Month: December 2021

After spending much of this year promising and then implementing various reforms, the first test of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s evolution may come on Dec. 13. That’s when the org will announce the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards nominations, at 6 a.m. PT from the Beverly Hilton. How and what that might look like
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Ours is an age of nostalgia. Now that the rose-tinted glasses have increasingly turned their gaze toward the 1990s — they’re literally making a “That ’90s Show,” in case you didn’t already feel old enough — “Mixtape” almost feels timely. With a pre-Y2K setting, soundtrack featuring the likes of Vitamin C and Lit, and plot
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Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith and Meredith Hagner have all been cast in the upcoming Apple drama series “Bad Monkey,” with Marcos Siega (“Dexter,” The Flight Attendant”) now onboard to direct the first episode and executive produce. The trio of actresses join previously announced series lead Vince Vaughn in the show, which is being written by
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“Ray and Manny,” “Witch’s Business” and “Worldoscope” feature among the five animation projects chosen for the 2nd Women Animation Directors Mentoring Program, run by Ventana Sur’s Animation! Launched with the aim to boost gender parity and build a more equitable and diverse animation industry, the initiative has been launched in alliance with the Annecy Festival’s
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How do you follow an all-conquering, Grammy-nominated hit like BTS’ “Dynamite”? By strategically crafting an even bigger one. That was the goal a group of songwriters and producers set for “Butter.” And, remarkably, they achieved it. The K-pop group’s second English-language single, Variety’s Hitmakers Record of the Year, broke YouTube and Spotify marks during its
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Big news for Paul Thomas Anderson’s awards campaign as his film “Licorice Pizza” was named the best picture of the year by the National Board of Review. The MGM and United Artists Releasing film also picked up prizes for directing and shared the breakthrough performance award for newcomers Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. Another newcomer
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Fresh off his Gotham Award win for breakthrough series, “Reservation Dogs” co-creator Sterlin Harjo is developing a new miniseries with a Native female lead at FX. The untitled series will see Harjo direct, as well as co-write with bestselling novelist Jonathan Lee. Harjo will also executive produce with Garrett Basch, through the latter’s new label
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Nascar inked a multiyear deal with FloSports that will make the sports streamer the exclusive global home of the Nascar Roots series of 280-plus annual racing events starting in 2022. The Nascar grassroots programming previously has been available on the NBC Sports Gold subscription streaming service, which NBCUniversal is phasing out. NBCU, which also is
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This year, a who’s who of Grammy-nominated artists and household names lead the original song Oscar race. But it’s still early days so anything can happen. Original song reigning queen H.E.R. has “Automatic Woman,” from “Bruised,” while “Right Where I Belong” by Brian Wilson and Jim James that plays in the doc “Brian Wilson: Long
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Barcelona-based production-distribution outfit Filmax has picked up international rights to Spanish holiday comedy “Our (Perfect) Xmas Retreat” (“El refugio”) following the film’s successful domestic theatrical release. Premiering in Spain on Nov. 26, the film went up against firm opposition and came away as the weekend’s top domestic release. Filmax is introducing the film to buyers
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A musical trailblazer with a sixth sense of marketing and memes, Lil Nas X helped create the soundtrack of 2021 with the ubiquitous “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and “Industry Baby.” When it comes to courting virality, the internet-savvy hitmaker is peerless — particularly in the visual medium. By gleefully pushing buttons in the
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Andrew Garfield will receive the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Desert Palm achievement award, actor for his performance in Netflix’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!” from director Lin-Manuel Miranda. “From his numerous film roles and theatrical performances, Andrew Garfield is an outstanding actor, who puts his heart and soul into bringing the character he’s portraying to
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Toronto may have shut down production for nearly four months due to COVID-19, but its film industry has come roaring back stronger than ever now that strict protocols have been launched to manage the pandemic’s impact. Local officials say production has already returned and is set to exceed its pre-pandemic levels. Some 1,500 projects, including
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It’s a frigid Friday night in Chicago, and the place to be for Gen Z is Jack Harlow’s concert at the Aragon Ballroom, a meticulously renovated, hilariously ornate 95-year-old theater that looks like the setting for a Rudolph Valentino movie. About 5,000 young people (approximately 60% female) are packed under the ballroom’s Moorish archways, mosaics
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Redbox plans to run digital video ads on nearly 4,000 of its trademark DVD rental kiosks across the U.S. — inventory it hopes to sell to Hollywood studios as well as national and local marketers. The company announced it has already deployed digital video signage on the top of more than 2,000 kiosks so far,
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MUSIC VIDEO After a cameo at Wednesday night’s “La Casa de Papel: El Legado” global fan event streamed from Madrid, Becky G has dropped the full-length video of her reggaeton cover of “Bella Ciao,” an Italian anti-fascist protest song co-opted by the “Money Heist” gang as a resistance anthem of their own. “I have always
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Germany is bringing in tough new restrictions on unvaccinated people in a bid to control the rapid spread of COVID-19. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that unvaccinated people would be barred from several public places such as non-essential shops and events. The only exemption would be if they have recently recovered from COVID-19. “Culture and leisure
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Ally Pankiw will make her feature directing debut with “Brooke & Sam,” an upcoming dramedy featuring “Shiva Baby” breakout Rachel Sennott. The film, which quietly wrapped production, follows Sam, a young stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with PTSD, who is weighing whether or not to join the search for Brooke, a missing girl she
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Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” has a brash effervescence. You can feel the joy he got out of making it, and the kick is infectious. Directing his first musical, Spielberg moves into the big roomy space of a Broadway-meets-Hollywood classic, rearranges the furniture (the film’s screenwriter, Tony Kushner, has spiced up the dialogue and tossed
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Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has taken international distribution rights to Demian Rugna’s “When Evil Lurks,” the fifth feature of from the Argentine genre director behind 2018 Austin Fantastic Fest winning “Terrified.” Fernando Díaz’s Machaco Films and Roxana Ramos’s Aramos Cine in Argentina and Agustina Chiarino and Fernando
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The Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and hip-hop festival Rolling Loud, whose California edition is scheduled for Dec. 10 to 12 at NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, have announced a partnership to promote awareness of social justice issues. The organization will prioritize activism and community through a series of panel discussions, fundraising efforts and
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