Month: January 2019

January 11, 2019 10:31AM PT A beachfront cottage along Malibu’s sandy La Costa beach, owned by veteran pop song scribe and record producer Glen Ballard, is available at $7.995 million. Ballard, who co-wrote and produced Alanis Morissette’s seminal, Grammy-winning 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” as well as Katy Perry’s 2008 platinum selling sophomore album “One
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STX Entertainment and China’s Alibaba Pictures are partnering to co-produce and co-finance projects in the UglyDolls universe, including the upcoming “UglyDolls” animated movie. The deal, announced Friday, includes a previously announced animated TV series with Hulu, digital and print publishing, mobile and educational games, soundtrack and music, and merchandising and licensing programs covering toys, dolls,
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Welcome to “TV Take,” Variety‘s television podcast. On this week’s episode Daniel Holloway, Variety’s executive editor of television, sits down with “Star Trek: Discovery” showrunner Alex Kurtzman to discuss the show’s upcoming second season on CBS All Access. Later, Variety‘s TV critics Caroline Framke and Daniel D’Addario discuss HBO’s “True Detective” Season 3 and Netflix’s “Sex
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Just getting to one of the locations of BBC wildlife documentary series “Dynasties” — presented by David Attenborough and following the lives of endangered animals — requires an 11-hour flight from London to Johannesburg, a two-hour connection to Harare, Zimbabwe, an hourlong chartered Cessna 206 trip to Mana Pools National Park airstrip and an hour’s
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January 11, 2019 9:37AM PT Google has stopped making its Chromecast Audio streaming adapter, and is instead focused on smart speakers going forward. A company spokesperson confirmed Friday that Chromecast Audio is being discontinued, sending Variety the following statement: “Our product portfolio continues to evolve, and now we have a variety of products for users
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The publisher of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” book series sued Netflix in federal court on Friday, alleging that the film “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” infringes on its trademarks. The film debuted last month on the streaming service. Like the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, the film allows viewers to direct the character’s action, leading to
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In the wake of last week’s airing of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary, the singer’s lawyer appeared on ABC’s Nightline Thursday to refute multiple allegations of sexual misconduct made by accusers in the series, and to criticize Illinois State Attorney Kim Foxx’s call earlier this week for others to come forward. “We deal with proof,
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Kevin Hart-Bryan Cranston’s comedy-drama “The Upside” has launched with a moderate $1.1 million at 2,460 North American sites in Thursday night preview showings. Family adventure “A Dog’s Way Home” retrieved $535,000 for Thursday night previews starting at 5 p.m. in 2,657 locations. Entertainment Studios’ Keanu Reeves sci-fier “Replicas” opened with $200,100 at 1,630 venues on
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There’s a road less taken in art as well as life, it seems. Although “Bandersnatch” offered viewers a choose-your-own-adventure experience in its tale of a talented but tormented young video-game programmer, some story pathways wound up being trodden much less frequently, while a few others remained hidden or completely inaccessible, “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker says. About 250 different
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MADRID — Stock prices at Mediaset España and Atresmedia, Spain’s two big broadcast networks, fell yesterday afternoon after local press reports that both face fines of up to about €100 million ($115 million) from Spain’s anti-trust authorities regarding abuse of dominant position. Mediaset España recuperated all of its 1.5% stock value loss by late trading
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In the wake of last week’s premiere of the six-part docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” in which multiple women accuse the singer of sexual misconduct, Kelly’s own daughter spoke out against her father in an Instagram story on Thursday, the “Ignition” crooner’s estranged daughter took to her Instagram story to speak out, according to E! News. “To the
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Lee Chang-dong’s smoldering drama “Burning” picked up the largest number of nominations Friday for the 2019 edition of the Asian Film Awards. The Korean adaptation of a Japanese short story was nominated in eight categories, including best film. Other best film nominees were Pema Tseden’s “Jinpa,” Wen Muye’s “Dying to Survive,” Rajkumar Hirani’s “Sanju,” and
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For weeks, director Barry Jenkins and the department heads of his latest film, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” met at production designer Mark Friedberg’s Manhattan home, where they crafted the look of the movie, released on Christmas Day, scene by scene. Costume designer Caroline Eselin, who had worked with Jenkins on his Oscar-winning “Moonlight,” cherished
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January 10, 2019 10:40PM PT Futuristic technology and exclusive services at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are making premium air travel less crazed at the perennially jammed airport. Three exclusive lounges at LAX give select first class passengers and high profile types means to avoid the paparazzi, crowded TSA lines and major negatives of mass
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January 10, 2019 10:22PM PT Rampant silliness and gaping plot holes test audience patience in Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s sci-fi thriller. How late can a thriller spring a plot twist that at least partially compensates for all the cavernous plot holes, risible dialogue, and ludicrously illogical behavior that precede it? Probably not nearly as late as the
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As she promised, Lady Gaga’s collaboration with R. Kelly has been removed from streaming services. The song, “Do What U Want (With My Body), was removed approximately 18 hours after Gaga tweeted her apology for working with Kelly, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, as featured in last week’s Lifetime documentary
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Millions of Americans are turning to a 34-year-old Japanese “organizing consultant” to help de-clutter their homes, and for Marie Kondo, the tidying expert and eponymous star behind Netflix’s “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” there’s nothing that “sparks joy” more than seeing people take ownership of their belongings — and their lives. Kondo, whose eight-episode series premiered on Netflix
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When planning an elegant A-list dinner for 10 to gala parties for a thousand, event planners have a sophisticated mix of locations to choose from in New York and Los Angeles. Variety looks at new and updated venues that cater to gatherings during Hollywood’s awards season, and throughout the year welcome all kinds of happenings
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RaMell Ross’s debut feature, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” took the top prize at the Cinema Eye Honors Thursday night in New York, winning outstanding nonfiction feature. Bing Liu’s much-lauded skateboarding doc “Minding the Gap,” which tied the Cinema Eye record for most noms with seven, took home three trophies, including outstanding achievement in
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“Green Book” screenwriter Nick Vallelonga has apologized for posting a tweet espousing a debunked conservative narrative that American Muslims could be seen cheering after 9/11. “I want to apologize,” Vallelonga said in a statement issued Thursday night. “I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the
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