Month: May 2020

PewDiePie will be live-streaming exclusively on YouTube under a new pact. To date, Felix Kjellberg — the prankster and videogame vlogger better known to fans as PewDiePie — has amassed more than 104 million subscribers and generated over 25 billion views to date, by far the most of any individually operated channel on YouTube. “YouTube
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Taika Waititi will direct a new “Star Wars” movie for theatrical release, which he will co-write with “1917” scribe Krysty Wilson-Cairns. The news confirms reports that first broke in January that Waititi was developing a new “Star Wars” movie. The filmmaker was coy about those reports when Variety asked about them in February after he
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Actor-musician-vegan Maggie Baird, mother of Billie Eilish and Finneas, is expanding her Support + Feed initiative from its Los Angeles base to two other cities, she tells Variety. The goal of the initiative is to feed first responders, senior centers and economically vulnerable people during the coronavirus crisis while helping plant-based restaurants stay afloat. “People
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Netflix has appointed Bruce Daitch as VP of animation, Variety has learned. Daitch is an industry veteran, having previously served as both chief operating officer and chief financial officer of DreamWorks Animation, the maker of “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda.” In his new role, Daitch will oversee production strategy and operations for Netflix’s global animation
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With the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy, any look back at 2019 financial performance feels like an exercise in nostalgia, but the data released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry on Monday shows that the streaming boom’s impact on recorded-music revenues was already starting to level off. For
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Country singer Cady Groves, best known for her 2009 EP “A Month of Sundays,” died in Nashville over the weekend, according to a statement from her label. “Her death appears to be from natural causes, pending a final coroner’s report,” the announcement states. “Foul play and self-harm have both been ruled out by the coroner.”
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J. Crew has filed for bankruptcy, becoming the first major US retailer to do so amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement released early Monday morning, May 4, the retailer—made popular by the likes of Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama—said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is working with its lenders
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MADRID —  2bOriginals, the newly created production arm of 2b, a leading digital media group with offices in Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and the U.S., is teaming with top Dutch production company NewBe to produce hit film franchise ‘Misfit’ for Spanish-speaking markets. The remake forms part of a deal which sees 2bOriginals acquiring the rights
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LevelK has boarded Anna Hildur’s directorial debut “A Song Called Hate,” a documentary revolving around Hatari, the performance art group which made headlines at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest. LevelK is handling world sales excluding Iceland. Executive produced by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (“20,000 Days on Earth”), the documentary follows the journey of Hatari,
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Jeffrey Katzenberg is facing a big new foe — notorious activist hedge fund Elliott Management — in a legal fight accusing his mobile-streaming startup Quibi of patent infringement and theft of trade secrets, Variety has confirmed. Elliott Management, which claims to have some $40 billion in assets under management, has made an investment in interactive-video
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A cinematic essay about life, memory and time, Argentine Nicolas Prividera’s “Adios a la Memoria” (“A Farewell to Memory”), the Doc Works in Progress (WIP) winner at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival, captures the life and recollections of the filmmaker’s Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Produced by Pablo Ratto of Trivial Media, “Adios a la Memoria” does so through
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The Sydney Film Festival will go ahead in a smaller and all-digital format next month, organizers announced on Monday. They had previously announced that this year’s event would be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, and that the next edition would be held in 2021. The virtual festival will run June 10-21. The program will
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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen “The New Decas,” the season 5 premiere of Showtime’s “Billions.” Can the group of hardcore characters who fuel the “Billions” universe overcome their baser instincts to find success and happiness? These are the broad themes of the fifth season of “Billions,” Showtime’s twisty-turny drama series set
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