“Christy,” a sports drama that features a transformative performance from “Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney as a female boxer, will be released by Black Bear in theaters in the thick of awards season.

Heading into the Toronto Film Festival where it will premiere, “Christy” was one of the hottest acquisition targets, but Black Bear, which financed the picture, has decided to take it off the board and make it the inaugural release of its fledgling distribution label. The film is a biopic of Christy Martin, a Wbc female super welterweight champ. It’s directed by Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom”) and co-stars Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, and Katy O’Brian. “Christy” will be released in theaters nationwide on Nov. 7 and Black Bear plans to mount an Oscar campaign for the picture and for Sweeney’s performance, which is said to be chameleonic.

“We’re thrilled about the upcoming release of ‘Christy,...

Exclusive: Even with The Lost Bus set to bow at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend, Paul Greengrass is already gearing up his next high-profile project as sources tell Deadline Katherine Waterston is coming on to join the untitled pic from the Oscar-nominated director. Sources also confirm to Deadline that Andrew Garfield has officially come on to star with Focus Features now on board to distribute. Deadline first reported this past spring that the package was coming together with Garfield to Star and Focus the likely landing spot and insiders now say those deals have closed.

Greengrass is directing with Jason Blum producing through Blumhouse, alongside Greg Goodman, Joanna Kaye and Greengrass. Production is set to start this fall.

In the pic, Garfield stars as a legendary leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II. As the war burns across England, he forms an army of...

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 nonfiction book The Lost Airman: A True Story of Escape From Nazi-Occupied France is flying once again, this time with the help of A-listers Ben Stiller and Jeremy Allen White, as well as A24, who are all in various stages of talks to bring the adaptation to the screen.

If deals make, Stiller will direct and produce the adaptation of the book written by Seth Meyerowitz which would star White. A24 is in negotiations to land the package, which will be titled simply Airman.

Stiller would also produce via his long-standing production banner Red Hour Films. Also producing will be John Lesher via his Le Grisbi Productions and P.J. van Sandwijk of Storyteller Productions. Jake Gyllenhaal, who was to have starred in an adaptation being developed in the late 2010s, remains involved as producer via his Nine Stories banner.

The 2016 book tells the incredible true story of Arthur Meyerowitz,...

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,...

The secret of “Maddie’s Secret” — or maybe it’s the central joke — is that the movie’s creator and star, comedian John Early, takes the whole thing seriously.

A uniquely tacky critique of influencer culture crossed with a sincere homage to the heyday of disease-of-the-week TV movies, the tricky, one-of-a-kind stunt stars Early (who is male) as Maddie “the Fattie” Ralph (who is not). But gender doesn’t factor into the queer comedian’s play-it-straight directorial debut, at least not insofar as his food-passionate protagonist’s fragile reality is concerned.

Just as John Waters’ muse, Divine, assumed dowdy-housewife drag in movies such as “Hairspray” and “Polyester,” Early dons a blond wig and falsies to embody his film’s titular ingenue: a guileless vegetarian chef whose overnight viral-video success triggers her long-suppressed eating disorder. And also like Waters, who channeled the so-lush-they’re-lurid style of Douglas Sirk’s 1950s melodramas, Early adopts the gauzy,...

Over 40 years since This is Spinal Tap was mistaken for a comedy, its hard-rocking subjects are back in a legally obligated sequel. Our writer heads to smell the glove

Spinal Tap are remembering the old days. It was 1966, and the young beat group from Squatney in east London – still, at that point, the Thamesmen – were honing their act in the tough clubs of the Benelux circuit. A young band from Britain could learn a lot, facing up to riotous crowds of Dutch, Flemings, Walloons and Luxembourgers. What lessons did Tap take from that year?

“If you speak really loudly, it’s all right if you don’t have any of the local language,...

Oh, Canada!

The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off its 50th edition Thursday evening with the world premiere of “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary that celebrates the life and career of the titular funnyman, who died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43.

The opening night gala leaned in heavily on Canadian pride, which is not often the case at TIFF. But “I Like Me,” which Amazon is releasing on Oct. 10, offered plenty of regional flavor for the hometown crowd. Candy was a local hero, having grown up in Toronto before his breakout on Sctv. He eventually became one of the most in-demand comedy stars of his generation, thanks to such films as “Stripes,” “Splash,” “Spaceballs,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck” and “Cool Runnings.” Fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds, who hails from Vancouver and produced the doc, was in attendance, celebrating another one of the Great...

“John Candy: I Like Me” is the kind of glowing celebrity tribute you expect to get at their funeral, not all these years after their death. But in the three decades since that big, lovable star’s passing, the affection his friends and family held for Candy has only deepened, to the extent that Bill Murray jokes “I wish I had more bad things to say about him” in the film’s first interview.

Kicking off the 50th anniversary edition of the Toronto Film Festival, the made-for-Amazon documentary doesn’t need dirt, but it could’ve used more drama. Director Colin Hanks collects fond remembrances from an impressive roster of A-listers, including Steve Martin, Martin Short, Macaulay Culkin, director Chris Columbus, “Sctv” co-founder Andrew Alexander, Second City Toronto colleagues O’Hara and Eugene Levy, as well as Hanks’ dad (and Candy’s “Splash” co-star) Tom.

None of them has a...

Can you blame a critic for wincing when a character pulls out a notepad in the middle of a concert? Cinematic depictions of criticism are usually withering at best, and pointedly personal at worst. Well, critics can exhale while watching “Mile End Kicks,” the sophomore feature from Canadian writer/director Chandler Levack. Levack, herself a former critic, is cynical about a few things, but the act of criticism isn’t one of them.

Like her debut “I Like Movies,” Levack’s new film is based on her own life experiences, namely a summer she spent in Montreal as a young, aspiring writer trying to find herself. Her protagonist, Grace Pine (Barbie Ferreira), goes through a similar arc, convincing herself — as so many young people do — that moving somewhere cooler will fix her life. She’s also telling everyone that she’s writing a book about Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,...

Lee Raybon, Ethan Hawke’s self-proclaimed “truthstorian” at the center of Sterlin Harjo’s swirling Southern noir, is so often bruised, bloodied, or bandaged that when friends and family express concern over his disheveled state, their dismay is almost as shocking as his beatings. Isn’t he… always like this? Doesn’t he saddle up next to scoundrals and pick a fight? Isn’t that part of his roguish, renegade charm?

Answering in reverse order, it is, he does, and he’s not. The shock shown by those closest to Lee reminds us that while he may be our bullheaded, behatted hero — sifting through seedy criminals and seedier authorities to find the cold, plain truth, no matter the cost — he’s also just a guy. A writer. A citizen. A father. Within “The Lowdown,” Lee regularly has to be reminded of these facts, of his own mortality, or risk losing...

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.

See all of Variety’s...

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

One of the biggest challenges facing any science fiction or fantasy series is helping audiences suspend their disbelief and truly invest in the some of the more outrageous ideas presented. Thankfully, a little bit of good character writing and an earnest performance can go a long way toward doing that, creating relatable characters in a totally unrelatable setting. On the Paramount+ series "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," one character who pretty regularly feels relatable is helmsman Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, played by Melissa Navia. The hotshot pilot...

Harold Matzner, the philanthropist and businessman who served as chairman of the Palm Springs International Film Festival for more than two decades, died Sept. 4 in Palm Springs after a brief illness. He was 88.

Over nearly four decades in the desert, Matzner donated more than $85 million to local nonprofits and helped the festival become an important stop on the Hollywood awards circuit.

“It is a difficult day for the city of Palm Springs and for all of us at the Palm Springs International Film Festival,” wrote festival chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi on behalf of the Palm Springs International Film Society. “From its inception, Harold gave so much of himself — day and night — to ensure this festival not only survived but flourished. Having led the festival since 2000, Harold’s vision transformed it into a world-class event and a key stop during awards season. Even after stepping down, he remained deeply involved, guiding...

No one chooses “The Long Walk.” Not really. That’s the key to surviving Stephen King’s cult-hit horror novel from 1979 — about a fascist American government and a group of teen boys who supposedly “volunteer” for its lethal endurance test.

Published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, more than a decade after King cracked the concept, “The Long Walk” is technically the first book from the legendary author. King wrote it when he was just 19 years old and still a student at the University of Maine. But the wisdom he gave his characters back then might explain some of the success he has now.

“None of us really has anything to lose. That makes it easier to give away.”

“If people took it one day at a time, they’d be a lot happier.”

“Pick ’em up. Put ’em down. Just keep walking down the road.”

I’ve been quoting advice...

Reader beware, spoilers for "The Conjuring: Last Rites" follow.

When James Wan made the first "The Conjuring" in 2013, the title seemed to be pretty self-explanatory. For starters, it was a much more evocative and creepy title than "The Warren Files," which was apparently Wan's initial idea, according to an interview from 2017. While that rejected title certainly doesn't have the same pizazz as "The Conjuring," it functions in the way that Wan was hoping, which was to provide "a more encompassing sort of umbrella name" for the cinematic universe that was to follow. Certainly, it puts the real-life demonologist/psychic team of the Warrens — Ed and Lorraine, played in the...

When Ralph Fiennes wasn’t on stage seeing a dagger before him, while starring in a Washington, D.C. production of “MacBeth,” he was furiously trying to unlock his inner Leonard Bernstein. The Oscar-nominated actor was a last-minute addition to the cast of “The Choral,” a drama set in a small town in the United Kingdom during World War I, and his role as an exacting choir master required him to be fluent with the baton. So with less than six weeks to go before cameras rolled, Fiennes enlisted Natalie Murray Beale, a leading conductor who taught Cate Blanchett how to run herd over an orchestra for “Tár,” to get him into shape.

“I don’t read music, so it was very hard to understand, not just the beats, but how the hand moves,” Fiennes says. “But Nat was terrifically patient. They tell me that thanks to some skillful camera angles,...

Dunder Mifflin is no more, but don't let that upset you, as the employees of Enervate -- an Ohio-based company that dabbles in everything from selling toilet paper to newspapers -- are worthy successors. After years of anticipation (and possibly even worry), we are pleased to announce that "The Paper," Peacock's spin-off of "The Office," is an absolute delight, and we can attribute some of the show's quality to the cast members bringing their own ideas to the table.

In an interview with /Film, Melvin Gregg, who plays the Truth Teller's status quo-loving ad salesman/volunteer reporter Detrick Moore in the series, revealed that creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman...

As Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) settles into its 50th anniversary edition, Screen has learned that the festival has designated protest zones for Friday’s world premiere of Annemarie Jacir’s Palestinian Oscar submission Palestine 36.

According to sources the TIFF security team will oversee zones outside Roy Thomson Hall for the 1pm screening and those areas will also be monitored by Toronto police.

The development comes amid frequent and ongoing demonstrations around the world over the war in Gaza. Last weeka major protest took place atVenice Film Festival.

TIFF security will be present on the carpet and monitor the...

Tom Holland revealed in an interview with LADbible that he took deep dives on the internet to understand what exactly Spider-Man man fans wanted to see in his latest outing as Marvel’s iconic web-slinger, then took he these fan ideas directly to studio executives. Holland is currently in production on “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which marks his seventh appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his fourth standalone Spider-Man movie.

“What’s been really fun about this most recent movie is designing the suit and being a part of that process and understanding what we wanted to try and achieve,” Holland said about having greater involvement in the movie’s development this time around.

“I have been actively sifting through the internet and trying to best understand what it is that the fans want from a ‘Spider-Man’ movie, and that’s been my driving force in these pitch meetings,...

Toronto film festival: the star fails to make much of an impression in a slight and unpolished project filmed in Warsaw over the Brat summer of 2024

The singer Charli xcx is, by her own admission, a workaholic – no sooner had she released Brat, the most dominant pop album and aesthetic of 2024, than she began work on its sequel, dropped just four months later. Insouciant and party-centric as her image may be, the pop star born Charlotte Aitchison is a sharp student of pop culture; she knows the audience demand for pop stars’ constant reinvention. The next career phase, it seems, is acting, with no less prodigiousness than music; the 33-year-old...

A 71-minute wisp of a film that moves and sounds like a cartoon wind curlicue, Pete Ohs’ “Erupcja” — the Polish word for “eruption” — was (clearly) shot with half an outline and scripted on the fly, to the point that all four of its main actors are credited as co-writers as well. Here, that approach proves a bit more pointed than it did in the director’s previous “Jethica” and “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick,” as its elevated mumblecore energy suits the unformed and searching nature of a wherever you go, there you are story about the ways that people try to make sense of the world around them in real-time.

People like Bethany, a British girl who’s convinced that a volcano explodes whenever she blows up her life for a biannual fling with flower shop owner Nel (Lena Góra) in Warsaw. Her puppy dog-like boyfriend...

Sometimes, a romance feels so inevitable that no matter what either party does, the universe just keeps pushing them back together. Hollywood romances are often built on a formula of “Guy Gets Girl, Guy Loses Girl, Guy Gets Girl Back,” but the love stories that shape us the most often require running through that cycle quite a few more times, with no guarantees of happy endings.

The five-year romance between Charlie (Nick Robinson) and Harper (Emilia Jones) is nothing if not cyclical. It began as a high school flirtation, with the two artsy misfits burning CDs of their favorite songs and leaving them in each other’s lockers, content to let their favorite artists do the talking at an age when the prospect of socializing with people you like often feels like social suicide. They reconnect at a college party, initially feigning forgetfulness until a well-placed song on the aux...

Warner Bros. sued Midjourney on Thursday, becoming the third studio to accuse the AI image-generating platform of blatant copyright violations.

In the complaint, Warner Bros. alleges that Midjourney willfully creates both still images and video of its characters, including Superman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tom and Jerry. The complaint also alleges that Midjourney recently eliminated guardrails that blocked users from creating videos that infringe on its IP.

“Midjourney thinks it is above the law,” the lawsuit states. “Without any consent or authorization by Warner Bros. Discovery, Midjourney brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property as if it were its own.”

Warner Bros. is represented by the same lawyers who sued Midjourney on behalf of Disney and Universal in June, and the new complaint follows the same template.

In both cases, the studios argue that Midjourney users are creating infringing outputs — images and videos that closely resemble copyrighted characters.

This episode contains spoilers for "South Park" season 27, episode 4, "Wok is Dead."

Sticking to an erratic release schedule is nothing new to "South Park," but it's become a real asset in its 27th season. The hit Comedy Central series has witnessed a revival of interest since its wild season premiere "Sermon on the 'Mount," which aired back in July. Lampooning Donald J. Trump as a Saddam Hussein-style figure who flaunts his teeny tiny manhood, coupled with an official White House response about how much his portrayal disappointed them, proved that "South Park" is still as relevant as it's ever been. Every new episode comes with the anticipation of water cooler event television,...

Bleecker Street has partnered with World of Wonder to acquire North American rights to an untitled action comedy from Adam Shankman to star RuPaul.

Dubbed as the first theatrical feature project from the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe, the story will follow best friends Tess and DeeDee, train stewardesses who trade their dreary shifts on the Stank Rail for the glitzy Glamazonian Express.

When a catastrophic “Stormganza” threatens to derail the high-speed train and crash it into Los Angeles, the duo in coach must join forces with the snobby first-class passengers and President Gagwell (RuPaul), to save the day.

Principal...

RuPaul will trade the runway for the big screen, starring in a new and, as yet, untitled action-comedy from “Hairspray” director Adam Shankman.

Bleecker Street has teamed up with Emmy-winning media company World of Wonder to acquire North American rights to the film. The film, which is billed as the first-ever feature from the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” universe, will be released theatrically nationwide in 2026.

According to an official plot description, the film will follow “best friends Tess and DeeDee, train stewardesses who trade their dreary shifts on the Stank Rail for the glitzy Glamazonian Express. When a catastrophic ‘Stormganza’ threatens to derail the high-speed train and crash it into Los Angeles, the duo in coach must join forces with the snobby first class attendants, and President Gagwell (RuPaul), to save the day.” The whole thing sounds a little like “Silver Streak,” only a lot more fabulous.

RuPaul says: “President Judy...

Were the alleged smear campaigns against Blake Lively and against the producers of Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut “The Deb” intertwined? Lawyers for the latter say yes, according to a cross complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court that names a new defendant familiar to those following Lively’s legal battle against Justin Baldoni‘s crisis publicist Melissa Nathan.

According to the new filing, the “Pitch Perfect” star expressed interest in “one of those sites,” in an apparent reference to a series of anonymous websites that appeared a month later targeting “The Deb” producer Amanda Ghost last summer with “grotesque” lies.

Last year, Ghost and fellow “Deb” producers Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden sued Wilson for defamation over a series of social media posts in which Wilson accused them of “inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film [and] embezzling funds from the film’s budget.” In Thursday’s filing,...

Exclusive: International buyers have hopped aboard Francesco Sossai’s debut feature The Last One For The Road which first world premiered at Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard and is en route to TIFF for a Centrepiece screening, with stops at New York Film Festival and Busan.

Paris-based sales outfit Lucky Number has sold the road trip comedy-drama to Bulldog Film Distribution in the UK and Ireland, Ritual Films in Canada, New Story in France, Imagine in Benelux, Belas Artes Grupo in Brazil, Danaos in Greece, Univercom for Cis, A-One Films Baltic for the Baltics, and Demiurg in ex-Yugoslavia.

It’s been said that several filmmakers at Venice are showing up with their “state of the world” movies. Whether that’s Luca Guadagnino with his take on cancel culture, Yorgos Lanthimos satirizing alt-right-style radicalization, or Kathryn Bigelow depicting our mutually-assured madness in nightmarish fashion, many of our most famed directors seem to be looking at a world in flux and asking: “How did we get here?”

Hosoda, a former Studio Ghibli animator who went freelance and has since become one of Japan’s most successful auteurs, is no different. His last film, 2021’s “Belle”, was a sci-fi adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast.” For his latest act, Hosoda hasn’t traveled too far from that baroque fantasy setting, which was already more idealized than the relative normality of his mainstream breakthrough hit (and Oscar nominee) “Mirai.” “Scarlet” is a loose but clearly intended rendering of Hamlet, with all of its castles and knights,...

Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja discussed the studio’s breakout movie of the summer, “KPop Demon Hunters,” on Thursday at Bank of America’s Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in New York. Speaking with analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich about Sony’s distribution deal with Netflix, Ahuja said the deal with the streamer “made sense.”

Sony produced “KPop Demon Hunters” and sold the distribution rights to Netflix for a direct-to-streaming release. The animated fantasy musical ended up becoming the platform’s most streamed movie of all time, surpassing “Red Notice” with 236 million views. A sing-along version of the film then debuted in theaters on August 23, where it earned over $19 million at the box office in its opening weekend across 1,700 screens.

Given the film’s unprecedented success, many have speculated that Sony should have kept “KPop Demon Hunters” for exclusive theatrical distribution. Ahuja himself is still scratching his head at the idea,...

While Venice and TIFF (at least this year) don’t have dedicated film markets for packages, there are still plenty of indies debuting at the festival that will have theatrical prowess or awards potential for the right buyer.

At the start of the fall film festival season, we identified 15 films that we believe could sell and tried to match them to their perfect distributors. See what else sells and how many we got right below, and on the next page, check out a full scorecard of every film acquired so far and those that came into the fests with distributors already in place.

Both the below and the final scorecard on the next page will be updated as sales come in.

“Christy”

Distributor: Black Bear

Director: David Michôd

Festival: TIFF Special Presentation

When you have a movie as big as “Christy,” with Sydney Sweeney starring as a boxer in a potentially transformational role,...

Black Bear’s fledgling US distribution venture has picked David Michôd’s boxing biopic Christy starring Sydney Sweeney as its first film and has scheduled a nationwide release on November 7. The drama gets its world premiere here at Toronto International Film Festival on Friday.

Christy went into TIFF technically as a sales title, however Thursday’s announcement was not entirely unexpected, given that Black Bear financed the film, is one of the producers, and handles international sales on the film.

UTA Independent Film Group and AC Independent co-represented US rights and negotiated the deal with Black Bear on behalf of the filmmaking team

Sweeney,...

Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment have finalized a new multi-year worldwide film distribution deal, which will kick off with the upcoming “Street Fighter” movie, now dated for next fall.

Under the three-year deal, Paramount will market and distribute Legendary-developed and produced theatrical films globally. News of the talks broke last month as Paramount embarked on a dealmaking spree after closing its $8 billion merger with Skydance, while Legendary relished recent box office wins, including “Dune: Part Two” and this year’s blockbuster hit “A Minecraft Movie.”

“Legendary has built a reputation for ambitious, globally appealing films, and we’re excited to be partnering with them. ‘Street Fighter’ is the perfect start to our collaboration, which we believe will be strong and lasting,” said Josh Greenstein, co-chair of Paramount Pictures and vice chair of platforms, and Dana Goldberg, co-chair of Paramount Pictures and chair of Paramount Television, in a joint statement announcing the deal.

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

When Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) first set foot in Nevermore Academy, she was greeted by Principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie), who became instantly suspicious of her. There's a good reason behind this suspicion, as Wednesday has a habit of constantly getting in trouble and unearthing truths that shake up the status quo between Outcasts and Normies. Weems, who believes in harmony and assimilation (while also being motivated to garner a glowing personal reputation), sees Wednesday as a hindrance to this goal in season 1. 

But at the same time, Weems begrudgingly appreciates our protagonist's knack for doing what's right, even when it's infused with her own eccentricities.

Paramount under Skydance’s ownership is not slowing down, and after making a flurry of deals in the past few weeks to recruit the Duffer Brothers, Will Smith, the “Call of Duty” franchise, and the UFC, Paramount has finalized another deal, this time with Legendary Entertainment to market and distribute films that Legendary develops and produces.

First up under this deal is “Street Fighter,” which is based on the Capcom video game and is currently in production. It is being filmed for IMAX and will be released in theaters October 16, 2026.

In the broadest sense, the Legendary partnership gives Paramount the ability to release more movies, push more things to theatrical, and build more film franchises. Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, who lead Paramount Pictures, said at a press event when the Paramount-Skydance deal finally closed that they wanted to ramp up to 15 films a year (its current average is around...

Paramount and Legendary Entertainment have confirmed a three-year global distribution pact that will kick off with the release of Street Fighter on October 16, 2026,

Paramount will market and distribute theatrical films developed and produced by Legendary worldwide excluding China, where Legendary East handles all marketing and distribution activities.

Warner Bros will continue to distribute select Legendary franchises including the upcoming Dune: Part Three, currently in production and scheduled for release in 2026, as well as Godzilla x Kong: Supernova scheduled for 2027.

Video game adaptation Street Fighter, co-produced by Capcom, is currently in production and being filmed for Imax.

Set in 1993, the story...

The Estonian Film Institute has chosen Meel Paliale’s youth-centered comedy-drama “Rolling Papers” (Pikad Paberid) as its official submission for the 98th Academy Awards in the best international feature film category.

The film is directed and written by Paliale, based on a story created with Urmet Piiling.

“Rolling Papers” follows Sebastian, who works as a store clerk. He finds his ordinary workday shaken up when he meets Silo, a free-spirited wanderer. Together, they smoke weed and dream of a one-way ticket to Brazil.

“This is a film about young people who don’t know what to do with their lives,” Paliale said.

“Drawing on his own experiences and conversations with peers, Paliale has crafted a story rooted in authentic dialogue and real-life situations, offering a raw and realistic portrait of today’s youth,” said a statement from the producers.

The film premiered in the Just Film section of Tallinn Black...

Sydney Sweeney told Vanity Fair ahead of the Toronto International Film Festival that she will not be discussing her controversial American Eagle ad campaign while on the ground at the annual event for the world premiere of her indie boxing drama “Christy.” Sweeney stars in the David Michôd-directed film as professional boxer Christy Martin.

TIFF will mark the actor’s first major press appearances since the American Eagle campaign garnered national attention over the summer. While Sweeney walked the red carpet at the August premiere of her movie “Americana,” she did not talk to press at the event.

“I am there to support my movie and the people involved in making it, and I’m not there to talk about jeans,” Sweeney said. “The movie’s about Christy, and that’s what I’ll be there to talk about.”

Sweeney’s ads were built around the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,...

Ryan Murphy and Netflix are teaming up to tell the story of one of the most infamous serial killers of all time, Ed Gein. That name may sound familiar to true-crime buffs. He's not quite as big of a name as, say, Ted Bundy, but "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" seeks to tell the tale of this highly influential individual. Gein's real-life crimes went on to inspire some of the greatest works of horror cinema ever made, which is something the show is very much leaning into.

An unrecognizable Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") plays Ed Gein in this latest edition of the "Monster" anthology series. The new trailer, which you can check out above,...

James Bond kills more people per movie than Jason Voorhees. In his 24 films to date, James Bond has been directly responsible for the deaths of about 597 people, averaging out to 24.875 kills per movie. Jason, meanwhile, has only directly murdered about 195 people across his 12 films, averaging out to only 16.25 murders per movie. And yet James Bond is seen as a suave, righteous hero, while Jason is depicted as a bloodthirsty monster. Never mind that the odds are greater that you'll be shot to death by a British spy than hacked in the neck by a masked super-zombie.

In action movies, violence is often seen as something just and correct. A "hero...

Scott Spiegel, “Evil Dead II,” “The Rookie” co-writer and executive producer of the “Hostel” franchise, died on Sept. 1. He was 67.

Spiegel was a frequent collaborator with filmmakers Sam Raimi, Boaz Yakin, Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino. After co-writing “Evil Dead II,” which premiered in 1987, Spiegel went on to direct his first feature, “Intruder,” in 1989.

Spiegel also co-wrote the 1990 film “The Rookie” with Yakin that starred Clint Eastwood. His other film credits include executive producing the “Hostel” horror franchise with Roth, directing “Hostel: Part III” and the 2004 reimagining of “My Name Is Modesty.”

Additionally, he made cameo appearances in Raimi’s “Spider-Man” (2002), “Spider-Man 2” (2004) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). He also lent his voice for an appearance in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022).

A Michigan native, Spiegel was a fan of cinema since childhood. He began making films in middle and high school with his friends and frequent collaborators like Raimi,...