossible to know what to say. I recommend reading “H Is for Hawk.”

For Macdonald, this most eloquent of memoirs emerged from the death of her father, photographer Alisdair MacDonald, aka Ali Mac. But what Helen really did to process her grief was adopt a goshawk. The book is partly about what a wild and uncommon thing that is to do, but it’s mostly about what was going on in Macdonald’s mind through the process. Sometimes our brains need something...

Director Kathryn Bigelow wants her new movie, “A House of Dynamite,” to sound the alarm on the dangers of nuclear weapons. The tense political thriller, which premieres on Tuesday at Venice Film Festival and stars Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, follows White House officials who scramble to deal with an incoming missile attack on the U.S.

“Hopefully the film is an invitation to decide what to do about all these weapons,” Bigelow said at the official press conference. “My answer would be to initiate a reduction in the nuclear stockpile. How is annihilating the world a good defensive measure?”

Bigelow continued, “This is a global issue, where we are with nuclear weapons. Of course, hope against hope is that we reduce the nuclear stockpile one day. But in the meantime, we are really living in a house of dynamite.”

Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim wants the story to reflect “the reality...

Gerard Depardieu, who has triggered a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement in France, will stand in a criminal trial where he will be prosecuted on rape by digital penetration and sexual assault allegations filed by French actor Charlotte Arnould.

Arnould filed those charges in 2018, when she 22, and alleged that she had been raped twice by Depardieu at his home in Paris on Aug. 7 and 13. Depardieu was indicted on those charges since Dec. 16, 2020, and attempted to have the charges dropped in 2022, calling the accusations baseless, but the Paris prosecutor said there were “serious and confirmed evidence that justifies Gérard Depardieu to remain charged,” according to news outlet France 24.

Earlier this year, Depardieu was convicted of sexual assault against two women and received an 18-month prison sentence from a Paris court, following a four-day-trial during which Depardieu refuted all accusations. The verdict stemmed from sexual assault charges filed by two women,...

Seth Rogen has been spotted on the Lido attending Venice Film Festival this week, researching season two of Apple TV+’s The Studio.

Series co-creator and co-writer Rogen has attended several film premieres, where he has been seen taking photos and videos of the celebratory applause at the end of screenings.

He has also been conducting research at parties, including an event last night at Palazzo Franchetti for A24’s Competition title The Smashing Machine, where he spoke with director Benny Safdie and star Dwayne Johnson, as well as many industry guests.

Rogen has also spent time in the press...

A woman washes up on the Orkney island of Hoy, the only survivor of a transatlantic sortie in Matthew Losasso’s debut feature, a twisty if murky chiller

Water, like the human psyche, is unpredictable and full of beasts lurking in the depths, and so it says a lot about our primal fear of the ocean that boat movies often offer threats either under the surface, in the shape of sharks, or psychosis or both. With Row, a smattering of startling jump cuts showing blood splashed around a boat and flashbacks of the protagonist Megan screaming, but the viewer needs to wait out a somewhat unreasonably long running time to...

Kevin Feige might be weathering a protracted storm as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to struggle in the wake of so-called superhero fatigue, but there's no denying the man's influence on the movie industry. The MCU has thus far raked in more than $30 billion at the box office, making it the most lucrative franchise in cinematic history and Feige the highest-grossing film producer of all time. He is one of the most well-known and successful figures in Hollywood, an uncharacteristically public-facing executive whose consistent boosterism of his own franchise has helped it become the behemoth it is today.

But even as monolithic a figure as Kevin Feige had to start somewhere,...

CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland, Annapurna Pictures’ Skye Optican, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon, Patrick Wachsberger at 193, and Goodfellas’ Vincent Maraval are confirmed for San Sebastián’s fourth Creative Investors’ Conference, co-organized with CAA Media Finance.

They will be joined by Amazon Studios Javiera Balmaseda, Anton’s Sebastien Raybaud, Axio Capital/Together Fund’s Alexandra Lebret, Christian Vesper at Fremantle, Sam Kozhaya at Legendary Entertainment, Logical Pictures’ Frédéric Fiore, Élisabeth d’Arvieu of Mediawan Pictures, Studio TF1’s Rodolphe Buet and David Atlan-Jackson at the Vuelta Group.

Running Sept. 23-24 as part of Spain’s Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech, the Conference features panels, discussions and private networking activities.

The Conference has a strong, if select presence of Latin American producers taking in Fabula co-founder Juan de Dios Larraín, behind “Spencer” and “María,” K & S Films’ Matías Mosteirín, producer with Netflix of global hit “The Eternaut,” one of the biggest series ever made in Latin America,...

In the late 1980s, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese made a fascinating swap. After years of deliberating, Spielberg decided it was time to commit to "Schindler's List," which he had previously offered to Scorsese to direct. For his part, Scorsese agreed to remake "Cape Fear" instead (which Spielberg deemed too violent for himself), reasoning it was a good way to repay Universal for its faith after the controversy surrounding "The Last Temptation of Christ." Both movies would have no doubt looked very different otherwise, and the alternative cinematic reality doesn't end there. 

For his modern update of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 thriller about a vicious sex offender preying on an attorney and his family,...

Venice film festival

Oscar Hudson’s feature debut, starring twins Elliott and Luke Tittensor as ritual-performing representatives of fictional warring nations, is an absurdist nightmare

British documentary and ad director Oscar Hudson makes his feature debut in the Venice critics week sidebar with this high-concept anti-war satire, a through-the-looking-glass absurdist nightmare about realising that the otherness of your enemy is an illusion. There are some bold and ambitious images here, and some interesting split-screen work. Maybe there’s an issue about the style and substance ratio and perhaps the running time is indulgent, but this is a strong piece of work.

Twins Elliott and Luke Tittensor play two soldiers of equal rank in opposing armies,...

Exclusive: UK filmmaker Louis Paxton’s debut featureThe Incomer, starringDomhnall Gleeson and House Of The Dragon star Gayle Rankin, has wrapped its Scottish Highlands shoot.

Set on a remote Scottish island, the film follows two siblings whose lives comprise of hunting seabirds, chatting to mythic creatures and defending their isle from dreaded ‘incomers’. Their world is upended with the arrival ofan awkward council worker, played by Gleeson, who comes to uproot them to the mainland.

The cast also includes Grant O’Rourke, Emun Elliott, Michelle Gomez and John Hannah.

It is produced by Shirley O’Connor and Emily Gotto for the UK’s Pilea Pictures,...

John Travolta will always be a legend, not only for his beloved performances but for those that didn't quite resonate in the same way. In a career that spans six decades, Travolta has made a full seven movies that have garnered a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score. How does one man manage to make so many stinkers? It's a difficult and fascinating question, as is the question of how "Battlefield Earth" somehow isn't on that list of zero-percenters.

Yes, 25 years ago, Travolta starred in one of the worst movies ever made: a $73 million sci-fi disaster based on a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The movie grossed just $29.3 million at the box office,...

The first clip from Eimi Imanishi’s directorial debut “Nomad Shadow” has been released as the film prepares for its world premiere at the 50th Toronto Film Festival.

The drama follows a young woman’s difficult homecoming after being deported from Spain to Western Sahara, the territory she left years earlier. The protagonist faces rejection from both the cultural environment she tried to escape and the family members who remain bitter about her original departure. Her efforts to maintain her identity while navigating traditional expectations only deepen the rift with her past life.

“We’re thrilled to premiere ‘Nomad Shadow,’ one of the first fiction films set in Western Sahara, at Toronto,” said producers Shrihari Sathe, Belén Sánchez Silvero, Queralt Pons Serra, Damon Owlia, Jayne Baron Sherman, Virginie Lacombe and Eric Dupont. “At a time when deportations and forced removals are destroying lives worldwide, we’re proud to bring this...

Allen, who directed Trump in 1998 film Celebrity, adds that he disagrees with his politics but ‘if he would let me direct him now that he’s president, I could do wonders’

Woody Allen has said he was impressed by the acting abilities of Donald Trump when he directed the now-president in the 1998 film Celebrity.

Speaking on Bill Maher’s Club Random, Allen said Trump was “a pleasure to work with and a very good actor”.

A man grapples with an overwhelming desire to remove his leg in a lingering psychological interrogation from Norwegian film-maker Viljar Bøe

Norwegian director Viljar Bøe has been hacking out an interesting niche for himself in the horror genre, specialising in a variety grounded more in psychology than supernatural jiggery pokery. For example, Good Boy from 2022 revolved around a man and his “dog” (who is obviously a guy in a dog costume) acting like a mutt at all times. Similarly, his new feature features a character called Amir (Freddy Singh) with a psychological fixation that’s so unusual he feels he must keep it a secret from his girlfriend and all...

Farhana Bhula has been named director of Film4.

Bhula had been serving as interim director since July following the news of Ollie Madden’s departure. She will take up the role immediately, after what was described as an extensive external recruitment process.

Bhula joined Film4 in January 2022 and has overseen feature film projects including Molly Manning Walker’s debut film “How To Have Sex,” Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers,” plus upcoming titles such as Mark Jenkin’s “Rose of Nevada,” Oliver Hermanus’ “The History of Sound” and Philippa Lowthorpe’s “H is for Hawk.” She launched Future Takes in partnership with the BFI, currently in its second iteration, to support and nurture emerging talent. Following the success of “How to Have Sex,” Manning Walker reunited with the channel on her upcoming TV series “Major Players” with A24, which Farhana will work on alongside the Channel 4 drama team.

Farhana Bhula has been officially appointed as the director of Film4, the feature film division of the UK broadcaster.

Bhula has held the post of interim director since July, and takes over from Ollie Madden with immediate effect.

Madden, who held the post of director of Film4 and Channel 4 drama, is leaving to becomedirector of UK film at Netflixfrom October.

Bhula is part of Channel 4’s executive team and senior leadership team, reporting to Martin Baker, chief commercial affairs officer, who has assumed interim responsibility for Film4 under interim CEO Jonathan Allan and led the external recruitment process.

Film...

Italy is gearing up tohost a number of international productions with “high budgets” later this year, said Italian culture ministerLucia Borgonzonithis week.

Borgonzoni, who is undersecretary of state to the Italian ministry of culture,highlighted the economic and employment impact of the film industry to the country; Italy offers a 40% tax credit on Italian spend for international productions.

“We continue to be extremely attractive for the international productions, despite the tough competition from other countries,” Borgonzoni toldScreenat the Venice Film Festival.

According to figures published by the Ministry during the festival, it provided classification to 400 films in 2024 with a total production spend of €827.25m,...

After landmark flop The Heretic, the director was considering ‘immolating myself on Hollywood Boulevard’ in 1977. But a new documentary premiering at Venice calls for its redemption

‘Evokes not terror but laughter.” “A movie for morons, a total cheesy rip-off that makes not one minute of coherent sense.” “The stupidest major movie ever made.” These were some of the milder responses from reviewers to Exorcist II: The Heretic, one of the most notorious disasters in Hollywood history, on its release in 1977. Its director, John Boorman, says he felt utterly humiliated and close to despair. “I considered my choices. The first was to commit suicide. The second was to defect to Russia,...

Screenis running this regularly updated page with the latest film festival and market dates from across the world.

To submit details of or alter your festival dates, pleasecontact us herewith the name, dates, country and website for the event.

Ongoing

Venice International Film Festival, Italy - August 27-September 6

Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, US - September 2-7

September

Armenian Film Festival, US - September 3-7

Jakarta World Cinema, Indonesia - September 4-October 4

100% Manusia Film Festival, Indonesia - September 4-14

Toronto International Film Festival, Canada - September 4-14

Jakarta International Documentary Experimental Film Festival,Indonesia - Setptember 5-13

London Rolling Film Festival,...

“After Us,” an ecological thriller created by Louis Aubert and Matthieu Bernard, follows a group of angry young activists who decide to kidnap the children of corporate leaders in order to force their companies to truly commit to environmental protection.

The six-part series, produced by Les Films du Cygne and Storia Television for France Télévisions and Germany’s Zdf and distributed internationally by Mediawan Rights, is making its market debut at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre. The series is co-produced by Germany’s Maze Pictures, Sequel Prod in Belgium and the European public broadcasting initiative New8 (of which Zdf is a partner).

Speaking with Variety ahead of the Rendez-Vous, Aubert and Bernard, director Franck Brett and producers Alexandre Charlet and Nicolas de Saint Meleuc discuss the making of the series, the impact of climate change and the fine line between activism and extremism.

“Our intention was to make a series about climate change,...

Following major festival awards wins in both Berlin (“The Blue Trail”) and Cannes (“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”), Chile landed in Venice with a strong presence, with Niles Atallah’s short “Merrimundi” competing in the Horizons section and the country’s Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage positioning Chile as one of this year’s three spotlight countries at Venice’s industry sidebar.

More than 20 producers have been supported to attend the festival, and five Chilean projects have been selected for the Gap Financing Market, which only admits projects that have reached at least 80% of their investment as well as presenting strong artistic potential (see full profiles for all projects below).

During the Venice Production Bridge, CinemaChile co-director Alexandra Galvis hosted a conversation with renowned producer Giancarlo Nasi, of Santiago and Los Angeles-based Quijote Films, to talk about the current state of their national cinema and the potential of co-productions.

UK actors, filmmakers and writersRupert Everett, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax will be among the jury members of theDinard Festival of British & Irish Film, which will take place from October 1-5 in Brittany, France.

They will be joined by UK documentary filmmaker Molly Dineen,French actors Rachida Brakni and Reda Kateb, and French journalist Claire Chazal.

Akinola Davies’ My Father’s Shadow and Dylan Southern’s The Thing With Feathers are among the five films playing in competition.

Davies’ My Father’s Shadow world premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and marks his feature debut. The semi-autobiographical tale set over...

Akinola Davies’ My Father’s Shadow and Dylan Southern’s The Thing With Feathers are among the five films playing in competition at the upcoming Dinard Festival of British & Irish Film, which runs from October 1-5 in Brittany, France.

Davies’ My Father’s Shadow world premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and marks his feature debut. The semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian capital Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, with Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in the leading role. Mubi will release in UK-Ireland, North America and Turkey, and Le Pacte will release in France.

China’s summer box office reached $1.67bn (RMB11.97bn), up 2.76% year-on-year, as historical war film Dead To Rights emerged as the biggest hit of the season.

Cinema admissions grew 12.75% year-on-year to 321 million, representing the second-highest summer season figures in the past five years, according to a report released by Maoyan Entertainment based on data from the Maoyan Research Institute.

The average ticket price during the season (June 1 - August 31) dropped to $5.17 (RMB37.2) – the second lowest in five years – due to the lowering of distribution fees and cinema ticket subsidy campaigns, while the average occupancy rate was the second highest over the same period.

When Francois Ozon embarked on the daunting big-screen adaptation of Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” — considered one of France’s literary jewels for the last 80 years — he wanted to give it a contemporary resonance. And not by setting in present times, but rather by contextualizing the story, which unfolds in the early 1940s and depicts life in Algeria, then under French colonial rule.

Benjamin Voisin stars as the novel’s antihero, Meursault, who lives a modest, mindless life in Algiers and ends up in prison after shooting a young Arab man five times. On trial for the crime, Meursault’s unusually detached psyche is dissected by the prosecutor. Instead of being judged for the killing of an Arab man, Meursault is ultimately blamed for showing little emotion at the recent funerals for his late mother and hastily starting a relationship with Marie Cardona (Rebecca Marder). The lushly lensed, black-and-white film marks...

Poignant documentary by Irish director Gar O’Rourke peers into a faded Soviet-era institution where visitors search for relief while war grinds on outside

There is something ever so slightly Martin Parr-like about this documentary, filmed inside a shabby rundown health resort near Odesa, in Ukraine. It’s not the colour palette, which is Soviet-era pale beige, but the images of holidaymakers: elderly men strutting about in thongs and playing ping pong in their vests; retirees of both sexes glad-ragged at the disco. Like Parr’s photos, the images are funny but not unkind; everyone retains their dignity. The director is Irish film-maker Gar O’Rourke, who planned Sanatorium before the war,...

Disney’s “The Roses” opened in first place at the U.K. and Ireland box office, grossing £2.1 million ($2.9 million) in its debut frame, according to Comscore. The film was the clear market leader in a weekend where several new entries helped shake up the chart.

Universal’s 50th anniversary re-release of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” made a strong showing at No. 2, pulling in $1.4 million across its first weekend. The classic thriller outpaced the fourth-week run of Warner Bros.’ “Weapons,” which moved to No. 3 with $1.1 million, bringing its cumulative total to $14 million.

Universal’s animated sequel “The Bad Guys 2” held well at No. 4, taking $1.09 million for a running total of $16 million. Disney’s body-swap comedy “Freakier Friday” rounded out the top five, collecting $1.01 million in its fourth weekend to lift its total to $10 million.

Sony’s “Caught Stealing” launched at No. 6 with $772,462, while event cinema drew crowds with “Andre Rieu...

It’s the 1990s and a famous pop star is taken hostage by a fan in Jimmy Warden’s stylish but confused film, loosely inspired by a real-life stalker case involving Madonna

Paul Duerson (Raymond Nicholson) has got it bad for world famous pop star and actor Sofia (Samara Weaving). It being the 1990s, he doesn’t have the option of simply being creepy on social media; instead, he takes her hostage and attempts to marry her, as you do, in a period-comedy-horror-thriller that is entertaining enough moment-to-moment, but doesn’t add up anything very substantial overall. Standing in the way of Paul’s deranged scheme is bodyguard Bell (a...

Indian filmmakers Kiran Rao and Biju Toppo have joined as executive producers on “Humans in the Loop,” the Fipresci India Grand Prix-winning feature about an indigenous Adivasi woman working as an AI data-labeller.

The move represents a significant boost for the indie feature, which explores urgent themes around artificial intelligence, labor and indigenous knowledge systems. Set in Jharkhand, northern India, the film follows Nehma, an Oraon Adivasi woman whose AI data-labelling work exposes the hidden labor powering “smart” technologies. Adivasis are India’s indigenous tribal communities, comprising roughly 8% of the country’s population.

Directed by Aranya Sahay and produced by Mathivanan Rajendran, Sarabhi Ravichandran, Shilpa Kumar and Aranya through Storiculture’s Impact Fellowship and Sauv Films, the drama examines how technological progress can entrench exclusion while sidelining indigenous knowledge systems.

Rao, whose “Laapataa Ladies” served as India’s official Academy Awards entry in 2024, continues her support of independent cinema following...

Brat Summer isn’t going away anytime soon.

After being officially labeled the Fifth Greatest Pop Star of 2024 by Billboard, Charli xcx’s bid to become a legit film star is about to have an explosive start. Two features in which she stars are premiering almost simultaneously. But that’s not all. Over the horizon are five more buzzy films starring the singer, including one she’s actually producing.

Yet none of these projects had been announced when Julia Jackman first spoke to Charli about appearing in her period fantasy “100 Years of Hero,” debuting in Venice as the closing film of the Critics’ Week sidebar.

“It was before the news had broken that she was interested in acting,” the director admits. “It was a very pleasant surprise when someone said to me: I think she might vibe with the film.”

So, despite initial fears over what could be considered stunt casting,...

In anime master Mamoru Hosoda’s latest feature, “Scarlet,” the innovative Japanese filmmaker looks West for inspiration: to Shakespearean themes, classic European fantasy and the tradition of Walt Disney princesses.

In a sense, that makes it the mirror image of what’s fueling the headline-grabbing success of “KPop Demon Hunters,” the American-made, Asian-culture-imbued animated hit that just became Netflix’s most-watched original film.

Beyond hinting that “Scarlet” is “very relevant to kind of our current social climate,” Hosoda has been fairly secretive about this new project, which premieres out of competition at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 4.

“Simply put, this is a story of vengeance,” he confides. “Our protagonist Scarlet is a princess from this kind of Middle Ages society who failed to exact revenge on her sworn enemy. She then gets transported to a different world, where she doesn’t give up on her quest for revenge.”

From “The Boy and the Beast...

The Oscar race has one established frontrunner, which is often not the ideal place to be. As it happens, “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) auteur Ryan Coogler was checking out the competition at Telluride this Labor Day weekend, which unveiled a healthy slate of Oscar contenders.

Best Picture Contenders

One movie emerged that could challenge “Sinners” in multiple categories: Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) delivered heart-wrenching family drama “Hamnet” (Focus), featuring two powerhouse lead performances from Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William and Agnes Shakespeare. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 bestseller, the film tracks their early romance and marriage and the birth of three children, two girls and a boy, Hamnet. Their lives are rocked by grief when they lose Hamnet to the plague, and Shakespeare buries himself in writing the tragedy “Hamlet.”

The directors will support Zhao’s meticulous period craftsmanship and scriptwriting with O’Farrell, along with the tech categories Cinematography,...

After joining the long-running medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" at the start of its sixth season, Sarah Drew's trauma attending Dr. April Kepner bid farewell to the fictional Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital (née Seattle Grace Hospital) during the season 14 finale. At the time, Drew seemed happy with her nine-year turn as the timid, anxious intern turned trauma surgeon and U.S. Army veteran. When news broke that she and Jessica Capshaw, who played pediatric surgeon Dr. Arizona Robbins, would both leave after the season 14 closer "All of Me," Drew was effusive in her praise for the show and its creator, Shonda Rhimes.

"I got to tell stories I believed in. I...

The trailblazing Canadian First Nations actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award, died in Toronto after a long illness

Graham Greene, the prolific Oscar-nominated Canadian First Nations actor and Hollywood trailblazer, has died aged 73 in a Toronto hospital after a long illness.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent, Michael Greene (no relation), told Deadline. “You are finally free.”...

On the surface, it would appear that Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead II" was a late-arriving sequel, but, according to the director, the first installment did "very poorly domestically" during its initial theatrical release. Though I grew up a little over an hour south of Raimi's hometown, Detroit, Michigan, where it premiered in 1981, I knew nothing of the movie until I beheld a series of gloriously gnarly glossy stills in Fangoria Magazine at some point in 1983. Soon after, the movie turned up at my local video store, and my torrid love affair with the cinema of Sam Raimi began.

Four years was still a long time to wait for...

Focus Features killed it in Colorado with two “Jesses” and one Emma Stone.

On the ground, the story of what resonated — or flopped — at the Telluride Film Festival can look far different from the headlines. Still, one fact was hard to miss: Focus Features reigned over the mountains with Yorgos Lanthimos’ kaleidoscopic “Bugonia” and Chloé Zhao’s devastating “Hamnet,” both receiving near-universal acclaim from critics and festival-goers.

Telluride has long been a launchpad for eventual Oscar juggernauts. Recent alumni include Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” Zhao’s “Nomadland” and Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.” If this year’s best picture winner was present in the Rockies, Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel feels like the strongest candidate. A win would deliver Focus Features its first best picture statuette.

“‘Hamnet’ is a masterpiece,” one woman told Variety. “It could be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.

Robert Altman's 1980 film "Popeye" is a baffling creation indeed. Altman had risen to fame with a series of ultra-naturalistic dramas that employed overlapping dialogue, casual editing, and documentary-like camera work. Critics loved his films "M*A*S*H" in 1970 and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" in 1971. His 1974 music epic "Nashville" was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and his 1977 movie "3 Women" may be one of the director's best. His films were moving, thoughtful, adult, and often intense. He told stories, but also managed to capture an ineffable quality of real life. He is beloved by film students to this day.

"Popeye," then, was a massive departure for the director.

Graham Greene, the Canadian actor best known for his Oscar-nominated turn in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves,” died on Monday in Toronto after a battle with long illness. He was 73.

A pioneer for Indigineous actors in Hollywood, Greene made his debut in the 1979 Canadian drama series “The Great Detective” and in the 1983 film “Running Brave.” But his big Hollywood break came with “Dances with Wolves,” in which he co-starred as “Kicking Bird.” The role earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in 1991. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars and won seven, including for best picture and best director for Kevin Costner.

In an interview with Canada’s Theatre Museum, he discussed auditioning for “Crimson Tide” with director Tony Scott. Scott said, “I can’t really see a Native American working on a submarine.” Greene replied, “If you could, I would let you tell my four dead uncles...

In the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Progress", Nog (Aron Eisenberg) and Jake (Cirroc Lofton) stumble upon a bizarre business opportunity. It seems that Nog's uncle Quark (Armin Shimerman) has accidentally purchased a large volume of yamok sauce, a condiment enjoyed mainly by Cardassians. Because there is only one Cardassian on Deep Space Nine, Quark has no use for the stuff. Nog asks his uncle if he and Jake can have it, and Quark agrees, happy to have it off his hands. 

Nog feels that he and Jake can sell the sauce, and they cleverly find a buyer. Sadly, the Lissepian freighter captain they speak to has no latinum...

Even though she really became a movie star with Amy Heckerling's 1995 screwball comedy, "Clueless," if you were a youngster in the 1990s, there's no way you didn't know Alicia Silverstone from those steamy and rebellious Aerosmith music videos — "Amazing," "Cryin'," and "Crazy" — first. You had to: She was drop-dead gorgeous, cute, and mysterious, and had a lot of opportunities to choose from even before "Clueless" became a hit. She had truly been the Queen of the '90s for a while, and even I know that, as a guy who wasn't necessarily well-versed in the Silverstone universe.

But even before high-schooler Cher Horowitz conquered the big screen next to Brittany Murphy,...

People love Guillermo del Toro, and that’s not hyperbole.

Hollywood’s affection for the Oscar-winning auteur goes far beyond mere admiration. The Mexican filmmaker, who won best picture and director for “The Shape of Water” in 2017, has become one of the industry’s most beloved figures. His presence in any Oscar race is never just about the work he presents on screen — it’s about the depth of trust and loyalty he inspires in colleagues, craftspeople and actors alike. That goodwill may be key to propelling his latest opus, “Frankenstein,” into this year’s Oscar conversation.

After debuting at Venice, the gothic horror film adapted from Mary Shelley’s classic novel held two surprise screenings at the Telluride Film Festival on Sunday night. The 9:30 p.m. showing at the Werner Herzog Theatre and 10 p.m. screening at the Palm — the festival’s two largest venues — both sold out,...

Ciao! The 82nd annual Venice Film Festival is underway and the stars have hit the canals, with this year’s world premieres including Yorgos Lanthimos kidnap thriller “Bugonia,” Noah Baumbach’s showbiz dramedy “Jay Kelly,” Guillermo del Toro’s lavish adaptation “Frankenstein,” Luca Guadagnino’s college campus thriller “After the Hunt” and Benny Safdie’s UFC biopic “The Smashing Machine.”

New films from Mona Fastvold, Kathryn Bigelow, Paolo Sorrentino, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, Gus Van Sant, Lucrezia Martel, László Nemes and Kaouther Ben Hania are also in the lineup. This year’s jury is headed by Alexander Payne, the director of films like “The Holdovers,” “Election” and “Sideways.”

Venice often serves as the launch of awards season, coming ahead of an onslaught of other fall festivals including Telluride, Toronto and New York that distributors use to lay the foundation for campaigning in the coming months.

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In 1969, John Wayne delivered what would prove to be his only Oscar-winning performance as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn in Henry Hathaway's "True Grit." Though Wayne was far from confident going into "True Grit" (he'd just come off one of his worst films with "The Green Berets"), the movie not only proved a critical hit but also a commercial one, earning big box office returns and revitalizing the Duke's career at a time when he was in serious jeopardy of becoming irrelevant.

Had Wayne missed out on "True Grit," he would have only starred in one other film in 1969: "The Undefeated.

The stars came out in force to celebrate the 82nd Venice Film Festival with Armani Beauty on Friday evening.

The official sponsor of the festival hosted its annual event on Friday night, this time choosing one of the city’s grandest and most historic buildings. Alongside Armani Beauty brand ambassadors Cate Blanchett, bushy-bearded Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sadie Sink, Nathalie Emmanuel and Madisin Rian, other notable attendees included Sofia Carson, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, Keith Powers, Emilia Jones, Shailene Woodley, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Gemma Chan, Andria Tayeh, Eugenia Silva, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Clara Galle, Julio Pena, Clara Luciani, Greta Ferro, Romana Vergano and Emanuela Fanelli.

While some of these talent had made the trip for Armani festivities, others also have movies playing at Venice, notably Blanchett, who’s presenting Jim Jarmusch’s next feature “Father Mother Sister Brother” in competition, and Woodley, who’s on the Lido with Potsy Ponciroli’s “Motor City.

Among the many men and women of the hour during this weekend’s Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Ethan Hawke was soaring arguably higher than even some the other featured guests, due to having two very different films in the program, one a directorial effort and the other an awards-attention-attracting starring role. He also received a Telluride medallion and tribute as part of the festivities — a moment of triumph that stands at odds with some of the tougher times experienced by the two musical figures who are the subjects of his respective films, “Highway 99: A Double Album,” his documentary about country great Merle Haggard, and “Blue Moon,” which has him starring as the great lyricist Lorenz Hart.

As proof of just how fearless he is, Hawke ventured into what some would consider the very hub of the festival, the Baked in Telluride walk-in eatery, to meet the press, as...

Kevin Feige is one of those nerds whose dream came true. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1995 and immediately got a gig as the assistant to Lauren Shuler Donner, the executive producer of Hollywood flicks like "Volcano" and "You've Got Mail." Evidently, Feige wouldn't stop talking about his obsession with Marvel Comics, and Donner got him a job working on Bryan Singer's 2000 film "X-Men" as a result. Feige has an associate producer credit on that film, and it went on to be a big hit. Not only that, but it was proof that Marvel superheroes were viable for screen adaptation, and a door started to swing open,...

In many respects, the 2023 Caquetá Cessna Stationair crash feels like a story tailor-made for a National Geographic documentary. It has everything you expect from a movie from the channel: human survival against the elements, plenty of nuanced political and cultural context to dig into, a heart-wrenching backstory to untangle slowly through the film, and lots of breathtaking nature b-roll.

The movie that NatGeo ended up producing about the event, “Lost in the Jungle,” is coming a bit late to the party — Netflix beat them to the punch by about a year with their telling “The Lost Children” — and doesn’t really register as a standout from the company’s portfolio. But the subject matter is compelling enough, and the filmmaking sturdy enough, that it’s an engrossing watch despite its minor flaws.

“Lost in the Jungle” was directed by the now-divorced husband and wife directorial team Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin,...