India’s Yash Raj Films Launches Casting App for Acting Aspirants Worldwide (EXCLUSIVE)

Two suspects are in custody for allegedly kidnapping and murdering a retired University of Washington professor. That would be awful enough. But the way they met him and gained his trust? It’s diabolical…

Sundance Film Festival 2025 is set to take place on Jan. 23-Feb. 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.

EXCLUSIVE: Luther and Hijack star Idris Elba is set to direct singer Seal, Nollywood stars Nse Ikpe-Etim (Shanty Town), Eku Edewor (Breath Of Life) and Atlanta Bridget Johnson (Man Of God), and former Nigerian Idol contestant Constance Olatunde in short film Dust To Dreams.

Anna Marie de la Fuente With co-production an ever-popular resource for independents and emerging talent, the Madrid Film School (ECAM), hailed as one of the leading film schools in the world, has launched ECAM Forum, a new co-production initiative to run June 10 – 13 in Madrid. An Open Call ending April 9 has been announced March 18 for submissions from local Spanish feature film projects in development or in post-production, and series projects in development.

Meghan Markle is really on her way to becoming the next Martha Stewart!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor International sales agency Lightdox has acquired documentary “Marching in the Dark” in advance of its world premiere at CPH:DOX. The feature debut from Kinshuk Surjan focuses on how the growing number of suicides among farmers in India is affecting the agricultural community. The trailer debuts exclusively on Variety below.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hollywood producer and financier Joseph Cohen (“Brokeback Mountain,” “12 Years A Slave,” “Sicario,” “La La Land”) is launching a new company in Hong Kong called MediaRealm Advisors Asia. It will provide consulting services to Asia-based institutional and professional investors looking to invest in American Entertainment Investors mainstream Hollywood movie projects. He is joined in the venture by Hong Kong and Tokyo based Adam Guy Orlebar Garrett.

Alex Ritman Elliot Page heads to the U.K on Thursday to open the BFI Flare, London’s LGBTQIA+ film festival, for the European premiere of “Close to You.” Written and directed by Dominic Savage (behind the recent acclaimed “I Am…” anthology series that has starred the likes of Kate Winslet and Letitia Wright), the film — which bowed in Toronto — marks Page’s first feature since 2017. It’s a return to the big screen he says “felt amazing,” allowing him to experience the “joy of what it means to get to create and being creative.” It was also an acting experience unlike anything Page had undertaken before, with much of “Close to You” improvised.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift fans who’ve been hankering to finally see her filmed performance of “Cardigan” won’t have to wait until her “Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” supercut premieres on Disney+ Friday evening. A portion of “Cardigan” is being made available as an exclusive clip on Apple’s App Store. The “Cardigan” clip was given a late-night release on the Apple platform Wednesday morning at 3:01 a.m.

Naman Ramachandran Revered Indian actor Waheeda Rehman, who was accorded the Dadasaheb Phalke award, India’s highest film honor, last year, has donated her personal memorabilia to the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) for preservation. Rehman, the 86-year-old grande dame of Indian cinema, has worked with most of the legendary filmmakers of her country during her career and the roles she chose were in films that are considered classics in the annals of Indian cinema.

Naman Ramachandran India’s B62 Studios has an early 2024 hit with February release “Article 370,” and also has an ambitious slate lined up with plans for expanding into eastern Asia. B62 was launched by the brothers Dhar — Lokesh and Aditya — and is named after their address in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar neighborhood, where they grew up watching the best of Bollywood alongside arthouse cinema. Lokesh Dhar went on to a flourishing career in film marketing, distribution and syndication before turning to producing, while Aditya Dhar directed military action film “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” one of the biggest Indian box office hits of 2019.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood film “Shaitaan” has scored a hefty opening, according to data provided to Variety. The film marks the first collaboration between billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Studios, Bollywood A-lister Ajay Devgn’s Devgn Films and Panorama Studios. “Shaitaan” scored a worldwide weekend gross of $9.8 million, including India, according to numbers from Panorama Studios.

Ladies who had private surgery to take out transvaginal mesh are being told to ask for their money back from the Scottish Government before time runs out.

Ariana Grande stole the show during her appearance on Saturday Night Live!

It is very rare for a married couple to be nominated for acting Oscars in the same year, but it has happened four times – including in 2022!

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood star Sonakshi Sinha is all praise for her director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose anticipated magnum opus series “Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar” is due on Netflix this year. Netflix describes the series as “an epic saga of love, power, revenge and freedom.” With a cast that also includes Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Richa Chadha, and Sanjeeda Sheikh, the series is set in the midst of multiple power struggles in Heeramandi, Lahore (now part of Pakistan) and more generally in undivided, pre-independence India, where anti-colonial freedom movements were emerging.

As we all know by now, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” set for July 26, is Marvel Studios only film for 2024. Speaking at a Morgan Stanley event yesterday, Disney Chief Bob Iger predicted the film will be “one of the most successful Marvel movies we’ve had in a long time.” Clearly, the hype for the film is rising.

Kensington Palace has asked for calm amid rumours about the Princess of Wales' health.The palace criticised the "madness of social media" after weeks of speculation about why Kate was taking a break from royal duties. Royal aides were clear at the beginning that the Princess was not expected to return to public engagements until after Easter as she continues her recovery from abdominal surgery.

Naman Ramachandran Production will commence in 2024 on leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films‘ spy universe film headlined by Alia Bhatt, the studio CEO Akshaye Widhani has confirmed. Widhani was speaking at Mumbai’s FICCI Frames media industry conference, where he was in conversation with Monika Shergill, VP, content, Netflix India. Created by producer Aditya Chopra, the spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017), and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list star Rani Mukerji was in refreshingly candid form at Mumbai’s FICCI Frames media industry conference, proffering frank opinions on the Indian theatrical business. The usual Hindi-language domination of the all-India box office was reversed for a period in 2021-22, when films from the south of India, including “RRR,” “Kantara,” “Ponniyin Selvan” and “Vikram” dominated, and the northern counterparts from’ Bollywood’ struggled to become hits. Since then, the north-south competition has evolved again.