Month: July 2020

Reteaming provocative Polish director Jan Komasa with screenwriter Mateusz Pacewicz, “The Hater” hits Netflix mere months after the duo’s acclaimed impostor-priest drama “Corpus Christi” was nominated for the Oscars’ newly rechristened international feature award. Timing wise, that’s a savvy acquisition of a youth-targeted thriller that deals with such topics as ethics, elections and online obsession,
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When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 San Diego Comic-Con, it was the first time in the 50-year history of the fan convention that it would not take place. “It was really a heartbreaking decision,” says David Glanzer, chief communications officer and strategy officer at Comic-Con Intl., the organization that oversees SDCC
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While Shazam’s mid-year charts are filled with new artists and songs, The Weeknd dominated the two biggest ones — he’s the most Shazamed artist worldwide, and his “Blinding Lights” single is the most-Shazamed song globally and in 16 countries. (Check out Variety‘s cover story on The Weeknd from earlier this year, and our exclusive track-by-track
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Channel 4 commissioner Fatima Salaria is joining the production ranks, moving to Fremantle-backed “Indian Summer School” producer Naked as managing director. Salaria takes over for former Naked CEO Simon Andreae, who was recently appointed CEO of Fremantle U.K. Her role will be both creative and commercial, and she will work closely with creative director Tom
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Tamera Mowry-Housley is leaving her talk show “The Real” after six seasons. She co-hosted the show since 2013, which originally featured her alongside Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Houghton. “For seven years, my home and heart has been at ‘The Real.’ The friendships that I’ve made there will last a lifetime, and
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Grant Imahara, an electrical engineer and former host on the Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters” has died at 49, a spokesperson for Discovery has confirmed to Variety. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go
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When Lynn Shelton died in May, she left behind a legacy that included directing episodes of programs such as “Little Fires Everywhere,” “The Morning Show,” “Dickinson,” “GLOW,” “Shameless,” “Fresh off the Boat,” “The Mindy Project,” “New Girl” and “Mad Men.” She also directed multiple Marc Maron standup specials, including this year’s “Marc Maron: End Times
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MONDAY, JULY 13 Doug Belgrad Developing Unabomber Project as Psychological Thriller  “Bad Boys for Life” producer Doug Belgrad is developing a psychological thriller about Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist who became known as the Unabomber. Kaczynski, in an attempt to foment revolution, conducted a bombing campaign between 1978 and 1995 that killed three people and
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In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix has released the “Lucifer” Season 5 trailer, and HBO Max has acquired the rights to “Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness,” premiering Aug. 27. RENEWALS UMC has announced the renewal of four original series: “Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy,” “A House Divided,” “Stuck With You” and “Double Cross.” “Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy”
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The 1989 murder of Susan Smith is a despairingly grim Southern Gothic story, shot through with reckless sex, institutional corruption and Kentucky-fried local scandal: prime material for the kind of forensic, heavily extended true-crime podcasts (or Netflix-style documentary series) that garner such widespread public fascination these days. At least “Above Suspicion,” a steamed-up, sweat-soaked film
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Naya Rivera, best known for her groundbreaking role as Santana Lopez on the hit Fox musical series “Glee,” has died. She was 33. Her body was identified at Lake Piru in Ventura County, Calif., the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office confirmed at a press conference on Monday. Sheriff Bill Ayub said there was no indication of
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