May 1, 2019 8:11AM PT Debuting director Bora Kim’s kindhearted and unhurried coming-of-age film follows a neglected teenager as she finds her voice in the growing Seoul of the mid-’90s. There is a certain tentativeness to the 14-year-old Eun-hee (Ji-hu Park) in writer-director Bora Kim’s sure-handed feature debut “House of Hummingbird,” a tender yet somewhat
Month: May 2019
The Jonas Brothers have announced dates for their 40-city “Happiness Begins” tour this summer and fall, with special guests Bebe Rexha and Jordan McGraw. Dates appear below; the group’s comeback album, also called “Happiness Begins,” is out June 7. Produced by Live Nation, the tour is presented by American Airlines and Mastercard and kicks off August 7th in Miami, FL
May 1, 2019 7:47AM PT Ant Timpson’s dark, blood-splattered comedy runs out of steam and originality as it follows an urban hipster facing major daddy issues in a coastal Oregon town. And you thought you had daddy issues. Weigh them against Elijah Wood’s troubles in debuting director Ant Timpson’s moderately funny and strangely dated gross-out
In “UglyDolls,” an air-popped animated musical fairy tale about learning to embrace the ugly — that is, ordinary (that is, extraordinary) — specimen most of us are, the title plush toys are monochromatic fuzzy-felt factory rejects who get tossed off the assembly line for one reason or another. Each has a flaw that fails to
Performing rights society ASCAP today announced that its total revenues for 2018 were a record $1.227 billion, an increase of 7% over 2017. Distributions crossed the $1 billion mark for the second year in a row, with $1.109 billion in royalties paid out to its songwriter, composer and publisher members — also a record. Distributions
May 1, 2019 6:30AM PT “The Fate of the Furious” director F. Gary Gray was tapped to direct a film version of the “Saints Row” series of video games, currently in the early planning stages, IGN reported Wednesday. Greg Russo will write the screenplay for the adaptation. Russo is also scripting movie reboots of “Mortal
Hulu kicked off 2019 by rapidly packing on subscribers — driven by price cuts and promos — with the streamer announcing that its total customer base has swelled to over 28 million. And the money-losing company, now majority-owned by Disney, is investing in more original content in a bid to sustain that momentum. Hulu’s sub
Netflix is adding high-quality audio feeds to its catalog, and introducing adaptive audio streaming to make sure its members are getting the best-possible sound based on the speed of their internet connection. The streaming service announced Tuesday that it is upgrading the quality of its 5.1 and Dolby Atmos audio tracks, with members with compatible devices
May 1, 2019 6:00AM PT Hulu plans to launch another ad format tailored to the viewing habits of the streaming-video junkie. The company, controlled by Walt Disney and Comcast, said it plans to launch a new format that “will make it possible for marketers to target binge viewers with a creative that is situationally relevant
VideoAmp, a company focused on optimizing cross-platform advertising, has raised $70 million in new funding led by investment bank the Raine Group. The funding brings total funding to about $106.6 million. Raine Group invested $50 million in the round with venture-capital firm Ankona Capital contributing $20 million. Previous VideoAmp investors include Mediaocean and RTL Group. VideoAmp
TORONTO — In 2008, the Mexican government sent the army to fight drug traffickers in the rugged region along the U.S. border. What at first glance seemed like an attempt to rein in the powerful cartels turned into an epidemic of state-sponsored violence, leading to the murders and disappearances of countless journalists, human rights activists,
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail Wednesday for jumping bail when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Assange was arrested last month after spending nearly seven years inside the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault allegations. He told Southwark Crown Court in
Social satire “Boyz in the Wood,” starring Eddie Izzard, will open the 73rd edition of the Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival on June 19. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film follows four city boys trying to escape a mysterious huntsman, played by Izzard, as the Highlands’ police force trails behind. Rian Gordon, Samuel Bottomley, Viraj
Chuck Rosenberg is charting an unusual course for a TV-news outlet. NBC News will be ecstatic in coming days if Rosenberg’s conversations with newsmakers are heard but not seen. A former U.S. Attorney and FBI Chief of Staff, Rosenberg these days is better known as a contributor for MSNBC. Starting today, he will add to
Rapper G Herbo Charged for Allegedly Dragging Baby Mama by Hair 5/1/2019 12:30 AM PDT EXCLUSIVE G Herbo is now facing a battery charge for an altercation that went down with the mother of his child … and prosecutors say the rapper dragged the woman by her hair. TMZ broke the story … G Herbo was
April 30, 2019 11:32PM PT Agreeing to attend weddings together, two single friends make an unlikely connection in Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer’s winning rom-com. “Plus One” is proof of the continued vitality of traditional romantic comedy formulas. Yet far more thrillingly, it’s a testament to star power — which it has in spades, courtesy
April 30, 2019 11:23PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Marvel claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “Avengers: Endgame.” Ads placed for the superhero film had an estimated media value of $6.54 million
You could call it a meeting of the multi-hyphenates. Musician, activist and “Sorry to Bother You” director Boots Riley sat down for a chat with DJ, producer, author and “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” musical director Questlove for a wide-ranging chat at the Tribeca Film Festival Tuesday night. During the conversation, the two touched
Baz Luhrmann’s Tom Hanks-starring Elvis film is set to shoot significant portions in Australia, it has been confirmed. The currently untitled film, backed by Warner Bros., will explore the life and music of Elvis Presley, including his rise to fame, his unprecedented stardom, and his impact on the world. It will also delve into his
A visionary who flew too close to the sun. A dream of success that became a nightmare. A golden boy turned prince of darkness. Name your grandiose American metaphor, and the saga of John DeLorean, the GM-executive-turned-lone-wolf-entrepreneur who invented the car of the future (only to see it relegated to the junkyard of the past),
“Game of Thrones” cinematographer Fabian Wagner isn’t apologizing any time soon for Sunday night’s poorly-lit episode. Fans were particularly excited for the show’s tentpole episode over the weekend, but many were left disappointed when multiple scenes were too dark for home-viewers to make out the much anticipated Battle of Winterfell. After receiving significant criticism for
“I don’t run away from nothing, I run to it,” says Gemma, the quietly resilient teenager at the center of “Scheme Birds.” Few would blame her for doing the reverse, having been abandoned in infanthood by her parents in the harsh projects of Motherwell, a deprived, lusterless Scottish town a few miles outside Glasgow. It’s
Michael J. Fox doesn’t let Parkinson’s disease get him down. He takes life step-by-step when he fears he will fall, he laughs through hardship, and he helps others who are struggling to do the same. “I don’t know much about acting, but I know what people have told me and what acting teachers have told
April 30, 2019 5:21PM PT Rapper Juice WRLD has signed with WME where he joins a roster that includes Drake, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Ty Dolla $ign and Wiz Khalifa, among others. Pollstar reported the signing, which occurred in December 2018. Juice was previously represented by Andrew Lieber of MAC Agency, which told