Spotify will be the exclusive home for WWE podcasts — including a new original audio content developed by WWE and Spotify’s The Ringer division. The Ringer, the digital media and podcast company founded by ex-ESPN exec Bill Simmons that Spotify bought in 2020, plans to launch an exclusive audio network as part of a multi-year
Month: August 2021
Comcast and ViacomCBS have teamed up to launch a new streaming service in more than 20 European markets. The new platform, which is called SkyShowtime, will reach 90 million homes and convene entertainment, movies and original series from NBCUniversal, Sky and ViacomCBS brands, including titles from Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Plus originals, Sky Studios,
NBC’s “” wouldn’t seem to have much to do with Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian,” but this year, the two very different programs have common ground. NBC Sports shot a new opening for its football broadcast — the nation’s most-watched regular TV series — that puts singer Carrie Underwood at a virtual football tailgate while performing
More than 25 years after allegations of sexual abuse against R. Kelly first began to surface, the singer’s New York criminal trial is set to begin its opening statements today (Aug. 18). It is one of several sets of charges against him; a Chicago trial is slated to begin after the New York hearings conclude.
Data firm Genius Sports has hired longtime sports media executive Steve Bornstein to lead its North American business, the second former NFL executive to join the company in the past few weeks. Variety‘s sister site Sportico first broke the news. As Genius Sports’ first president of North America, Bornstein will be responsible for the group’s commercial operations in the U.S.
SERIES Banijay Nordic company Jarowskij has unveiled “A Class Apart,” a new eight-part drama series commissioned by Viaplay, which Banijay Rights will distribute internationally. Based on an original idea from Henrik Schyffert and Gustaf Skördeman, the series unspools within a secret society at on of Sweden’s top boarding schools. After a hazing ritual goes wrong
Fortissimo Films has acquired sales rights outside Asia to “Inu-Oh,” a Japanese animation film that will play at both the Venice and Toronto festivals. The film is directed by Yuasa Masaaki with acclaimed Japanese animation studio Science Saru. It will have its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition section at the Venice Film Festival on
Gabin Rivoire’s documentary “Laurent Garnier: Off the Record,” which explores the origins and rise of techno music through the eyes of one of its pioneers, has sold to multiple territories. The film screens on Saturday at both the Edinburgh and Karlovy Vary film festivals. The documentary has been acquired in France by Condor Distribution, in
Award-winning comedian Sean Lock has died from cancer, his agents confirmed on Wednesday. He was 58 years old. “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Sean Lock. He died at home from cancer, surrounded by his family,” reads a statement from Lock’s agency, Off The Kerb Productions. “Sean was
Both the title and opening voiceover of the Jordanian feature “The Alleys” make us think we’re in Naguib Mahfouz territory, evoking the backstreets of a neighborhood where “average” people lead intersected lives and everyone knows everyone else’s business — a place where, as the narrator tells it, “a story spreads like wildfire.” It’s a great
American cartoon giant DC Comics and South Korean talent agency HYBE have agreed to work with online animation firm Webtoon on content creation. Korea-based Webtoon is part of Asian internet giant Naver, best known for its Naver search engine functions and for the Line messaging app. Naver recently paid $600 million to buy online story
Donald Trump is making his views known on President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In an interview with Sean Hannity on his Fox News show Tuesday night, the former president called Biden’s handling of the situation “the greatest embarrassment in the history of our country.” Just two weeks before the U.S. was planning to complete
Back in the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, what we used to call monster movies had simple concepts and catchy, explicit titles that mirrored them. “Dracula.” “The Werewolf.” “King Kong.” “Mothra vs. Godzilla.” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” “The Blob.” When you watch a movie like “Demonic,” you only wish
The 10th installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise is set to speed into theaters in 2023. “Fast and Furious 10” will debut on April 7, 2023, Variety has confirmed. The film, which is the second to last movie in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, will be directed by Justin Lin. It was originally scheduled for release
Some performers end up having more lively discographies posthumously than they ever did in life. Anderson .Paak does not mean to be one of them. And whereas some artists might just put a ban on post-death releases in their wills, .Paak isn’t just waiting for the executor of his estate to get the message —
Freeform has canceled the Josh Thomas comedy “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” after two seasons. The quirky Australian auteur starred as a young man who is suddenly tasked with raising his two half-sisters after the death of their father. Thomas confirmed Tuesday in a tweet that the series would not be back for a third season.
There’s no kidding around about the “ole” in Grand Ole Opry: The most venerable of all American broadcast institutions, now 94 years old, will celebrate its 5,000th Saturday night show in October, to be preceded by a month-long countdown to the historic milestone. Plans for the commemorative events were discussed at a press conference at
The Chinese government has taken a stake and one of three board seats in a key subsidiary of TikTok owner ByteDance, reports said Tuesday, reviving debate about whether the popular short-form video app poses a national security threat. Chinese authorities now own a 1% stake in Beijing ByteDance Company, a firm that owns key licenses
Anyone who has attended any public events in Canada in recent years will likely be familiar with the practice of land acknowledgement: a solemn formal statement, recited before sports matches, film festival screenings or simple school assemblies, that historically contextualizes the very land on which the crowd is gathered, and admits a debt to the
Kimberley Motley, a human rights lawyer and the subject of the 2015 documentary “Motley’s Law,” has a unique perspective on life in Afghanistan. And she wants Americans to know — whatever they may see through news coverage of the country’s collapse, the reality on the ground for women under Taliban rule will be far worse.
“Bridgerton” breakout Phoebe Dynevor is attached to star and executive produce “Exciting Times,” a book-to-screen adaptation and romance series in development at Amazon Studios. Based on Irish author Naoise Dolan’s debut novel, “Exciting Times” centers on Ava, an Irish transplant teaching English grammar abroad to wealthy children. She becomes entangled in a love triangle with
The music documentary “Under the Volcano” is essentially a travelogue — not so much for its setting, the island of Monserrat in the West Indies, although there are luscious drone shots aplenty, as for the trip it takes back to the pop world of the 1980s. The subject is super-producer George Martin’s short-lived AIR Studio
There are two ways to watch “Cop Secret,” a wild-ride Icelandic satire of Hollywood action films. One is the classic “switch off your brain” strategy, which allows for an easy digestion of the non-stop parody elements in which each line and every situation is lifted wholesale from any number of cop thrillers. The other, with
In a key sequence in Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” Emily Blunt’s Lily Houghton and Dwayne Johnson’s skipper Frank have to dive off their boat to solve an underwater puzzle. Not only does Lily get trapped, but she ends up fighting for air as the drama unfolds. Underwater director of photography Ian Seabrook stepped in to film
An appeals court on Tuesday threw out a defamation lawsuit that accused Rachel Maddow of defaming One America News by calling the network “paid Russian propaganda.” The 9th Circuit Court of Appeal held that Maddow’s commentary was protected by the First Amendment, as she was simply offering her opinion based on a Daily Beast story
Peacock’s “Queer as Folk” reboot has added Jesse James Keitel as a series regular. The update is based on the landmark 1999 series from Russell T. Davis and is said to chronicle a diverse group of friends in New Orleans, whose lives are transformed in the aftermath of a tragedy. Keitel will play a trans,
The Hollywood Critics Assn. has scrapped its in-person HCA TV Awards, and will instead move the first-ever ceremony to a virtual event a week later. HCA chairman Scott Menzel said the decision was made due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County and the US. Instead, the show will stream on
This is a tale of a few tweets. “Shang-Chi” star Simu Liu was practically giddy with excitement as he posed on the red carpet outside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood ahead of the world premiere of Marvel Studios’ first Asian-led superhero film. Hours before Monday night’s red carpet, Liu tweeted to his followers, asking
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has issued a new order stating that attendees of any major outdoor event will be required to wear a mask due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. The requirement stands regardless of vaccination status, and goes into effect as of 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 19. This
A few years ago, I asked “Supernatural” creator Eric Kripke about the barrier to entry for genre shows in the Emmy race. With a few exceptions, such as “The X-Files” and “Lost,” shows with a sci-fi, fantasy or comic book bent had a hard time being taken seriously by Television Academy voters. “I always figured
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