Month: May 2021

ABC unveiled its fall TV offerings for the 2021-2022 season ahead of Disney’s upfront presentation Tuesday, with a schedule that includes several heavy-hitter mainstays as well as a few high-profile newcomers. Unscripted staples “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Bachelorette” anchor Monday and Tuesday nights, respectively, with new drama “Queens” following the dating reality show
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Otoy, a technology company specializing in cloud graphics, has added digital artist Beeple to its advisory board. In enlisting Beeple, Otoy — which already counts director J.J. Abrams, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and JavaScript creator Brendan Eich as board members — hopes to pave the future of digital content, including
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Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come,” starring Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, will open the hybrid summer component – running June 2-6 – of the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s 50th edition. Hirota Yusuke’s animated feature “Poupelle of Chimney Town” will close the event. “The World to Come” is a romantic drama about the forbidden love
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When the votes were tallied in Georgia last November, then counted again and again, Donald Trump was characteristically vocal in his outrage that Georgia, a longtime Republican state, had turned blue. In addition to helping to hold Trump to a one-term presidency, Georgia voters also secured two Democratic Senate seats for Raphael Warnock and Jon
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Discovery Plus will premiere “No Responders Left Behind,” a documentary about the fight waged by former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, social activist John Feal and FDNY hero Ray Pfeifer to get health benefits and compensation for 9/11 first responders. The film will stream on Discovery Plus globally this September. “’No Responders Left Behind’
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Jeremy Scott is fashion’s ultimate nostalgia merchant. Barbie, My Little Pony, SpongeBob SquarePants: He’s put them all on a runway at some point. A regressive mood has predominated during the pandemic—we’ve found ourselves swaddled in sweatsuits, tie-dyeing and coloring our way through quarantine as though we’re back in the recess yard. But the Moschino creative
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Andrew Barnsley, executive producer of “Schitt’s Creek,” is joining the Toronto Film School as president. Barnsley has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for outstanding comedy series for “Schitt’s Creek.” He is also an eight-time Canadian Screen Award nominee and winner for his work on “Schitt’s Creek,” “Jann” and “Spun Out.” “I’m honored to
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Barcelona production-distribution outfit Filmax is at this year’s L.A. Virtual Screenings with its most recent TV acquisition, Basque drama “Mouths of Sand” (“Hondar ahoak”) from leading regional film production company Txintxua Films, its first foray into TV production. Originally commissioned by local Basque public TV broadcaster ETB, the series’ global rights were scooped by Filmax
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Los Angeles-based company 1844 Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution and international sales rights to Argentine Betania Cappato’s feature debut “Una escuela en Cerro Hueso” (“A School in Cerro Hueso”). The autism-themed film, inspired in Cappato’s direct family events, earned a special mention at March’s Berlinale Generation Kplus sidebar. 1844 Entertainment plans to release the movie
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The recently ended holy month of Ramadan, which is peak TV season for Arab audiences, has seen most streamers in the Middle East try to lure new subscribers with Ramadan releases, which have risen on OTT platforms with the notable exception of Netflix. Dubai-based media analyst Nader Soban — head of the Vynd data intelligence
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Rising British singer-songwriter and actor Arlo, who signed a major recording deal earlier this year with Sony Music Entertainment’s Arista Records label, is developing a scripted television series with Lionsgate and Eleven Films, producers of Netflix hit “Sex Education.” Eleven will produce and develop the series, which will follow a young man in East London
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After the U.K. government eased lockdown restrictions from Monday, BBC Studioworks is getting audiences back into studios from Tuesday, with safety measures in place. Productions being recorded over the coming days with live audiences present include “The Goes Wrong Show,” produced by Big Talk/Mischief Screen in association with Lionsgate for the BBC; “The Jonathan Ross
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It leaked out a while back that the new “Fast and Furious” film, “F9,” would feature a sequence set in space — a setting that sounded, on paper, like it might be the logical culmination of all those spectacular gravity-defying leaps that the cars in this series are perpetually making. Yet I’m not sure if
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The Chinese government’s increasing regulation of the tech sector is a current concern for China’s major internet and online entertainment companies. But the latest quarterly results announcement for China’s biggest digital music company, Tencent Music Entertainment pointed to business as usual, at least for the moment. First quarter revenues, spanning the January to March 2021
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Rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris is under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department for allegations of sexual assault, Variety has confirmed. The LAPD would not disclose further details about the probe, including whether T.I’s wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, is also under investigation. T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, released a statement to Variety regarding the investigation and the
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WATCH MY SHOW: ‘Girls5Eva’s’ Meredith Scardino Fills Out Our Showrunner Seven I’ve had the “Girls5eva” songs in my head for days, and I can’t stop thinking about how enjoyable this Peacock show has been. Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps star in the series, which comes from creator and EP Meredith Scardino. Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, David
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Amazon is weeks into negotiations on a deal to acquire MGM for about $9 billion, industry sources tell Variety. Chatter that Amazon (and other tech giants) have been sniffing around MGM has circulated for some time. But sources indicated that Amazon’s interest in acquiring the studio has taken on a new tenor beyond the usual
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“NCIS: Hawai’i” has added Noah Mills to the cast, Variety has learned exclusively. Mills joins previously announced series lead Vanessa Lachey and fellow cast members Yasmine Al-Bustami and Jason Antoon. In the show, the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor (Lachey) and her team balance duty to family and country, investigating high-stakes
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In 2019, when I took the stage with director Rayka Zehtabchi to accept the Academy Award for documentary short subject for “Period. End of Sentence,” I held the Oscar high and declared “a period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education.” Nearly 26.9 million viewers in 225 countries heard the rallying cry for menstrual
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