Month: September 2022

There were actually two queues the day before the Queen’s funeral in London. The first was the main one, the queue with a capital Q, where Brits (including David Beckham) stood for 12 hours to walk by a coffin that—according to every seasoned cab driver I had—was actually empty. (“Her Majesty’s corpse is already resting
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Influence Media Partners has acquired Grammy-winning Future’s publishing catalog from 2004 to 2020, the company announced. The prolific rapper’s work from those years spans 612 titles, including titles with frequent collaborator Drake (“Life Is Good,” “Jumpman”), Kendrick Lamar (“King’s Dead”), Rihanna (“Selfish”), and the Weeknd (“Low Life”) and his own solo hits like “Mask Off.”
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Adnan Syed has been released from prison after serving 23 years for the murder of Hae Min Lee, after a Baltimore judge overturned the case Monday. As his story continues, so does the true crime podcast “Serial,” which popularized the case and made Syed a household name in its record-setting first season, which investigated the
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Fox Entertainment has launched Los Angeles-based Fox Entertainment Global, tapping Fernando Szew as its new CEO. Fox Entertainment Global will act as a centralized content sales division, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier revealed today. It will oversee the international distribution of Fox Entertainment content as well as managing content sales on behalf of MarVista Entertainment
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CNN’s new chief hopes primetime anchor Don Lemon can help the network gain ground in some of TV news’ toughest terrain. Chris Licht, who has vowed to tone down some of the more aggressive commentary at the network since taking its reins earlier this year, has enjoyed an eyebrow-raising streak in morning news. He launched
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It stands to reason that “Reboot” is immediately an entertainment biz turducken of industry lingo and in-jokes. From “Modern Family” creator Steven Levitan, the new Hulu series depicts the reboot — also airing on Hulu — of a family sitcom and all the behind-the-scenes drama that inevitably follows. Levitan, whose credits include “Just Shoot Me”
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Leading Bengali-language focused streamer Hoichoi has unveiled a 25-strong Indian and Bangladeshi series slate on the occasion of its fifth anniversary of operations. Stepping into its sixth year, Hoichoi, revealed 21 shows from India and four from Bangladesh at a gala event in Kolkata on Tuesday. Content creators Srijit Mukherji, Dhrubo Banerjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Sahana
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Ryan Spicer, after more than 14 years with WarnerMedia and Turner Broadcasting, is joining Atmosphere, which operates a national out-of-home streaming news and entertainment network, to lead ad sales in the role of chief revenue officer. Most recently, Spicer served as VP of sales and partnerships for WarnerMedia Digital, which is now part of Warner
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John Oliver said on the Sept. 19 episode of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” that it was “pretty shitty” to have his Queen Elizabeth II jokes censored by the U.K. television network Sky following the British monarch’s death. During the first episode of Oliver’s HBO show “Last Week Tonight” that aired after the Queen’s passing,
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Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (“Waiting for the Barbarians”) has acquired a controlling stake in central London’s Mercato Metropolitano food market and teamed with British music producer David Tickle’s Tickle Entertainment on a doc series set there about global food culture. Iervolino, whose Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) company produces feature films including Bobby Moresco’s
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Searchlight Pictures’ “Fire Island” will receive The Gotham Film & Media Institute’s ensemble tribute during the 32nd annual Gotham Awards ceremony, Variety has learned exclusively. The announcement comes during the Gotham Week Conference, which concludes Sept. 23 in Brooklyn. The “Fire Island” cast includes Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, Matt Rogers,
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U.S. director-producer Laura Poitras, who won an Oscar and an Emmy with Edward Snowden film “Citizenfour,” and recently took the Golden Lion at Venice with opioid epidemic pic “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” will be the Guest of Honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. The 35th edition of the festival takes place
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Def Jam Recordings has entered into an exclusive worldwide joint venture partnership agreement with the Lagos, Nigeria and UK-based Native Records. The announcement was made by Def Jam chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun and Seni “Chubbz” Saraki and Teni “Teezee” Zaccheaus, co-presidents and co-founders of Native Networks. Native Records is the music division of Native Networks, a
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After screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and coinciding with its San Sebastian bow, Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer for “La Jauria,” the first feature effort from award-winning Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido (“El Edén”). The film tracks the visceral journey of two estranged friends, Eliú (Jhojan Estiven Jimenez) and El Mono
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The U.K.’s new culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, has made her first public statements about the potential sale of public broadcaster Channel 4 and the future of the BBC license fee. “We’re looking at the business case for the sale of Channel 4 and making sure we still agree with that decision and that’s what I’m
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THEATER “Peaky Blinders” is getting a theatrical adaptation with “Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby.” “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight has written the theatrical dance show, which is set to be directed and choreographed by Benoit Swan Pouffer, artistic director of Rambert. It is set to premiere on Sept. 27 at the Birmingham Hippodrome,
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Two Basque movies screen in San Sebastian main competition, multiple others, from ever more notable and noted filmmakers, play other sections or grace Basque showcase Zinemira. A drilldown: “Blue Files” (“Karpeta Urdinak”, Ander Iriarte, Spain-France)  Iriarte directs a doc investigating his father’s potential torture while in police custody. The investigations take the doc deeper into findings
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With Txintxua’s series “Intimacy” shooting to No. 1 on Netflix’s global non-English charts this summer and 17 Basque films of ever greater renown participating at the San Sebastian Festival, led by Mikel Gurrea’s feature debut “Suro” and Fernando Franco’s “The Rite of Spring,” the region’s film and TV industry has flashed signs of real growth
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Disney+ is preparing to greenlight original Canadian content. However those seeking to place programming with the northern contingent of the Mouse House may not be preparing pitches the streamer is actually looking for. Less than a year after former Shopify e-commerce director Jason Badal took the top job as VP and GM of Disney+ in
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In recent years, Spain’s Basque Country has emerged as a hub for fresh talent, something that directors Mikel Gurrea (“Suro”), Estibaliz Urresola (“Cuerdas”) and Irati Gorostidi (“Contadores”) credit to robust mentorship programs, governmental financing campaigns and ever-maturing production and distribution initiatives as well as a tight-knit network of professionals woven into the fabric of the
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Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company has closed a remake deal with Italy’s Marco Belardi and his new label Bamboo Prod. for Ariel Winograd’s latest film “Today We Fix the World” (“Hoy se Arregla el Mundo”).  Produced by powerhouse shingle Patagonik, the family dramedy was picked up by Netflix for several key territories after
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The 18th Zurich Film Festival kicks off Sept. 22 with a muscular lineup that includes some of the year’s most anticipated international pics while also putting the spotlight on Swiss and German-language cinema. In addition to a strong selection of U.S. films, including Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller’s “The Son” and Neil Jordan’s “Marlowe,” Zurich is
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