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Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” can claim the biggest opening weekend of this young calendar year. The Disney release ripped into $40 million across Friday and preview screenings from 4,105 locations. That already clears the record-holding $36 million debut of Universal’s “Dog Man.” It also keeps “Brave New World” on track with projections for a four-day opening north of $90 million through the extended Presidents Day holiday frame.

Industry eyes are on “Brave New World,” the 34th feature entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to see how it matches up to previous franchise heights. This rollout comes off of the November 2023 launch of “The Marvels”: a rare Marvel money-loser in theaters and the lowest-grossing installment in the series ($206 million globally). Marvel Studios bounced back last summer with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which earned $1.3 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing R-rated feature ever. But that production hailed from intellectual property that Disney...

Nearly 40 years after The Goonies, a sequel to the 1985 film is in the works.

Warner Bros. has tapped Potsy Ponciroli to write the forthcoming sequel. Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus will return to produce the film with Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario for Amblin Entertainment. Lauren Shuler Donner will executive produce. No director has been attached to the new project.

Based on Steven Spielberg’s original story, The Goonies was helmed by Richard Donner with a screenplay by Columbus. The movie follows a group of children who embark on a treasure hunt in hopes of saving their homes from being sold and destroyed by a property development company. The film proved successful at the box office at the time, earning $125 million worldwide, but more notably became a monumental pop culture reference, renowned for its beloved characters and iconic catchphrases, including “Goonies never say die!”

The original film starred a young Josh Brolin,...

Captain America: Brave New World landed $12 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office as Marvel Studios attempts to reboot the franchise with an entirely new cast — and deliver a solid swing for Marvel Studios.

That puts the year’s first tentpole to open to $90 million-plus over the four-day Valentine’s Day/Presidents Day weekend, one of the top showings ever for the holiday and in line with pre-release tracking. That’s the same weekend the first Deadpool opened, as well as Marvel’s Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania, which debuted to $120 million over the three-day Presidents Day weekend in 2023 after earning $17.5 million in previews.

For the three days, Brave New World is expected to earn $80 million-plus. It’s preview gross is not too far behind such films as Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and the first Ant Man and the Wasp. (Quantamania did $17.5 million in previews.

For people wanting a bit more horror on their Valentine’s Day, Peacock has a bloody good announcement for you: Robert Eggers’ hit film “Nosferatu” will begin streaming on the service on Feb. 21.

Eggers’ extended cut of “Nosferatu,” which was never seen in theaters before, will also be available on Peacock.

Bill Skarsgard stars as Count Orlok, aka the titular vampire in Eggers’ re-telling of the classic story. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney and more.

“Nosferatu” is nominated for four Academy Awards, including best cinematography, costume design, production design and makeup and hairstyling. At the BAFTA Awards, it’s up for the same four categories plus original music. It previously won best cinematography at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the National Board of Review.

“The costumes, the sets and the uncommonly elegant effects, all handsomely captured by...

The second of “Yellowstone” Season 5 will finally begin streaming in March.

Beginning Sunday, March 16, “Yellowstone” Season 5 Part 2 will begin streaming exclusively on Peacock, making all then entire series available to stream on Peacock.

The streaming date comes nearly three months after “Yellowstone” concluded its fifth season, with its Season 5 finale airing on Paramount Network on Dec. 15. “Yellowstone” returned to air Season 5 Part 2 on Sunday, Nov. 10 after a nearly two-year break between the end of the first half of Season 5.

Since Season 5 Part 2 began airing in November, there has been no place to stream “Yellowstone,” unless viewers buy episodes on other streaming platforms. Despite being a Paramount Network show, “Yellowstone” has a streaming deal with Peacock, which was established prior to the creation of Paramount+.

It still remains unclear whether Season 5 is the final season of “Yellowstone” after Paramount advertised the Season 5 finale as a “special season finale event,” though the...

After the Hunt has tracked down a prime awards season slot from Amazon MGM Studios.

Director Luca Guadagnino’s thriller feature is set to launch in limited theatrical release on Oct. 10, with the film expanding its theater count the following week. Julia Roberts leads a cast that includes Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny.

Also set for nationwide release on Oct. 17, when After the Hunt is scheduled to go wide, are Universal’s horror sequel The Black Phone 2 and Lionsgate’s Aziz Ansari-directed comedy Good Fortune that stars Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer.

Hailing from Imagine Entertainment, After the Hunt focuses on a college professor (Roberts) who is forced to confront her own dark past when a prominent student (Edebiri) makes an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield).

Guadagnino helmed the movie from a script by Nora Garrett. Serving as producers are Guadagnino,...

The live-action “Dungeons & Dragons” TV series has found new life.

Variety has confirmed with sources that a new iteration of the project is currently in development at Netflix. There had previously been a “DnD” series set up at Paramount+ with a series order, but that project ultimately did not move forward due to strategic shifts at Paramount as well as the sale of co-studio eOne by Hasbro. Hasbro Entertainment is also producing the new project.

The series is currently titled “The Forgotten Realms,” named after the famous “DnD” campaign setting. Drew Crevello, who was previously attached as the showrunner of the Paramount+ project,...

Amazon MGM Studios and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine have cast Lexi Minetree (The Murdaugh Murders) in the role of “Elle Woods” to lead its upcoming Legally Blonde prequel series.

As Deadline reported exclusively earlier this week, Minetree was one of the finalists competing for the role originally played by Witherspoon in the hit romantic comedy Legally Blonde (2001) and its sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003).

Elle follows Elle Woods in high school as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the first Legally Blonde film.

Creator Laura Kittrell is co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Caroline Dries. Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, Lauren Kisilevsky, and Marc Platt also serve as executive producers.

“The Substance” and “Queer” distributor Mubi is continuing its acquisition streak, picking up “The History of Sound,” the anticipated gay romance drama starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, for North America. Focus Features and Universal Pictures International, meanwhile, have acquired international rights for the film.

Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the feature finished production earlier this year. Mubi says it’s planning a theatrical release for 2025, following a world premiere to be announced in the coming months.

Announced back in 2021, “The History of Sound” became the first project Mescal shot after his starring role in “Gladiator II” and follows two young men, Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor), in the shadows of WWI who are determined to record the lives, voices and music of Americans. As they begin to log the events, the two fall in love.

The film was penned by Ben Shattuck, adapted from his own award-winning short story.

“Euphoria” officially started production on Season 3 this week, with a few new fresh faces.

Grammy winning artist Rosalía, Super Bowl champ Marshawn Lynch and “A Different World” star Kadeem Hardison have joined the cast of the hit high school drama, HBO announced on X. Other new cast members include Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Toby Wallace, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Priscilla Delgado, James Landry Hébert and Anna Van Patten.

Most of the main cast is returning, including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie and Maude Apatow. Martha Kelly and Chloe Cherry have both been upped to series regulars. Colman Domingo is also returning as a guest star.

Nika King, Austin Abrams and Algee Smith are missing from HBO’s list of returning cast members as well as Storm Reid, who said in November that her character, Rue’s sister Gia, would not be featured in upcoming episodes. Barbie Ferreira, who played Kat,...

Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López, who directed and co-wrote all six episodes of the fourth season of the HBO anthology crime series True Detective (a season that’s known as True Detective: Night Country), is coming back to do another season of the show – and HBO’s Head of Drama Series and Film Francesca Orsi has just revealed the setting for True Detective season 5 to Deadline!

Orsi told Deadline that season 5 is “set in New York, in Jamaica Bay. Issa has a lot to say, not unlike she did with Night Country. It’s a different milieu but just as powerful.” In case you’re not familiar with Jamaica Bay, it’s “an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural.”

Casting on the new season is already...

Exclusive: Oscar, BAFTA and Tony Award-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones has landed her next high-profile TV project, an adaptation of Aidan Truhen’s “gonzo thriller” The Price You Pay.

Zeta-Jones is starring in and producing Kill Jackie [working title], in which the novel’s lead Jack has switched from man to woman for the TV version. The series is for Prime Video, Fremantle and Steel Springs Pictures. Amazon has rights in several European territories including the UK, Ireland and Germany, while Fremantle is selling around the world bar the U.S.

In Kill Jackie, which will roll cameras next month, Zeta-Jones is Jackie Price, who has lived a wealthy, luxurious existence for the last 20 years – travelling the world, selling fine art using sophisticated tax loopholes and, above all, trying to stay anonymous after escaping a dangerous past as an international cocaine dealer. But just as life starts to feel a little boring, it takes...

Maya Hawke is giving insight into a possible stipulation for actors when auditioning for roles and looking back on the harsh criticism she once received from a producer.

While sitting down for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Stranger Things star reflected on how “the line between actor and celebrity has gotten extremely blurry” in the age of social media and that some producers may cast someone based on their follower count.

“What I always wanted to be is an actor where the work is what the draw is, not the personhood. But the industry keeps changing, and you have to change with it and understand that all of these things are getting blurred,” she explained.

Though she noted that there are “wonderful, incredible actors” she admires and “whose personalities we all know very well,” many are left to just figure “out the footing in these changing times of social...

Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” can claim the biggest opening weekend of this young calendar year. The Disney release ripped into $40 million across Friday and preview screenings from 4,105 locations. That already clears the record-holding $36 million debut of Universal’s “Dog Man.” It also keeps “Brave New World” on track with projections for a four-day opening north of $90 million through the extended Presidents Day holiday frame.

Industry eyes are on “Brave New World,” the 34th feature entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to see how it matches up to previous franchise heights. This rollout comes off of the November 2023 launch of “The Marvels”: a rare Marvel money-loser in theaters and the lowest-grossing installment in the series ($206 million globally). Marvel Studios bounced back last summer with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which earned $1.3 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing R-rated feature ever. But that production hailed from intellectual property that Disney...

Jessica Chastain said her latest film “Dreams,” a drama that centers on immigration between Mexico and the U.S., is “incredibly political” — but she’s “not going to give up on my country.”

Directed by Michel Franco and premiering in competition at Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, “Dreams” stars Chastain as Jennifer, a wealthy philanthropist who falls for Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young Mexican ballet dancer who crosses the border into the U.S. — leaving everything he knows behind and narrowly escaping death — in order to be with her.

During the film’s press conference, Chastain said “Dreams” is “incredibly political because of what’s happening right now in the United States,” seemingly referring to President Donald Trump’s restricted policies on immigration that include mass deportations of undocumented people. She continued that the film explores “this relationship between the United States and Mexico and how, in some sense, they...

Rupert Friend is heading into the Berlinale a little anxious.

The British actor, a veteran of the industry with major roles in Homeland, Pride & Prejudice and, most recently, Drew Hancock’s buzzy thriller Companion, was only a “whip of a thing” when Chéri premiered in competition at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.

“I was 25 and it was probably my first big lead role,” the now-43-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “From the first 20 seconds, you just felt the audience… lean back. The movie finished and it was the sound of one, slow clap. I just died.”

After this “bombing” of Stephen Frears’ Colette adaptation, Friend was a little wary of the spotlight. It impacted him for a long time after, he confesses, even though he landed the part of a key character in the wildly successful Showtime series Homeland shortly after.

It’s only right that Friend returns to Berlin with a vengeance: not one,...

Multi-Oscar-winning South Korean director Bong Joon Ho glided into the snow-blanketed Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday to unveil his long-in-the-making sci-fi feature Mickey 17 — and it wasn’t long before the international media in the German capital probed the auteur about the relevance of his new movie to the world’s politically fraught present. Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as a down-and-out space colonist living in a high-tech dystopia overseen by a dictator played by Mark Ruffalo with signature relish.

“Some of the people I took as a reference were some of Korea’s bad leaders of the past, or dictators from elsewhere, but I didn’t use any actual politicians from today,” Bong said in response to a journalist’s question about whether some of Ruffalo’s flamboyant gestures were intended as a reference to President Doland Trump. “I created this character in a comical way by drawing inspiration from past figures,...

With only a trio of films under her belt, writer-director Léonor Serraille has carved her own special niche within the overcrowded world of French arthouse cinema. Her 2017 breakthrough, Montparnasse Bienvenüe, won Cannes’ prestigious Camera d’Or while confirming the rising status of its lead actress, Laetitia Dosch. Her second effort, the moving and underrated immigrant drama Mother and Son, premiered in Cannes’ main competition, but never quite gained traction abroad.

And while Seraille’s third feature, the partially improvised, shot-on-the-fly character study, Ari, feels in many ways like a more minor effort compared to the others, it continues to showcase the director’s ability to coax strong performances out of both amateur and confirmed actors — including the film’s arresting lead, Andaric Manet.

A sort of male companion piece to Montparnasse Bienvenüe, which chronicled the roller coaster life of a young woman scraping by in the City of Lights, Ari...

Day 3 at the Berlin Film Festival was chilly and very pretty in pink.

Timothée Chalamet fired up the Berlinale on Friday by donning a cotton candy-colored hoodie and matching tank top. The “A Complete Unknown” star thoroughly charmed festival attendees. Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeth writes about the Chalamet effect and what it means as film awards season heads into the final stretch. Where Chalamet goes, “the entire scene is electric, and it caps off one of the most gonzo best actor campaigns in Oscar history,” Setoodeh observes.

Variety‘s Nick Vivarelli writes about the poignant moment that the festival represents for Israeli director Tom Shoval. His documentary “A Letter to David” is his way of processing the fact that his friend David Cunio –- who starred in his first feature “Youth” –- is one of the more than 250 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. As for why the...

Perhaps no one is more excited about the Berlinale than Fiona Shaw.

The Irish actress is no stranger to the German capital — she’s directed a performance at the city’s opera house, Deutsche Oper Berlin — but it is a first appearance at the film festival.

“I’m just going to see everything I can see in any moment I’m not needed by the press,” Shaw, famed for roles in Harry Potter, Jane Eyre and Killing Eve, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m excited that a festival exists in which a lot of people are going to turn up in order to see films. I just admire that that is still what we do.”

This year, attendees will be turning up to see Shaw as the wheelchair-bound Rose in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut, Hot Milk. Based on the bestselling novel by Deborah Levy, (though, as Shaw points out,...

Robert Pattinson had a revelation during the Berlin Film Festival press conference for Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17”: He based one of his wacky accents in the movie off of Steve Buscemi’s “Fargo” character.

In the sci-fi comedy, Pattinson plays the down-on-his-luck Mickey Barnes, who signs up to be an “expendable” on a new human colony and undertakes dangerous assignments he is not expected to survive. Each time he dies, a new body is generated, and much of the film’s plot is based on the adventures of his 17th and 18th clones — who both sport slightly different yet equally strange accents.

“I actually think I realized today what I was doing,” Pattinson said when asked about his inspiration, bursting into laughter. “We were doing an interview earlier and Bong said one of the thoughts he was having for 18 was Peter Stormare from ‘Fargo.’ And then I...

Imbalances of power can be found everywhere, and the abuse that can arise is boldly tackled in New York-based Iranian writer and director Mehrnoush Alia‘s feature film debut, 1001 Frames.

“In the studio of a well-known director, female actors audition for the role of Scheherazade in A Thousand and One Nights,” reads the synopsis for the movie, which world premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 19 in the Panorama section of the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. “But the women gradually realize that the director has more in mind than just casting the leading role.”

The film was shot without a permit in Iran where the filmmaker knows it won’t get into cinemas because such films typically never receive screening permits. Acting teacher Mohammad Aghebati, who also portrays the male director in the movie, oversaw the casting.

The idea for 1001 Frames goes back to when Alia was still living in Iran as a teen.

The Berlinale is just the start of a big 2025 for Catalan films, filmmakers and companies. Several high-profile Catalan buzz titles are currently shooting or in post-production and are slated to debut later in the year, while others are presently kicking off promising festival runs.

Former Berlin Golden Bear winner Carla Simon (“Alcarràs”) will debut “Romería,” currently in post, about a woman’s journey to meet her biological father’s family after he dies of AIDS. It’s a hugely personal project as the disease took both of Simon’s parents’ lives when she was just six years old.

In commercial terms, especially domestically, few films have more box office potential than Borja Cobeaga’s “Los Aitas,” an all-ages comedy about a group of middle-aged dads accompanying their daughters on an international gymnastics trip.

Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s brutally stylish 1970s-set dark comedy “The Birthday Party” stars Willem Dafoe alongside an ensemble of top Spanish talent.

Fernanda Torres, the very down-to-earth diva of the Brazilian screen, emerges on the terrace of a midcentury modern mansion in Beverly Hills. It’s a crisp and sunny Saturday morning in February. Wrapped in a black overcoat, Torres gazes at an awe-inspiring view of Los Angeles.

She is fresh off a sojourn in Lisbon. Her last memories of the city are from January, when she surprised oddsmakers and herself by winning the Golden Globe for her work in I’m Still Here, a first for a Brazilian actress.

Miu Miu Coat.

“It was so beautiful when I was walking to the stage,” recalls Torres, 59, of beating some of the most famous women on the planet. “Kate Winslet was applauding me and smiling. I don’t know her, so I found that very moving. Tilda Swinton, Nicole Kidman — they were smiling, too.

“Then L.A. was on fire,” she says.

Her Hollywood...

Brazil’s Rt Features, producer of Walter Salles’ Oscar-nominated “I’m Still Here,” is backing “Porto” director Gabe Klinger’s São Paulo-set wine world dramedy “Isabel,” which is currently in post-production.

“Porto,” the director’s previous film, executive produced by Jim Jarmusch, was acquired for theatrical distribution in over forty markets after its San Sebastián premiere in 2016.

“Isabel” tells the story of a woman in her early 50s who wants to open her own wine bar after being the head sommellière for a Michelin-starred restaurant. The feature-length project was shot in December on location in São Paulo. Klinger directed “Isabel” from an original screenplay he wrote in collaboration with lead actress Marina Person. Other cast members include Caio Horowicz (“I’m Still Here”) and John Ortiz (“American Fiction”).

In the film, a woman endangers her sanity and relationships to open an independent business, which Klinger alludes is “a thinly veiled metaphor for filmmaking.

Like water taking the shape of any container in which it’s kept, Catalan cinema tends to work its way into every corner of a festival or marketplace in which it is present. This year’s European Film Market is no exception. Here’s a look at 10 Catalan titles set to make an impression at this year’s festival and market.

The highest profile appearance will be Eva Libertad’s debut feature, “Deaf,” based on a short of the same name, which world premieres in the Panorama section. Sold by Latido Films and produced by Distinto Films, A Contracorriente Films and Nexus CreaFilms, it’s based on Libertad’s Goya-nominated short of the same name.

Lucía G. Romero’s “Close to September” will world premiere in Berlinale Shorts. Produced by Escándalo Films, Filmax, Escac Films and Escac Studio, it centers on an imbalanced youthful romance.

Generation Kplus showcases two Catalan productions this year,...

When Isaac Hernández was cast in Michel Franco’s upcoming drama “Dreams” alongside Jessica Chastain, he immediately felt the weight of the story on his shoulders.

Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, “Dreams” follows Fernando, a young Mexican ballet dancer who crosses the border into the U.S. — leaving everything he knows behind and narrowly escaping death — in order to be with Jennifer, a wealthy philanthropist. He believes she will support him as he pursues his ambitions, but his arrival disrupts Jennifer’s world, putting their future in question.

“I felt a huge responsibility to do justice to a story like this,” Hernández tells Variety over Zoom from New York City. “I felt quite honored, to be honest, that Michel thought I could do it.”

Franco — the Mexican auteur who collaborated with Chastain on 2023’s “Memory” — first met the dancer-turned-actor when he was invited by Hernández’s sister,...

“Saturday Night Live” is known for making audiences laugh for the past 50 years, but it is not complete without the iconic live music performances that have cemented their own place in pop culture.

Friday night, “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” will bring together over 25 artists who have made a mark on the sketch show live from Radio City Music Hall. The concert event will feature musical guests spanning the series’ half-century on the air.

Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dogg and The B-52s among many others will perform live during the homecoming concert. SNL alum Jimmy Fallon is slated to host the concert, featuring his own late night show’s band The Roots.

In late January, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson hosted a documentary, “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” that sifted through the archives of the show’s musical history. The NBC documentary featured several artists that will take the stage...

Israeli director Tom Shoval is back in Berlin with “A Letter to David,” which is his way of processing the fact that his friend David Cunio – who starred in his first feature “Youth” – is one of the more than 250 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, from the Nir Oz kibbutz.

David Cunio and his younger brother Ariel are among hostages yet to be freed.

In what turned out to be a tragic twist, “Youth” – which premiered in Berlin’s Panorama section in 2013 – starred Cunio and his brother Eitan as two brothers who kidnap a rich schoolgirl in a harebrained scheme to pay off family debts.

“A Letter to David” uses behind-the-scenes footage and audition tapes from “Youth” to create a multi-layered documentary that explores connections between life and cinema and looks at the human side of trauma created by acts of terror.

Variety speaks to Shoval and Nancy Spielberg, who is Steven Spielberg’s sister,...

Timothée Chalamet was joined by Kardashian sister Kylie Jenner at the German premiere of A Complete Unknown on Friday.

Arriving for the 75th Berlin Film Festival, Chalamet took to the red carpet in an all-pink ensemble on Valentine’s Day as Jenner, a television star on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and business mogul through her cosmetics and clothing lines, sat alongside him in the theater for the screening of James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic.

As rumors about the couple increasingly dominate social media, the two stopped everyone in their tracks by sharing a kiss on camera. Jenner, in a form-fitting black dress, later stroked Chalamet’s face while he was introduced to the audience. A video of the pair, from user @joyboy on Instagram, quickly accrued thousands of views.

Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the ‘A Complete Unknown’ premiere in Berlin! pic.twitter.com/S5jMBTqw99

— timothée...

African refugees struggling to reach Europe receive an unpleasant welcome in Uwe Boll’s Run. The action thriller from the renegade German director of First Shift and BloodRayne dropped its first official trailer today, shared exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter (see below).

Oscar-nominees Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction) and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) star, alongside an impressive ensemble cast that includes James Russo, Ulrich Thomsen, Kristen Renton, Daniel Sauli, Marcus Henderson and newcomer Hannah Balogun.

The feature follows a group of migrants traveling by boat across the Mediterranean Sea toward Italy. When the vessel goes off course, tensions rise, leading to violence as the migrants turn on the smugglers. Upon reaching shore, some passengers evade capture, setting off a series of events throughout the day that escalate into further conflict, intertwining the lives of migrants, locals, and tourists.

Plummer plays a local U.S. expat who tries to help the migrants,...

In 1975, Vera Brandes, then an 18-year-old student and part-time promoter, organized a concert for Keith Jarrett in Cologne, a recording of which became “The Köln Concert,” the best-selling solo jazz album ever.

Half a century later, director Ido Fluk is in Berlin premiering “Köln 75” about the woman behind this monumental moment in jazz history. One that, ironically, Jarrett has no desire to revive. Fluk speaks to Variety about the fun film – starring John Magaro, recently seen in “September 5,” as Keith Jarrett and rising German star Mala Emde as Vera Brandes – and why it was important “to give Vera the attention, the limelight that she deserves.”

How did the project germinate?

I read a story somewhere in which Vera was mentioned. And I was like: “That’s kind of interesting: she really made this happen, and she’s not getting much attention for it.” I thought it would make a really interesting film.

To say Berlin is a big city by European standards is an understatement — it has the largest population in Germany with 3.8 million residents and spans 23 miles.

Thus, you should never tackle Berlin without a plan, especially due to its unpredictable weather, which ranges from sunny and cold to overcast and cold to rainy and chilly in February.

THR presents six spots we love that provide a new layer of knowledge about the city’s troubled history, incredible art renaissance and natural beauty.

Outdoor: Street Art at Artpark Tegel

Neheimer Str. 4

Drawing influence from the U.S. cultural wave of the 1970s, street art became a way of life in Berlin during the 1980s and transformed into Germany’s graffiti capital. The city’s walls are its greatest gallery and tell its story, just as the history books do — plastered with stickers, graffiti and murals covering everything. Don’t miss Artpark Tegel,...

The title and synopsis of Mexican director, screenwriter and editor Ernesto Martínez Bucio‘s feature directorial debut sure sound ominous. The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box), or El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja), gets its world premiere in the new Perspectives section of the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.

Promising “a journey back into the magical world of childhood,” the film, set in Mexico City in the mid-1990s, portrays sibling relationships and the formation of fear that is passed on from one generation to another. And it has a “supernatural” tag on the Berlin festival website.

“After the sudden disappearance of their parents, five siblings are left in the care of their grandmother, a synopsis reads. “As they struggle to survive, the line between reality and something darker begins to blur.

There are numerous first time directors at this year’s Berlinale, but few come with the sort of indie film credits on Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s resume.

The British playwright and screenwriter had worked on the script for Pawel Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning “Ida” alongside the director, on “Disobedience” with Sebastián Lelio and on “Colette” with Wash Westmoreland, before going it alone to turn Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book about their industry-shaking Harvey Weinstein expose into the script that would become Maria Schrader’s “She Said” in 2022.

But with “Hot Milk,” which bowed at the Palaste on Friday, she moved closer to the camera and made it her directorial debut. Adapted (by Lenkiewicz) from Deborah Levy’s book and shot in Greece, the story is set under the hot Spanish summer and follows Sofia, a young woman (Emma Mackey) in a co-dependent relationship with her wheelchair-bound mother Rose (Fiona Shaw...

“Bedrock captures the lived realities of people whose homes are on Holocaust sites,” reads a synopsis for Kinga Michalska’s feature film debut, an observational documentary that promises to take viewers “through landscapes in which traces of violence are intricately woven into the fabric of everyday life.” It is set to world premiere in the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama Dokumente lineup on Tuesday, Feb. 18, shortly after the recent 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The movie paints a psychological portrait of Poland from the perspective of people living on Holocaust sites today. “Through a series of intimate vignettes, the film explores these shadows of the past,” the synopsis highlights. “A little girl visits her friend in a psychiatric hospital that once served as a concentration camp; a Polish Jew undertakes the Sisyphean task of recovering and preserving...

Gabriel Mascaro’s “The Blue Trail,” playing in competition in Berlin, marks another great milestone for Brazilian cinema in a year where the country got its first best picture Oscar nomination with Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here.” Mascaro follows in the footsteps of Salles playing in competition in Venice and Karim Aïnouz playing in competition at Cannes with “Motel Destino,” three consecutive Brazilian films playing in the most prestigious strands of the three most important European film festivals.

“Each one of these films is so different from each other but has great strengths,” Mascaro tells Variety ahead of his Berlinale bow. “I feel very proud to be a part of it.”

“The Blue Trail” takes place in a near future Brazil where the government relocates the elderly to senior housing colonies so the younger generations can fully focus on productivity and growth. Tereza (Denise Weinberg), nearing 80, refuses to accept her fate,...

The sophomore film from “The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire” director Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich and the feature debut of rising Senegalese filmmaker Awa Moctar Gueye are among the projects that pan-African production outfit Yetu (Un)Limited will be pitching to prospective partners at the European Film Market.

A collective of five creative producers looking to unlock the growing potential of African and diasporic content, Yetu (Un)Limited is among the five companies selected to take part in the Company Matching program at this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Launched in 2024, Yetu (Un)Limited was founded by producers Yanis Gaye, Melissa Adeyemo, Carol Kioko, Ike Yemoh and Chloe Ortolé, after meeting at a workshop hosted by the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (Eave).

“Oftentimes, when you go to a space like Eave as an African producer, you’re constantly being reminded of how you should be connecting outside of the continent,” Adeyemo tells Variety. “For us,...

When you have to live in solitary for a year, with next to no contact with the outside world, how do you pass the time? Well, music is probably going to play a big part.

And indeed it does in Apple TV+’s new film “The Gorge.” Now streaming, the movie centers on two assassins from different countries, hired to each operate a guard tower on either side of a massive gorge. Why? Well, there are creatures down there, and those creatures can never get out.

The two guards are forbidden from ever contacting each other, but they don’t exactly follow that rule, eventually falling in love. And, as we mentioned, music is a piece of their communication.

So, here are all the songs in “The Gorge.”

“Suite No. 1 in G Major, Bmv 1007: Prelude” performed by Jeff Taylor “Suite No. 1 in G Major, Bmv 1007: Prelude” performed by...

John Mulaney may have spoken best to the mostly wonderful randomness of the lineup for Friday night’s live “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” special when, late in the show, he invoked the memory of “Saturday Night Live’s” much-missed music guru, Hal Willner. The comedian spoke about how the seminal figure in “SNL” music history would have loved many of the acts on the bill if he were still around. “He also would have hated parts of tonight, and I would have loved to talk with him about the parts he hated,” Mulaney added.

Truth be told, there wasn’t...

Yao Chen was fully aware of the challenges that lay ahead when she formed Bad Rabbit Pictures out of Beijing back in 2017.

Yao remains an award-winning actress in her own right — thanks to standout performances in the likes of the Chen Kaige-directed hit Caught in the Web (2012) and the acclaimed Send Me to the Clouds (2019), as well as wildly popular TV series including All Is Well (2019). But Yao wanted to give something back to the Chinese industry, and to leverage her own fame (with an estimated social media following of around 80 million) and connections into making sure emerging art house talent in the country was given a chance.

The the company she formed with cinematographer and partner Cao Yu has gone from strength to strength, standing as a testament to their continued commitment to seeking out and supporting young talent.

This year’s Berlinale reflects that growth, with Bad...

Feminist body horror is taking over indie cinema.

The female filmmakers behind this new wave of flesh and flash are finding critical and commercial success by combining the viscerally grotesque with progressive themes exploring bodily autonomy, beauty standards, and social expectations for women.

Coralie Fargeat’s indie blockbuster The Substance — which has earned $77 million worldwide and picked up 5 Oscar nominations — is the current queen of female body horror, but gross-out feminist films are everywhere. Sundance’s Midnight screenings this year included Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister — a twisted take on the Cinderella story involving bone-crunching cosmetic surgery and bodily mutilation — and Grace Glowicki’s Dead Lover, a horror comedy about a gravedigger (Glowicki) who goes to macabre lengths in an attempt to re-animate her deceased mate.

Berlin’s lineup features Johanna Moder’s Mother’s Baby, a German-language psychological horror movie about a woman unsure if the baby she’s...

One of France’s foremost doc feature producers, Paris-based Les Films d’ici, has boarded “Who We Are” (“Qui som”).

A buzz title at Berlin’s Spain in Focus showcase, “Who We Are” is being presented by its Spanish producers Materia Cinema, which co-financed Ira Sachs’ Sundance/Berlin player “Peter Hujar’s Day,” and Avalon, behind Berlin 2022 Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs.”

Les Films d’ici also co-produces out of France, while Spain’s Foundation La Caixa serves as an associate producer.

Directed by Salvador Sunyer, “Who We Are” turns on couple Camille Decourtye and Blaï Mateu Trias, heads of Baro d’evel, a celebrated French performing arts company. When the Festival d’Avignon commissions a new piece from them, they feel the need to find a renewed sense to their existence as artists, partners and parents.

Currently in post-production, “Who We Are” is set for delivery in the second or third quarter...

Sheryl Crow wants nothing to do with Elon Musk, including his car brand, as the billionaire’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) continues to slash federal agencies.

The multi-Grammy-winning singer took to her Instagram on Friday to share that she’s selling her Tesla and donating the money to NPR, which has recently been under attack from President Donald Trump.

“My parents always said… you are who you hang out with. There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla,” Crow wrote in the post’s caption, which also included a video of her smiling and waving as her Tesla is hauled off.

The “My Favorite Mistake” artist added, “Money donated to @npr, which is under threat by President Musk, in hopes that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth. #PresidentMusk #PresidentTrump #Call1-202-224-3141 #ProtectTheConstitution.

German production company Augenschein has just added “The Weight,” starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, to its slate. Company founders Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo talk to Variety about how they made the shift from foreign-language arthouse fare to English-language elevated genre movies, with stars attached.

Despite its very German-sounding name — which roughly translates as the “shine of the eye” — Augenschein has the global market firmly in its sights. As for the films, they are defined by their “signature-style directing,” Leo says.

Its Berlin lineup is led by Jan-Ole Gerster’s thriller “Islands,” starring Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing, which world-premieres Sunday in the Berlinale Special Gala section, with Protagonist handling world sales.

“Mother Mary”

Other films on its slate include David Lowery’s pop melodrama “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole, with A24 handling worldwide distribution; and Brian Kirk’s action thriller “The Death of Winter,...

As countless locals fled the French capital in the lead-up to last year’s Olympic games, actor and filmmaker Valentine Cadic hunkered down, putting her hands on a camera, assembling a small crew and then running headlong into the rush to shoot “That Summer in Paris.” Film screens Feb. 15 in the Berlin Film Festival’s Perspectives section.

Building on her background in documentary — and taking inspiration from Justine Triet’s debut, “Age of Panic,” which worked in a similar vein — Cadic wrung fiction from fact, using the crowds and fan-zones as high-production value backdrops for a more intimate drama about a lovesick young woman looking to reconnect with her estranged kin.

“I like to mix make believe with real life,” Cadic says. “[Creatively], I started to question what this event could bring to the lives of everyone involved — be it the athletes, the spectators or the city itself. [And pragmatically] such events push you to action.

Bill Maher isn’t left speechless often, but he was after hearing Kid Rock’s thoughts on Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.

During the latest episode of HBO’s Real Time, the host asked the singer-rapper (a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump who has previously spoken out against Dei initiatives) what he thought of this year’s halftime show, as some anti-dei folks criticized the performance for only including people of color.

“To put it nicely, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I got to respect it,” Kid Rock responded. “And here’s why: I grew up loving, emulating all things hip-hop, break dancing, deejaying, graffiti, rapping, and so I understand the culture a little bit more than most. And when I say most, of course, I mean white people.”

He continued, “So watching it… after it’s a lot of things going through your head,...

Suddenly, it’s 2006 again.

Lady Gaga took the stage at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert on Friday night to perform “Shallow” from Bradley Cooper’s 2018 film A Star Is Born. She was joined by SNL alum Andy Samberg, who was comically filling in for Cooper.

Gaga quickly interrupted Samberg and suggested they perform something more in his “vocal range.” Samberg mentioned: “There is one song, but Justin [Timberlake’s] not here to do his parts!” Gaga responded: “Andy, don’t be a bitch. I’ll do it with you.”

They then sang a slower version, with Gaga playing the piano, of “Dick in a Box,” a fan-favorite SNL sketch and The Lonely Island song that aired during a holiday episode of the comedy sketch series in 2006. The performance earned laughs from Colin Jost, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Jessica Parker and more in the audience. The original sketch starred the comedy duo, Justin Timberlake and Samberg.

What could be a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than to honor the music of “Saturday Night Live”? It might not be the first thing that springs to mind on what’s supposed to be a romantic weekend for lovers of all kinds, but “SNL” and its multiple 50th-anniversary specials have a way of taking over the weekend. Tonight’s party: “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” a star-studded concert extravaganza equipped with many of the musical guests that have performed on the famed stage of Studio 8H for the past five decades.

Kicking the festivities off on Peacock’s live special direct from New York City’s Radio City Music Hall was the master of ceremonies and longtime 30 Rockefeller Plaza resident and “SNL” alum, Jimmy Fallon. Opening the show by singing the Blues Brothers classic cover, “Soul Man,” Fallon was flanked by backup dancers dressed in their best...

A culmination of the long-running battle over the Murdoch Empire, with the powerful Fox News’ future as a conservative kingmaker in U.S. politics hanging in the balance has played out in a Nevada courtroom as any hope of the rift between the two politically-opposed flanks of the media’s most powerful family shattered as years of bitter feelings surfaced.

Patriarch Rupert Murdoch, 92, was slouched in a Manhattan conference room across from his son, James Murdoch in March 2024, the Atlantic Magazine reported on Friday, as the family’s black sheep was deposed. Questions, including: Have you ever done anything successful on your own? And does it strike you that, in your account, everything that goes wrong is always somebody else’s fault? The questions, he soon noticed, were not coming from the lawyer, really, but being texted to the counsel from his father across the table.

Rupert, struggling to ensure...