As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the United States, the entertainment industry is entering uncharted waters. On Tuesday, AMC Theatres, the largest cinema chain in the United States, announced that it would be closing its doors for the next six to 12 weeks, joining Regal Cinemas in its decision to cease operations in response to
Month: March 2020
The coronavirus crisis is expected to delay the start of contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that were originally scheduled to begin next week. Insiders at the WGA and AMPTP have been trying to sort out how to adjust the negotiations schedule in light of
Today’s music live-streams include live performances from Niall Horan, Common, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, the Indigo Girls, Kalie Shorr, Ashley McBryde, Rachel Wammack, Janiva Magness and Grant-Lee Phillips. More than that, there’s an entire festival that’s been taken online: the Luck Family Reunion, previously scheduled to take its annual bow at Willie Nelson’s place
March 19, 2020 12:30PM PT Amazon is developing a limited series based on the New York Magazine story “The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence,” Variety has learned exclusively. In addition, Reed Morano is attached to direct. The New York Magazine story, written by Ezra Marcus and James D. Walsh, told the true story of a group
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The Cannes Film Festival has been postponed. Organizers confirmed Thursday evening that the film festival will no longer take place during the scheduled dates of May 12-23, and several options are now being considered, including postponing the event until the end of June through to the beginning of July. The festival press conference, originally scheduled
“Mulan” star Tzi Ma is frequently recognized for his many film and television roles, including in last year’s indie hit “The Farewell” and the “Rush Hour” films. But it was an encounter weeks ago that has stayed with him. Ma had visited a Whole Foods grocery store in Pasadena, Calif., when a car approached him
Few imaginable things could impact the live-entertainment business as much as a global pandemic, and not surprisingly, Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, has taken a beating on the stock market over the past two weeks. On a particularly rough Wednesday, its share price dropped 33% at one point in the afternoon — down
“The Inheritance,” a sprawling two-part Broadway epic about a group of gay men in New York, was supposed to close on March 15. But it never made it to its final performance. Four days before its last scheduled show, on March 12, the curtain came down unexpectedly, as all Broadway productions shut for four weeks
Emerging careers are on hold because the covid-19 pandemic has forced the closure of SXSW and other spring festivals. So it’s worth talking to artists for whom particular festivals have been vital. One is Judd Apatow, who spoke to Variety prior to the cancellation of SXSW. Whether he was at SXSW to unspool projects he
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Alamo Drafthouse has put together a $2 million emergency relief fund for staff members who were furloughed, Variety has learned exclusively. The reserve extends to those who work in company headquarters and corporate-owned venues. Alamo Drafthouse closed 40 locations earlier this week, over half of which are corporate-owned.
Evangeline Lily is refusing to self-quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, despite the advice from health professionals and organizations to stay home and practice social distancing. The “Ant-Man and the Wasp” actress took to Instagram three days ago, where she posted a photo of her morning tea and shared that for her and her family, it’s
The GLAAD Media Awards were supposed to happen Thursday night in New York City, but the LGBTQ media watchdog group canceled the 31st annual festivities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, GLAAD doesn’t want the day to go unnoticed, so the organization has released exclusive video to Variety of Elton John accepting the
March 19, 2020 11:17AM PT Netflix has agreed to temporarily reduce video quality of its streaming service in Europe, reducing bit rates for the next 30 days at the behest of the European Union in order to ease the load on internet networks in the region. The move came after EU Commissioner for Internal Market
Zac Brown has sent an emotional message to fans about severe cuts he’s had to make to his crew, why it’s a life-or-death matter for young people to be out partying, and how Americans are having to make decisions for themselves in lieu of strong political leadership. Manager Scooter Braun also shared the video on
Universal and Illumination have delayed the release “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” the latest tentpole to get pushed back amid the coronavirus pandemic. The animated family film was scheduled to hit theaters July 3 and doesn’t have a new launch date. Most movie theaters across the country have been shut down for an indefinite period
For four years, Josh Wakely has been prepping a television project that many writers would kill to work on. Now the TV and music-video vet has one of the industry’s foremost producers backing him. Warren Littlefield has signed on to serve as executive producer for “Time out of Mind,” a gritty drama series that would
Scopely, a mobile-games developer, announced an additional $200 million as part of its Series D funding round from Advance, whose holdings include Condé Nast, and Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group (TCG). The new funding doubles the size of the original $200 million Series D round Scopely announced last fall and brings the company to over
A staff member on “The Dr. Oz Show” has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the show to shut down production, Variety has learned. New episodes will continue airing daily, and host Dr. Mehmet Oz will film remotely from his home. The daily syndicated show had its last day in-studio Wednesday, which is when the show
March 19, 2020 8:00AM PT Hulu is at long last coming to Comcast Cable customers’ set-top boxes. But the cable operator’s distribution pact with Disney — which now controls Hulu — covers access only to the video-on-demand portion of the service, not the Hulu + Live TV package given that Comcast offers its own TV
The Webby Awards, recognizing the best internet content and creators, has canceled its 24th annual awards show, becoming the latest event to be nixed in light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The kudos-fest had been scheduled to take place May 11, 2020, in New York City. However, the Webby Awards will still be handed
Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams is urging Kylie Jenner to use her clout to help emphasize the seriousness of coronavirus to young people. “We need to get our social media influencers out there in helping folks understand that this is serious. This is absolutely serious. People are dying,” Adams said Thursday on “Good Morning America.”
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, regional VOD players, platforms and festivals from continental Europe to the Middle East and beyond are serving up a wide range of free movies and TV shows to market their product or simply reach captive audiences. Dubai-based broadcaster MBC Group on Thursday became the latest operator to launch a pandemic special,
U.K. association Directors UK has joined a chorus of industry voices calling for emergency measures for the freelance workforce as it battles through a pandemic that has ground the local film and TV industry to a halt. In a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, Andrew Chowns, CEO of Directors UK, which represents
A top European Union official called on Netflix and other streaming-video services to reduce video quality to standard-definition format — forgoing HD for now — so that internet networks don’t get overloaded during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a tweet Wednesday, EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said he spoke with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
On the heels of a letter from the Recording Academy appealing to Congress for financial assistance for the music community, the Music Artists Coalition sent a similar letter to Congress signed by dozens of artists and executives, including Don Henley, Lizzo, Maren Morris, John Mayer, Stevie Nicks, Gwen Stefani, Def Leppard and many others. Where
Thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this year’s broadcast staffing season is all but over before it began. Most of the shows in contention for series pickups for the 2020-2021 season, and even those that had already been ordered to series, had shot virtually nothing before the major studios and networks began shutting productions down
China’s main state-owned distributor plans to issue a batch of half a dozen films, from which cinemas will keep all income, in order to get the country’s exhibition sector back on its feet after long closures due to coronavirus, it has said. China Film Group on Tuesday detailed its selection of titles in a statement
Comedy Central is hitting Snapchat with its first scripted original series: “Get Money,” a mock how-to explaining how to make it in the gig economy. The timing is less than ideal. Numerous “gig economy” workers across sectors have been hard hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, so the humor may fall flat. That
The BBC has launched “Culture In Quarantine,” an arts and culture initiative that will run across the service’s U.K. radio, television and digital platforms. The initiative follows the U.K. government’s social distancing advice to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the closure of most cultural spaces across the country. The initiative, which
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