Month: February 2022

In today’s podcast roundup, Cate Blanchett is launching a podcast about the climate-change crisis with Audible; Marvel and SiriusXM explore the origins of “Black Panther’s” T’Challa; Julie Bowen and Chad Sanders team up for “Quitters”; Snoop Dogg joins Shondaland Audio’s drama “#Matter”; and more. GREENLIGHTS Audible, Amazon’s premium audio storytelling arm, has commissioned two seasons
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The sequel to Jason Statham-fronted shark thriller “The Meg” has begun shooting in the U.K., Variety can confirm. Production on “Meg 2: The Trench” has kicked off with a splash at Warner Bros.-owned Leavesden Studios outside London, where the Harry Potter and Batman franchises were also shot. The film, about a murderous 80-foot prehistoric shark,
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MARKET With only two months before MipTV kicks off from Cannes, RX France (formerly Reed Midem) has revealed that more than 100 companies have confirmed their attendence for this year’s in-person TV content market, running April 4-6. Having faced various COVID-related setbacks over the past two years, MipTV has reinforced its strict health and safety
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In cheering news for the British entertainment business, film and high-end television production spend in the U.K. reached over £5.64 billion ($7.65 billion) in 2021, £1.27 billion higher than in the pre-pandemic year 2019. Official figures published on Friday by the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit reveal that film production reached £1.55 billion, 3% up
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The U.K. government’s decision last week to shut down the pioneering BFI Young Audiences Content Fund sent shockwaves around the industry. Among those incensed was Anna Home, chair of the Children’s Media Foundation (CMF), a non-profit organization focused on securing the best media choices for young people on all platforms. Home, a BAFTA-winning TV producer
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High profile Danish playwright Christian Lollike spoke to Variety about his feature film debut “The Cake Dynasty” at the Goteborg Festival’s Nordic Film Market. Lollike is presenting the movie in the market’s work-in-progress sidebar. Represented in international markets by LevelK, the immigration-themed satirical and romantic drama stars Nicolas Bro (“Riders of Justice”) as Neil, a
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It takes some nerve casting a scandal-embattled star like Mel Gibson as a colorful TV celebrity suspected of killing his wife. Those who’ve stood by Gibson despite multiple attempts by the actor to sabotage his own career will likely admire the chutzpah of “Last Looks,” even if his flamboyantly named (and mustachioed) Alastair Pinch —
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Indian filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has revealed the first trailer for his long-awaited film “Gangubai Kathiawadi,” which will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Starring Alia Bhatt (“Gully Boy”) in the titular role alongside Ajay Devgn (“Tanhaji”), the film is based on the book, “Mafia Queens of Mumbai,” written by S. Hussain
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Italian actor and singer Michele Morrone is set to make his Indian debut alongside Bollywood star Jacqueline Fernandez with music video “Mud Mud Ke.” Morrone starred in Polish erotic film ‘365 Days,’ which is getting two sequels from Netflix. Fernandez is a Sri Lankan actor who made a mark in Bollywood with “Kick,” alongside Salman
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“Lucifer,” “Squid Game,” “Luca” and “CoComelon” were among the most popular programming titles on streaming services in 2021 for Black, Asian and Hispanic viewers, Nielsen Analytics found. Other SVOD winners with these three demographic groups were Disney Plus’ “Moana” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” and Netflix’s “Manifest,” “Criminal Minds” and “You” across the categories
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The Recording Academy and Clive Davis have announced that the 2022 Pre-Grammy Gala, the star-studded “Clive Party” held the night before the  awards, will be postponed until next year, Variety has confirmed. The Grammys’ move to Las Vegas presumably complicated the arrangements for the event. However, the announcement notes that other Grammy Week events will
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Netflix’s limited series “Maid” was a hit for the streamer, as one of its top ten shows of all time and most-watched limited series ever. Star Margaret Qualley, for one, is amazed at the reception. “Mind blowing,” she tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I mean, it’s so gratifying, truly mind blowing for me. I just
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Georgian writer-director-producer Giga Agladze has been a musician, a documentarian and Caucasus regional director of the Transcendental Meditation-focused David Lynch Foundation. Yet none of those things has any obvious bearing on, or makes much sense of, his debut directorial feature—apart from Lynch being on board as a prominently billed executive producer. Shot in 2019 Tbilisi
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Lin-Manuel Miranda will receive the 2022 Changemaker Award from the Greenwich International Film Festival, the festival announced Thursday. The Pulitzer Prize-winning “Hamilton” creator has been selected for the Changemaker award for his work with the Miranda Family Fund, which supports causes such as education, the arts and social justice, and has been particularly focused on
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“Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.,” Disney Plus’ “Doogie Howser” reboot about the adventures of a 16-year-old mixed-race girl juggling adolescence and a prodigious medical career in Hawai’i, will return to Disney Plus for a second season. The half-hour, family-friendly medical dramedy starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee in the titular role of Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, was originally released on
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Amazon significantly beat fourth-quarter 2021 earnings estimates but missed on revenue, reporting Thursday a profit gain of almost $12 billion thanks to its investment in electric car company Rivian. The tech giant’s stock closed Thursday at $2,776.91 per share, with it climbing more than 18% in after-hours trading. The regular U.S. stock markets will reopen
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