Variety

On Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart took aim at Michigan congresswoman Haley Stevens and her 11th-hour switch to endorse Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Stewart spent much of the segment trying to trace how Stevens’ change of heart could have happened, given that […]

Disney is gearing up for a significant round of layoffs, with some managers told to cut expenses by 20% on an annualized basis, Bloomberg News reported. It would be the fourth round of job cuts in 2026 under Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro and affect the most number of staffers. The Bloomberg report, which cited anonymous […]

Beloved independent filmmaker Tsukamoto Shinya gave a masterclass at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), speaking about the pivotal works of his career as well as his most recent film, the English-language feature “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” Perhaps most famous overseas for his 1989 feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man,” Tsukamoto spoke candidly […]

Elena Maganini, a TV and film editor who won an Emmy for cutting the pilot for “Dexter” and edited several films for director John McNaughton, died Oct. 21 in Burbank of complications from breast cancer. She was 70. Born in Chicago, she graduated from the U. of Illinois and studied filmmaking at Columbia College in […]

Cynthia Nixon is standing by her “Sex and the City” character Miranda Hobbes’ arc in the chaotic reboot “And Just Like That” — despite how bewildering some fans found it. In a recent interview with The New York Times, the actress explained that despite the fact that the show’s viewers “were so horrified by [Miranda’s] […]

Exploring the relationship between people and place, new documentary “Okinawa Saudade,” playing at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival as part of its Nippon Cinema Now selection, was born from director Matsubayashi Yoju’s time with a Brazilian community of Okinawan immigrants some 10 years ago. The film zooms in on the latest generation of Okinawan […]

Nine Inch Nails principals and veteran film composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are once again teaming up to provide the score for David Fincher’s new film “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” marking their sixth collaboration with Fincher on one of his movies. News of Reznor and Ross’ score was revealed on the poster […]

A new screenwriting lab in India wants to steer the country’s horror films away from ghost stories and horror-comedy hybrids. Independent outfit Platoon One Films will pick 15 writers for a three-month program built around original genre scripts. The Platoon One Horror Lab will run entirely online, and each of the 15 participants will bring […]

Sidney Prescott will return for “Scream 8.” Neve Campbell confirmed that she will reprise her role as the ultimate final girl after Sidney survived her latest run-in with the Ghostface-masked killers in “Scream 7.” The 2025 movie was a major box office success, tallying the 30-year-old franchise’s biggest opening ever ($97.2 million worldwide) and ultimately […]

A new Japanese anime awards program will be called the Nippon Anime Awards, with the first ceremony set for Nov. 21, 2027, at SGC Hall Ariake in Tokyo’s Ariake district. The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the industry body behind the prize, announced the name on Nov. 2 at Tokyo Tatemono Brillia Hall. The reveal […]

Watching Congresswoman Haley Stevens attempt to explain her 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers over her fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Tuesday’s election to become the next United States Senator from Michigan, my primary feeling was one of relief. Thank God this person didn’t beat El-Sayed in the primary, despite outspending him in a landslide. […]

Bollywood filmmaker Vikas Bahl has finished filming in the U.K. on “Bolo Bolo Bolo,” a coming-of-age musical drama set during the boom in Punjabi music across Britain in the early 1990s. Jimmy Shergill, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Mona Singh and Alizeh lead the cast. Katha Studios is producing the film alongside Good Co, Fusion Flicks and Monk […]

Chinese artist and filmmaker Sun Xun never expected “Magic Atlas” to become the first animated feature selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival’s competition. “I never thought of ‘Magic Atlas’ as an animated film. To me, it brings together many art forms. Animation is simply the label we use for its form. I’m glad people […]

Unlike his HBO network-mate Bill Maher, who’s been embroiled in a bizarre pissing match with his dinner-mate Donald Trump, John Oliver has been laser-focused on the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Just last week, Oliver dedicated the bulk of “Last Week Tonight” to exposing the disturbing ties between MAGA midterm candidates and neo-Nazis. And Sunday night, […]

Constantin Film and Sony Pictures’ horror reboot “Resident Evil” secured its fourth consecutive weekend at number one across mainland China, grossing RMB28.5 million ($4.3 million) over the Oct. 30–Nov. 1 frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Since launching during the Golden Week corridor on Oct. 5, the video game adaptation has generated a cumulative […]

A lack of funding, and ignorance in the institutions that control it, keeps women at an inherent disadvantage in the film industry, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat said at a Tokyo International Film Festival talk on the future of women’s cinema. “The discrimination did not start at the festival, but it started at the development level,” […]

Dave Bautista is once again showing off his muscle gains ahead of stepping into the role of Kratos for the highly anticipated “God of War” series. The “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor last gave fans a glimpse into his transformation two months ago, saying he’d begun weight training again but still had time “to get […]

Jakarta World Cinema aims to bring back its First Feature Competition next year, open to filmmakers from around the world and judged by an international jury. This year’s edition did not accept submissions. The competition was put on hold because of the difficulty of assembling an international jury. “[Previously] we’ve only had Indonesian judges,” festival […]

Dustin Hoffman, who shot to fame after starring as Ben Braddock in Mike Nichols’ classic film “The Graduate,” has opened up about his experience shooting the 1967 comedy-drama in a recent essay for The New Yorker, which he described as having been a “terrible experience” despite the fact that the movie changed his life. “I […]

Marty Erlichman, the entertainment manager who discovered Barbra Streisand and managed her for more than six decades, died on Saturday of age-related causes. He was 97. “To the world, he was a giant of Hollywood; to us, he was a deeply devoted and loving father, husband, grandfather, and rock,” Erlichman’s family wrote in a statement. […]