Month: December 2020

The Game Awards are almost upon us, and, like most award shows, it’ll be looking a little different this year. The 2020 ceremony, hosted by Geoff Keighley, will be taking place on Thursday night in Los Angeles, Tokyo and London, airing from three in-studio, audience-less locations due to the coronavirus pandemic. And it may be
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With COVID still forcing lockdowns in countries around the world, the role of the Assn. of Film Commissioners Intl.  has never been more important to the production community.  The professional organization continues to attract more members, recently adding Film Coop, the Cooperstown, Oneonta and Otsego Film Partnership, Canada’s London Economic Development Corp. and the United
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Disney Plus reached a new milestone, just over a year after its debut, hitting 86.8 million paid subscribers worldwide as of Dec. 2. That’s within shouting distance of the high end of the 90 million customers Disney originally expected to land — in year four of the streaming service’s life. The new sub count is
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Fox is developing an animated comedy based on the Crag Banyon Mysteries books by James Mullaney. Mullaney and Shane Black will write and executive produce the project, which is titled “Crag Banyon P.I.” It follows the supernatural adventures of an alcoholic ex-cop and current private investigator, Banyon, as he solves cases in an alternate noir,
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Skydance Television has struck an exclusive first-look deal with Exile Content Studio to develop and produce scripted English-language series, Variety has learned. “We are very proud to partner with Exile Content Studio to bring its diverse array of Latinx-based content to our current development slate,” said Jesse Sisgold, Skydance Media president and chief operating officer.
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Tahar Rahim turned the heads of cinephiles more than a decade ago in Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” which was Oscar-nominated for best foreign language film in 2010. Since then, he’s made his way through the independent and international audiences with performances in films such as Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past.” Now, Rahim is taking on his
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COVID-19 forever changed many aspects of our lives this past year, and our collective media and entertainment choices certainly were no exception. The global pandemic fueled a massive industry divide where in-home entertainment choices thrived, while many out-of-home entertainment players, quite literally, died. Whereas Netflix living-room streaming reached new heights, many live music venues and
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A second outbreak of COVID-19 has occurred at the Lionsgate TV-produced “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” in less than two months. Sixteen cases of coronavirus were recorded at CBS Studio Center’s Bungalow 3 in the first week of December, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where the Lionsgate TV-produced series was set
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Veteran A&R exec Rob Stevenson is joining 300 Entertainment as a partner, the company announced Thursday. The move sees Stevenson, who was most recently executive VP of A&R at Universal’s Republic Records, reuniting with 300 co-founder and CEO Kevin Liles, with whom he worked for five years at Island Def Jam. According to the announcement,
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Singer, songwriter, producer, composer and EGOT winner John Legend performs an intimate rendition of “Never Break” from the new Netflix documentary, “Giving Voice.” The documentary will be released on Dec. 11 on the global streaming platform, and follows six students of varied backgrounds as they advance through the August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that
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It’s only fitting that in 2020 — the year of the coronavirus — Netflix’s top titles include stand-up comedies, “sad movies” and “home baking shows.” The streaming giant released year-end viewing trends on Thursday that also showed that October was the biggest month for comedy consumption, with audiences seeking to quell pre-election anxiety. “Hubie Halloween,”
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On United Nations Human Rights Day (December 10), singer-songwriter-activist John Legend has been named recipient of the High Note Global Prize for social justice, presented by United Nations Human Rights, Partner of the High Note Global Initiative, and David Clark Cause, the organizations announced. The annual High Note Global Prize honors and celebrates recording artists
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When Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt discuss their experience working under the direction of John Patrick Shanley, they were both “bewildered” about how absolutely “bonkers” their two characters are. Along with quarantine and wanting to play “Batman,” the Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast sits down to talk about their film “Wild Mountain Thyme” – listen below!
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Perhaps it was a bit of method acting. Over the course of the three-and-a-half weeks spent shooting “Luxor” in Egypt, Andrea Riseborough fell in love with her co-star Karim Saleh, who played the former boyfriend of her character, an aid worker named Hana. “Perhaps we did our jobs a little too well,” says Riseborough. “It’s
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It’s an enormous bet that threatens to alienate Hollywood’s A-list, and it may well make or break HBO Max in the coming year. But WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is vigorously defending the company’s plan to offer day-and-date streaming and theatrical releases for Warner Bros.’ 2021 feature slate, calling it a “defining moment” for a media
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“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which bows on Netflix on Dec. 18, features Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis as the legendary blues singer and Chadwick Boseman in his final on-screen performance. “Ma was really successful and super famous, and preceded Bessie Smith,” says composer Branford Marsalis, who delivered the film’s score and music. “Without Ma Rainey, there
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