Tag: film
Black Phone 2’ Mastermind Joe Hill on How He Came Up With The Grabber’s Return and What a Sequel Could Look Like
By William Earl
According To The variety SPOILER ALERT: This article contains very light spoilers about “Black Phone 2,” now playing in theaters.
The minute Joe Hill saw The Grabber’s mask, he knew “The Black Phone” could become a franchise.
“The mask was crafted by Tom Savini and Jason Baker,” Hill says. “I saw the mask with its swappable mouths: Sometimes the devil face is grinning, sometimes it’s frowning, and sometimes he has no mouth at all. I saw that mask and thought, ‘Oh, I think there’s gonna be a whole bunch of these movies.’ It struck me as instantly iconic in the way Freddy Krueger’s glove is iconic, in the way Michael Myers’ mask is iconic. I thought, ‘This is nightmare fuel, and people are going to want a lot of it.’ I thought he had the potential to b...
Spamflix to Revive Brazil’s Cult ‘Cinema of Desire’ (EXCLUSIVE)
By Lise Pedersen
According To The variety Cult film outfit Spamflix will launch the Cinema of Desire at the Marché International du Film Classique (MIFC) in Lyon, an ambitious restoration project in collaboration with the Cinemateca Brasileira that reclaims a missing piece of Brazilian film history.
The Lisbon-based platform is presenting the 4K restoration of “The Magic Eye of Love” (“O Olho Mágico do Amor,” 1982), the first in a trilogy by Ícaro Martins and José Antonio Garcia, within the MIFC’s Re>Birth program – a showcase for heritage titles seeking restoration and distribution partners.
“This is the first market where we are showing the project, and it’s very special,” Spamflix co-founder Julia Duarte told Variety. “These films were part of a mo...
Chloé Zhao on Why Hollywood Is ‘Not Very Good at Preserving the Language of Ambiguity’ and How Neurodivergence Is Her ‘Superpower’ in Filmmaking
By Ellise Shafer
According To The variety During a conversation at London Film Festival on Sunday, Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao got candid about Hollywood, the difficulty of financing films, how neurodivergence has impacted her storytelling and more.
Zhao’s devastating historical drama “Hamnet” — about the personal tragedy that led to the creation of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley — held its European premiere at the festival on Saturday night, where it was welcomed with plenty of emotion (and a surprise appearance from producer Steven Spielberg). Speaking about making the film, Zhao said that the experience made her “very passionate about rediscovering and remembering some older ways of storytelling that have been forgotten...
Box Office: ‘Tron: Ares’ Hits the Grid With $14.3 Million Opening Day, Channing Tatum’s ‘Roofman’ Raises $3.2 Million in Second
By J. Kim Murphy
According To The variety Disney’s “Tron: Ares” will light up the top of the box office in its debut, though the sci-fi entry is coming in dimmer than its projections. Meanwhile, the Channing Tatum caper “Roofman” looks headed for a second place bow.
The “Tron” threequel earned $14.3 million across Friday and previews from 4,000 venues (that includes early access screenings on Wednesday ahead of the wider traditional Thursday rollout.) Pre-weekend tracking had forecast a debut north of $45 million — a range that’s now likely well out of reach. It’s also pacing behind the prior series entry “Tron: Legacy,” which nabbed a $17.5 million opening day in 2010 on its way to a $44 million first frame. Reviews have been mediocre for “Ares,” while audiences were slightly more p...
Mark Hamill on ‘The Life of Chuck,’ His ‘Star Wars’ Legacy, and How AI Actors Are ‘Terrible, Ghastly, Ghoulish…and Weird’
By Clayton Davis
According To The variety Mark Hamill has spent nearly five decades in the spotlight, but the actor insists he’s still learning to disappear.
“The definition of a character actor is an actor that disappears, and you see only the character,” Hamill says about his role in Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck,” which won the Toronto International Film Festival Audience Award in 2024 before being acquired by Neon.
In Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, Hamill plays an aging accountant — an intimate and surprising departure from the larger-than-life characters that made him famous, such as Luke Skywalker from the “Star Wars” series. The film, which stars Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan, explores memory, mortality and the marks we leave ...
Marty Supreme’ Gets Huge Standing Ovation as Timothée Chalamet Salutes NYFF Premiere: ‘I Went to High School Down the Street’
By Michaela Zee
According To The variety Timothée Chalamet made a surprise appearance at the 63rd New York Film Festival on Monday night for a secret screening of “Marty Supreme.”
Introduced by director Josh Safdie, Chalamet briefly addressed the audience before the film began.
“This movie — in many ways, beyond being about Marty Mauser — is a love letter to New York,” Chalamet said on stage, adding that he was “so thrilled” to debut his latest film in the city.
“I went to high school down the street,” Chalamet said, referring to LaGuardia High School. “This is fucking awesome to be here.” Set in the 1950s, the A24 sports dramedy follows young table-tennis prodigy Marty Mauser (Chalamet) as he chases his dream of becoming a champion.
“Marty Supreme” received a stan...