Month: April 2020

Rosalie Varda, a seasoned French film producer who is the daughter of late New Wave filmmaking icons Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy, has been appointed senior advisor at MK2 Films. MK2 Films is part of the arthouse production, sales and exhibition group headed by Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz which had five movies in competition at
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“The Willoughbys” hits Netflix this Wednesday, the latest in the streaming platform’s slate of animated, family-friendly features. Based on the Lois Lowry books, the film follows the four Willoughby children, who live in a house where their self-centered parents neglect them, depriving them of love. The children devise a plan to send their parents on
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UPDATED: Classic past performances by Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Green Day, Cardi B, Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monáe, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Uzi Vert, David Guetta, and many more will be part of the massive three-day PlayOn virtual festival this weekend, supporting the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO), powered by the UN
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WarnerMedia has set the start date for HBO Max: It’s slated to barrel into the streaming wars on May 27. The subscription-streaming package, with some 10,000 hours of content out of the gate, will debut May 27 in the U.S., priced at $14.99 monthly (the same as HBO Now). WarnerMedia announced the launch date Tuesday
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Switzerland’s Rita Productions, producer of Academy Award-nominated “My Life as a Courgette,” is re-teaming with France’s Silex Films, the company behind France Televisions’ Slash hit series “Stalk,” to develop “Witch!” (“Sorciere!”). Aiming to rehabilitate the figure of the witch in contemporary society, doc-feature “Witch!” is based on the bestselling essay by Mona Chollet,  “Witches, the
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U.K.-based stuntwoman Olivia Jackson has won the latest stage in a long battle for damages following life-changing injuries she sustained during the filming of “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” in 2015. Standing in for Milla Jovovich, Jackson was driving a motorcycle that collided head-on with a camera attached to a boom that extended from a
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As multiple production companies lay off crew, French animation studio TeamTO has announced two new hires, both central figures in the huge explosion of French animation over the last two decades, with Clélia Santi being appointed as head of production, and Judith Bruneau to the newly-created position of line producer and talent scout, TeamTO announced
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ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) has gone into production on “Balcony Stories,” a slate of user-generated, short-form content to mark the ways people are experiencing coronavirus lockdown. The short-form series, produced by VIS in collaboration with Fremantle, is based on content from audiences and talent. Videos will show off people’s new daily routine, with balconies transformed
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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 5 finale of “Better Call Saul.” Gus Fring needs to find better assassins. The Chicken Man’s (Giancarlo Esposito) plan to assassinate Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) massively failed as “Better Call Saul’s” Season 5 finale, “Something Unforgivable,” which aired Monday night on AMC,
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The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new appreciation for streaming platforms while families are “together at home.” Variety recently reported that the streaming competition depends on strong children’s content. Kids have always needed creative, educational and inclusive stories. But during this time of self-isolation, the streamers have become a conduit to the outside and
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Retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his fiancé, recording artist and actor Jennifer Lopez, have retained JPMorgan Chase to raise capital for a possible bid on the New York Mets, people familiar with the matter said. The superstar couple is working with Managing Director Eric Menell, the bank’s co-head of North American media investment banking,
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In today’s film news roundup, Netflix dates “The Lovebirds,” Goldcrest Post hires a veteran executive and the documentaries “American Heretics” and “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch” are getting free showings. RELEASE DATE Streaming giant Netflix has set a May 22 launch date for its Issa Rae–Kumail Nanjiani romantic comedy “The Lovebirds,” directed by Michael Showalter. “The Lovebirds”
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Between the Beastie Boys’ retrospective book (“Beastie Boys Book”), their 2018 “event tour” (featuring readings and Q&A) and “Beastie Boys Story” documentary — which comes out Friday on Apple TV+ — one might wonder what’s left to talk about. But Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and Mike “D” Diamond — the third Beastie Boy, Adam “MCA” Yauch,”
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Herb Stott, a trailblazing director and producer of TV commercials, died Feb. 8 in Hollywood. He was 85. The cause of death has not been made public. Through his two production companies, Spungbuggy Works Inc. and Herb Stott Films, he produced both live-action and animated commercials. Stott’s live-action clients included McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Little Debbie, Doritos,
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The surviving members of Fountains of Wayne will reunite Wednesday — joined by Sharon Van Etten on bass and backing vocals — to perform in tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger on “Jersey 4 Jersey,” a benefit live-stream taking place Wednesday night. Said Chris Collingwood, the band’s co-founder and lead singer, “Brian (Young), Jody (Porter)
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