Graham Greene, the Oscar-nominated actor from Dances With Wolves, died Monday in Stratford, Ontario, after a lengthy illness, his rep told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 73.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent Michael Greene said in a statement to THR. “You are finally free. Susan Smith is meeting you at the gates of heaven,” referring to the actor’s longtime agent, who died in 2013.

Born on June 22, 1952, in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve and a graduate of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre Program in 1974, the Canadian actor made his small-screen debut on the 1979 Canadian drama series The Great Detective and film debut in Running Brave (1983).

However, it was his role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 film Dances With Wolves that earned him a best supporting actor Oscar nomination. Out of its 12 nominations, Dances With Wolves won seven Academy Awards,...

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...

Things are not as hetero as they appear in this handsome melodrama framing the postwar period as one of searching for meaning beyond the picket fence

Making a bid for awards credibility – somewhat tentatively – is this absorbing, detailed melodrama, adapted by screenwriter Bryce Kass from Shannon Pufahl’s 50s-set 2019 novel. Kass begins with a narrative feint: after some dutiful lovemaking with husband Lee (Will Poulter), young bride Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) spies Lee’s studly drifter brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) sprawling shirtless on a station wagon outside, the playing cards in his pocket signifying trouble. Things aren’t as hetero as they appear, however: Muriel is drawn to Julius for what...

The 69th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its 2025 program, featuring a star-studded lineup of films including Chloé Zhao‘s “Hamnet,” an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, and Bradley Cooper’s third directorial effort “Is This Thing On?” fronted by Will Arnett and Laura Dern.

“Moss & Freud,” James Lucas’s biopic of supermodel Kate Moss starring Ellie Bamber, will also get its world premiere at the festival. Isabella Eklöf’s series adaptation of Nick Cave novel “The Death of Bunny Munro,” featuring Matt Smith, is set to premiere at the festival in its series strand.

As previously revealed, Rian Johnson’s third instalment of his “Knives Out” trilogy, “Wake Up Dead Man” will open this year’s festival while Noah Baumbach will bring “Jay Kelly,” which stars George Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, alongside Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut “The Chronology of Water.

The 69th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up, with six world premiere features, including Rowan Athale’s UK boxing drama Giant and James Lucas’ Moss & Freud.

Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan star inGiant, a biopic of boxer Prince Naseem ‘Naz’ Hamed that follows his rise from the working-class streets of Sheffield and is produced by Tea Shop and AGC Studios. True Brit Entertainment will release in UK-Ireland from October 24.

Moss & Freud is a dramatised account of when, at the peak of her celebrity in the early 2000s, model Kate Moss decided to sit for famed British artist Lucian Freud.

Exclusive: Fortissimo Films has secured international sales to upcoming Chinese war drama 731 and will introduce the feature to buyers at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week.

The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company will handle rights to the film for Europe, the Middle East and South America. It is scheduled for release in China on September 18.

Directed by Zhao Linshan, the story is inspired by one of the darkest and least-known chapters of the Second World War. It centres on the Imperial Japanese Army’s notorious Unit 731, which conducted biological and chemical experiments on human subjects in occupied China during the 1940s.

Trinity CineAsia has secured U.K. distribution rights to Jackie Chan’s latest action hit “The Shadow’s Edge,” setting an Oct. 3 theatrical release date for the thriller that has dominated the Chinese box office.

The Europe-wide distributor acquired U.K. rights from Golden Network Asia Limited for the Larry Yang-directed film, which has grossed $122 million worldwide in its third weekend of release. The film currently sits at No. 1 on both the Chinese box office and the global Comscore chart.

The film marks a reunion between Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai, who last collaborated on “The Myth” 20 years ago. In “The Shadow’s Edge,” the 71-year-old Chan plays retired tracking expert Wong Tak-Chung, who mentors rookie officer He Qiuguo (Zhang Zifeng) to hunt down master criminal Fu Longsheng (Leung Ka-fai).

The action-heist film is a modernized remake of the 2007 Milkyway classic “Eye in the Sky,” updated to reflect how traditional police...

Macao’s emergence on the international stage as a location and co-production hub was discussed by executives from Asia, the UK and the US at a Screen International roundtable in Venice sponsored by the Galaxy Entertainment Group (Geg) Macao International Shorts Film Festival.

The roundtable, titled ’Thinking big: how co-productions and incentives are boosting the Macao film industry’, took place at a time of increasing film activity in Macao, the autonomous region on the south coast of China.

The Macao Special Administrative Region Government is actively involved in supporting the local industry and attracting international shoots.

Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player,...

Younger audiences are being lured back to the big screen in markets all over the world, said industry executives at a Venice Film Festival roundtable, hosted by Screen International and sponsored by the Saudi Film Commission (Sfc).

Despite widespread fears that younger audiences have turned their back on cinema since the pandemic, panellists at the “Young Audience & Cinema” roundtable provided reasons for optimism.

Mashary Al Khayyat, general manager of strategy, regulations and policy at the Sfc, pointed squarely at the demographics in emerging markets, noting that 60% of the Saudi population is 30 or younger. Comscore data compiled for the roundtable gave...

Amazon MGM Studios India has unveiled the trailer for “Nishaanchi,” an action-packed entertainer from acclaimed director Anurag Kashyap that promises to deliver a full-throttle theatrical experience when it hits cinemas.

Starring newcomer Aaishvary Thackeray in a twin role, the film centers on brothers Babloo and Dabloo (Thackeray) whose opposing worldviews drive the narrative set in early 2000s Uttar Pradesh, northern India. Vedika Pinto co-stars as Rangeeli Rinku, with Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Monika Panwar and Kumud Mishra rounding out the cast.

“Aaishvary, Vedika, Monika, Zeeshan, Kumud and every single actor in the film — they didn’t just act, they lived and breathed these characters,” the director said. “Their commitment to the story and the authenticity of their performances shines in the film.”

Jar Pictures’ Ajay Rai and Ranjan Singh produce alongside Flip Films, with Kashyap co-writing the screenplay with Prasoon Mishra and Ranjan Chandel. The project marks a collaboration between the...

Exclusive: Sophie Hyde’sSundance premiereJimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, has locked in key deals, including to Kino Lorber for North America and Icon Film Distribution for the UK-Ireland, for Protagonist Pictures and CAA Media Finance.

Jimpa is about amother who takes her non-binary teenager to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, with the teenager deciding they want to stay in the city for a year. This compels their mother to reconsider her beliefs about parenting.

Newcomer and Hyde’s own child, Aud Mason-Hyde, stars alongside Colman and Lithgow.

Further deals have been sealed with Bim (Italy), Spentzos (Greece...

Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for Nia DaCosta’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”

The film will follow the events of “28 Years Later,” picking up after Spike (Alfie Williams) is introduced to Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his gang of acrobatic killers in a post-apocalyptic England. “Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself in a shocking new relationship — with consequences that could change the world as they know it — and Spike’s encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can’t escape,” the film’s official synopsis reads. “In the world of ‘The Bone Temple,’ the infected are no longer the greatest threat to survival — the inhumanity of the survivors can be stranger and more terrifying.”

Cillian Murphy will briefly appear in the film, reprising his role as Jim from “28 Days Later,” alongside stars Fiennes, Emma Laird, Maura Bird, Erin Kellyman and Chi Lewis-Parry.

The first clip of Annemarie Jacir’s “Palestine 36” has been released as the film prepares for its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

The historical epic from Jacir is set amid the rising tensions of Palestinian uprising against Britain’s decades-long dominion of the region.

The story follows a young man who gets caught up in political upheaval as tensions rise in Jerusalem and his village amid British crackdowns prompted by the arrival of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe. “History is relentless,” reads the synopsis, which adds that “all sides spiral towards inevitable collision in a decisive moment for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.”

The film stars Hiam Abbas, Jeremy Irons, Karim Daoud Anaya, Saleh Bakri (“Blue Caftan”), Robert Aramayo, Billy Howle (“The Perfect Couple”), Liam Cunningham (“Game of Thrones”), Dafer L’Abidine (“Children of Men”) and Yasmine Al-Massri (“I Was a Stranger...

The Busan International Film Festival has assembled a heavyweight jury for its newly launched competition section, tapping Korean auteur Na Hong-jin as president alongside six international cinema luminaries for the festival’s landmark 30th edition.

Na Hong-jin, the visionary behind genre-bending thrillers “The Chaser,” “The Yellow Sea” and “The Wailing,” will preside over a seven-member panel that reads like a who’s who of global cinema. Joining the Korean filmmaker are Hong Kong acting legend Tony Leung Ka-fai, Indian actor-filmmaker Nandita Das, Iranian New Wave director Marziyeh Meshkiny, celebrated American helmer Kogonada, Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara, and Korean star Han Hyo-joo.

The expanded jury — up from the traditional five members — will evaluate 14 Competition titles representing what organizers are calling “some of the year’s most outstanding Asian films.” Winners will be announced at the closing ceremony, with the newly minted Busan Award carrying a total cash prize of KRW...

The Korean Film Council has selected Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” as the country’s submission for best international feature at the 98th Academy Awards.

The move positions the acclaimed filmmaker — whose credits include “Oldboy,” “The Handmaiden” and “Decision to Leave,” which was shortlisted in the category, — for a fresh run at Oscar glory.

The dark comedy, adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s novel “The Ax,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it is competing for the Golden Lion. Lee Byung-hun, best known globally from “Squid Game,” takes the lead as Yoo Man-su, a paper-industry veteran pushed to desperate, murderous extremes after 25 years of loyalty is abruptly discarded.

Critics have hailed “No Other Choice” as one of Park’s most humane and mordantly funny works to date. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Jessica Kiang described it as a “delectable dark comedy “No Other Choice,” the latest exhibit...

A retrospective at the BFI celebrates how Wong – whether typecast in orientalist fantasies or breaking taboos with a kiss – could always steal the show

Anna May Wong is everywhere these days. The chic Chinese-American actor who first made a splash in the silent era has been fictionalised in films and TV shows, including Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood and Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, and an excellent novel, Amanda Lee Koe’s Delayed Rays of a Star. She has her face on the quarter, the first Asian-American to be honoured in that way, and she is the subject of a page-turner of a biography, Not Your China Doll by Katie Gee Salisbury.

Call My Agent!’s Ophélia Kolb leads a Swiss drama with morally ambiguous realism reminiscent of the Dardenne brothers

Just in time for the migration of children from their summer stations in front of phones, games consoles and laptops back to full-time education comes this Swiss-set tale of a mother on the edge. An outstanding Ophélia Kolb (arguably best known to anglophone audiences for playing the accountant Colette in Call My Agent!) stars here as Jule, a single woman trying to hold it together for her brood of three. Eldest child Claire (Jasmine Kalisz Saurer) is just entering puberty and is savvy enough to work out that mama isn’t...

Patrick Graham is making his return to Hindi-language horror, signing on to write a new feature film inspired by an real-life Indian tragedy.

Graham, who created the Netflix horror series “Ghoul” and “Betaal,” will pen the script for the untitled film being backed by Khyati Madaan’s Not Out Entertainment alongside Prashant Gunjalkar.

Ahan Shetty has been tapped to star, marking a genre shift for the actor following his debut in 2021 romantic action thriller “Tadap” and ahead of his role in the ensemble war epic “Border 2,” which also features Sunny Deol, Diljit Dosanjh and Varun Dhawan. The patriotic drama is scheduled for an Indian Republic Day 2026 release and is expected to be one of the year’s major theatrical events.

The project is being positioned as a theatrical horror experience mixing scares with romance, built around the real-life historical event. The casting of the female lead is currently underway,...

Alexander Rodnyansky reflects on changes in Russian industry as his Notes of a True Criminal screens in Venice

The Ukrainian film-maker Alexander Rodnyansky was once at the very centre of Russia’s cultural life. Over two decades he ran one of Russia’s biggest media conglomerates, produced some of the most celebrated films in recent Russian history – including the Oscar nominees Leviathan and Loveless – and helped bring Russian cinema to international prominence.

But since the invasion of Ukraine, Rodnyansky said, he has witnessed a huge shift in Russian cinema. “The most popular genre in Russian cinema today is fairytales,” the 64-year-old told the Guardian. “They adapt all the stories we grew up with.

"Alien" has always been, first and foremost, a horror franchise. The science fiction aspect of the film may shine brighter for those of us more inclined to that particular genre (guilty), but the suspense, scares, and monsters loom larger than the extensive sci-fi worldbuilding, which tends to occupy the background of the movies more than the foreground. Perhaps the reason why Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" split the fan base so significantly is because it brought the more sci-fi storylines like synthetic consciousness, corporate politics, and ancient aliens to the forefront.

FX's new series "Alien: Earth" does that as well, with the meat of its story focusing on androids, cyborgs,...

This post contains spoilers for the fifth episode of "Alien: Earth."

The crash of the Uscss Maginot is the inciting incident in "Alien: Earth," as all hell breaks loose from that point onward. A fierce conflict of interest is created between corporations Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani after the latter's deep-space exploration vessel crashes inside the Prodigy-controlled city of New Siam. The first few episodes of the show had already established two key facts about the crash: There have been no survivors except the shrewd cyborg Morrow (Babou Ceesay), and the collision had caused every alien specimen onboard to break out of confinement. Despite the massacre that takes place in episode 2, hybrid...

AMC is the biggest movie theater chain in the world. As such, it is an enormously important part of the overall ecosystem that supports the movie business as we know it. That's why it might come as a surprise that they didn't play "KPop Demon Hunters," which recently made $19.2 million at the box office in just two days, topping the charts on one of the final weekends of the summer in a major surprise. The animated smash hit originated on Netflix though and that, for AMC, is a sticking point ... at least as things currently exist.

On a recent episode of "The Town" podcast, AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron discussed...

Jeffrey Wright is firing back at those who think he should not have played Commissioner Jim Gordon in “The Batman.”

During a recent interview with Collider, the “American Fiction” star discussed the negative reaction from some who thought a Black man shouldn’t play the leader of Gotham’s police force. Wright slammed the push back as “the dumbest thing” and absent of “all logic.”

“I really find it fascinating the ways in which there’s such a conversation, and I think even more of a conversation now, about Black characters in these roles,” Wright said. “It’s just so fucking racist and stupid. It’s just so blind in a way that I find revealing to not recognize that the evolution of these films reflects the evolution of society, that somehow it’s defiling this franchise not to keep it grounded in the cultural reality of 1939 when the comic books were first published.

Exclusive: Screen has obtained the first-look image of Isabelle Fuhrman and Douglas Smith in horror thriller The Pond, which has wrapped production in Northern Ontario.

Myriad Pictures will show first footage to buyers and continue sales talks in TIFF this week.

Jeff Renfroe, whose directing credits include The Colony and SyFy’s Chucky, helms the story about lifelong friends who travel to a remote lake house to celebrate their terminally ill friend. They are horrified to discover she has become a vessel for a predatory parasite that threatens to infect the entire group.

Starring alongside Fuhrman from The Novice and...

Tom Holland continues to heap praise upon Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which he wrapped production on earlier this year before kicking off filming on “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Holland is playing Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, in the movie. The actor recently told Agence France-Presse that Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic is “the best script I’ve ever read.” No offense, Spider-Man.

“Chris [Nolan] is a real collaborator,” Holland added. “He knows what he wants… but it is not an environment where you can’t pitch ideas or build characters in certain ways.”

“The Odyssey” marks Nolan’s highly-anticipated follow-up to his Oscar winner “Oppenheimer.” Matt Damon leads the movie as Odysseus opposite a sprawling ensemble cast that includes Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal. Holland told GQ Sports in July that filming The Odyssey” was “the job of a lifetime, without...

Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” has exploded into a global cultural phenomenon and shows no sign of slowing down.

To borrow from the title of the chart-topping song, the film is “Golden,’ and smashing records in its path. It’s the biggest movie ever to stream on Netflix. Four songs from the film’s soundtrack sit on Billboard’s top 10, and the film landed the top spot at the domestic box office – a first for the streamer.

The film follows Huntr/X, a KPop girl group whose members double as demon hunters. Arden Cho, May Hong and Ji-young Yoo provide the speaking voices for Rumi, Mira and Zoey, respectively. Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna provide the respective singing voices.

Escaping the fictional bands Huntr/x and Saja Boys is nearly impossible. While Ejae, a K-pop singer, is used to hearing her voice on demo tracks, hearing the songs played...

Zoey Deutch was 19 when Richard Linklater, idly sketching ideas on a lunch container, told her she would be Jean Seberg.

It was a moment between shots on Linklater’s 2016 “Everybody Wants Some!!,” when Deutch first caught Hollywood’s attention as part of the film’s stacked ensemble cast. “And in passing, casually, [he said], ‘I have a movie about ‘Breathless,’ I think I want you to play Jean,'” she told IndieWire at the Telluride Film Festival.

It was nearly a decade before Deutch would adopt Seberg’s game pixie cut to star in “Nouvelle Vague,” Linklater’s black-and-white homage to the French New Wave that recreates the 1959 filming of “Breathless” on the streets of Paris. The film, which premiered at Cannes and is now heading out on a busy fall festival tour, was written by Holly Gent and Vince Palmo, Jr. (“Me and Orson Welles”) with French screenwriter Laetitia Masson.

It...

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 2024, Peele said, “I do feel like my next project is clear to me, and I’m...

Flat is not the new up when it comes to the summer box office.

This year’s tally for the crucial May to September moviegoing frame came in at $3.67 billion, as Brent Lang, Variety executive editor and longtime chronicler of the B.O., details on the latest episode of “Daily Variety” podcast. That’s about on par with summer 2024, and that’s not a good thing because this year’s slate of summer films was much more robust.

“It’s pretty disappointing because going into the summer, there was an expectation that the slate was very strong, that there were a lot of returning franchises. You had two Marvel movies, you had ‘Superman,’ you had a ‘Jurassic World’ film, and there was a lot of hope that [summer B.O.] would actually be able to hit or even eclipse $4 billion,” Lang explains. “The last time we did that was 2023, where you had Barbenheimer.

Canadian actor Graham Greene, who died Monday, is being remembered by a wide range of his acting and filmmaking colleagues. Kevin Costner, who directed him to a supporting actor Oscar nomination and co-starred with him in “Dances With Wolves,” paid tribute on Instagram Tuesday.

“A few things come to mind when I think of Graham Greene and our time together on ‘Dances With Wolves,'” he wrote.

“I think of how willing he was to learn the Lakota language. I think of my joy when I heard that his work on the film was recognized with an @theacademy Awards nomination. And I think of this scene in particular, when he was able to establish so much about the relationship between Dunbar and the natives with so few words. He was a master at work and a wonderful human being.”

Costner is describing the scene where his character sees a herd...

Colman Domingo got misty-eyed as Gus Van Sant’s new film, the thriller “Dead Man’s Wire,” electrified Venice with an 11-minute ovation on Tuesday. Domingo, who features in the ‘70s-set film as a smooth radio DJ who becomes a key component in a hostage negotiation, also energized the crowd with chants of “Gus! Gus! Gus!” as Van Sant looked on with pride.

“Dead Man’s Wire” is led by Bill Skarsgård in a powerhouse turn as an aspiring small-town entrepreneur-turned-outlaw folk hero. As was revealed during the film’s press conference earlier on Tuesday, Skarsgård was unable to make it to the premiere because he is in production on a new film.

Directed by Van Sant and written by Austin Kolodney, the film depicts the real-life 1977 hostage situation carried out by Tony Kiritsis (Skarsgård), who kidnapped his bank mortgager (Dacre Montgomery) and then demanded $5 million, no charges or prosecution and a personal apology for wronging him.

Another era of pre-taped "Saturday Night Live" sketches is coming to a close with news that Please Don't Destroy, the heir apparent to The Lonely Island, is ... destroyed.

Okay, "destroyed" is dramatic, but I had to — and to be blunt, two of the comedians are still involved with "SNL." Amidst news of exits — like those of Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow — and new cast additions like chaotic "Dropout" standout Jeremy Culhane, we learned that Ben Marshall, one of the three members of "Please Don't Destroy," is becoming a featured player as a part of the "SNL" cast for season 51. According to a report in Vulture, which also learned the group...

Reese Witherspoon is welcoming the AI revolution in Hollywood and calling on the industry to make sure women are involved in the change. Speaking to Glamour magazine to promote the upcoming fourth season of her Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show,” the Oscar winner said she has made it a priority in her career as a producer to always be “looking forward to how media is evolving and how I can help be part of bringing women along in those emerging industries. And now we’re doing it with AI.”

“It’s so, so important that women are involved in AI because it will be the future of filmmaking,” Witherspoon said. “And you can be sad and lament it all you want, but the change is here. It will never be a lack of creativity and ingenuity and actual physical manual building of things. It might diminish, but it’s...

It’s not every day the public gets to see memorabilia from Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather.”

Los Angeles historian Alison Martino has a rare original script from the film that belonged to her father, Al Martino, better known to the world as singer Johnny Fontane in the classic film.

Martino was joined by “Waltzing With Brando” cinematographer Garret O’Brien at the Variety 120 Screening Series presented by Barco, a summer-long program hosted by Jazz Tangcay that celebrates Variety‘s 120th anniversary by showing iconic films such as “All About Eve” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Martino explained how “The Godfather” was the first film she ever saw: “I wanted to see it again and again.” She also shared how she was able to ask her father about the making of the film and being involved in the production. “They had no idea it would be anything like this,” she said.

Bad news for fans of Amazon Prime Video's "Motorheads" as the streamer has decided not to move forward with a second season of the show. The YA series premiered on Prime Video back in May and has remained in the streamer's top 10 most-watched shows ever since. Even so, the brass decided it wasn't worth the squeeze, so the series is joining the likes of "Paper Girls" as Amazon shows that were canceled after one season. But why, exactly, was it canceled? And is there any hope for the future?

"Motorheads" is set in a once-thriving rust-belt town that's now searching for a glimmer of hope, with the larger story focusing...

"Saturday Night Live" is really shaking things up for season 51. Following the star-studded 50th anniversary season that just wrapped up in spring 2025, several cast members will not be returning to the show, ranging from the more recent addition Michael Longfellow to longtime performer Heidi Gardner. However, that's not stopping showrunner Lorne Michaels from bringing in some new talent to the late night sketch show.

NBC just announced the newest members of the "SNL" cast for the upcoming 51st season. Five new comedians are being added to the roster, including one who "SNL" fans will already be quite familiar with.

Ben Marshall has joined the cast of "SNL" as a featured player,...

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...

It was “Dog Day Afternoon” in miniature, though with more loony-tunes firepower. On Feb. 8, 1977, Tony Kiritsis, a disgruntled resident of Indianapolis, walked into the offices of the Meridian Mortgage Company and took one of its executives, Dick Hall, hostage. He wired the sawed-off muzzle of a 12-gauge Winchester shotgun to the back of Hall’s head. One end of the wire was connected to the trigger; the other end was wrapped around Hall’s neck. This meant that if a police officer tried to shoot Kiritsis, or if Hall tried to escape, the gun would go off and kill him.

With that gun poised, at any moment, to blow Hall to smithereens, Kiritsis then walked him out of the building and into a car (trailed by random onlookers and a news camera), and they drove to Kiritsis’s home in the Crestwood Apartments complex, where they holed up for 63 hours.

There has to be a truly exceptional reason to get anyone, including anyone on the IndieWire staff, to walk into the Times Square Planet Hollywood at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. In fairness, Planet Hollywoods do tend to have fun movie memorabilia or replica props as part of their decor; the restaurant’s themed focus on filmmaking from the ‘90s onwards has, in its own way, raised an awareness of production design and costumes as items of value and not just souvenirs for cast and crew.

But on this particular Tuesday at 10 a.m., the third floor of New York’s Planet Hollywood had millions of dollars worth of film rarities displayed under museum-grade glass, with glossy catalogues authenticating the provenance of an original stormtrooper helmet, a belt and bullwhip used in “The Last Crusade,” Picard’s Ressikan Flute from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “The Inner Light,” and...

The 1990s were notorious for Hollywood studios releasing movies about the same thing around the same time: "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp," "Volcano" and "Dante's Peak," and "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" are among the most high-profile examples. Before all that, the decade kicked off with one of the strangest double-ups based on the memoirs of Henry Hill, the real-life New York gangster who ended up in the Witness Protection Program after testifying against his old Mafia buddies. One movie was Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas," and the other was a sequel of sorts, though it hit theaters first: Herbert Ross' fish-out-of-water comedy "My Blue Heaven."

Remarkably, both films stemmed from the same source.

Entertainment and media companies are increasingly exploring generative AI, and the animation industry is grappling with divisive questions of how to integrate AI-powered tools into the creative process and production workflow.

That’s among the key conclusions in a new report, “Animation and AI,” from entertainment data provider Luminate. Animation is a proven genre for studios and streamers to invest in as a means to attract and retain both adult and kid viewers on their platforms. To wit, Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” recently became the most-streamed original movie in Netflix history.

Per Luminate’s U.S. Entertainment 365 survey, anime film fans are the most likely to be frequent moviegoers, as the survey showed that 29% of audiences have seen three or more anime movies in theaters in the last three months.

Courtesy of Luminate

When compared to other film genres, anime topped all other movie categories. Fans of animation genres...

Venice film festival

Al Pacino, Colman Domingo and Myha’la excel in this gripping take on the events of 1977 when an Indianapolis businessman held his mortgage broker hostage

With terrific chutzpah, black-comic flair and cool, cruel unsentimentality, screenwriter Austin Kolodney and director Gus Van Sant have made a true-crime suspense thriller set in the 1970s, tapping into the spirit of both Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon and Network. Apart from anything else, it is a reminder that in that post-Kennedy, post-Watergate age, plenty of lawless and febrile things happened that would now be considered phenomena purely attributable to social media.

In 1977, an Indianapolis businessman named Tony Kiritsis, with many acquaintances in the police department,...

“Dead Man’s Wire” was already in production when Luigi Mangione fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. But you’d be forgiven for interpreting it as a reaction to those events. The film — director Gus Van Sant’s first since “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” in 2018 — takes place in the 1970s, another decade when dissent fueled by economic stagnation exploded into politically charged violence. But its sympathy for its aggrieved antihero feels very current.

“Exploded” can be taken literally here, as Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) rigged his Indianapolis apartment with homemade munitions when he took his mortgage broker, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), hostage there for 63 frozen hours in February 1977. This was in addition to the device that gives Van Sant’s movie its name, a wire that was attached to the trigger of a shotgun on one end, and looped around Hall’s head on the other.

Marc Jacobs wears terrific pajamas, as you might expect: comfortably loose but crisply shaped, in a sort of metallic jacquard more typically seen on expensive upholstery, with creases that suggest they’re either box-fresh or newly ironed, but not heavily slept in. We see quite a lot of them on camera in “Marc by Sofia,” Sofia Coppola’s laidback documentary portrait of the New York fashion designer, and whether or not they’re typical of his daytime attire, they seem a telling tonal marker for the project as a whole: Relaxed comfort is the order of the day, as befits a doc that mostly amounts to filmed conversation between two longtime friends. “Marc by Sofia” isn’t particularly penetrating or eye-opening on Jacobs as an artist, businessman or human being, but it is a pleasant and casually glamorous hang.

Premiering out of competition at Venice, this A24-backed title arguably...

Canal+ group has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy 34-percent stake in Ugc, the Paris-headquartered film studio that was founded in 1971 and operates one of France’s leading cinema chains.

Following the acquisition of the minority stake, Canal+ would have the option to take full control of Ugc starting in 2028.

Ugc, which also comprises a vast library and a talent pool, boasts a cinema chain of 55 multiplexes, including 48 in France and 7 venues in Belgium. In France only, Ugc is believed to have 521 screens. One of their theaters in Paris, called Ugc Ciné Cité Les Halles, is considered the most visited cinema in the world, according to Canal+.

Ugc’s library of films include mostly mainstream comedies, such as “Serial Bad Weddings” (pictured), as well as movies such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie,” and “Hpi,” the hit series that’s been remade into “High Potential” by ABC.

Canal+ Group, which has...

Kathryn Bigelow‘s gripping political thriller “A House of Dynamite,” which stars Idris Elba as the President of the United States, triggered an 11-minute ovation at the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered in competition on Tuesday night.

As the end credits rolled, Elba helped Bigelow to her feet and they politely applauded along with the audience. Meanwhile, Elba’s co-star Rebecca Ferguson blew kisses around the room in the Sala Grande Theater.

In the orchestra, a small-but-mighty group of fans were shouting, “Rebecca, we love you! Only you!” Bigelow, too, had her share of admirers in the audience. As the ovation approached the 10-minute mark, the crowd started chanting “Bigelow! Bigelow!” The “House of Dynamite” cast and crew basked in the reception — until they didn’t. By the time the cheering and hollering began to settle down, Bigelow, Elba, Ferguson and company were already heading up the stairs for the exit.

"Peacemaker" season 2, episode 2 seems like James Gunn's apology for his many sins against birds in 2021's "The Suicide Squad." It features a big Eagly fight that's simultaneously silly and genius, allowing the DC Universe's favorite avian to wreck a group of human antagonists and even do a cool superhero walk afterwards. However, amidst memorable set piece moments like this, the episode -- aptly titled "A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird" -- hides some of Gunn's customary Easter eggs and character teases.

Season 2, episode 1, titled "The Ties That Grind," saw Gunn introduce the major Superman villain Ultra-Humanite to the Dcu. "A Man Is Only as...

GKids has acquired all North American rights to Kokuho, Sang-Il Lee’s Japanese Oscar submission that stormed the local box office over the summer and gets its North American premiere at TIFF.

Ryo Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama, and Ken Watanabe star in the story set in Nagasaki in 1964 as a 14-year-old boy is taken under the wing of a renowned Kabuki actor after his Yakuza gangster father dies.

The youngster trains and grows alongside the actor’s son for decades, performing on the biggest stages and weathering brotherhood, scandals and betrayal, until only one will become the greatest Kabuki master.

Kokuho...

He's arguably Stephen King's greatest character and has appeared in eight novels, but The Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, is a hero that the renowned author revealed in his own book to be inspired by one of the most beloved movie stars in history.

Making his debut in 1982, Roland appeared in the first book of "The Dark Tower" series, "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger." Kicking off what would become a massive battle between good and evil, the story marked the first encounter between Roland and his longtime foe and favorite in the Kingverse, Randall Flagg. Known for wearing a long black duster and guns that always find their target, Roland became...

After having gone nearly a decade without releasing a feature, the consensus on the ground at Venice: director Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film “A House of Dynamite” was well worth the wait.

After her last film, “Detroit,” failed to receive the same awards attention her previous two Oscar-winning films, “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” enjoyed the Best Director winner needed a break to find her next subject. At the “A House of Dynamite” festival press conference on Tuesday, she said, “I have to be passionate about a subject matter. For me, I don’t know if I’m really a director or not, but I’m absolutely committed to a subject and a story. And then I feel like I can do anything, but I have to really believe in whatever the material is.”

“A House of Dynamite,” a Netflix release, takes the audience through various perspectives on...