Lionsgate will develop the 1978 cult horror classic “Magic” into a newly imagined film, produced by Sam Raimi and “Weapons” producer Roy Lee, the studio announced on Wednesday.

Chris Hammond and Tim Sullivan, who have long championed the project and guided its development, will produce alongside Raimi and Lee. Raimi Productions’ Zainab Azizi will also produce, and the executive producers are Paul Fishkin with Andrew Childs for Vertigo.

The project will be written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who previously wrote Raimi Productions’ upcoming survival horror thriller “Send Help” for 20th Century Studios.

The original “Magic” starred Anthony Hopkins as Corky, a magician who reaches fame alongside his ventriloquist’s dummy,...

The release date for the upcoming “Bluey” movie from Disney and BBC Studios has been revealed.

The CG-animated feature film based on the hit Australian animated children’s series is set for a global theatrical release on Aug. 6, 2027. After hitting theaters, the “Bluey” film will be available to stream on Disney+ and on ABC iview and ABC Kids in Australia.

The “Bluey” movie is written and directed by series creator Joe Brumm and is a Ludo Studio production. It will feature voice talent from the series, including Melanie Zanetti as Bluey’s mom Chilli and David McCormack as dad Bandit. Richard Jeffrey (“Bluey” Seasons 1-3) will co-direct with Amber Naismith producing. Series composer Joff Bush will provide the score.

According to a press release when the film was announced, it will “continue the adventures of Bluey, a lovable, inexhaustible, blue heeler dog, who lives with her Mum, Dad and her little sister,...

Beyond Fest will celebrate the career of Guillermo del Toro with a 12 feature retrospective series, Está Vivo: The Gods and Monsters of Guillermo del Toro. This year’s festival runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.

In partnership with the American Cinematheque, Está Vivo will include new restorations, special director’s cut and rare 35mm screenings spanning from Del Toro’s debut with “Cronos” to his most recent film, “Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light.”

del Toro will join the celebration for four specially curated blocks of programming, during which he will share his personal stories, dreams, and nightmares from his life behind the lens. Ahead of his forthcoming film “Frankenstein,” releasing later this year, the series will be divided into themes of monsters, humanity, and imagination.

“Guillermo del Toro’s films have inspired generations of filmmakers and audiences alike in a way unlike...

The “Tomb Raider” live-action series at Amazon Prime Video is getting ready to shoot.

The series adaptation of the video game franchise is officially set to begin production on Jan. 19, 2026. In addition, Amazon MGM Studios has confirmed for the first time that Sophie Turner will star in the series as Lara Croft. The show was originally greenlit at Prime Video in May 2024, with Turner’s involvement first reported in November of that year. The show was first reported as being in development at the streamer in January 2023.

As previously reported, Phoebe Waller-Bridge will serve as creator, writer, and executive producer on the series.

David Corenswet will dust off his red trunks soon, as a sequel to James Gunn’s summer hit “Superman” will fly into theaters in less than two years.

Director and DC Films co-head James Gunn took to social media on Wednesday to announce an official title and release date for the project. “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” will hit theaters on July 9, 2027.

In his announcement, Gunn included a comic book image of Superman standing next to Lex Luthor in his Warsuit, a pretty clear signal that the sequel will continue to focus on Luthor’s antipathy for the Man of Steel. In the DC comics, Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult in the film) creates the suit in order match Superman’s strength and abilities; it seems that after the failure of his plan to use a clone of Superman to defeat him in Gunn’s first film, Luthor has decided that...

Jordan Peele’s fourth film as a director appears to be taking longer than expected.

Universal Pictures has unset the Oscar winner’s next project from its release calendar, which was last dated for October 2026. Peele is currently at work on the film, which has yet to roll cameras, an individual familiar with the project told Variety.

Originally, the follow-up to his 2022 hit movie “Nope” was scheduled to open over Christmas 2024; following the guild strikes, the film was then pushed to next Halloween. Universal had no comment. Reps for Peele did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As per usual with Peele’s directorial efforts, nothing is known about the movie’s plot, though its been categorized as a horror thriller. But speaking on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast in Jan. 2024, Peele said, “I do feel like my next project is clear to me, and I...

The epic story behind Paul McCartney’s stolen bass guitar, which was returned to him in 2024 after 51 years, will be told in a new feature-length documentary directed by Arthur Cary.

Titled “The Beatle and the Bass,” the documentary is produced by Passion Pictures, which won this year’s BAFTA with the Sundance hit “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” for BBC Arts. Fremantle is handling global distribution.

The documentary is announced as part of BBC Arena’s 50th Anniversary alongside “Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks” (also produced by Passion Pictures) and Ls Lowry’s “Lost Tapes.”

The detective story charts the saga of McCartney’s original Höfner bass guitar whose disappearance 51 years ago became one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most enduring mysteries.

McCartney, who will be featured in the film, said, “I think anything that’s nicked, you want back, especially if it has sentimental value. It just went off into...

Quiver Distribution has acquired the North American and U.K. rights to Uwe Boll’s migrant thriller “Run,” starring Amanda Plummer, James Russo (“Tulsa King”) and Ulrich Thomsen (“Lanterns”).

The film is set for a market premiere with cast and crew at this year’s AFM in Los Angeles. Quiver will then release “Run” digitally across North America and the U.K. Nov. 14, with Dubai-based Phars Film distributing it in West Asia and Germany’s Kinostar releasing the pic digitally day and date in the rest of the world, making it one of the rare global releases in the independent space.

“We’re excited to have a true global release for our movie ‘Run,’” said Boll. “To release the movie in 100 plus countries simultaneously is the future in a world in which every movie is only a click away.”

“Run” examines how the ongoing...

Guillermo del Toro is getting the Beyond Fest treatment.

The filmmaker, who is coming off the Venice Film Festival premiere of his latest monster fantasy, Frankenstein, will be getting a 12-movie retrospective from the biggest genre film festival in the country that will showcase his three decades of bringing fantasy, dreams and nightmares to the screen.

In partnership with American Cinematheque, Beyond Fest is putting on Está Vivo: The Gods and Monsters of Guillermo del Toro, featuring new restorations, special director’s cuts and rare 35mm screenings of del Toro’s oeuvre, taking audiences from his debut with Cronos to his most recent, Nightmare Alley. This year’s festival runs Sept. 23 to Oct. 8.

“Guillermo del Toro’s films have inspired generations of filmmakers and audiences alike in a way unlike any other artist we’ve experienced,” said Beyond Fest head of programming Evrim Ersoy in a statement. “To welcome him...

Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain (“The Divine Sarah Bernhard) and Diane Kruger (“Amrum”) will lead the cast of French director Marc Fitoussi’s next film, “All About Corinne,” which has been boarded by French banner Indie Sales.

The company, which previously worked with Fitoussi on his 2022 film “Two Tickets to Greece,” is kicking off “Corinne” sales on the fall festival circuit.

Huppert, whose latest film “The Richest Woman in the World” opened at this year’s Cannes, stars as Corinne Maclou, a background actor who dreams of one day being more than an extra. Confident her breakthrough is right around the corner, she befriends famous actor Sandrine Kiberlain, hoping it will help her achieve her goal — but there’s still a long way to go for her to be welcomed into the closed-off French cinema family.

The rest of the cast includes Emmanuelle Bercot, Anne Marivin, Ana Girardot, Vincent Dedienne and Thomas Jolly,...

Late one night, Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) is out with his friends, laughing. There’s an anxious tremor echoing through the car — Cliff (Raúl Castillo), sitting shotgun, can’t hide his nerves — but it only elicits more chuckles from the driver, who’s all but perfected the practice of self-serenity. His chosen music carries a soothing pulse and leisurely lyrics, and when Peach Boy (Owen Teague) questions the vibe, Robbie calmly explains, “Transportative [sic], isn’t it? Takes you away from your reality, puts you in another.”

Robbie invites Peach Boy to close his eyes and imagine white sandy beaches, a big blue ocean, and beautiful women asking to dance with him. As Peach Boy sways sensually in the backseat, Robbie reaches his point: “Everyone’s fucking happy as shit on that beach,” he says. “You don’t got a care in the world.” Then, as Peach Boy’s dreamy dancing gets a little more graphic,...

Mere months after sweeping the 97th Academy Awards with “Anora,” Sean Baker is making a tangential return to the Oscar race. The auteur co-wrote and edited “Left-Handed Girl,” the solo debut of his “Take Out” co-director Shih-Ching Tsou, which has been selected as Taiwan’s official Oscar submission.

Like “Take Out,” “Left-Handed Girl” is set in the restaurant industry, following a mother-daughter-daughter relationship in Taipei as the family attempts to open a food business. An official synopsis for the film reads: “A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her ‘devil hand,’ generations of family secrets begin to unravel.

In an audacious move, director Kaouther Ben Hania reconstructs the killing of the five-year-old in Gaza using her real voice as she is bombarded by the Israeli army

There can be no doubt about which movie has set the Venice film festival ablaze – it is this one, from Tunisian film-maker Kaouther Ben Hania. The Voice of Hind Rajab is about the horrifying ordeal of the five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed in 2024 by the Israel Defense Forces (Idf) in Gaza in her uncle’s car along with six family members, and two paramedics who tried to come to her rescue. Rajab herself, who survived the original assault by...

[Editor’s note: The following article contains spoilers for “Wednesday” Season 2, including the ending — Episode 8, “This Means Woe.”]

“The crack in your monochrome armor is overbearing arrogance.”

So says Rosaline Rotwood, played by Lady Gaga, to her visiting wish-maker, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega), when the dour student seeks out her “legendary” teacher at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday needs to use the psychic powers she lost at the start of Season 2, and Rosaline’s glowing apparition can give them to her — temporarily.

Maybe Rosaline will resurface in Season 3, but until then, her character is little more than a convenient pitstop in Season 2, Part 2 — more product placement than plot development. Despite her trivial inclusion, Mother Monster’s warning still lingers. After all, this isn’t the first time Wednesday has been told she’s stubborn, single-minded, and self-important. Such descriptions dog her throughout Season 2, surfacing whenever she refuses to go along to get along, which is pretty much all the time.

If her mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), asks her to avoid a certain family member,...

On the surface, yes, the idea of making a documentary on the life of John Candy seems like a pretty great idea — I mean, who doesn’t love John Candy? — but as director Colin Hanks points out, well, wait, not so fast.

Now, let’s quickly note that Colin Hanks would know what he’s talking about because he, in fact, did make a documentary about the life of John Candy. And the problem that presented itself was, yes, everyone does love John Candy. As much as this is a man whose life should be celebrated, watching his friends and family talk about how great he is doesn’t necessarily make a riveting narrative for a film.

What Hanks deftly does with his “John Candy: I Like Me” is frame his film around Candy’s anxiety about his own mortality. John Candy’s father died from a heart attack when Candy was only five,...

Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, but always it’s hard to be a girl in Taiwanese star Shu Qi’s sincere but unwieldy directorial debut “Girl.” Tracing a few turbulent months in the life of a Taipei schoolgirl in the late 1980s, the film witnesses how, under cover of her docility, she gathers the strength for some much-needed rebellion against the strictures of a poverty-blighted childhood and the dysfunctional parents who visit on her various flavors of abuse and neglect. It’s not new narrative territory, and the execution falters at key moments, but as a director Shu shows a seriousness of purpose almost as unflinching as her compassion for the children caught in the endless loop-the-loop of patriarchal violence, from which there can be no rescue, only the vague, desperate hope of a self-engineered escape.

“Don’t touch. Dirty.” These are the first words we hear...

During the shooting of historical epic “The Assassin” more than a decade ago, its director — the great Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsaio-Hsien, with his final movie — advised star Shu Qi to pick up the camera for herself. That’s like Buddha saying you might be good at meditating. Qi wisely took his advice. She spent years writing and rewriting but, inconveniently, also starred in 11 more movies in the eight years that came after “The Assassin.” After serving on the Venice Film Festival jury two years ago, Qi’s directing itch became too difficult to leave unscratched and, instead of going home after the festival, she stayed in Italy to finish her script.

“Girl” is the product of those labours — and a sign that Qi was right to grab the torch from her mentor. The dark and challenging story of an abused mother who can’t help but force her suffering onto her young daughter,...

Security alert! This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 9 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" fans really love Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), the feisty and somewhat free-spirited Enterprise pilot on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." There's something about Navia's performance that's deeply grounded, and along with the character writing, Ortegas is incredibly relatable and works as a perfect audience stand-in when things get really wacky because her reactions feel authentic. Despite being surrounded by legacy characters like Spock (Ethan Peck), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and more, she has managed to carve out a spot for herself as one of the all-time great "Star Trek" characters.

“Adolescence” star Stephen Graham, Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”) and Anson Boon (“1917”) lead the twisted thriller “Good Boy,” the English-language debut from Academy Award nominee Jan Komasa (“Corpus Christi”), which premieres Sept. 5 in the Centrepiece strand of the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

The film stars Boon as Tommy, a 19-year-old hooligan who wakes up from an all-night bender in the basement of a strange suburban home, bound with a chain around his neck. Soon he learn that he’s being held by well-to-do Chris (Graham) and his neurotic wife Kathryn (Riseborough), a dysfunctional couple whose project of forced rehabilitation is designed to turn wild-child Tommy into a “good boy.”

Based off a script by newcomer Bartek Bartosik, along with British writer and filmmaker Naqqash Khalid (“In Camera”), the film marks a departure for Komasa, a prolific director whose credits include the button-pushing thriller “Suicide Room” and the subversive, slow-burn drama “Corpus Christi.

If you find yourself feeling down on your luck this holiday season, it might be time to ask yourself a simple question. Do you really need all 32 of your teeth? Couldn’t you spare one or two in exchange for a potential lifetime of happiness?

That’s more or less the takeaway from “The Baltimorons,” though Jay Duplass’ bittersweet holiday romance takes a few detours on its way there. Co-writer and star Michael Strassner gives himself a tailor-made breakout role as Cliff, a sad sack Baltimore native who can’t properly celebrate his six month sobriety milestone because he’s mourning an unsuccessful suicide attempt and his depressing improv-comic-to-mortgage-broker career path. His struggles with addiction clearly took a toll on his fiancé Brittany (Olivia Luccardi), and their relationship has evolved into something more resembling a caregiver and patient than a romantic partnership. And these days, she seems more concerned about...

US independent distributors have a lot on their minds heading into the 50th anniversary edition of Toronto International Film Festival, when their early fall festival appetite will come under scrutiny.

The theatrical space remains challenging. Few buyers have the wherewithal to compete with Hollywood majors and streamers, especially as platforms are said to be low-balling pay 1 and pay 2 licence fees that can help theatrical distributors afford minimum guarantees and robust release commitments.

Yet there are grounds for cautious optimism. Resourceful distributors continue to adapt and board projects earlier in the lifecycle to better compete with deep-pocketed rivals.

Attention to downstream revenue can be lucrative,...

The composers behind Sentimental Value, Mickey 17 and The Brutalist are among the second wave of nominees for the 25th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa).

The winners will be announced on October 15 at the Wsa ceremony and concert, held during Film Fest Gent in Belgium.

Hania Rani (Sentimental Value), Jung Jae-il (Mickey 17) and Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist) are all nominated in discovery of the year alongside Robin Carolan (Nosferatu) and Dave Metzger (Mufasa: The Lion King). Blumberg is also nominated in the previously announced film composer of the year category and won the Oscar for best original score back in March.

A new multi-day content-creator and tech-focused event called CreatorHub Madrid will launch in September. Soon-launching social app Luffa is serving as its strategic partner and UMusic Hospitality and Lifestyle as a leading partner.

Per the CreatorHub Madrid organizers, “The event will unite creators across entertainment, web3/fintech, gaming, lifestyle, and more, alongside collaborators Social Shop Network (Ssn), and the city of Madrid, to showcase how emerging technologies can empower creators, energize fan communities, and support municipalities in building cultural infrastructure.”

Taking place Sept 28-30, CreatorHub Madrid will host more than 50 creators with more than five billion combined monthly impressions, including: tAdley, Mckenzie Brook, Melissa Gisoni, Teresa Giudice, Angelina, James Dumoulin, Michelle Barone-Lepore, Helen Hoey, Amber Marie Spears, Perez Hilton, Tank Sinatra, Ash Mcphereson, Booba Official, Chanel Ayan, John Cerasai, and Brian Rand.

The first CreatorHub Madrid will be timed with the debut of new social app Luffa, which is described...

This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 3, episode 9.

The "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" team proposed that the show's most underused lead character, Enterprise pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), would get more focus in season 3. The season's penultimate episode, "Terrarium," is indisputably an Ortegas-focused episode, albeit one that takes her out of her element. 

In "Terrarium," Ortegas is piloting a shuttle that is pulled through a wormhole; she crash-lands on a barren moon of a planet on the other side of the wormhole. While the Enterprise tries to locate her, Ortegas must survive... but not alone, because there's another stranded pilot on the planet. A Gorn pilot,...

In director Jay Roach and writer Tony McNamara‘s new take on Warren Adler’s novel “The War of the Roses” — previously filmed in 1989 and now retitled simply “The Roses” — married couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) move from blissful infatuation with one another to seething resentment, a journey costume designer PC Williams had to express through the actors’ clothes. For Williams, the key to unlocking the characters came with the realization that both husband and wife were creative people — Olivia a chef, and Theo an architect.

“When I started thinking about who they were, one of the things I was drawn to was the idea that creativity presents very differently for different people,” Williams told IndieWire. “Some people’s creativity is mathematical. It’s theory-based. Other people are more visual.” When designing Ivy and Theo’s wardrobes, Williams wanted to make sure that the clothes were faithful...

A man’s home is his castle, but that’s men for you — making everything a bit bigger than it is. Maria Angeles’ home is just her home, and she treasures its cozy modesty. A sun-strewn apartment in Tangier’s lively, diverse historic center, she’s spent 40 years making it meticulously and characterfully her own, from the effusively scarlet geraniums on her balcony to the long-seasoned wooden spoons in her kitchen. Though she’s a bit lonely in widowhood, the flat’s sunset-hued, picture-covered walls give her comfort and a kind of company, something Maria Angeles’ self-oriented daughter doesn’t understand. But “Calle Malaga” does. Maryam Touzani’s gentle, toasty-warm later-life drama is an ode to the physical spaces that sustain us, and quite winning as such.

It is also an ode, even more winningly, to the indefatigable screen presence of Carmen Maura. The veteran Spanish star’s expressive, saucer-eyed...

Once upon a time, "The Office" creators almost made a spin-off that would have ruined the show's happy ending. In short, the offshoot would have relocated Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to a farm and removed the possibility of him settling down with Angela (Angela Kinsey), which wouldn't have brought much in the way of closure to fans of the U.S. version of the show. Fortunately, these characters -- along with other fan favorites -- got a sweet send-off at the end of the story, and we can only assume they are still out there living their best lives. Unfortunately, the series' new spin-off, "The Paper," is here to ruin one...

Since winning Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for "The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow has established herself as a fearless chronicler of hot button topics. This gets her in trouble sometimes. While she earned her a good deal of critical accolades for the film (including a Best Picture nod), her 2012 docudrama-thriller about the post-9/11 hunt for Osama bin Laden, "Zero Dark Thirty," was taken to task by some reviewers and politicians for appearing to suggest that the United States' enhanced interrogation techniques (aka "torture") proved useful in finding the whereabouts of the al-Qaeda leader. Five years later, she drew fire again for taking an emotionally distant approach to the Detroit Uprising of 1967 in "Detroit.

The world premiere of Samuel Abrahams’ Lady, starring Sian Clifford, is one of four titles to be added to the BFI London Film Festival 2025 line-up, following itsunveiling yesterday (September 3).

Clifford plays a narcissistic aristocrat who hires a struggling filmmaker to record her every move, in UK filmmaker Abrahams’ feature debut. The mockumentary is produced by the UK’s MetFilm, with sales repped by the company’s sales arm, and will premiere in the ‘dare’ strand.

The total number of world premieres in the festival is now up to seven. Three UK premieres have also been added, bringing the total number...

The 69th BFI London Film Festival has added four additional titles to its program, including U.K. premieres of Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia,” Claire Denis’ “The Fence” and Gastón Solnicki’s “The Souffleur,” plus the world premiere of Samuel Abrahams’ “Lady.”

“Lady” marks the directorial debut of Samuel Abrahams, featuring Sian Clifford from “Fleabag” in what festival programmers describe as a “larger-than-life performance” as a narcissistic aristocrat who hires a struggling filmmaker to document her every move for an eccentric mockumentary.

Lady Isabella longs for the spotlight and sees local talent show “Stately Stars” as her long-desired break. Despite reveling in the camera’s presence on her grand estate, pressures mount and things take a surreal turn when she begins losing her sense of self. The U.K. production also stars Laurie Kynaston and Juliet Cowan.

“Lady” will have its world premiere as part of the Dare strand. MetFilm Studio is behind the production.

This post contains spoilers for season 2 of "Wednesday."

In season 2, part 1 of "Wednesday," all hell breaks loose at the Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital. For starters, Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) discover a hidden facility beneath the building and learn the truth about horrific Outcast experimentation. Among the victims, they come across a mysterious woman, who initially appears to have a connection to Wednesday's missing aunt, Ophelia.

However, part 2 of the latest season drops several truth bombs at once, revealing the true identity of Patient 1938 (as labeled in a Polaroid photo of her) along with her relevance to the story. This woman is none other than Francoise (Frances O'Connor), Tyler's supposedly deceased mother,...

Global Constellation has boarded worldwide sales rights to Jan Holoubek’s World War II noir thriller “Wild, Wild East,” hot off its inclusion in the Gap Financing Market at the Venice Film Festival. Global Constellation will introduce the film to distributors at the Toronto Film Festival.

The film stars Itay Tiran and Joanna Kulig, and is produced by leading Polish producers Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień and Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska for Madants, and Ewa Puszczyńska for Extreme Emotions, together with Holoubek.

Currently in pre-production, “Wild, Wild East” will start principal photography in October in Poland and Latvia.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Polska will distribute the film in Poland.

Set in occupied Poland in 1943, the film follows Martin Wolff, a German official sent to a remote village to investigate the disappearance of a Jewish lawyer. His arrival unsettles the fragile order between scarred villagers, corrupt collaborators, and Nazi authorities, unearthing a web of betrayal and greed...

Brad Pitt’s Mediawan-backed Plan B production company has launched a European subsidiary headed by Clerkenwell Films executive producer Ed Macdonald.

Based in London, Plan B Europe will primarily focus on the production of series in the UK and across Europe.

Macdonald’s credits at Clerkenwell include Netflix hit Baby Reindeer and Channel 4’s The End of the F***ing World. At Plan B Europe, he willwork closely with Nina Wolarsky, Plan B’s US-based head of television.

Plan B said the launch “will foster new co-productions between the United States and Europe,” building on Plan B’s upcoming...

Stars including Daniel Craig, Michaela Coel, Keanu Reeves and Channing Tatum to present latest films to big audiences

It was a mostly underwhelming edition of the Toronto film festival last year, aiming for a big comeback after the strikes affected the year prior. Disappointments such as Nightbitch, Eden, The Last Showgirl, Nutcrackers, The Return and The Cut were only mildly offset by the surprising appearance of Mike Leigh with his effectively gruelling drama Hard Truths.

But after spottier Venice and Telluride festivals than usual, worryingly light on slam-dunks, all eyes return to this year’s Toronto, hopeful that it might correct course for the season.

Screen profiles a selection of acquisition titles and packages that are expected to be among the most sought-after when the 50thToronto International Film Festival begins on Thursday.

With at least two hungry new US buyers joining the ranks in the form of Black Bear and Row K, the hope is that more business might get done on the ground than in recent years.

Then again, this has become a common refrain. Check the TIFF website for the full list of screenings.

Festival selections

& Sons (UK-Can)

Special Presentations

Dir: Pablo Trapero

Genre:Drama

Cast: Billy Nighy, George MacKay, Noah Jupe, Johnny Flynn,...

Finland-uk based film investment fund Ipr.Vc, which has slate deals with international companies including A24, Xyc Films and mk2 Films, has appointed Logical Pictures exec Celine Dornier to the newly created role of content executive.

Based in Paris, Dornier will help spearhead the expansion of the company’s role on projects, liaising with producers, financiers and distributors.

Dornier has been vp financing and acquisitions at France’s Logical Pictures group since 2016.

Ipr.VChas also appointedJoonas Pönniö as the company’s first group CFO.

The company said both production and investor-geared positions were created to support “further growth” by strengthening its...

“Dreams of a Life” director Carol Morley is in pre-production on a feature film adaptation of her semi-autobiographical novel “7 Miles Out,” Variety has learned.

First published in 2015, “7 Miles Out” is based on the story of Morley’s troubled adolescence following her father’s suicide. It tells the story of Anne, who, after losing her father in tragic circumstances, finds solace and trouble in the Manchester music scene of the 1970s and ‘80s. The novel takes place over a seven-year time period.

Bafta nominee Morley is writing and directing the adaption while her longtime collaborator Cairo Cannon will produce through the duo’s production vehicle Cannon and Morley Productions.

The film is tentatively due to start shooting this November on location in Manchester.

Morley has previously discussed how difficult it has been to get the film off the ground, not least in having to revisit the painful memories around her father’s death.

Exclusive: Beijing-based Hugoeast has secured sales rights to Shen Ao’s historical war drama Dead To Rights in selected territories.

The company will handle the sales in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

The film is produced by the China Film Group (Cfg), which has previously sold the feature to around 20 territories, including the above territories not handled by Hugoeast.

These include Australia, New Zealand and North America, where Niu Vision released the film on August 7 and August 15 respectively. It opened in Germany on August 28 and is set for release in the UK tomorrow (September 5), both through European Times.

Former Berlin and Locarno film festival director Carlo Chatrian will serve as the president of the international competition jury at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The jury, which has yet to be revealed, will consider around 15 titles and award several prizes including the grand prix at the festival, which is set to run October 27 to November 5.

Chatrian was artistic director at Locarno from 2013-18 and artistic director at the Berlinale from 2020-24. He has history with Japan having curated programmes focused on Japanese animation, including books, retrospectives, and exhibitions, and has visited the country multiple times for TIFF.

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

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

September

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

London Rolling Film Festival,...

Williams is exuberant but controlled as elephants trample the town and a waterfall crashes down the stairs in bizarre Kiplingesque fantasy that still holds up

The Jumanji franchise has been enjoyably revived in the last few years, but the new reboot films don’t have the purely startling quality of the original fantasy-surreal adventure from 1995, now rereleased for its 30th anniversary. Adapted from a 1981 children’s picture book by Chris Van Allsburg, it starred Robin Williams in an exuberant, winning but notably controlled lead performance. This is an entertainment in the broad Hollywood tradition of Capra and Spielberg, with a boisterous touch of Peter Pan in that the stern father...

Carlo Chatrian will preside over the international competition jury at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

The Italian film executive previously ran two of Europe’s most prominent festivals, directing Locarno from 2013-2018 and Berlin from 2020-2024.

Chatrian’s Berlin tenure was marked by notable policy changes, particularly the elimination of gendered acting categories in favor of performance-based awards. The move influenced similar reforms at other international festivals and established Berlin’s reputation for progressive industry practices.

He has maintained strong connections to Japanese cinema through various programming initiatives and multiple visits to Tokyo for the festival. His background includes extensive work as a film critic and academic, with published works on documentary filmmakers and Italian cinema.

“It is a great privilege to chair the jury of the Tokyo International Film Festival, an event that, especially under the new direction, has become a vital meeting point for the art...

Hot of the heels of its racing drama blockbuster “F1: The Movie” and Emmy-nominated limited series “Adolescence,” Brad Pitt’s L.A.-based Plan B Entertainment is planting its flag in London. Ed Macdonald, the well-respected British producer of “Baby Reindeer,” is on board to run the offspring banner which is part of Mediawan, the European powerhouse headed by Pierre-Antoine Capton since 2022.

The London banner marks the first international outpost of Plan B, the Oscar winning company co-led by Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. It’s also part of a global strategy bolstered by its parent company, Mediawan, the Paris-headquartered powerhouse headed by CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton that comprises over 80 production labels across 13 countries.

Luring Macdonald is a major coup for Plan B and Mediawan. He’s joining from Clerkenwell Films, where he worked for nearly 16 years and spearheaded a string of hits, including the BAFTA-winning “The End of the F***ing World...

The NeueHouse chain of members only clubs catering to those working in creative industries will shut down on Friday. The company confirmed the decision with a lengthy message posted on its website.

NeueHouse owners cited “legacy liabilities” as the reason why the business could not continue.

“Although NeueHouse has created an extremely valuable business that is prized by members and event hosts, unfortunately, it has been burdened by legacy liabilities,” according to a statement attributed to the NeueHouse board. “Despite our best efforts to find a sustainable path forward – including exploring every possible solution to address these challenges – we have made the very difficult decision to wind down the business and close NeueHouse. Our last day of operations will be this Friday, September 5th.”

News of the swift shutdown surprised many industry insiders. NeueHouse locations in Los Angeles have become staples on the meeting and party circuit since the venture began more than 10 years ago.

Sony Pictures Classics has scheduled a week-long awards-qualifying run starting on December 5 forRebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life starring Jodie Foster, which gets its Canadian premiere as a TIFF Gala screening on September 9.

‘A Private Life’ review

The French-language female noir will open on January 16, 2026. The drama received its world premiere in Cannes followed by the recent US premiere in Telluride.

After TIFF, where Foster will receive a TIFF Tribute Award, it plays in Spotlight at the New York Film Festival on October 5 and 6, and will open the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles on October 28.

In A Private...

Everyone's a critic, even towards a guy who redefined cinema with the majority of movies he's been bold enough to give us. Yes, even after giving us two "Avatar" films that broke the box office and a third that's just itching to do the same, somehow James Cameron's billion-dollar franchise has taken its hits from those who just aren't buying what he's selling. But even though the rest of the world might have invested in seeing interplanetary whales belly flop on highly advanced battleships, Cameron still gets rightfully frustrated with the naysayers of the Na'vi.

In an interview with Empire, Cameron spoke about how even 16 years after being in the public consciousness,...

Is the cause of Wings something that really needs to be … evangelized? Apparently so. When “Man on the Run,” a documentary about Paul McCartney’s 1970s Wings period, had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival over the weekend, you could hear patrons talking about what a revelation it was that he generated so much good music in the wake of the Beatles’ breakup, as if he hadn’t remained one of the biggest artists in the world throughout the subsequent decade. So maybe there’s some desire for further vindication that has driven McCartney to write a book about those years (coming out in the fall) as well as executive produce this Morgan Neville-directed doc (hitting select theaters and then Prime Video next year).

Maybe everyone who sold McCartney’s post-Beatles period short previously has their reasons for putting blinders on, even in the face of that inescapable a juggernaut.

Listening to documentarian Morgan Neville and actor Paul Mescal dive down the Paul McCartney rabbit hole at the Telluride brunch was one of my festival highlights. Both are McCartney experts at this point, as Mescal is returning to rehearsals in London to play Paul in the first of Sam Mendes’ four Beatles movies, and Neville has spent the last three years prepping “Man on the Run,” his post-Beatles portrait of McCartney as he created his solo albums and assembled the band Wings. When I was growing up in ’70s New York, I loved McCartney albums Cherry and Ram, but was never a Wings fan. Now I see how many of his catchy songs have seeped into the culture: I’m adding a bunch to my playlists.

“Man on the Run” reveals an artist who must reinvent himself without the Beatles and with his great ally and love, Linda McCartney. But...

Writer-director Matt Reeves' sequel to "The Batman" (currently known as "The Batman Part II") is scheduled to finally begin production next spring. Reeves and his writing partner Mattson Tomlin completed the script back in June, and some of the cast have gotten to read it; Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb/The Penguin) called it "extraordinary" in an interview with Deadline.

Actors expected to return alongside Farrell are Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Jeffrey Wright as Lt. Jim Gordon. We deemed Wright's Gordon one of the first movie's MVPs back in 2022. This Jim Gordon isn't the police commissioner (yet), so he does a lot of...

As we enter the first week of September, the past few weeks have been filled with summer blockbusters and independent films for audiences to discover. From films about twins to speaking with the supernatural, this season is full of blockbusters for everyone to watch on the big screen for the next few weeks.

The widest release of this week will be Warner Bros, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. “The Conjuring: Last Rites” follows Lorraine and Ed Warren as they investigate the infamous Smurl haunting, where they were called to investigate in 1986.

The limited release of this week is Vertical Entertainment’s “Twinless,” starring Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney. The film follows two young men who strike up an unlikely friendship after meeting at a twinless twin support group.

Check out all the new releases hitting theaters this weekend:

September 5, 2025

“The Conjuring: Last Rites”

(Warner Bros,...