Month: February 2020

February 11, 2020 8:24AM PT A former longtime CNBC anchor announced plans Tuesday to run against incumbent New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  for a Congressional seat representing parts of the Bronx and Queens. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera appeared on NBCUniversal’s CNBC for more than two decades, first as an anchor who once hosted “Power Lunch” and rose
0 Comments
Kid-focused digital media company Pocket.watch — in its first international expansion — has tapped former Disney executive Danny Spronz to oversee business operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Spronz, based out of Pocket.watch’s new London office, serves as managing director EMEA, responsible for all business operations, advertising sales, consumer products licensing and content
0 Comments
Tubi says it’s continuing to gain momentum, drawing more viewers to its free-streaming service — and driving up more overall viewing time. In December 2019, according to the company, its monthly active user base grew to 25 million (up from 20 million six months earlier) while total viewing time hit over 163 million hours watched,
0 Comments
SiriusXM Holdings has invested $75 million in SoundCloud, the open audio platform beloved by musicians that has struggled to find a place in a the streaming-service hierarchy. SoundCloud will use this additional investment to accelerate its product development and enhance the services that fuel its global community of creators and listeners, according to the announcement.
0 Comments
Chinese streaming platform, and Alibaba subsidiary, Youku will exponentially increase its catalog of British scripted series thanks to a new licensing deal it has signed with BBC Studios. Building on the two companies’ existing licensing partnership, this newly announced content deal offers the Middle Kingdom platform an additional 80 hours of BBC Studios dramas. Partners
0 Comments
February 11, 2020 2:13AM PT Entertainment One has secured international distribution rights for the Canadian series “Family Law,” an upcoming scripted drama that mixes family dysfunction and legal intrigue. Produced by SEVEN24 Films and Lark Productions, the Vancouver-set series follows an attorney in recovery who is forced to practice family law alongside her estranged father,
0 Comments
Variety has been given an exclusive clip from Berlin Film Festival competition film “Volevo Nascondermi” (Hidden Away) by Giorgio Diritti. The film stars Cannes award-winner Elio Germano (“La nostra vita”) as the 20th century Naïve artist Antonio Ligabue. Diritti describes Ligabue’s story as a “bitter fairy tale” in which “a significant bond with life and
0 Comments
Fear of the coronavirus increased its impact on the South Korean cinema industry. Films were cancelled and box office revenues dropped for a second weekend. Ticket sales fell by some 10%, compared to the previous weekend, which itself followed an already depressed previous session and a slow January. That caused Megabox to delay its Jeon
0 Comments
February 10, 2020 6:28PM PT There’s a genuinely intriguing story at the heart of “For Life,” ABC’s new legal procedural. But it’s buried under a fair amount of frenetic drama that tends to obscure its most interesting ideas. The show, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, is based on the true story of Isaac
0 Comments
In today’s film news roundup, “Guest of Honour” and “Skin Deep: The Battle Over Morgellons” have found distribution and Screen Gems is developing “Urban Legend.” ACQUISITIONS Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Atom Egoyan’s drama, “Guest of Honour,” starring David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveira and Luke Wilson. The film premiered at the Venice Film
0 Comments
Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Sunday night Oscar win completed her clean sweep of top show-biz awards over the past five months. The Icelandic-born, Berlin-based cellist-composer won for her dark and disturbing “Joker” score. She also won the BAFTA on Feb. 2, the Critics Choice award on Jan. 12, the inaugural Society of Composers & Lyricists award
0 Comments
If you’re still wondering how Eminem wound up performing at this year’s Academy Awards, credit Justin Timberlake for the idea — sort of. Timberlake opened the 2017 ceremony with a performance of his hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” and since then, the Oscars has embraced including high-energy musical numbers to liven up the telecast. Last
0 Comments
Following his Oscar victory for “Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi has turned his focus to Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” and gained some help in shaping the script. Sources tell Variety that Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who wrote and directed the Netflix pic “Someone Great,” has joined Waititi to work on the script prior to its production
0 Comments