Brad Pitt has left a Universal Pictures thriller set to begin filming this year. The film, "State of Play," was to star Pitt as a political consultant-turned-journalist who helps investigate the death of a congressman's mistress.

Two films now showing in movie theaters in the United States focus on the rise and fall of two African-American druglords in the 1970s and 80s. "American Gangster" is a fictionalized account of kingpin Frank Lucas, while "Mr. Untouchable" is a documentary on drug dealer Nicky Barnes. Both chronicle drug abuse at its peak in America.

The best-selling political thriller about a British prime minister modeled on Tony Blair will find its film adaptation – and the director will be Roman Polanski, the book's publisher said Thursday.

Canberra's 11th International Film Festival is set to be the biggest yet, with 38 films screening over the next 11 days. Festival director Michael Sergi says the festival is attracting more entrants each year.

If you have hummed along, tapped your feet or even danced in your seat while watching Purple Rain, Saturday Night Fever or Trainspotting, you are not alone. The soundtracks from those movies have been named among the 50 greatest by the editors of Vanity Fair magazine.

Homegrown sex symbol Monica Bellucci has opened the Rome Film Festival as a gangster moll in Second Wind, a French crime drama set in the 1960s.

A record 63 countries have entered the race for Oscars glory in next year's Best Foreign Language Film category. Academy Awards organisers have announced the list of entries for the coveted prize roughly three months ahead of the formal announcement of nominations.

It won only one Oscar, but Orson Welles's 1941 film Citizen Kane is widely considered his best movie. Now the Academy Award Welles received for his masterwork can be bought for a cool million - or maybe more.

Cate Blanchett's new Oscar hope, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, made a poor debut in US and Canadian theatres at the weekend. The film, which underwhelmed critics, made just $US6.2 million ($6.8 million) at the box office.

Concerns over the safety of two Afghan child actors have delayed release of the upcoming film The Kite Runner, a story set in a turbulent Afghanistan from the 1970s to 2001. Mike O'Sullivan reports on the controversy, and on the challenges studios face as Hollywood films become more international.

OO7, Her Majesty's secret agent, or just plain, "Bond - James Bond," celebrated 45 years as a big screen hero on Friday. Dr No, the first of Ian Fleming's novels about the smooth-talking British spy to be made into a movie, was released in 1962.

The studio behind The Kite Runner, a film about Afghanistan's turmoil, has arranged to get its three young stars out of their homeland before the movie debuts to protect them from a possible violent backlash.