Several Western media outlets have reported the disappearance of Jack Ma, China’s most prominent businessman, and co-founder of e-commerce and entertainment giant Alibaba. Some reports claim Ma hasn’t been seen in public for some two months. Although he is no longer a senior executive at Alibaba, Ma remains the controlling shareholder of Ant Group, a
Month: January 2021
Universal Music Group has announced a strategic expansion of its Sub-Saharan Africa leadership team, with Sipho Dlamini and Elouise Kelly named CEO and COO of Universal Music South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, respectively, and Chinedu Okeke named managing director of Universal Music Nigeria. Dlamini will continue to oversee all of UMG’s operations within English-speaking Africa.
Quibi, after its high-profile collapse, may be close to landing a deal with Roku to sell rights to its multimillion-dollar lineup of original shows. Quibi, the startup led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, is in “advanced talks” on a pact with Roku to acquire streaming rights to the Quibi catalog, the Wall Street Journal
A London court has turned down a request for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the U.S. to face espionage charges, over mental health concerns. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said on Monday at London’s Old Bailey court that Assange’s clinical depression could be compounded and he could commit suicide if extradited stateside. The
Jodie Whittaker could depart iconic BBC science fiction series “Doctor Who,” according to a report in U.K. tabloid Daily Mirror. The Mirror reports that the actor’s departure is being kept under wraps, but is an open secret on set. Whittaker is the 13th actor and the first woman to play the beloved British character. “We
Actor Tanya Roberts, known for playing Stacey Sutton in the 1985 James Bond film “A View to a Kill” and Midge Pinciotti on “That ’70s Show” between 1998 and 2004, has died. She was 65. Roberts was out walking her dogs on Christmas Eve when she collapsed. She was admitted to the Cedars-Sinai hospital where
Prolific British songwriter Geoff Stephens has died at the age of 86, his family confirmed to Variety Sunday. His songs include Grammy winner “Winchester Cathedral,” “There’s a Kind of Hush,” and “The Crying Game,” which was the theme song of Neil Jordan’s Oscar-winning film of the same title. London-born Stephens, who died on Dec. 24,
While Jimmy Iovine is best known as one of the music industry’s biggest power players — a cofounder of both Interscope Records and the Beats by Dre headphone empire, and as an Apple Music executive — he began his career as music producer and engineer, working with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2,
Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival, the biggest movie-TV event in Scandinavia, looks set to stage one of the most dramatic experiments in on-site fest screenings in a COVID-19 age, isolating a single film enthusiast on the bleak North Sea lighthouse island of Pater Noster. There, totally alone, with no iPhone nor even a book, they will
Disney/Pixar’s “Soul” continues to charm China with sales of $13.8 million over its second weekend, more than double its $5.5 million Christmas debut, thanks to strong word of mouth. It was the highest-grossing foreign import of the New Year weekend, far outstripping “Wonder Woman 1984” and even Hayao Miyazaki’s older but beloved animation “Ponyo.” The
The New Year weekend rankings give a bizarre indication of the havoc currently being wreaked on the Korean box office by the coronavirus, audience caution and stay at home orders. For a start, a Hollywood title scored a rare victory. “Wonder Woman 1984,” the most recently released film of international significance, took the top spot
Amid surging COVID-19 cases in Southern California following the holidays, SAG-AFTRA, the Producers Guild of America and the Joint Policy Committee are together recommending a “temporary hold on in-person production in Southern California.” Together, the organizations represent thousands of actors, producers, commercial advertisers and ad agencies. “Southern California hospitals are facing a crisis the likes
Exclusive Miya Ponsetto is doing a really bad job at laying low in her hometown, because she’s been out and about … and not without controversy. The 22-year-old — who falsely accused Keyon Harrold’s teenage son of stealing her phone — has surfaced in her SoCal neighborhood, where on Sunday … her mother called the
Kerry Vincent, a judge on “Food Network Challenge” and the host of “Save My Bakery”, died on Jan. 2 from an illness. She was 75. The Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show, a nonprofit organization that Vincent co-founded, announced her death on their Facebook page. “It is with great sadness that I have to report the
Making predictions for as uncertain a year on the music calendar as 2021 involves peering into the murkiest of crystal balls, given how tricky it is to forecast when live music will return in any big or even small way. There’s a domino effect at play that goes beyond the live sector, with so many
Nancy Pelosi has been re-elected as Speaker of the House, making her the leader of the House’s slim Democratic majority for a fourth term. Pelosi won re-election by a narrow vote of 216 to 209 against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Though Pelosi gained support from the majority of her party, two Democrats opted
President Donald Trump is promising to drum up a burst of political theater in his waning weeks in office, starting with Wednesday’s election certification procedure in the U.S. Senate. Even after four years of drama and desperation, Trump proved he hasn’t lost his power to shock after the Washington Post released audio of a telephone
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long:
As if Nashville hasn’t had enough chaos descend upon it lately, here’s two doofuses causing even more of a panic by jumping off a hotel rooftop bar to ring in the new year. This wild incident went down Friday at the Grand Hyatt in downtown — not too far from where Anthony Warner blew himself
“Star Wars” icon Mark Hamill has been rendered speechless by recent praise from “The Mandalorian” actor Ming-Na Wen. The interaction started when Hamill, who made a surprise appearance as Luke Skywalker in the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian,” tweeted his appreciation for fans’ reactions to his cameo. “#NoWords – Seeing fan’s reactions to Luke’s
The Rubik’s Cube is getting the big screen treatment. Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and Endeavor Content have partnered with the eponymous brand for a feature film based on the best-selling puzzle toy. Hyde Park is also working with Endeavor Content-backed “The Wall” producer Glassman Media for a game show based on the Rubik’s
The Nashville bomber, Anthony Warner, was just as out there as people might’ve suspected — because authorities now say he sent letters full of kooky ideas days before detonating. Warner sent a number of letters and videos to friends and acquaintances all over the country on Dec. 23 — two days before his RV exploded
Gerry Marsden, the frontman of Gerry and the Pacemakers and singer of Liverpool Football Club anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” has died, according to the BBC. He was 78. Marsden’s friend and journalist Pete Price broke the news via Twitter on Sunday, stating that the singer died “after a short illness which was an infection
“Wonder Woman 1984” used its lasso of truth to rope in a modest $5.5 million over the New Year’s holiday. The sequel also ensnared another $10.1 million from overseas markets, bringing its global total to a ho-hum $118.5 million. Wonder Woman may be an iconic comic book character, but the film’s lackluster results aren’t that
More Golden Globes category placements and shifts have occurred that will factor into this year’s Oscar race. Variety has learned exclusively that Stanley Tucci’s performance in Harry Macqueen’s “Supernova” has been rejected for best supporting actor in a motion picture and has been moved to the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category, alongside
A year ago at this time, if you’d have told us that Van Morrison would be single-handedly responsible for nearly a third of a worst-songs-of-2020 list (and that this would not be some kind of weirdly perverse, contrarian view, but something that had wide public agreement)… well, we would’ve assumed you’d dipped a little too
Snoop Dogg is finally speaking out after being dissed by Eminem on a new song — this after Snoop kinda dissed Shady himself — and it sounds like a good old-fashioned hip-hop beef is cookin’. The Doggfather left a telling comment on an Eminem fan page’s IG post, which laid out clips of Marshall recently
Exclusive The woman who attacked a black teen after falsely accusing him of stealing her iPhone seems to have issues with disturbances in hotels because she was arrested for one back in February. Play video content @keyonharrold / Instagram Miya Ponsetto is now in the crosshairs of authorities for her antics in an NYC hotel,
Larry King has tested positive for COVID-19 and is receiving treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, sources close to the King family told ABC News and CNN. “Larry has fought so many health issues in the last few years and he is fighting this one hard too, he’s a champ,” a source said
Claude Bolling, a French jazz pianist and composer whose work can be heard in over 100 films, died on Dec. 29 in Garches, France. He was 90. Bolling’s representatives announced his death on his website. No cause was given. Born on April 10, 1930 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France, Bolling was a child prodigy and began