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‘Midnight Rider’ Trial: DGA Calls for More Set Safety
28 minutes ago
The Directors Guild of America has called for more work on set safety in the wake of DGA member and “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the February 2014 death of Sarah Jones.
Miller received a sentence of two years in prison, 10 years probation, a $20,000 fine and 360 hours of community service in a court hearing Monday in Georgia.
“This tragic accident and its consequences must serve as an indelible reminder to everyone involved in film production that safety on set is of paramount importance,” the DGA said in a statement. “In the year since Sarah Jones’ horrific death, the dialogue within the entertainment community about being vigilant on set and speaking up if something seems unsafe has certainly increased, and organizations including the DGA have reiterated the availability of 24/7 safety hotlines to report concerns.”
The guild, which has over 15,000 members, did not mention Miller by name. »
- Dave McNary
‘Mean Moms’ Fake Poster Gets One Star Right: Jennifer Aniston
1 hour ago
A fake poster for the upcoming New Line film “Mean Moms” that circulated on social media over the last few days suggested that Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz would star in the film.
New Line Cinema confirmed to Variety that Aniston, who has been in talks for the film for over a year, is still attached to star. The Bullock and Diaz castings, meanwhile, are purely figments of the Internet’s imagination and are not confirmed.
Some of the social-media posts also claimed that the film is sequel to “Mean Girls,” which was a Paramount picture, whereas “Mean Moms,” about the world of competitive parenting, is being produced by New Line Cinema. The films are, however, both based on books by parenting author Rosalind Wiseman.
New Line is currently looking for a director, and has not announced a release date for the film.
The Kardashian Reactions Twitter and »
- Seth Kelley
Matt Tolmach, Kurt Johnstad Sell Untitled Sci-Fi Pitch to Sony (Exclusive)
1 hour ago
“The Amazing Spider-Man” producer Matt Tolmach and “Aquaman” scribe Kurt Johnstad have sold an untitled pitch to Sony Pictures based on an original idea from Johnstad.
The plot details are being kept under wraps, with insiders describing the super-secret concept only as a big sci-fi action idea. The hope is that the project can turn into a potential franchise.
Tolmach would produce through his production banner, with Johnstad penning the script.
Tolmach’s executive VP of production, David Manpearl, brought the pitch to Tolmach who, like so many producers in town, wanted to work with Johnstad following his success on “Act of Valor” and “300: Rise of an Empire.” The two then took the pitch to Columbia Pictures president of production Michael De Luca and senior VP of production Jonathan Kadin, who were so excited by the idea that they bought the pitch in the room.
De Luca has been »
- Justin Kroll
Kim Dickens Joins Tim Burton’s ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ (Exclusive)
2 hours ago
Kim Dickens has rounded out the cast of 20th Century Fox’s adaptation of the classic novel “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” which Tim Burton is directing.
Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Allison Janney and Samuel L. Jackson also star.
The film is based on the Ransom Riggs novel, following a teenager, played by Butterfield, who finds himself transported to an island where he must help protect a group of orphans with special powers from creatures out to destroy them. Green will play the title character, who acts as a guardian for these orphans.
Chernin Entertainment is producing, with Jane Goldman penning the script.
Production is currently under way, and the pic is set to bow March 4, 2016.
While she has stayed busy on the film front, Dickens broke out from her roles on TV that included HBO’s “Deadwood” and “Treme” and Netflix’s “House of Cards. »
- Justin Kroll
Watch: Full Trailer for Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’ (Video)
3 hours ago
With summer just around the corner, Disney has released the full-length trailer for Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland” to give auds an idea of the scope of the sci-fi fantasy movie.
Starring George Clooney, Britt Robertson and Hugh Laurie, the feature follows a teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor who embark on a mission to unearth the secrets of a place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory.
The new trailer not only explores that world, but several action sequences will give auds an idea that this pic is as big a production as any summer film.
“Lost” and “Prometheus” scribe Damon Lindelof penned the script with Jeff Jensen, and early footage is giving off a “Harry Potter” feel. Disney hopes the project can lead to the studio’s ever-growing list of franchises that includes the Marvel and “Star Wars” pics.
The film »
- Justin Kroll
Tony Gonzalez Documentary to Premiere at Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival
3 hours ago
“Play It Forward,” a new documentary about famed football tight end Tony Gonzalez and his brother, will premiere as the opener of the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival, the mini-fest dedicated to sports movies that is programmed annually during the Tribeca Film Festival.
Screening as part of Tribeca/Espn are two short films from the “1 of 1: Origins” series, which pairs Espn and Marvel Entertainment to retell athletes’ backstories via narration and superhero-style narration. The two movies screening at Tribeca focus on racecar driver Danica Patrick and quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Andrea Nevins directs “Play It Forward,” which focuses on a single football season for both Gonzalez and his brother, who never achieved his own football ambitions. Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz exec produce, with producer Cristan Reilly.
Eva Longoria, Spike Lee and Nate Silver are on board for post-screening events during the festival, which also will include sports-centric features already announced including “”Gored, »
- Gordon Cox
Kevin Hart to Receive CinemaCon’s Comedy Star of the Year Award
3 hours ago
Kevin Hart will receive the comedy star of the year award at CinemaCon, the upcoming exhibition industry conference.
The comic star has emerged as one of the movie business’s most reliable box office draws, stringing together such hits as “Ride Along,” “The Wedding Ringer” and “Think Like a Man.” He’s also been wildly prolific, appearing in more than a half dozen movies over the past two years.
Hart will next appear opposite Will Ferrell in this March’s “Get Hard” and next year brings a sequel to “Ride Along.”
Hart will pick up his award at CinemaCon’s awards ceremony on Thursday, April 23, at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
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- Brent Lang
‘American Sniper’s’ Robert Lorenz Signs First Look Deal with WB; Sets New Film with Jason Hall (Exclusive)
4 hours ago
Following the success of “American Sniper,” Warner Bros. is looking to stay in business with each of the major players that were involved with the film, and producer Robert Lorenz seems to be next in line to reap the benefits of the film’s accolades.
Sources tell Variety that Lorenz has signed a two-year first-look deal with the studio under the company name Stonehouse Motion Pictures and has set an untitled military ops thriller as his first project under that banner.
Lorenz, “American Sniper” writer Jason Hall and producer Peter Morgan will develop and produce the film, which follows a group of a group of military operatives who uncover an imminent threat within the U.S. Vlas & Charley Parlapanides and Scott Charnick are writing the script. Warner Bros. has also optioned a script by former Navy Seal Travis Lively and Richard Ware in connection with the project.
Lorenz will also direct the pic, »
- Justin Kroll
Ellen Barkin on ‘The Cobbler’ and Why New York is a City for Billionaires
5 hours ago
Ellen Barkin embodies the forces of gentrification in “The Cobbler,” Tom McCarthy’s new comedy about the changing face of New York City.
It’s a role that Barkin, whose whiskey voice still betrays a hint of her Big Apple upbringing, has spent a life preparing for by observing the changes to the city she still calls home.
“It’s a big f—ing deal what’s happening across the country and in big cities like L.A. and New York,” she said. “They’re not even cities for millionaires any more. They’re cities for billionaires. When real estate is $4,000 a square foot it changes everything about a city.”
“The Cobbler” opens this Friday and centers on a Lower East Side shoe repairman (Adam Sandler) who discovers he can assume the identities of his clients when he slips on their footwear. Barkin plays an unscrupulous real estate developer who »
- Brent Lang
Film Review: ‘Danny Collins’
5 hours ago
With his tufts of gravity-defying, shoe-polish hair and burnt-orange tan, Al Pacino has been sporting the look of a glammer-than-thou aging rock star for so long now that it’s only fitting he’s finally gotten around to playing one — which he does, exceedingly well, in “Danny Collins.” For his directorial debut, screenwriter Dan Fogelman has crafted a familiar late-in-life redemption narrative, made surprisingly palatable by Pacino’s winning comic bravado, a superb supporting cast, and currents of real feeling that cut through the expected bromides about the emptiness of fortune and fame. Though it’s unlikely to score quite the same home run with the Social Security crowd as the Fogelman-scripted “Last Vegas” did ($134 million worldwide), this March 20 opener should leave the staff of new distributor Bleecker Street humming a happy tune.
This is the second time in a year that Pacino has played a celebrated star in the throes of an identity crisis. »
- Scott Foundas
Im Global Hires Weinstein Veteran Michael Rothstein
7 hours ago
Im Global has hired Michael Rothstein to be president of international sales and distribution.
Rothstein was formerly president of international at the Weinstein Company, where he served from its inception in 2005 until 2013.
Rothstein will oversee a sales operation spanning offices in Los Angeles, London, Beijing and Mexico City. The Im Global slate encompasses 12-15 Hollywood titles per year as well as sales on eight to 10 Chinese language and Bollywood films annually through the company’s Anthem label.
Rothstein will also serve as a board member of Latin American joint venture Mundial which handles six to eight Latino films per year. He will also be active in licensing the company’s library of approximately 250 titles.
Rothstein was a sales executive at Miramax Films from 1997 to 2004. He was responsible for the international sale and distribution of “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” “Chicago” and “Finding Neverland.”
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- Dave McNary
Daniel MacPherson’s Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Infini’ Bought for North America
7 hours ago
Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Shane Abbess’ sci-fi thriller “Infini,” starring Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang, Luke Hemsworth, Bren Foster and Luke Ford, Variety has learned exclusively.
Vertical plans to release the film in theaters day-and-date on May 8.
The story centers on a search and rescue team that is transported through deep space in the 23rd century to a distant mining colony to save the sole survivor of a biological outbreak. During their mission, they find a lethal weapon that is set to arrive on Earth within the hour.
Abbess directed from his own script. Producers are Abbess, Sidonie Abbene, Matthew Graham, and Brett Thornquest, with executive producers Brian Cachia and Steven Matusko.
Production companies are Storm Vision Entertainment, Eclectik Vision, and Storm Alley Entertainment.
MacPherson is the host of the Australian version of “Dancing With the Stars” and his credits include “City Homicide” and “Wild Boys.”
Vertical »
- Dave McNary
Mexican Movies Show Broader Success in 2014
7 hours ago
Guadalajara, Mexico — Mexican films held onto double-digit market share in 2014, taking 10% of ticket purchases, with eight local films selling more than a million tickets each.
Mexico’s box office pulled in a total of 11.237 billion pesos ($725.3 million) in 2014, 5% down from the 11.860 billion pesos ($765.6 million, in current currency terms) taken in 2013 when Mexico’s market share hit 12%, ignited by heartwarmers “We Are the Nobles” and the very boffo “Instructions Not Included,” which together represented 22 million of the 30 million tickets sold that year.
Last year’s s bottom line was that it showed broader success for Mexico’s industry, if local fare lacked box office breakout smashes.
Last year’s top domestic grosser was Luis Estrada’s politically charged dark comedy “The Perfect Dictatorship,” which bowed in October to win 189.2 million pesos ($12.2 million), putting it at No. 4 in the all-time take for a Mexican film, with runner-up Marco Polo Constandse’s romcom »
- James Young
Reliance Entertainment, Phantom Films Sign Joint Venture Deal
7 hours ago
London — Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment has signed a 50:50 joint venture with Phantom Films, a production house backed by filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena.
The joint venture will develop and produce five to six films every year, distribute them in India and internationally and also syndicate rights from their combined 175-film library. The venture will be managed by Phantom.
Reliance Entertainment has not had an easy time of it at the Bollywood box office with Hindi releases “Hawaizaada” and “Besharam” failing. In February, CEO Sanjeev Lamba revealed that the company was going on a hiatus in order to regroup and come up with a new strategy.
Phantom had box office successes in 2014 with “Queen” and “Hasee Toh Phasee.” Upcoming releases include “NH10,” “Bombay Velvet,” “Shaandaar” and “Ghoomketu.”
Reliance group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said in a statement: “We are delighted to partner with »
- Naman Ramachandran
Film Review: ‘Home Sweet Hell’
8 hours ago
Considering how often Katherine Heigl has been slammed for not being just another docile, eager-to-please female celebrity, it’s hard not to suspect that she might have relished the chance to play an unapologetically ball-busting shrew — a grotesquely exaggerated version of a stereotype she’s been assigned many times over. Indeed, Heigl’s performance as a coolly murderous model housewife is the only real reason to even consider watching “Home Sweet Hell,” an otherwise flailing and risible tale of adultery, extortion and suburban malaise that suggests a poor woman’s “Gone Girl” — one stripped of all tension, style and subtext, and instead rendered with a level of over-the-top gore that would give even David Fincher pause. Already out on VOD ahead of its March 13 theatrical release, this dismal stab at a darkly comic thriller is hardly the vehicle to resuscitate its lead actress’s bigscreen career, but it’s unlikely »
- Justin Chang
Salma Hayek Closes Women of the World Festival, Presents ‘The Prophet’
10 hours ago
London — Actress-producer Salma Hayek capped off the Women of the World Festival at London’s Southbank Center on Sunday, delivering an empowering message to women from all walks of life, after presenting animated pic “The Prophet,” which she produced.
Hayek spoke of how the world “has been created by systems designed for men,” and constantly reiterated that women need to fight to break down barriers in their lives.
“The Prophet” is an animated movie inspired by Kahlil Gibran’s poetry essays, in which each poem is presented by a different form of animation.
Hayek said of the film: “It’s a unique film experience, a childish story that takes you on a journey — a journey inside yourself.”
She admitted that the concept of the film had made it very difficult to sell, although she is no stranger to making films out of the ordinary. “I only do impossible films,” she said, »
- Alastair Pusinelli
‘Expendables 2′ Director Simon West Teams with Carnaby on Action-Comedy ‘Salty’
10 hours ago
London — London-based Carnaby Sales & Distribution has boarded Simon West’s action-comedy “Salty” as worldwide sales agent. West’s credits include “Con Air,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Expendables 2.”
The production, which West describes as “The Hangover” meets “Get Him to the Greek,” is in final negotiations with an A-list cast and pre-sales have already been secured with distributors in several major territories, Carnaby said. Pic will start to shoot later this year.
The film follows an ageing rock star, and reformed sex addict, who is persuaded to take a holiday by his wife, a former supermodel. Things take a turn for the worse when she’s kidnapped by Thai pirates raising money to buy a new boat.
The screenplay, which is adapted from Mark Haskell Smith’s novel, is written by Haskell Smith (TV series “Star Trek Voyager” and “The Magnificent Seven”) and Toby Davies (“The Mitchell and Webb Look, »
- Leo Barraclough
Film Review: ‘Straight Outta Tompkins’
10 hours ago
The personal doesn’t feel especially persuasive in “Straight Outta Tompkins,” 22-year-old writer-director-star Zephyr Benson’s semi-autobiographical drama about the relentless downward spiral of a teenage junkie/dealer adrift on the Lower East Side. Imagining what might have happened if his own youthful experiences using and selling drugs had taken a much darker, more extreme turn, Benson displays more energy and assurance behind the camera than he does in front of it; even still, his tonal command of his own narrative is wobbly at best, employing cynical humor and climactic eruptions of violence to jazz up what is ultimately an overly earnest and predictable cautionary tale. Although not without promise, the film (which opened March 6 in limited release) likely proved more cathartic for its maker than it will be for those who seek it out.
A scene in which young Gene (Benson) tries to fill out a life-goals questionnaire provides »
- Justin Chang
Jude Law in Talks to Play U.S. Pope in Paolo Sorrentino TV Series (Report)
14 hours ago
Jude Law is reportedly in advanced negotiations to play the lead role in Italian Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s high-concept TV series, working-titled “The Young Pope,” about an imaginary pontiff who is the first Italian-American pope in history.
Italian media is abuzz with unconfirmed news that Sorrentino has found his pope and Law is on board. Wildside, the Italian shingle that is producing the skein, has issed a “no comment.”
Law would play a hard-line conservative American pontiff recruited by a Vatican fed up with liberals, co-scribe Tony Grisoni recently told Variety. “No one, even at the Vatican, is prepared for how hard-line this American pope really is,” he said.
Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani’s Wildside are producing in collaboration with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia paybox which will air the show in Italy.
Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”) and his co-writers, Umberto Contarello, Stefano Rulli and Grisoni, have finalized »
- Nick Vivarelli
China’s Dmg Buys Into Valiant Comic Book Slate
18 hours ago
Dmg, the Chinese and Us film production group, is to take an equity stake in independent comic book company Valiant Entertainment. It plans to adapt Valiant’s characters into movie franchises.
The company said that the deal is “a new partnership to span motion pictures, television, publishing, and licensing that will culminate in the big screen debut of Valiant’s universe of characters in theaters around the world.”
“Today marks one of Valiant’s biggest milestones yet with a huge step towards bringing the Valiant characters to the big screen and forging the foundation of the first truly international cinematic universe,” said Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani in a statement.
Dmg, which was an investor and co-producer of Disney/Marvel’s “Iron Man 3”, says it has made “an eight-figure (Usd) series C round of equity investment into Valiant,” which the company will use to further its efforts in international publishing, »
- Patrick Frater
20 articles