The Challenge

A-lister Manoj Bajpayee, one of the few Indian actors who scores critical acclaim and commercial success in equal measure, has notched up another triumph with ZEE5 Global film “Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.” Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki (Prime Video series “Flames”) and written by Deepak Kingrani (Disney+ Hotstar series…

Taking a cue from the movie’s soon-to-be-infamous spanking scene between Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, someone ought to paddle whoever let Martin Scorsese take three and a half hours to retell “Killers of the Flower Moon.” You could read David Grann’s page-turner — about an audacious 1920s conspiracy to…

Purpose and character. These are now solidly enshrined as the buzzwords of copyright law on the heels of the Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling earlier this week in the case involving the estate of Andy Warhol and photographer Lynn Goldsmith. The decision at first blush seemed to be a clear-cut win…

Big changes are afoot in Peru, thanks to Paramount’s mega-budgeted “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” which shot there in 2021, literally saving hundreds of jobs badly hit by a six-month pan- demic lockdown. With street protests now a distant memory, talks are underway to address concerns that will make Peru…

On March 10, 1998, the first DVD from a brand-new website called NetFlix.com was dropped in the mail. The movie was 1988’s “Beetlejuice,” from director Tim Burton with a cast that included a teenage Winona Ryder, who nearly 20 years later would be tapped to star in the series that…

Prolific German director Jo Baier has officially signed on to write and direct the thriller “Life Through a Dead Man’s Eyes,” about an aging Nazi war criminal on the run from prosecution. The film, produced by Berlin-based Films In Motion in co-production with Banijay’s NL Film in Amsterdam, tells the…

When it comes to entertainment marketing, TikTok is the new “ground zero.” That was among the views expressed by a panel of five top film and TV marketing executives held Wednesday as part of Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit at the One Hotel in West Hollywood. The lively conversation, moderated by…

The best received of Spanish series at last month’s Málaga Festival, “Nights in Tefía” (“Las Noches de Tefía”) hit the festival with already strong buzz. The latest from Spain’s Buendía Estudios and SVOD service Atresplayer Premium whose titles also include “Veneno” and “Cardo,” “Nights in Tefía” proved a critics’ favourite.…

A Canneseries and MipTV world premiere screening, Canal+ crime thriller “The Brigade” kicks off with an event that has fuelled the modern-day nightmares of France: the terrorist attacks on Bataclan.  Patrick Prigent, who heads up a Paris unit of Brigade de recherche et d’intervention (BRI), an elite police unit, receives…

Cannes Film Festival’s longtime director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety following the announcement of this year’s lineup, which includes a bevy of star-studded period movies, including Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Firebrand” and Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest.” Along with a raft of…

The “Slow Motion” rapper seemingly had never heard of the popular Tiny Desk Concert series.

SPOILER ALERT: This interview discusses gargantuan plot developments in “Connor’s Wedding,” Season 4, Episode 3 of “Succession,” now streaming on HBO Max. Many devotees of “Succession” assumed that sometime during its final season, the show’s patriarch Logan Roy — a businessman of unparalleled brilliance, and a churlish father, who loves…