Month: June 2023

Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media-mogul-turned politician who defined a three-decade-long era in postwar Italy during which TV spin, tainting allegations of corruption and sex scandals were pervasive — but who also achieved unprecedented political stability in the country — has died. He was 86.  Berlusconi died at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, according to
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Ukrainian phenomenon “Mavka” is expanding its universe. Following the premiere of feature film “Mavka. The Forest Song,” it is now set to become a 3D animated series as well. Directed by Oleh Malamuzh, it will be produced by Animagrad Studio – part of the Film.UA Group – with France’s TeamTO already on board as co-development partner.
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ANNECY —  In major news for Mexican animation as it comes under the spotlight at Annecy, director Sofia Carrillo (“The Sad House,” “Cerulia”) is teaming with “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and  ‘Dance of the 41’ writer Monika Revilla to make “Insectario,” which bids fair to become one of the first stop motion features from Mexico. Targeting family
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Specialty distributor Gkids has picked up North American rights to directors Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s upcoming animated feature “Ghost Cat Anzu,” while Paris-based Charades has boarded the project for international sales.  Spearheaded by Shin-Ei Animation and Miyu Productions, and adapted from a manga by Takashi Imashiro, the family title tracks the tempestuous friendship shared
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Playing in competition in Annecy after premiering in Cannes, Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi thriller “Mars Express” offers an uncommon spin on modern anxieties — particularly when it comes to AI. “We so often imagine that if robots became sentient, they’ll kill us,” Périn tells Variety. “Or we see many sci-fi films where robots want to become
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ANNECY — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.  Animation is flowering in India and Africa.  Yet studio
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Actor Denée Benton took aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during Sunday’s Tony Awards telecast, referring to the Republican presidential hopeful as a “Grand Wizard” as she presented an award for theater education. On CBS’ live telecast, Benton saluted the 2023 recipient of the excellence in theater education award, Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation
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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the second episode of HBO’s “The Idol,” titled “Double Fantasy,” now steaming on Max. The sophomore episode of “The Idol” has arrived, and following last week’s controversial and divisive series premiere, the stakes within the show have been raised. Troubled pop phenom Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) has a tortured video
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Actors J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell have made history at this year’s Tony Awards, becoming the first openly nonbinary performers to win acting prizes. Ghee won lead actor (musical) for their performance as Jerry/Daphne in Casey Nicholaw’s “Some Like It Hot,” while Newell walked away with the featured actor (musical) statuette for their role
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As the cast of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” gathered outside the Saban Media Center on Saturday night for their FYC event, audience members were greeted by handouts from several picketing writers of the WGA in front of the entrance. But despite the ongoing picketing that’s halted several productions including new seasons of “Abbott Elementary” and
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Amazon Studios’ head of drama series Odetta Watkins says big-budget drama “Citadel,” which has yet to crack Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings, still “needs time to grow” with “very jaded” U.S. audiences. The exec was speaking at the Banff World Media Festival in Alberta, Canada, on Sunday, where the global-facing “Citadel” was a key topic of
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During his lifetime, Rock Hudson was a model for American masculinity. That changed after his death, when the strapping, straight-acting (but occasionally sensitive) hunk from Winnetka became the poster boy for Hollywood homophobia: a closeted star who’d been forced to play a role his entire career that wasn’t true to himself, on screen and off.
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A slow-burn Rocky Mountain noir set along the corridor between Billings, Mont., and the Canadian border — a cold, lonely stretch of highway shared by salesmen and smugglers alike — “Blood for Dust” establishes a ruthless sense of sangfroid from its opening shot. On a desk in a bland business office sits a family portrait,
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Joni Mitchell wrote rather presciently about “The Circle Game” 57 years ago, but anyone who’s experienced a little life knows that circles don’t always — or even very often — come back around to allowing people to enjoy some of the most triumphant nights of their lives when they’re reaching the end of their 70s.
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The 76th Tony Awards kicked off Sunday night in the shadow of a writers strike and as the theater industry is still struggling to crawl out from the crater left by COVID. But, the show did go on, which is a victory considering that a few weeks ago it looked as though the Writers Guild of America
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Korean-produced crime action film “The Roundup: No Way Out” dominated proceedings at the South Korean cinema box office for the second successive weekend. Its massive haul now totals $60 million. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” opened with a puny second place. The Friday to Sunday period saw the film bring in $10.4 million from 1.32
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Three days after a barbarous playground attack left the lakeside town in grief and shock, and in an amphitheater facing the public park where the tragedy occurred, the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival inaugurated this year’s edition with a show of solidarity and communal defiance. “In response to barbarity, this festival will hold up creativity and
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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production banner Artists Equity states that it “did not consent” to the use of a monologue from the film “Air” in a new campaign ad for Donald Trump. On Saturday, Trump shared a fundraising video on his Truth Social platform. The ad features footage and images of the former president
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Variety will host a panel at the Annecy Animation Festival, Breaking the Borders of Animation, focusing on one of the key – and most exciting –  talking points in the medium: How animation is currently being revolutionized and reimagined by new waves of creativity and technology. The panel has been organised with Nickelodeon as its official
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When readers and audiences hear Hello Sunshine has acquired a best-selling book, it’s likely the production company’s president of film and TV, Lauren Neustadter, has spearheaded the deal. Before joining Reese Witherspoon’s production company in 2017, Neustadter spent over a decade working in film as an executive at such companies as Miramax and 20th Century
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In Netflix’s “The Saint of Second Chances,” Academy Award winner Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom”) and Jeff Malmberg (“Marwencol”) tell the story of Mike Veeck, the hard-not-to-love son of late Major League Baseball owner Bill Veeck, who gained infamy for his role cooking up the disastrous Disco Demolition Night promotion at Chicago’s Comiskey Park
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Michael Shannon has previously revealed that he was “a little confused” when he received the offer to join “The Flash” in a reprisal of his role of of General Zod from “Man of Steel.” Now, the actor has revealed that those complicated feelings weren’t exactly resolved while making the new DC film. In a new
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The desert meets the ’70s meets the Western. That’s how “Poker Face” costume designer Trayce Gigi Field describes the vibe of Peacock’s whodunnit series starring Natasha Lyonne. Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a casino worker with a knack for solving crimes as she goes on the run across the country. Field knew the first thing she
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After less than two weeks of release, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has surpassed the entire box office run of its predecessor, 2018’s Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Over the weekend, the comic book sequel hit $226 million in North America and $390 million globally. It now stands as Sony’s highest-grossing animated release in history. The
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Folding the intricacies of the human condition into everyday life in Jordan, director Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha (“Noor”) bows her feature debut “Saleem” in competition at the Annecy Animation Festival. The film marks the first Jordanian selection for the festival and was selected as part of this year’s Contrechamp strand which includes Pablo Berger’s offbeat friendship
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