Twelves years and 279 episodes culminated in one tearful bittersweet day on Tuesday — the taping of “The Big Bang Theory” series finale. Cast members of the longest-running multicamera comedy ever gave emotional testimonials on what that last day on set was like to Variety on the red carpet of the series finale party in
Month: May 2019
Jazzman Wynton Marsalis faced one of the most unusual challenges of his career when he agreed to score “Bolden,” the biopic of early jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden: No recordings survive, so Marsalis had to create Bolden’s music from scratch. That’s precisely what intrigued him, Marsalis tells Variety: “Just being from New Orleans, being a trumpet player,”
“This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman has signed a massive five-year overall deal that will keep him in the fold at 20th Century Fox Television. Sources tell Variety that the pact is worth somewhere in the $125 million range. Under the new deal, Fogelman will continue to develop drama, live-action and animated comedy projects. Fogelman previously
Universal Music Group announced today that it has signed an exclusive global recording agreement with Nigerian singer/songwriter Tiwa Savage, one of Africa’s biggest stars. Under the agreement, her future music will be released internationally through UMG’s operations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Projects will be executively produced by Efe Ogbeni of Regime Music Societe
Bentonville Film Festival is marking its fifth anniversary as a space that highlights the work of filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Co-founded by Oscar-winner Geena Davis, the festival isn’t just interested in spotlighting these artists. It wants to get their films out into the wider world. To that end, it guarantees distribution for its top prize-winners courtesy
May 2, 2019 9:25AM PT Oculus founder and former Facebook employee Palmer Luckey took to Twitter Wednesday night to express his support for the Oculus Quest, Facebook’s latest VR headset that will go on sale later this month. “I endorse Oculus Quest,” Luckey tweeted — a show of support that’s notable, especially since Luckey’s departure
May 2, 2019 9:00AM PT This biopic about a legendary but little-known jazz pioneer in turn-of-the-century New Orleans leans heavily on stereotypes and clichés. The conundrum that haunts “Bolden,” a murky biopic about turn-of-the-century New Orleans musician Charles “Buddy” Bolden, is right up front in the opening titles, which inform the audience that little is
Jared Leto may not be done with playing the Joker. The Oscar winner says he’s open to revisiting the deranged supervillain he played in “Suicide Squad.” “I would definitely play the Joker again,” Leto says. “It all depends on the script and the circumstances as it always does.” But maybe he already has. Asked if
As it seeks to bolster its production input, the centenary Nordic major SF Studios has acquired a majority stake in thriving Swedish outfit FLX, the company behind the Netflix show “Quicksand” and some of Sweden’s most popular series, including “Solsidan” (pictured), and the popular movie “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.”
It’s not just amateurs who look at the ongoing imbroglio over the Woodstock 50 festival and think: What are the odds that it ends up being a go? Don’t worry — the pros in Las Vegas have set their minds to it, too. Jay Kornegay, the head of the Race & Sports Book Operations at
After having been successfully adapted into a pair of live-action movies, “Le Petit Nicolas,” based on the popular series of French children’s books from the ’60s, will be back on the big screen in an hand-drawn animated feature directed by Gilles de Maistre (“Mia and the White Lion”) and Amandine Fredon. “Le Petit Nicolas, une
Katie Couric’s career as a digital storyteller continues: She’s been tapped to host “#SeeHer Story,” an inspirational weekly digital series spotlighting “often-overlooked women” for People magazine. The show is part of parent company Meredith’s slate of seven new shows centered around the #SeeHer movement, an initiative launched by the Association of National Advertisers to promote
Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar with “The Silence of the Lambs,” and Olivia Colman, who just picked up the Academy Award for “The Favourite,” will star in Florian Zeller’s movie adaptation of his hit stage play “The Father.” Principal photography begins this month in the U.K. Financing has been arranged by Viewfinder and Embankment,
May 2, 2019 7:09AM PT In the wake of SiriusXM completing its $3.5 billion acquisition of Pandora, 60 people have been let go, according to an internal memo sent to the company’s staff by CEO Jim Meyer. A source noted to Variety that not all of the affected employees were at Pandora; the news was
WASHINGTON — Michael Bennet, who has served as a U.S. senator from Colorado since 2009, is the latest Democrat to join the crowded field of candidates in the 2020 presidential race. “This country faces two enormous challenges, among others: One is a lack of economic mobility and opportunity for most Americans. The other is the
Check out the official Crawl trailer starring Kaya Scodelario! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for Crawl: https://www.fandango.com/crawl-2019-218576/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US Release
May 2, 2019 6:28AM PT Gaming peripheral creator turned gamer lifestyle company Razer is, if its CEO can be believed, finally in the process of creating a toaster. The Razer Toaster — a black and green toaster that can burn the company’s iconic triple-headed snake logo into bread — started life as a bizarre side-project
The war on drugs has never taken more literal form than under the command of Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who rose to power on a pledge to rid the country of dealers and addicts alike — and delivered on his promise in the bloodiest fashion possible, with police summarily executing thousands of people over an
May 2, 2019 6:05AM PT AWAL, Kobalt’s recording company, today announced an exclusive worldwide recordings partnership with Los Angeles-based independent label In Real Life, which was founded by longtime XL Recordings A&R chief Imran Ahmed (pictured above), who signed Vampire Weekend, Jungle and others. According to the announcement, the deal will leverage AWAL and its
Hot Docs today unveiled the first two documentary projects to receive production support through Hot Docs Partners, its CAN$2.6 million ($1.9 million) cofinancing initiative that was launched a year ago at the annual festival in Toronto. The most recent addition to Hot Docs’ CAN$9 million ($6.7 million) production fund portfolio, Partners matches a select group
Muslim groups in Indonesia are calling for a ban on the film “Memories of My Body,” a drama from the country’s best-known art house director, Garin Nugroho. The groups say that the film is “sexually deviant” and promotes “LGBT values.” The film depicts the story of a young man from a dance troupe that performs
Discovery Inc. delivered advertising and affiliate revenue growth in the U.S. in the first quarter even as international revenue fell against tough year-over-year comparisons. Discovery on Thursday reported total revenue of $2.7 billion, in line with Wall Street’s expectations and up 17% from the year-ago quarter. However, adjusted for the impact of Discovery’s Scripps Networks
TORONTO — Director Hnin Ei Hlaing’s “Midwives,” which tells the story of two midwives who work side-by-side in a makeshift clinic, has won Hot Docs’ First Look program’s first prize and CAN$30,000 ($22,000) cash, it was announced following the close of the Hot Docs Forum and Hot Docs Deal Maker events Wednesday afternoon. “Midwives” was
Danish filmmaker Anders Walter, who won the 2014 Oscar for live-action short film with “Helium,” is to adapt French graphic novel “The Quest for the Time Bird” as a TV series. Walter made his feature film debut last year with another adaptation of a graphic novel, “I Kill Giants,” starring Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana and
Jared Leto wants Americans to hold a mirror up to themselves. “We made this crazy portrait of the United States in what I think is a really important time to take a look at ourselves,” the Oscar winner says. That crazy portrait is “A Day in the Life of America,” a new documentary that Leto
Jay-Z & Meek Mill Standing By Robert Kraft … During Spa Case 5/2/2019 6:23 AM PDT Breaking News Robert Kraft still has some very powerful allies during his Asian Spa case … including Jay-Z and Meek Mill. Of course, Kraft has been friendly with both rap superstars for a while — but teamed up with
May 2, 2019 3:45AM PT A day after being sentenced to nearly a year in jail for jumping bail, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was back in court Thursday for a brief initial hearing on whether he should be extradited to the U.S. to face prosecution over leaking classified information. Assange appeared by video link in
“Avengers: Endgame” broke the half-billion-dollar barrier in China on Thursday, becoming the most successful foreign film ever in the country after just over a week in theaters and easily eclipsing the previous titleholder, “The Fate of the Furious.” Released on April 24, “Endgame” is already the sixth-highest-grossing movie in Chinese film history, thanks to a
The suspense is over: Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” will indeed have its world premiere and compete at the Cannes Film Festival, the fest announced Thursday. “Intermezzo” from Abdellatif Kechiche, the Palme d’Or-winning director of “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” has also been added to the competition slate. The star-studded movie has
May 2, 2019 1:04AM PT “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and “Men in Black: International” will both be hitting Chinese theaters soon, though no specific release date for either has been announced yet. The former is due sometime in June, Chinese reports say. Two of China’s major online ticketing platforms list “Men in Black: