Zhang Yimou To Direct ‘Three-Body Problem’ Film

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling struggled to get along on the set of 2004’s “The Notebook.”As the rom-com celebrates its 20th anniversary on June 25, the director, 65, expressed his regret for ever discussing their dynamic in a new interview.“It caught me on a bad day, but if [McAdams and Gosling] are around, I apologize to you guys. I shouldn’t have spilled the beans,” he told Entertainment Weekly in a story published Tuesday. In a 2014 interview with VH1, the director disclosed: “Maybe I’m not supposed to tell this story, but they were really not getting along one day on set.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Caught by the Tides,” the contemporary Chinese epic film directed by Jia Zhangke, has been acquired for U.S. release by Sidehow and Janus Films. The film appeared in main competition in Cannes in May and is on one an extended look at the romantic destiny of his perennial heroine, Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao) over a period of 21 years.

Sideshow and Janus Films have bought U.S. rights for Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s epic drama Caught By The Tides, following its buzzy world premiere in competition at Cannes in May.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Bona Film Group, one of China’s leading movie studios, is poised to release Jackie Chan-starring “A Legend” on July 12. The film leads off the firm’s summer distribution slate. “A Legend” is pitched as a $50 million sequel to the 2005 action romance “The Myth” that involved both Chan and director Stanley Tong.

What’s going on with Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Star Wars” movie centering on Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley)? Rumored to be called, “Star War: A New Jedi Order” and then more recently, “Star Wars: Episode X – A New Beginning” (who knows if any of that’s true), for months, all Daisy Ridley has said is she’s been waiting to read a script from Academy Award-nominated writer Steven Knight, the creator of “Peaky Blinders,” and writer of “Eastern Promises,” “Spencer” and more.

We all know Marvel Studios loves a team-up movie. Even their “solo” movies typically feature another recognizable name in the supporting cast.

Book adaptations are tricky. Just look at the films made from Stephen King novels for proof.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, director of many of China’s most spectacular and successful movies, is to try his hand at sci-fi. He will direct a film adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem.” The project was announced Sunday by Wang Changtian, founder and CEO of Enlight Media, one of China’s top three studios, at a forum organized within the Shanghai International Film Festival. Wang said that Zhang is in the early stages of preparations for the film.

Rosario Dawson, Hayden Christensen, and Lucasfilm Creative Chief Dave Filoni were on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to discuss the “Star Wars” series “Ahsoka” this week (read our review). And while all eyes are on season two of “Ahsoka,” which Filoni says he’s writing, so it’s presumably on the way at some point, many fans are wondering what’s going on with the feature-length film.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, the recently-combined genre giants, will produce a new film from “Evil Dead Rise” director Lee Cronin at New Line Cinema.Cronin will write and direct the top secret project, one that has been suggested will remain in his horror wheelhouse. The Irish filmmaker will also produce the project through his label Doppelgängers.New Line, a Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group label, has dated the film for an April 2026 release.

Karen Idelson First-time feature film director Kelsey Mann dug deep into his own emotions while making “Inside Out 2.” As he imagined a story about the confusing journey we all go on through puberty, he knew he would need to add new emotions to the ones from the first animated hit — so Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment join the fray in main character Riley’s developing mind. At the Annecy Animation Festival, Mann will appear at a special screening of the Pixar film June 14 and will serve as Disney Art Challenge jury president. The theme of this year’s event will be “Adolescence: So many emotions.” He spoke to Variety about the new film.

Founded in 2015 by Yoshiaki Nishimura, former lead film producer of Studio Ghibli and two-time Academy Award nominee for producing “The Tale of Princess Kaguya,” “When Marnie Was There”), Studio Ponoc has quickly emerged as a Japanese animation studio to watch. Known for “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” (2017) and 2018’s “Modest Heroes,” their latest is the animated fantasy film “The Imaginary.” READ MORE: ‘Paddington In Peru’ Trailer: The Beloved Bear Goes On A Jungle Adventure Later This Year Released last year in Japan, Netflix is premiering the Studio Ponoc film in North America and other territories this summer, giving it the global exposure it deserves.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Another one bites the dust. Filmmaker Yann Demange (“Lovecraft Country”) is no longer set to direct “Blade,” Marvel Studios’ long-in-the-works reboot of the vampire superhero franchise set to star Mahershala Ali.

Jack Dunn When series creators David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo first crafted the moment Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham) enter the game in “3 Body Problem,” they made it so they “would put on the headset and then there’ll be a moment of black and then they go into the game.” But when they saw the scene cut together, they felt there was “something missing.” So for inspiration, they reached to another popular sci-fi series for inspiration: “Severance.” “We’re actually influenced by ‘Severance’ in the elevator scenes, you know where they have that kind of weird camera effect,” said writer and co-creator Benioff.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Located alongside a pristine alpine lake in the south of France, the Annecy Film Festival is considered a mecca by many in the animation community. It’s the kind of place you must visit at least once to meet others who wor­ship animation.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor From documentaries about war in Ukraine and Gaza to the sweetness of “Bluey” to the earthiness of “Somebody Somewhere” and “Reservation Dogs” to the Mel Brooks canon, the 84th annual Peabody Awards ceremony on Sunday saluted an array of standout TV programs, movies, documentaries, podcasts, video games and more. The respected awards, adminstered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, were held at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, marking the first time the Peabodys were handed out on the West Coast after decades in New York.

Tributes have been paid to the Indian media baron Ramoji Rao, who has died at the age of 87.

Tiana DeNicola editor While numerous leading women representing scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians (STEM) have graced the screen throughout cinematic history, those pale in comparison to their male counterparts. Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” challenged this gender disparity and came out on top, dominating the charts for weeks. According to Luminate, “3 Body Problem” has more than 3 billion minutes watched since its March release and spent seven weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10.

the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival is back with a trove of diverse and innovative fare. There are character-driven indies with Hollywood stars, a documentary about one of the world’s greatest sports figures of all time and an entire mini-festival celebrating Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro.

EXCLUSIVE: The murder investigation of Scott Johnson, which highlighted a slew of homophobic killings in Australia in the 1980s, is to be explored in a new feature film.