Health scare, schmealth scare. Elvis Costello’s run of shows in California this week proved that he’s in more than fighting fettle, on a tour that’s being characterized most nights by set lists of peak-Springsteenian proportions, including a 2-hour-54-minute, 33-song performance at L.A.’s Wiltern Thursday night that counted as one of his more epic shows, locally
Month: December 2018
Texas-based Nexstar Media Group has set a $4.1 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media. Reuters first reported the deal, which is expected to be unveiled Monday morning. Tribune declined to comment. A rep for Nexstar could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday. The deal to acquire Tribune’s 42 stations and WGN America cabler
December 2, 2018 10:24AM PT “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” hasn’t been able to conjure up much magic in the States, but that might not matter given its magical showing at the international box office. The second “Fantastic Beasts” installment dominated overseas for the third weekend straight, generating another $40.2 million from 80 territories. Warner
Martin Scorsese tackled a range of subjects during a discussion on stage at the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival Sunday, including the contribution to cinema of streamers like Netflix, the backers of his latest movie, “The Irishman,” starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Scorsese is viewed as one of the godfathers of the Marrakech Film
Brian Tyree Henry wasn’t so sure about being cast as a father in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” At just 36, the “Atlanta” actor said he didn’t think he was old enough, but when he found out he would be rearing Miles Morales, Marvel’s only black, Latino Spider-Man, he decided to forgo any insecurities he had
Cardi B strutted her stuff with a shimmy and a shake Friday night at the Forum, bringing the Los Angeles leg of the KIIS FM Jingle Ball tour presented by Capital One to a close. Following a star-studded lineup that included Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Alessia Cara and Calvin Harris, Cardi B was
On a rainy Saturday in New Jersey, Meryl Streep expressed her admiration for “A Star is Born” and “The Rider” as well as “First Reformed” and her aversion to the President of the United States. The actress, who received her 21st Academy Award nomination earlier this year, confessed her likes and dislikes during Montclair Film
This year’s edition of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival includes an unprecedented number of Moroccan films, including seven films in the new Morocco Panorama sidebar, and a tribute to local actor/director Jillali Ferhati. When the festival was launched in 2001, Moroccan cinema was in a relatively fragile state and one of the fest’s key goals
Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” recharged for its second consecutive weekend atop the North American box office, generating a healthy $25.8 million. That marks a decline of just 53%, and pushes the animated sequel’s domestic haul past $100 million. Overseas, “Ralph” earned $33.7 million this weekend, taking its international total to $87 million. Keeping in
Moroccan-French writer-director Nabil Ayouch, whose last film “Razzia” was Morocco’s entry for the foreign-language film Oscar, is completing principal photography on “Positive School.” He spoke to Variety about the project. “Positive School” is a realistic drama set in the cultural center he set up in Casablanca’s Sidi Moumen neighborhood, a poor suburb that became infamous
The Singapore Film Commission continued the ongoing celebration of its 20th anniversary by screening a specially commissioned documentary “Singapore Cinema: Between Takes.” Directed by Koh Chong Wu, the film played on Saturday as part of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). The illuminating feature traces the history of Singapore cinema from the 1950s through the
Ken Berry, a popular TV actor in the 1960s and ’70s who starred in “F-Troop,” “Mama’s Family” and “Mayberry R.F.D.,” died Saturday. His former wife, actress Jackie Joseph-Lawrence posted the news on Facebook. “F-Troop” co-star Larry Storch wrote on Facebook, “We hope you know how much you were loved. Goodnight Captain.” Berry played Captain Parmenter
Alec Baldwin was back on “Saturday Night Live” Dec. 1 and he brought with him Ben Stiller and Fred Armisen. Baldwin, who had to sit out a few episodes of the 44th season of the late night NBC sketch series after he was arrested for assault and harassment in November, returned to portray Donald Trump
Hollywood’s racial diversity triumph, “Crazy Rich Asians” will be lucky to score more than $1 million in its opening weekend at the China box office. Afternoon attendances on Friday had ranked the romantic comedy in fourth position. But by the evening it became apparent that mainstream Chinese audiences’ interest was barely flickering for a U.S.
Hollywood’s racial diversity triumph, “Crazy Rich Asians” will be lucky to score more than $1 million in its opening weekend at the China box office. Afternoon attendances on Friday had ranked the romantic comedy in fourth position. But by the evening it became apparent that mainstream Chinese audiences’ interest was barely flickering for a U.S.
December 1, 2018 4:01PM PT Sony Pictures and Blumhouse have set a Feb. 28, 2020 release date for the upcoming film “Fantasy Island.” The movie stars Michael Pena as Mr. Roarke. Lisa Hale will play one of the guests at a mysterious island where people can live out their fantasies — for a price. Jimmy
Bacon makes everything better, Nick Jonas once sang, and Variety took his advice to heart by celebrating the year’s most influential artists and executives in music at an exclusive brunch on Saturday in West Hollywood. To toast the annual Hitmakers issue, Variety executive editor of music Shirley Halperin welcomed honorees like Bebe Rexha, British pop sensation
Neil deGrasse Tyson Facing Multiple Claims of ‘Creepy’ Sexual Misconduct 12/1/2018 9:34 AM PST Breaking News “Cosmos” host and renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s employers are investigating multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving co-workers and colleagues years ago. FOX and National Geographic, which co-produce “Cosmos”, say they are looking into the allegations which surfaced this
Robert De Niro fought back tears as he accepted his honorary award at Marrakech Film Festival from Martin Scorsese, whom he called his “friend, lifelong collaborator” and “one of the greatest blessings of (his) life.” De Niro went on to draw parallels between his own Tribeca Film Festival and Marrakech Film Festival, both of which
Inimai M. Chettiar, J.D. is the director of the Brennan Center’s justice program, whose priority initiative is ending mass incarceration while keeping the country safe. She conceived and edited “Solutions: American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice,” a collection of policy agendas from 2016 presidential candidates and other national leaders. Chettiar is a graduate of
Colombian filmmaker Ruben Mendoza’s “Wandering Girl” (“Niña Errante) has won the Grand Prix for best film at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, which wrapped Dec. 2. The drama’s composer, Las Anes, also took home the Best Music prize whose score was praised by the jury for its “inspiring musical whispering of magical
Danai Gurira insists that the cast and crew of “Black Panther” were not thinking about Oscar buzz while they were making the Ryan Coogler-directed film. “My mind did not quite get there,” Gurira tells Variety while promoting her World AIDS Day work with Johnson & Johnson (more on that in a second). “We did know
Rudy Valdez is a Michigan-raised, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. He got his start as a camera operator on the Peabody Award-winning Sundance Channel series “Brick City,” and has worked as a cinematographer for such directors and producers as Sebastian Junger, Whoopi Goldberg, Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard. Ten years in the making, Rudy’s directorial debut “The Sentence”
The first season of “Serial,” the explosively popular podcast from investigative reporters Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, told the story of Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee, the 18-year-old high school student murdered and left in the woods of Maryland. Syed, her ex-boyfriend, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life plus 30
Late Friday night Eminem dropped the latest in his recent string of surprise releases, this one a fiery 11-minute freestyle that covers a multitude of topics including the 2017 terrorist bombing after Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester, England, Muslim extremism along with his usual brilliantly juvenile wordplay, insults and celebrity mentions, including Justin Bieber and
Ava DuVernay has directed such films as “Middle of Nowhere,” “Selma” and “A Wrinkle in Time.” She was Oscar-nominated for her 2016 documentary “13th,” a look at the criminal justice system’s violations of the spirit of the 13th Amendment. Her next project is the Netflix miniseries “Central Park Five,” a look at the 1990 conviction
Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” video is a bona fide overnight sensation: It has smashed YouTube’s all-time record for most views in the first 24 hours of release. The video, an homage to female-driven movies from the early 2000s, dropped at 12 p.m. PT on Friday after weeks of buildup — and set the record
December 1, 2018 9:37AM PT A new video app is being utilized by white supremacists to trick celebrities into recording anti-Semitic messages, according to a report by BuzzFeed News. Cameo, which launched in April 2018, was created to allow fans to pay for celebs to record personalized messages. Among those who have been duped are
It’s a weekend of repeats. With just one nationwide debut at the box office, a series of holdovers are set to take the top spots, with the second frame of Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” heading for first place with an estimated $24 million. The sole cross-country rollout, Sony’s “Possession of Hannah Grace,” is likely
When composers and lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman won the opportunity to create new songs for a “Mary Poppins Returns,” it wasn’t all celebration. “We heard we were up for it, and we were ravenous to do it, and yet petrified at the same time,” Shaiman told Variety‘s Marc Malkin on Thursday at the movie’s red