Month: February 2022

Singer/songwriter Rita Ora has joined the cast of Disney Plus’ upcoming ‘Beauty and The Beast’ prequel. The news was announced Monday during Disney Branded Television’s session at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. On the “Beauty and the Beast” (working title) prequel, Ora will star as “a fugitive with surprising abilities who carries with
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Nielsen will be shining a light on representation by elevating the visibility of diverse-owned media companies and their influence in local markets with advertisers and agencies via its newly launched Diverse Media Equity Program. In collaboration with Procter & Gamble (P&G), Nielsen has created a reimbursement fund with the National Minority Supplier Development Council that
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As Spotify awkwardly attempts to defend its stance on Joe Rogan — first over the Covid-19 misinformation on his show, and then over his frequent use of the N-word on that same show — the controversies have revived musicians’ longest-standing problem with the platform: The royalty rates it — and other streaming platforms — pay,
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For Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and producer Andrew Watt, all it took was a couple of guitar chords to unexpectedly jumpstart sessions for Vedder’s third solo album, “Earthling.” The project, due Feb. 11 from Seattle Surf/Republic, is imbued with the spontaneity of friends new and old jamming together for the pure love of music,
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Timed to the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ voting period, Variety is rolling out a digital Voters’ Guide on Feb. 7, called Awards Circuit Down to the Wire, focused solely on the SAG Awards nominees. Use the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ Voters’ Guide to help navigate the nominations. SAG Awards voting closes on Feb. 25 12 p.m.
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Village Roadshow sued Warner Bros. on Monday, alleging that the studio sabotaged the theatrical release of “The Matrix Resurrections” in order to drive subscribers to HBO Max. The suit stems from Warner Bros.’ controversial move to release its entire 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously on its streaming service, including “Dune,” “The Suicide Squad” and “King Richard.”
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France’s Anamaria Vartolomei, star of Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening”; Ireland’s Clare Dunne, whose character in AMC’s Dublin-set series “Kin” has been dubbed “the female Tony Soprano”; and Croatia’s Gracija Filipovic, who made a splash in Alamat Kusijanovic’s “Murina,” winner of the 2021 Cannes Camera d’Or, are among the 10 young actors selected
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John Williams turns 90 years old on Feb. 8. And the world’s most famous film composer shows no signs of slowing down. The five-time Oscar winner, creator of many of the most well-known movie themes of all time — everything from “Jaws” and “Star Wars” to “E.T.” and “Harry Potter” — is finishing work on
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“The Smurfs” empire will continue to expand. Multiple feature films based on the Smurfs, as well as another season of the original television series, have been put into development, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation announced on Monday. A renewed emphasis on the tiny blue creatures is the result of a new creative partnership with LAFIG
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Chris Huvane, a partner and manager at Hollywood firm Management 360 and former magazine editor and PR executive, died Sunday night. He was 47. The cause was an apparent suicide, according to Deadline. Huvane had been open about his battles with depression. He is survived by two brothers: Slate PR partner Stephen Huvane and CAA
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Micky Dolenz has announced a “Micky Dolenz Celebrates the Monkees” tour, in which he’ll keep the torch for the band alive with a series of shows that will utilize multi-media elements to honor the legacy of the ’60s band, and put to further use the “Mike and Micky Show” band that accompanied him and late
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Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God have teamed up for a slate of originals for Audible, Amazon’s premium audio division. The duo have set five new projects from their newly created audio production banner SBH Productions, coming to Audible in 2022 under their previously announced multiyear development, production and audio-licensing deal. Award-winning audio producer Nicole
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Entertainment Master Class (EMC), established in 2005 as a new platform for peer-to-peer TV industry education, has launched the Showrunner Society, a hybrid online/in-person community for showrunners and media executives. The first face-to-face masterclass is planned for this summer, hosted in Germany with supported from film funding agency Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. Described by EMD
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Dr. Dre has made the historic move of bringing two deaf rappers into this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Snipe, will appear alongside Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar on Sunday to sign the big performance. It’s the first time sign language interpreters will be included in the halftime show’s
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Primary Wave Music announced that it has acquired the music rights from the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr of the Grammy-nominated Seattle band Alice In Chains. The deal will see the publisher acquire a stake in the Layne Staley’s and Mike Starr’s music publishing catalog, as well as master royalty income stream; terms of the deal were
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Consolidation in the video ad-tech space continues apace: Innovid, a provider of connected-TV advertising delivery and measurement, announced plans to buy media-attribution firm TVSquared for $160 million. TVSquared tracks response to TV and digital video advertising to try to determine the effectiveness of marketing spend. The Edinburgh, Scotland-based company’s clients and partners include NBCUniversal, Roku,
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PARALYMPICS U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has revealed a disabled presenting team for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, who will present on the ground in China. Award-winning presenter Ade Adepitan will front the daily highlights show, with former rugby player Ed Jackson and Paralympic champion triathlete Lauren Steadman presenting the “Breakfast Show.” Recently retired Paralympic
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